Nathan had arranged to meet Fish at the research center at 8 O’clock the following morning. It was a fine, beautifully crisp, sunny break of day. Nathan had checked the climate data for 2007 and the weather conditions on August 8th were ironically identical. He felt thoroughly apprehensive as he entered the big, impressive building, which was known as The American Center for Advanced Scientific and Technological Research. Fish was waiting for him in his lab and was wearing his white lab coat and looked very solemn.
“So no change of mind? You still want to do this” he asked
“Yes, I do” answered Nathan with a determination that he certainly didn’t feel. He knew that to show indecision to Fish would be a mistake.
“OK, let’s go over everything you need to remember. Have you got your documents?”
“Yes I wrote it all last night, everything from 2007 to the present day” He handed the folder to Fish who extracted the two sheets of paper and without even looking at them added them to some more papers that he had on his desk. There was also a color photograph of Carys and Nathan on a beach and looking very much in love. Carys was wearing a black two-piece bikini and looked absolutely stunning, and Nathan had dark navy blue swimming shorts with orange ties and the word HUGO written down the side. They looked so happy together. He glanced at the picture and added it to the papers.
“These are my notes. It is very important that you take these with you and bring them back safely.” He folded the papers and put them in an A5 envelope together with the photo. He handed the envelope to Nathan, then he walked over to the long white table that was on the opposite wall in the lab. There were a few items placed on the table. Fish picked up the Garmin Tactix watch and showed it to Nathan.
“There are three buttons here” He demonstrated the watch to Nathan. “This middle button is set to 585 seconds and is initialized to commence countdown. As soon as you press the button, it will begin counting down from 585 to zero” Fish pressed it, and immediately the watch face showed the number 585 in a bold red glow. Every second, it dropped another digit and continued to countdown. Fish pressed it again and nothing happened.
“It has been deliberately configured so that even if you press the button again, it will not reset itself. Once the countdown starts, it will have to run its course. This is so that you cannot unknowingly de-activate it. " He handed the watch to Nathan.
“Put it on” Nathan placed the big black strap on his wrist and fastened it. The 585-second countdown had already turned into 561 and was still ticking off the seconds
“It also has a 2-minute warning at 120 seconds, When the watch gets to 120 seconds remaining you will hear 3 short beeps. This is to alert you to the fact that you only have two minutes to get back to the 7-Eleven location point. I don’t have to remind you how crucial it is that you get back to the location point before the countdown hits zero”
“No. I understand. I won’t miss it” Nathan reassured Fish. There were some dollar banknotes on the table, which Fish picked up next.
“I need you to give me your wallet,” he announced. Nathan looked bemused but did as he was told. Fish took the wallet and took out the banknotes that were inside and Nathan’s driving license. He placed the 5 new banknotes from the table into the wallet and handed it back to Nathan. “It’s just a precaution”, he stated. “If you lost this in 2007, and it was found, it might cause some unwanted attention. Your driving license was issued in 2018 which would be very difficult to explain. Also, most of the banknotes in your wallet were issued after 2007 which would be extremely difficult to account for. I have given you $100 in banknotes, all issued before 2007. You probably won’t need them, but you have them for any unexpected eventuality. Have you got anything else on you that could identify you from the future?” Nathan tried to think, but there was nothing else, so he shook his head
“No, Just my wallet”
“Don’t take any coins with you either” said Fish. He then picked up the curved ruler and the large marker pen. “Now let’s try this out” On the floor at the end of the table there was a large piece of white card fixed to the floor with tape. “Come and stand over here,” He asked and moved towards the card. Nathan did as instructed and stood in the center of the card. Fish handed him the marker pen and the curved ruler.
“Imagine you have just arrived at the 7-Eleven. What is the first thing you must do?” Nathan looked at the marker pen and the ruler, the pen had the words “Mighty Marker” printed down the side and had a bright red top, it was self-evident what they were for.
“I need to mark the exact spot” he stated compliantly
“That’s right. So let’s do it and remember you must not move an inch until you mark the exact spot. You need to be within the same circle you arrived at to be able to come back. It is crucial, Nathan. Don’t underestimate how important and critical this is to get right.” Nathan suddenly felt very tense. He opened the ruler and snapped it together to make a circle.
“No wrong” Fish groaned. “You need to bend down and open the ruler around your lower legs. THAT way, you can let it drop to the surface and form a circle on the ground around your feet before stepping out. Don’t step out until you have the circle set on the ground” He grabbed the ruler and opened it, placed it around Nathan’s legs and snapped it shut, and then let it drop. He arranged the circle on the card so that Nathan was standing dead center inside the circular ruler.
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“Like this. Do you understand?” Nathan nodded, “It’s a simple thing to do but if you want to return to your life here everything depends on you getting it right” Nathan stepped out of the circle and saw the ruler left on the card forming a circle over the exact place he had been standing. Now he understood what the pen was for. He would have to mark the circle on the ground so that when he returned he would be able to see the precise spot he had arrived.
“The coordinates are precise, and only if you are standing inside that circle precisely will you be able to return. If you are not comprehensively and wholly within that 141.37 circumference then you will never return.” Fish picked up the ruler and snapped it shut. He handed it to Nathan. “Let’s try again” Nathan was feeling the pressure. There was a lot at stake here, and he couldn’t afford to make a mistake. He stepped onto the card and took a deep breath. Bending down very slowly, he gently placed the ruler around his lower legs and pushed the two ends together. The magnets found each other, and he felt them snap-tight together, He then delicately let the ruler drop to the floor. He could see he was standing in the center, so with great care and attention he slowly stepped out. The Circular ruler remained there on the card, so he got the pen, and taking the top off he placed one hand on the ruler to make sure he didn’t nudge it and started to draw around it. When finished, he placed the top back on the pen and picked up the ruler. There was a nice red circle painted on the card.
“That marker pen is a construction marker pen specifically used in the construction industry. It will work on concrete and asphalt. He handed Nathan a second pen, this time with a white top. Take this as a backup, it paints white instead of red.” They went through the procedure again and then repeated the whole exercise four more times. Fish was determined that Nathan understood how important each step was and Nathan didn’t want to undermine his friend, so went along with it and completed the tasks without protesting. Eventually, Fish seemed appeased.
“Let’s just go through the whole operation one time. You will arrive at the 7-Eleven location point at precisely 9 O’clock. Before moving from the spot on the ground, mark your position. You will then be free to move towards 8th street and begin observing the Pitch Perfect offices. My advice would be to stand just outside the 7-Eleven and read something, so it will look as if you are waiting for someone in the shop.” Fish paused in thought. “When do you propose to interrupt Laura Richards on her journey and delay her?” Nathan had given this some serious contemplation and was convinced that he needed to intercept Laura as close to the Cafe as possible so that the delay would be effective and successfully delay her enough so that she wouldn’t turn the corner and meet her fate.
“I thought I would just follow her until she got to the junction at 16th Avenue, in my opinion, this would be the best moment to stall her journey. Any delay here would be sufficient to stop her long enough, and the consequence would be that she would arrive at the corner after the shot is fired. She would dodge the bullet, in a manner of speaking.” Fish nodded in assent.
“Just remember to give yourself enough time to get back to the 7-Eleven before the countdown reaches zero. Nothing else is as important.” Nathan nodded in agreement. “How are you going to delay her? Have you thought of that?”
“Yes, it doesn’t have to be anything too complicated. I even thought to just ask her directions. After all, I only need to delay her for a second or two”
“The problem is that on 16th Avenue there are pedestrian lights, so she may well be waiting at them anyway. We don’t know, so you have to be sure that when you slow her down, she is delayed over and above any natural stop or pause in her journey she would have experienced anyway. If you talk to her for 10 seconds whilst she is waiting 10 seconds anyway, then it won’t do the job. Watch the lights. Maybe just asking for directions is not enough?” Nathan considered this.
“I could always ask her if we know each other, you know like Did we meet a couple of months ago? or something like that” An ironic smile appeared on Fish’s face
“She might assume you are trying to pick her up” Nathan looked aghast, it hadn’t occurred to him and the idea of hitting on Carys’ mother was disconcerting.
“It doesn’t matter. Whatever it takes just to make sure she doesn’t get to the corner as the car drives past. Once the shot is fired everybody will be focussed on that and I can just slip away” Fish considered this.
“OK, then we’re set to begin.” He grabbed a set of shaded goggles and handed them to Nathan. “Wear these on both journeys, You may experience a flash of light similar to a lightning flash. You are the first human to use this so we don’t exactly what the effects are. This is one of the things I would ask you to remember and let me know for our research. As far as we can ascertain you will travel at neutrino speed. We call this “Superluminal Travel”. In theory, if you are traveling in a superluminal craft passing through light speed then you should experience a flash of light.” Fish paused
“There won’t be any sensation of movement so the best thing would be to close your eyes even if you have the goggles on. We think you will sense the fact that you have traveled and in any case, it will happen instantaneously. What we do categorically know is that any living thing we have sent back in time to the past has arrived there without any apparent harm or problems.” This time Fish took a deep breath before continuing
“But Nathan, We cannot say with absolute certainty that this is 100% safe. I am as close to positive as I can be but you know I do not like working with any type of presumption, but conjecture is all we have at this moment. You are our first traveler. You don’t have to do this. If you change your mind now I won’t think any less of you” This time Fish waited for an answer. Nathan looked into his friend’s eyes.
“Let go. To infinity and beyond” Fish looked puzzled. It was quite evident that He wasn’t a fan of Toy Story, so Nathan just added “I’m ready Fish. Let’s do this.”
Suddenly three short loud beeps sounded and echoed through the lab. Nathan was unnerved “What the hell was that?” he asked in a shaky voice.
“That” replied Fish “is telling you that you have just two minutes to change your mind.” He took hold of Nathan’s left wrist and showed him the watch which had already moved on past 120 and was counting down from 115, 114, 113. “Less than two minutes. The last word is yours Nathan, Yes or No?”
The wheel was turning. The white ball was running around the perimeter. To Nathan Yes or No sounded very much like Red or Black.