Authors: A.E. Albert
In the center of the room was
a large, black circular chamber with cables and piping protruding from it. Billy couldn’t guess what it was for.
Yet, the most amazing part of the room was the ceiling. Billy couldn’t tell if there was one at all. The entire length and width of the room was open to the night sky.
Jeanie gazed around the room, in wonder, sitting on the metal floor as her tail unconsciously waved back and forth.
When Billy glanced at Dickens, the old man just sat in a nearby chair, seeming uninterested in
his surroundings. Oh, ya, he’s already been here, he thought as he turned away, refusing to give any more attention to the old man then he needed to.
As Billy continued to think of some way to escape, the door burst open and three men wea
ring black uniforms entered the room. Before Billy and the others could utter a word, the men held out silver circular objects. All Billy saw was a burst of purple light and then everything went black.
Billy opened his eyes and found himself staring at the ceiling. He attempted to get up, but the most severe headache he had ever had held him to his cot. Well, if you could call it a cot. As he slowly sat up, he saw four black slabs jutt
ing out of the wall.
“Are you ok, Billy?” Jeanie asked, as she sat at the end of his cot.
“I’m ok. What about you?”
He held the side of his head, a grimace etched into his features. Billy then noticed that Jeanie was back to normal. His hand flew to his fac
e and it was back to its original size.
“They must have fixed us while we were asleep,” she said.
“Ya, well, I wished they could have fixed this headache,” he complained.
“Don’t concern yourself with the pain. They only used a mind stunner on us. Quite painful, but ultimately harmless,” stated Dickens in a nonchalant voice,
who was lying down on a cot with his arms folded beneath his head.
Billy looked about the room, “Where are we?”
“In the laboratory’s penal cell. They found they needed one due to the high number of break-ins. Your father does work with very sensitive and potentially profitable projects, now doesn’t he?” he replied.
“Great! Another jail cell;
I’m really sick of the jail cells!” yelled Billy, as he stood up and kicked the metal wall.
Suddenly, a silver square panel flickered. It revealed a man who seemed to be sitting in the laboratory where the men in black found them. The man had short blond hair s
licked back on his head and a trim beard. He wore the traditional white lab coat.
He leaned forward in his seat and squinted into the monitor. “Who are you? What are you doing here?
” he demanded.
Billy looked to Dickens, who always took the reins in these situations. However, he appeared to have no intention of saying anything or moving from his comfortable position.
Billy stared at Jeanie with panic in his eyes and then returned his attention to the screen. “Um, I, um we’re here to talk to Preston Thorn, the scientist.”
“Why? What do you want with him?” The man further narrowed his eyes and his manner was becoming increasingly hostile.
“We need to talk with him. It’s very important,” pleaded Billy.
The man just smirked into the screen. “You can tell me.”
Billy really didn’t want to talk to this guy, but he seemed to be the only way to get to his father. “It’s about the future. Something bad is going to happen!”
The pointed face dweeb
just waved his hand in the air. “Oh, I’ve heard that one before! Some old kook came here claiming the end of the world. Ooooo, I’m so scared!” The man wiggled his fingers in the air, as he said this. “We deal with science here, not science fiction!”
“No, listen! We’ve come a real long way to talk to Preston Thorn, please!” implored Billy.
He was really starting to get scared. What would happen if no one believed the real reason they were there and he was getting nowhere with this guy.
The blond dweeb huffed impatiently and rolled his eyes. “He doesn’t speak with anyone. Well, not since the unpleasant occurrence. And don’t thi
nk to try and fool me! The only one reason why anyone would be in the lab without explicit authorization, is theft or to tamper with our top secret projects. We have encountered saboteurs before,” he stuck his face closer to the screen and said in a low voice, “and we know how to deal with them.” The screen then abruptly changed back to the original silver paneling on the wall.
“How obnoxious!” exclaimed
Jeanie.
Billy flopped himself onto the nearest prison cot. “Well, we were just found in a top secret lab.” Billy threw a dirty look directed at Dickens. “You couldn’t have just brought us to the parking lot now could
n’t you?”
“Quite impossible,” he said, while
lying on the cot with his eyes closed.
“Why?”
“This lab is located at the bottom of Mariana’s Trench.”
“The bottom of the Pacific Ocean!” exclaimed Jeanie.
“Actually, it’s the lowest point of any ocean, almost seven miles deep. You could easily fit Mount Everest down here with room to spare,” replied Dickens in a casual and almost pleasant manner, which was really starting to get on Billy’s nerves.
The hours
slowly passed and the trio sat in silence, each occupying their own hard cot. Billy didn’t know how much time had passed exactly; all he knew was that he was actually thinking about eating his own shoe. Just then the cell door opened, shifting horizontally into the wall. A black rectangular box rolled into the room, the door shutting behind it. As Billy watched it approach, he noticed that it had no wheels. It hovered about an inch off the ground and reached Billy’s waist. The casing on the top rolled away, revealing three small pink pills.
As Billy and Jeanie gazed down at them, Dickens casually walked over, popped one in his mouth and returned to lie back down on his cot. Billy and Jeanie looked at each other and cautiously reached in and each took a pill. Instantly, the lid replaced itself and the robot quickly left the cell.
Billy and Jeanie slowly placed the odd little pill in their mouths and swallowed. Within seconds, Billy was overcome with the feeling of having just eaten the largest turkey dinner he ever had. Also, he had the most ridiculous urge to undo his pants and lay down. So, he just gave into the desire and went to sleep feeling as satisfied as if he had just eaten Christmas dinner.
The passing days were boring and slow. Actually, they couldn’t tell how much time had passed, ther
e being no windows. Billy guessed that three pills meant one day. The only thing that passed the time was waiting for their odd meals and taking a nap afterward.
Conversation was limited
; no one really wanted to talk, anyway.
Of course, Billy looked forward to their daily conversations with the blond dweeb. But every day was the same thing. “I know you know something, I don’t mind leaving you in there forever, and I want to know who you work for.” Blah, blah, blah!
Billy tried repeatedly to convince the man that they only wanted to talk to Preston Thorn, but they were refused every time. The snotty little man was even starting to threaten ‘aggressive interrogations.’ Billy didn’t want to know what that meant.
Unfortunately, they were going to find out sooner rather than later. On the third day, the cell door opened and in marched two uniformed guards. They only had to hold up the silver orbs and the three intruders immediately put up their hands and obediently followed them out of the room.
They were taken to a dark room. The only light was hovering over the center of a circular table. The guards motioned for them to sit down, when suddenly a disembodied voice could be heard throughout the chamber.
“Take the rings before you and place them on your heads,” stated
a deep and resonating voice.
Billy was frightened out of his wits, but all he cou
ld think of was now he knew how Dorothy felt when she was standing before the Wizard of Oz. On the table, there was a golden ring placed in front of each of them. They were big enough to fit a person’s head. Billy and Jeanie looked uneasily at each other as they carefully put them on.
Instantly, Billy heard a ringing in his ears. It wasn’t exactly painful, but the feeling was very uncomfortable. Very slowly voices began to gradually get louder, like tuning in a radio. Billy thought that maybe these rings were for telepathy or something. Then the voices became more distinct and he could make out words. As Billy focused on trying to figure out what the voices were saying, he heard, ‘I hate you!’ Billy
’s eyes widened with the realization that the voice was his. He glanced at Jeanie, whose expression must have mimicked his own. They were both hearing their own words, conversations and memories.
Billy instantly attempted to rip the apparatus off of his head. However, an electrical charge surged through his hands and arms, forcing him to release it. With tears stinging his eyes
, he frantically looked around the room, instinctively trying to locate the person responsible.
However, the voices increasingly became louder and louder and all he could do was shut his eyes and wait for it to be over.
Billy didn’t know how long they were forced to endure their ‘aggressive interrogation,’ but finally it was done and they were led back to their cell. All three were so exhausted; they just laid down on their cots and went to sleep.
The days continued to pass, and the rings were used on them daily. Usually
, they spent their time sleeping, since the ringed devices sapped all their energy. Even when awake, Billy could barely think, much less talk. When his mind did clear, his thoughts dwelled on how they were going to contact his father.
One evening, Billy was
as usual lying on his cot. But his restless mind refused to allow his exhausted body to sleep. As the days passed, too many questions began to bombard his fragile mind. He just didn’t understand why he couldn’t talk with his father. It didn’t make any sense why his father didn’t seem to know about their arrival into his supposed secret laboratory. Wasn’t he supposed to be a big shot around here! Billy silently demanded. Well, he is responsible for the destruction of the planet, Billy reminded himself dryly.
Dickens said that this was supposed to be the way things were meant to happen, but nothing was happening! How could he make his father understand what the Device was going to do if he’s in prison and that snot nosed idiot refused to believe anything they said. Billy pursed his lips when he thought about the blond man on the screen. This guy now knows everything, but he still won’t believe them.
He wracked his brain trying to think of anything that could convince their jailer to let them speak with his father. But nothing came. Finally, Billy felt his eyes begin to droop and his body relax, preparing itself for another long slumber.
On their tenth day of imprisonment, the dweeb once again appeared on the screen in their cell. He was wearing his customary smirk when he said, “I told you to talk, but you didn’t believe me, did you?”
“We don’t know anything, but I think you already know that,” retorted Jeanie. Billy noticed for the first time how pale and gaunt she looked.
“Your simple minds didn’t have very much to tell, well, other than you’re all crazier then loons.
Time travel, aliens, ooooo scary stuff. Unfortunately, for you nut bars, it’s either the United World Prison on Pluto or a mental hospital in Nebraska. But either way, you’ll all be out of my hair soon.”
The dweeb suddenly turned his head and began talking to a colleague
suddenly standing behind him. “…..no, sir, oh no, they’re just crazy…..what ….the rings?..well of course that’s standard procedure…now! ….But …oh, all right.”
The dweeb turned back to the screen, his expression one of annoyance, but quickly reverted back to his usual sneer. He then said with delight in his eyes, “Well, I guess it’s your lucky day. You get one more interrogation.”
Billy, Jeanie and Dickens once again returned to the dark room with the ci
rcular table. As they sat down, Billy noticed that the rings were absent and no sooner had this thought gone through his head, the lights were turned on.
The door at the far end of the room opened and in walked a man. He was dressed in a generic lab coat, but he was
disheveled and weary looking. His thinning brown hair was in bad need of a cut and it looked like he had a three day beard on his cheeks and chin.
As he approached the table, he looked to each of its occupants. When his eyes reached Dickens, there was a sharp intake of breath. The man began to shake and “you” was all he could say.
Dickens looked back at the man, his calm countenance revealing no surprise.
“Why are
you back here?” the man said. His anger was contained, but it was evident that he was trying to control his volatile emotions.
As Billy looked back and forth between each man, he began to notice a familiarity between them. The scientist looked like a younger version of Dickens. Billy’s head snapped up, comprehending why. Billy was looking at the man who was his father, Preston Thorn.
“I said, why are you back here! Where is he? What did you do with him?” he shouted.
Dickens remained calm and with a level stare, he said, “I kept him safe, Preston.”
“Safe from what? There is no danger, I tell you! Wars on Earth stem from every nation fighting over land, resources and power. The Device will end all that!”
“The war will not
come from man, but from something else far from here.”
“I am not concerned with anything but Earth’s problems,
much less your fantasies! We’ll soon be able to find terra class planets like that with the Device. We are on the verge of creating the means to populate them in months. Months! This will end war, not create it!”
“We’
re not ready to expand into space. You’re a man of science, but please, listen from a historical perspective. Technological advancement does not denote a specie’s maturity. Read your history books. In fact, it only gives us the means to further our own greedy ends.”
The man straightened himself and looked down at Dickens. Suddenly, he slammed his hands on Dickens’ arm rests and shouted into his face. “Where is my son? For five long years I have lived
with not knowing where he is! Tell me!” he yelled with fury in his eyes.
As the old man lowered his gaze
, the man bellowed again, “Tell me!” he yelled, as he banged his fist against the nearby table.
Dickens just silently
stared at Preston. Finally, he turned to look at Billy for the first time in days. He then turned back to Preston, slowly nodding his head. Preston fearfully looked at the young boy sitting there.
“No, my son would be no more than five years old!”
“When I retrieved him, Preston, I chose a time when he would be older, to tell you what I cannot, what you refuse to believe.”
Preston turned back to the young man, his eyes filled with disbelief and his mouth set in a defiant frown. As he continued to gaze at Billy, very slowly he began to recognize the similar mouth and nose. But what truly convinced him was, what he would later tell Billy, were the eyes of his mother staring back at him.
Preston’s eyes became warm and a slow smile formed on his lips, “William?” he said in a whisper.
Billy was starting to feel uncomfortable. “Um, most people just call me Billy.”
Preston looked upon his son with a love that Billy had never experienced in his whole life. He never dwelled on what he was going to say to his father when they got here. He just considered him the crazy scientist and never really associated himself with him. He thought that it didn’t really matter because he didn’t know him anyway, or their lives were in mortal danger at the time.
A feeling came over Billy that he had never before experienced. In that moment of connection, he instantly knew that this man loved him and he was the missing piece of the puzzle that he had been looking for. Billy decided then and there that he was not returning to his time. Nothing was going to make him leave the very t
hing he craved his whole life. A real family.
Preston hugged Billy so fiercely that the wind was knocked out of him. The man stood back, holding Billy’s face in his hands.
“I can’t believe that it’s you. You’re home.”
Time passed in the underwater laboratory and Billy had never felt so complete or happy in his life. He spent his days working with his father in the lab. Billy had no idea how he was supposed to
grow up to be a scientist in a future time because he didn’t usually get what his father was talking about. But he hung onto every word, glorying in every moment spent with him.
The change was not only in Billy, but also in his father. Preston greeted each new day with a shave and he got himself a haircut. Billy discovered that his mother had passed away, but the feeling of loss was ebbed by the attention and affection given to him by his father. He also learned that Townsend had actually been his mother’s maiden name.
Dickens was always near, but he never interfered with Billy spending time with his father and generally kept to himself. He was patient, allowing Billy to talk to his father about the future in his own time. Billy didn’t think that Preston knew who Dickens really was, and he wasn’t about to say anything. Preston tolerated Dickens for the children’s sake but avoided him at all cost. Billy didn’t know how he felt about Dickens himself, but he didn’t want to waste any time with his father thinking about him.
The overall design of the laboratory was the same, silver paneling covering all the walls and ceilings. The view of the sky in the lab was actually a hologram. It was designed to give the illusion of open spaces due to the claustrophobic feel of the underwater station. On the outer walls, windows lined the hull, revealing the dark water outside. Not that there was much to see, since it was too murky to make anything out.
One day, Preston brought Jeanie and Billy to a lookout point on top of the lab, which was a huge circular shaped dome made of glass. He turned on the ground lights, revealing the ocean floor for miles. Although this scared any sea life away, it revealed a mountain terrain to rival Earth’s.
Thankfully, they didn’t have to eat prison fare anymore. It may have given you the feeling of a dreamy fullness, but Billy suspected it was actually designed to keep prisoners in
line more than anything else. Besides, nothing could replace real food. Well, if, by real, you define it as being able to chew on something. The food was made of synthetic materials, consisting of needed vitamins and minerals and made to taste like food. However, on chicken casserole night, Billy decided that they must have forgotten what food used to taste like because the chicken definitely didn’t taste like chicken.
Billy
wished that he could explore the Earth and see what it was like in the 23rd century. One evening, over dinner, Preston told him and Jeanie a lot of it was just like the old science fiction movies.
“What about cars? Can they really fly?” asked Billy.
“All transport vehicles fly, but it wasn’t because everyone thought it would be cool. Earth’s population became too great. We had to find more space for them.”
“Why don’t they crash into each other? I always wonder
ed that when I watched Sci-fi movies,” inquired Jeanie, as she struggled to cut into her rubbery dinner that was supposed to be a steak.
Preston laughed. “Well, certain types have different driving zones. The lower zones are for the larger vehicles and regular human transport higher up.” He then gave Jeanie that parental look. “We still do have traffic lights, Jeanie,” he said in a dry tone, making her giggle.
“I love the clothes! I can make them any color I want just by telling them so,” she said as she examined a shirt sleeve.
“Well, they weren’t designed for fashion. About a century ago, due to overpopulation, Earth’s reso
urces were depleted badly. We had to figure out ways to have less, but give the illusion of having more. The world was consumer based, so it was quite the adjustment. Anyways, hence the voice sensitive chips in clothing tags.”
“If there are so many people, where does everybody live?” asked Billy.
“All dwellings are apartment style, generally consisting of only one room.”
“One room!” exclaimed Jeanie, looking horrified.
Preston smiled at her expression, “Yes, but this one room can turn into whatever room you want with the touch of a button.”
“Cool!” Only one room to clean, thought Billy.
“But what if you have a family?” Jeanie asked with a frown on her face.
“People have to get a license to have children and not many receive the privilege. So, usually only two people live in a domicile.”
“Do you need a license for a pet too?” she asked, her voice and expression revealing how unimpressed she was.
Preston gazed at her with sympathetic understanding as he replied, “Actually, yes, but animals are very rare.”
Billy just wanted to change the direction of the conversation. “Sooo, it sounds like everything has improved overall though, right?”
His father just shook his head. “Earth still struggles with a lot of the same political and social upheavals as in your time, but we’re getting there,” he said with a smile.
Preston firmly believed that science was going to help the Earth overcome these struggles. At these times, Billy would think about the future and Preston’s part in it, but again he refused to dwell on it.
Since they were now free to wander the underwater
lab, Jeanie insisted they go back to the Brain Room to see Conrad again. Of course, Richard was now more than nice to them since he discovered that Billy was Dr. Thorn’s son. She and Billy would visit them almost every day. They learned that Conrad had been a window washer in his previous life and they spent most of their visits describing food to him.
The laboratory was roughly the size of a small town. Billy learned that the Time Sphere had brought them to the Special Projects Sector. This area was highly classified and off limits to even many of the scientists. However, Billy and Jeanie were given special privileges, much to the dweeb’s chagrin, to almost anywhere in the lab.
One day, Dr. Thorn was showing the children the various sections of the Special Projects Sector and he included in the tour the huge garbage heap room.
“You guys make a lot of garbage down here,” Billy commented with a look of disgust as he gazed at the mounds of waste everywhere.
His father just laughed. “No, Billy, this is all a part of a very important study,” he replied, waving his arms around the room.
“Uh, what’s to know about garbage? It stinks and it
’s best left at the dump.”
“But what if there is no more room left at the dump?” his father asked.
“We started recycling back in my time. I think you guys should have kept it up.”
“Not recycling is considered a federal crime today. If you are so much as caught throwing a pop can out of your car window, you can go to prison.”
“Prison?”
“That’s how seriously we take it. But the truth is
, we started too late and now we have to figure out what to do with the garbage we already have. So, we’re studying it to see if it’s possible to use waste as an energy source. See there? Some of it’s boiling in those large vats,” he said as he pointed to the huge containers Billy saw when he was there the first time. “The other piles are pressed in those metal compressors. We’re attempting various ways of changing the garbage’s molecular structure through temperature and pressure. We’re not having much luck. But we keep trying. Some even want to try using it as food source.”
“Ewww!” exclaimed Jeanie, who was horrified at the prospect.
“As I said, there’s talk,” said Preston, as he chuckled at her reaction.
Dr. Thorn then led the two children into the brightly lit room piled high with chemical beakers. Billy didn’t like this room as he recalled their previous little mishap when the
y had last been there.
“This is where we store any formulas not being currently marketed.”
“What do you mean? No one wants to buy something that can make your head grow twice as big?” Billy snorted sarcastically.
“Actually, the chemical you came into contact with can potentially grow back lost limbs, but as you saw, we still have some bugs to work out.”
“What about the stuff that turned me into a mermaid?” asked Jeanie.
“Well, due to the over population of the planet, scientists dabbled with the idea of populating the ocean floor. It was thought that during construction and just living down here, it would be easier if people were biologically altered to s
uit the harsh environment. We played with the idea, but it never went anywhere. Marketing research found that people weren’t very interested in living underwater as a fish.”
“I used to think that being a mermaid would be romantic, but it’s just itchy and you smell bad” Jeanie replied, wrinkling her nose.