The Dimensional Thief

“It was just here!” I exclaimed, frantically searching my pockets for my soldering tool. I had just put some of the final touches on my time machine, but I needed to solder a few wires before it was a complete product.  

The red and green lights of the machine were blinking, seemingly mocking me, and I knew that my soldering tool wasn’t anywhere in my workshop if it wasn’t in my pocket - I always kept it in my pocket. It must have been stolen.

I was at a bit of an impasse as I had planned to present my time machine tomorrow, but I could not complete it without my soldering iron. 

I would go to the store and purchase a new one, but I had already used the majority of my funding from my previous inventions on the other parts for this machine. The only way I could get another soldering iron without spending any money would be to steal one, and that would go completely against my ethics. Many people have tried to steal my inventions, steal credit for my inventions, and now my soldering tool has been stolen, too.

As a dejected sigh passed my lips and my shoulders hunched forward in defeat, my gaze cast longingly at my previous invention, the parallel universe machine. It had been my pride and glory all but three years ago, the same outcome I had hoped for my time machine.

A feeling I hadn’t felt in years suddenly swept over my being, an idea culminating like a snowflake to an avalanche - I knew what I needed to do.

I didn’t know what I’d need, I was a simple woman who didn’t believe in stealing, yet I was about to pull off a heist grander than anything I had ever heard, so I hesitantly walked over to my previous invention, connected it to the power supply, and flipped the bronze power switch downward. 

With a quiet humming sound, and a broad display of LED panels glowing their bright white, the parallel universe machine came to life. As power surged to the machine, a wave of adrenaline surged through my being and I flung open the door to the machine and immediately stepped in.

I was beginning to regret my decision when that familiar feeling of travelling through parallel universes struck my body and I couldn’t tell where the air started and my skin stopped. My fingertips felt like they were dripping and the sensation was creeping up to my wrists and arms until it felt like my entire upper body was painlessly, but uncomfortably, melting off.

A buzzing noise resounded in my ears and I knew I was close to finishing my travel. Had I not experienced this sensation before, I would have felt as if I was about to lose consciousness, as I thought I was when I conducted my first successful transit between parallel universes. I had become familiar with the sensation when I had first come out with the invention, but as I allotted more of my time and effort toward my time machine, my travels between parallel universes had dwindled and the nauseating sensation I had grown accustomed to was coming back to me at full-force.

The sensation was lasting longer than I had remembered, but the buzzing in my ears soon began fading and I was beginning to regain feeling in my arms. However, a new panic arose within me as I realized I had never set a destination universe in my adrenaline-prompted haste. I knew nothing truly bad would happen, as I would be transported to the last universe I visited, but my last journey was over two years ago and my memories of all my journeys between parallel universes were skewed and non-sequential. I didn’t have any power over where my destination would be, and was now more annoyed than ever that I couldn’t travel back in time to input a logical destination universe.

The buzzing stopped completely and the door began to open automatically, signifying my arrival in the parallel universe. I hesitantly stuck my foot out and started flinging it around in hopes of finding solid ground.

After I had found what felt solid and sufficient enough to be considered “ground”, I stepped fully outside the machine and took a look at my new surroundings. Except, they weren’t new at all. 

I had left my dusty old workshop in order to travel to a parallel universe, but stepping out of the parallel universe machine, I was back in my workshop. I must not have left. Yet the strange feeling lingered inside of me that I was unwelcome in my own workshop. 

This feeling grew as I noticed the workshop I was wandering through, although a close replica, was not mine. I didn’t have any evidence to prove it until I approached my time machine, drawn by the strange feeling that something was different. I had always been called “crazy” by those who disapproved of my ideas or didn’t  understand my inventions, but I had never put any gravity to their words until now, as the thought of losing my mind seemed more possible than ever. But, as I neared the front of my time machine, I knew my travel was not in vain when I was not met with red and green lights, but rather with a pair of blue and orange lights, blinking at me, as if chanting a reaffirmation of my sanity. 

I released a sigh I didn’t know I was holding and inwardly smiled about the success of my machine after all those years it was sitting in my workshop, unused. My happiness and sense of accomplishment was short-lived, however, as I remembered the reason behind my venture to the parallel universe in the first place.

I cautiously walked to the back of the workshop, not wanting to disturb anything, and approached my workshop coat where I kept my tools. I decided to ignore the feeling of hypocrisy, and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t necessarily stealing if I was stealing from myself - an unscrupulous loophole I wasn’t very proud of myself for figuring out, but pursued nonetheless.

I took the worn leather apron-like coat in my hand and carefully inserted my hand into the front-right hand pocket where I normally kept my soldering tool and slowly transferred it into my workshop coat that I was wearing. 

I immediately looked around the workshop to make sure I was uncaught in my thievery, and quickly tip-toed my way back to my machine that had landed unceremoniously in the middle of the parallel universe’s replica of my already-cramped workshop. I had learned from my mistake and hastily entered my destination universe and stepped into the machine. 

As the car ride home takes less time than the car ride there, the parallel universe machine ride home was not nearly as uncomfortable as on the way to the other universe. The feeling of discomfort was present, but not nearly as intense, and the buzzing noise acted more of a comforting reminder that I would soon be in my home universe and back in my home universe’s workshop.

As the door opened, I stepped out with my soldering iron and made my way over to my time machine so I could complete it by my deadline.

My surge of adrenaline from the trip acted as inspiration to finish my time machine, and I knew I would be at no shortage of ideas for a long while after.

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“It was just here!” I exclaimed, frantically searching my pockets for my soldering tool. I had just put some of the final touches on my time machine, but I needed to solder a few wires before it was a complete product.  

The blue and orange lights of the machine were blinking, seemingly mocking me, and I knew that my soldering tool wasn’t anywhere in my workshop if it wasn’t in my pocket - I always kept it in my pocket. It must have been stolen.