Intermission // Van McCann

12. Code No Good

This time, it was Van who woke up before I did. He slept like a baby while I kept waking up in the middle of the night. I could tell he was feeling better as his energy returned and he was almost back to his normal self. We got ready and made our way to work.

Out of habit, I checked my email to see if Professor Hayes responded and he did to my surprise. I opened up his response and read it.

Hi Ren,

It's good to hear from you. What do you mean he's stuck? I'm busy today and tomorrow but can meet you on Thursday or Friday this week. I can meet you on campus if it makes things easier.

Professor Hayes

I held my phone out for Van to see. "Professor Hayes responded," I told him.

Van had to do a double-take. "He actually responded."

"Can I invite him to stop by the lab this Thursday?"

"Sure. We just have to tell Iván so he behaves himself."

"I'll respond to him then."

Hi Professor Hayes,

The power went out when he was in the time machine and he hasn't come out ever since. This happened on Monday. Can you stop by the lab on Thursday to talk?

Ren

The door opened and Iván walked in.

"Did he show any signs of coming back?" Iván asked, looking around the room.

"I haven't had the chance to check yet," Van answered, walking to the computer. "By the looks of it, it doesn't seem like it."

"So what's the plan today?"

"Well Ren heard back from Professor Hayes. She invited him to stop by on Thursday to talk," he said slowly, eyeing me. "In the meantime, I'm gonna take a look at the code...in particular, the failsafe code, and try to figure out what it was that Professor Hayes and Bondy wrote all those years ago."

"So we're not going to the future to try to bring him back?"

"No, not yet. Not until I get a better understanding of what's happening."

Van quickly made his cup of tea and walked over to the computer to look at the code. That meant Iván and I had to hang tight while he figured things out. Well to be frank, we had to pause everything in order to figure out how to bring Bondy back. Without Bondy, there would be no work. No work in the lab and no work on the robotic arm.

I walked over to try to help Van, but as soon as I saw the mumbo jumbo of codes, I figured it was best for him to take care of it. I had no idea what I was looking at. It was all gibberish to me. Van began typing and found the location of the failsafe code. His eyes quickly scanned the code and I left him to it, not wanting him to get stressed under my watchful eyes. In the meantime, I went to check my email.

Hi Ren,

That's not good at all. If you don't mind staying until 6 PM, I can stop by today. Just let me know.

Professor Hayes

I immediately began typing back.