Devil's Paradise

15: Time Machine: Finished

A few hours later, I was up on the ladder again as a thunderstorm raged outside. The inner circuits were now done. I was screwing in the outer powered shielding. The last pieces were components too large for the waldos to handle. I wrestled them into place while Merlin guided the waldos to screw them down. Once secure, he began wiring and soldering the connections.

I wiped the sweat from my face and yawned, watching the work. One more section to go.

As I put the final component into place, Merlin's waldos finished the connections on the earlier piece and moved over to secure it. A few minutes later, I could stretch.

"Are we done, Merlin?"

"That question is indeterminate, Louis. If you mean, 'Is this machine complete?' then I would say yes. I assume we are not finished with everything we need to do."

I chuckled, "You got me there. How soon until I can go back for Alicia and Martin?" I yawned.

"Commencing charging. Louis, it will take me 1.2 hours to charge the machine fully, and you need sleep." The lights in the lab went completely out, flickered briefly, started up dim, got brighter, then dimmer, and finally steadied.

"I guess you're right. And if I'm going to see Alicia again, I don't want to smell like I haven't bathed in a week. But first, we celebrate!" I pulled open a bottom drawer, and extracted a bottle of Macallan 25 I had scrounged shortly after the war, along with two glasses. I poured two generous slugs of the dark liquid and held one out to Merlin before I realized what I was doing. I must be more tired than I thought.

I set the glasses down, corked the bottle and set it back on the lab bench. Then I picked up one glass and toasted Merlin. "To your health, Merlin!"

The first mouthful, taken too quickly to appreciate, left a clear and smoky burn across my mouth and down my throat. It eased into a mellow finish with echoes of sherry. I sucked a breath in through my mouth, and complex flavors bloomed like flowers. Extraordinary.

"And to yours, Louis. I am touched that you would offer me the liquid so precious to you, but I'm afraid I am not human enough to appreciate it."

"Sorry about that, Merlin," I said, taking another gulp, then reminding myself again that this was much too special to drink quickly. "I made you as human as I could."

"But not human enough to appreciate fine Scotch, unfortunately."

"We'll have to fix that," I said, looking into my glass. Had I finished that so fast? Oh, well. I set the glass down and picked up the one I had poured for Merlin. "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."

"Louis, do you think you will die when you go through the machine tomorrow?"

I laughed and took another mouthful. This Scotch was unbelievably smooth. It didn't even burn anymore. "No. I don't know. I'm going where no one has gone before." I burped Scotch vapor. "Except everyone. So I guess I'm going where everyone has gone. Before."

"Louis, I think you've had enough Scotch."

I tossed off the rest of the glass. "I think you're right."

"Going to get some sleep?"

"I think you should become more human, so we can drink together. Work on that."

I'm not sure whether he said the program was accepted, but I wasn't really paying attention.

I looked at the clock and was surprised to see it was after midnight. "Merlin, I'll see you in the morning."

"Sleep well, Boss."

I stumbled out and up the stairs, across the spacious empty lobby and out into the night. I remember wondering if the building had pulled its anchor because we were shifting about too much on the waves.

* * *

It was only about six blocks to my little apartment. Although I was rapidly becoming one of the wealthier individuals on the planet, I preferred to live in the same small apartment I had been living in ever since a few months after the world had ended, when Tony set me up with my own place to live.

The storm had left a clean smell behind it. I loved walking after a storm when the world smelled like it hadn't been ruined. In another day or so, the riper smells of sewage and unwashed people would again become overpowering.

Rats scurried out of my way in the dark as they darted across my path. Have to do something about those. Life was getting comfortable enough it was time to rebuild some things we had done without.

Each step to my apartment, I felt my exhaustion more. My feet felt like they were on cushions, the world seemed so disconnected. I vaguely remember the guard passing by and speaking. I also remember hands on my arms.

When I woke, I was in my bed. I was wearing my clothes, but my shoes had been removed, from which I guessed that the guard brought me home. I don't remember.

The full light of day was coming in the window. I got up, yawned, and blinked. It was nearly noon. Delilah would come by the lab this afternoon to stop me. I would have to hurry!

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