Time for A Hug
Time - 11:55 AM.
Date - Friday 03/14/25
Location - Military Bunker #13
Project - #HP223 - Time Travel
Sally, Frank and Bob were double checking the gauges. "Sally, what's the reading on number five?" She replied back to Frank, "Five thousand and holding." "Bob, what's the voltage input?" "Holding at 75,000 volts." "Well, this is it." Frank speaks into a recorder. "Test subject number fifteen. Healthy primate, male, duration thirty seconds. Recording device active, location, central parking lot upper level, two days ago." Frank looks at Sally, who returns a nod, Bob gives a thumbs up. "In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
The lights flickered, gauges maxed out, the main control panel started to smoke. All eyes were on the containment cylinder. A flash of blue-white light filled the room. The primate was gone. They all watched and waited, it seemed as if time had stopped. Thirty seconds later another flash, the primate was back in the cylinder. This time it was alive.
Sally cautiously approached the cylinder. Not taking a chance sedated subject number fifteen before removing the recording device. Plugging it into viewer and compared it to the test footage from the same spot. They were the same.
Cheers and high fives, as Frank opened his desk drawer and removed a bottle of champagne. "A toast to the crew that hes done the impossible. History was made tonight." Frank picks up the photo of the 3 of them from his desk. They all look at it. "Wow! Is that really us twenty-five years ago." Sally saw the smile leave Bob's face "Sorry." She said. "This is the day Betty died isn't it?"
"Yes." Bob said then continued. "Yes we had just started the research on project HP223. A week earlier than expected. In fact, we had just posed for that photo, before I went to pick her up. I even had hair back then." Everybody laughed. "Our anniversary was just a few days away. We had such big plans." All was quite as Frank and Sally did not know what to say.
Frank broke the silence first. "Sally what do you think is the best memory of those early days?" "It had to be the first time I met the two of you. I had just been hired and was coming to a new town and new people, the introduction was simple." Frank and Bob broke out laughing. "That's right, here we are at the governments first research facility to see if time travel was possible. All three of us were late." Bob said. Sally waving her hands, "That's right! If I hadn't gotten onto the elevator at the same time as you two it would have been a different story."
Bob laughing. "Frank that was a stroke of genius, having all of us set our watches back one hour. I wonder it took the director to realize that he had been duped." "We have made quite a team over the years. The sacrifices all made to get to this point." Frank said.
Bob shook his head. Sally and Frank did a group hug with Bob. "Thanks guys, I really appreciate you both." Sally ask if Bob would like to meet one of her friends, to take his mind off Betty. "That's okay. I think I'll go to the park and put some flowers on the spot for her."
Bob had stopped and got a small bunch of flowers and was gently laying them by a marker that the county had installed after the accident. As Bob reflected back.
It had been a cool and blustery day. They were young, full of dreams and ambitions. There had been an old bench here at the time. Better always loved to sit and watch the leaves blow in circles. Bob can still remember her touch as they embraced and kissed each other. Too late did he see the car barreling through the park out of control. It was over in a heart beat, as the car collided with the bench. Bob had been hit and had knocked ten feet in the air, left lying unconscious and bleeding.
Passersby and other witnesses saw the driver try to run but he was quickly subdued. Betty and the bench were ground up under the car. There was nothing anyone could do. The driver was high as a kite on drugs. The trial was short, the judge handed down the maximum that was allowed by law. After the trial Bob poured hid life into his work.
As Bob stood in the cool breeze. The leaves began to circle around, almost like they were embracing him. For a few fleeting seconds Bob thought he heard Betty's voice in the wind. "I am waiting."
Bob knew it was a risky move. He was willing to take the chance, as he headed back to the lab. Showing his ID to the guard, who then motioned him though. He scanned his pass and entered the lab. Switching on the lights and almost having a heart attack. Sally and Frank were sitting and their desk. "Forty-five minutes, longer than I expected." Said Frank.
Bob stuttered out the words. "What are you all doing here?" Sally replied. "Did you really think we were going to let you do a really dumb thing by yourself. Did you?" The equipment was set in motion. The timer set to twenty-five years earlier and the right time of day. Bob stepped into the cylinder. His last words were. "You guys are the best." The flash of blew-white filled the lab. Bob was gone.
Setting on the bench at the park, kissing Betty. He saw the car out the side of his eye. Holding her tight, whispering, "I love you." The car plowed them over.
A flash of blue-white light and the primate was back in the cylinder. This time it was alive. Cheers and high fives as the champagne was passed around. Frank picks up the photo off his desk. For a second Sally and Frank looked at the photo. Stan ask, "What's wrong." Sally said, "Nothing. It was probably a glare of the lights." Frank went on, "This photo of the three of us"......
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