Intermission // Van McCann

16. Success

After lunch, we immediately went back to work, not wanting to waste time at the restaurant. Van turned on the GoPro and made sure it was recording before turning it around and making a face into the camera. He set it on the time machine and made his way back to the computer. Professor Hayes read the setting back to him.

"The Bond Lab in Seattle, Washington on 22 August 2023 at 0700 for 10 minutes," Professor Hayes said out loud and Van nodded his head. "Let's do it then. 3...2...1...."

Professor Hayes pressed the button and the GoPro immediately disappeared. Van set his timer for 10 minutes and walked over to Iván and I who were knelt by the power cords. There were three cords that we had to pull simultaneously and luckily we had three people for it.

"Just tell us when we should pull the cord," Van told Professor Hayes, reaching for his cord. Professor Hayes eyed the clock. Three minutes had elapsed. Even though we were only pulling the cord, my hands were getting sweaty from nerves. I wiped the palms of my hands on my jeans and Iván eyed me.

"Getting nervous? Hopefully you don't get electrocuted with your sweaty hands," Iván teased, grinning. I playfully pushed Iván away and he fell on his bum since he was squatting just like me. "Ren!" he shouted.

"That's not funny, okay?" I argued back. I made sure to smile so he knew not to take me too seriously.

"What's going on over there?" Professor Hayes questioned. His attention was on the computer and he wanted to look at us but didn't dare peel his eyes from the screen.

"Ren just pushed me!" Iván shouted like a little kid telling on someone.

"Well you deserved it. What you said wasn't funny," Van defended me.

"This isn't fair. It's two versus one. He's showing favoritism," Iván complained. Iván got back into position and held onto his cord once again.

"Alright, you can pull the cord now..." Professor Hayes instructed.

Van eyed the both of us. "Ready?" he asked. Iván and I nodded our heads. "3...2...1...."

The three of us pulled the power cord simultaneously and we could hear the power go out. The constant whirring of the time machine and computer went away and it was eerily quiet. So quiet, we could hear our own breathing.

"Okay, now plug it back in," Professor Hayes instructed. We lined the prongs with the socket.

"Alright, 3...2...1..." Van trailed off. We plugged the cord back in and could hear the time machine and computer coming back to life. We stood up and walked up to Professor Hayes. Van looked at the timer. "We got less than a minute left."

Van's timer and the computer's timer were off by about a minute. Once Van's timer expired, nothing happened, but once the computer's timer expired, the GoPro reappeared.

"It actually worked!" Van exclaimed, disbelief apparent in his tone. He went up to grab the GoPro and pulled the SD card out, sticking it into the SD card reader. He immediately found the video and pressed play so we could all see.

You could see the camera shaking as Van made sure it was working. Then the camera turned around so you could see Van opening his eyes wide and sticking his tongue out before setting it on the time machine.

"Que feo," Iván muttered and I burst into laughter.

"What'd he say?" Van questioned.

I couldn't contain my laughter so I covered my mouth and squeezed my eyes shut. After a few seconds, Van gave up and turned his attention back to the video. We could see the GoPro arrive at The Bond Lab as we recognized the door to the lab but at a much lower angle. The halls were quiet as no one was on campus so early in the morning.