Back in the Archaeological Department of East Macademia, blood samples of all the five interns lay resting on the marble desk, where a medical technician was constantly checking one particular sample.
"What's going on, Houston? You are examining this blood sample for the past week. What's with it?" Warton asked, reading the name of the intern. Lorenzo Swarwoski.
But Houston's eyes were just focused on the spectroscopy analytics in front of him with unmoving concentration.
The nymph-lover leaned onto the dark screen, though he couldn't understand anything that was going on about it.
The higher officials and mentors of the project entered the meeting hall, grimly discussing the project's development.
"It's been half a year since we have sent them. Estimates show they have landed in the 4th century BCE," one said.
"Six months is a long time. They must've grasped useful information by now. The stage has come that we bring them back," another voiced out.
The head and co-executives of the project, Adrian along with Cordon and Reuesme, sat in front of the huge monitor that only showed how far the trained interns were from each other.
The world map showed they had congregated towards northern Egypt.
Problem was, the researchers knew nothing except this information. Because of the metal chip that was implanted surgically in the interns' wrists, they could only monitor their movements which were five red dots on the blue screen.
"Sir, should we use the progressive deceleration?" Reuesme leaned in towards Adrian, whose eyes were fixed ahead. Sensing the strange cologne she wore, he jerked his head to his left to see her painted lips stretched to a wide grin.
"Sure," he replied and turned his head back.
She huffed. Cordon rolled his eyes and shifted the silver gear slightly to the front.
"Loading preparations…" the female robotic voice echoed.
When the green bar reached fifty per cent of the loading, Cordon shifted the gear gradually to the front. The reason for the slight shifting was to give a warning signal to the time travellers to prepare for the oncoming electric shock that would transport them back. Much like phase one heart regulation.
The bar reached ninety percent. That's when he moved the gear to its full limit. It would be the time they would feel the phase two electric compulsion that would deport them back to the present time.
But...
It didn't happen.
Everyone gasped.
Adrian stood up furiously as the monitor showed. "Progressive deceleration failed!"
He raked his hands through his hair. This wasn't the case when Warton and the others were sent. "Implement full-bodied deceleration." He ordered.
Another gasp was heard.
"Sir! That's beyond the limit of electric compulsion!" Reuesme panted and others nodded their heads frantically.
"I damn well know that Reuesme!" his fury rose. "We can't leave them there now, can we?! I know it would be a lot to handle, but we can check other health issues when they return. Moreover, we are expending the amount of electricity that is bearable by the human body," he was breathing hard by now.
One look and the co-executive Cordon stood to pull the golden gear, the full-bodied deceleration.
The red dots on the screen began blinking in a greenish shade. Everybody held their breath as they waited for the dots to turn completely green, because that would signal their return.
One minute...
Two minutes...
Three minutes...
The dots stopped blinking all at once and resumed their red colour.
Everyone's heart stopped beating.
Thing was, during Warton's group, they had resurrected them to the present time within days of sending them as per an experimental project. The interns' group had crossed an expanse of half a year. The modus operandi wasn't working now.
The most dangerous full-bodied deceleration had also failed to bring them back.
Mr Adrian wasn't a man to be led down. While everyone was panicking, he strode to the post-decapitating system and started working on the monitor, comprising the complex algorithms, where he and his team started working on error revaluation and artificial intelligence correction.
"Jennifer, I want the data of their development stage," he ordered and continued to type on the desktop.
"Development stage, on to it right now, sir," Jennifer nodded and promptly started her work.
The report shocked Mr Adrian. "They haven't aged a single day. All their cell functions and metabolisms coincide with the initial data," he figured out.
After weeks of detailed working with the AI team, he found out what was going wrong with their departure.
An urgent meeting was called shortly, where his calm expression made each person clammy with nervousness.
"The dots won't turn green but have to disappear from the screen, from that era," he concluded.
That only meant one thing.
The group of five had to die in that century to make it back to the present one.
YOU ARE READING
Rendezvous in the Romanowskian Empire
Historical Fiction"And... the fifth rule," he came forward, locking me between him and the slab again. "This should be the last time you talked to me like that," he lowered his face to my level, spiking my heart rate further. "Next time you rant on or call me by the...
