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Author's note: This story is part of my continuing effort to expand the horizons of Fictionmania. It's a bit of an avant-garde piece that may not be everyone's cup of tea. There are no physical transformations that take place, yet I'm sure you will agree, this is a TG story nonetheless. The idea for this short story comes from the series "Star Traks." It's a site with humorous fan-fics in the Star Trek universe. I am aware of the numerous paradoxes that exist within the story ? I am utilizing author's prerogative here. If you think hard enough about some of them, they create plot holes... you're going to run into those when you dabble in theoretical science. Try not to worry too much about them. As long as it continues to be indexed at Fictionmania, this story may be archived, copied, transmitted, redistributed, whatever, for free, as long as it remains in its original form, don't change a WORD! Oh, and try not to make any money off of it, and give me credit, okay? I love receiving feedback, and you can contact me directly with comments at [email protected] Aberration of Time By Tar Baby "Check that meter," said Dr. Cree, pensively. "If it doesn't read at least 215 PSI, I want you to shut down the entire system immediately." "It's hovering at about 220," said Colin, one of his assistants, tapping the gauge. "What should I do?" "Hang on just a second." Cree walked calmly to the wall and punched a button on the intercom. "Lucy, what's going on in there?" "The space-time compensator is overheating again," said the voice in the wall. "It's OK though, I think the coils will function within parameters for a few minutes." "Shut it down," Cree said. "I don't want those coils to burn out again." Colin immediately hit the big red kill switch, which caused the system to whine as it powered down. Dr. Rob Cree gently set down his clipboard on his desk and walked quickly to the door, leaving Colin alone and staring at the system meters, making observations and writing them down on his PDA. Colin O'Connor had been working with Dr. Cree since he'd been out of high school. Cree had been his freshman physics professor during his very first semester at the University six years earlier. He'd been so entranced by Cree's enthusiasm for physics that he became a teaching assistant the very next semester, and continued to study under him all throughout his undergraduate education, becoming a research assistant under Dr. Cree after entering grad school. Colin sighed as he tapped his PDA feverishly. He didn't think this project was ever going to get completed. It had been four years since the Board of Trustees had agreed to fund the temporal mechanics project that Dr. Cree had proposed, and the darn thing still didn't function. He hadn't had much sleep in the past several weeks ? the project had to work if he was going to be able to finish his thesis, which was contingent on a successful test run. So far, they hadn't even really come close. Meanwhile, Dr. Cree was entering the room down the hall where Lucy had been monitoring some of his machine's fundamental components. "We've got to find a way to keep that thing from over-heating," said Cree, stroking his chin. "If we could do that I'm sure the other problems we're having would solve themselves." "Water coolant," Lucy said. "We can run some pipes across the coils and run ice water through them to keep the temperature down." "The pipes would change the basic coil structure," Cree advised. "We can't do it." "Obviously the fans we have in here aren't working," Lucy noted, switching off the fan directly in front of her. "It seems like the only thing we can do is to turn this place into a freezer." "Except that it would have to be cold enough to make this entire building inhospitable for all the other professors who work here and I don't suppose the Board of Trustees would be terribly happy with that outcome." While O'Connor was essentially Cree's right hand man, Lucy Brooks more just a hand than anything else. By trade, she was an undergraduate student in the school's engineering department. She'd responded to a flyer on campus that was offering a paying job to an engineering assistant for a science project; when she called the number, Dr. Cree quickly signed her up. She understood the basic premise behind the project ? Dr. Cree was building a time machine or a rough equivalent of one ? but it was safe to say that she didn't understand how everything worked. Lucy knew basically what Cree had told her about certain components; the space-time compensator coils, for instance. Her background was in materials engineering, therefore, she knew as much as Dr. Cree and Colin O'Connor needed of her. "I've got to rebuild the power uplink converter," Lucy said. "It'll take a couple of hours." "Take your time," replied Cree with a dour look on his face. "I'm supposed to meet with Dr. Thompson in half an hour. He wants another update on our progress." With that, Dr. Rob Cree did an about face and walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind him. As he walked down the long, barren hallway outside his laboratory in the University's large, utilitarian science center, he scribbled notes on his clipboard, trying to figure a few equations and determine just what he could do to make his machine work. Ever since he'd been a little kid he always wanted to be a scientist. His preoccupation with the concept of time used to get him in trouble while he was in high school; he'd show up late to class and confuse his teacher with a myriad of scientific theories and explanations detailing how he wasn't actually late for class, that it was all just a matter of the teacher's perception. Rob Cree was definitely not your stereotypical scientist. Earning his Ph.D. at the young age of 23, Cree had spent the decade immediately following attempting to gain support for, and now to build and operate, a working time machine along the lines of his own specifications. His ideas on temporal mechanics were light-years away from any accepted theories, and he knew that he was about to prove himself right in the coming weeks. Brushing a stray brown hair from his eyes, Cree entered the office of Dr. Ian Thompson ? the chair of the department and one of the University's trustees. "Dr. Cree," said Thompson, rising from his desk. "You're early." "Our latest experiment didn't go so well," Cree explained. "I have some time to kill while Lucy and Colin set back up for another go- round. I hope you're able to see me." "Of course, of course," replied Thompson. "Have a seat." Cree promptly sat in the overstuffed chair that Dr. Thompson had in front of his desk. "Now, you realize what a position the Board of Trustees is in, correct?" "I understand," Cree replied. "The fabrication times for the machine's parts are much longer than I had anticipated." "Nevertheless," Thompson interrupted, "it has been a bit over four years since the Board agreed to fund your project. They even stipulated that they did not require periodic updates. The Board trusted that you would continually update me on your progress, which, to your credit, you have." "What you're saying is that the Board is getting antsy." "I've been true to my word; I haven't been the middleman ? the Board has heard nothing more since they approved the grant. But frankly, they're running out of patience. This project is the largest grant this university has ever seen, and the media is still trying to figure out what it's for. They're all getting tired of the media probe and questions." "I understand that, and I'm sorry I can't be of more help to them immediately," Cree said. "You do realize that the Board has put an awfully big burden on your shoulders, don't you? Your project could potentially be the biggest boon this university has ever seen, or it could ruin our reputation. Come on, Rob, no one has ever thought a time-machine to be even theoretically possible." "I will make it work," Cree said. "I believe in my theories, I know they are right." Thompson leaned down across his desk. "For your sake, I sure hope they are too." Cree stood, shook Dr. Thompson's hand, and silently left the room. He began walking back towards the experiment lab when suddenly Colin came bursting out of the room. O'Connor looked both ways down the hall, and seeing Dr. Cree, sprinted down the hallway, shouting "you've got to see this! You've got to see this!" "What is it?" said Cree to his young apprentice, trying to remain calm. "You've got to see this!" he exclaimed once more, and then raced back to the lab, with Cree trying to keep up with him. Cree entered the lab and heard the distinct hum that meant that his machine was running. "What's going on?" he asked. "I was taking some readings and I turned the regulator switch on to take the temporal flux readings from the last experiment and the whole thing started working!" Colin explained, out of breath. "What's happening down there?" said Lucy through the intercom. "The space-time coils are glowing red but they aren't heating up. Did you turn the machine on?" "Colin, stay here and monitor the machine," Cree said, sternly. Now it was his turn to run. Cree burst out the door and ran down the hall to the room where Lucy had been. Upon opening the door, he found Lucy staring with amazement at the space-time compensator's coils which not ten minutes prior had been overheating. "What did you do?" Cree said quickly to Lucy. "Nothing at all, sir," she replied. "I took the uplink converter out and started rebuilding it." She pointed to the converter, sitting on the table, opened up. "All of a sudden, the machine started back up again and the coils lit up, but the diagnostics say they'd be cool enough to touch if the shock wouldn't kill you." Dr. Cree started going through everything in his head. He sat down at the table and started making calculations on his clipboard. "Of course!" he said after a few minutes of thinking. "The coils were nearly blown on the last experiment, right?" "Yes," Lucy said. "They would have broken down if we'd left the machine to run for another few minutes." "Then Colin hit the kill switch, which automatically shuts down all the subsystems..." "...but doesn't reset the master switch," Lucy finished his sentence. "Exactly. You then pulled out the power uplink converter here," Cree pointed, noting where the component had previously been, "and began working on it. Then Colin flipped the regulator switch, but he hadn't reset the master switch after the experiment. The machine came on." "So how does that explain the coils?" Lucy asked. "Power went through the machine to the coils as usual except that there was no converter." Cree had a look of realization come across his face and he let slip a yelp of joy. "The previous experiment sort of cauterized the coils to an extent that power flowing through them without the converter keeps them cool! The machine is ready for a test run!" "But isn't that sort of jury-rigged?" Lucy asked. "I don't know much about the whole machine, but I assume you had that converter there for a reason." "We'll find out in a second," Cree said excitedly. "Stay here and let me know if anything changes." With that, he dashed back down the hall to the main lab. O'Connor was there, waiting for him, anticipation all over his unmistakably Irish face. "Are we ready to try it?" "We are," Cree confirmed. "Get the prototypes." Colin dashed towards the back of the room, opened a closet, and pulled out two large, heavy, octagon shaped devices. Each one had a digital readout in its face and each had one button, red on one, green on the other." "OK, mark this down," Cree said. "The time is 3:36pm, October 22nd. This is Temporal Experiment number 182, also to be known as Temporal Displacement Attempt number 1. Witnesses are Dr. Rob Cree and Colin O'Connor." Colin feverishly scribbled down the experiment notations in the lab's official notebook. "I am starting the prototypes," Cree announced, pushing the green button. The devices both began to start up. Their infrared ports began to flash, indicating that the two devices were trading data. Then, the digital readouts turned on, and both readouts showed as identical ? counting seconds up from one ? 0:01, 0:02, 0:03, and so on, in sync with each other. "Prototypes are operating within normal parameters," Cree said. Colin walked over to the machine. "Power regulator functioning is functioning normally. The space-time compensator is operating within normal parameters!" he announced with a bright smile on his face. Cree walked over to the control board. "I am setting the displacement for five minutes. As part of this initial experiment, the room will be sealed." He input the time into the machine, and then walked over to the intercom. "Miss Brooks," he said, punching the button. "Will you please lock the door to the main lab and ensure that no one enters during the experiment?" "What about the coils?" she asked. "Who'll watch them?" "I trust that they will be OK, if my calculations are correct." "OK, sir, I'm leaving the room now to lock you and Mr. O'Connor in." With that, Rob Cree and Colin O'Connor waited until the heard the telltale click that signified that the room was sealed. "With the room sealed, we can now begin the displacement experiment," Cree said as if there were an audience watching that needed everything explained. "Let's get the prototype into the displacement booth." O'Connor picked up the device with the red button and placed it in the booth, which looked like a walk-in shower with no door. "Beginning displacement," Cree announced as he began turning on all of the machine's subsystems including, for the first time, the displacement subsystem, which brought the entire machine together to, hopefully, fulfill its purpose. The hum of the machine grew to a high pitched whine, and the booth where the prototype machine was placed began to light up. Dr. Cree watched the time readouts on the mechanism, and when both prototypes read "2:00," he pushed a large orange button on the machine. Suddenly there was a brilliant flash of light, followed by the sound of the system automatically powering down. O'Connor began turning off all of the subsystem switches as Cree made the observation. "It's gone!" he reported. "All scans of the displacement booth indicate that there is no solid matter within the booth!" "Then we've done it," said Colin, turning the last switch into the off position. "Not so fast," Cree admonished. "We have to wait and see if it returns in five minutes." He pointed to the control prototype ? the one with the green button, still counting up from 0:00. "If all is as it should be, the prototype should return when the control is at seven minutes." "Is everything OK in there?" said Lucy from outside. "Standby," called Dr. Cree, rubbing his hands together. As calmly as could be expected, Cree and O'Connor waited as time went by. Slowly but surely, the control prototype counted up. As it approached seven minutes, Colin actually began an audible countdown, the excitement clear in his tone. "Five, four, three, two," he called out. As he stopped, he turned to watch the booth. A momentary brilliant flash of light, and the prototype was sitting there on the displacement pad, the digital readout reading 2:01, exactly five minutes different from the control. Cree pushed the red button on the machine that he had sent forward through time, and the infrared ports began to flash again. This time, the mechanism with the green button simply turned off, while its counterpart flashed "5:00," indicating a five minute difference. "We did it," Dr. Cree said, with an amazed look on his face. "It worked!" He knocked on the door to give Lucy the OK, and she entered, uttering a cry of joy. Into the evening, the trio duplicated the experiment seven more times, including longer and longer intervals ? first 15 minutes, then half an hour, then a full hour, then longer. Finally, Cree set the machine for twelve hours, activated it, and decided to leave for the night, assuming that the prototype would probably return sometime around when they got back in the morning. "Why don't you just put yourself in the machine?" Lucy joked. "Skip the sleep part and see if it works?" Cree was very serious. "We don't know yet if it will work with a living thing. I'm not ready to take that risk yet." "I was just kidding," Lucy said. "But from the looks of things, a live animal test shouldn't be too far off." As it turned out, they were only a couple of weeks away. The next morning, the prototype showed up just when they had expected it to. They did only three more tests of even longer duration, the final one lasting a full week, and low and behold, it worked just as well. All throughout, the secrecy was maintained. As a final flourish before beginning animal tests, O'Connor sent a box of donuts forward in time eight hours so he could have fresh donuts as a late afternoon snack. "Hey, you've found a practical use already," Cree said with a smile as the donuts returned to the booth. "Fresh donuts at 4pm, for the first time in recorded human history." "Are you sure those are OK to eat?" Brooks asked Dr. Cree, worried about Colin. "Well, there's only one way to find out," he replied, looking at O'Connor. Colin opened the box without hesitation, picked out a jelly donut, and shoved it in his mouth. "Tastes good," he said. "You want one?" "Speaking of practical uses," said Lucy. "What can we really do with a time machine? Can we set it to go in reverse?" "Absolutely not," Cree said. "It's theoretically possible and now that we have seen this work sending things forward in time, I could probably configure it to work in reverse, to send things backwards in time, but the ramifications of paradox are too great. We can't allow that, because we could directly be the cause of the destruction of the universe in that case." Lucy's eyes widened. "How?" "Well, consider this," said Cree, picking up a stool. "If I were to send this stool five minutes into the past right now, what would happen?" Lucy's eyes lit up as she realized what the doctor was talking about. "It would have appeared five minutes ago." "Right, but that's already happened, and it DIDN'T show up. But if we were to send it, that would mean that it would have already showed up and there'd be two stools, one five minutes older than the other." "And in order to maintain continuity, we'd have to send the younger stool back at exactly the right time," Colin finished. "That might be different now that there have been two stools. There are too many things that could happen that are dangerous to the continuity of time." "But what can we do with a time machine that only sends things forward in time?" Lucy asked. "We're already moving forward in time naturally." "There are a number of benefits," Dr. Cree said. "We can send terminally-ill patients into the future where their disease might be curable." "It can be a protection device, too," said O'Connor. "People who need protection from almost anything could use the machine to escape into the future, sort of a new way for a person to 'lie low.'" "Within limits, of course," Cree continued. "We're not going to help criminals try to outrun the law or anything." "Our bigger problem is the animal test," said Colin, with a furrow in his head. "We need to borrow a dog or a monkey or something from the science department without raising suspicion." "I've got just the answer for that," Dr. Cree said, with a smile. Just minutes later, Dr. Ian Thompson heard a loud knock on his door. "Come in!" he called, not looking up from his computer. "It's done," he heard, causing him to look up at a grinning Rob Cree. "It's done? Explain." "The machine works. We've run several tests over the past two weeks with our prototype testing devices and it's worked flawlessly." Thompson was stunned. "Two weeks? The thing's been working for two weeks and you haven't come to talk to me about it?" "We wanted to be absolutely sure," Cree assured him. "If it didn't work as many times as it did we wouldn't be." "Well, let's see it, then!" Thompson cried. "Send me to tomorrow!" "Actually, I came to see you because I need to run more tests. We need a lab animal to test with, and we didn't want to give away to the biology department exactly what we were doing with it." "I see, and you need me to get you an animal." "Preferably a monkey," Cree said. "They're closer to human physiology." "You've got it," Thompson said, picking up a phone. "I'll tell biology that you need a monkey for a light centrifugal test ? nothing that will hurt it. You ARE confident that the thing will be OK?" "Fairly confident," Cree said. "The machine has worked flawlessly so many times over the past two weeks; I can't imagine that any adverse side effects will come of it." "Yes, hello," Thompson said, on the phone. "This is Ian Thompson. I have a friend in the physics department that is looking for a monkey to do a test with." He paused as the other person on the line asked the obvious question. "It's a low impact centrifugal test ? he's going to put him in one of those whirly machines, great fun actually, and there'll be no harm done." Another pause. "Not too long, although he may be checking in with you from time to time. Excellent! He'll be down shortly." Thompson hung up the phone. "You have a monkey waiting for you at the biology lab. When's the test? I'd love to see it." "Well, we'd like to do it in an hour," Cree replied. "Damn," Thompson said, disappointed. "I wish I could be there to see it, but unfortunately my class will be getting underway about then." "I'll have to show you next time, then," Cree promised. "The Board of Trustees is having their monthly meeting tonight at the dining hall, I'll let them know that your machine has had successful tests. They'll be pleased, no doubt." "Thank you, Dr. Thompson." "No, thank you. Now get out there and make sure that damn machine of yours is safe." Cree left the room and instructed Lucy Brooks to go to biology and pick up the primate. She came back with a cage marked "Max," the name of the monkey. "Where's Colin?" she asked upon entering the lab. "He went to grab dinner," Cree replied. "He just ate a box of donuts!" Lucy said, incredulous. "I've known Colin for six years. He'll eat like there's no tomorrow when he's under a lot of strain or if he's nervous." Just then, Colin O'Connor entered the lab, holding a big bag of food and taking a big swig from an orange soda. "Sorry I'm late," he said. "I brought some food for everyone." "That's OK," Dr. Cree replied. "Let's just start the test." O'Connor promptly put his food and his soda down on the desk adjacent to his station and quickly began setting up the machine. Dr. Cree opened the cage, and Max the monkey immediately peeked his head out to see what was happening. "Aww," Lucy said. "He's so cute. Are you sure he'll be alright?" "I'm confident that this machine is not going to cause any health problems," Cree replied. It's a simple matter of physics. Temporal displacement doesn't do anything physically to what is being transported, it only takes matter and moves it forward along." Max grunted, seemingly in agreement. "So this is going to be like 'Back to the Future,' right?" Lucy asked. "Only with a monkey instead of a dog." Cree sighed. As a scientific purist, he hated references to time travel in popular culture, especially its most famous example. "Yes," he replied. "It's somewhat similar. We're going to put a calibrated stopwatch on Max's neck and keep a control watch here." Colin continued preparing the machine. "How long are we setting it for this test?" he asked. "This one will be simple," Cree responded. "Five minutes. After that, we'll test for immediate results, which I guarantee you will be quite satisfactory." Lucy retrieved the stopwatches from the lab closet and calibrated them to be in perfect synchronization. She slipped one around the monkey's neck ? Max immediately began looking at the digital readout ? and gave the other to Dr. Cree. "The machine is ready," announced Colin. "This is it, isn't it?" "After this test, we should be ready to announce success to the Board." Cree affirmed. "What about the long-term effects?" asked Lucy. "Doesn't that have to be studied?" "It will be," Cree said. "But it won't be now. We're going to give our creation the publicity it deserves." With that, Cree placed the monkey into the displacement booth and gave Colin the signal. "The time is 5:45pm, November 8th. This is Temporal Experiment number 211, also to be known as Temporal Displacement Attempt number 30," announced Colin. "Witnesses are Dr. Rob Cree, Lucy Brooks, and Colin O'Connor. Beginning displacement." The machine lit up like it had so many times before in the previous weeks with the prototype, and soon had seemingly winked Max the monkey into oblivion. The team waited for five minutes and sure enough, Max reappeared at the appropriate time. Cree walked over to the primate and as Max scratched his head, Cree noted that the experiment had run just as smoothly as it had the previous 29 times ? an exact difference of five minutes was recorded, and the monkey showed no immediate signs of any problems. "He looks OK," Cree announced. Colin's face lit up brightly, just as it had each and every time the previous attempts had been successful. "Yes!" he cried out, outstretching his arms in a glorious stance. As he stretched, his right arm ran right into the open can of orange soda he had set down on the table, spilling it all over the table and onto the control keyboard. "Oh, damn!" he shouted, as his joy melted into embarrassment. "Get that cleaned up at once!" Dr. Cree bellowed. "Quickly, before anything is broken!" Lucy fetched a roll of paper towels from the closet and rapidly helped Colin clean up his mess. "I'm sorry, sir," Colin said. "That's my fault." "I'm sure there's no harm done," Cree reassured his young assistant. "We'll run a quick check tomorrow after Max gets his medical check and we send him through time again." Just then, there was a knock at the lab door. Cree opened it to find a somber Ian Thompson waiting outside. "We need to talk," he said. "What is it?" Cree asked. "Alone," Thompson intoned. "If there's a problem, Mr. O'Connor and Miss Brooks have the right to know about it, Ian," Cree replied, starkly. "The Board is demanding solid results," Thompson sighed. "They want a full report on the machine and its test results in one month." "One month?" Colin said. "What kind of solid results?" "They want to release to the public that we have a working time machine before homecoming festivities. I'm sorry, Rob, I shouldn't have gotten their hopes up, but once I told them that the machine had had several good test runs, they wanted to launch the damned thing. If we don't have proof that this thing works by then, they're going to temporarily cut-off funding to the project." "What? Why would they do that when we're so close?" Cree asked, not believing what he was hearing. "To be perfectly honest," Thompson continued, "they told me that if I had reported nothing to them at the meeting, they would have shut the project for good right then and there. You're lucky you came and talked to me this afternoon like you did. Otherwise the news would be even worse." "Damn media," Colin said. "What business is it of theirs what the University is spending its money on anyway?" "How did the test with the monkey go?" Thompson said, trying to steer the conversation in a positive manner. "Perfectly, as far as we can tell," Cree said. "Ian, if we are going to get this done right, we aren't going to have time to study the long-term effects of the machine on living things. We have to do another test tomorrow regardless of the medical reports on the monkey, which I assure you will be crystal clear." "That should be expected," Thompson replied. "But we will have to subject it to numerous tests over the next month to ensure that the machine is ready for unveiling at homecoming, correct?" "No," Cree said. "I have a different plan." Now O'Connor was intrigued. "What's that, sir?" "Tomorrow," Cree said, "we do a human test. Tomorrow, I will enter the displacement chamber myself." "Rob..." started Dr. Thompson. "I know I'll be OK," Cree replied reassuringly. "I know this thing inside and out, and I wouldn't do it if I thought that anything could possibly happen to me. It's the only way to be sure. We have to present solid evidence, and nothing could be more solid than a human test that works perfectly." "I agree," Colin chimed in. "This will work. There's no scientific basis for the machine to cause any type of ill effect on Dr. Cree." Thompson looked pensive. Ultimately, his was the final decision. "OK," he said. "We'll do this tomorrow morning. Can you have the machine ready by nine?" "We could have it ready now if you wanted to do it now," Lucy said. "Tomorrow will be satisfactory," Thompson replied. "I'll see you then." He reached out his hand, and Cree accepted it. "Good luck, Rob." Despite knowing in his heart that there would be no risk to himself in the test, Rob Cree had a hard time sleeping that night. He continually tossed and turned all night long, pensive about the next morning's test. He decided that he was just nervous about making history, but there was always that little bit of doubt inside of him that perhaps his theories were still wrong despite all he'd accomplished in the past ten years and all he'd discovered in the last two weeks. Frustrated at his inability to sleep, Cree arose and flipped on his computer. Checking his e-mail, he found a notice that his online subscription to one of his favorite physics journals was expiring. Grabbing his wallet, he flipped out his debit card and renewed his subscription. The whole process took about ten minutes, by which time he began stifling yawns again. Tired, he slid back into bed, throwing the card into the drawer in his nightstand, deciding to take care of it in the morning. His alarm sounded at six, just as he had set it, but his eyelids were just about wired open when it went off. Cree dragged himself out of bed and took a quick shower before consider exactly what he should wear on such a historic occasion. After spending longer deciding on his wardrobe than he'd ever spent in his life, he decided upon a grey polo shirt and a pair of khakis for his "journey." Cree was the first one to the lab. He began setting up the machine himself ? he didn't want anyone else doing it this time. By the time Colin O'Connor and Lucy Brooks arrived, the machine was about ready to go. "We need to wait on Dr. Thompson," Cree explained to his staff, rubbing his hands together. "Are you sure you're ready to do this?" asked Colin. "You seem nervous." "I'm about to do something which no one in human history has ever attempted," Cree explained. "I should think that I'm at least entitled to be a little bit nervous about securing my place in history." "I'll make sure nothing breaks down, Dr. Cree," said Lucy reassuringly. "You just get to where you're going on time." Cree was stone-faced until he realized that his assistant was joking. He allowed a crack of a smile to appear just as Ian Thompson entered the room. The clock on the wall read nine ? it was time to begin. "Dr. Cree, good luck," Thompson said, shaking his hand. "The time is 9:00am, November 9th," Cree said aloud, just as always. "This is Temporal Experiment number 212, also to be known as Temporal Displacement Attempt number 31." "Witnesses are Dr. Ian Thompson, Colin O'Connor, and Lucy Brooks," announced Colin dutifully. "Is the machine ready?" asked Thompson, who now looked a bit nervous himself. "It's all fired up and ready to go," said Lucy. "I just have to put in the displacement time," Colin said as Cree stepped inside the booth. "How long of an interval are we looking at?" "Short, but not too short," Cree said. "Let's make this 25 minutes." "25 minutes it is," Colin replied, punching in the numbers into the control keyboard. "Ready," he said, his back becoming rigid. Rob Cree took a big breath, and then exhaled it. "Beginning the timers," he said, starting a watch on his wrist, which also began a control timer sitting on the lab table. "Begin displacement." Nervously, O'Connor pushed the necessary buttons, and the booth lit up with displacement as it always had in the past, but this time the light seemed to be a bit brighter and lingered a bit longer than it had in the past. When the light finally dissipated, no one in the room was prepared for what they saw. Standing in the booth was a bewildered woman wearing a khaki skirt and a grey blouse. "What happened?" she asked in a beautiful soprano. "What are you people doing in my lab? Who are you?" O'Connor looked momentarily at Dr. Thompson, and then turned back towards the woman. "I was about to ask you the same thing. Who are you?" The brunette standing in the booth straightened out her blouse, underscoring her ample chest. "I am the creator of the machine that I am standing in. My name is Dr. Rebecca Cree." Lucy was astounded. "Rebecca Cree? You mean Rob Cree." The woman stepped out of the booth. "Wait a minute," she said, looking carefully at the experiment's three witnesses. "Anne?" she asked, looking at Dr. Thompson. Thompson was still to dumbstruck to speak. The woman then turned to look at Colin. "Why, Colleen, you're a... you've become a... man!" O'Connor ignored her words and simply looked deep into the woman's eyes. "Dr. Cree, it is you," he said breathlessly. "How could the machine have done that to you?" "Done what to me?" asked the woman with a puzzled look on her face. "It turned you into a woman," Lucy said, still with an incredulous look in her eyes. "Turned me into a woman?" asked the brunette. "Louie, I don't know how you haven't noticed already, but the only ones who have changed gender here are the three of you ? you're a woman, and Colleen and Dr. Thompson are now men!" "Rob," said Thompson, breaking his silence. "It's me, Ian Thompson. Don't you remember?" "The name is Rebecca," she re-emphasized. "The person who stepped into that booth just a moment ago was Rob Cree," Colin said. "And the people who witnessed the experiment were Colleen O'Connor, Louie Brooks, and Dr. Anne Thompson," replied the woman. "OK, wait just a second," Thompson said, trying to calm everyone down. "Rob... Rebecca, whatever your name is. You believe that everyone in the room when you entered the booth has changed genders, is that correct?" "With the exception of me, that is my observation," she announced. "And to the three of us in this room, the only person who has changed gender is Dr. Cree," he said, garnering nods from Colin and Lucy. Rebecca walked over to the control timer sitting on the lab table, and then looked down at her own watch. "They are exactly even," she said, downtrodden. "The experiment did not work, and it appears that there are certain side effects to contend with." "I'll say," said Lucy. "Now wait just a second," said Colin. "How could both of our perceptions be different, yet both consider that something about our counterparts in the experiment have changed?" "I don't know," Rebecca replied. "The monkey didn't change sex, right?" "Not that I'm aware of," said Colin. "I didn't think to check, but I don't really think it did." "Well," Thompson said. "There's got to be a scientific explanation for..." Just then, a blinking light flashed on the panel, accompanied by a warning klaxon. "Fire!" exclaimed Rebecca, who ran out of the room and down the hall, her heels clicking as she ran. Lucy ran after her and found that there was a minor fire in the component room down the hall. Rebecca grabbed a fire extinguisher in the room and promptly put the fire out, but not without noticing what had happened. "The coils are fused," she said, dejectedly. "We're going to need to fabricate new ones." "Looks like it was only a matter of time," Lucy said, pointing at the empty spot where the uplink converter had been removed. "The energy was flowing through there unbalanced. We got in 31 tests, so we know how many times the coils can be used before we have this problem." "But we won't be able to run any more tests until we rebuild all of this," Rebecca said. "The whole compensator is going to have to be redone. These coils aren't just burned out, they're fused." "That'll take a couple of weeks at least," Lucy said. "I guess you'll be a woman for at least that long." "So will you," said Rebecca, with a smirk. Just then Colin's voice came onto the intercom. "You should both come back here. We found an anomaly." As Cree and Brooks both returned to the lab, they found Thompson and O'Connor standing over the control keyboard. "The machine wasn't set for 25 minutes when we ran the experiment," Colin said. "Well, what was it at?" asked Cree, folding her arms across her chest. "Somehow, it was set for 25 billion years." Colin replied. "But according to our previous experiments, that should have just sent you that far into the future, and we would never have found out what happened to you. How you became a woman..." "Or how you became a man," interrupted Cree. "We don't know," Thompson concluded. "Well, how did it get set for 25 billion years instead of 25 minutes?" Cree asked, with an angry look on her face. Colin stood there for a moment, and then input 25 minutes into the keyboard again. "I think I know why," he said, pointing to the keyboard. The keys were sticking. "That soda incident that we had yesterday wasn't cleaned up well enough." "That's right," Lucy said. "We were getting it cleaned up when Dr. Thompson interrupted. "I forgot to go back over the keyboard," Colin admitted. "I'm sorry, Dr. Cree." "It's in the past, Colleen... Colin." Dr. Cree said. "We need to focus more on the task at hand." "Perhaps it would be best if we retired to the lounge adjacent to my office," Dr. Thompson offered. "It'll give us a chance to sort out what happened." The four sat in the lounge for hours, discussing potential reasons for the differences that each of them perceived. "The machine has never failed to deliver its occupant to the time indicated prior, correct?" asked Dr. Cree. "That's right," O'Connor said. "All 30 previous displacements ended directly on time." "However, the fusing of the space-time coils may have caused an error in this case," Lucy said. "Not so," Rebecca replied. "According to the log, the fusion did not take place until after the displacement had occurred. I was already standing here and noticing the changes that had taken place when the fusion happened." "Then why didn't the machine work?" asked Dr. Thompson. "The only conclusion that we can draw, scientifically, is that it did work as it was supposed to," Rebecca said. "If that is true, then I must now be 25 billion years from where I left." "But you didn't go anywhere," Lucy said. "You only changed." "You forget that from my perception, you are the one who has changed," Rebecca said. "There has to be a different explanation." "If the machine worked as it was supposed to have, we'd have never heard from you again," Dr. Thompson said. "Obviously the machine didn't work." Rebecca's eyes suddenly showed signs of revelation. "No, the machine did work perfectly. I have read of a theory that originated with Dr. Stephanie Hawking..." "You mean Stephen Hawking," said Colin. Cree stopped for a moment. "Who is the President of the United States?" "Nicholas Reynolds," Lucy replied, matter-of-factly. "I know a Nicole Reynolds," Cree said. "Who won the Nobel Prize in Physics last year?" Colin asked, beginning to sense a new fact in their case. "Annika Bjornstrom," Cree replied. "For her work in gravimetric fields." "Andrew Bjornstrom," O'Connor said with a smile, "won the Nobel Prize for that exact reason." "I'll be right back," Cree said, leaving the room for a moment. She returned with a picture that had been sitting on what had been Rob Cree's desk. "These are my parents," she explained. "But they seem to be different. This man looks more like my mother, and the woman looks more like my father." "So, what you're saying is that we aren't the only ones that you perceive to have changed sex," Lucy realized. "Exactly," Rebecca confirmed. "It would appear that everyone on Earth is different from the way I remember them." "I must say, you look exactly the way Rob would look if he were a woman," Thompson said. Studying Thompson again, Rebecca replied, "And you look basically like Anne would as a man." "You were saying something about Hawking," Colin interjected. "Ah, yes," Cree said. "Hawking's notion was that the universe is a repeating entity, repeatedly expanding and then contracting, essentially making each repetition its own universe. Each universe is essentially the same, with some differences." "Like, say, gender?" asked Lucy. "It certainly appears that way. It also appears that this cycle of expansion and contraction takes exactly 25 billion Earth years, otherwise I would not have appeared instantly in the booth." "So you're actually from 25 billion years in the past," Colin said. "And Rob Cree is now 25 billion years in the future." "Where he's probably having this exact conversation," Rebecca said. "Now how do we go about fixing this problem?" asked Lucy. "Do we just send you 25 billion years into the future again?" "That would probably work," Colin said. "If what Dr. Cree is saying is correct, that universe would be equivalent to the one she originated in." "There's one problem," Rebecca interrupted. "We don't know whether this cycle is redundant or finite." "What's that mean?" asked Lucy. "If the cycle is redundant, then the complete timeline can be looked at as a loop, with no defined beginning and no defined end. If that is the case, then there is no danger in either sending me forward 25 billion years or with my staying here ? each universe would still be basically symmetrical. The problem comes if the timeline has a defined beginning and end." Colin understood what Rebecca was saying. "If there's a defined beginning and end, then there'd be no one traveling to the first universe and nowhere for the traveler from the last universe to travel to." "Precisely," Rebecca confirmed. "In that case, it is difficult to know exactly what would happen. More than likely it would cause one or all of the universes to end if I were to stay, and would at least cause some to end if I were sent forward another 25 billion years." "This is far too much for me to take in," said Dr. Thompson, shaking his head. "All this theory is now fact?" "It's got to be assumed fact at least for now," Rebecca said. "Well, we're not doing anything until we get the coils recast and the space-time compensator rebuilt," Lucy sighed. "That should take upwards of two weeks for the coils and probably about three weeks for the compensator, not to mention that I have to take a few hours out to rebuild the power uplink converter for the coil cauterization process that we discovered a couple of weeks ago." Dr. Thompson looked even more confused as he listened to Lucy Brooks read off the litany of things which had to be done in order to make the machine operational again. "Get right on it," Rebecca said. "Three weeks?" Colin said. "What are we going to do about your classes?" "You'll have to teach them," Cree said. "I can't exactly teach looking like this, not in this universe anyway." Dr. Thompson nodded in approval. "I'll see to it that Mr. O'Connor is put in charge of your freshman Physics classes, but do you think he'll be able to handle your advanced temporal mechanics classes?" "I'm not so sure I'm ready to teach those yet," he said. "I'll help you," Rebecca reassured him. "From behind the scenes or whatever. We'll figure something out." As it was nearing the end of the day, the four decided to part ways for the evening and to meet first thing in the morning. Lucy offered to stay with Dr. Cree, but Rebecca denied her offer. Rebecca walked out to the parking lot and found her car exactly where she expected to find it. Though her purse was 25 billion years away, she found the necessary keys for both her car and her house in her office, which had also looked exactly like she'd remembered. The route home, the landmarks, everything looked pretty much the same as she'd always known. Upon arriving home, Cree took a look at her surroundings. Everything in the small house was basically the same until she got to her room ? it was decidedly different, as one would expect. It was then that she realized that she didn't have anything to wear other than the blouse, skirt, heels, and underwear she was currently wearing. Rob Cree certainly didn't own anything that would fit her, as she was somewhat shorter than him, and besides, there was no way that he owned any bras or panties that she'd need. She decided that she didn't have much of a choice other than to go shopping. Unfortunately, Rob had been wearing his wallet in his slacks when he'd stepped onto the platform ? all of his money, his credit cards, and his ID had been with him... except... Rebecca opened the drawer next to her bed and found Rob's debit card inside, right where she'd left it. Thank Goddess for the little things, she thought. Fortunately, none of the clerks at the stores questioned a woman using a card marked "Robert Cree." Rebecca purchased several outfits, shirts, jeans, skirts, nightwear, blouses, bras, and panties that she'd need for the next three weeks. She also picked up some tennis shoes so she didn't have to wear her pumps everywhere she went. In all, she spent nearly $400, nearly cleaning out Rob's bank account. She couldn't believe how much more women's clothing cost than men's, but again, it made sense. Just as Dr. Cree was turning in for bed, the phone rang. "Hello?" she answered. "Dr. Cree, it's Colin O'Connor," answered the voice on the other side. "Yes, Colin," she said, lying back in bed with the receiver. "I just wanted to make sure you were OK," he said. "I know I'd be freaking out if I were in your place right now." "I'm OK," Rebecca replied, with a smile. "Things are bizarre, yes, but I am coping well." "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. My number is..." "Colin," Cree interrupted. "I know your number by heart." "Oh, that's right," he said, sounding embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I just keep thinking that you're a different person." "It's alright, I promise," Rebecca said. "Get some rest. I certainly am going to." "Good night, Rebecca... uh, that is, Dr. Cree," stammered Colin. "Good night. See you tomorrow." Cree smiled to herself as she hung up the phone and drifted off to sleep. After the events of the day, and having gotten so little sleep the night before ? that is, 25 billion years prior, she slept well. The next morning, the crew got to work on what they needed to do. Cree and O'Connor went over the lesson plans for the day, and Colin left to spend the day teaching, as Cree usually did. Lucy spent all day beginning the fabrication procedures for the coils, and Dr. Cree went over the compensator with a fine-toothed comb, making corrections and fixing problems where she found them. "You've been in this world for a day now," Lucy said out of the blue, adjusting a molding for the coils. "What do you think?" "It's like I'm in a dream," Cree responded, continuing to work. "Everything is different, yet the same." "I can only imagine what life is like in your world. It's so weird to think that 25 billion years ago, and that same time from now, I was and will be a man." "You're telling me?" Cree said with a smile. "I never expected to have a woman-to-woman talk with you." "I was thinking last night," Lucy said. "If your last name is Cree, and all of the genders are reversed, that must mean that the man changes his family name when he gets married instead of the woman." "That is true," Rebecca replied. "And I didn't even think of that here. Women change their surname?" "Well, most of the time," Lucy said. "Bizarre. I assume that also means that the early part of the last century was a time for the women's suffrage movement in this universe rather than the men's suffrage movement." "That's right," Lucy said. "Strange indeed." Cree went back to her work. At the end of the day, Colin came back in to see how much progress was being made. The amount of strain on the faces of the two women told the story ? it was going to be a long haul. As Colin and Rebecca left the lab for the evening, Colin cleared his throat loudly and said, "Uh, Dr. Cree?" Rebecca stopped and answered, "Yes?" "Would you mind having dinner with me tonight? I'd like to go over what happened in class today." Cree was perplexed. Colin seemed to be rather forward with her. "OK. Your place or mine?" "Actually," O'Connor replied, "I was thinking more along the lines of going to the Salad Bowl." "The Salad Bowl?" she asked. "That's a nice place." "How about it?" Colin said, smiling. "My treat." "Who am I to pass up dinner at the Salad Bowl?" Rebecca replied. Three weeks later... Lucy hammered another piece of metal into place on the space-time compensator. Looking up from her work, she saw Dr. Cree and O'Connor chit-chatting again next to the work bench. It seemed like they hadn't done any work at all for the past week. "Dr. Cree, I think we're ready to do a stress test on the Heisenberg mechanism," she intoned with an irritated look on her face. "Go for it," Cree replied, not looking away from her conversation with Colin. "Don't you think we ought to go over there and run some numbers on this test?" O'Connor asked Dr. Cree, smiling at her playfully. "Oh, yes, of course," Rebecca said, shaking her head as if to regain herself. "Hand me that stopwatch." "What has been up with the two of you?" Lucy asked. "You have dinner together every night as if you couldn't stand to be apart from one another, and for the last few days I feel like I'm the only one doing any work around here!" "Miss Brooks," Rebecca replied, "Colin... ahem, Mr. O'Connor and I have been trying to keep up appearances. As you are no doubt well aware, he's been spending all of his time trying to teach both an elementary physics class and an advanced temporal mechanics class, neither of which he is fully qualified to teach, and I, of course, must prepare him for each and every day's class." "Uh, yeah," O'Connor said. "That's all." Lucy gave them both an unconvinced look. "OK, if that's your official story, then that's good enough for me." "We're so very close to finishing the repairs," Rebecca said. "Is there something on your mind, Miss Brooks?" "You seem a bit distracted, Dr. Cree. That's all." Colin turned on the Heisenberg mechanism and began taking notes. "We've developed a working relationship," he said to Lucy. "You have to understand that while Dr. Cree is in theory the same person we knew, she is also her own person, different from her male counterpart." "In turn," Dr. Cree said, "You are both very much your own person." "How's the mechanism?" Lucy asked Colin, trying to get off the topic. "It's working within standard parameters," O'Connor said. "What's the status of the coils?" Lucy looked at Colin with a blank stare. "We installed them yesterday, Colin. I did the inspection myself, remember?" Colin's face turned beet red. "Ah, yes. My mistake." "If the Heisenberg mechanism is functioning normally, we should be able to run an experiment with the machine tomorrow," Dr. Cree said, standing up from inspecting a part of the machine near the floor and straightening out her purple skirt. "Why tomorrow?" asked Lucy. "Why not run one now?" Rebecca looked at her watch. "It's getting late," she said. "We might as well wait until morning so we can run the experiment and the field test on the same day." It didn't make a whole lot of sense to Lucy, but she grudgingly nodded her head in agreement. "Catch a bite at the student union?" O'Connor asked Cree. "I'd love to," Rebecca replied with a bright grin. Colin returned the smile and opened the lab door for Dr. Cree, who stepped out as O'Connor followed right behind her. The next morning, Dr. Ian Thompson heard a knock on his office door just as he was sitting down to begin reviewing some papers. "Come in," he said. Lucy Brooks slowly opened the door. "Dr. Thompson?" she asked. "Yes, what is it?" Thompson said. "How are the machine repairs coming along?" "They're complete as far as we can tell," she replied, gingerly stepping into the office. "What was the final decision on the direction of travel?" Thompson asked. "Dr. Cree decided that based on the results of the last experiment which sent her here that we should, for this experiment only, have the machine send her back in time rather than forward. That way we should have the actual Rob Cree back that we know and love instead of a Rob Cree who actually existed 50 billion years ago." "I see. So when is the experiment set to take place?" "Well, that's what I came to see you for, sir," Lucy continued. "We planned to do it first thing in the morning, but I haven't seen either Dr. Cree or Colin O'Connor at all. I've tried calling both of them but I can't get through to either one." "Odd. I've never known Dr. Cree to be late," Thompson said. "Of course, that assumes that this Dr. Cree has exactly the same habits." Just then, Cree and O'Connor walked into Thompson's office, both out of breath and both looking a bit haggard. Cree's makeup looked a bit smeared and Colin's shirt was all wrinkled. "Sorry we're late," Cree said, fixing herself up. "Turns out we both overslept," O'Connor said. "I ran into Dr. Cree downstairs and started apologizing for being late, only to find out that she was just getting here too!" "Can you believe that?" Cree said with a small laugh. "I've seen some pretty bizarre things lately," Thompson said, stone-faced. "I can believe almost anything." "I suppose we can get started on the experiment right away," Cree said. "The machine is configured to send me backwards through time instead of forward, however, we dare not do a test run. We risk creating a time paradox unless we transport only between universes." "Let's do this," Thompson said. "We only have a week to get things right, and I want Dr. Cree, that is, Rob Cree, to be the one telling the Board of Trustees that they finally have their time machine." The four walked down the hall into the laboratory, and Colin began setting the machine for use. "We're only going to get one shot at this," Cree said, as she climbed into the machine's booth. "Let's hope our calculations are correct, or I suspect both myself and my male counterpart will go missing in time forever." Colin checked the machine over, and input 25 billion years on the console, which was now set to send Dr. Cree backwards in time rather than forward. "We're ready to go," Colin said, quietly. "Well, let's not wait any longer," Dr. Thompson said. He turned to Rebecca Cree. "It was a pleasure to meet you," he said. "We've discovered something truly amazing." "I suppose we have," Rebecca said, allowing herself a little smile. She turned her attention to Colin O'Connor, standing patiently at the controls. "Go ahead and activate." Colin continued staring at Dr. Cree as he activated the machine. The booth lit up, much like it had in all of the different tests that he'd run. When it was over, standing in the booth was a face he hadn't seen in three weeks: Dr. Rob Cree. "It worked!" Cree exclaimed, walking out of the booth and accepting a hug from Lucy Brooks. "It's good to have you back, sir," she said. "Your counterpart was interesting, but I'd personally have the Rob Cree that we're all used to." "I'd have to say the same about your counterpart," Cree said. "An interesting guy, to say the least." Then Cree's gaze met Colin's, which was blank. O'Connor extended his hand. "Good to have you back, Rob." Rob Cree took Colin's hand and shook, his visage looking equally blank. "Thanks, Colin." "Well, we have a lot of work to do," said Dr. Thompson, grasping Cree's shoulders. "We need to get this thing working in the right direction again, we need to write a Nobel Prize winning paper on split universes, and we need to get you ready to talk to the Board of Trustees!" "You're right," Cree said, snapping out of it. "Let's get to work." Four days later... Cree walked out of the boardroom, sipping a bottle of water. Colin was outside, alone, waiting for him. "How'd it go?" he asked, standing to greet his mentor. "They were fairly impressed," he said, wiping a bead of sweat off his brow. "They're hard to please, though. They asked a ton of questions." The two began walking down the hall and head out to Dr. Cree's car. "Are we good to go?" Colin asked. "Do we still have funding?" "Absolutely," Cree said. "We shouldn't have to worry about that little problem ever again." "Did you tell them about..." Colin began. "No. They'll find out with the rest of the world when we file our paper." They walked on together in silence. As they reached the door to head outside, Colin stopped. "Rob," he said. "This is really too strange for me." "I understand completely," Cree responded. "How do you think I feel?" Again, there was an uneasy silence. "It was stupid," Colin said. "We never should have let it get that far." "Yes," Cree agreed. "We were weak." "What do we do about it, though?" Colin said. "This just can't continue like this." Cree paused again. "I love her," he replied. "I feel like I found the one person I was meant to be with." "So do I," O'Connor said. "And our counterparts must feel the same way." "It's your call," Cree said. "What do you think we should do about this?" "No chance, Doc. It's your life we're talking about, not mine. I'm still going to be here in this universe. What you're implying is that we should go ahead and do the switch again ? permanently, right?" "I am indeed," Cree said. "In fact, I think we should go ahead and do it," he finished, sighing. "Wait a second. What about all that stuff you... Rebecca... whatever. All that stuff about universes ending?" "We're still here, aren't we? I think that proves enough in and of itself." "You know Dr. Thompson would never approve of this." "You're right. We should do this right away then." The two men crept up to Cree's darkened lab and turned the lights on. "No, no, leave them off," Cree said. "We don't want to arouse security's suspicions." Colin began setting the machine up using a desk lamp for light as Rob scribbled good-bye notes to Lucy Brooks and Ian Thompson. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Colin asked. "It's what we both want," Cree said. "This is the best for all four of us ? you and me, Colleen and Rebecca." Cree clasped O'Connor's hand, and then gave him a solid embrace. "It was a pleasure working with you." "Same here, Doc," he said. "Good luck in the future." Cree climbed into the machine as Colin set it for 25 billion years in the future. "Take care of yourself," Cree said, smiling. "Activate." Cree watched as the machine and the lab lit up around him, instantly transporting him to his final destination. He peered into the darkened lab and saw the radiant beauty of Colleen O'Connor smiling brightly at him from behind the desk lamp. Her long red hair and beautiful Irish features instantly brought back the feelings he had had for her for three weeks. Cree leapt down from the machine and ran to embrace his love. Colleen moved just as quickly. "I missed you so much," Cree said. "As did I," Colleen cooed. "But there's something you should know." "Oh? What's that?" "I'm pregnant," O'Connor replied. "You are? But..." "That's right." "That would mean that Rebecca is also pregnant," Cree said, doing the math. "We knew we had to reverse the procedure again," Colleen said. "Both of our pregnancies meant that we would have two children without counterparts in your universe. The effects of that were sure to be more devastating than having the two of you switch." Cree was taking in the information he was hearing. He was about to become a father. "But Colin and I had no experience like that back in my universe," he said. "How did you know we would come back?" "Rebecca decided that once she made the decision to go back, you would somehow make the same choice. It was the only way it could have worked out. We did wonder what your reason for returning would be. My guess is that you are as in love with me as Rebecca was with Colin." Cree went ahead and kissed Colleen full on the lips. "You might say that." Two years later... "Ladies and gentlemen," announced Dr. Anne Thompson, "Please welcome our guest speaker. He is currently up for the Nobel Prize in Physics for his two recent discoveries ? time travel and proof of a universal theory, and he himself is the proof. His work in temporal mechanics will be read about for generations to come. His name will be uttered in the same sentence as Darwin and Kepler until the end of time. Please welcome my good friend, Mr. Robert Cree-O'Connor." The audience immediately got to their feet as Rob walked to the podium. This colloquium was his big "coming out" party as the world's newest science phenomenon. "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you. You may not believe this, but you've lived this life before. You will live this life again. And life in-between is more different than you can imagine." Rob looked down at his wife, Colleen, sitting in the front row, with their child, Jeremy Michael, who was now a little over a year old. "It's an aberration of time that somehow makes everything seem right..."