Timeless {ON HOLD and EDITING}

Chapter 5

Charles' POV:
"We've been waiting for you for about 30 years Mr. Harrison." The man leading me to the relocated tunnels is about my age, and by the way he flows through the motions, I can tell he's been trained very well for this exact moment. I look around me, the only things I see are an empty road and a pitch black sky above me. "Seems like New York hasn't changed too much." The man chuckles at what I had said, "Well, we're on the outskirts of town now. There's a lot more people here than in the '20s, so it's harder for the organization to go unrecognized." I nod my head and we keep walking.

Other than the difference in location, the tunnels haven't changed a bit. There of course are also different scientists here to carry on the work, but these tunnels make me feel like I never even time traveled.

"Mister, do you, by any chance, know if Dr. Klausen is still working here?" The man thinks over the question for a moment, then his calm, steady expression falters a bit. "Dr. Klausen has gone back to live with his niece for retirement from here in the tunnels. He hasn't fully gone away from the USC- he just doesn't take part in the research anymore." I take in this news, and then after I regain my composer, we continue walking. I just can't believe that it's been 30 years. Klausen must be near his 80's by now! I hope he's still in good health.

As we finally pass the microbiology tunnels, we arrive in the physicist department. "I never asked your name," I say to the guide was we keep walking to the last tunnel. "Buff. Short for Bufford." I tilt my head and crinkle my nose, "Buff? That name's applesauce!" I start to laugh, but Buff seems confused. "What do you mean by 'applesauce,' Harrison?" I put a hand on his shoulder and shake my head, "You won't understand, it's not from your time."

Once we're at the end of the tunnels, Buff leads me into my examination room. They decorated it in all white tile to make the surroundings more sanitary. I can tell they've cleaned this room over a hundred times even though it looks like it's never been used. It's hard to believe I'm in a tunnel that's underground with dirt surrounding the outside of this impeccably clean enclosure.

"Well this is your stop," Buff faces towards me and shakes my hand, "it's been an honor to escort you sir." I shake his hand in return, "Thank you." With that, Buff leaves, and I sit and wait for a nurse.

As I begin to pace around the room feeling restless, the door opens. A middle-aged woman walks in. Her once brown hair now fading to gray. I noticed that her uniform wasn't a conventional nurses outfit I was used to seeing, and she was wearing pants! I've never seen a lady wear pants before! "Hello, Charlie! You've had a relatively long trip, and we're wanting to know how all that traveling affects your body." I nod, "Okay ma'm." The nurse leads me to the scale, and my weight has fluctuated a bit to the leaner side. My height hasn't been affected, and neither has my hearing or sight. "Time to check your physical capabilities."

The nurse times my mile. She had the course mapped out, and I found myself running out of breath a little easier. "Looks like you ran your mile a full minute longer, Charlie. It's not too bad, but you just need to get back into the swing of things." Next, I went through a whole workout plan to keep me fit. I would be lifting weights and running about 5 miles everyday. Nothing too bad, although, that would have to be done by eight in the morning.

"You're a very special and important piece in history right now!" My nurse smiles from ear to ear. "Why exactly?" She stared back at me in shock, "You are the first person to time travel! That's the type of thing people think is bologna and only in comic books!" I look back at the nurse in confusion, "First, Dr. Klausen should be getting appraisal, and second, what are comic books?"

"Adalbert Klausen has gotten many, many awards through the USC because of this project. Although, he also gives credit to you for helping him with the idea of how to create a wormhole." Oh Klausen, never wanting the attention to be solely on him! "He deserves everything he's received," I retort. The nurse gives me a quick smile, and then leads me out of the examination room. "You will now go to be briefed on what you can and cannot do while you are here." As she leads me back through the tunnels, I take in everything one last time. I can see rats scurrying down twists and turns trying not to run into us, and I look back at the physicist tunnels. A portrait of Dr. Klausen that I didn't see before is hanging where his office used to be. I let my eyes linger on the painting for no more than two seconds, and quickly follow the nurse. I hope Klausen is doing okay.