“The temporal displacement matrix is within optimal parameters,” Emma murmured, tapping a holographic display. “But the chronoton flux regulator…” she sighed, frustration visible on her face.
Brian's brow furrowed. “Temporal what? Em, please speak English, will it work?”
Emma, stopping her wrench mid-turn, wiped off the sweat beading on her brow, “It’s not about it working, Brian. It's about defying time itself.” Her voice wavered, a sliver of doubt betraying her confidence. “Theoretically it works but just one miscalculation and we will be faced with temporal paradoxes,” she added.
“What do you mean theoretically? It has never been tested”
Rising from her crouched stance, Emma let out a sigh. “You know Mom and I were working on this for years but we weren't able to finish it before…” her words lingered.
Brian's jaw clenched, “yeah, before that day,” he rasped, a shadow deepening the lines around his eyes.
Sunlight streamed through the dusty skylight, casting long shadows across the workshop floor. Both siblings stood in silence as they stared at the enormous machine.
“So, how does this work exactly?”
“We just have to put this on,” Emma walked over to her work desk, her steps echoing in the silence. She grabbed two watches, their metal bodies humming with a faint blue light.
“They anchor us to the timeline. The remote control is used to calibrate the location, date, and time, and we walk through the portal, just like that.”
“Just like that," Brian echoes, his eyes darting between the watches and the time machine. “Sounds easy," he adds.
Emma suppressed a chuckle “Hold that thought until I have put on the machine.” She presses the activation button, a jolt of electricity leaping between her touch and the button. The machine comes to life as a bright blue light emanates from within the portal, bathing the workshop in an ethereal glow. It emits a low, ominous sound that vibrates through their bones.
“Whoa! We are stepping through that?” Brian exclaimed, stepping back from the machine.
“Not so easy now is it?” Emma chuckled, “but you have nothing to worry about, it's completely harmless. See?” She plunged her arm into the portal. The colours warped around it, distorting like water before it re-emerged safely. Brian was convinced after that.
“Ready?” Emma asked as she handed Brian a watch. With watches secured, she set parameters for the time travel - Caltech labs, June 23, 2029, 4:00 PM.
“Em wait! We are stepping through the machine to go back a whole year, how do will even get back”
“oh that's easy, the chrono-return sequence... yeah, the reset button on the remote. As long as the temporal anchors, I mean the watches, stay on during the trip, we should pop back here safe and sound once I press the reset button,” Emma replied as she pointed to a reset button on the remote.
The portal swirling with energy, they stepped through, hand in hand, into the uncertain embrace of the past.
A wave of nausea washed over Brian as the portal spit them out behind a gas station. Cars roared past on a nearby highway and he realized something was wrong
“Em?” Brian called out as he looked around him. Where was the towering building of Caltech? “This doesn't look like Caltech, are you sure we are even in the right year?”
"Uh, yeah, I… I think so," Emma stammered, fumbling with the remote control. “It says… it says 23rd of June, 2029," she confirmed, her voice barely a whisper. "But this… this isn't Caltech”
Emma finally gained her composure and recognized the gas station. “It's okay," she said, her voice gaining more confidence. "We messed up the landing, but we're in the right year and day. Caltech isn’t far from here, let's hurry.”
Arriving at Caltech, they found their mom in the Bioengineering department. Dr. Linda was peering through a microscope when they burst through the lab door, startling her.
"Mom!" Brian cried as he lunged toward Dr. Linda, his arms wrapping around her in a crushing embrace. Emma followed and clutched her mother's hand
“Brian? Emma? What is going on?”
“Just come with us mom, we will explain later,” Emma replied as she tried to pull her mom out of the lab.
“You look…different. Same with you Brian. Wait…is that the temporal anchor for the time machine?” Dr Linda’s eyes widened as she focused on Emma's wrist.” Are both of you from the future?”
“We need to leave now, Mom” Brian replied with anxiety sprawled all over his face.
“Emma, we completed the machine?”
“No Mom, I did and you're right, we are from the future and we need to leave here now.”
“Did something happen to me?”
“The nuclear reactor in the basement… it explodes today, a few minutes from now,” Emma quickly replied.
A cold shiver washed over Dr. Linda, goosebumps erupting on her skin as she gently sat down on one of the seats in the lab. “Wow,” she whispered, “so that's what happened. The reactor…”
A blaring alarm interrupted her, the voice from the PA system crackling with urgency. "Evacuate immediately! Reactor overload. Repeat, reactor overload...”
Emma shrieked, "Mom, the alarm! We have to go now!" She lunged for Dr. Linda's wrist, her grip desperate.
“Emma,” Dr. Linda's voice trembled, “I'm glad you were able to complete the time machine but I'm sorry I can't leave. Changing the past…it’s like playing with a hurricane, things can easily go out of control. The past is like a delicate butterfly wing, one touch and the future could spiral into something unrecognizable.”
A choked sob escaped Brian’s lips. "But Mom, we have to! We can save you from the explosion”
Dr. Linda closed her eyes, a tear falling down her cheek. A part of her wants to escape with her children but the scientist in her knew the dangers were too great.
“No Brian, you saving me might jeopardize the whole world in the future, some things are just meant to happen and I have made it a rule to never alter the past when I started building that machine.”
The alarm screeched loudly, red lights strobing all over the facility. Brian’s desperate pleas filled the air but Dr. Linda remained frozen in place, her face showing a conflict of fear and resolve.
“Emma” Dr. Linda continued with a voice choked on a sob, tears mirroring Emma’s own “Please look after your younger brother, it's going to be just you two from now on and I am confident that both of you will excel greatly in life.”
Emma wiped the tears running down her face and whispered, “I will, Mom,” Time was running out and Emma knew that her mother wouldn't change her mind. With a trembling hand, she pushed the reset button.
A wave of energy started emanating from their watches as Dr. Linda smiled at them one last time. The lab filled with a blinding white light, engulfing them both. The light disappeared as quickly as it appeared, leaving the lab dark and silent.
Emma opened her eyes and immediately recognized her workshop with the time machine standing in the centre, which confirmed they were back, but at what cost? The remote control slipped from her hands as she collapsed to the cold floor, sobbing.
Brian quietly walked out of the workshop, his shoulders slumped under the weight of loss. He had to accept the fact that their mom is forever gone and they can't do anything to bring her back. But Emma knew in her heart that her mom wasn't gone forever, she could always use the machine to go back in time to spend time with her. She stared at the remote control, her hands trembling over it as she took another glance at the machine humming menacingly, a constant reminder of her mother’s warning.
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