And to make things worse, Dr. Greene knew the possibility of having opened a portal through some very dangerous dimensions that could get some dangerous creatures into this one. And if that would be the case, then he would become responsible for single handedly destroying human kind without even trying too darn hard.
Once he got in the bar, it seemed as though the whole place had been abandoned and Tori was just sitting there trying her level best to look cute. She was back to wearing her makeup as well as the skimpy dresses and at first, she looked a little bit surprised to see Dr. Greene back so soon and so early.
“Look at you there! I see you are becoming a very stubborn alcoholic, something that most definitely needs some serious remedying in the end.”
“Woman, you have no idea. Can you fix me a martini? And please, I don’t want any chasers on it.”
“You want it dry?”
“Yes. I want it dry.” Dr. Greene responded without looking at Tori in the face.
It was almost as if Tori would suddenly have talons and horns just like his test subject had and for a moment, it occurred to him that maybe he was just overreacting. And that was what he was doing at that time, and so he had no other choice but to let go of his negative thoughts. But still, Dr. Greene couldn’t hide the fact that he was scared shitless with the invention that he had come up with at the time.
“There you go. But remember, if you are planning on drinking yourself to sleep, then I should warn you in advance that I don’t have the energy to carry you. Make sure you can manage to take yourself the hell out of here.”
“Such a nice way to treat your customers Tori.”
She just smiled and walked to the other side of the bar to take care of a client, leaving Dr. Greene to his drink. He sighed for a moment while rubbing his hands, still trying to understand just what the heck had happened to him. As far as he was concerned, the only thing that was considered as magic or science fiction, as popularly known, had just occurred in the home lab, and it was scary.
According to his contract, Dr. Greene was supposed to report every single thing that had happened as soon as possible. But the committee had rejected his invention terming it impossible to achieve and absurd. And thanks to their cruelty, he used that as his motivation and now he was on the brink of getting on top of his game and eventually staying ahead of the curve without any problems at all.
At that moment, Dr. Greene decided that maybe it would be a good idea if he just stopped thinking way too much about his invention and just focus on having a drink. But no matter how hard he was trying to do just that, it appeared as though he was never going to achieve his goal. And that said, he decided just to kick back and ensure that he was getting to focus on the details of the time machine, trying to figure out just how he went wrong and what might have been the cause for his subject to come out like that.
Chapter 2:
-The testing-
Tori was always very amazing especially when it came to giving Dr. Greene some pieces of advice about life in general. And now that she had seen him shaken because of work, she decided that it was the perfect time for her to tell him the truth. She wasn’t going to allow him to drink too much since from the look of things; Dr. Greene seemed like the kind of person who was running away from responsibility.
“Look, I am not giving you any more drinks. I think you are running away from something. And even though my boss would kill me for telling you this because it denies him money, I think the best thing for you to do is to stop drinking and figure out how you are going to get this whole invention working. And even though I have been selling these frothy drinks for a while now, I think I am qualified to give you advice about it. And you want to know what the advice is all about?”
“What?”
“Alcohol helps you forget about your problems, but it has never solved them. Not even once. You look like you have a problem. So I suggest that you make a point of solving them rather than wallowing in here in self-pity and hoping that the universe will hear your plea and get you all sorted out.
“You have a big brain, use it to find the solutions you are looking for at the time. And you won't find them here.”
And with that, Tori took the bottle from him and just stared at him without even blinking. It seemed as though she had been pissed off altogether and she wasn’t going to allow the drinking to go on. And it seemed as though Dr. Greene was listening to her for once. He had been known to be a very stubborn doctor, and that was a fact that he knew jolly too well.
Dr. Greene wanted to protest since he thought that his right as a free drinker was being violated. But from the look of things, his right to being a top notch scientist was being upheld and for a moment, he found himself in a dilemma. At that moment, Dr. Greene stole a glance at Tori and then right back at the empty glass that he was having. He wasn’t that drunk, at least not as much as he had wanted.
“Well, I guess you are right. Whatever it was that had me all disturbed is now past me. I have to embrace the outcome and make sure that I am pursuing it to the bitter end.”
“Now that’s more like it.”
“Now that I have realized my mistakes, can I just walk away with the bottle that you are hiding from me? I already paid for it.”
“Sure. But not today. Come back after a week. And then you will have to tell me if you have progressed with your experiment. I will only give you the bottle if I am convinced that you have made some progress.”
“What if I just choose to lie to you?”
“Well, I think it would all be in vain since, from the look of things, the most important thing at this time would be to ensure that I take a good look at you. I may not be a scientist like you, but trust me when I tell you that I am a pretty damn good judge of character my friend.”
There was absolutely no way that Dr. Greene was going to change Tori’s mind. She was the kind of girl who always puts her foot down, and no matter how hard one tried to change her mind, it just wasn’t going to be possible. And now that Dr. Greene was drunk, especially after he had promised that he was going to do just that, it seemed as though there was nothing that could be done to get the bottle back.
“Ok Tori, I give up. You can keep the bottle.”
Tori didn’t even bother responding to him, but the cute smile was enough for him to know that she was having the time of his life. And that said, he decided to go back home. But as he tried to stand, Dr. Greene realized that his head was winding to the point that he almost fell. So he immediately sat down and tried to clear his head for a moment. It appeared as though he discovered that he had way too much to drink.
“I think I had way too much to drink Tori. Can you call the cab for me please?”
“You were already too drunk about an hour ago. I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of stopping you that early. Oh, and I have already called a cab for you. I could have personally driven you home but from the look of things, the night is still young, and I don’t want to have problems with my boss.”
Dr. Greene wasn’t that much of a heavy drinker. And so it explained the main reason as to why he kept off from the bar and even if he had to go, then he always regulated his drinking. But after what he had seen that day, Dr. Greene knew that he needed that drink.
***
The hangover was finally gone, and Dr. Greene embarked on his experiment, the one that he had been trying too darn hard to avoid. From the look of things, it had seemed as though Tori had managed to bring him back on track.
But even so, it seemed as though he was still too darn scared of the outcome of every single thing. The rodent was still as scary as hell, and the good doctor didn’t know the kind of new adjustments that the rodent might have undergone. For all he cared, the thing could have developed some neurotoxic abilities as suggested by the fangs as well as the scales it had around the mouth and feet.
But what was a scientific mystery as far as this one was concerned was the fact that it was surviving what seemed to be an entirely
new atmosphere which meant that there was a possibility that the rodent might have teleported all the way to some different time. But why did it still have claws and all of the other properties that it still had? It was just too darn confusing in the end.
And that was why Dr. Greene decided to make sure that all of the necessary precautions had been taken care of first before any damn thing could be done. He made sure that he had the protective lab coat as well as thick, impenetrable gloves to make sure that Dr. Greene was safe from all of the dangers that the creature might have and that he didn’t get to know all about it.
He made sure that he also was going to examine the rodent in a safe box, a box that he invented where only his hands could go into it. And in the event of any retaliation, all he needed to do was pull his hands out and press the red button. It would most definitely end up in flash burning the creature almost immediately. There was no taking any chances at all, and if that were to be the case, then he was most definitely prepared for it.
Dr. Greene took another look at the animal, and he was surprised by the fact that it was still glancing at him, not moving or eating anything and that was just too darn strange. Whatever the heck happened to that rat? Well, he was the scientist, and it was his job to find out. And so without wasting any more time, Dr. Greene closed his eyes, chanted a short, incoherent prayer right before going straight to work.
Firstly, he tried poking the little animal a little with a spatula, hoping that it was going to retaliate. But nothing came to happen, and this prompted him to prod him once more, then again. The rodent opened its eyes for a moment and then shut it. And whatever he saw made him jerk backward for a time being. The cute black eyes that the rodent once had were now shifted to green and very scary.
And that just brought Dr. Greene back to where he had been in the first place – what the heck happened to that rodent?
He then took the safe box into the scanner and made sure that the animal was all comfortable even in its sleepy state. And then he made a point of turning the scanner on, making sure that the entire body of the rat was being reflected in the huge screen right in front of him. And once it was all set, the first thing that the good doctor had to check was none other than the brain activity of the rodent.
And just like that, Dr. Greene realized that the rodent was indeed in some deep sleep, which had been happening for a while now. That was very odd since rats never had to sleep that long. And it was at that moment that Dr. Greene realized that the rat wasn’t asleep, it was just hibernating, which was odd indeed.
What could cause the rat to hibernate when it's not one of its common habitual characteristics? Dr. Greene kept on asking himself, trying as much as possible not to cage himself in a box. He wanted to embrace the impossible since it was the only way that he could get to understand that freak of nature that popped out of his time machine. He knew that there must be a very valid explanation for it and even though it was just speculation, it was worth looking into at the time.
He then checked out the time and place that he had sent the rodent; it was a decade back and in his place. Then if the rat had traveled through time and gotten back, why did it have the characteristics that it, wait a damn minute!!!
And just like that, it seemed as though a very brilliant idea had popped into his head and the good doctor couldn’t help but smile.
“Limbo.” He said with a smile on his face.
The rodent might have been injected with a lot more serum that the good doctor had anticipated. And as a result of that, the rat might have disintegrated and got lost in time. That explained virtually everything!!
Chapter 3:
-The unusual materials-
After taking sick leave for almost a week, Dr. Greene was back at work. And from the look of things, it seemed as though nobody had missed him. But either way, that was one thing that didn’t seem to bother him at all. If anything, the only thing that would seem to matter at the time was nothing other than his invention.
The kind of progress that he was making was tremendous, and it had gotten to a point where he just didn’t care whether the people liked him or not, all that matter was his time machine. Even though it hadn’t gotten to the point where he could have human trials, the most important thing was that teleportation wasn’t a myth any longer. And it went without saying that he was at the center of the whole discovery.
Another thing that the good doctor found to be amusing was the fact that this time round, he was most definitely going to be given the right recognition for something that he had done. And that said, he just couldn’t get that evil smirk wiped off his face. It was something that was out of this world.
Richardson, his boss, seemed to be in the conference room with the other scientists listening to some of the young scientists doing their presentations. Dr. Greene didn’t understand why he wasn’t bothered that Richardson didn’t bother telling him that there was going to be a presentation. Usually, Dr. Greene always took pride in being on of the top scientists in the company. But at the moment, titles, as well as favors, didn’t matter to him no matter how hard he tried.
If anything, the only thing that would have made some sense at the time would have been just to ensure that he was in a position to get some material from the company and get to steal them, taking them back to his home.
One thing about Richardson’s company was that it had billions worth of government funding and so they had virtually everything that they needed. And to put his conscious at ease, it wasn’t as though Dr. Greene was the only scientist who stole raw materials from the company. Heck, the stealing was so bad to the point that the company gave circulars, telling the scientists that the management was aware that they were stealing, but they weren’t mad at all.
What Dr. Greene was in need of was the material that was used to make the serum. It was that very rare, carefully processed mercury which only needed his calibration and a couple of additions to ensure that everything was going to work out rather perfectly at the end of the day.
At the end of the day, what seemed as the most important thing at the time was for the good doctor to walk around the place, pretending as though he didn’t want any damn thing. Having worked in the company for years and years, Dr. Green had managed to master all of the spots where the surveillance cameras had been placed. And that said, he knew just when to duck and avoid and evade.
So he waited until the doctor who was in charge of the chemicals had gone for a short call and Dr. Greene seized his opportunity, making sure that he was doing everything as fast as possible. He quickly dashed in, dodged the surveillance camera and got into the huge fridge, got all the stabilized mercury that he wanted and then got out.
Dr. Greene just realized that he in another life, he would have made such an excellent pirate since he knew just how best to maneuver his way through traps and people and coming out without being seen.
The stabilized mercury that he had managed to steal from his company was going to last him almost five months of experiments and that said, the only thing that was left was for him just to kick back and make sure that virtually every single thing was getting to work out rather perfectly in the end.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Oh, um, I came to see you. You know, it's been a while before I saw you, so I just popped in to say hey. So, hey!”
Dr. Howard took a close look at Dr. Greene, noticing that he was trying way too hard not to look tense. There was a stare down for a little while as if both of them were trying very hard to make sure that they weren’t having an awkward moment at the end of the day.
“That’s strange; you never care about coming here. But if its out of genuine concern, then thank you very much. I am doing fine sir.”
“Well, great. That’s just too great. So I will be on my way.”
That was a close shave that left Dr. Greene out of breath. But the good news was that he hadn’t been busted. The last thing he wanted was to be on the wrong side of Richardson, his
boss.
***
“Ah, I see you brought yourself back. Tell me, how is everything fairing? Oh, don’t tell me. Let me guess; I think you have had a breakthrough. Am I correct?”
“Yes, you are. And just how did you get to know all about that huh?”
“Oh, it’s simple. You see, I know you. And I had the opportunity to check you out when you stepped through the door. I saw that you looked a little bit jovial than the last time. It’s a good thing that you keep on taking my advice. I am very much impressed, so you know!”
Dr. Greene didn’t want to talk that much since he figured that maybe he might just end up ruining the whole celebratory aura that was starting to form all over the place. Indeed, it had been an incredible victory. And that said, the only thing that would have made some amazing sense at the time would have been just to kick back and ensure that he had a splendid time. And so without further ado, Dr. Greene decided to change the topic, diverting it from his research.
“So, where the heck is my bottle? I think I have earned it already.”
Tori smiled right before reaching down on the bottom cabinet and pulled the bottle out. She had stuck to her promise which she had promised that she wasn’t going to consume a drop and that just made the right doctor smile.
Mystery : Cozy Mystery: Forsaken (shocking, mystery, thriller, cozy, short stories) (suspense, short reads, detective, murder) Page 5