The Navigators

by Dan Alatorre

  The rest of us joined in, rubbing off the remaining dirt with our bare hands. After a few moments, we had our answer.

  “Check it out.”

  Barry inspected a small section of the rear frame. It was clear. Inside was a triangular bar, wider at the top, and thinner at the bottom. It glowed with iridescence: the top was green, the bottom was red. The fuel gauge. Barry ran his finger over it. “I’d guess we have about half a tank.”

  The rest of us moved to look at it.

  “Just like the battery pack thingy!” Melissa threw her hands in the air. She did a little victory dance, singing and swinging her hips. “Ooh, ooh, I was r-ight. I was ri-ight. Barry was wro-ong. Mm, mm, mmm!”

  Barry smiled at the show. “Okay, smarty. What’s next?”

  Roger waved a hand in front of Barry’s face. “Uh, how to actually turn the thing on?”

  “Yeah.” Barry returned his focus to the machine. “What about that…”

  “Ooh, ooh, I was r-ight. Ooh, ooh!”

  “Hey, Beyonce.” Roger glared. “If you were gonna turn this thing on, how would you do it?”

  “Flip my hair and smile. That always worked on you, Roger! Ooh, ooh!” She continued dancing.

  “It’s gotta be one of these big levers, right?” I asked. “I mean, it’s the most important thing. You’d make it big and important looking.”

  “So, the biggest gear shifter, then?” Barry scanned the four rods.

  Roger bent over to inspect them. “Which one has the biggest rod?”

  “Not you, Roger! Ooh, ooh!” Melissa laughed.

  “No,” he sighed. “I just am the biggest rod, right? Okay. I get it.”

  “Dance with me, Peeky!” Melissa grabbed me.

  “Uh, I don’t really dance…”

  “Oh, come on. Everybody can dance. Go like this.” She started hip bumping me. “Come on. Ooh, ooh. Just like that. Ooh, ooh.”

  Barry folded his arms on the metal frame and grinned at her. “What’s with you?”

  “I’m exhausted.” Melissa stopped dancing and collapsed onto the couch. “I’m beat. It’s been a long, stressful day after a long stressful night.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

  “Preceded by another long stressful day.” Barry rested his chin on his folded arms. “Yeah. I guess I can understand that.”

  Melissa sighed. “Not everybody’s brain goes a hundred miles an hour all the time like yours, Barry.”

  “No, no. You’re right.” Barry tapped his thighs. “Maybe we should take a break.”

  “Break if you want.” Roger tugged on one of the levers. “I’m figuring this thing out. If Findlay’s friends are as good at keeping a secret as he is, we may not have a lot of time.”

  A jolt of electricity went through me. I hadn’t thought of that. “Good God, Roger’s right. Findlay already told his buddies at MIT, Coopersmith… we don’t have any time to waste. They’ll be demanding we hand this thing over.”

  “Let’s at least try to test it, then.” Roger stood up. “With the conductor’s clock. What have we got to lose?”

  “Okay.” Barry nodded. “We need to see which lever activates it. Which one do we push?”

  We stared at the machine, hoping it would again provide an answer.

  “All of them.” Melissa sat up. “We each take one and push at the same time. One of them will activate it.”

  “Or, we could take turns pushing them,” I said. “You know, so it doesn’t explode or something.”

  Roger tapped the frame. “They would have thought of that. Whoever built it thought of a way to engage it so you can’t do it wrong. It’s gotta be something like putting your car into ‘drive.’ You can’t put it into forward and reverse at the same time.”

  Melissa crept toward the egg-shaped contraption. “You definitely want to be sure about forward and reverse on a time machine.”

  “That got handled by putting in the date.” Roger walked, sliding his hand along the frame. “Findlay said it had a self-contained system for the fuel. It would make sense to have a self-contained system for the drive, too. So you can’t mess it up.”

  “Why four, then?” Melissa eyed Roger. “I mean, I could see two—one for forward and one for reverse. Why four?”

  “Four dimensions?” I asked.

  Barry rubbed his chin. “Not enough dials to account for that.” He looked at Roger. “I think you’re right. Maybe they made it so we couldn’t mess it up.” He turned his eyes back to the machine. “Maybe they made it safe.”

  “A safety switch?” Roger asked.

  “I think so. Big electrical panels have them, where you can’t throw a main switch without pulling a safety switch first. So you can’t accidentally do it.”

  Melissa swept her hair out of her eyes. “Jet pilots have them on their ejector seat switches.”

  “And if form follows function, you’d put the safety farther away when you’re sitting in it.” I pointed. “So you could have firm control over the real lever when you went to engage it.”

  “So the rear ones are the safeties.” Melissa placed a hand on the big lever. “And the front ones are the main drives.”

  Barry rubbed his chin. “Probably. And the only ones that will work are determined by what date we use.”

  We gathered around the big bronze machine, staring at it.

  Melissa dug her phone out of her pocket. “A phone is pretty user friendly, right? To get it to work, I don’t need to know the process of turning a voice into electronic impulses that get bounced digitally across the country. The people who built it had to know all that. I just push a few buttons and talk, but it only works if I do the steps in the right order.”

  She looked at the machine and smiled.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “Have we thought of everything?”

  Like the rest of us, Barry knew we couldn’t actually think of all the things that could go wrong testing out a time machine for the first time, but it was a way to let us vent any remaining concerns.

  I looked at him. “I can’t think of anything else we need to do. Not for a test.”

  “Me, neither.” Roger patted the bronze frame of the machine.

  Melissa smiled. “I think we’re a go.”

  “Okay, then.” Barry went to the coffee table. “Missy, is the clock wound up?”

  She checked the winding spindle. “All set. Pocket watch says five PM, wall clock says five PM. Time machine set for 4:55 PM.”

  Barry bit his fingernail. “Do it.”

  She held the frame and leaned in, placing the watch on top of the stack of books.

  “Maharaja.” Barry pointed at me. “Go ahead and release the safety.”

  I leaned into the long rod. It moved into place with considerable ease and stopped with a solid click.

  All eyes turned to Roger. “Okay, man,” Barry took a deep breath. “Your turn.”

  “Aye, aye, captain.” Roger put his hand on the large lever. “Engaging the main drive.”

  “Wait!” I shouted. “My role is done for now, right? Should I video the test?”

  “Good idea.” Barry pointed. “Use my video camera. It’ll get a better picture than our cell phones would. It’s over on the desk.”

  I grabbed it and faced my team as they stood around the machine. Their expressions were a mixture of fear and excitement.

  I held up the camera. “Rolling!” Then I moved to the other side of Barry’s couch.

  “What are you doing?” Barry asked. “Peeky, where are you going?”

  From behind the couch, I replied. “In case that thing blows up when Roger moves the lever, I’m going to be over here.”

  “Like the couch is going to protect you?” Roger scowled.

  I chuckled. “It’s better than nothing!”

  They laughed, too. Then Missy glanced around. “Hold on a sec.” She trotted over to join me at my sofa bunker.

  Roger glared at her.

&
nbsp; “What? My part is done, too.”

  He shook his head. “I guess it’s just me and you, Barry.”

  “Just you, buddy.” Barry joined us behind the couch. He squatted low. “Count it down, Rog!”

  Roger huffed in disgust. “Cowards. They wouldn’t build a machine that would kill the user. Ready?”

  “Three. . .”

  Melissa and I ducked. I held the camera up over the back of the couch, pointing in the general direction of the test.

  “Two. . . ”

  Roger gripped the lever and took a breath.

  “One!”

  He moved the lever, sliding it into place with a click.

  We hunched down, awaiting… something. Roger just stood there and stared at it.

  Melissa peeked over the couch. “Misfire?”

  “I don’t know.” Roger checked around.

  Barry stood up. “I wonder if we got the levers wrong.”

  Suddenly, the room hummed with a faint whirring noise. It almost sounded like it came from next door, or out on the street, because it was so unfamiliar, but it quickly grew louder.

  The whir turned into a whine, like a siren. It grew louder and louder, until it was deafening.

  We all covered our ears. Barry yelled something at Roger and waved for him to move away from the machine. The screeching intensified.

  I had to close my eyes and drop the camera to protect my ears. I thought about running outside. Roger took a step in our direction, wildly gesturing at the levers like he was wondering if he should disengage them or not. Aside from the loud noise, the machine gave no indication that anything was happening. The turbine was still. The levers didn’t even appear to be vibrating.

  The screeching intensified, becoming physically painful inside my ears. I couldn’t stand it. Roger stood tall between the couch and us, wincing as he held his ears and watched the machine. Melissa curled up on the floor. Barry crouched next to her, holding his ears, eyes squeezed shut. I pressed my hands against my head as hard as I could to keep the piercing whine from exploding my eardrums.

  Then there was a brilliant flash.

  I was knocked down, not by any force or explosion, but by sensory disorientation. My ears were ringing from the sound, and my eyes were overwhelmed by the light. Like when we'd stare at the sun as kids, afterwards everything looks green and red instead of regular colors.

  I simply lost my ability to balance and fell down.

  It took a moment for the ringing in my ears to begin to subside. The machine’s deafening screech had stopped. By then my eyes were clearing up a little. I squinted into the living room. I could see Barry standing next to Roger, and the two of them were slowly creeping to the machine.

  Melissa was still on the floor.

  “Melissa!” I could barely hear my own voice over the residual din. I sounded fuzzy to myself, like I had pillows over my ears. I placed my hand on her back.

  She lifted her head up, a look of shock on her face. Her mouth moved, but I could not hear her.

  I glanced over at Barry and Roger. They were leaning over, peering into the machine.

  Then they jumped up and down—carefully, as they had obviously not yet fully regained their sight and hearing either.

  I picked up the camera to capture the moment.

  Barry held the clock up and grinned. His mouth moved. Roger came over for a high five.

  I obliged. My head was pounding. A wave of pain gripped the back of my skull.

  “Peeky!” Melissa shouted, standing right next to me. I could barely hear her.

  But I could read Barry’s lips enough to understand.

  “It worked!”

  Roger jumped onto the couch and reached over, gripping me on the shoulders. “Success, Peeky! The test was a success!”

  “Good golly, if that is a success, I don’t want to see a failure!” I closed my eyes in pain. Tiny sledgehammers attacked my skull. “They wouldn’t build a machine that would kill the user, huh? Just make us all deaf and blind. Where is the aspirin?”

  “I think there’s some in the kitchen pantry.” Barry took the camera.

  “Ugh,” Melissa groaned. “Now I know how those sailors that watched the nuclear bomb tests felt!” She pressed her eyes shut. “I think I got a concussion.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you did.” Barry rubbed his forehead. “I think we all did.”

  She groaned again, plopping down on the couch. “And you don’t care? Maybe you’re a super genius, but some of us need all the brain cells we can get.”

  “Oh, I care alright. But we had a successful test. See?” Barry held up the pocket watch. It was five minutes slow.

  “I’ll be damned.” Melissa sighed. “Well, I’m glad I could sacrifice my eyesight and hearing in the name of science to break your neighbor’s family heirloom.”

  Barry checked the watch and then back at Melissa, smiling. “It’s not broken. It’s perfectly fine.”

  She leaned closer. It was ticking right along.

  She peered up at Barry. “What happened, then?”

  Barry shrugged, eyeing the machine. “Beats me. Some sort of pulse.”

  “Like an electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear bomb.” Roger stared at the machine.

  “Can’t be. The electronic stuff would be out.” Barry looked around at his computer, the microwave, the wall clock. “Everything’s still working.”

  “A bioelectric pulse,” I said, shaking some aspirins from the large bottle. I popped them into my mouth and reached into the refrigerator for a soda. “It knocked us around but didn’t harm the toys.”

  “Well, that’s a kick.” Barry pursed his lips. “What do you think caused that?”

  “What caused that deafening noise?” Melissa put her hands on her head. “God, I was dying!”

  Roger slowly shook his head, continuing to stare at the machine. “Who knows? Rust? Maybe we did the levers in the wrong order?”

  Melissa rolled her eyes. “Maybe we left the emergency brake on.” She grabbed the aspirin bottle from me.

  “In order for an object to move through time, it has to approach the speed of light." I sat down on the couch. "Maybe that’s what we saw. And heard.”

  “Well, whatever it was,” Melissa dumped a couple of aspirins out of the bottle. “We need to wear protective equipment next time!” She placed the tablets in her mouth. “I’m hoo young hor a hearing aid.” Then she disappeared into the kitchen for some water to swallow them.

  “That’s no joke.” Roger rubbed an ear. “That was brutal.”

  “Yeah.” I shifted on the couch, chasing some more aspirin with a sip of soda. Roger reached for the aspirin bottle.

  Barry finally joined us, sinking into the cushions and leaning his head back. “We have got to figure out what to do about that noise and bright light.” He swigged from the aspirin bottle like they were hard liquor and grabbed my soda to wash the pills down.

  Footsteps clamored up the outside stairs of the apartment. Probably neighbors wanting to complain about the noise. Barry rolled off the couch and went to the front door. “Well, at least we have a good story to tell Riff.”

  As he opened the door, Riff grinned at him. “Tell me what?”

  “Riffer! You’re back!”

  Barry went to give him a hug, but Riff recoiled. “Take it easy! Bruised ribs!”

  “Good to see you.” Roger walked over. “I’m glad you got released so fast.”

  Melissa blinked, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Why’d they let you out early?”

  “I only cracked a few ribs.”

  “An early release?” Roger folded his arms. “That guy last night seemed pretty adamant.”

  “Oh, they wanted to keep me longer. But, you know, I was able to get out anyway because of being such a good physical specimen.” He puffed out his chest.

  Barry went with him back to the living room. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Well, the freaking vampires came by to get blood, and then these o
ther guys were sticking me with all these needles and crap. It was pissing me off.”

  Melissa sat on the arm of the chair. “Riff, they have to do tests. You might have had internal injuries.”

  “Yeah, that’s what they said.” Riff moved over to the couch. “Then the head honcho guy shows up and now he wants to start poking me with needles again. So I frigging poked him a little. I can tell when doctors are messing with me.”

  “Oh, God.” Melissa shook her head.

  “And then he brings in an extra security person. Can you believe it? So I threw my piss pan right in their fat faces!”

  Melissa’s hands flew to her mouth. “You threw a bed pan at the doctor?”

  “Well, he moved. It was a security person.”

  “A cop?” Roger leaned forward. “You threw piss on a cop?”

  “Not a cop, some bozo in a pink apron. With stripes.”

  “A candy striper!” Melissa gasped. “You assaulted a candy striper!”

  “After that, they released me—because I’m in such good shape and they knew there was nothing really wrong with me.”

  “Oh, my God. Riff!”

  “I was kinda in a hurry to get out of there anyway, so I caught a cab and came on over.”

  “You fled the scene.”

  “Tomato – potahto, you know?” He stretched out, crossing his legs on the coffee table and pointing to the time machine. “So what’s up? What did you find out about this big brown egg from the mine?”

  “Is it safe to have this conversation?” Barry asked. “Are the cops about to break down our door?”

  Melissa checked the time on her cell phone. “I have to go. Will you guys get psycho boy here up to speed while I run out?”

  “Where are you going?” Roger frowned. “I’m missing classes to figure this thing out.”

  “I have to go do an interview. For Dad’s campaign.”

  “Oh.”

  “It shouldn’t take long. I’ll be right back.” She slipped her purse strap over her shoulder. “Peeky, can you come along?”

  “What?” I blinked. “Uh, sure.”

  Flipping her hair, she glanced at the others. “Can I trust the rest of you not to do anything stupid while we’re gone?”