In 500... (or less)

An Undergrad Undertaking

Connor let out a sigh. His roommate was at it again.

College was supposed to be about putting in just enough effort to get the work done, while conserving as much time as possible to party. Everyone else seemed to get it, except for his roommate, Jaxon.

"C'mon Jax," Connor implored, "give the keyboard a rest. A buddy of mine is having a party later, we both ought to be getting ready."

"Party? What?" Jaxon was deep in thought. "I've almost solved this, give me another 20 minutes."

Jaxon squinted at the computer monitor, tracing along the complex equation with his finger. He reached down to open his desk drawer.

"Don't even," Connor said. "Not that stupid thing again. Last time you used it, you knocked out power to the entire apartment building."

"Huh?" Jaxon continued pulling the device out of the drawer, while still staring at the computer.

"That thing, whatever it's supposed to do," Connor said, pointing at the device. "You plugged it in and we went three hours without power."

"Oh," Jaxon replied. "Yeah. That." He pointed at a spot in the equation with his mouse, then hurriedly fired in new information with the keyboard. He leaned back in his chair with a confident smile.

"It's different this time, Connor. I finally figured it out."

"You're hopeless, dude. If you worked half as hard at women as you did at that thing, you'd be the biggest stud on campus."

"It's gonna work, man," Jaxon said. "You're going to be amazed. Believe me. It's gonna blow your mind."

"Or a circuit breaker," Conner chuckled. "All right Jax, I'm game. Plug it in. I'm ready to head out anyway."

Jaxon plugged the USB cable into his device and downloaded the new data. This wasn't just a good grade in Physics, this thing was his ticket to fame and fortune.

"All set?" he asked Connor. 

"Sure, I'm ready," his roommate answered, shaking his head in disgust. "Fire it up."

The device screamed to life, whirring and chirping. The room filled with a strange purple hue before fading into a haze so thick Connor could no longer see the walls or door.

"What's going on!?" Whatever Jaxon had done, it was different than the last time. It was terrifying.

"It's working!" Jaxon bounced excitedly in his chair. The room faded into darkness and both the young men blacked out.

"Jax! Jax! Wake up, dude!"

They were outside, nowhere near campus. Nowhere near anything, it seemed. Jaxon opened his eyes and looked at the starry, moonless sky.

"What happened? Where are we?"

Jaxon sat up and looked around. It had worked.

"Not so much 'where'," he started cryptically. "More like 'when'."

Connor quickly put it all together. "You sayin' that thing is a time machine?"

"Yeah," Jaxon said. "It actually worked."

"So you're saying we travelled back in time?"

"Looks like it. Probably at least 200 years. I mean, there's no college, no town. So at least that long."

Connor looked around for a moment. Instead of panic, he felt a sudden rush of adrenaline.

"Dude," he said. "With your brains, we could totally be running this place. We could invent stuff, be rich, change history and live like kings!"

"Eh," Jaxon said. "Sounds like a lot of work."