Lost in Time

Chapter 1 - TMA

*VLog- Day 136*

The static faded as a man with dishevelled dark brown hair pushed the loose frames of his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose. Behind the black spectacles were intelligent grey eyes which stared steadily into the camera lens. His chiselled jaw clenched before he cleared his throat and began speaking.

"Dr Rui Ozai recording from my laboratory on May 14th 2031 at 11:01 UTC. Today will be the 43rd physical test of the T.M.A." Without any explanation of his acronym, the Physicist stood aside to tap on his computers' clunky keyboard. Each keystroke seemed to reverberate in the large room. The camera glimpsed a spherical metal device on a raised platform behind him for a moment before he shuffled back into the camera's frame.

In a very bored tone, the man explained, "Using calibration 17. F and amplifying the output from 3% capacity to 5%. Without further ado, initiating Test number 43 in 3, 2, 1..."

His countdown ended as the mysterious device emitted a shockwave of high-pitched screeching. The ear-splitting noise unsettled the dust and loose paperwork in the room, sending them into a whirlwind. The Doctor garbled something incomprehensible as he lurched for the console's keyboard. Suddenly a blinding burst of white light swallowed up the sound of his screams and every object in its circular field. The illumination extended well beyond the platform before fading out just as quickly as it had begun.

In the eerie silence and darkness that followed, the camera's red recording light was barely enough to discern the aftermath of the once fully furnished lab. Faintly the camera filmed where seconds before computers, desks, and equipment stood, now nothing remained but a few scraps of paper still swirling to the ground.

The concrete floor and ceiling were carved out perfectly in the centre of the room. Almost as if the orb of light had gobbled them up whole. All the computer data, the Physicist, and the device had vanished into thin air. Nevertheless, the camera continued to record the darkened shell of a room until its battery life was utterly depleted.

*End of VLog recording*

~

A sleek looking conference room filled with scientists, high ranking government officials and generals watched the black pixelated image on a giant television screen. The meeting room was utterly silent as the recording inched into its second minute of the aftermath.

"43 is his lucky number," a small voice murmured, what was meant to be an internal thought. Due to the lack of noise in the room, her quiet voice sounded like a shout in contrast. All heads turned to the tiny woman in her white lab coat. The inquisitive looks from the entire room forced her head downwards, and she stared intently at the mahogany table.

General Silas Robertson was eyeing the lady scientist with a glower before turning his attention back to the room. "Lucky numbers aside, the question here is what on earth was he working on?"

Silence punctuated the packed meeting room once more. "We've spared no cost in funding UNSEP's* next starship... and here we have video evidence of the lead scientist working on whatever the hell a T.M.A. is?"

*The United Nations Space Exploration Program (UNSEP).

"T.M.A. is not mentioned in the original schematics. Would anyone care to explain, or has Ozai gone rogue?" The voice belonged to the grim-looking head of the national treasury Yurick Van Der Meulen. The word rogue had everyone side eyeing each other, it meant something else entirely. Traitor.

The scientists in the room typically appeared uncomfortable during their monthly status update. Yet some seemed more skittish and paler than usual.

"Why not ask Ozai?" One of the fresh-faced scientists asked nervously as his eyes skimmed over the government officials' faces. Doctor Reid may have looked twelve, but his paper on jet propulsion engines was groundbreaking. If M.I.T. had an honours degree, he would have won it but instead, he secured a coveted spot to UNSEP before the ink on his degree had even dried.