» Thu May 03, 2012 5:33 am December 8, 2141
That was the day. The day my father was executed. It was a sad day for me, I never understood what he had done wrong and to this day have no clue. But that day... That day was a beginning of a new phase in my life, when I could finally understand what it meant to live. From that day on, I realized life was short and that by appreciating the people that care about me, I would live happily. This phase in my life was short-lived, however, for the people that really cared about me started disappearing. Most of them died of either dehydration or of revelations to unusual amounts of radiation. One of those persons remained, though, and while at that time I had not gotten to establish a relationship with that person, he had brought me gifts at all my birthdays. He was a friend of my dad's and like him, he was a scientist. The things they studied together were cool, one time they even made clone of a dead creature they called a "cat." That person was like my father's best friend, they went everywhere with each other, most of the times not because of their work, but because of each other's company. The first time we conversed was a few weeks after the death of my father. It went along the lines of a criminal interrogation.
"Hey bud. How you doing? Don't tell me you don't remember me?" the man tried to get me to speak up. His voice was deep, and his Adam's Apple would jump every time he paused. I looked up from the spot on the desk I was sitting at to get a good look at him. His hair was curly, and it puffed out like cotton candy. The back end was squished up in a pony tail. His eyes bulged out at me, and it was strange because they were tiny eyes with teeny tiny pupils. It was almost like they were deflated. I wondered when they were going to fall out of his sockets.
"I know you, you were the one who gave me that paintball gun on my tenth birthday, right?" I had a juvenile mind and had few to no manners. I didn't know to respond to a complete stranger, less what to talk to him about. It was a good try, for my age.
"Right you are boy. Those paint balls weren't genuine, though. They were a genetic experiment that your dad helped me on, and-" he stopped himself, no further indulging in the topic. "Sorry, let's talk about what I'm really here to speak about." there was a big, wide grin stretching all across his face. When advlts do that, it usually means they want information from you. That's where we really started to get to know each other.
"And what would that be, sir?" I asked him in a sadistic, high pitched voice. I remember him cringing at that point, but the events that follow kind of drain my memory of that exact moment.
"Well, you know about your dad already, don't you? They haven't kept that a secret from you?" I watched as he slowly observed my whole face, my eyes, my mouth, my ears. It was making me doubtful about this man.
"It's been over two weeks already. I'll be damned if they kept it a secret from me,"
"Ha ha, me too. I would go right up to the Overseer and give him a piece of my mind. Well anyways, I need to ask from you a favor," he looked at me, as if trying to get a response.
"It really depends on how big the task and how risky it is,"
"Don't worry, you won't be involved in this any time soon, for you a mere child. But in the future, when you grow out of that shell and obtain a larger mind, you will have a large role to play in my latest experiment." he paused to look at me for acceptance, but still I was motionless, I wasn't going to give in until I knew what this exactly was. "Okay, it seems I'm going to have to spill the beans. You see, before the 'accident', your father and I were working on building a time machine. We didn't progress too far, for the supplies necessary for creating it were limited, and others had more important uses for it. But in a few years, this vault will finally open, and we will have unlimited resources out there!"
"What does have to do with me, exactly?" I asked, confused.
"Your father always told me about you not being on the right side of the razor," he smiled, and while I was ready to get up from my seat and punch this guy square in the mouth, I calmed myself. I found it funny too, but I didn't express it. I remained in my emotionless state, staring right at the ground.
"Sorry if you were offended, I'm just a bit of a Joker. Anyways, what I was getting to. I want you to help me out with the time machine project. Your father was a science legacy, and I think you have a lot of potential to follow in his tracks. And about risks, no worries, once out there in the wonderful environment of the outside world we'll have all of the supplies necessary to keep us out of harm's way and into safety's hands." I can't say I wasn't intrigued in helping in an experiment but I had no idea what a "time machine" was. I pondered until I couldn't make out anything.
"What exactly is a 'time machine'? Is it like a machine that tells time because I already have one of those and it's not called a time machine its a clock or a watch if you're referring to the ones that strap around your wrist so why do you want to build one if there a lot I have a bunch you should really ask people for stuff instead of building things yourself its easier that way plus you can make friends that way because you're socially interacting with them and-"
"STOP!" he shrieked, piercing my eardrums. I immediately slowed to a halt, since I realized I had been babbling all along. It was usual for me at that age. I just couldn't stop myself sometimes if someone didn't interrupt me like he just did. I would go on and on the whole day, it was terrifying, as if I had been possessed by some out-worldly figure and he just rushed words into my mouth as fast he can.
"Sorry for that unexpected interruption. So, you were asking what a time machine was, hmm? It's a device that allows you to travel in time." I was literally scratching my head, and I probably had a dazed look of puzzlement on my face. "Okay, let me give you an example. The time we are living in, the present is the current time zone. There are two others. The past and the future. You see, every second that passes slowly drifts from the present to the past, which is the events that have already happened. Every second that has yet to pass belongs to the future, the events of which are anticipated to come," My state of confusion remained. The man pondered around the room, as if searching for a certain item. Finally he fixed his vision on board at the back and pulled it out to the front.
"Short and simple. The present is the current time," he drew a circle in the middle with the world Present in it, "And the past is what has already happened, as in it has past,get it?" he then drew an arrow towards the left of the circle in the center and wrote another circle named Past, "And finally, the future is what hasn't happened yet. There's no trick for that, unfortunately. At least not in my book," then, he drew another arrow to the right of the center circle and drew ANOTHER circle named Future.
"Makes sense. What's the point of all this, though?" I asked, starting to get it but not really.
"We can live in an era no one has been to before, at least not in this generation. We can learn the truth of history, and if everything in our Geography textbooks are truth or fiction. Now the future. We can see what is yet to come. You can see yourself as a teenager, 18, and the accomplishments of your past life. The problem with this is if you affect anything in the past, you might affect the future, or even the present, technically since the present is the future when you're in the past,"
For once, it was starting to make sense, but I still had no idea how this could benefit society. I guess it's a thing made for fun? Or maybe people can see themselves in the future and try to fix what they did wrong in life? It was all far too complicating for me at that age, and if I recall correctly, all these thoughts were rushing through my head at about three o'clock in the morning. I finally decided to give in, to see what the outcome of this experiment is.
"I'm in. It sounds like a lot of fun, Mister..."
"Farley. Adam Farley,"
"Cool. I'm Joshua. Joshua Martin,"
"I think what will come out of this is a buetifal beautiful friendship..."
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It's been a while since I've written anything and I really want to improve, so if you could all kindly give me advice, that'd be great.
