“What’s going on, dear? Answer the phone.”
“Phone? Oh. Is that what’s making that incessant noise?”
He turned on the light and finally found the receiver. “Hello?”
“Yes. Yes it is.” Dr. Donavan listened for a second and his eyes got wide.
“When…? No...wait till I get there. No, don’t call the police. I’ll handle this. Just keep them there.”
He put the phone down and looked at his wife. “It’s…the kids. Teresa and Kyle…and Sonja. They’re at the lab. The janitor caught them messing around with the computers. Call Bashan. I’m heading right over there. Have him meet me there.”
“What? Are they okay?”
“They are. But they won’t be when I get a hold of them. If they messed up my research…”
“Don’t be too hard, dear. They’re just kids.”
“What on earth can they be up to, Medina? Kyle I can understand. But Teresa, too? And…Sonja? Something’s not right. I’ll call you when I get there and let you know what’s going on.”
***
“Can I go to the bathroom?”
“No,” said Ferdinand sternly. “You wait until your father gets here.”
“But…I’m gonna pee my pants! You can’t let me do that in front of…” Kyle leaned over and whispered, “…in front of the girls.”
Ferdinand, the squirrelly janitor from “Early Bird Cleaning Company” thought for a moment. He looked at the girls and decided it couldn’t hurt. “Just be quick about it. And…no funny business!”
He’d made the girls wait in the lab next to the door outside the capsule room. That way there was nowhere they could go.
Kyle raced quickly around the corner and, once he was out of sight, he opened and closed the door to the restroom, but didn’t go in. Quietly, he slid open several draws looking for the components he would need to complete the distortion device. He wouldn’t have time to assemble it here. He’d have to do that in the past, he decided.
As he looked for the parts, he thought about what had just happened. Events apparently didn’t reset precisely the same since the near paradox. Apparently, he had done something to alter the timeline, he thought. But what? How? He didn’t understand that at all.
Once he had the components, he grabbed a small tool bag with tools he thought he’d need to assemble the unit and then placed them in his backpack. Then he waited.
***
Ferdinand was becoming anxious. The doctor should have been there by now. And the boy. Where was he?
“Does your brother always take so long?”
Teresa said, “Yeah. He’s got bladder problems. Wears a bag and everything. It’s very painful for him. He almost died.” Teresa was making it up as she went along. Ferdinand wasn’t buying it.
“You must think I’m stupid. Stay here!” he scolded. The girls stood straight at attention.
Ferdinand went around the corner and knocked on the restroom door. “Hey! You done yet? Hey! Hello!”
He opened the door and stuck his head part way in, while Kyle raced across the room and knocked Ferdinand into the bathroom. He then grabbed a chair he had placed nearby and wedged it against the door. Ferdinand twisted the handle.
“Hey! What’re you doing? Open this door. Hey! I said, let me out! Your father is going to have you thrown in jail.” Ferdinand ranted, raved, and pounded on the door incessantly. Kyle ignored him and raced over to where the girls were standing.
“Are you out of your mind?” screamed Teresa. “Dad’s gonna kill us for sure!”
A look of horror came over Sonja’s face. “You mean your dad will really kill us?”
Kyle ignored the girls. There were only minutes to spare before his father arrived. The only chance they had was to get into the capsule and hope it launched before his father could stop them. He found the glove he had used the last time they went back in the same spot—it was there. Apparently, not everything was different from before.
He placed the glove against the heavy door to the capsule room. It clicked and the door slowly opened. Kyle squeezed through.
“Come on! Unless you want to be grounded for the rest of your life, we have to go. Right now!”
The girls followed, although reluctantly. Kyle hit the button to close the door. As he did, his father came through the door on the opposite end of the room and raced towards them.
“Kyle! Stop! No! Stop!”
Dr. Donavan reached the door at the same moment as it clicked shut. He placed his hand to reopen the door and it clicked open again. He forced himself against the crack in the door trying to get in as quickly as possible.
Finally, the door opened enough for him to squeeze through and he reached out to grab Kyle just as he disappeared through the green gel of the time capsule.
“Get out of there! You’ll be killed! What’s wrong with you?” yelled Dr. Donavan frantically feeling his way around trying to find the opening, but the gel had frozen solid. Suddenly, it began to move. Very slowly at first. But then it picked up speed. The sound of the violins sounded…different. It was more beautiful than anything he had ever heard before in his life.
He watched helplessly as his children and the child of his partner slowly phased out of existence. Kyle waved just before he disappeared and mouthed the words, “Trust me. I love you.”
They watched as the fluid around them pulsed with color. Teresa started to put her hands over her ears, when Kyle reached over and pulled them away. He shook his head and yelled above the music, “Listen!”
They listened. The music was unbelievably beautiful. Sonja and Teresa’s eyes sparkled in the dazzling lights of the capsule as it did whatever it was doing to get them into the past. After a few moments, the music stopped and the capsule gelled again. Through the iridescent and translucent green field, they watched to see where it was they had arrived.
Teresa said, “It’s awfully quiet. Do you know where you sent us?”
“I think I sent us back a few years before the comet hit.”
“I do not understand,” said Sonja. “Why would not the capsule take you back here anyway?”
“It has something to do with the paradox I almost caused. Since I was sent back to a later time period—one just after the comet struck—I had to change the harmonics of the capsule.”
“How…could you do that?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me,” said Teresa.
“Okay. Math.”
That struck Teresa as she started laughing hysterically to the point of tears.
“I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
“I believe you, Kyle,” said Sonja sweetly.
Kyle blushed. “Uh…Thank…you. Um…let’s go see where we are.”
Kyle stepped out with Teresa and Sonja right behind him. They were surprised that the capsule immediately started to disappear.
“The shoestring! We didn’t put it back! Oh no!” screamed Kyle. Frantically, he untied a shoelace and pulled it out, but it was too late. The capsule was gone. And, so it seemed, were their chances of ever getting back to the future.
***
“How could your son do this? It will take me years to figure out what he wrote on the computer. I have never seen anything this complex in my life. It looks more like, like…”
“Music?” said Dr. Donavan.
“Yes, that is it. Music,” said Dr. Bashan. “Why does it look like music? Does your son play an instrument?”
“Medina said he tried to play the violin the other day. I didn’t think anything of it. It sounded horrible.” Then he remembered something that happened just that night. “Kyle asked me about string theory. You don’t suppose…”
“That he knew what he was doing? I can not see how. I am the best programmer I know. And I can not do anything near this complex. The math alone is light years beyond me. I would never have thought to equate the harmonics with actual music. It is astounding that the boy did this. I si
mply can not believe what I am seeing and, yet, I am seeing it with my own eye and hearing it with my own ear. I can not duplicate this. I know not where to begin. We can never get them back.”
Then they heard the sound of the violins. The capsule was returning all on its own.
“Maybe we won’t have to. Maybe the children are back!” exclaimed Dr. Donovan hopefully.
***
Kyle tried hard to compose himself, but it wasn’t working. They both saw the terror in his eyes—and the sadness.
“It can not be that bad. You got us out before. You will figure it out,” said Sonja. “You will get us home. I just know you will.”
“You can get us back, can’t you?” asked Teresa. She knew her brother better than anyone. He was clearly distraught. He knew something they didn’t. But what?
Kyle composed himself. He took a deep breath. “In the future…in the paradox, the other Kyle told me that the shoestring was the only reason we were able to get back at all. If the shoestring wasn’t accidentally left in the capsule—half in and half out—there would be no way to get back. The capsule will not remain in flux as it did before and return to our time.” He paused and wondered if he should tell them. He decided they needed to know since this was going to be their future. They would have to live out their lives in the past.
“We can’t go back, Teresa. Ever. I am so sorry.”
“You idiot!” yelled Teresa. She began slapping Kyle and shoving him. “How could you do this? I have to go to Mary’s party tomorrow! I have a dress and…and…” She started to cry. Sonja put her arm around her.
“We will figure this out somehow. It will not be so bad. At least Kyle has the distortion device. The dinosaurs will not be able to hurt us. Is that not that right, Kyle?”
“I have to put it toge—”
A loud roar behind them caused them all to jump.
“We need to find shelter right away.”
Sonja asked, “Where are we? This is not the same spot we were in last time. I do not recognize anything.”
Kyle pointed to a hill some distance away. “The original landing was over there—about two miles. I changed the location of the landing and the exact time period. We’re about a year or so before the comet. I couldn’t be sure, but we’re not far from the pond I told you about. Let’s head in that direction. Please, be very quiet until I find someplace to get this device together.”
“You did remember to bring it?”
“Yes, Teresa,” said Kyle irritated. “Now let’s go.”
They began hiking toward the pond. The humidity was overwhelming and it wasn’t long before they were drenched in sweat.
“I’m glad I used my deodorant this morning before we left,” commented Teresa.
“You’d never guess that,” remarked Kyle. His sense of humor was returning along with a sense of purpose. He still wanted to find Nessie even though it seemed there wasn’t a chance of getting back. He still wanted to record her voice. And he needed to see her again.
***
The sun was beginning to set and they had been fortunate thus far not to run into any predatory animals. Most of the dinosaurs they saw were herbivores. Large lumbering animals busily consumed large quantities of plants and dumped equally large piles of dung.
“I think they are seeding the planet to fertilize the ground. It will eventually make it more inhabitable for the different species of animals that will come after the bigger dinosaurs are gone,” said Kyle matter-of-factly as he pointed to the huge manure piles.
“It’s like my salt water aquarium, I think. I had to add crabs to condition the aquarium water. Then when the water was free of toxic chemicals, I removed the crabs and added the more delicate species of fish. That’s what’s happening with the dinosaurs. The earth is almost ready for more delicate species of animals. That’s why the dinosaurs died.”
Sonja asked enraptured, “How is it that you know this?”
“It’s like everything else I know since coming back from the last trip. I just do. It makes sense, though, doesn’t it? The idea of the dinosaurs being destroyed? It’s a normal part of life on Earth.”
“Well I think it stinks,” said Teresa.
“How can you say that? It makes perfect sense. How can humans eventually live on a planet—”
“Not that, you knucklehead. The manure. It stinks!”
They all laughed. Kyle pointed to an enormous tree with a rootstock above ground.
“I think that might be a good place to shelter. I saw one of those trees before and inside the root system, it was hollow. We can hide in there for the time being and I can put this device together.”
Teresa asked, “How do you know there’s nothing in there already?”
“Uh…I didn’t think of that.”
“Not much of a genius if you ask me.”
“Who’s asking you anyway?”
They heard a rustling of trees overhead and looked up in time to see a huge head appear over the tops of the trees.
“What on Earth…”
They ran for the tree as the Allosaurus spotted them. The beast drove his head and neck toward the ground and opened his mouth. Kyle was already through the roots with Sonja right behind him. Teresa tripped over a rock and fell flat on her stomach.
The Allosaur closed its eyes as it reached down for the kill. Teresa screamed. Kyle jumped out again, grabbed his sister’s hand, yanked her away as the Allosaur bit into the ground, and came up with a mouthful of dirt and rocks.
The great dinosaur shook its head throwing more rocks and dirt like an earthmover and roared with anger. It looked down as Kyle shoved Teresa into the roots with help from Sonja. Kyle went to follow, but a split second too late. The Allosaur caught him by the backpack and lifted him off the ground.
***
Dr. Donavan and Dr. Bashan looked at the capsule with a mix of confusion and fear. The children weren’t in it. They were gone.
“What should we do?” asked Dr. Bashan.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
“Where are the children? What has happened to them?” asked a female voice from behind. Ravina, Dr. Bashan’s wife was standing there with Medina Donavan at her side. They looked frightened.
While Mrs. Bashan was aware of her husband’s work, Medina didn’t really understand what they were doing. Ravina Bashan held a Master’s Degree in Physics. While not as well educated as her husband, she knew enough about what they were doing to be frightened clean out of her wits when the doctors explained what had taken place.
“I have no rational explanation why or how Kyle could understand enough to launch the capsule. It took both Paul and I together to be able to accomplish this. Yet, Kyle has managed, either by accident or some other way I can’t even begin to imagine, reprogrammed the capsule and launched it to a destination neither of us can decipher. We are at a loss as to what to do.” There was a pleading and lost look in her husband’s eyes Medina couldn’t ever remember seeing before, with the possible exception of their wedding day just before he said, “I do.”
“The answer is obvious,” said Medina. “You must go back and get them.”
“If only it was that simple, hon. We could be sending someone to their death and not even know it.”
A flash of panic crossed Medina’s face. “Dead? You didn’t say you thought the children were dead!”
“We do not know if that is the case,” offered Dr. Bashan consolingly.
Ravina jumped in with equal fear in her voice, “Medina is absolutely right. We need to go back. You cannot leave our children somewhere in the past or future or wherever they are. Look at the evidence. Young Kyle has shown some sort of a remarkable ability, reprogrammed the capsule. Does it not make sense he knew what he was doing? I think they are alive. But obviously, they cannot get back without the capsule. Maybe he miscalculated. Maybe he thought the capsule would somehow stay wherever it is they are. We must go back. I will go.”
“I will go wit
h her,” added Medina with conviction.
“But…you are just women. What can you do?” Dr. Donavan realized his mistake once the words left his mouth, but it was too late to take them back.
“Have you ever heard of a she bear that couldn’t protect her babies from any carnivore regardless of its size? There isn’t any power in the world that can stop us. Send us back! Right now!” Yelled Medina. Ravina was shaking her head in agreement.
“Yes! Right now.”
“Look,” said Dr. Bashan. “At least give us some time to make sure the system is stable. You should also look at the tape from the first launch. You need to know what it is you are up against.”
Kyle twisted and slipped from the backpack, fell to the ground, rolled over and dove back through the roots. He watched as the angry dinosaur realized the backpack wasn’t edible and threw it into the air. It landed two feet from the root. Kyle dove back out and grabbed the backpack, but it caught on something.
The Allosaur looked down at its amazing stroke of good fortune; it reached down and opened his mouth wide for another bite. This time it would not be denied.
Teresa and Sonja jumped into action. Each grabbed a pant leg and yanked as hard as they could, pulling Kyle back into the confines and safety of the roots. They all scrambled back away from the opening as fast as they could, as the massive and powerful mouth of the Allosaur crunched down on the roots snapping them like kindling.
They inched back away farther into the roots and around toward the back of the tree. Kyle could see the angry eyes of the Allosaur, big as a basketball, peering in at them. He roared several times before breaking off and deciding to pursue other quarry easier to eat. The big beast didn’t like to work hard for its meals.
The three of them sat there breathing heavily as they tried to catch their breath, before any of them could speak. Finally, Teresa spoke first.
“You saved my life. It almost cost you yours. Now what are we going to do? We lost the backpack. We have nothing to defend ourselves with. It’s only a matter of time before something eats us.”
“Don’t be so sure,” said Kyle as he held up his backpack.
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