“Yeah, I know that much. I mean what is it?”
Carefully cradling the spherical cell in his left hand, Jason closed and locked the tiny refrigerator followed by the cabinet and made his way to Derek. “The sphere is a graphene enhanced crystalline vessel that—”
“—Smart ass. I know what the sphere is. Remember? I came up with the idea of utilizing graphene to enhance not only the structural stability of the vessel but its electrical properties as well. I meant what’s inside, because it kind of looks like blood.”
“Blood?” Jason laughed. “No, it’s not blood. It's a mixture of various chemical byproducts derived from the synthesis of albumins, globulins and fibrinogens, as well as a mixture of oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen.”
Derek just stared at Jason confused. While he hadn’t been horrible at chemistry, he’d also never gotten a good handle on it. For all he knew, Jason could have been making up the names of those components and he wouldn’t have known any better.
“This is what makes this whole thing possible,” Jason reemphasized as he handed the small orb to Derek.
Holding the orb to the lights overhead, Derek stared at the crimson qualities of the dark liquid before slowly placing the sphere into the machine’s core. He didn’t know how this little red ball was going to make what Jason claimed, possible. If it was so simple why hadn’t anyone else done it yet? Why was the concept still deemed science fiction and not reality? How had a twenty-two year old M.I.T. student perfected such an impossible concept when no one else could? Truthfully, these questions had been running through his mind ever since Jason had first proposed the possibility of such a device nearly three years ago. He wanted to believe that it was possible. The very idea of being the first to do what Jason was proposing was beyond words, but frankly, he didn’t expect much more to happen than for them to plug the device in, press the button and then spend the next few minutes staring at one another as Jason tried to figure out what went wrong.
With the sphere inserted, Derek slid the tiny metal door back into place, concealing the red fuel behind Jason’s familiar family quote.
“We can’t do it here,” Jason uttered.
“Why not?” Derek, confused, stepped to the side as Jason took over closing the device.
“Our first test has to be a small one. Twenty minutes at most...just to confirm that everything’s working properly.”
“And that can’t happen here, why?”
“It’s too dangerous here. We need somewhere more secluded. Somewhere no one’s been for the last hour or so...including us. We can’t risk being seen, but at the same time we can’t risk occupying the same space at the same time.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The ‘Timecop’ theory,” Jason emphasized, as if that explanation would make everything clear.
He had no idea what Jason was talking about nor did he understand what a mediocre movie from nearly twenty years ago had to do with their experiment. “Are you talking about the movie from the nineties with Jean-Claude Van Damme?”
“The same person can’t occupy the same space at the same time. I know it was only a movie but the theory is valid. The outcome could be catastrophic. Furthermore, we can’t run the risk of overlapping the same space as each other or anyone else for that matter.”
“Why?" the concept still eluding him.
“Picture yourself instantaneously becoming a conjoined twin with the person who’s space you materialize in. Your bodies could fuse together, permanently joining you on a molecular level. If somehow you did manage to survive the instantaneous, biological reconfiguration, there would be no way to reverse the results without likely killing you and your new twin in the process.”
“What if my new twin is hot?” Derek joked.
“I’m serious Derek. We have to be really careful.”
The tone in Jason’s voice making it clearly evident that he was in no mood for Derek’s typical jokes, “Okay, so where do we do this test?”
“I have a place.”
*****
“Are you luring me down here to kill me?” Derek joked as he and Jason carefully navigated their way down the steep flight of basement stairs.
More interested in the test than his friend's jokes, “Follow directly behind me,” Jason instructed as he paused at the bottom of the stairs.
“Okay,” Derek, confused, did as he was told, following his roommate step for step along the dimly lit hallway.
Their dorm building had been built in the 1800's, so he wasn’t surprised to see the stone masonry foundation typical of the time. Obviously, over the past century, there had been some updates to the dark space. Electric lighting had been added at some point, providing some light to the narrow passageway. The plumbing running overhead looked fairly new, neatly running the length of the hall before ducking around a corner and disappearing into an unseen portion of the building.
“Remind me again why we’re playing follow the leader.”
“Do you want to end up a quivering pile of fused goo?” Jason, seemingly perturbed at Derek’s lack of understanding, stopped and turned.
“Not really,” Derek smirked.
“Then you need to follow me.”
“You’re worried about miscalculating the jump aren’t you? You’re afraid that you might misjudge the exact time and location of arrival and that somehow we might land in this very hallway at this very moment and that you and I will somehow meld together in some twisted, deformed mass of handsomely nerdy jello.”
“Finally he understands,” Jason thought to himself.
“As I understand it though, the arrival point isn’t dictated by where we’ve been so really we could arrive anywhere within the margin of error. Ultimately we could end up trapped inside one of these stone walls or even buried alive in the ground adjacent to the building…if your calculations are off that is.”
Jason thought for a moment...now he was questioning his own logic. Derek was right, but he knew his calculations were solid. He’d checked them eleven times before Derek had convinced him to finally leave the lab and get on with it. It was highly unlikely that they’d end up in the hall. If everything went according to plan they should arrive in the same location from which they’d left, at exactly 12:38pm. Checking his watch, it was 12:58pm. They had a twenty minute window. That should be plenty of time without any cause for concern.
“What are we doing?” Derek questioned, wondering why Jason had stopped.
“Just stay behind me anyway,” Jason only half acknowledged Derek’s solid logic. “By sticking together we minimize the risk,” he added, continuing down the hall and through the same opening that the pipes had used to disappear.
Running his hand up and down the wall beside the doorway, Jason searched for the switch. This wasn’t the first time he’d been down there. He’d spent many a night planning this test. He knew exactly the spot he intended to use. The back corner of the room in which they’d just entered was in actuality the front left corner of the building and the spot at which all of the building’s power entered from the street. There was a switch on the wall just to the left of the doorway where his hand methodically searched.
“When that light comes on I’m not going to come face to face with some type of torture device, am I? You’re not going to strap me to some table and have your way with me are you?” Derek continued to joke as he stared into the darkness before him.
Still focused on finding the switch, Jason continued to show no response to Derek’s jokes. Suddenly, his finger detected a small patch of smooth plastic and a moment later, a soft click prompted a series of florescent lights to flicker to life.
While still not the most efficient lighting, the now visible room was much better lit than the hallway. In the back right corner stood a small tower of cardboard boxes. The various company logos and handwritten labels suggested that the boxes contained supplies pertinent to the upkeep of a residential building, though their faded appearance suggested
that their contents had been forgotten long ago and that the janitorial staff didn’t frequent this portion of the building very often. Just inside the doorway was a series of empty wooden shelves which appeared to have been converted into a high rise condominium for spiders and other insects, but it was the back left corner that Jason had apparently been interested in as he quickly made his way to the caged off portion of the room.
Behind the chain-linked wall stood even more shelves, though these shelves, unlike their spider claimed counterparts, were lined with miscellaneous electrical supplies.
Arriving at the padlocked gate, Jason placed the briefcase on the floor beside him.
“I take it that’s our power source,” Derek guessed, motioning to the electrical box behind the indoor fence. “Too bad it’s locked.”
Without a word Jason began spinning the numbers on the padlock.
“I take it you’ve been down here before,” Derek guessed again, now aware that maybe he hadn’t been the catalyst in persuading Jason to finally test his long talked about theory. He’d obviously planned out this entire test and in true Jason fashion, had likely thought out every possible scenario. He’d just been reluctant, as usual, to take that first, risky step.
“Once or twice,” Jason finally acknowledged as he aligned the last number and pulled the lock open.
Picking up the metal briefcase, Jason entered the cage. “Okay. We need to get this thing up and running as quickly as possible. We'll depart from this spot and it’s also the location where we'll arrive, twenty minutes before now. The longer we stay in this spot the smaller our window for error becomes so you need to hurry.
“I understand,” Derek acknowledged, more in an attempt to ease his obviously nervous roommate than himself. “Jello bad.”
Jason quickly placed the silver briefcase on the third shelf from the floor and with a thumb scan and cheesy movie quote, the locks popped open.
Now aware of his role, Derek wasted no time as he popped open the electrical box. The machine needed a massive amount of power to run, which was apparently why, along with its remote nature, Jason had chosen this location for the test. Carefully he began dismantling the box’s circuit breakers as he heard Jason speak the second password to access the case’s hidden components.
“Here you go,” Jason withdrew two electrical cords from the machine and handed them to Derek, who quickly began connecting them to the now exposed circuits.
The soft glow of the iPad added slightly more lighting to the dim space as the screen sprang to life, welcoming its owner. After waiting a moment for the tiny computer to boot, Jason quickly began navigating his way through the app that he’d developed to run his calculations. As an added level of security he’d disguised the program as a cheesy Pong style game. One, this boring game would likely draw little interest from anyone if they did manage to get into the case and two, only he knew the precise combination of shots that would correctly unlock the software hidden behind the simple program.
Sliding his finger across the screen, he launched the pixelated ball, bouncing the tiny square off the top of the screen before the computer sent the digital ball back his way. Sliding the linear paddle down, he redirected the ball to a precise spot along the far left corner of the screen before the opposing paddle again returned his shot. With one last motion, he ricocheted the ball one last time toward the first spot in which the ball had struck along the top portion of the screen. This combination of shots was the only one that his computerized opponent was programmed to miss. As the digital ball slipped passed the opposing paddle, the concealing game faded from the screen and was replaced by a blinking green curser much like that of an old-school Apple 2e computer.
There is no future, without one’s past.
Jason typed the familiar phrase onto the screen and watched as instantly, the program which had previously appeared archaic in nature, flashed a series of modern, abstract shapes followed by a string of flashing numbers and letters before freezing on a screen that simply read:
Welcome.
Reaching over Jason, Derek withdrew two more electrical wires from the briefcase and began connecting them to the box.
With a few swift taps of the screen, a complicated formula began to take shape, followed by a message that read:
Coordinates accepted. Enjoy your trip.
“We’re all set here. How’s the power situation?” Jason turned to Derek who was still trying to connect the briefcase to the electrical box. It would have been easier if you’d told me what I’d be tying into ahead of time. I might have had the proper tools but I think I’ve got it,” he announced as the iPad’s screen brightened, followed by the appearance of a small lightning bolt in the program’s upper right corner to indicate that the power connection had been made.
Checking his watch, Jason confirmed the time at the top of the screen.
“My watch is off by twenty seconds. Give me a second."
Fiddling with the small buttons on the side of the cheap timepiece, Jason synchronized the time with that displayed on the iPad’s screen.
Suddenly, a quiet rustling noise drew their attention to the tower of boxes along the opposite wall.
“What was that?” Derek questioned.
“I don’ know.”
They continued to stare at the motionless cardboard tower.
“Go check it out,” Derek waved Jason toward the noise.
“Me? Why don’t you go?” Jason retorted.
Before Derek had a chance to answer however, a large rat emerged from behind the boxes and began chewing on the cardboard, apparently unfazed by his guests.
Letting out a sigh, they both returned their attention to the task at hand.
“Okay, here,” Jason spoke as he handed Derek two, small silver orbs, connected by a pair of thin wires that ran from the briefcase and tied in at the machine’s core.
Squeezing the small silver balls in each of his hands he watched as Jason withdrew two more silver orbs, also loosely squeezing them in each hand.
“You ready for this?” Jason questioned.
Derek just stared nervously. Before that moment he’d seriously doubted the likeliness of success but now, standing beside his determined and confident friend he began to question his previous doubt. Jason wasn’t an idiot. He wasn’t a fan of sci-fi. He didn’t believe in the supernatural and he didn’t attempt anything unless he was one-hundred percent certain that it would work. As impossible as the thought of time travel was, maybe Jason really had found a way to make it work.
“Take a step back,” Jason instructed as he and Derek moved one large step away from the machine.
“Quivering jello, right?” Derek joked, this time a result of nerves as opposed to humor.
“Here we go,” Jason announced as he slowly depressed the small red button on the tiny orb in his right hand.
Closing his eyes, Derek waited for a swoosh of wind or a loud electrical snap as the machine activated, linking them to their recent past but no such noise came. No wind whipped through the dungeon like space and no electrical disturbance licked at the moist basement air. After a moment of confused panic, Derek slowly opened his right eye to check on their situation. Fear limiting his ability to fully see through the tightly squinted slit between his eye lids, he could only, faintly, make out a blurred image of his equally confused roommate holding what he assumed was the orb up to his face as he repeatedly pressed the button.
“Did it work?” Derek nervously questioned.
“I don’t know. I...,” Jason’s answer trailed off as he continued to examine the small metal ball in his hand.
Feeling more at ease, Derek relinquished some of the strain on his eyes, though continued to keep them shut. “Oh well. It was a good first try. Maybe it just needs a few more adjustments,” he attempted to comfort his roommate, now confident that he’d been correct. Time travel was a sci-fi fantasy just as he’d thought. There was no way that two M.I.T. students with a few sophisticated electrical component
s, an iPad and some electricity could manage to accomplish what millions had dreamt of for centuries. Slowly he began to open his eyes. “I mean, we’ll just go back to the drawing board and...Jason...why are you naked?” he questioned, wondering not only why his roommate had decided to strip down but also, how he’d managed to do so in such a short time and with such stealth.
Seemingly surprised, Jason glanced down at his body, confirming the validity of Derek’s question. Honestly, he didn’t have a good answer but looking up he did have a question of his own. “Where are your clothes?”
Derek too, glanced down at his nude body. “What the fuck?”
Just then a pair of voices echoed from the hall, causing them to both forget their nudity as they returned their attention to the machine. Without thought, Jason quickly returned his tethered orbs to the briefcase before snatching Derek’s out of his hands and doing the same. Derek quickly began disconnecting the wires from the electrical box, attempting to be both quick, yet silent, as he returned the electrical components to just as he’d found them.
“Come on,” Jason whispered urgently as the voices and now sounds of footsteps drew nearer.
Reconnecting the last circuit breaker, Derek quietly closed the thin metal door to the electrical box as Jason closed the briefcase.
“Crap,” Jason proclaimed in a whispered tone.
“What?”
“The lock.”
Derek turned to the chain-linked door. Previously left wide open, it was now closed. The same lock that they’d earlier removed was again hanging securely in place on the outside just above the handle.
“Open it.”
Jason quickly passed the briefcase to Derek before shoving his fingers through the gate in a desperate attempt to realign the numbers that would grant them their freedom.
“Come on. Come on,” Derek pushed as the voices in the hall grew closer.
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