Alessa realized that having the opportunity to make a difference in Isaac’s fate had given her a taste of empowerment for the first time in months. After her parents had died, she’d sat idly by while her life spun out of control, feeling powerless to fix anything. Even the simplest task – doing her homework, getting dressed, cracking a smile – had seemed beyond her reach.
When Isaac started appearing to her, Alessa had worried at first that their distressing encounters would unhinge her completely, but much to Alessa’s surprise, Isaac’s presence had had the opposite effect. She felt a deeper connection to him than she had with anyone since her parents had died, and her fixation with resolving his mystery had given her focus and provided her with something to strive for after so many months of drifting.
It’d seemed so hopeless at first, but after uncovering Isaac’s identity and proving his existence to herself, she’d felt a deep sense of satisfaction. It reminded Alessa that she was capable, that she could control her own fate, that she wasn’t alone. But now everything was threatening to slip away.
Alessa wasn’t ready to give up on Isaac yet, but as she reflected on her conversation with Janie, she supposed it wouldn’t hurt to wait a bit longer and think through her strategy.
Alessa sighed, her face flushing with chagrin as she remembered the accusatory tone she’d used with her best friend. None of this was Janie’s fault. Of course she was just trying to look out for Alessa, and Alessa had thrown it in her face.
Regretting her behavior, Alessa resolved to apologize to Janie as soon as possible. Their physics lecture later that morning would likely be her first opportunity.
With a groan, Alessa turned back to her ethics book, already counting the minutes until she could set things right with her friend.
21. FORTUNE
For the first time that season, Alessa could see her breath fog in the air, each puff evident of winter’s creeping arrival. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach as she briskly strode to class, the heat within her chest a strong contrast to the chilly weather.
Alessa had spent the last few hours grappling with her ethics assignment in between bouts of agony over her argument with Janie. By the time that Alessa had hit the print button on her short composition, it was clear that she had taken an indefensible position in accusing Janie of intentionally standing in her way.
Alessa realized that her desperation to feel like the master of her own life once again – a sentiment she hadn’t felt since losing her parents – had become unhealthily wrapped up with her desire to help Isaac. The thought of losing the opportunity scared Alessa deeply, and she had inappropriately taken her angst out on Janie. She was anxious now to set things right with Janie, but at the same time was nervous about how Janie might react in the wake of that morning’s quarrel. She certainly had every right to be angry with Alessa.
Upon entering the physics lecture hall, Alessa scanned the auditorium for Janie’s face but was crestfallen to see she wasn’t there. She tried not to let the disappointment get to her quite yet. Janie was certainly known to run late more often than not, so Alessa chose a seat near the door that would allow Janie to make an inconspicuous entrance when she arrived. If she arrived.
The professor commenced scrawling on the blackboard, and when Janie still hadn’t shown up ten minutes into the lecture, Alessa’s chest tightened with the intuition that her absence was probably Alessa’s fault. Janie must be even more upset than Alessa had anticipated. Alessa shifted uncomfortably in her seat and attempted to concentrate over the next hour on the remainder of Professor Liu’s oration.
As class ended, Alessa powered down her laptop and packed it into her bag, slinging the backpack over her shoulder with a heavy sigh. It would be hours before she got another chance to remedy things with Janie, and she wasn’t looking forward to having the argument hang over her head the rest of the afternoon. It was going to be a long day.
Alessa turned towards the door, but her departure was interrupted when the professor called out to her. “Ms. Khole? Do you have a few moments?”
Alessa contorted her face into a smile before replying. “Sure.” She’d been hoping to look for Janie in the cafeteria before ethics, but now she probably wouldn’t have enough time to talk even if she did find her.
Professor Liu smiled good-naturedly and removed his round-lensed glasses, folding the wire frames into a pocket of the white lab coat that tugged just a bit too tightly around his slightly pudgy frame. Alessa waited for him to continue.
“I’ve been looking for a research assistant to help out in my lab and I was wondering if you might be interested.”
Alessa was slightly taken aback by the request. This was only the third occasion she’d traded words with the professor – including the time he had reprimanded her in front of the entire class – and she was surprised that he would extend this kind of offer. But on the other hand, she supposed it was hard to get to know students in such a large class, and she had done quite well on the midterm.
All the same, Alessa wasn’t really interested in doing research and was scrambling to think of a reasonable excuse to politely decline the offer. To buy time, she decided to ask for more details. “What kind of research are you doing?”
“Are you familiar at all with theories about wormholes?”
Wormholes? That was an interesting coincidence. “Actually, I read an article about them the other day.”
The professor clapped his hands together. “Great. My research is in the area of using electromagnetic fields to manipulate the wormholes that open and close imperceptibly around us all the time. I’m trying to see if I can isolate one and stretch it large enough to pass an atom through.”
Alessa’s heart raced as she processed what the professor had just said. She responded cautiously, “Isn’t that sort of like… time travel?”
Professor Liu smirked mischievously. The expression made him look much younger. “Potentially…” He leaned in conspiratorially, shielding his voice from the few students who were still filing out of the auditorium. “The research is confidential and very exciting. If we can do it, we’d be the first lab to ever successfully pass an atom through to another dimension. I’m not sure yet if it will end up in another time or another place or somewhere else entirely, but regardless, we’re not quite there yet. At the moment, I’m just running the machines constantly and trying to isolate a wormhole so that we can experiment with manipulating it.”
Alessa concealed her astonishment behind a thoughtful nod as she considered the implications of getting involved with the experiment. Could this be her chance to warn Isaac? She’d had no idea such advanced research was going on at ESU, led by her very own physics teacher no less. “Sounds… fascinating. So, what exactly would you need me to do?”
“At the end of the month, I’ll be taking leave for a few weeks – my wife is expecting – and I’m looking for someone to just check on the lab every day and let me know if we’ve caught a wormhole.”
“How would I know?”
The professor considered for a moment. “Oh, it’s not difficult. You have to know what to look for, but I can teach you. It wouldn’t be a significant time commitment, either. You’d just need to stop by for a few minutes once a day. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough grant money to pay you… but I could put your name on the report when we publish the findings…” He looked hopefully at Alessa.
“Oh, that’s no problem. I’ve been… looking for an opportunity like this, to beef up my resume.” Alessa felt guilty deceiving the professor, but the opportunity seemed too good to pass up. “I’d be happy to help.”
Professor Liu’s face softened with relief. “Excellent! If you have a few minutes now, I could bring you by the lab to orient you with the procedures?”
Having given up hope of finding Janie before ethics, Alessa had some time and nothing to do except brood over their argument, so she happily obliged. “Sounds great.”
Following the professor up to the lab on the
second floor, Alessa couldn’t contain her excitement over her good fortune. If Janie’s theory about the house’s natural electromagnetic fields was right, she might be able to use the professor’s equipment to amplify the effect and open a wormhole directly to Isaac’s time. Forget the particle accelerator – this could be exactly what she needed. Who knew doing well on one midterm would open such a monumental door?
The professor unlocked the unassuming entrance and ushered Alessa inside. Surveying the room, she noted the marked contrast between the dated workspace and the shiny new equipment strewn across every available surface. The professor led her to one corner of the room and began pointing out the functions of each part of the wormhole manipulator.
The apparatus consisted of three silvery spheres mounted on foot-long poles which were set equidistant in a triangle on the tabletop, a glowing strand of electricity connecting each globe. The professor explained that the poles were placed in precisely the right relative positions to maximize the amplification of the electromagnetic fields in the center of the triangle.
The idea was that if a wormhole opened in that position, as popular theory suggested one eventually would, the strong fields would trap it there and allow the researchers to vary the settings on the device to try to enlarge it. A computer monitored the apparatus to detect any changes in the fields within the triangles. The graph on the screen was flat except for one small blip about a month into the three month project.
Professor Liu motioned at the graph. “That was the closest we’ve gotten so far. A wormhole opened up within the triangle, but it wasn’t directly in the center, so the fields weren’t strong enough to capture it.”
Alessa thought it seemed like this experiment would require a lot of waiting – what were the chances that a wormhole would appear in exactly the right spot anytime soon? “Is there anything you can do to broaden the effective area of the triangle? Can you increase the strength of the fields or anything?”
“We could, but it would require a lot more energy and this old building just isn’t equipped for it. I’m working on securing another grant which will allow us to move to a more advanced lab, but in the meantime, this is the best we can do.”
Alessa nodded. Assuming there really was a spike in the natural fields around her house, if she could get this equipment back there, it might serve the same purpose as pumping more electricity into the system. And the entire setup was small enough that she could fit it all into a large duffle bag to smuggle it home…
Alessa could barely believe her own gall. Only moments after entering the professor’s lab, she was already contemplating strategies to steal his equipment. Perhaps she was going too far, but the temptation was too strong to resist. When would another opportunity like this ever fall into her lap? On the other hand, Professor Liu was so trusting that it just seemed wrong to take advantage of him.
She could always put everything back, though, once she’d gotten through to Isaac. That way, she rationalized, she would only be borrowing. And if she did it while the professor was on leave, he would probably never even know. Plus, if her experiment worked, she could even devise some way to suggest the idea to Professor Liu – that would advance his research by months, maybe even years. Alessa felt slightly better about her duplicity. If she really thought it through, it might be a win-win for her, Isaac, and the professor.
Professor Liu continued with her orientation. “We run the machine continuously, night and day, but we need to check it every day since occasionally there are surges in the power lines which cause it to overheat and turn off. We don’t want it to be offline for any significant period of time since we might miss our opportunity, so if you find it turned off when you come in to check on the progress, just flip this switch in the fuse box and it should come back on.” He tripped the fuse to show how the machine turns off and back on.
After concluding the tour of the lab, Alessa agreed to start coming by twice a week to continue her training until the professor went on leave, at which time she would transition to daily responsibilities. She was already anticipating the start of his vacation. “So, when is your baby due?”
“Second week in December,” he beamed.
Great, Alessa thought. That would give her a few weeks to figure out how she could smuggle the equipment into her house without alerting campus security. “That’s wonderful,” she smiled back.
Professor Liu held up a set of keys to the lab and presented them to Alessa with a genuine smile. “Welcome aboard, Ms. Khole! It will be nice to have another helping hand around here.”
Alessa snatched the keys from his hand, grinning from ear to ear. “Thanks again for the opportunity. The experiment sounds really riveting.” Far more riveting for her, in fact, than the professor could possibly imagine. “I can’t wait to get started.”
22. REVELATION
By the time Alessa had gotten through that afternoon’s ethics seminar, her anticipation was palpable. The entire way home she fought the urge to run, until it finally overtook her as the Zeta Epsilon Pi house peeked into view. Dashing up the stairs, Alessa headed straight down the hall and burst into Janie’s room.
“Janie! I know you’re mad at me and you’re right – I was totally out of line and I’m sorry. But I’ve got something to tell you.” Alessa spat the words out as fast as her lips would take them, gesturing emphatically with her hands.
Janie, who had been hanging laundry in her closet, turned quickly in Alessa’s direction, a look of relief on her face. “So you decided to take my advice and think things through a little before you try to contact Isaac again?”
Alessa deflated. “Well…” She wasn’t sure how to continue.
All of a sudden, Alessa wondered if sharing the news of the research position with Janie was a mistake. She hated the idea of lying to her best friend – or even keeping a secret from her – but at the same time, this was something Alessa knew she had to try and she didn’t want it to come between them again.
“Well, what is it?” Janie demanded.
After a moment of consideration, Alessa decided to be honest. She needed Janie to understand why she felt compelled to push on. “Professor Liu asked me to assist him in his lab.”
Janie looked puzzled. “I didn’t think you had any interest in doing research…”
“I didn’t…” Alessa smirked. She really couldn’t contain her excitement. “…until he explained that he’s trying to manipulate wormholes to open a door to another time.”
Janie’s face flushed. “Less, this is a terrible idea.”
Alessa was expecting this reaction, but it still stung. “What is? I haven’t even told you yet!”
“You don’t have to! You’re thinking of using whatever technology he has to try to contact Isaac, obviously.” She swore audibly. “You’re so bullheaded! Why can’t you just let it go?”
Alessa was taken aback by the venom in Janie’s voice. She wasn’t angry anymore, but hurt. Janie really must not understand how important this was to Alessa. Staring at the floor, she sulked, “Janie, he’s the only thing I have left.” Looking up into Janie’s eyes, she added, “I have to try.”
Janie shook her head and flung the pair of jeans she was holding. They hit the wall with a whap. “The only thing you have left? How about me, Alessa? How about your life? You’re willing to throw all that away just to take a gamble on this ridiculous idea?”
Alessa started to recoil but threw her shoulders back in defiance. “Yes, actually, I am. Because I think you’re being ridiculous. How could I live with myself if I knew I had a chance to save someone I love and I didn’t even try? I would do the same for you.”
Janie closed her eyes and shook her head, as if she were trying to drown out Alessa’s appeal. “Less, listen to me.” She glanced around the room warily then hissed, “Don’t you think the timing of this offer is just a bit… convenient?”
Alessa cocked her head to one side and regarded Janie with curiosity. Slowly, she uttered, “What do you mea
n?”
“I mean…” Janie bit her tongue, shaking her head again. “What I mean is that this is just totally out of character for you. You’ve always been a paragon of levelheadedness and now you’re acting like a crazy lady, like some sort of plague crawled into your head and is holding you hostage.” She looked at Alessa expectantly for a moment, then continued more softly. “I just think you need a little more time to think about this. I promise I will support you in whatever you decide to do –” she reached for Alessa’s hands. “– because I do know how much Isaac means to you. I just don’t want you to rush into it.”
Alessa allowed Janie to take her hands, but inside she was still resistant. It was clear that Janie had more to say and Alessa couldn’t understand why she was holding back, especially after Alessa had been so forthcoming with her own feelings. She was tempted to press her further, but something in Janie’s expression told Alessa that it would be futile to ask. Janie obviously wasn’t ready to share whatever it was that she wanted to say.
Instead, Alessa tried to reassure her friend. “I won’t have an opportunity to act until the professor goes on paternity leave in a few weeks, so I’ll think it over between now and then. But I’m pretty sure I already know what my decision will be.”
Janie nodded and seemed pacified. “That’s all I ask. Just take some time to think things through.”
Alessa departed for her own room, her sense of exhilaration much dampened from earlier in the day. Despite Janie’s reassurances, Alessa wasn’t sure that she’d be able to count on her friend for support if she did decide to move forward with her plan to steal the equipment. And the fact that Janie was obviously withholding her thoughts bothered her even more. She hoped that – as Janie suggested – more clarity would come with time.
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