Beginnings (Book 1): Future Apocalypse

by Gilbert, Barbara J.

  Chapter 11

  Fall 2028

  Paulette was so excited about getting the project room operational that she couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned all night, causing Danni to sleep elsewhere. Morning came early and she woke up anxious and ready to get started putting the computers, desks, and other equipment into the project room. Leaping out of bed, she went over to her closet, picked out her outfit for the day, and got dressed. I can’t wait to get to the office and get things set up. I’ve been waiting my whole life to accomplish this project, she thought as she headed to the kitchen. Danni traipsed behind her wagging her tail. “Hey girl, pick up your bowl for me,” she asked Danni. Danni walked over, picked up her food bowl, and handed it to Paulette. Opening the fridge door, she took out the opened canned food and placed it on the counter, then scooped out a tablespoon of wet food. She placed it in the bowl, added water, mushed it up, and then added dry food and mixed it all together. Danni sat and waited for her to put the bowl down. “Good girl, all done.” Danni immediately dipped her head to the bowl and began eating.

  Despite all her energy, she knew breakfast was the most important meal of the day, so she took the time to make her favorite, a ham and cheese omelet and toast. She sat down long enough to inhale the food before running out the door to jump into her new, but old, beat-up silver and black Subaru Outback she had bought to replace her Chevy Tahoe that was destroyed by the earthquake, and head to the company.

  Walking, well almost running, into the building, Paulette ran into Susan as she was exiting her office.

  “Whoa, slow down there; you look like you saw a fire or something,” Susan blurted out.

  “Thanks, but I’m just excited to get started on my special project.”

  “Oh, right! Well, here’s hoping you get everything set up the way you want. If you need any help, let me know.”

  “Sure,” Paulette said as she ran over to the door to the project room.

  The door was made of reinforced steel with special baffling on the inside to keep noise from leaving the room. On the right side of the door, was an electronic keypad that required a six-digit code for entry. Standing next to the keypad, Paulette punched in the code, the door clicked open; she gave it a push and entered the room, with Danni right behind her. She shifted to the left a little to hit the light switches. The lights were slow to come on, as if they were mocking her excitement. The room was a hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, with soundproof material to keep the noise down. Off to the end of the room was the bay area that was twenty feet by forty feet, sitting below the entrance to the room. At the far end of the room, there was a special fire-retardant material that could take a blast from a rocket engine, if need be. The bay had a special door and locking system that required the six-digit code so they could get supplies into the room without having to take them through the main part of the building. Everything was stored there.

  After glancing at the empty room and getting a picture in her mind of how she wanted to set up the room, she walked to the bay door, punched in the six-digit code, opened the door, and walked in. She spotted the dolly she’d need to move the computers and desks in the far corner. She retrieved it and rolled it over to the first item. The desk was large; and grunting, huffing, puffing and swearing, she tried to maneuver it onto the dolly, with no luck. Frustrated, she stopped and tried to figure out how she was going to move it without help. “I can’t believe Greg isn’t here to help me,” she muttered. However, before she finished her thought, she heard the main entrance door locks click. She froze for a minute until she was sure of who was entering the room. Only she, Greg, and Susan had the code. A minute later, Greg entered the bay area, and Paulette breathed a sigh of relief.

  “You thought you would just move and set everything up yourself?” he asked.

  With an exasperated look, she replied, “No … um … well, yes, but I now realize that I can’t do this by myself. Would you mind helping me move the heavy stuff into the room?”

  Rolling his eyes at her, he walked over to her and put his hands on the dolly. “I guess I can, since I’m standing right here at the moment.”

  “Really, why do you have to act like that all the time?”

  “Because I don’t think you can pull this off, and I feel it’s a waste of money and resources; but I promised you I’d help you with this ludicrous project.”

  Paulette was fuming. “Ludicrous! Ludicrous! How dare you say that! You wait and see. I’ll prove to everyone that time travel is possible!”

  “I think the only people you’ll prove it to, if it works, will be just the three of us, since you want this all to be so hush-hush.”

  Gritting her teeth and trying not to punch him in the arm, she raised her voice an octave. “Greg, if you weren’t my best friend, I’d fire you right on the spot.”

  With a small chuckle, he said, “Funny thing is, you can’t fire me; I own half the company. Remember?”

  “Great, how did I let you talk me into this again?”

  “You didn’t. You were the one who asked me to be a partner in the company. You’ve forgotten that, too?”

  Her anger deflating, she realized how wrong she was. “Oh yeah, that’s right. So, are you going to stand there and argue with me about how it won’t work, or are you going to help me move this stuff?”

  Greg helped her lift the desk onto the dolly and then wheeled it into the room. “Where do you want to put this?” he asked.

  Paulette thought about it for a few minutes. “You can set it up in the middle of the room, about ten feet from the main door. I want to make sure the equipment doesn’t get damaged by the time pod later,” she told him. That reminds me, I need to have a blast window built to protect all of this equipment once I get it all set up. She and Greg continued bringing in the additional desks and setting them up so they formed the top part of the letter C. She wanted to be able to have eyes on all the devices at the same time.

  A few hours later, they had the desks and computers set up and ready to plug in. There would be a lot of prep work required to get all the cables and such laid out so she could begin to program the time pod. Greg crawled around the floor, hooking up cables and plugging in the computers. He stood up, brushed himself off, and said, “Everything is plugged in and ready to go.” Then he sat down in front of the computer to the left of Paulette

  Paulette smiled and said, “Thanks.” She was sitting in front of the main computer, with Danni lying at her feet. She turned on the computer and waited for it to boot up. “Could you please turn all the other computers on for me?” she asked him.

  “Sure, hang on a moment.”

  Paulette needed them all on so she could program each one the way she needed it for the project.

  They checked to make sure everything was operating as it should, and then she began loading the special software she had developed while in college, which would be the interface to the time pod. Once the software was installed, she could program the features and functions of the time pod and enter all the required math and algorithms needed to make it to work.

  With the software loaded and the basics of the room set up, they called it a day. Greg and Paulette stood up, stretched, and then walked over to the door and exited the project room. Greg headed home, while Paulette stayed behind to tidy up a few things in her main office.

  Chapter 12

  Winter 2028

  Paulette had devoted months working on the code for the time pod. She needed to establish that it was correct and would run when the time arrived. It pleased her when she figured out what she thought was the correct algorithms and calculations to allow her to travel into the future and return to the point of origin. The only thing she lacked was the ability to do a test run to see if it really worked. The main issue was that the time pod was still being built. In part, she blamed Greg for dragging his feet on the construction. She assumed he was doing it to piss her off, since he didn’t expect she could pull the time travel stuff off. Aggravated, she
put her head in her hands and sighed. A few minutes later, she pushed her chair back, stood up, stretched and then turned and walked out of the project room. She headed to Greg’s office to get an update on the time pod.

  She marched into his office with a stern look on her face. “So, what the hell is taking so long?”

  Surprised at the sudden intrusion, Greg glanced up and said, “I told you it takes time, no pun intended, to build the time pod to your specifications. If you weren’t so picky, I could have cobbled something together already.”

  “So, it’s my fault you can’t get the pod built in a reasonable time?” she blurted. Danni sat there growling quietly at Greg’s tone of voice.

  “In a way, it is,” he remarked. “Think about it. You gave me very specific instructions, and it’s only been a few months. You can’t expect me to throw together a piece of high-tech engineering in a day.”

  “Why not?”

  Greg shook his head in amusement. “Because it’s a delicate process. I’ll have to make sure that all the components will work and communicate with each other. Then there is the matter of the surface material being capable of withstanding the pressures you expect to put on it, regardless of your negative energy field solution. So yes, it takes time. It will get done when it gets done.”

  Glaring at him and fuming, she turned and walked out of the room mumbling, “I hope you complete it soon.”

  Greg sat there for a moment thinking, I can’t believe she thinks I can just throw something together and expect it to work. Even though I don’t believe it will work, I need to make sure it can do the job, just in case it works out. He shoved back from his desk and stood, collected the engineering blueprints for the time pod, and headed to the project room. Entering the six-digit code, he pushed the door inward and went to the section where the time pod sat. He set the papers down on the desk nearby and walked around doing a visual inspection, taking a mental note of the progress. He went over in his mind what had been done and was still needed. The shell of the pod is almost complete, and I installed the small rocket engines that protrude from a concealed door in the pod; and they are ready to go. The inside still requires a lot of work. I need to install the seat, but that can’t happen until I get the rest of the electronic controls installed and the steering mechanism placed in the proper location.

  He shook his head as he checked off his list of things he still needed to finish on the time pod. It was a complex machine but a basic design. Since Paulette only required a one-person pod for the moment, he built it on a rugged base with the pod itself resembling an egg that was bent at a forty-five-degree angle. The angle allowed for the seating of the pilot. It looked ridiculous but would do the job. It was even white like and egg. Greg smirked as he reflected about it being like an egg. Figures I’d lean on my own beliefs and prejudice when designing it, he thought. Chuckling, he thought about how it was hurdling through the wormhole and shaking its yoke apart. Um, the pilot and the egg cracking mid-way. All right stop thinking like that, Greg. She’s your best friend, and you don’t want her to get hurt. Get this built right so it doesn’t crack open like an egg, he chided himself. If only she’d quit whining about how long it’s taking to build. If she keeps pushing me, then it will be just like the egg that cracks. He gave up speculating about the what-ifs and went back to concentrating on the project.

  He installed the computer board, which was the brain of the machine that would hold the code Paulette had programmed. It would control the entry, travel through and the exit of the time pod, and all the pertinent information about where and when Paulette would go. He was careful to install all the chips and memory on the board and place the jumpers in the right location. He then installed the remaining electronics that would control the thrust for the engines, the negative energy field that would envelop the pod, keeping her safe, which blew his mind. Paulette had told Gregg that if she didn’t produce a negative energy field, then while she was traveling through the wormhole, it would collapse on her before she reached the other side. It still amazed him how she could figure out the correct math and other science so she could produce the field. A lot of what she did was merely theory, and she had no means to prove any of it till he finished the time pod. He could see a lot of long hours in his immediate future. She was such a slave driver, and he didn’t get paid nearly enough for all the hard work he was putting into the project.

  Greg didn’t care about the money, though. He was doing the work because he more than liked Paulette. He had fallen head over heels in love with her several years ago, although she never seemed to notice. Greg kept it quiet for now, because he realized a serious relationship might distract her from her life’s ambition; and he knew if she didn’t, at least, try to prove her theory about time travel, she’d ultimately blame him. So he waited for the right time to bring it up. Hopefully, soon he could let her know how he felt, but until then he would have to carry on.

  Paulette entered the room quietly and sat down at the computer console. Danni curled up under the desk at her feet and went to sleep. She typed away and reexamined all her data and simulations to make sure everything was working properly. Satisfied that the math and algorithms were running as predicted, she sighed and glanced up to see what Greg was doing. She had always had a thing for him but felt that drawing too close wasn’t a good idea. She was socially awkward and didn’t know how to express her feelings, so she put all her energy into her passion, time travel. Hopefully, she thought, one day I can tell him how I feel about him, but for now, it will have to wait. Besides, he may not like me in that way. She shook the thoughts from her head and stood up and walked over to the time pod and Greg. Danni, seeing she had left, got up and followed her to where she and Greg where talking. She lay down next to Paulette.

  “So, how’s it coming? I’m sorry about being angry earlier. It’s been tough for me to wait all this time to carry out my dreams.”

  Greg looked up from his work with a grin on his face. “I know, Paulette, and I understand.”

  “I’m so glad you’re my best friend; you get me,” she replied.

  “I do, and that’s why I’m pacing myself and making certain the time pod will stay together. I don’t want you jumping in it and coming out on the other end in pieces,” he said with concern in his voice.

  She looked at him quizzically. “You care that much about me?”

  “Yes, I do,” he replied

  She stood there silent for several minutes with her cheeks turning several shades of red. “I … um … I didn’t realize that you care so much. Um,” she continued to stutter.

  “It’s okay; I know you’re so focused with your dream that it’s hard for you to see what’s right in front of you,” he said.

  She stared into the void for a moment. “I guess you’re right,” she said, still not grasping what he really meant.

  “Um … so back to my question. How is it going?”

  He gazed into her blues eyes and chose his words carefully. “Most of the electronic components have been installed and tested. Once I finish installing the other components, I’ll put the pilot’s seat in and install the steering mechanism. Then it’s a matter of putting on the finishing touches and testing the crap out of this thing to make sure it will hold up,” he replied

  “That sounds fantastic. What is the timeline for completion?” she inquired.

  His complexion turned a few shades of grey before giving her the answer. “There are still a lot of small details to accomplish after I finish these larger components. I’d say about a year, maybe.”

  “A year! You’re kidding right?”

  “No, I’m not kidding.” he said

  “So, at what point will it be complete enough for me to at least send the program over and run simulations?” she asked

  “You can do that in a few months,” he replied.

  She sighed. This is taking too long, she thought. “Okay, I guess. I appreciate all the hard work you’re doing. If there is any way to speed up the
process, please do.”

  “I’ll do my best, but I can’t make any promises”

  “Fine, so long as you’re doing your best. I’ll just need to keep my patience in check. Again, I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

  “You’re forgiven. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got things to do,” he said, turning back to what he was working on.

  Paulette left the room and went back to her office to continue some research she was working on before going over to the project room. The research was on improving the bionic limbs for the people she was helping. She’d have to hold off on her dreams for a while, but soon she could live them.

  Chapter 13

  Fall 2029

  Susan walked into Greg’s office and asked, “Have you seen Paulette lately?”

  Greg looked up from his computer. “She’s probably in the project room working on the time travel stuff.”

  “Is she still trying to get things working in real life?” Susan asked.

  “Something like that. She’s been taking things in stages. I can’t say anything to her about taking so long. She was riding my butt to get the time pod built, but now she has spent over a year running tests. She hasn’t even launched the thing yet,” he said with amusement in his voice.

  “I guess she wants to make sure it all works perfectly before she sends it off,” she said.