Time Flies

by Michael P. Rogers

Time Flies

  By Michael P. Rogers

  Copyright 2013 Michael P. Rogers

  Monday Morning

  Eric, awoken by the alarm clock at seven thirty, went straight to the bathroom and washed and shaved. He appeared at the breakfast table at precisely eight o’clock, immaculately dressed as usual, ready for the beginning of another week at the lab. He was a stickler for time, and had paid several visits to the local jewellers to get his watch regulated, which on the final attempt gained just one second a month, which he wasn’t entirely happy with. The jeweller was understandably glad to see the back of him.

  Veronica brought him his coffee, toast and newspaper and he settled into his morning routine of nibbling his toast, sipping his coffee and flicking the pages of the newspaper over without really taking anything in. “One day you’ll surprise me and do something completely out of character.” laughed his wife. He looked at her with a puzzled expression and carried on with his breakfast wondering what she meant. He gulped the last of his coffee noticing it was approaching eight thirty; time he was off. The research laboratories were only a ten minute drive away but he hated the idea of being possibly held up in traffic and arriving late. He kissed Veronica goodbye and headed for his car in the garage.

  A New Project

  Arriving at his personal parking space he glanced at his watch seeing he was five minutes early and wouldn’t have to make a dash for it. Sighing with relief he casually made his way to his lab. He didn’t want any black marks on his record. It was quite a cushy job working at the research labs. Fifty thousand a year and a company car was not to be sniffed at. At exactly nine o’clock he donned his white coat and started looking through his notes from the week before.

  Tom Stevenson walked in briskly and dropped a folder on his desk. “I’d like you to have a look at this Eric. It’s an idea I’ve been toying around with for some time and as luck would have it, all the components are in the stores.” “Good morning Tom, I don’t often have the pleasure of your presence.” Eric replied with humour. Tom was the top man in the department and they got on quite well, but he still showed him a certain amount of respect. “Let me know what you think. Take your time. I’ll pop back later.” Tom said as he left the lab grinning like a Cheshire cat.

  Eric opened the folder and studied the documents with great interest. Checking over the scribbled formulae, he considered the theory to be pretty sound, although the physical construction appeared to be quite complex. Phoning the stores he went through the list of parts to verify they were all in stock and requested delivery to his lab.

  Tom walked into the lab looking apprehensive and said “Well Eric, what do you think?” “Tom, from what I understand from your notes it’s a device to simulate the black hole theory.” Eric replied somewhat worriedly. “Exactly right, I’ve spent a lot of time studying the physics and I’m fairly confident it will give us an insight into the workings of the black hole enigma. It’s been studied and talked about for many years and I thought it was about time this mysterious beast was laid to rest once and for all.” Tom said with determination. There was a knock on the door and a young lad from the stores arrived with a trolley loaded high with the components he’d requested earlier. Tom checked them over quickly, and said, “I’ll leave you to it then Eric!” Eric couldn’t believe it when he saw the pile of boxes and packages waiting to be opened.

  He got to work, and had the project well under way when he checked his watch and saw that it was lunch time. A vision of a nice cool glass of beer came to mind and he removed his lab coat and nipped across the road to the pub for a much needed drink. He spotted Tom sitting by the bar and went over for a chat. He grabbed a bar stool, ordered a beer and sat down. He couldn’t help saying, “I think this is a bit of an ambitious idea Tom. Okay, the figures check out, but do you really think it will work?” “I know it will!” Tom replied with confidence.

  “Right, if it does work as you say, what effects could it have on the local environment?” Eric said frowning. Tom looked him straight in the eye and said “You worry too much Eric! Everything’s been taken into account. Anyway, we’d better get back as I’m sure you’d like to see it up and running. Let’s go!” They finished off their drinks and went back over the road to the laboratories.

  In the Lab

  “Let’s get back to work. I can have it finished by coffee break and see if the damn thing works, though I must admit it’s an interesting project!” Eric said while positioning a metal cover and bolting it on. He thought to himself the device looked like some sort of laser cannon. The final components were fitted after about an hour and he stood giving it a final inspection, grinning with satisfaction. It certainly looked impressive, standing five feet tall on its steel framework with a spherical enclosure placed each end seven feet apart with an adjoining glass guide tube. Heavy leads connected the spheres to a high voltage power supply underneath. An array of push buttons and indicator lights were mounted on one end of the device with a prominently positioned meter marked ‘Black Hole Status’. Eric laughed quietly, thinking it was rather optimistic.

  Uncoiling the power cable he walked over to the mains outlet and plugged it in, muttering “I’ve just got time for a test run before coffee break. Oh well, here goes!” The device was powered up with a dramatic flourish of his hand. Nothing appeared to be happening. He expected at least a buzz of power; then upon close inspection of the glass guide tube he noticed a very thin, blue stream of light through its axis which was difficult to see with the glare of the overhead fluorescent tubes. He switched off the lights for a better look at it. Yes, there it was a thin stream of fluctuating blue light down the whole length of the tube. The status indicator caught his attention and he saw that it was hovering around seventy percent.

  He thought it must be nearly time for his coffee break so he switched the overhead lights back on and powered off the device. “Damn, another fifteen minutes yet!” he cursed, looking at his watch. A tap on the door startled him and Tom poked his head in. Looking surprised he said, “Aren’t you stopping for a coffee? I know you’re keen but I’ve never known you to miss your coffee break!”

  Eric commented slightly puzzled “You’re a bit early Tom!” and checked his watch again. “This bloody thing is going back to the jewellers; fifteen minutes slow already!” Tom replied laughing “Come on old boy, let’s get that coffee.” Eric was pretty angry about his watch losing time and decided he’d pick up a new one on the way home, and grumbled about it all the way to the canteen getting a few weird looks in the process.

  “How’s my pet project coming along?” asked Tom as he filled a couple of plastic cups with coffee. “Well something seemed to be happening and the status was hitting seventy percent. Oh, and a filament of bluish light in the guide tube.” explained Eric. “Only seventy percent!” gasped Tom, “Raise the EHT another couple of thousand volts. That should fix it!” A phone started beeping and Tom pulled his mobile phone from his pocket and glanced at a text message saying, “Oh, I almost forgot about that damned meeting. I’ve got to toddle off now Eric. I’ll have a look in tomorrow morning and see how things are progressing.”

  Eric picked up his coffee and went back to the lab. He thought to himself, “Yes raising the voltage would probably do the trick.” He unplugged the power lead for safety, and connected the silicon rectifier to another winding on the huge transformer in the base of the framework. With it plugged in and ready to go he powered up the simulator.

  The glass tube showed the wavering line of blue light, as before, but much more pronounced this time, and the status indicator was now showing ninety percent. He was fascinated by the light show in the guide tube and stood watching it for quite a while. Well, he thought, “I’ll have something to show Tom in the morning, but I’
d like to know how we’re going to prove that it’s actually generating a black hole, or come to that, any bloody thing!” Finally switching it off and removing the power lead he noticed how quiet it was.

  Where’s everybody Gone?

  The silence bugged him a bit so he peered into the corridor and saw that all the lights were out and the adjacent rooms were locked for the evening. “What is going on? Everybody’s gone home!” gasped Eric, hardly believing his eyes. There was a clip clop of shoes on the tiled floor and Arnold the security guard appeared from round a corner. “Hello Eric, working overtime?”

  “Where’s everybody disappeared to Arnold? It’s only three thirty.” said Eric in surprise. Arnold grinned at him and said “I’d get that watch fixed if I were you. They all went an hour and a half ago.”

  Eric quickly got changed and dashed down to his car. The light was beginning to fade so he knew it couldn’t be three thirty. He cursed when he realised the jewellers wouldn’t be open so he’d have to go in there tomorrow for a new watch. He drove away in a bit of a quandary and made it home at seven ten, according to his car