//------------------------------// // Chapter II~The Beginning (Last Part)~ // Story: The Machine // by ADRNEL //------------------------------// Friday, August 13, 1899 Four long and depressing years later, Adam, now with longer hair and a full beard, is in the stables of his home, quickly writing equations on his notes, his horse Twilight watching his work from behind him. Adam dosen't respond, burying himself in his work to keep his mind of the great loss he suffered. Suddenly, Mrs. Tuppence, with a look of concern in her face, shows up. “Mr. Wotton is here to speak to you.” “Let him in.” said Adam in a monotone voice, never lifting his eyes from his notebook. Mrs. Tuppence leads Adam’s friend, Henry Wotton, in and leaves them alone. Adam stops what he's doing and gets up to talk to him. “Adam! It has been awhile!” said Henry trying to cheer him up, still looking the same, going up to him for a hug. Adam says nothing and refuses the hug. “Still thinking about Mary are you?” said a concerned Henry. Adam just nods in agreement. “I’ve come here, Adam, because as a friend, I am worried about you, you’ve quit your job at the University, you’ve become a virtual recluse and you’ve let yourself become afraid of the world.” explained Henry. “How can I face the world if it was responsible for Mary’s death!” snaped Adam. Henry is shocked by the attitude. “I know Mary’s death was tragic, but that was over three years ago, it’s time to move on and find someone else.” he pleads. “Chances are, my one true love is in a faraway place or faraway time.” sadly stated Adam, sitting back down on the ground, leaving Henry unsure on what to do next. “Look, tomorrow night, me and my wife will be holding a dinner party and we would like you to come and face the outside world again.” said Henry, desperate to reach out to him. “There’s a great woman, single, her name is Octavia, she’s studying physics at the University and is an accomplished cello player, I think you two have much in common.” he offers. “You’re just trying to replace Mary, with some musician I have never met!” snaped Adam again. "Adam," sternly answered Henry. "you're 34 years old, it's time for you to forget about Mary and focus on finding a job and wife!" Henry then decides to leave, having given up in reaching out to his friend. “Just show up.” pleaded Henry one last time. “For all of our sakes.” Henry walks away leaving Adam once again alone. “When I finish, we’ll never have this conversation.” mumbled Adam to himself. After making sure Henry is gone, he walks to his laboratory and opens a curtain to reveal a large machine covered in a tarp. He then removes the tarp to reveal a new machine, a time machine. Having spent the last three plus years in building it. “Let’s hope the third time is the charm.” said a confident Adam to himself. He then shaves and grooms himself to appear the same way he did that fateful night. He even takes along a saddlebag, containing an almanac, spare clothing, hardtacks, a bowie knife and a pistol. He then sits in the machine, and pulls the lever, causing the machine to turn on and dissapears in a blinding red flash. Friday, December 13, 1895 Mary is waiting at a park bench, watching the ice skaters, wearing her purple dress. She then hears someone running towards her, she turns to see Adam trying to catch her breath. “Adam! You’re early! You’re hardly ever early!” exclaimed Mary, getting up and running up to him. “I just…wanted to make…sure, I wasn’t…late.” said Adam between breaths. “That’s sweet of you. Want to walk in the park like we planned?” said Mary, going over their plans for tonight. Adam just pulls her into a hug and kisses her, catching Mary offguard. After about a minute, he let's her go. “How about we go to into town and see the new kinetoscopes they are exhibiting instead?” offered Adam, trying to avoid an inevitable encounter with the mugger. Mary is slightly suspicious by this strange behavior, she always knew he loved new technology, but never changed dating plans for them. “Sure, I’ve read many books about the emerging technology of ‘moving pictures’, let’s go.” she reluctantly accepts. They begin to walk hand in hand into town, they then pass a flower shop. Adam, hoping to make up for changing plans decides to go in a buy a flower. “Stay here Mary, I’m going to buy something real quick.” He kisses her on the cheek and runs into the shop, leaving Mary alone in front of the store. “What can I do you for you?” asked the cashier, seeing Adam enter the shop. “Do you have any purple flowers?” asked Adam. Suddenly, Adam hears a scream, he turns to look out the window to see Mary being run over by an out of controll stage coach, the horses having been frightened by Basil's horseless carriage. Adam rushes outside to see Mary on the ground unconscious. “SOMEONE GET HER TO A HOSPITAL!” yelled Adam to the crowd surrounding him, clutching Mary in his arms. At the hospital, Adam is sitting alone in the waiting room, stunned, still trying to absorb what happend, he then sees his friend Henry run in. “I’m so sorry Adam, I came as soon as I heared.” said a concered Henry, sitting next to Adam and putting his hand on his shoulder. “Why can’t I save her?” asked Adam to mostly himself, but partly to Henry. “She was run over by two horses and a coach, it was doubtfull she would have survived unharmed.” explained Henry, trying to make his friend feel better. “No matter how much I try, she dies in some different way.” said Adam, virtually ignoring Henry. Henry is confused by Adam’s behavior. “Maybe you should go home and get some rest, if you don’t show up to work Monday…I’ll understand.” said Henry concered. He reluctantly leaves to give his friend some time alone. Suddenly, Adam gets an idea. “Maybe the answer to this question lies in the future?” mumbled Adam to himself. Friday, August 13, 1899 Adam packs a sack of various items, mostly survival tools, a knife, pistol, almanac, hardtack and some valuables to pawn off, if the need for funds arises. He puts on his ditto suit and his pocket watch, something his father gave to him when he died. He then gets on and pulls the lever, soon the machine starts and a protective bubble forms around the machine, followed by a blinding blue flash. Whenever the machine moves forward in time, the light is blue, when it moves backwards, it is red. He looks around to see his surroundings still, but then things start moving faster, day and night pass, then the seasons start to change, faster time seems moving. As the years pass, he sees his study emptied, his home torn down and replaced by an auto shop. He then looks across the street to see a clothing store, and its manniequins changing their fashions. He also sees the town slowly grow in size and change. After a while, he decides to randomly stop the machine, and sees time slow down back to normal speed. The machine stops and sees that he’s in an alleyway, he looks at the controls of the machine, the date reading: SUN JUL 01 000 000 002 040 AD Sunday, July 1, 2040 Adam takes his sack with him as he steps on to a new enviorment, a new time period. The first thing he notices is a large video screen showing a reporter giving the news. "In other news, President Thomas has announced a trade embargo against all member nations of the 'Anti-American Imperialism Organization', the embargo passed congress in a narrow margin by party lines. Also..." Adam loses intrested in the news report and walks out of the alleyway to explore this new century. His town has grown slightly, but it is still a town, people are driving advanced horseless carriages and seeing people absorbed in what appear to be small video screens. “Nice clothes, very retro!” said a random blond-haired woman, dressed in a tank top and shorts, very indeacent by Adam’s Victorian standards. Adam is too shocked to say anything as the woman walks off. "Retro?" said a confused Adam to himself, having never heard that word before, he then continues on his intended mission, finding out if time travel has been perfected and if so, can you change the past. He decides to visit the local library to get his answers. He enters the library to find it very white, minimalist and clean. He sees no librarians around, and very few people reading books. He reaches the main corridor lined in the middle with many glass monoliths. Suddenly, a man with short hair, glasses and wearing a brown tieless suit is standing before him. “Hello, I am Watson, your virtual search engine for this library, how can I help you?” said the man. Adam is shocked and confused, he looks behind the screen to see no one there, it is a projection. “Are you a projection?” asked a confused and slightly intimidated Adam. “A hologram to be precise.” stated Watson. Adam doesn't question it, instead just going along with it. “What are you?” he asks. “Watson, model #581160, activated February 20th, 2020, I am a virtual search engine with knowledge of all human information across all media, from the first recorded writings until the present day.” explained Watson while showing a picture of his ID. Adam is still intreged, but shocked at how far humans have come in the over 140 years since he left. “Okay, if you know all, search for ‘Adam Daniel Gray’.” he orders, curious. “Adam Daniel Grey, born: April 15, 1865 in Van Buren County, Tennessee, disappeared August 13, 1899 aged 34-“ “Dissapeared?” Adam is confused, he hasn't dissapeared. “Last seen August 13, 1899, presumed to have left his Athens, Ohio home during the night and never came back, mostly likely suspected of commiting suicde…can I continue?” asked Watson in a snarky tone. Adam just nods. “He is known for his work in radio and microwaves, and laying the ground work that indirectly inspired many important discoveries in physics during the 20th century. His paper titled ‘The Interconnectedness of Matter and Energy’, published posthumously in 1900, became the groundwork for Albert Einsetein’s general and special relativity five years later.” “Did he do any work in time travel?” Watson just looks at him. “Of all the papers of his that were published after his disappearance, not one of them involved time travel.” saying it like he has said it one too many times. “Has there been any advances in that field since 1900?” asked Adam, hoping that there was. “Only in the work of fiction, here are some great time travel books to check out.” answered Watson suddenly surrounded by various time travel books. Adam becomes dejected, 140 years and still no time travel. Before leaving to get back to his machine, he decides to ask Watson on more question. “Who published those papers after his disappearance?” Adam is curious. “His friend, Henry Wotton (1855 – 1930), fellow physicst and winner of the Nobel Prize in 1926.” explained Watson. “Well…thanks, maybe I’ll fine more answers in a different time.” said Adam defeated, leaving. “Live long and prosper!” said Watson while giving the Vulcan salute and then rollings his eyes. Adam gets on his machine and starts his travels to the future again, just as time speeds up again the machine is suddenly rocked by several shock waves from outside. He immediately stops his machine with the date now reading: MON APR 15 000 000 002 047 AD Monday, April 15, 2047 Adam steps out to see the entire town a war zone, with military vehicles patrolling the streets. Suddenly, two army guys grab him and drag him away from the machine. “Are you crazy! We need to evacuate now! These bastards will nuke us any minute!” said one of the soldiers, while dragging Adam. “What’s going on?” asked Adam to the soldiers, they just ignore his question. “Don’t worry, things will be alright underground.” said the other soldier. “WHAT’S GOING ON!” yelled Adam, to a soldiers ear. The soldiers stop in their tracks and let Adam go, looking at him with confusion. “You actually don’t know what the hell is going on!?” said the soldier, Adam just quietly nods. “For the last three years we’ve been in a nuclear war, and the Axis powers decided to bomb all remaning towns to wipe us out. This is one of the towns.” said the other soldier. They two quickly grab him again, but Adam takes off his coat, freeing himself from their grip, and gets on his machine and quickly starts it just before the two guys could get him. Then more shock waves rock the machine, causing him to hit his head hard on the display, loosing consciousness. Soon, all traces of human civilization disappears, as a nuclear winter takes hold and then subsides, as time keeps speeding by, the climate changes, the continents move, ice ages come and go as his surroundings turn to forest. Then Adam manages to briefly regain counsciousness to stop the machine, before loosing it again. The date on the main display reads: ??? OCT 10 000 001 605 402 AD To Be Continued...