clock
Veronica was standing in the hallway with a face like thunder, saying between clenched teeth “You might have told me you were doing overtime. I rang the lab ten minutes ago and your security man said you’d just left! What’s up with you Eric?”
“I’m sorry dear I got engrossed in a new project and the time went, just like that!” he said, snapping his fingers. He hadn’t mentioned the watch though, as it was a birthday present from Veronica and it had cost her over six hundred pounds, so he set the correct time and forgot all about it. He went up to the bathroom for a shower and noticed while shaving that his stubble wasn’t as heavy as usual. “Oh well, won’t take so long to shave.” he thought with a grin. “I suppose I’ll have to pop out later for a Chinese take away. I can’t imagine Veronica will feel like cooking.”
They sat in silence eating their meal and then Eric spoke at last saying “I can’t imagine where the time went today. I was working on this new job for Tom, and all of a sudden it was six thirty!” Veronica looked at him worriedly and said “Eric, you’re overdoing it. Why don’t you take a few days off? You’re not a young man anymore.” Eric felt fit enough; it was just that his mind was a bit fuzzy lately.
A spot of Golf
He couldn’t face work the next day and decided to go for a game of golf with George, his next door neighbour after calling Tom at the Research Lab. Tom was none too pleased at first, but then said “I suppose the project can wait a few days.” Eric thanked him and said “I’ll pop in weekend to catch up.” which Tom was delighted to hear.
The next few days went very pleasantly and Tom admitted to himself that he hadn’t felt so fit for ages, and as a bonus, his watch was keeping good time. Veronica noticed the change in him and remarked on it, saying “That little break has done you good. You can look forward to a relaxing weekend; we’ll have a lounge on the patio and soak up some sunshine.”
Eric stuttered “Ah, I promised Tom I’d go in over the weekend to catch up. He’s quite passionate about his new project and I wouldn’t like to let him down.” “Okay dear, if you feel you must.” she replied, much to Eric’s relief.
Saturday Morning
After a rushed breakfast Eric jumped in his car and joined the Saturday morning queue of traffic into town. He’d promised Tom that he would make up some time on the project but wishing he hadn’t. He finally reached the Research Labs at eight forty five after a stop-start journey and pulled up in his parking bay noting that the car park was empty apart from his car.
He let himself in after unlocking the main door and headed towards his lab, bumping into Arnold on the way. “Just you in today?” said Arnold. “Yes I’ll be here all day. Need to make up some time on Tom’s pet project.” he replied. “Yes, I think everybody heard him ranting and raving when you phoned in the other day.” said Arnold, sucking in his breath and pulling a face. Eric winced. Arnold continued, with an almost pleading look in his eyes, “Alright if I slide off early Eric? I’ve got an important delivery and I’d really like to be there when it turns up.” “No problem, you do what you’ve got to do, I can lock up!” said Eric smiling, quite pleased that he wouldn’t be getting any interruptions. Although he liked Arnold, he could keep you talking for ages, and he needed to get on. He wished him the best of luck with his delivery and entered the lab.
Noticing a sheet of paper on the floor, he picked it up and realised it was part of the notes that Tom had given him on Monday. “Ah, so that’s the test procedure! Or the proof of the pudding, so to speak.” he said reading it. Apparently there was one package to be opened containing a steel cube, one inch on a side. It was to be placed in a compartment in one of the spheres, and would be drawn into the black hole when the device was activated. This would only work when the status reading was at one hundred percent.
He found the small package which was hidden under a heap of empty boxes and opened it, then went over to the device realising he had to raise the status level reading. There was one connection left on the transformer, labelled fifty thousand volts. He sighed “Well if this doesn’t work, it’s back to the drawing board. Fingers crossed!” Having made the alteration, he plugged the power lead into the wall socket. With an almost silent prayer he activated the device and held his breath. “That’s more like it! I can get this job wrapped up and be away in a flash.” he said smiling as he saw the status level now reading one hundred percent.
He would never know how true those words would be. He was about to make the first and last mistake in all the years he had worked at the lab. In his excitement he forgot that the simulator was powered up and opened the test sample compartment and placed the steel cube well inside it. The slowing down of his wrist watch that he had put down to bad manufacture was a small sample of the massive effect the machine could have on space and time, if only he had known. All too late, he realised something was wrong as a blinding arc of light leapt out of the compartment in the sphere. Time suddenly flowed in reverse for Eric. In a matter of seconds he had ceased to exist, being pulled back through the corridors of all the years of his life on Earth, beyond the point of his birth. It was almost ironic that a man so obsessed with time would never have to worry about being late ever again. There was a huge blue flash of light and the machine died, with a cloud of smoke hovering over it.
Epilogue
The emergency services, alerted by the smoke alarm found Eric’s lab, where the device was still smouldering; burnt and molten cables hanging like viscera from its framework. Eric was nowhere to be found after searching the whole building. One of the fire crew spotted something on the floor, after nearly treading on it. On close inspection he saw it was a wristwatch, of a very good make, slightly burnt but still working. What he couldn’t understand, was that the hands were going backwards!
The End
Time Flies Page 2
