Lost in time

Chapter 9

For a couple of days, the girls clear out and clean up the shop while Magenta works on what could work as a power source.

Mystery comes across a small wooden box filled with military medals, and when they ask uncle Jack about it, the smile on his face just shows them that it’s going to be a good story.

He starts telling them about his days as a soldier, how he and his friends had to report for compulsory duty right after finishing school, and how they had times they hated being soldiers, but now that he looks back at it, how much fun they also had during their training days.

Then they were called up to the war. His eyes look into the distance as he remembers the days of the war. Telling them how he lost some of his close friends, and how they finally ended the war. He shows them the medals and meanings of all of them, then mentions that there is one that he lost. They can see how much it saddens him not to have it, and when they go home that afternoon, they talk about how nice it would be if they could go back in time and find it for him.

“You have experience with artifacts, Magenta, surely you can trace where it is in time?” Mayhem asks her sister while they are busy cooking dinner.

“Sure, I’ll just jump through the dead hoop and go find it.”

***

Jack opens the box again and finds the engagement ring he bought for her. The love of his life. He can still remember her face as if it was yesterday. The day he returned and found her in the arms of his brother. Her belly had already grown enough that there was no mistaking her condition.

He sighs. He never asked her the question. He didn’t even let them know that he saw them. He didn’t tell them he was back. He simply turned around and left the city. Jack floated around the country doing odd jobs here and there until he met the old man who previously owned the shop.

Jack loved working on the cars and fixing them for the old man. To think that this used to be a workshop. He remembers the cars parked in what is now a warehouse. He was one of the most sought-after mechanics in the district.

Then the old man passed away and left him the shop. When Jack became too old to work on the cars, he closed down the workshop and started selling whatever people brought in to trade. His shop became a pawn shop within a span of six months because people trusted him. They knew him to be a man of integrity.

He twists the ring between his fingers, looking at the diamond. In those days, diamonds weren’t as expensive and rare as they are now. A real diamond, not these laboratories created ones that people are wearing these days…

A real diamond… It’s a crystal, isn’t it…

***

Max finds the mix-up in the calculations and almost growls at the scientist who typed in the wrong measurements! If they didn’t try to pretend to be clever, he would have solved this problem hours ago already!

They bring in a power source that is close to what they can guess is the same as the one Bernard used, and he fits it into the machine. He is beyond asking questions on where they find their resources. All he cares about at the moment is getting the machine running and finding Sophia!

He checks the calculations one more time and starts the machine, but before the second point can completely charge the machine blows the rest of the points.

“DAMMIT!”

He sits back, pressing his palms against his forehead. He has tried so many variations of the calculations, he is starting to feel as if he can’t remember which one is the right one. If Sophia were here, she would immediately tell him where he is going wrong!

If Sophia were here, none of this would be necessary. Damn Bernard!! He needs a break!

“I’m going home.” He informs the director and walks out of the huge building, climbing into his car, and drives home.

On his way home, the numbers are running through his head like a movie as he tries to figure out where he could have gone wrong, although he knows he needs to give his brain a break or he won’t be able to think clearly. He has completely lost track of time and has no idea how long he has been working to try and get to his sister.

He clearly hasn’t showered in a while! And the fast-food they fed him is taking its toll on his body. He needs a proper meal, a definite shower, and sleep.

Taking another whiff, he takes his eyes off the road for a split second then hears someone screaming at him, making him slam on his breaks when he sees the older woman standing frozen in the middle of the road. The light is red, and he almost ran her over!!

There are four young women of different ages with her shouting all sorts of profanities at him, and with the adrenaline rushing through him, he feels so shocked that he can’t even climb out of the car to apologize. They walk to the sidewalk, clearly angry and from the looks of it, the older woman must be their mother. It’s late afternoon, and when a horn blowing behind him brings him back to reality, he realizes that the light is now green, and he can drive.

He really needs the rest!

***

“MOM!!” They shout seeing the car speeding down the road.

They were all looking at something in a shop window and Magenta turned around just in time to see the man slamming on his breaks and nearly miss their mother! They run to her side where she is standing in the middle of the pedestrian crossing, pale with shock.

Shouting at him, Magenta can see that he is just as shocked, and she moves all of them to the sidewalk and out of the way of other cars before the light turns green. What would someone with such an expensive car be doing on this side of town in any way?

“The problem is that they think that just because we are poor, they don’t have to worry about us!” Mystery wipes a tear from her right eye while consoling their shocked mom.

They all decided to take a walk after dinner and do some window shopping, just to get out a little, and this is what happened! Finding their way back to their apartment, they can’t stop talking about the man, but Magenta can’t help feeling that he looks familiar.

Finally, giving up, she helps the girls attend to their shocked mom, and they put her to bed so she can rest after her ordeal. What was meant to be a happy family outing nearly turned into a tragedy, and they all went to sleep early after the shock.

***

The three youngest girls can’t wait to tell Uncle Jack about what nearly happened to their mom and start talking the moment they open the front door. Magenta is the only one who notices the sparkle in his eyes.

She shushes them and looks at him, standing with her hands on her hips.

“What are you up to, old man? Our mother nearly got killed, and you are smiling like a Cheshire cat?”

“That’s because I have a surprise for you lot.” He turns around and walks to the warehouse.

They follow him feeling the anticipation grow and are all in awe the moment they step into the warehouse and see the machine running and the time portal steadily whirling.

“HOW?” Magenta looks at him.

He tells her about the diamond and how he couldn’t wait, so he put it into place, checked their notes, and started the machine, and the portal has been opened ever since.

“It’s been open for the past four hours. I couldn’t sleep after I found the diamond, and I didn’t want to close it until I showed it to all of you.” He excitedly looks at them.

On his way to switch it off, Magenta shouts at him to leave it.

“What if we can’t get it to open again?” She looks at him and then the others.

“The diamond is holding steady.” He shows her and they all jump to take their different places and check their stats.

Each shouting out that the measurements are holding steady.

“I guess only one thing remains.” Magenta sighs. “One of us has to go through and see if it works.” She shrugs and before anyone can say anything, she steps through the energy field.

All of them hold their breath and uncle Jack starts to pace the space behind their make-shift workstations. One minute turns into five, five into fifteen, and after an hour all of them are about to lose it when Magenta steps back through the portal.

“WOW! It works!” She excitedly smiles from ear to ear.

In total shock, they look at her for a moment and then start celebrating.

“Close it quickly!” Magenta shouts.

“We don’t want any surprise guests walking through from that side.” And Mystery clicks the switch to stop the energy field.

They have a million and one questions, and uncle Jack requires a drink. Something stronger than tea.

They follow him inside, and Magenta tells her about what she saw in the timeline the machine was set in.

“The clothes are like the one's mom and dad used to wear when they were young.” She giggles.

“I had to hide a couple of times because I would have looked like a space alien if anyone saw me in my clothes!” She tells them and they all burst out laughing as she tells them how she hid behind trees and moved about watching people from the past.

“I even saw a rally of hippies, uncle Jack. They were chanting for people to make love, not war.” She bursts out laughing.

He huffs and starts to tell them about two different factions from when he was a young man. How one group thought peace was the only way to get peace and the other side believed only war could bring peace. Finally, how the ones caught in the middle of this were not given much of a choice, like him and his friends.

They talk about his missing meddle and before long, the day is gone, and it’s time to go home. Their excitement bubbling out of them, they have to work hard to keep it in check so they don’t show their mother what they’ve been up to. They don’t want to get her hopes up that they might be able to find their father.

When they walk into the apartment, Magenta immediately notices their mom sitting on the couch crying, and she rushes to her side. Their mom is not one to cry, and it must be serious if she is home early and crying.

After getting her to calm down, they finally got her to tell them that she had been let go from her job and that the company was closing. She found out when she got there early in the morning and had been home all day. The four sisters look at each other. They will have to do something now that their mom is out of work.

Uncle Jack’s money can’t be the only income. It won’t be enough. Do they tell their mom about the machine?

***

Some sleep, proper food, and a shower have Max ready to go when he walks into the government facility.

“Where the hell have you been?” The director starts without even so much as a hello.

“Clearing my head after your scientists f****d up my project.” He snarls at the director, making the man take a couple of steps back.

Max starts shouting out orders to the staff, and they move around like little ants to reset the machine. He will have to arrange for new parts first. They can’t start with the burnt-out parts, then they will have to rerun the tests to find out where Sophia changed the calculation.

The only thing Max is one hundred percent sure of is that he is not going to give the director or his staff the entire calculation. He will never let anyone else have this kind of power again.