Chronoium

The year is in the future, the time is now. There is no turning back. The past is now or never. With the current situation, we are just lucky enough to scrape by. I recorded the notes in my black journal, everything that I have jotted down seems to be kept up to date. I sighed, looking out the window of the observatory. The stars are pretty tonight, and the scientists have reported a shooting star sighting. 

I finished writing down my sighting of my Chronoium Theory, a theory where space and time can coexist. Of course, I have no proof to back it up. I looked down below and the party below me was in full swing. Nobody but me is interested in the stars. 

“Enjoying the party?” I turned to see Big Sis Hana entering the room with glasses of champagne in her hand. She sits it down at my desk. “...Yes, the party that Aunt threw is great...” 

“But?” Hana sits her drink right beside mine. She sits at my desk, swiveling the chair slightly. “It’s just that...do you think that my theory is sound? Like Father’s?” Hana shook her head, “You don’t have anything to show to the Atlas Association--” “I have kept track of Father’s Hourglass. It has not moved or his map chart--” “No, you are not listening. Tomorrow is where we must pitch the idea that father’s theory is sound and real.”  

Hana takes a sip from her drink and places it back down. “It doesn’t make any sense...” I whispered to myself. “Wha? What does not make sense?” Hana asked me. “Everything! His theory of time and space existing together—exists. There is nothing to it.”  

“I said, you do not have proof. We need solid evidence before we make ourselves look like idiots in front of the board meeting.” Hana said. I glanced down at his hourglass. The sand was stuck in one place. Not moving like an hourglass should. I brushed my hair back when someone knocked on the door.  

“There you girls are!” Our Aunt Rina came in, reeking of alcohol. “I was wondering what was taking you two so long?” “Fumika is trying to get Father’s theory off the ground.” Aunt Rina pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. “Mika, please humor me for just a bit. I love you, just like your mother does...please let it go.” I cannot tell if she was drunk or playing around. “Let it go--”  

“YES! Let it go or so help me. You have been chasing your father’s stupid fantasies ever since he disappeared into that (whatever he did).”  

“Father’s fantasies are real! They are not stupid. It could happen. Time and space do exist! You just do not believe in him--” 

“I stopped believing in him before he made a fool of himself in front of that board meeting. We have a brand to uphold.”  

“Auntie--” Hana butted in. 

“Shut it, Hana!” Hana stayed quiet. 

“Everybody is asking about you, please put this up and mingle with the other guests.” Auntie Rina chastised me. She exited the door with her heels echoing down the stairs. 

I could not say a word back to her or Hana. Hana got up from the desk and downed the rest of her drink. She looked over her glasses. “Come on, let’s go before she gets upset even more.” 

Down at the board room me and Hana stood there with a bunch of older men circling around the table. The chairman of the meeting looked at us sternly. The tension in the air was so thick I could barely cut into it. Hana said, “Thank you Mr. Hoshino, for inviting us.” We both bowed our heads. “The pleasure is all mine, dear. It almost made me teared up seeing this becoming full circle...your father, Dosei, stood here and gave a speech about his theory...what was it again?” 

“The Chronoium Theory.” Hana responded. “Ah, that’s the one.” Mr. Hoshino nodded. Hana cleared her throat, “My sister and I found evidence that we can prove that time and space are the same. Time and space are the same as the sun rising and falling. But, without his theory. We will be living in a world where time could be abrupted--” “And how do you manage to do this?” Mr. Hoshino asked. Hana fell silent. “...I am sorry, sir. But what you do you mean?” 

“Time being abrupt? Your acting like time could disappear at any moment?” He laughed. “It could be possible!” I blurted out. Hana turned her attention to me. She gave me a look that said, ‘shut it.’ I turned back to Mr. Hoshino. “Just the other day, Father’s hourglass stopped and each time I flipped it would not move. Also, I was tracking the shooting star sighting and no stars appeared.” 

“You need to flip your own mind around, girl. You are speaking nothing but nonsense.” “I’m not!” I shouted. “Fumika,” Hana gritted her teeth, I stopped speaking. “Fumika was it? Listen dear, what you and Hana are proposing is making me want to gouge my eyes out. You waltz into my office spouting theories about time and space while you should be worrying about your future.” 

“Future?”  

“Yes, like getting a big girl job and stop playing around in the sand pit and grow up. You should be glad to drag your good name to the ground. You Temon's are known to create stupid theories that haven't been proven. These are just made-up stories—tales to be in fact, that you ladies know nothing about. You and your father had wasted my time--” 

“Time? Please, you barely given me any time to speak or hear me out--” 

Mr. Hoshino raised a hand to silence Hana. She bit the walls of her cheek. “Please, you don’t scare me. Run along and play with your boy toys Hana, isn’t that what you are good at?” 

Hana stepped back, looking down at her feet. Mr. Hoshino howled in laughter like a madman. “A lady like yourself shouldn’t be here playing in the science field, grow up or better yet—be like pedestrians.” Hana grabbed my hand dragging me out of the room.  

We walked down the hallway as Hana stopped in her tracks, she tried to wipe her tears away with the back of hand. I hugged her. “It is not your fault. This is what happens when you are tied to a brand (all thanks to Aunt Rina and stupid connections).” “What now?” I asked her. “I don’t know...hey, can I see that hourglass?”  

I pulled out the hourglass from the bag when it started moving on its own. We stood there watching the sand drain down in awe. Hana gasped, “What the? The thing moved.” She cupped her hands up to her mouth. “What does this mean?” I asked her. “I don’t know--” 

“We have to tell Aunt Rina--” 

“NO! We can’t tell anybody Mika. We have nobody in our corner right now. Let’s check over Dad’s notes.” 

“Right,” 

Back in the observatory, the two of us searched for Dad’s notes. I was able to find them on the shelves. Hana scanned through his log, she came up empty-handed. “Nothing...if dad could give us a sign...” I looked through the telescope and saw the stars in the sky. I moved it to the right seeing the planets out of orbit. I took a step back and turned to Hana.  

“Hey, Hana. I’m hoping I’m not seeing things but. I think something is wrong.” Hana looked up and walked over to the telescope. She investigated the eyepiece seeing what I saw. “Fumika...” 

“Yeah, I know. It’s strange.” 

“What happened to the moon’s orbit?” 

“Huh?” 

She turns to face me. “The moon...is out of orbit. Do you know what will happen?” I shook my head. “Time and space could be distorted.” 

We sat down trying to process what we both saw. “The hourglass and the moon’s orbit could be connected.” Hana murmured to herself. “Could it be connected to Dad’s theory?” I asked. “Could it be...” Hana jumped up to her feet and pulled out one of dad’s logs and started flipping through a section in the book. 

“Here! Dad mentions that it could be because of a rift in the earth’s crust.” “Wait, what? How does this relate to the theory?” “Dad says that gravity could be the key, he also notes that somewhere the gravity is strongest, time is slow but since the moon is in orbit, time is going away.” 

“That’s...crazy.” I folded my arms rereading his notes. “How do we stop it? Do we just let it happen?”  

“I’m not sure...but maybe there could be a clue.” Hana got into searching while I was looking around the observatory. Near the end of the room there was a door at the end. I walked over to the door and opened it. The stairs led its way down some unknown area that I’m not familiar with. I made my way down the metal steps into what looked like a basement under the observatory. In the middle of the basement was water. I don’t recall having it rain or a broken pipe.

I stepped into the water, it felt like I was being pulled into the center. The water was only up to my ankles. I searched around the room looking for some more notes left from Dad. I came across a box full of more books on a shelf. I pulled out one and skimmed through it. I couldn’t find anything useful. I placed the book back when I took a step forward,I screamed as I fell through the floor.

The force of gravity pulls me closer to what looks like a vast blue of nothing. I held my breath looking at my surroundings. I can feel something pulsating near the middle. It’s bright, white and looks a little unsettling. 

“Can anyone hear me?” The voice came from the white ball of light. I couldn’t tell who it was, but it sounded familiar.

“The year is in the future, the time is now. There is no turning back. The past is now or never. With the current situation, we are just lucky enough to scrape by.” I read that same passage before in Dad’s notebook. It could be a clue to get him back. I tried to respond, but I didn't know what to say.

Suddenly, I wake up gasping for air. I found myself laying on Hana’s lap on the couch. I sat up. “Are you okay?” Hana asked me. I looked around the room. Everything is still the same. “...yeah, I’m okay–are you?” “I was wondering the same about you? You blackout on the basement floor–”

“How much time do we have?” I asked her.

“Well, we have enough time–”

“Hana…time and space is disappearing…if we don’t do something then…Dad’s theory–” Hana places a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about that. Besides, I found something that might be of interest to you.” Hana pulls out a torn sheet from a notebook. “I decided to work backwards by organizing Dad’s notes and came across this note in particular.” I took the sheet from her, and read it as she continued, “I remember what Aunt Rina said…about what happened to Dad, I think dad disappeared. He really disappeared along with time and space. See, that was his last entry.” I stared at the paper in disbelief. “Aunt Rina was right, I’m just chasing a wild dream–”

“Don’t say that! This might be the final piece that we need. And that hourglass holds the key.”

“Hana…”

“Think about it…seeing Dad again.”

We got to work finishing up what dad had started. Hana kept watch on the hourglass and planets while I finished going over his notes. As time passes, I can feel the shift in gravity. On the ground was an engraving of a keyhole shaped like an hourglass that led to another section of the observatory. I found another hourglass and placed it into the slot on the floor just how Dad had it in his notes. Soft white lights glowed around it, powering up. The whole room began to shake, as I could feel the gravity pulling it in. The stream of lights that flowed out of the timer found its way into a portal. 

Hana and I walked up to the portal together. All systems were a go. A flash of white appeared in front of us. The portal that has not been in use started working. I covered my eyes, bracing for what was to come out from the other side.

“It seems that the planets are coming back into orbit.” Hana told me. “The hourglass is working fine like the last time, let’s hope time can exist.” We stood waiting patently when the door flew open. We turned to see our Aunt in awe.

“What’s all of this! Hana, Mika! Explain–”

Out of nowhere, something went off like an explosion caught our attention. The three of us turned, seeing a shadowy figure appear. We couldn’t see because of the light blinding us. From the light a hand pokes out, then one leg. Right in front of us, we couldn’t believe what we were looking at.

Once the light portal cut off, another blast of light blinded us as we took cover. I glanced up seeing a man standing in front of the smoked filled portal. His clothes were tattered and a crack appeared on the left lens of his glasses.

“...Dad…” a small voice escapes my mouth. He looks exactly the same. He turned to me. “...Fumika?” He said. 

Hana and Aunt Rina looked up. “...Dosei…” Aunt Rina dusted herself off, running up to him. He stood there like a deer in headlights, cupping her hands around his face. “Is…that really you?” 

“I seem to be all in one piece, yea–”

“...You’re back home!” Hana jumped up to her feet, tackling Dad with a bear hug.

“Hana–you’ve grown so much–what’s going on?”

“We solved your theory!” I said. “You did?” Hana and I nodded. “How?”

We explain that the hourglass was the key for making the laws of time to space to stop disappearing. Dad sat on the couch staring at his notes. “Well, whatever had happened, the theory was a waste of time.” Dad mumbled. “Dad, didn’t you say that time and space can exist, the reason why it stopped was because of the hourglass not being in motion and you trying to contact us through the timer.” Hana said.

“The planets started to move out of place and your old timer started draining. You were trying to contact us for…years.” I said. “I heard you through the shift in gravity.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah, what did you mean by your quote?”

Dad looked up through the opening of the night sky of the observatory, a smile spread across his face. “Ladies, does it really matter? I’m glad that my theory was proven…but the future is close, I can feel it. The only thing that matters is the present. Why bother going back? With everything that has happened, I’m happy to be here.

“Dosei…”

“When I disappeared into the portal, everything around me felt empty. And time was passing as if time and everyone forgot me. But I realized that I had enough energy to send out a signal…I guess that plan worked.”

“Through the hourglass and the planets…that was you?” Hana said. Dad nodded. “What about the board meeting–what do we say to him?”

“Nothing…” We all turned to Dad. “Let’s keep this between the three of us…right Rina?” Aunt Rina laughed nervously. “Right, of course. WE wouldn’t want our good name to go to waste.”

“I thought so too..” Dad got up from the couch and stretched. “It’s been so long since I've been in my office.” He turned to us with a smile. “Let’s forget about this, do something as a family, hm?”

“I’m in!” I jumped up from my seat following Dad out the door, with Hana and Aunt Rina tagging along.