Dr. Greene stopped for a moment. He imagined just how amazing it would be to kick back and imagine how amazing it would be to complete his time machine so that he could just go wherever and whenever. And so he made himself a solemn vow that if at all he was going to make some progress and an eventual breakthrough, then he was most definitely going to take Tori for a ride and make sure that she had a chance of seeing her parents one last time.
But in as much as he wanted to come clean with his plot, there was no way that he was going to do just that, not just yet.
***
As soon as they agreed to meet up on a date on the following day which was on a Sunday, Dr. Greene left the bar with a smile on his face. For the past decade, it seemed as though his social life had gone down the drain as he decided to dedicate his entire life to science. And that did pay off in a great way. But that said, it seemed as though he needed some of that social life back.
And thankfully, Tori was there to make sure that he was attached to the real life since lots of experimenting could lead you into some very dark places that you would find it very difficult to escape from if you weren’t that careful. In the end, Dr. Greene was glad to be doing this, especially before the big day.
The date was nothing fancy. The two just planned to walk around the park and get to talk about their lives. Dr. Greene was also hoping that he would get that golden opportunity of getting to know so much more about Tori. He had some feelings for her, but since he was the Real McCoy definition of a geek, he just didn’t know the best way to approach her and most importantly, get to express his feelings.
Tori knew that. But she was one of those old school girls who always wanted the man to man up and proceed to do something incredible. And for a moment, she wanted to confess that she had feelings for him. But each and every single time she wanted to come clean about her feelings, it did seem as though words were doing such an excellent job in failing her and for a moment, she almost just gave up in everything that she was doing.
Dr. Greene sensed that Tori was trying to tell him something, but still, he just chose to keep it quiet for a while.
Tori was starting to feel as though the walk was getting a little bit awkward and so she decided to say something.
“Well, do you think you are going to be a doctor forever?” Tori asked, trying as much as possible not to glance back at him since she could have pretty much blushed almost immediately.
“I have been thinking about that same question for a while now. And to be honest, I don’t even know what I will be doing with my life after this. I mean, researching and inventing have been something that I have been doing for a very long time now. And now that I am starting to think about the future, I just can’t come up with something else to do with my life.”
“There are plenty of things that you could do with your life, trust me on that one. First and foremost, you can end up being one of the very best teachers out there. And I am not talking about being a lecturer in a university. Take up something much simpler. For instance, you can make sure that you are a science teacher in grade school or something.”
Dr. Greene smiled. For sure, it was a very brilliant idea since he loved kids. But still, after getting to think for a while, he just realized that maybe such things weren’t meant for him. The point was getting away from science and everything to do with it.
“That’s brilliant, but I want to do something totally difference, away from the scientific world as it is. I thought maybe I would become a writer. I love writing.”
“Well, that’s a new one. Do you have any material that I can get to read sometimes?”
“I haven’t written in ages, but I am sure that I can get something for you the next time I visit the club.”
“Make sure you do that!”
The walk didn’t last that long since Dr. Greene had to go back to his private lab and continue working on his time travel machine. But even though that was the case, it seemed as though the walk was worth every single second. It felt as though Tori and Dr. Greene had connected on yet another level and it went without saying that they were going to have such an amazing time together.
They parted with Dr. Greene giving her a kiss on her cheek.
Chapter 6:
-The Breakthrough-
Finally, it was time for the moment of truth to be revealed. It went without saying that everything was most definitely going to be a little trickier than it looked. Dr. Greene was nervous simply because it was the very first time that he was getting to do something of that nature.
And as if that wasn’t all, he was also nervous since if it wouldn’t have worked, then it would simply mean that all of his work was going to go down the drain, that meant years and years of researching.
But still, the good doctor wasn’t going just to kick back and allow the fear of failure to get the better of him. If anything, he had been working too darn hard on that experiment, and that said, the only thing that would have made some sense at the time would have been to work as hard as possible to ensure that he was in a position to stay focused at all times.
The little rat was well fed and looked healthy. And for a moment, Dr. Greene just stared at the little fellow, trying to convince himself of just how bad it would have been to kill it in the name of an experiment. But still, haunted by his conscience or not, Dr. Greene knew that it was a necessary evil that needed to be carried out or else nothing good would ever come out of the whole experiment, which would have been very unfortunate indeed.
Eventually, the only thing that would have made some sense would be to put all of his fears aside and proceed with the experiment. If it were to fail, then the good doctor would just do the necessary – which was pretty much getting all of the data needed and to ensure that he found out where he went wrong and proceeded to fix it pronto.
And if anything were to go the right way, then Dr. Greene would not only celebrate. But also, start thinking from a much bigger point of view which had every single thing to do with making sure that he had started preparing for an attempt to teleport a much bigger mammal, probably a monkey or a goat depending on the subject that will be available.
So without further ado, Dr. Greene made sure that he had the rat prepped for the procedure by getting to inject the wrong creature with the serum which had been diluted in a ratio of its size against its metabolic rate. The calculation was just a theoretical one, and it only had two ways of going just about it. It was either going to succeed, or it was going to fail. At that moment, they weren’t sure just yet and so the only thing that would have made some sense at the time would be to cross his fingers.
He took caution as he injected the poor thing and put it in the time traveling machine. He then put the time it was supposed to take in the other realm right before it could come back and without wasting any more time, he punched the red button and stepped aside, his fingers still crossed.
***
A couple of minutes passed by and it was still very difficult for the good doctor to try and place where the heck the rat had chosen to disappear. In a moment or two, it appeared as though the experiment had failed and Dr. Greene almost got crushed by it. But then again, he just figured out that he was just very impatient – one quality that destroys very many brilliant scientists.
And bearing that in mind, it also seemed to all of his worries just faded into a blur, and he felt as though he didn’t have any damn thing to worry about at that moment. He took the little rat into his hands and injected the poor thing right before placing it into the time machine. Dr. Greene then waited for a moment as though he was making up his mind whether or not to press the button.
He needed to know what the heck was going to happen. In other words, all the years of incredibly hard research boiled down to that specific day.
He clenched his teeth and made sure that he had pressed it and took a couple of steps back and watched. Bolts of lightning appeared to be shooting all through the machine and the little rat was screaming and scratch
ing the door as though it was in incredible pain. And that said, it appeared as though everything just stopped all of a sudden and the scratching as well as screaming wasn’t heard. And that made the good doctor feel as though it was some kind of fantasy.
And so without wasting any more time, Dr. Greene decided that it would be a very excellent idea for him just to kick back wait a while longer before opening the door. And as he waited, a quizzical of questions streamed through his mind.
It appeared as though he wasn’t ready to take another loss especially after the people back at his place of work had laughed at him for suggesting the impossible. Honestly, the only thing that was giving him that chance to come clean and on top of his game at all times was the fact that he needed to be.
Dr. Greene stood up and walked slowly towards the time machine which was as quite as a church mouse. He then tried to stretch his hands just to see if the poor thing was still in there or it had actually disappeared. But still, there was something still holding him back and no matter how hard he was trying to get things in the right way, it just seemed as though he was gong to have to work much harder than that. And so he closed his eyes and opened it at once.
The rat had evidently disappeared. But the problem was that there was absolutely no way that it was ever going to come back since Dr. Greene didn’t know how he was going to do just that. It had been three hours since he had initiated the reversal process but from the look of things, it did seem as though it was gone forever – a mystery that he just couldn’t solve.
But that was to be a problem for another day. As far as he was concerned, he had achieved the first milestone, to teleport an animal without killing it or turning it into toast. And even though it couldn’t come back, Dr. Greene still thought he was making some incredible progress and that said, the most important thing for him to do at that moment would have been to stay focused and get to make the most of it.
He had spent eighteen hours in his laboratory, and as far as he was concerned, that was just way too much time, and he needed some rest. So he picked up his coffee mug and took off his spectacles and let out a long, very stressful yawn before stepping out of the room. But it was at that moment that the strangest thing happened.
The time travel machine started running and the light from the little chamber where the rat had been put in shone. This was a little bit strange and it went without saying that Dr. Greene got back in his seat and put on his spectacles right before staring at that machine without blinking. The LCD screen at the controls indicated that the subject was back in the machine and Dr. Greene just couldn’t hide his excitement as he rushed to check out just what was going on.
Once the self-initiated sequence was completed, Dr. Greene came from his chair and ran toward the door of the time travel machine, shaking all over the place. He had just had the most amazing progress, and now he was about to find out whatever the heck was going on. And so after taking his deep breaths and checking it out, he opened the door to the time travel machine.
But what he saw made his jaws hit the floorboards literally!!
…Synopsis…Book 2
Dr. Greene was still having the scare of his entire life, and that said, it appeared as if he wasn’t going to get over it. But he also knew that everyone gets scared once in a while. But what they did with the fact that they were very scared was what seemed to matter the most. And as far as he was concerned, the only thing that would have made some sense at that time would have been to kick back and ensure that he was doing the right thing.
Once he had been accustomed to being in the time machine for the first time, Dr. Greene clenched his teeth, trying as much as possible to avoid his body from shaking right before pressing the red button and holding tight as his entire body disintegrated, separating on an atomic level.
“AAAAAAAAH!!!”
Chapter 1
-The Aftermath-
At first, it seemed as though Dr. Greene was in some shock since he wasn’t uttering a word.
All he could do at that moment was just to sit back and watch without even blinking. The rat was back from the other dimension or time zone, but there was something that just didn’t make any sense at all. And despite the fact that Dr. Greene knew that there must have been a pretty good explanation for it, it seemed as though it was all just too darn shocking for him to even begin comprehending on whatever the heck was going on at the time.
The rat didn’t look as though it had been harmed in any way whatsoever. But that aside, it seemed as though the rat had undergone some changes in its anatomy that just didn’t appear to make any sense. For instance, the rat had two horns sticking out of its head and instead of its usual claws, it had talons in their place. And it went without saying that it was just too darn scary at the end of everything.
In the end, what seemed to be the most important thing was the fact that it had gone and come back, meaning that the machine had worked. But that was just one thing solved. Dr. Greene had to figure out just how he was going to set a particular destination as well as a time zone. And on top of that, it also seemed as though he needed to know whatever the heck was going on as far as getting all of these anatomical enhancements were concerned.
It was scary, but Dr. Greene knew that he was on to something. And if history was anything to go by, all the scary findings always made him push a little bit further just to see to it that everything was going to work out rather perfectly in the end. But from the look of things, it did seem as though the latter discovery was much scarier than the usual.
This wasn’t just any other cell trying to eat up another cell or a rush on a test subject that just would go away. No. this was a creature which crossed into another dimension and came back with some features that didn’t make sense at all. And so for a moment or two, it seemed as though the only thing that would have made some sense at the time would have been to wait and see what was going to happen.
In the mean time, Dr. Greene kept on checking the rodent, taking all the precaution in the world since if it decided to attack, there was nothing he could do about it.
It still seemed as though it was dormant and very confident, another very weird characteristic as far as rodents were concerned. Rats were always known to be very timid creatures that wouldn’t just stand there and watch a human go about their business. But this one seemed as though it was very confident that it wasn’t under any form of danger, and that just made Dr. Greene to be a little bit concerned about the place that the rodent had been to.
And for a very long time, it seemed as though that idea had been bothering him for a while now. But at the end of the day, the most important thing seemed to be the fact that his machine worked. And at that moment, Dr. Greene decided that it would be a good idea for him to take a break, let his mind rest for a little while.
The good thing about getting enough rest was that it always made sure that the good doctor always came up with some of the most amazing ideas. And at that moment, he realized that resting was the only thing that he wasn’t very keen enough to be doing and thus it was starting to affect him.
So he decided to close the transparent box right away right before going out to check his refrigerator for some liquor. Once he got in the kitchen and opened his fridge, Dr. Greene just bowed his head and shook it a little. From the look of things, he hadn’t visited his fridge for quite a while, and all of the food had reached expiration date. That was the main problem with being too engrossed in making inventions that would help the world to the point that you couldn’t even think of helping your stomach with some fresh food.
Dr. Greene knew that the world of science was starting to ruin him altogether, but he managed to keep on convincing himself that everything was going to be fine in the end.
But from the look of things, it did seem as though it was just getting worse and worse. And at that point, Dr. Greene just walked towards the living room as slowly as he could and sat down in a heap, trying to figure out where he was going to get some food and lat
er some drink to give himself some energy that he needed to think straight.
***
At that moment, Dr. Greene decided that it would be a good idea to go out and get some air. And the best place for him to be at the moment would have been none other than Tori’s bar. Over the years, it appeared as though Tori’s bar always gave her all of the freedom that he ever needed and so it had grown to become some sanctuary at the end of it all.
And so without wasting any more time, Dr. Greene decided that it was about time he went out for a drink. Of course, it was noon, but that didn’t count at any point. All he needed was to get his head cleared, and there was no other place that he could get to think of that would do such a fine job when it came to giving himself some sanctuary.
Thankfully, the club was just a ten minutes’ drive from where he lived, and so it meant that he wasn’t going to have to work too darn hard before he could get on top of the game just like he had wanted. And by getting on top of his game, Dr. Greene was thinking about getting plastered drunk, more than he was used to.
From the look of things, it always seemed as though every single thing would make some incredible sense if at all he got drunk, got over the crazy hangover and then have a clear head.
Mystery : Cozy Mystery: Murder on Board the Macedonia (mystery, thriller, cozy, shocking, short stories) (short reads, detective, murder, suspense) Page 4