Just Three Minutes

He did it. He looked at the limp rat body and then back at the screens on the cluttered desk, then back at the chamber where the rat lay. I wasn’t dead, He wasn’t even sure if it qualified as sleeping. Ethan would explain it as the conscious mind leaving the body and relinquishing control of the autonomic system, which then maintains all necessary bodily functions. At the same time, the conscious mind shifts to another time.

The numbers over the chamber door counted down from three minutes. Ethan watched with anticipation, reaching for his dirty university coffee mug. Another sleepless night in the lab. His face was covered in what no longer qualified as scruff, and his hair stuck up on one side of his head. He didn’t care, though. He was on the cusp of the most significant scientific achievement of mankind. He was making this discovery, which he had spent most of his life pursuing. Alone.

His hand shook as he brought the mug to his lips. The bitter liquid was stale and cold. He didn’t mind, it was the caffeine he needed. He couldn’t miss this moment. The clock continued to count down. Five seconds left, he bit the inside of his lip and clasped his hands together. Not in prayer but to keep himself from touching anything. Three. Two. One.

The rat's body exploded off the floor with a kick, then, as though confused, it sat on its hind legs and began to rub its ears and eyes. It sniffed the air and scurried following the walls inside the travel chamber.

“YES!” He exploded, jumping to his feet and throwing his hands over his head. He scurried, his gaze from the chamber, and checked the monitors. All vitals were back to normal; he had a healthy rat on his hands. The smile grew across his face, and he couldn’t help but let out a gleeful giggle. He reached for the lab phone to call the professor when he heard the door shut behind him.

He spun around in the chair, expecting to see the professor, but it was her instead. Her thick curly brown hair fell like a waterfall behind her golden brown shoulders. Half her face was hidden behind her thick-rimmed glasses. He was excited to see her, but she looked uncomfortable being there.

“Sara, we did it!” he exclaimed as she walked towards the desk.

She didn’t answer. She was fiddling with something in her hand. Was it a plastic bag?

“Sara, did you hear me? We did it, your theory on consciousness was right! I just sent Bruno back in time for 3 minutes!”

“Ethan, we need to talk.” She looked at the ground. She couldn’t look him in the eyes.

“Yes! I agree, this is huge. I was just about to call prof-“

“Ethan, please, we need to talk. Sit down. It’s important.”

The energy slowly drained from his face. He offered her the desk chair, but she shook her head no, rooted to where she stood. He hesitated, then took the chair for himself, keeping his eyes on her as if she were an alien. Was she crying?

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah. No. I don’t know. Here.” She handed the Ziploc bag over to him. It looked like it had three pens inside.

Ethan took the bag and froze. The world started to spin, he turned the bag over and over till he got confirmation that they all had the same mark.

“How?”

“What do you mean, how?”

“I thought you were on the pill.”

“I thought you were wearing a condom.”

“But I was careful.”

“Ethan, stop it. It doesn’t matter. It’s done. It’s done.” She bit her lip, then looked at the ceiling before locking her wet eyes on his.

“And I’m keeping it.”

“…What?”

“I’m keeping it. I tried, I can’t.”

“What?”

“I don’t expect anything from you. Don’t get me wrong, I want you to, but I understand.”

“Sara, please let's think about this.”

“I have.”

“We can’t right now.”

A muffled high-pitched sound started in her throat, and tears built in her eyes. “Kay” was all she was able to choke out before turning and rushing out of the lab. Ethan, dumbstruck, sat and watched her go, still holding the bag, not knowing what to do.

She was one of the most intelligent and beautiful people he had ever met. He wanted her in his life. If he had believed love was anything more than chemical reactions in the brain to promote self-preservation and preservation of the species, he would have said that yes, he did love her. Now was the time when he had just made the most significant discovery in human history, and he had just completed building a fully functioning time machine.

He had a time machine.

He spun so fast in the chair that he knocked the cold cup of coffee onto the keyboard. Frantically, he grabbed the nearest cloth; it might have been a shirt, who cared? There was no time. The computer seemed to be responding, but the keys were a little sticky. That’s ok, double-check inputs before committing to them.

Simple.

He got up from the desk and sprinted to the Travel Chamber. After some effort, he captured Bruno and placed him back in his cage. It was highly implausible, but he had seen The Fly and wasn’t going to take the risk.

He moved back to the desk, carrying Bruno with him, and placed him next to the computer. Double-checking the inputs, it should be right. Glancing up at the clock to double-check, he added a minute to be safe. 15 minutes in the past. A little leap for science.

Sprinting once more to the Chamber, he stepped inside, closing the door behind him and watched the blinking red light. One. Two. Three.

He was sitting in his chair holding the plastic. He looked up from the bag to Sara. She looked up from the ground into his eyes.

“Well, say something?”

Ethan held a hand out in front of his face, then felt his body. “This is incredible!”

“Really? You think so?” Sara asked, tears forming in her eyes, a hint of a smile on her lips.

“What? Oh no, this is terrible. Worst timing ever. Listen, Sara, I just travelled from the future!” He said, standing and taking her hands

“Oh, fuck off, Ethan.” She ripped her hands away from him. “I’m being serious, this is a BIG deal.” She started to cry.

“Bigger than the first time traveler?”

“I shouldn’t have come. Look, I’m going to have them. I wanted you to know. When you're done being an asshole, we can talk.”

Ethan woke on the Chamber floor. His head was spinning, and it felt like his brain would explode from behind his eyes. He worked up onto his elbows, and a small amount of vomit projected onto his shirt. The sour smell filled the chamber, but there was no time to waste. The test was successful. Kind of.

The door’s light was a solid green, and he was able to open it from the inside. He wanted to run, but the jarring made his head feel even worse. Back at the computer, he checked his vitals; everything was good. Slightly elevated heart rate, but that could be from the excitement and the headache.

Sure, the headache was concerning, but it was relatively mild. Not the worst headache ever. He put in the information for the next leap. It would be impossible to go back to the exact moment of the act, but it had to be within three months. Damn these keys. Ok, great, three months. No, Months, not Weeks. Ok, got it.

He double-checked the inputs and moved back to the chambers. He’d go back in time, send a text telling Sara that he wasn’t ready for a relationship, or he found god, or he was gay, anything to get rid of this situation. Now just wasn’t the right time. He could do that in three minutes.

The door closed. He watched the red light blink. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something moving at the desk. Bruno. Their head was out of the cage, then in a leap, they were out and scurrying across the keyboard.

“Bruno, No!” He shouted, then the room went dark.

There was a girl's scream. He screamed in response and jumped to his feet in the darkness. Their screams merged in the dark, then there was light.

She was a little thing with bushy brown hair that went in every direction, wrapping her like a wool blanket. She wore pink princess pajamas and held the flashlight up to the ceiling to illuminate the entire room. Her eyes were big, and her mouth was forming a large lower lip, and she started to cry.

“Daddy… what is it?”

The word slammed into him. Daddy.

He blinked at her. His throat worked, but no sound came.

“How far…” he whispered. “How far did I jump?”

The girl tilted her head. “What?”

“Who… who are you?”

She sniffled, hugging the flashlight against her chest.

“I’m Maya.”

Ethan staggered back into the chair. “Maya…”

She gave a tiny nod, curls bouncing. “Mommy says you picked it. My name.”

“Mommy?”

“Mhm.” She gave another little nod and reached for a picture next to her bed, handing it to him.

It was a picture of him and Sara with a swollen belly standing in front of the zoo. Maya was up on his shoulders, and they were all smiling. He looked up from the photo back at the girl. She was still hugging the flashlight, looking up at him.

He cleared his throat, “Uh, well, ok then.”

“Mhm, can you read me another story?”

“Huh”

She reached back to the table, hugging the flashlight and now a book to her chest. “Can you reread it?”

“Uh, sure.” He moved to the bed and sat next to her, taking the book in his hands, he began to read.

She snuggled into him and held the best she could. He started, unsure of the situation and a little nervous, reading the book aloud.

The story was about a mischievous bunny getting into trouble they were supposed to. Maya laughed as the bunny outwitted the other characters and explained how real rabbits would never do that because they were actually noc... noc... noc something, which means they go out at night. Ethan felt so proud. She was the smartest little girl that had ever lived. He was sure of it.

Halfway through, she was already nodding off, her curls bouncing as she tried to raise her head for just one more page. Finally, she gave up.

“Thanks, Daddy, I love you.” She said with a large yawn and nuzzled her head deeper onto his chest.

“I…I love you too, Maya.”

He went to kiss the top of her head. Time was up, he was on the chamber floor again, head pounding, and his stomach felt like someone had kicked him while he was down. The room was fuzzy and spinning, but it didn’t matter. He had to catch her. He got to his feet and stumbled into the wall, pushing it off, and then made his way to the desk and to the lab entrance.

He had started to get the hang of walking again when he got to the elevator. He pulled out his phone. No service. He couldn’t be far behind, 6 minutes tops. He could catch her in the parking lot.

Ethan burst into the lobby, lungs burning, head pounding. The glass doors were closing as Sara stepped out into the night. He sprinted, shoving his shoulder through the doors before they sealed, the cool, sharp night air against his face.

“Sara!” he shouted. His voice cracked. She stopped but didn’t turn. He ran across the pavement, almost tripping, clutching his side. When he caught up to her by the dim line of cars, she was wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Please,” he gasped, reaching for her arm. She stiffened but didn’t pull away. “Sara, wait. Just—just listen.”

She turned slowly, her face pale in the streetlight. “I already told you. You don’t have to be a part of this if you don’t want to. I can do it myself.”

“No.” His voice was steadier now. He held her gaze, breathing hard. “You don’t have to do it yourself. Because I’m here. I want to. I’m ready.”

Her brow furrowed, disbelief flickering across her features. “You? You’ve spent every second of your life chasing this—” she gestured vaguely back toward the lab, “—this machine, this dream. And now you’re telling me you want to raise a child?”

Ethan swallowed, the words rising like something older and stronger than him. “I saw her.”

Sara blinked. “What?”

“I saw her, Sara. Our daughter. She’s beautiful. She’s smart. She—” his voice broke, and he pressed a hand over his mouth, then forced it out. “She loves me. And I love her. I didn’t even know how much until tonight. Please. Please don’t walk away. We’ll figure it out. I swear to you, we’ll figure it out together.”

The silence stretched between them. Sara searched his face for the lie, for the dodge, for the selfish boy who had always put science before everything. But she didn’t see him. She saw a man shaking, broken open, and for once, utterly certain.

Her lips trembled. “You really mean it?”

Ethan stepped closer, taking her hand, holding it like a lifeline. “I do. I don’t know how we’ll do it. But I know I want her. I want us.”

Sara let out a long, shuddering breath. She leaned against him, her forehead to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, still shaking, the sour taste of vomiting and copper in his mouth, the pounding in his skull. None of it mattered.

They stood there under the buzzing streetlight, two small figures against the night. For the first time, Ethan wasn’t thinking about equations, or data, or bending time.

He was thinking about the future. Their future.

And he was ready.