"Hey, I got your email G!"
"Great, come on up!"
Aside from a shady guy staring at me on the way here, the walk to G's couldn't have been more exciting. After months and months of preparation, she can finally get to show the world that she's not a laughing stock. That morning when those people in suits turned up at her house... She was devastated when they ridiculed her lifes work. That's the great thing about her though, she wouldn't let anyone put her down.
"All right G.." I interrupted nervously as I watched her shift around some wrenches and levers in what I can only describe as a second-hand labratory..
"Great, my little lab rat is here!"
I didn't appreciate that that much.
"I'm just here to test it out, no need to bring out the needles~"
"Sorry sorry, I'm just so excite-" she was cut off by the sound of cans clinkng out back. "Damn rats, they'll ruin this experiment yet!"
"Haven't dealt with them yet?"
"Not yet, but they're really trying my patience today..."
"..... So where is it then?"
"Oh, the device? It's right..." I watched as she casually rooted around in her pockets. "Here!"
Looking at the device, you'd think you'd wound up in a science fiction film. What used to be a normal watch had been converted into a flashing, wire-filled, wearable time travel device. I doubted it from the moment she strapped it onto my wrist.
"Is it safe?"
"Well, I finally sorted out the problem we'd been having. The key is to-" I cut her off this time with a yelp as something thin dug into the inside of my wrist. Good thing too, because I think I covered up the sound of rats again.. "Would you quit being such a baby?"
"Sorry G."
"Anyway, the key is to access the users blood stream, which connects to every cell in their body. No more transporting empty skin shells anymore!" Her laugh that followed was unnerving for us both. "Why not give it a go?"
"I'm still a bit sceptical..."
With that she slapped the device and it started whirring.
"There you go, I did it for you~!"
"G!! What have you done?!"
"Have fun in the future, don't forget to wrIiIiTIiiTTeeee!"
That last word just turned into mumbling code as I was whipped through the vortex of reality. G described the device as less of a door, more of a letterbox, that we can squeeze through without causing too much damage or fuss. Obviously she had never tried it herself, otherwise she would have realised that it's more like a window. Something someone can sneak through, but also look through, and I saw everything. I had to look away from fear my brain would explode, but by some miracle, I looked back to see G's labratory on fire. I kept looking, not daring to step through into that grim future, and as it continued, newspapers flew by. In big black letters, 'END OF THE WORLD' and 'CRAZED SCIENTIST TO BLAIM." There was a picture of G, holding the device, saying how after use of the device, electricity had started to malfuntion. Scientists of that time called it the folding plug effect, that the electricity always had a ground to go to, which was through the hole created when the device was used. Electricity, surging through the vortex of time, destroying everything. G would have described it as a 'firework through our letterbox'.
I had to act quickly if this future was to be avoided. And to do that, I had to go back to before I'd even jumped through the vortex in the first place. Unfortunately, where it dropped me off was outside of the labratory, instead of inside, as I found myself stuck between two dumpsters. I tried to get G's attention by banging metal against metal in hopes she would come out of the lab in time to see me. All I could hear though was her complaining about the 'rats'.. I felt the surge, and knew I'd just used the device. I kept banging, despite missing my window, and G finally came to the window with a magnum in her hand.
"Right you stinking ra- Alex?!"
"G! The device, it doesn't work! It's just one big electric conductor for the vortex!"
"I hadn't.. even thought about..- Alex, you have to go further back! And hurry, the you that I just sent will be here any minute!"
"A-all right, further back.."
Pressing the device as she instructed, I sent myself further back, but it was running out of power. It could only afford to send me back as far as when I was walking to G's. Then it hit me. I was the shady guy watching me. I knew exactly where to stand if I wanted myself to see me. Yet, that would have caused me to miss me, and let myself go into the lab, so I changed the game. Further down the road was a milkman, who had just got out of his float to deliver some milk. That became my vehicle, and that was what I used to run myself down as I turned the corner and tried to cross the street. I held my own hand as I died, but as my past self grew weaker, my hand grew dimmer. I was the paradox that had to be solved, and with my final breath, I ceased, to exi-
~
"Great, come on up!"
Aside from a shady guy staring at me on the way here, the walk to G's couldn't have been more exciting. After months and months of preparation, she can finally get to show the world that she's not a laughing stock. That morning when those people in suits turned up at her house... She was devastated when they ridiculed her lifes work. That's the great thing about her though, she wouldn't let anyone put her down.
"All right G.." I interrupted nervously as I watched her shift around some wrenches and levers in what I can only describe as a second-hand labratory..
"Great, my little lab rat is here!"
I didn't appreciate that that much.
"I'm just here to test it out, no need to bring out the needles~"
"Sorry sorry, I'm just so excite-" she was cut off by the sound of cans clinkng out back. "Damn rats, they'll ruin this experiment yet!"
"Haven't dealt with them yet?"
"Not yet, but they're really trying my patience today..."
"..... So where is it then?"
"Oh, the device? It's right..." I watched as she casually rooted around in her pockets. "Here!"
Looking at the device, you'd think you'd wound up in a science fiction film. What used to be a normal watch had been converted into a flashing, wire-filled, wearable time travel device. I doubted it from the moment she strapped it onto my wrist.
"Is it safe?"
"Well, I finally sorted out the problem we'd been having. The key is to-" I cut her off this time with a yelp as something thin dug into the inside of my wrist. Good thing too, because I think I covered up the sound of rats again.. "Would you quit being such a baby?"
"Sorry G."
"Anyway, the key is to access the users blood stream, which connects to every cell in their body. No more transporting empty skin shells anymore!" Her laugh that followed was unnerving for us both. "Why not give it a go?"
"I'm still a bit sceptical..."
With that she slapped the device and it started whirring.
"There you go, I did it for you~!"
"G!! What have you done?!"
"Have fun in the future, don't forget to wrIiIiTIiiTTeeee!"
That last word just turned into mumbling code as I was whipped through the vortex of reality. G described the device as less of a door, more of a letterbox, that we can squeeze through without causing too much damage or fuss. Obviously she had never tried it herself, otherwise she would have realised that it's more like a window. Something someone can sneak through, but also look through, and I saw everything. I had to look away from fear my brain would explode, but by some miracle, I looked back to see G's labratory on fire. I kept looking, not daring to step through into that grim future, and as it continued, newspapers flew by. In big black letters, 'END OF THE WORLD' and 'CRAZED SCIENTIST TO BLAIM." There was a picture of G, holding the device, saying how after use of the device, electricity had started to malfuntion. Scientists of that time called it the folding plug effect, that the electricity always had a ground to go to, which was through the hole created when the device was used. Electricity, surging through the vortex of time, destroying everything. G would have described it as a 'firework through our letterbox'.
I had to act quickly if this future was to be avoided. And to do that, I had to go back to before I'd even jumped through the vortex in the first place. Unfortunately, where it dropped me off was outside of the labratory, instead of inside, as I found myself stuck between two dumpsters. I tried to get G's attention by banging metal against metal in hopes she would come out of the lab in time to see me. All I could hear though was her complaining about the 'rats'.. I felt the surge, and knew I'd just used the device. I kept banging, despite missing my window, and G finally came to the window with a magnum in her hand.
"Right you stinking ra- Alex?!"
"G! The device, it doesn't work! It's just one big electric conductor for the vortex!"
"I hadn't.. even thought about..- Alex, you have to go further back! And hurry, the you that I just sent will be here any minute!"
"A-all right, further back.."
Pressing the device as she instructed, I sent myself further back, but it was running out of power. It could only afford to send me back as far as when I was walking to G's. Then it hit me. I was the shady guy watching me. I knew exactly where to stand if I wanted myself to see me. Yet, that would have caused me to miss me, and let myself go into the lab, so I changed the game. Further down the road was a milkman, who had just got out of his float to deliver some milk. That became my vehicle, and that was what I used to run myself down as I turned the corner and tried to cross the street. I held my own hand as I died, but as my past self grew weaker, my hand grew dimmer. I was the paradox that had to be solved, and with my final breath, I ceased, to exi-
~
