Out of Time

The Lab

THE LAB

"Hey sweetie how was the internship?" Zay's mom called as Zay walked through the portal and into the living room, "Were you on time today?"

"Yes, mom I was," Zay said as he sat down on the couch, a robot pulled up next to him carrying snacks for him. He grabbed a handful of chips and laid back.

"Anything happen?" his mom asked sitting on the couch opposite him, laying a book beside her. Sam, Zay's 4-year-old Rottweiler, came trotting after her and stopped by Zay's feet waiting for Zay to pet him.

"Uh no," he lied, petting Sam, "the same old thing really. Got to go in the computer room."

"That's interesting, can you tell me why, what top secret mission data you had to import into the top-secret hard-core protected computers," his mom said with exaggeration in her voice. Zay groaned and laid back, closing his eyes. Sam whined in protest but just laid down at Zay's feet

"Mom no," Zay said, "Plus I couldn't tell you even if I wanted too."

His mom stood up and walked over to him and kissed his forehead.

"I know honey," his mom said and ruffled his hair and walked into the kitchen. "I'm cooking dinner tonight, it'll be ready in about an hour."

"Might as well ask C to make a back-up dinner too," Zay's dad said as he stepped through the portal. C was the AI cook in their house. He kissed his wife then turned and winked at Zay. Zay smiled backed. Sam jumped up and trotted over to Zay's father, the nub of his tail wagging furiously.

"Hey! I think it's important to know how to cook just in case one day all this technology disappears," Zay's mom said, her head buried deep in an old cook book.

"I hope I'm well gone when that day comes," his dad said landing on the couch with a groan, Sam jumped up next him and laid down. Zay's dad scratched his ears.

"Sam better not be on the couch," Zay's mom called from busy in the kitchen.

"No of course not," Zay's dad said. He waved at Zay to come and take Sam down and take him outside. Zay sighed but got up and walked towards the patio door.

"Come on Sam," Zay called. Sam jumped down from the couch and happily walked through the open patio door. Zay's mom's head popped from around the corner.

"Oh, if he poops tell me, I need a stool sample for the vet tomorrow, preferably a fresh one," she said.

"Ugh gross," Zay said, he turned and followed Sam.

"Tell me!"

Zay waved a hand back at her to let her know he heard. He followed Sam down the stairs of their patio and into their wide-open lawn. A tall wooden gate enclosed the whole yard and connected to the house. Zay's house was one of the less techy houses that were in their neighbor. His neighbor's house was just a metal box, no natural thing about it, all technology. Zay's mom was sure to make sure that Zay got enough exposure to what life was like without all the technology and AIs doing everything for everyone, his dad didn't really care much for the technology and was fine with the idea. Zay watched as Sam ran to his favorite bathroom spot and go pee. Sam then lifted his nose and sniffed. Zay called him back but he didn't come. He tried again, but Sam was wandering to the corner of the fence.

"What are you doing?" Zay said aloud and walked over to him. Sam had started digging in the ground. When Zay saw this, he started running.

"No don't do that!" Sam stopped and looked up and Zay. Zay just looked down at the hole. Sam looked back down at the hole and the treasure he had just discovered, seemingly very pleased with himself. Zay bent down and grabbed what Sam had discovered. It was a metal box, it kind of looked like a time capsule to Zay. It seemed like it was made from VISUM Labs or some other laboratory but Zay didn't remember ever having a time capsule buried in his backyard. He pressed a button that was on the capsule and it opened with a sigh, inside was a brown leather-bound notebook. He looked at it for a while and rolled it over in his hands. It was old. Very old. He went to untie the leather wrap that enclosed the notebook but as soon as his fingers meet the knot, it fell apart and to the ground.