MidReal Story
Temporal Paradox: A Time Traveler's Dilemma
Scenario: Είμαι ένας αστροφυσικός και ανακαλύπτω πως να φτιαξω μια χρονομηχανη. Αλλά με κυριεύουν τα διλήμματα ηθικά αλλά και όλα όσα παράδοξα έχω ακούσει για το ταξίδι στον χρόνο. Και παρόλο που προσπαθώ να κρατήσω μυστική αυτήν την ανακάλυψη κάποιοι το μαθαίνουν και αρχίζουν να με παρακολουθούν περίεργοι άνθρωποι ώστε να κλέψουν αυτή την γνώση που αξίζει δισεκατομμύρια αλλά κανείς δεν μπορεί να προβλέψει τις συνεπειες
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Mia Chen
fellow scientist and Elliot's confidante, friends with Elliot, short with sharp features, intelligent and supportive.
Elliot Hughes
astrophysicist, friends with Mia and mentored by Dr. Lin, tall with messy brown hair, curious and morally conflicted.
Dr. Linus Caldwell
senior scientist and Elliot's mentor, professional relationship with Elliot and Mia, greyhaired with a stern expression, wise and secretive.
But it wasn’t the one that I had been expecting at all then when it finally came out of his mouth in a long-suffering sigh as soon as he seemed to realize that there was nothing more for it.
I was never supposed to find it.
“And now you expect me to believe that you needed the time machine too?”
he asked then with a raised eyebrow as if he had been expecting something more from me than the answer that I had given him.
The lab was off limits, and the prototype was supposed to be under lock and key.
But I’d forgotten my notes, and when I went back for them, I heard a strange humming sound coming from the back of the room.
I could feel my heart drop when I finally heard the words come out of his mouth then and knew that it wasn’t good at all.
I followed it to a large metal box with a glass window in the front.
I mean, what was I supposed to say to him?
Inside, there was nothing but darkness.
I can’t believe that I actually thought that this might work at all then even though I should have known better than to think that it would happen like this at all.
But I guess it didn’t matter in the end because I didn’t have to worry about what to say to him at all when Dr.Linus Caldwell finally spoke again in a quiet voice filled with resignation as soon as he seemed to realize that there was no way out of it now either way.
I pressed my face against the glass, trying to see what was inside, but it was no use.
The humming grew louder, and I took a step back, my heart pounding in my chest.
“I’m disappointed in you,” Dr.Caldwell said then when he finally found the words to speak again as soon as he seemed to realize that nothing more needed to be said between us either way.
The box began to shake, and I stumbled backwards, tripping over my own feet.
“I thought you would know better than this after everything that we’ve been through.
I hit the ground hard and covered my head as the box rattled on its platform.
But I guess there’s nothing more for it now except for you to get what you want from it while you still can and see what happens next.”
Then, all at once, it stopped.
He stared at me for an instant then before turning around to go back to his desk and wait for something more from me even though I didn’t know what it was or why he wanted it in the first place either way.
I could see the look of horror on Mia’s face then when she finally seemed to realize what had happened then and reached out to grab my arm again in desperation when I finally turned back around to face her again.
I waited for a moment before slowly sitting up and looking around the room.
Everything seemed normal—the same as it always did when I came in here to work on my research.
“Don’t worry, Elliot, I’ll take it from here,” Mia said then in an attempt to comfort me as soon as we finally left Dr.Caldwell behind and went back to our office to wait for Dr.Caldwell to find us again so he could explain everything to us and give us our punishment too.
I got to my feet and brushed myself off before heading over to the box again.
“You won’t be in any more trouble now.”
I shook my head and sighed, rolling my eyes at my own paranoia.
I could see the look of desperation on her face when she finally turned back around to face me again and knew that it wasn’t true at all, but I didn’t know what else to do except nod and let her go on believing it while she still could before I changed my mind and pointed out how wrong it really was then and how much worse it would be when Dr.Caldwell finally found out again too.
I couldn’t help but think that it would have been better for us if he did at that point, but I didn’t know how to change her mind or make her see things the way that I did too when I finally realized how bad it might really be for both of us to keep this up until he found out what we had done between us then.
There was nothing to be afraid of.
It was just a box, after all.
Just a box with a strange hum and a dark interior, and it had been sitting in the back of a high-security lab that was supposed to be completely empty.
It wasn’t long before she started to say something more about it then though, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it was going to be about this time since I had known her for so long and knew her well enough to figure out why she would want to be talking about this mess any more than what we had done already too, even if I didn’t know what she would have said either way.
I shook my head again and turned to leave, but something stopped me.
The memory of the box—the humming, the shaking, the darkness inside—flooded back into my mind with startling clarity.
“So, I guess you got lucky and managed to get away with it after all,” Mia said then in an attempt to lighten the mood and make me feel better about what had happened between us even though I didn’t know what it would take to make me feel better about anything again either way, even if I had wanted it desperately enough to do something about it before she went on talking about it any more than what we had done already too.
I shivered as I turned back around, my heart now pounding in my chest.
“I guess you really are as young as they say you are, Elliot, since otherwise they would never have let you get away with it.”
I could see the look of horror on her face again when she realized what she had said then and knew that it wasn’t true even though they had let me get away with what I had done anyway and would never change their minds about it now, even more than what had happened before too since they had seen the truth for themselves and knew that there was no changing my mind or anyone else’s mind now that they had seen what I had found out without them knowing about it in the first place too.
It was just a box, I told myself.
“I’m sorry, Elliot,” Mia said again after a while as we went on walking down the hall together again once we were finished in our office and knew there was nothing more for us to do there now except go back home and wait for Dr.Caldwell to come find us again while we waited for him to say something more about what had happened between us and give us our punishment too before he went away again until he was ready for more from us once we were ready for him again too.
But even I didn’t believe it.
“I don’t know what we were thinking, getting into this mess like this.”
I found myself standing in front of the glass window again, the humming now growing louder by the second.
I could see the look of desperation on her face again when she finally turned back around to face me again and knew that it wasn’t true even though she wanted to believe it was true all along too since it seemed like a good idea at the time when we first found out about it together then while we were still waiting for Dr.Caldwell to come find us in our office so he could tell us more about it and give us our punishment afterward too before he went away again once he saw how upset we were by everything he had told us already too.
I pressed my face against the glass, trying to see what was inside, but it was no use.
The lights flickered, the room began to shake, and for one terrifying moment, I was completely blind.
When my vision returned, I was standing alone in the dark lab once more.
“What do you mean?”
My head snapped around to see that familiar metal box with its glass window and nothing inside.
“I don’t know,” Mia said after a while as we went on walking down the hall together again and knew that it was true all along too even though she didn’t want to say that it was true now too after what had happened between us before now.
Just as before, there was nothing out of place—except that the coffee cup that had been sitting on the desk when I came in was now on the floor.
“I just don’t know how we’re going to get out of this mess now that Dr.Caldwell knows about what we did back there in the lab before and saw us for ourselves too.”
It was next to the chair where my mentor always sat when he came to work on his research with me.
The same chair that was now empty.
“Maybe he’ll be nice and let us go,” I said after a while too as we stopped walking down the hall together and sat down on a bench in front of the lab building together too while we waited for him to come find us again so he could tell us more about what he knew and give us our punishment too after we were finished waiting for him to get there.
Had it all been a dream?
“I don’t think so,” Mia said as she stopped talking again and knew that it wasn’t going to happen anyway since he knew what we had done then and wasn’t going to let us get away with it now either even though he knew how desperate we were for him to change his mind too.
“I think he’s going to make us pay for this.”
A terrible nightmare?
But then I saw it—the coffee cup on the floor, right where it had fallen when we activated the box for the first time.
“What do you mean?”
I shivered as I knelt down to pick it up and place it back on the desk where it belonged.
I asked her after a while as I stopped talking and knew that it was true all along too even though I wanted to believe that it wouldn’t happen anyway at some point too.
I had traveled back in time.
“I read somewhere once that if someone were to go back in time, they would be going back into a past that wasn’t their own,” Mia said again as she stopped talking for a moment and knew that it was true anyway since I had read the same thing too.
Only for a moment, but still—it had happened.
“Because if they stayed where they were, they would be changing their future to a present that isn’t their own,” she said after a while as she went on talking about what she knew too and knew that I had read the same thing too.
A chill ran down my spine as I realized that time travel wasn’t just a theoretical possibility anymore.
“You know that already,” I said after a while as I stopped talking and knew that it was true anyway since I had read the same thing myself too.
“Yeah, but what if they didn’t come back?”
It was real.
Mia said again after a while.
And I’d witnessed it with my own eyes.
My heart raced at the implications of what I’d discovered.
“What do you mean?”
I asked her after a while as I stopped talking and knew that she was right about that too even though she didn’t want to admit that she was right about all of what she said then.
This could change everything.
“What if they went back and changed something else instead?”
The ethical dilemmas that had once seemed so distant and abstract were now looming large over me, and for the first time, I wasn’t sure how to handle them.
Mia said again after a while.
How could I keep something like this a secret?
“What if they changed something that shouldn’t have been changed in the first place?”
The temptation to go back and fix all my mistakes—to change things for the better—was almost overwhelming.
“But what if they did?”
The confines of our makeshift break room suddenly felt too small for the weight of what I was about to say.
I said after a while as I stopped talking and knew that she didn’t want to hear me say that then either since I didn’t know what to say to her then anyway and knew full well that she was right about all of that.
I shook my head and scrubbed a hand over my face.
“God, Mia, you’re not going to like this.”
“But if they did, then they would be changing things to their own futures instead,” Mia said as she stopped talking for a moment and knew that she was right about that part then.
She raised an eyebrow and gave me a piercing look.
“And you can’t change your future just like that because then you wouldn’t be able to change your past either,” she said after a while as she went on talking about what happens when you know too much since we both knew full well that we couldn’t do anything to change all of that now.
“But you can change your future,” I said after a while.
I could almost feel her trying to pry the words from my lips with the sheer force of her gaze.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“But only if you change your past first,” Mia said again after a while.
I hesitated, and she folded her arms across her chest.
“And then it wouldn’t be happening anymore either,” she said again as she stopped talking for a moment and knew that she was right about that part then too since nothing was happening then except for us two being there by ourselves anyway.
“Elliot, you know you can trust me.
“And then you might never know if anything happened at all,” she said after a while as she went on talking about what could happen to us then too.
“And then we wouldn’t ever know what happened either,” Mia said again after a while.
If you found something that could be dangerous—”
“It’s not dangerous,” I interrupted.
“Then how will we ever know if anything happened to us?”
I asked Mia after a while.
I took a deep breath and sat down across from her at the table.
This was going to be hard, no matter how I tried to spin it.
“I don’t think we will,” Mia said after a while.
“Then why did you show me this thing in the first place?”
But she deserved to know.
I asked her then.
Mia Chen was the only person in this godforsaken lab that I trusted with my life.
In any other situation, we would have been rivals—the two leading scientists on our project (and the youngest by far) battling it out for tenure and research grants.
“Because I wanted to show you how dangerous it is,” Mia said after a while as she stopped talking and could see in her eyes that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore since she didn’t like me saying anything about it now either since I felt bad for showing it to her in the first place then when I shouldn’t have anyway.
“It’s not safe for us to use,” Mia said again after a while.
But we were friends, first and foremost.
And right now, I needed a friend more than anything.
“I’m sorry for showing you,” she said as she went on talking but knew that she didn’t want me to say anything more about it either so I didn’t say anything more either and left it at that too.
It didn’t matter anyway.
“I activated the prototype,” I said finally.
She swore under her breath and leaned back in her chair.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what Mia said to me that day in the lab so when I got home, I started looking up everything that we knew and started reading everything that we could find too so when Mia called me that night to talk to me, she was surprised to find out that she was right about everything too since she knew that she was anyway.
“Dr.Lin is going to kill you.”
“Those people who came here,” Mia said as she started talking again while she was on the phone.
“He doesn’t have to know,” I said quickly.
“They could have changed their futures too,” she said as she went on talking about what they knew to be true anyway even though it wasn’t true at all when we really thought about it too since we were never going to know everything that we wanted to know then either but it wasn’t going to stop us from trying anyway.
“Do you think that’s possible?”
I leaned in closer, dropping my voice so that no one else could overhear.
I asked her again as I started talking too since she was right about that part too even though she didn’t want to admit it now either since it was always going to be true anyway too.
“This lab has been a mess ever since he went on sabbatical, and we both know it.He’s not exactly checking in on our progress very often.”
“Why else would they come here?”
Mia’s lips twitched in a half-smile, but it didn’t last long.
“Elliot, you can’t,” she said.
Mia said again after a while as she stopped talking for a moment.
Her voice was a mix of concern and pleading.
“We’ve talked about this before.You can’t just change things because you don’t like how they turned out.It’s not worth the risk.”
But Mia didn’t like it at all when she heard me say that either so she went on to tell me how terrible of an idea that even was and how many people could end up dying if we were to try anything like that anyway but I didn’t care about anyone else so I told her that didn’t matter anyway but she reminded me that it always mattered in the end even though I still didn’t want to believe that at all either so it made me angry when she told me how wrong I was to even think like that in the first place so now, I just wanted to do it even more than ever before too.
My heart sank at the reminder of all the conversations we’d had on this very topic over the years.
Mia was always the voice of reason, even when she didn’t want to be.
“So you’re saying that I should just let my dad die?”
But this time felt different.
I asked Mia as she stared down at me from where she was standing in the lab with me that day too.
“No,” Mia said as she shook her head in response to my question too but knew that she was lying to me anyway too since she knew that was really what she was saying to me too even though she didn’t want to admit it either but she didn’t want me to do it either so now, she was going to try and stop me from doing it even though she didn’t have any way of doing so either.
This time, it wasn’t just about what was right and what was wrong.
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
This time, it was personal.
I asked Mia in response to what she was saying to me now as well.
I’d lost so much over the years.
I’d made so many mistakes.
“I don’t know,” Mia said as she paused for a moment before speaking again too since she wanted me to listen to what she had to say to me even though I didn’t like it at all either since it wasn’t fair for anyone else anyway when there wasn’t anything else we could do about it either.
“But this isn’t safe for us either,” Mia said as she stopped talking so that I would listen to what she had to say to me then as well when she wanted me to understand why this was a bad idea anyway but I didn’t care at all anyway either since there was nothing else left for us to do about this anyway as well.
What if I could fix them?
“You don’t know that for sure,” I said in response again when I started talking again since I knew that what Mia said probably wasn’t true so why should we believe her?
“It’s not just about me,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
“What if it is?”
I forced myself to meet her gaze, even as my stomach twisted in knots.
I asked Mia in return to what she said to me though as well.
“What if we could stop tragedies before they happen?
What if we could save lives?
“But what if it isn’t?”
Mia asked in response to that question as well.
Mia leaned back in her chair and stared at me for a long moment.
I knew what she was doing—there wasn’t a single flaw in her argument that she wouldn’t find and exploit.
“I want to try anyway,” I told Mia after a while when I started talking to her again so that she would listen to me now but she didn’t like it at all when she heard me say that anyway either.
That’s why I’d come to her first.
“You can’t,” Mia said after a while.
“Why not?”
That was the only way that I’d be sure of what to do next.
It was also why I was terrified of what she’d say.
I asked Mia as I started talking to her again.
Because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find a way to argue with her logic.
“It’s dangerous,” Mia said as she replied to my question.
And because no matter what she said, there would still be that little voice in the back of my head.
“I don’t care,” I told Mia after a while.
“This is my dad,” I said again as I started talking to Mia so that she would understand why I wanted to do it now as well.
“So you’re going to let people die because you can’t save your dad?”
Mia asked in return since she knew that it wasn’t fair for anyone else anyway either but knew that I wasn’t going to listen to what she had to say to me now anyway either so it didn’t matter at all anyway.
But there was no time for that now.
“You’re right,” I said quietly.
“There’s always another side to it, another thing that could go wrong.I just…” I trailed off and shook my head, at a loss for words.
“That’s not what I mean,” Mia said in response to my reply as she started talking to me again as well when she wanted me to listen to what she had to say next as well.
My hands clenched into fists as I fought back tears and memories I didn’t want to face.
I knew Mia wouldn’t give up, wouldn’t let me avoid what I was really feeling, but before she could say anything else, the door creaked open.
“But that’s how you’ll feel when you can’t save them,” Mia told me as she continued talking to me even though she knew that I wasn’t going to listen to what she had to say to me either way so it didn’t matter anyway as well.
“And what if you can’t find them?”
A tall figure filled the doorway, his eyes scanning the room with an intensity that made him seem even bigger than he already was.
His grey hair and stern expression made him look older than he really was, but there was no mistaking the authority he carried with him.
Mia asked in return.
Dr.Linus Caldwell, senior scientist at Quantum Research Lab and head of the project I’d been working on for the past three years.
“Then I won’t know,” I said again.
The man who’d been both a mentor and a thorn in my side ever since I’d walked through these doors.
“And it will drive you crazy because you won’t be able to stand not knowing for sure,” Mia said as she replied to that question.
“I’ll deal with it when it happens,” I said in response even though I knew that Mia wouldn’t let that happen at all anyway either.
“Dr.Hughes,” he said, his voice deep and smooth.
“It’s good to see you working hard.”
“No you won’t,” Mia said in reply to that statement of mine.
“How would you know?”
“Dr.Caldwell,” I said quickly, jumping to my feet.
I asked after a while.
“W-what are you doing here?”
“That’s not the point,” Mia said in response.
He raised an eyebrow, but I couldn’t tell if he was amused or annoyed by the question.
“Yes it is,” I replied to Mia when I started talking to her again.
“We have a meeting in five minutes, Dr.Hughes,” he said.
“No it isn’t,” Mia said in response.
“I came to find you.”
My heart raced as I glanced at the clock on the wall.
“Yes it is,” I replied back to Mia after that again.
I was supposed to be in the conference room in the other wing of the building in five minutes, and I was still on this side of the lab.
“No it isn’t,” Mia insisted then instead.
The Universal Temporal Displacer was in the other wing too, but Dr.Caldwell didn’t need to know that.
“Yes it is,” I told Mia once more.
“It doesn’t matter what I think because you’re going to do it anyway, right?”
I hadn’t even realized how much time had passed since I’d left my own workspace, but now that I thought about it, Mia and I had been talking for close to half an hour.
“I’m sorry, sir,” I said quickly.
Mia asked in return after a while but didn’t give me time to respond at all before she continued talking to me as well.
“I—I lost track of time.”
“I just hope we haven’t changed the future already or something like that or I will feel bad for them either way anyway and you should too since this is your fault as well.” Mia told me once more then as well since she wanted me to understand that part of this was my fault for everything else too.“Maybe they wouldn’t have come back if we hadn’t activated this thing.” I said as I responded to Mia once more as well but she didn’t like it at all either way so maybe I shouldn’t have said anything at all either but I needed Mia to understand how important this was for us already as well anyway.
“And maybe they would have.”
“It’s quite all right,” he said.
“Some things are more important than others.”
Mia told me after a while but didn’t give me time to respond as well.
I held my breath, hoping that he wasn’t referring to what he thought he was.
Mia must have guessed his thoughts as well, because she spoke up then.
“Since I’m not a little boy anymore.” I said in response to Mia once more after that.
“Dr.Hughes was just showing me his latest calculations,” she said smoothly.
I blinked at her in surprise.
“Yeah, I know you’re not.” Mia said in response to that statement of mine then after a while.
“You know that I only did this for sport at first.” I said in response to Mia then after a while.
That was true, technically—this morning’s calculations were the reason I’d been in my office in the first place.
“But then I got curious about the people that came into the lab.” I said to Mia then after another while.
I’d come here with the intention of running them through the computer in this wing, and I would have too, if not for…
I forced down another wave of panic as Dr.Caldwell scrutinized me more closely than before.
“And maybe I am a little bit curious about the future too.” I said in response to Mia after that.
If Mia’s lie worked, we might be able to get out of this without any further investigation.
“Aren’t you curious?”
“A little bit.” Mia replied in response to that question.
But if it didn’t…
My mind raced as I tried to come up with some excuse, some reason for why I was standing in front of the prototype when I knew full well it was off-limits.
“Not as much as you are though.”
I could tell him it was an accident, that I’d gotten lost in my own head and hadn’t realized where my feet were taking me.
“No one is curious as much as I am either way.” I said in response after that.
“Just don’t do anything stupid or anything like that.” Mia said to me after a few more minutes had passed then as well.
I could tell him that I was just passing by on my way out of the lab when Mia had stopped me, and…
“Or tell Dr.Caldwell about this.” Mia said to me after that as well.
“Is that the prototype?”
Dr.Caldwell said suddenly, his gaze fixed on the humming box behind me.
“He might panic about this thing too, too.” I said to Mia in response then instead.
“No, he won’t.”
I opened my mouth, but no words would come out now.
He already knew the truth, or at least part of it.
Mia said in response to that statement of mine then instead.
“What are you going to tell him?”
I asked Mia after a while.
I felt my face flush with heat as I nodded.
“Nothing,” Mia said in response to that question after a few moments had passed then.
“I’ll just tell him that we need more time before we can work on the project he gave us.”
“I see,” he said, his voice carefully neutral.
“And what were you doing here?”
Mia said in response after another few moments had passed then as well.
“But I don’t have more time.”
I swallowed hard and did my best to meet his gaze even as I knew how much trouble I was in.
I said in response to Mia then instead.
I could lie and say I was just passing by as I’d been planning, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t work as well now that he knew I was already lying about something else.
“Yes, you do.” Mia insisted in response instead.
“Nothing,” I said finally, my voice coming out small and squeaky.
“I wasn’t—I mean, I didn’t—”
“I think the most important thing is what we can learn from them if anything too as well.”
Mia said in response to that question of mine after a few minutes had passed then again.
“I see,” he said again, but this time his tone was tinged with disappointment.
“So you were simply ignoring my rules for no reason at all.”
“And from what they’ve told us so far, there isn’t anything they can teach us.” Mia said in response then as she continued talking to me even after that.
I flinched at his words and felt my face grow even hotter.
“We shouldn’t have contacted them again or used the machine.”
“But we did use the machine.”
“I…left my notes in my office,” I said weakly.
I reminded Mia in response to that statement of hers then after a few moments had passed again.
“I was just coming back to get them.”
“We should have listened to them.”
“You left your notes in your office,” he repeated.
Mia continued on.
“And so instead of going back to your office to get them like any other person would have done, you chose to enter a restricted area and waste your time standing in front of a machine you’re not allowed to use?”
I forced myself to take a deep breath.
“We should have destroyed the machine just like they asked us to do as well.”
“They can still go home if they want to.”
I didn’t want to tell him that I’d been planning to run the same experiment again.
That it had worked before.
Mia said in response then as well.
“So that means that the future is still up for grabs then as well or something like that?”
That it would work again.
And most of all, I didn’t want him to know that all those things seemed so much more important than following his stupid rules.
I asked Mia after a few moments had passed then again.
But there was no way to hide it now.
“I don’t know,” Mia replied in response as she talked to me again.
“I just think it’s ridiculous that you’re risking all of this just because you want to prove Dr.Caldwell wrong or something like that.”
“Yes,” I said finally.
I’m sorry.” The last two words felt like a lie—there was a part of me that was endlessly grateful for the chance to make everything right.
“What are you talking about?”
But that was a part of me I couldn’t let him see.
I asked Mia then as well.
“I’m talking about the reason you made this time machine,” she said to me then instead as she answered my question.
I’d promised Mia—and myself—that I wouldn’t give in to the temptation that made my fingers itch every time I thought about it.
Dr.Caldwell didn’t say anything for a long moment as he stared down at me with his piercing eyes.
“It wasn’t just because you wanted to know what happened at the end of the universe or anything like that.”
“That’s exactly why I did this though,” I told Mia once more then as well when she started talking to me again.
When he finally spoke again, his tone was softer than before, but somehow even more intimidating.
“No, it’s not,” Mia insisted once again then while she was talking to me again.
“The work we do here is very important,” he said.
“It’s because you wanted to be better than all of them or something like that.” She continued on talking to me after that.
“We are on the cusp of making some very significant breakthroughs in our field, discoveries that could change everything we know about the universe and how it works.
“But as important as our work is,” he continued, “I want you to remember that your respect for me—and the other members of this team—is even more important.If you are struggling with that concept, Dr.Hughes, then perhaps you should be reconsidering your choice to work here in the first place.” And with that final warning ringing in my ears, he turned on his heel and left the room without another word.
“Or am I just supposed to believe that you made this amazing discovery all on your own?”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and sank back into my chair with a loud thud.
Mia waited a few more seconds before turning to me with a sly smile that made my stomach turn over in a way that had nothing to do with the prototype I’d just been scolded about.
“Glad to see you’re still on the same side as the rest of us,” she said.
The way that Mia was looking at me and talking to me was making it seem as though I was trying to take credit for someone else’s discovery or something like that when it was actually my own or something like that even though I had made sure that no one else would find out about how I had made this discovery as well and kept it a secret then and everything was still going exactly how it was supposed to go then at that time.
“How does it feel to be such a big shot?”
I raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.
“What do you mean?”
Mia asked me then after that as well when she kept on looking at me and everything as well and not moving her gaze away from me at all or anything like that at all either then too.
“You’re acting like this is a bad thing,” I said back to Mia then as well when she was still asking me questions about this type of thing and everything else then too.
She let out a breathy laugh and shook her head.
“Isn’t it?”
“You really had me worried there for a minute,” she said as she sat down across from me at the table.
Mia said in response when she was still looking at me and everything else in that type of way then as she talked to me again then too.
“I don’t think so,” I said to Mia then as well.
“Why not?”
She paused for a moment, and when she finally met my eyes, they were filled with an emotion I couldn’t quite place.
She asked me then even though I could tell that she was being sarcastic and everything as well then too.
“You’re my best friend, Elliot,” she said quietly.
“You know you can always talk to me about anything.”
“Because it’s not like I’m hurting anyone by doing this or anything like that at all either then.”
I could feel my face growing hot under her intense stare.
“But what if you are hurting someone by doing this?”
Mia asked me then as well.
“I know that,” I said, trying to keep my tone level despite the way my stomach was tying itself into knots.
“How can I be hurting someone by doing this?”
“It’s just…”
I asked Mia then as well.
I trailed off, unsure of how to finish that sentence.
Unsure of what she’d say if she knew the truth about what had been keeping me so distracted for the past week.
“What if there are some things that we’re not supposed to know or something like that?”
She asked me then once again.
Unsure of what she’d do with that truth.
She reached out across the table and placed her hand over mine, and all at once, the words started spilling out of my mouth as though they’d been waiting for this moment all along.
“So, I’m just supposed to listen to what other people say or something like that and not do what I want to do or what I think is right or something like that just because of that type of thing instead or something like that then?”
“I know you’re going to think I’m crazy,” I said as she squeezed my hand in silent support.
“But what if it’s for that person’s own good or something like that?”
Mia asked me then once again.
And then, before I could stop myself, I told her everything.
About how Dr.Caldwell had asked me to run an experiment on a strange piece of equipment he’d found in a lab he wasn’t supposed to be in.
“How do you know what’s good for them and everything else then as well though?”
I asked Mia once again then too.
About how that equipment had turned out to be a functioning time machine.
“So…what you’re saying is that you built a time machine?”
“I don’t,” she said to me then in response this time then too.
Mia asked finally, her voice tinged with disbelief.
“But do you?”
I could hardly blame her—my story sounded like something out of a cheesy science fiction novel even to my own ears.
She asked me then as well.
“No,” I said with a shake of my head.
“No, but I’m not going to let that get in my way of doing something that I want to do and everything,” I said to Mia once again.
“It was already there when he found it.
“Even if it might be wrong or something like that to do it and everything,” Mia said back to me then as well.
“But how do you know that it’s wrong?”
He just didn’t want to tell anyone about it until he was sure whether or not it worked.”
I asked Mia then as well.
“And you were able to get it working again?”
“Oh, please don’t tell me that you’re one of those people who thinks that just because they want something, they should have it and everything.”
Mia asked, her skeptical expression slowly giving way to one of amazement.
“How did you know how?
She told me then after a few moments had passed and everything as well.
“Of course, I am,” I told Mia then once again.
Do you remember how he did it?”
I nodded, trying to keep my voice steady as I described the machine to her.
“Then, what are you willing to sacrifice in order to get what you want then?”
“It’s…well, it looks sort of like a giant egg,” I said.
“Or at least that’s what they called it when they built it.
It’s actually more of an elongated sphere, with this glowing panel on one side and a small hatch on the other.
I didn’t know how much I was willing to sacrifice at all now or anything like that at all now as well either now at all though and everything else now at all either now.
Over the next few weeks, Mia and I worked hard on developing a way to detect time travelers and everything as well now and everything else at all then too.
Dr.Caldwell said that—”
We weren’t sure how long we had before someone found out that we had activated the prototype and everything as well either now or anything like that at all now either now and everything as well now either then or anything like that now or then either at all now or anything like that then as well now and everything else at all now or anything like that then at all now either now at all though.
Mia held up a hand to cut me off, and I felt my cheeks growing hot at how much I must have sounded like an excited child explaining his favorite toy.
So, we decided that we would have to work as fast as we could to figure out how we were going to be able to detect any more time travelers who might come to our time and everything as well then either at all now or anything like that now either now or anything like that at all then as well.
“Sorry,” she said.
“What should we do if a time traveler shows up while we’re here?”
“I don’t mean to interrupt.
It’s just…that sounds like a lot of detail for something you only saw once.
Mia asked me one day then as well.
Are you sure it’s such a good idea to remember all that?”
“We’ll tell them to leave,” I said to Mia then as well.
I shrugged, suddenly feeling like a child who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“But what if they don’t listen to us?”
“I’ve been…thinking about it a lot,” I said finally.
She asked me then as well.
“You know they’re not going to listen to us,” I told Mia then as well.
“About what it would be like to actually use it, I mean.”
“So, what are we supposed to do then?”
“You can’t be serious,” Mia said, her expression shifting from amazement to horror in an instant.
“Maybe it’s time to tell the world,” I said to Mia then as well.
“The whole point of this experiment is to test the theory of time travel.
“No, I don’t think so,” she told me then as well.
To see if it’s even possible, let alone something we should be trying to do in the first place.
If you were to use that machine and end up changing anything—even something as small as stepping on a bug—there’s no telling what the repercussions could be.
“Why not?”
I asked Mia then as well.
You’ve read the literature, Elliot.
“Because there are some people who are going to try to take advantage of us once they know what we can do and everything then.”
You know how dangerous this technology is.”
I nodded, feeling a pit of dread begin to form in my stomach at the thought of some of the disasters that could result from the misuse of a functioning time machine.
“And what if they find out anyways?”
I asked Mia then as well.
“Of course I know that,” I said.
“But what if we were careful?
“Then, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” she said back to me then as well.
“So, what are we supposed to do then about this situation?”
I asked Mia then as well.
Mia shook her head, her pinched expression suggesting that she thought me completely mad.
“I don’t know,” she said to me then as well.
“You sound like a child begging for his mommy to let him play with matches,” she said contemptuously.
“Well, I guess it’s time for us to get back to work then,” I said to Mia then as well.
“How do you feel about this?”
“Time travel is not something that we should be playing around with, Elliot.
Mia asked me after a few moments of silence had passed between us then even though it wasn’t all that long of a time either at all.
We have no idea what the consequences of changing even the smallest thing might be.
What if there were a reason for your father to die when he did?
“What do you mean by how do I feel about this?”
What if saving him caused someone else to die instead?
I asked Mia then as well.
“If someone were to try to hurt you because of this situation,” Mia said to me then as well.
Or a hundred other people?
“I would probably be dead already,” I said to her in response.
How could we possibly live with ourselves, knowing that we’d caused so much pain in order to save our own loved ones?”
“That’s not fair,” I argued.
“And besides, why would anyone want to hurt me at all?”
I asked her then as well.
“We can’t possibly know what the consequences of our actions would be.
“Maybe they don’t like the fact that you’re trying to learn about something that you shouldn’t be learning about at all then,” she told me.
What if it was meant to happen, Mia?
What if there was a reason why it wasn’t supposed to be his time yet?”
“But how would they know anyways?”
I asked Mia then as well.
Mia sighed, her hard expression softening slightly.
“I understand that it’s difficult for you,” she said gently.
“I don’t know,” she said back to me.
“But maybe it’s time for you to stop with this nonsense.”
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose someone I loved as much as you loved your father.
I really can’t.
“What nonsense?”
But that doesn’t change the fact that we can’t possibly know what the repercussions of our actions might be.
I asked Mia then as well.
The universe has existed for billions of years, Elliot—maybe even longer than that.
How could we possibly think that we were capable of understanding enough of it to make decisions like that?
What makes you think that changing something that happened in your past would be any more likely to save him than any of the hundreds of other things you’ve tried?”
“So, what do we do about this situation?”
Caldwell asked me and Mia after he had closed the door behind him.
I felt the familiar sting of tears behind my eyes at the mention of my father, and I quickly blinked them away before she could see them.
“It’s not just that,” I said thickly.
“We didn’t know what we were doing until after we did it,” Mia said in response.
“I see, so this was all Elliot’s idea then?”
“I mean…it would be amazing, wouldn’t it?
Caldwell asked her in response.
To have the chance to actually see the past for ourselves?
To meet some of the most famous men and women who ever lived and witness some of the greatest events in history?
“I didn’t know what I was doing either until after I did it as well,” I said in response.
It would be a shame not to take advantage of that opportunity when we have it right in front of us.”
“Did you two not think about the consequences of your actions for a second before you did this?”
“I didn’t know what I was doing until after I did it as well,” I said in response.
Mia looked at me blankly for a moment, as though she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.
“But we do have that opportunity,” she argued.
“I see, so why do we have rules and regulations in place if no one is going to follow them?”
“That’s the whole point of this experiment, isn’t it?
Caldwell asked me and Mia in response.
“I’m sorry, Dr.Caldwell, but we didn’t mean to do what we did,” Mia said in response.
To see if we can find a way to study the past in a way that doesn’t change it?
To find a way to learn from our mistakes without having to live through them again and again?
“That doesn’t change the fact that the two of you did this without my permission at all though either,” Caldwell said in response.
To find a way to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself?”
“How can we be sure that we’re not still experiencing side effects from our trip?”
I shook my head, knowing that we were never going to see eye to eye on this subject.
I asked Caldwell in response.
“I see, and why would you ask me such a thing?”
“We’re not going to agree on this, are we?”
I asked, and Mia shook her head.
Caldwell asked me in response.
“It’s just that the two of us have been having some weird dreams lately is all.”
“I’m sorry,” she said apologetically.
“I understand that you want to try and save your father, Elliot.
“And what is it that you’ve been dreaming about?”
“I guess, so, and what does all of this have to do with anything at all?”
I really do, and I wish that there was something I could do or say to help you come to terms with what happened.
Caldwell asked me in response.
But I just can’t in good conscience support something that has the potential to do so much harm.”
“I understand,” I said finally, though of course I didn’t—it was impossible for me to understand how Mia could be so dismissive of something that had the potential to solve all of my problems with one fell swoop.
“I guess we’re asking whether or not all of this is real.”
“I see, so, in other words, the two of you are having second thoughts about all of this then is that correct?”
Caldwell asked us in response.
“I guess so, and why wouldn’t we be having second thoughts about all of this anyways?”
Because she was right about one thing—she wasn’t going to change my mind on this any more than I was going to change hers.
“And what makes you think you’re having these side effects?”
She took a deep breath, and when she spoke again, her voice was calm and controlled.
“I know you don’t want to hear this,” she said, “but I really think you should talk about this with Dr.
Caldwell asked me then as well.
Lin before you do anything else.”
“I guess it’s just a feeling is all,” I told him then as well.
“So, are the two of you going to continue with this experiment then or not?”
I frowned at her in confusion.
Caldwell asked us then as well.
“Why would I want to do that?”
“No, I don’t think so,” I told him then as well.
I asked, and Mia sighed.
“Because he feels exactly the same way that I do,” she said simply.
“Good, because the two of you don’t know how dangerous all of this can be at all,” Caldwell told us then as well.
“He’s just never been able to articulate it very well.
“What do you mean by dangerous?”
He’s always been more concerned with the fact that he doesn’t trust anyone else with the technology—not even those who have proven themselves worthy of studying it—than with explaining why he feels that way.
I asked Caldwell then as well.
He’s a man of faith, Elliot, and he truly believes that there are some things that are better left unknown.”
“Do either of you know why it is that we refuse to allow anyone to know about any of this?”
Caldwell asked us in response.
“But you can’t seriously think that he’s right,” I protested, and Mia shook her head.
“I see, have either of you ever heard of the Butterfly Effect then?”
“No,” she said simply.
“Of course not.
Caldwell asked us in response.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from working with him over these past few years, it’s that he always has a good reason for doing what he does.
“No, I don’t think so,” I told him then as well.
“Then, let me tell you what it is then,” Caldwell said in response.
And if he’s being so secretive about the technology, then there’s probably a very good reason for that, too.
And whatever it is, I don’t think it’s one we want to mess with.”
“If you were to go back in time and do something different than what you did the first time around, then everything could turn out differently than it did the first time around,” Caldwell told us.
“Meaning what exactly?”
“Excuse me,” Dr.
I asked Caldwell then as well.
Caldwell’s voice boomed from behind me, and the sound of it made me jump guiltily—if there was one thing I knew about our mentor, it was that he would never forgive us for discussing his secrets in his absence.
“Is there something the two of you would like to share with me?
“That everything could have turned out differently than it did the first time around if you were to go back in time and change everything could turn out differently than it did the first time around.”
Shamefaced, Mia and I turned to find Dr.
“So, does this mean that everything could turn out worse than it did the first time around or not?”
Caldwell standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest as he regarded us sternly from where he stood.
I asked Caldwell then as well.
“The two of you are very lucky indeed since nothing terrible has happened yet since you did what you did, but who’s to say nothing terrible won’t happen in the future though either?”
He looked very much like our high school principal at that moment, and it was all I could do not to shrink back from him in fear.
Mia cleared her throat awkwardly and turned back to face him.
Caldwell asked me and Mia then as well.
“So, are you saying we should stop now or not?”
“I was just telling Elliot to talk to you about the experiment,” she lied smoothly.
“I’m sure you have more information about it than I do, and I thought he might benefit from a little perspective.”
I asked Caldwell then as well.
Dr.
“It’s up to the two of you whether or not you’ll stop now or not.”
Caldwell didn’t look convinced, but he nodded all the same.
“And how are we supposed to know whether or not we should stop now or not?”
“I will be glad to share what I can with you, Mr.
Hughes,” he said sternly.
Catching my drift, Mia raised an eyebrow and laughed.
“But this is not the best place to be having such a discussion.
Please come see me in my office tomorrow at one o’clock, and we will talk then.”
“I’m going to leave the two of you alone to think about what you’re going to do next,” Caldwell said then as well.
“Of course,” Mia said quickly, and Dr.
“If you need me, I’ll be in my office working on something else.”
Then, before either of us could say anything else, Dr.Caldwell left the room and went back to his office then as well.
Caldwell turned to leave.
“Dismissed,” he said sternly, and Mia and I scrambled out of the lab as quickly as we could.
As soon as Dr.Caldwell was gone, Mia turned to me and said, “What exactly is so funny, Elliot?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said in response.
For a moment, neither of us spoke as we processed what had just happened.
We both knew that we had been very lucky to get away with what we had done, but even so, it was hard for me to be grateful after having been cut off so abruptly from the thing I wanted most.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mia said in response.
As though she could sense what I was thinking, Mia spoke first.
“I’m just happy to see you smiling again.”
“Don’t be mad at me,” she said quietly.
“I’m sorry about all of this, but it’s something I had to do,” I said in response.
She looked so small standing there in front of me like a child waiting to be scolded for something she couldn’t help.
“I know, but it’s not like there’s anything either of us can do to change what happened anyway,” Mia said in response.
“If you say so.”
“I’m not mad,” I said finally, though I couldn’t quite bring myself to meet her eye.
“It just doesn’t make any sense to me why you’re so afraid of this.”
“I know so.”
“It’s not that I’m afraid,” Mia said, sounding frustrated.
Looking up, I saw that the two time travelers had arrived then as well.
“But it doesn’t matter what I believe or what you believe—it only matters what Dr.
Seeing them in person, they looked like they were ordinary people who had come here from across the street, but they didn’t look like anything special either.
Lin believes.
The only thing special about them was their physical appearance since they looked like they were a whole lot younger than they really were.
“They look like they could be anyone from any time period if you ask me,” I told Mia then as well.
“Yeah, they look like they could be anyone from any time period if you ask me,” Mia said in response.
We reached an awkward silence then, both of us feeling disgruntled by how the day had ended and how much it still felt like we had left unsaid.
“They look like they could be anyone from any time period, but if you ask me, they look like they could be some of the famous people from history and some of today’s celebrities as well.”
And if he’s being so secretive about the technology, then there’s probably a very good reason for that, too.”
Dr.Caldwell glanced from one of us to the other then and raised an eyebrow, his expression growing even more suspicious as he eyed us both one last time before he finally broke the silence and asked us if we had “anything to say for ourselves.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I know that,” I said irritably.
I asked Mia then as well.
“But I still don’t understand why.
Mia took this as her cue to speak, and she cleared her throat to make sure that she had everyone’s attention before she began to speak in a soft voice that was barely above a whisper.
And this is all your fault anyway.” I couldn’t help but blame Mia for the fact that we were in this situation, even though I knew it was unfair—after all, I was the one who had broken the rules in the first place by activating the time machine on my own.
“Yes, because he looks like he could be George Washington when he was younger and she looks like she could be someone from a popular movie or television show today,” Mia said in response.
“I’m sorry, Dr.Caldwell—I should have thought to tell you first, but I needed to use the time machine for my project,” she said awkwardly, her cheeks growing even redder with embarrassment as she spoke.
But if Mia hadn’t made me think about it in the first place, then maybe I never would have done it at all—and then we wouldn’t be having this conversation now.
“I would have come to find you before I started, but the machine needs to be calibrated first, and I knew that if I asked you for permission, you would say no because you don’t think I need to use it for my project.” She paused then, looking up at him with wide eyes that were filled with anxiety and fear, and I noticed that her hands were trembling slightly as they gripped the strap of her bag that was slung over her shoulder.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Is that alright, sir?”
Mia’s eyes flashed dangerously at me, and for a moment I thought she might hit me in her anger.
I asked Mia then as well.
Dr.Caldwell stared at her for a moment longer then, his expression growing even sterner than it had been before, and we both held our breaths in anticipation of what he might say next.
“Well, maybe if you had just gone back in time to fix your dad’s accident without telling me about it first, then this wouldn’t even be an issue!”
“Yes, because he looks like he has a lot of hair on top of his head and she looks like she has a lot of hair on top of her head as well.”
“If you say so.”
Then he finally let out a long-suffering sigh and looked away from us, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger before he spoke again in a soft voice that was so quiet that we almost didn’t hear him over the sound of the machine running in the background.
she snapped, her voice rising in frustration.
“I know so.”
“I told you already—I don’t want to talk about it!”
“If you need to use the time machine, then fine,” he said, his voice filled with resignation as he looked back up at us and met our eyes again.
“But you should have told me first.Otherwise, how else am I supposed to know who is in here using it at any given time?”
Looking over at them, my eyes went wide with fear when I saw them looking at me and Mia, but it was too late for me and Mia to hide now since they had already seen us and it was too late for them to leave now since we had already seen them as well.
I didn’t want to think about it either, because it made me feel like such a bad person for even considering it in the first place.
“Well, look at what we have here,” George Washington said to his partner.
But I couldn’t help myself—there was just something about it that made me want to try.
Mia’s eyes widened in surprise then, and I saw her mouth drop open in shock before she managed to find the words to respond again in a small voice that seemed barely above a whisper.
“I’m sorry, Dr.Caldwell,” she said apologetically, and I noticed that her voice was almost shaking now.
And Mia was right that I would have gone back to try to save my dad’s life if I could have, and it was hard to think about what might have happened if I had.
“It looks like we’re not the only ones who are here then after all,” George Washington’s partner said to him then as well.
But it wasn’t really fair for her to blame me for thinking about it in the first place when she had put the thought there to begin with.
“No, it doesn’t look like we’re the only ones who are here then after all,” George Washington said in response to his partner then as well.
And before I could gather my thoughts enough to say any of this out loud, I heard the sound of footsteps coming from down the hall and turned to see Dr.
“Is there something I can do for the two of you then?”
I asked George Washington then as well.
Linus Caldwell coming back into the room.
“No, but there is something the two of us can do for the two of you then seeing as how you’re scientists and the two of us are time travelers,” George Washington said to me then as well.
His gait was slow and deliberate as he made his way over to where Mia and I stood frozen in place like two deer caught in headlights.
When he reached us and looked down at us sternly from behind his glasses, I got the sense that he knew that we had been talking about him behind his back when he wasn’t around.
“You’re time travelers then?”
I asked George Washington then as well.
I tried not to shrink back from him as I met his eyes.
Mia smiled up at him brightly and gave him an awkward wave as though she were trying to act natural, but it was clear that Dr.
“Yes, we’re time travelers then after all,” George Washington said in response to me then as well.
Looking over at Mia, I saw her looking skeptical like she always did when I talked about time travel before and after everything I had seen and experienced today I couldn’t blame her for being skeptical at all either.
Caldwell was not impressed by the gesture, and he simply cleared his throat to get our attention instead.
“I’m afraid I must ask, Miss Chen, what you are doing here,” he said sternly, his voice booming through the room so loudly that I was sure everyone else on the floor would be able to hear him as well.
“Is there a reason that you have come to the lab without first informing me or receiving my permission?”
“Okay, let me get this straight then,” Mia said to George Washington.“You and your partner came here through a time machine that allowed you to travel through time and space from one time period into another?”
I could almost see the color draining out of Mia’s face as she tried to come up with an answer that wouldn’t incriminate either of us, but neither of us had any idea how to respond to his question without getting ourselves into even more trouble than we already were.
“Yes, because it’s our job to travel through time and space from one time period into another,” George Washington said in response.
“Please tell me this is a joke then because if it isn’t this is going to be a big problem,” Mia said to George Washington then as well.
I could see the anger in his expression then and knew that he was upset that Mia had used the time machine without his permission.
“No, this isn’t a joke at all because if it was we wouldn’t be here right now and neither would the two of you be here right now as well,” George Washington said to Mia then as well.
But there was something else there too—a look of hurt and betrayal that had appeared in his eyes only for an instant.
“Well, since we’re all here right now I think it would be best if we just left now and let the authorities take care of everything else,” Mia said to George Washington then as well.
“No, because if we leave now there’s no telling what could happen if and when someone else comes into contact with us later on and besides we’re not alone here right now either which is why it’s best if the four of us just go ahead and get everything out into the open right now instead.”
And I wondered whether it was because Mia had used the time machine without his permission or if it was because she had kept something so important from him instead.
“No, this is not a joke at all and it’s not something we’re taking very lightly either which is why I’m going to have to ask the two of you to leave now and come back later if and when I say so then.”
But before I could figure out which one it might be, he turned away from us and left the room in silence.
Mia and I stood there for a moment longer in shock before we finally heard the sound of the door closing behind him and knew that he had left for sure this time.
“No, because if and when I say so then if and when I say so then the two of you won’t be able to do anything about it then.”
“No, because if and when I say so then if and when I say so then a lot of people would be angry with the two of you then.”
And as soon as we did, the full weight of what I had done finally hit me and my shoulders slumped forward in defeat.
Mia reached out to grab my arm in concern as soon as she saw me like that and I turned to look at her with wide eyes to let her know that I was okay.
“Yes, but if and when I say so then if and when I say so then a lot of people would be happy with the two of you then.”
“I can’t argue with that then since a lot of people would be happy with us then, but a lot of other people would want us dead though and I don’t want my head to end up on a stick or anything like that either then.”
She looked just as worried about me as I felt about myself and I tried to put on a brave face for her even though I knew that she could see right through me anyway.
“I don’t want my head to end up on a stick or anything like that either then.”
“In all seriousness, Mia,” I said then in a low voice as soon as I knew that we were alone.
“I don’t think any of us want our heads to end up on sticks then.”
“What should we do?”
“I don’t think any of us want our heads to end up on sticks then.”
Mia looked up at me then and reached out to grab my arm again to let me know that everything would be alright even though we both knew that it probably wouldn’t be.
She opened her mouth to say something then but nothing came out when she did, and I could see the look of horror and shock on her face when she realized that there was nothing that we could do now except for wait to see what happened next.
Looking over at Mia, I saw her looking scared with fear like I was, but like I did with every other danger we faced before and after today I knew I could count on her to take care of herself just like she could count on me to take care of myself as well.
“What do you think we should do then?”
And so we did.
Dr.Caldwell left us alone then to adjust to the shock of what we had done and prepare ourselves for what might come next.
I asked Mia then.
It could have been minutes or hours later that he finally returned to his office again without us knowing.
“I think we should do what he says and leave now even though it goes against everything I believe in, but it’s not like we have much of a choice since he’s the one calling the shots now is he?”
“No, he is not so since he’s the one calling the shots I guess we don’t have much of a choice then do we?”
But as soon as he did, I knew that I couldn’t avoid him much longer.
“No, we don’t have much of a choice then do we?”
I felt like he was just waiting for me to come to him then and admit my guilt, and I knew that it wasn’t fair of me to keep him waiting like that even though I didn’t know if I would ever be ready to face him again.
I could feel his eyes on me then as soon as he walked into the room behind me and knew that I couldn’t keep pretending any longer.
I asked Mia then.
He stared at me emotionlessly then until he realized that I wasn’t going to say anything first and eventually let out a long-suffering sigh before he spoke again in a quiet voice filled with resignation.
“Do as he says and leave now before something bad happens,” Mia said in response.
“Did you need to use the time machine as well?”
“I suggest you do what she says and leave now before something bad happens,” George Washington said in response.
Nodding my head in agreement, Mia and I left the lab together, but since neither of us wanted to speak to Dr.
he asked then in a quiet voice as soon as he realized that I wasn’t going to say anything on my own.
I tried to find the words to speak then but nothing came out when I went to answer him and I could feel the weight of all the things that I had done pressing down on me before I finally managed to find the words to form a sentence.
“My best friend needed the time machine,” I said awkwardly as soon as I finally found the words to speak again.
I’m not sure why either—she wouldn’t tell me what it’s for.But she sounded like it was important.”
I nodded silently then, and waited for his response to see what he would do.
After we both nodded our heads in agreement, Dr.Caldwell looked down at his computer and typed away for a few minutes before getting up from his chair and going over to his desk to get something.
Dr.Caldwell stared at me for an instant then before reaching up to rub his temples as if he had a headache.
When he came back, he had a small USB drive in his hand that he gave me before saying, “You’ll know what to do with this.”
“Yes, I think we will know what to do with this,” I said in response.
“Good, now go and do it and don’t come back until it’s done then.”
“Yes, sir, we won’t come back until it’s done then.”
“You better not come back until it’s done since a lot of people’s lives depend on it being done and getting done quickly too.”
“Yes, sir, a lot of people’s lives depend on it being done and getting done quickly too.”
“Now go and do it and don’t come back until it’s done then.”
“Yes, sir, we will go and do it and we won’t come back until it’s done then.”
“Good, now go and do it and don’t come back until it’s done then.”
Turning around, Mia and I left Dr.
Caldwell without saying anything more.
We didn’t want him to change his mind or get angry with us for any reason so we did what he said and went home where we worked on trying to figure out what we were supposed to do with the USB drive we had been given.
After working on it for a few hours, Mia finally got the files open and found out that they were something that was sent from someone who was anonymous and wanted them to know that they had seen something that no one else had seen before.
It was a video of some kind of event that was happening six months from now that they thought they should see before anyone else.
Once they had watched it, they were supposed to email them back telling them what they had seen so that they would know what was going on in the future.
Mia told me all of this while we were watching the video that was only a few seconds long, but showed something that I knew only three people knew was going on right now.
“Why would they send us something like that?”
I asked Mia after seeing what was on it.
“I have no idea, but it seems like they were trying to send some kind of message that no one else would understand unless they had seen it themselves.”
“But why would anyone want us to see something that hasn’t happened yet?”
“Because it seems like what they showed us was a moment in time that hasn’t happened yet and something that won’t happen unless we do something about it if you ask me.”
Just then, Mia and I heard a knock on our door and when I got up from the couch and went over to answer it, I saw that it was Dr.Caldwell who looked like he had aged ten years since we had seen him last time which was only a few hours ago then.
“Hello, sir, can I help you with something?”
I asked Dr.Caldwell then.
“Yes, you can help me by letting me in so that I can talk to you and Mia about something important,” Dr.Caldwell said in response.
I stepped aside and let Dr.
Caldwell walk past me so that he could go into the living room where Mia was waiting for us.
Once he was sitting down on the couch next to her, he looked at Mia and asked, “What did you find on that USB drive?”
“I found this video that shows something that happens exactly six months from today,” Mia said as she handed Dr.
Caldwell the USB drive in question.
Taking the drive from her, Dr.
Caldwell put it in his pocket and said, “And what does this have to do with Elliot activating a prototype time machine that he wasn’t supposed to activate without my permission?”
When Mia and I didn’t say anything at all in response, he asked, “Did you see anything on that video that has something to do with time travel or anything else related to that?”
Mia and I hesitated before answering his question honestly even though we weren’t sure if he would believe us or not if we told him the truth about what was on it.
“Yes, there was something about time travel on there,” I told Dr.
“Interesting, so you’re saying that someone out there knows what you two were doing in your lab last night and sent you this video on purpose so that you would know what was going on?”
Dr.Caldwell asked Mia and me.
“It seems like it, sir,” Mia said in response while I nodded my head in agreement.
Dr.Caldwell sat there for a moment, thinking about everything that Mia had just told him before he said, “I think it’s time that you two show me what you have been working on then.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?”
Mia asked him.
“No, but I don’t think it’s safe for you two to be working on something like this by yourselves either which is why I want you both to come with me so that we can talk about what you two did last night and why you decided to work on it in secret without telling me or anyone else who was working on it with you.”
“Fine, we can do that,” Mia said in response as she got up from her seat on the couch.
“Good, now lock up your place and come with me please,” Dr.
Once Mia and I had done what he asked of us, Dr.
Caldwell took us out of the building where we lived together and led us toward his car which was parked right outside of it.
Once we were inside, he started up the car and began driving toward his place where he lived alone.
Eventually, we got there and when we were inside of his place, he sat down at his computer on his desk so that he could look at the video that we had shown him earlier while Mia and I sat down on his couch together.
As soon as he got done watching the video, Dr.
Caldwell took out his phone from his pocket and began recording himself talking into it while standing there.
As soon as he was done, he came back over to us and showed us the recording of himself talking into his phone before asking us, “Is there anything about this video that looks like it has been altered or messed around with in any way?”
