The Nick of Time

by Mike Parker

  In the days since the cat scan, as Nick had dubbed it, Carl had completed and installed the pod extension expanding the interior of the chamber to just over three feet wide and six and a half tall. It was more than enough room to hold John Doe, but just to make things easier, he had also fastened the machine to a tilting platform which allowed the corpse to lay down in the chamber. Once the body was in the pod, Carl placed the Little Bird box, which he had reduced down to the size of a deck of cards, in John Doe’s shirt pocket.

  “All set,” he said closing the chamber door.

  “Beam arriving in thirty seconds,” Nick informed.

  Dr. Stevens stood a safe distance back from the machine with his arms folded. He appeared to be equal parts skeptical, excited and worried there might be an explosion. He had not said a word, other than greeting everyone when he walked into the lab. As the machine began to charge up the professor took one more step back, just in case. Carl flipped the switch and with a flash of light, John Doe was gone. Dr. Stevens pulled his glasses out and leaned in toward the monitor to inspect the image of the now empty chamber.

  “Is he … gone?”

  “He’s long gone,” Nick answered, “but he won’t be gone for long.”

  “We’ve run tests that have had as much as a 30-minute recall point,” Carl explained. “But we figured you’d be anxious to see the results, so today we only set it for sixty seconds.”

  “It also limits the possibility of some poor tourist having a Weekend at Bernie’s experience at your dad’s cabin,” his assistant added.

  A moment later the machine began to charge again and the second beam energized the chamber. Carl opened the door and everyone in the lab crept forward to look inside. Carl, Nick, and Ainsley held their breath as the chamber lid was lifted. They weren’t really worried John Doe would not be there, but their trepidation was more in anticipation of what Dr. Stevens’s reaction would be when he was.

  “It can’t be,” the doctor gasped. “He was really teleported? It wasn’t just a camera trick.”

  “Ol’ Johnny boy just spent sixty seconds in a forest 60 miles from here,” the lab assistant informed.

  “Unbelievable! And there is no physical damage from the process?”

  “That’s what you’re here for Doc,” Carl replied. “Take John back to your lab and give him a full work up. Make sure it’s one hundred percent safe.”

  “Alright,” Dr. Stevens agreed excitedly. “Help me get him back on the gurney, would you?”

  As soon as the door closed behind the doctor the remaining three team members looked at each other for a moment and then began cheering wildly.

  “This is it!” Nick beamed. “The next time is for real!”

  “Yes, about that,” Carl said in a surprisingly solemn voice. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’ve been rethinking our agreement in regard to you being the first one through.”

  “Oh. Okay. I mean, it’s your machine so if you want to go first that’s your prerogative.”

  “Oh, heavens no!” Carl laughed. “But I was thinking maybe, just to be safe, you shouldn’t be the first one either. After all, you’re the lab monkey, not the lab rat.”

  “I have to admit,” Nick replied. “I was kind of thinking the same thing. I mean part of me would love to be the first guy…the first living guy to be teleported, but on the other hand, one more test to prove I’ll make it back safe and sound wouldn’t be so bad either.”

  “But who in their right mind wouldn’t feel that way,” Ainsley pointed out.

  “I’ve been thinking about that too,” Nick answered. “I say we go down and find one of those guys who sleep in the park every night. We offer him a hundred bucks to be part of a virtual reality experiment. Doc gives him a physical, we put him in the B.I.R.D., send him to Lake Chumbawamba or whatever it’s called for five minutes, bring him back and get him to describe how ‘real’ the experience was. Doc checks him out again an he’s on his way: a hundred bucks richer and none the wiser.”

  “That just might work,” Carl nodded.

  “But what if it doesn’t?” Ainsley protested. “What do we do then?”

  “We have him sign a waiver before we begin,” her brother suggested. “If something goes wrong, he ends up one of Dr. Steven’s permanent patients.”

  “That doesn’t seem right,” the reporter argued.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Nick interjected, “because we all know it’s going to work. Right? We have no expectation of the test being remotely harmful. I wouldn’t suggest it if I thought he’d get hurt. I just have the heebee-geebees about doing it myself until I’ve seen it done.”

  The trio discussed the idea late into the night, but in the end, they unanimously agreed to move ahead with the plan. The next day Carl updated Dr. Stevens. The doctor agreed to go along with the plan, but not until he had had time to complete a full autopsy on John Doe. It took several days for all the test results to be finalized, but, in the end, everything came back looking perfectly normal. John Doe had no new injuries or physical damage following his teleportation other than those that existed at the time of his death days earlier. So with the doctor’s seal of approval, the team moved head with Nick’s plan for a very real, virtual reality test.

  “How much longer?” Carl asked impatiently.

  “Thirty seconds,” Nick answered.

  “Doc, are you ready?”

  “As ready as I can be,” Dr. Stevens replied anxiously.

  “Twenty seconds.” Everyone was nervously awaiting the sound of the B.I.R.D. charging up to send the second beam. “Ten seconds.”

  It was the moment of truth. The beam fired and then the B.I.R.D. powered down. Carl tentatively opened the chamber door and gazed inside. A broad smile swept over his face as he reached his hand into the chamber and lead a rather shabby looking man out into the lab.

  “Alright,” Carl began “We’re just going to ask you a few questions and then the doctor needs to check you out again just to be sure the experience has had no negative side effects. Okay?”

  “Yeah, okay,” the man answered nonchalantly.

  “Excellent. What is your name?”

  “Phil. Phil Burrows.”

  “How do you feel, Phil?”

  “Oh, you know, pretty good I guess. A little hungry. You guys got anything to eat around here?”

  “Here you go, Phil,” Nick said passing the man a box of donuts.

  “Can you tell us, in your own words, what the,” Carl glanced quickly at his partners, “the virtual reality experience was like?”

  “Sure, it was pretty cool. Very realistic. There were trees all around. I heard birds singing. I could smell the fresh air. I even got bit by a mosquito. I didn’t like that very much, but it was so real.”

  “Excellent,” Carl said. “That was very helpful. Thank you. Dr. Stevens will give you a quick look over and then you’ll be free to go.”

  “Right this way, please,” the doctor invited. Fifteen minutes later Phil was out the door and the team gathered together.

  “So?” Ainsley was the first to ask.

  The doctor gave the two-thumbs-up sign and said, “No negative effects.”

  “So, when’s our next scheduled beam time?” Nick asked.

  – 6 –

  Moment of Truth

  September 27th was a lovely fall day in Boston. It was also the day the first person would, knowingly, teleport. The team had gathered in the lab early that morning. Their beam time was scheduled from 8 AM to 9 AM so they had to be ready. Dr. Stevens gave Nick a thorough examination and deemed him to be in excellent health. Carl paced the lab impatiently, anxiously waiting for the minute hand to reach the top of the hour. Nick sat casually at his desk sipping his mochaccino while Ainsley stood nervously nearby.

  “It’s time,” Nick said matter-of-factly.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Ainsley asked.

  “He’ll be fi
ne,” Carl answered sounding confident, although the statement was just as much to reassure himself as it was for his sister.

  “I’ll be fine,” Nick said calmly. “No guts, no glory right?” Nick smiled, but then mumbled to himself, “I just hope all my guts are still in the right place after the glory is over.”

  “Did you give him a shot of something?” the reporter asked Dr. Stevens. “He’s way too mellow right now, considering…”

  “Considering I’m about to make history?” Nick chimed in, giving her a quick wink. “How about a good luck hug?” As Ainsley obliged his request, he whispered in her ear, “Your brother is like a puppy, the more anxious I am, the more wound up he gets. And I need him at the top of his game this morning, just in case things don’t go so smoothly. It’s your job to keep him calm, no matter what.” Nick gave her a quick peck on the cheek and then walked over to the B.I.R.D.

  “This is for you,” Carl said handing him a small box.

  Nick opened the box and examined the wide metal bangle. “Does this mean we’re going steady?” he joked.

  “No,” the scientist scoffed. “This is the new and improved Little Bird It’s made of tungsten making it virtually indestructible. It attaches to your wrist like so. Once it is locked in place it cannot be removed without this key. So, there’s no chance of you losing it or having it taken from you.”

  “Aww, shucks, you shouldn’t have,” Nick giggled.

  “Your carriage awaits,” Dr. Stevens smiled opening the chamber door.

  “Be safe, flyboy,” Ainsley called out

  “See you guys on the other side,” Nick smirked as he stepped inside the pod, and doc closed the door.

  “The beam is active,” Ainsley informed the team, trying her best to sound calm.

  “You’ve got twenty minutes,” Carl shouted through the iron door. “Here we go. In three … two … one …”

  Nick had dreamt of this moment for months, but over the last couple weeks, ever since the John Doe test, he could barely think of anything else. He had wondered what the experience would be like. How would it feel to be molecularly deconstructed and reassembled? Would he remember any sensation from being teleported from one place to another? How would he feel when he arrived?

  Now that the time had finally arrived, it turned out to be rather anticlimactic. Nick heard the B.I.R.D. powering up. There was a bright flash of light. When the light faded and he opened his eyes, there he was, in the middle of a forest. No strange feelings. No traveling through hyperspace light show. Just a flash of light and, poof, you’re there.

  As he gazed around, he was surprised to see that the trees had already lost all their leaves. Most of the leaves on the campus of MIT had changed into their autumn colors, but only a few had fallen to the ground. The next thing to hit him was the temperature. It was cold, real cold. That’s when it hit him, the ground all around him was covered in at least a foot of snow. “Must have been a freak storm go through here,” he mumbled to himself, wishing he had worn more than jeans and a t-shirt.

  “Now, where’s that cabin?” Nick asked aloud. “I might need to light a fire if I’m going to stay here for thirty minutes.” According to Carl’s calculations, all the teleported objects should have arrived within a few feet of his father’s old hunting cabin. However, Nick could see no sign of a cabin in any direction. “That’s strange.”

  He pulled out a small GPS device to verify his position. Turning it on, he was surprised to discover that, for some reason, the device was unable to find any satellites to triangulate his location. “That’s very strange, indeed,” he said thoughtfully as he put away the GPS device and pulled out his iPhone to call Carl and figure out what was going on. He had already dialed and waited for a few second for the call to connect before he realized that there was no signal. “Zero bars? How is that possible?”

  Nick spent several minutes trying to decide what to do. His initial thought was to just stay still and wait for the return beam, but he was getting real cold, real quick so moving around seemed like a good idea. Besides, everything he could discover about his surroundings while he was here would help figure out what went wrong once he got back. That is if he made it back. Nick reminded himself to not get overconfident. Just because the B.I.R.D. got him here, wherever here was, was no guarantee that the Little Bird would get him back to the lab.

  The young man could see through the barren trees that there was a lake not far away. He dredged through the snow down toward the shore in hopes that he could see a building or some other sign of civilization. However, when he reached the water he discovered two very surprising things. The first surprise was that the lake, which was at least a mile wide and a couple miles long, was frozen solid. There’s no way on freak storm could do that. For a lake this size to be frozen over would take weeks of prolonged cold weather.

  The second surprise was that there was no sign of civilization anywhere along the shoreline. Not a single boat, cabin or light. Nothing. Nick was starting to feel a little unnerved by it all. Perhaps the B.I.R.D. had deposited him in the Alaskan wilderness instead of southern Massachusetts. If that was the case he needed to get moving in hopes of finding a shelter or logging road before nightfall, just in case, his return ticket didn’t get punched. The sun was already dipping low in the sky getting ready to set so he knew he had no time to waste.

  He had been hiking around the shore for several minutes before it dawned on him: He entered the teleporter at 8 AM, and now, 15 minutes later, the sun was setting behind the treetops. He would have loved to sit down and ponder how that was even possible, but he was sufficiently unnerved by all the inconsistencies in the experiment so far that he was quite anxious to get out of these woods and find a safe and warm place as soon as humanly possible.

  As he was walking along he saw what he thought might be a trail or road about a hundred yards away. The only problem was it was on the far side a large bay. It would take at least thirty or forty minutes to walk around the bay. In the interest of saving time, Nick decided to cut across the lake. He took the first few steps tentatively, but the ice seemed to be thick and solid. Gaining more confidence and urgency with each step he moved quickly across the mouth of the bay.

  Nick had almost reached the halfway point of crossing the bay when he heard a loud cracking noise beneath his feet. He froze where he stood and whispered nervously, “Oh. That doesn’t sound good.” A split second later the thin ice beneath him shattered, and he plummeted into the frigid water below. The shock of the icy liquid surrounding him paralyzed his muscles almost instantly, leaving him to helplessly sink further and further into the depths. The deeper he went, the more the darkness enveloped him.

  “Okay, moment of truth,” Carl said nervously as he prepared to open the chamber door. It had been a painstakingly long thirty minutes since Nick had entered the B.I.R.D. Although Phil’s test had gone off without a hitch, the entire team was anxious for their partner’s return. Carl opened the door and Nick’s limp body fell haphazardly onto the floor along with a large splash of icy cold water. He was soaking wet and appeared to not be breathing. “What in the world!” Carl exclaimed.

  “DOC!” Ainsley screamed.

  Dr. Stevens rushed over and knelt down next to the motionless body. “He’s freezing cold,” the doctor report.

  “What did you get yourself into, Nick?” Carl asked nervously.

  “And he’s not breathing,” Stevens added with deep concern draped over his face. The doctor rolled Nick onto his back and began CPR compressions. “Do you have an AED in the lab?”

  “No,” the scientist replied. “But I think there’s one at the front of the building.”

  “Go get it,” the doctor instructed. He paused long enough to blow a few long breaths of air into Nick’s mouth and then resumed his compressions.

  About ninety seconds later Carl came flying through the door with a small red box in hand. The doctor opened the case and pressed the charge button. He ripped open Nick’s shirt and ap
plied two gel packs to his chest. He grabbed the paddles and placed them on the gel packs and told Carl to press the red button.

  Nick’s body jumped as electricity jolted his body. “Again?” Carl asked.

  “Again,” the doctor confirmed. Another blast of electricity zapped Nick. His body convulsed and he coughed violently as water erupted out of his mouth.

  Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief. Ainsley knelt next to Nick and hugged him tightly. “We thought we had lost you,” she whispered.

  “Me too,” a groggy Nick said in a scratchy voice.

  “What happened out there?” Carl asked.

  “Give him a minute,” Dr. Stevens cautioned.

  “No,” Nick coughed again. “I’m good.”

  “You are far from good,” the reporter objected. “You’re soaking wet, ice cold and, oh yeah, you were dead a minute ago.”

  “And now I’m not,” Nick replied. “Mostly,” he added with a slight groan.

  “Did the B.I.R.D. work?” Carl inquired.

  “Yes, well, sort of, I think.”

  “I told you he needs a minute,” the doctor repeated.

  “No,” Nick interjected. “It’s not that. It’s just … The B.I.R.D. did teleport me, I’m just not sure where to. Wherever it was it wasn’t your dad’s cabin. I arrived in a forest, but the only thing there was trees and a lake, a really big lake.”

  “What do you mean the cabin wasn’t there?” the scientist asked.

  “There was no cabin, no roads, no trails, not boats, no lights, not one single sign of life.”

  “I don’t understand,” Carl mused sounding completely confused.

  “It gets weirder,” Nick continued. “It was cold, like, real cold and there was a good foot of snow on the ground.”

  Before Nick had finished his sentence, Carl had his phone out and was using his weather app to see if a freak storm had hit the southern part of the state.