BACK AND FORTH-I

CHAPTER 6

                                                                          Chapter Six

                                                                 TESTING THE WATER

   In a jubilant mood, Peter, Bill, and I left the laboratory and went to celebrate in the only way men knew how. With an overly healthy dose of Doctor Barman's amber nectar, we made merry. No one in the pub could ever, in their wildest dreams, have conceived that the three unlikely inebriates sitting amongst them had, not an hour before, made history. Bill lent toward me, sporting an excited demeanour.

     "Where do you want to be sent, Antony? Would you go into the past or the future?"

      "As I told you, Bill, I want to go forward, into the next day, or maybe next week. I wish to bring back a newspaper with a future date, to prove that the time machine did not just disappear and reappear again." I stated carefully. I noticed my words were becoming somewhat slurred, and realised the alcohol is taking hold of my body, much to my better judgement, but I did not care. I am elated.

                                                                              ***********

  The morning light streamed through the window, seemingly heralding a new age of man. I rose to a blinding headache and reached for the steaming coffee that Maria had left by the bedside. I knew that I would be the only one of the previous night's trio with a hangover, and I guess it served me right. I am not a drinker, not by any stretch of the imagination. Maria is none too pleased with my condition, either. I dosed myself with the coffee and aspirin, then, feeling somewhat better, I made my way to the laboratory, taking the opportunity before Bill, and Peter arrived, to read the notes that Bill had left behind the previous night. I looked around the laboratory, and gazed with awe at the personal containment device that Bill's secret weapons department had been developing. I found the situation incredible, and I wondered how Bill had managed to get the apparatus out of a secure government complex without a his vehicle being searched. Finally, I decided not to inquire. Some things, I thought, were best left unquestioned.

  The containment contrivance, for that is what it is, is a remarkable piece of scientific achievement. The apparatus is a 52 millimetre by 1 meter by 2 meter thick glass tube, just large enough inside for a tall man to stand. On top of the cubicle, there appeared to be miniature radar shaped dishes, with connections for high voltage cables. Bill had informed me that a person will stand inside the capsule, activate a few switches that, when activated, would set the machine running as designed, and Viola! A man would now be invulnerable to attack. He had informed me that such a protected person could pick up items, yet all harmful objects will be deflected away from the user, such as bullets and spears. The computer calculated a hundred billion different things, a person's body mass, genetic makeup and stuff like that. The computer then adjusted the machines logic, just for he or she. You, the reader, will have to take this on faith, but it is true, I assure you.

 I imagined that Scotty was going to beam me up, when I heard the sound of feet on the cellar steps. Bill and Peter had arrived, just as I am about to step into the tube.

      "Good morning, Antony. Are you ready for the test?" asked Bill, with a wry smile.

  Peter smiled, too, and slowly shook his head. I gained the impression that he is not sure if he wanted to be here, or if he ought even to be involved with this project. Conversely, I knew that he would not want to miss this day.