Desolate

Chapter 4

Later that night after dinner, I was cleaning the dishes when my watch buzzed: informing me of a new e-mail.

"Hey Mom, I have to go read this. It's from the Lab. Can you finish up?" I asked. Mom nodded and got up to wash the last few dishes.

I walked down the hall to my room and clicked open the doorknob. As the hologram in my watch flickered to life, I sat down at the computer and transfered my watch to the slot inside it. This computer meshes with the coils in the watch to link information. It comes in handy a lot of the time.

I turn on the monitor, open the e-mail, and resume my reading. After reading and decoding many graphs and charts of data, I came across what really interested me.

The goal~ Using a morphed version of the technology devised for teleportation, deconstruct atoms and send them backwards or forwards in the space-time continuum, then reconstruct them in the new area of time.

"Woah. This is pretty advanced." Teleportation portans were first invented in the year 2907. This was still when humanity lived on Earth, so I imagine that this technology was useful. Now that we as a species live on a space station, teleportation is a science that's not really used anymore.

"The idea of using the same properties of the portal makes sense. Teleporting required the atoms of an object to deconstruct and reconstruct themselves easily." I paused to think.

"If this graph is correct, the space-time continuum should be fairly easy to access if the portal is made of the right elements in the right positions."

I couldn't wait to start experiments. I flicked off my light, even though it wasn't late. I wasn't tired yet, so I brainstormed possible portal structures for hours before I finally drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I clocked-in to the Amora Lab at 7:45 a.m. When the hydrolic door opened, my team was already there enjoying their morning coffee.

As soon as I walked in, everyone looked up at me with grins on their faces.

"Morning, everyone!" A chorus of "Hi"s and "Hello"s followed my greeting.

"So, did you understand all the info?" Lilly questioned cheerfully.

"I did. It was fairly easy to understand. But I have a few concerns."

"What are they?" Lance inquired.

"Well, firstly, teleportation portals haven't been built in over 300 years. Are we sure we have the right blueprints?"

"They'll of course need adjustments, but the blueprints we have should work," Garrett replied.

I nod. "Second, what kind of atoms are we disassembling and reassembling? Are we sure that they could connect into the correct shape after being forced through the timelines?"

"That's where trial and error will be the most important judge of the project." Dan said as he pushed up his glasses.

"Alright. I have one more question." The group waited for me to speak.

"When do we start?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

During the first week of the project, our team had been "officially" named the STES (Space-time engineering squad). We've made progress building the portal structure and base out of elemental compound.

The days seemed to fly by while I was with my team. I became really good friends with all of them, but Lilly and I seem to click the most. After I told her about my cat Lillian, she insisted on meeting her.

The second week was just as fun, but more challenging. The information on teleportaion is outdated and hard to read, but the STES will not give up! We actually ended up getting our first successful fleck of a portal on the 13th day of testing.

We were all so exited! We wrote down the elemental combination and codes we used and decided to increase them next time we tested.

Today is the 20th day of the project. We've successfully sent an apple forward in time, but now the goal is a living thing.

As I walk to the lab, sirens began blaring loudly.

"Emergency! Abandon station! Emer-" The intercom didn't have time to finish. A large explosion burst out from the South side of the ship. Luckily, I'm in the North, but that won't stop me from getting sucked into the oblivion.

I turn and bolt to the safety suits. These haven't been used in years, but oh well. I don't know if anyone can actually escape now. The Southern half was where all the escape pods were.

I slip on the oxygen tank and thermal suit. I grab an extra tank just in case, but what now? I close and secure my helmet, then I run as fast as I can to the ejecting station. I don't know where I'll go, but it's worth a shot.

I press the button and I'm instantly sucked out towards the only remaining escape pod. I notice 5 people inside it all with suits and extra oxygen. I examine them further. It's my friends!

They see me and open a hatch. I get inside the pod and close it. We had just barely ejected from the ship when everything else blew up.

Everyone else I'd known and cared about is dead.

We're alone.