Black to the Past

Chapter 37

While Brooke was outside reading the history of the missing Harold, inside the professor recounted the story of how he was missing for several days and when he'd come back he was no longer recognized by his family. "I practically lived down here for decades. They never knew about the hidden room. While I traveled through time I arranged things so that the house would be paid off, she always had money in her accounts, the children's education was paid for. They were well off, and they didn't even know why," the professor said sadly. "In the meantime I was researching how to get back to my former age. But I never could. I don't even really know how old I am right now."
    "Do the math? What year were you born," Michael suggested.
    "I know my literal age, I just don't know my physical age. At first when I returned. I looked older but I didn't feel any older. I felt like myself. But the more I traveled through time the more I realized that I was aging, and quickly. That's why it's so important for me to go back. I just want to go through life with them now."
    "Why us?" Halle still wanted to know.
    "All of that will be explained to you in time, Halle. You're so very curious. Your personality will be the rise and fall and rise of your life. But please be cautious and listen to your intuition. You are very perceptive and all of you will need that intuition as you travel back in time.  Let me show you a few more things before we take off." Professor Harold led the kids out of the time machine room and into the recesses of a dark cellar.
    The basement wasn't just a basement. It was a series of sub-basements that went further down into the earth than one would think imaginable.  One room contained nothing but odd looking gadgets and weapons from different periods in time. "Hey, if you can only go so far back in time, how do you have all these old weapons?" This question came from Michael who was ever more curious about what they were getting themselves into.
    "Museums, mostly. I've traveled the world at least twenty times over. I've picked up what I needed here and there. I've picked out what strikes my fancy. There's a treasure trove down here, Michael. You'll have plenty of time to explore it all one day, I promise," he said smiling genuinely at Michael.
    "Keep coming, aww, here we are," the professor said stopping. He entered what looked to be a cedar vault.
    Inside was exactly what one would expect to find in a room built of cedar wood. Clothing. There was enough clothing in different sizes and time periods dating as far back as the 1950's to some unknown date in the future.
    "How far into the future have you traveled," Jalen wanted to know.
    "Far. The future isn't what you'd expect," Professor Harold told the kids.
    "I expect it to be gone," Meredith said, ever sensitive of the fact that humans were polluting the earth at astronomical rates.    
    "Well, then, you young lady won't be surprised at all."
    "Everyone should find their sizes in here. This closet is fully stocked. Everything you need for any season and any location."
    The girls were amazed at all the clothing in the closet. It looked like a mini store. They lingered as they looked at dresses and coats from different periods in time. Everything in the room was labeled by sizes, time periods, and even seasons.
    "Come on girls. We have much to do," the professor urged them out of the room and down an even longer hallway. They took another set of stairs down into the earth then back up about five stairs into a room that was closed up by a steel set of doors. Professor Harold entered a code and the doors unlocked.
    "Each of you has a unique code for this door. You will find the information in the phones I am going to give you. The phones will work in any time period you go to. They have been synced to the original satellite and there is constant updating to the system. The original scientist left nothing to chance with this," the professor assured them.
    "Where are they now," Jalen asked.
    "Son, they are long gone. They lived to a ripe old age, however, I assure you of that."
    Inside the steel room was a set of the most hi-tech laptops the kids had ever seen. There were weapons along the walls, there were communication devices such as walkie-talkies, listening devices, recording devices, maps, and a lot of other paraphernalia that the kids had no idea what it was. They oohed and awed over everything.
    "Please don't touch anything," the professor warned them. "Eventually, you'll read the journals and know the purpose of everything. Now is not that time. You need to stick to the rules I've given to you."
    "How do we know we won't age as you did," Meredith asked worriedly.
    "Remember my number one rule. Return to the exact second that you left."
    It was ominous to say the least.
    "When you go back you shouldn't need any weapons. But if you do, this is where they are. Here, all of you. Your phones are programmed to find each other if you get lost. Also, your phones have speed dial and voice activation. You will not be able to take them out when you go in the past. People will not understand what you are holding. You can't be looking down all the time. That's this generation's downfall. While you children are looking down the world is moving right past you. Here set up your voice activation. Follow all the directions on the wall there."
    The kids took their time setting things up. It felt as if time had stopped for all of them. The circumstances by which they came here seemed unbelievable now. What started as a high school American History project had propelled them into one of the biggest cover ups of the century. Time travel really did exist.
    "Now, what year are you all going back to?"
    "Well, in 1963, Dr. King gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. If we go back to that time period it would validate why we were seeking to speak to him," Jalen pointed out.
    "I think he's way to popular by that point," Meredith rebutted.
    "What if we go back to 1960. That's when those four boys were asked to leave the lunch counter," Wilson suggested.
    "They weren't asked," Halle reminded him.
    "I still say we go back to 1963. We could reach Dr. Martin Luther King Jr before he gives his speech," Jalen suggested again.
    "But he doesn't get killed for another five years," Halle reminds them.
    "That's true but every decision that he makes leads up to his assassination. We need to stop him before he goes too far so that he can live his best life," Jalen tries reasoning with them.
    "Maybe that was his best life, this project is just dumb," Meredith added frustratedly.
    "OK, okay, so we go back to right before the speech. We tell him what will be his eventuality and then what," Halle wants to know.
    "Then we haul ass back to the time machine and go back home," Wilson says.
    "We've gotta think this through Wilson. And carefully," Halle told him.
    "Let's go back to a time when he's in Cleveland," Michael suggests.
    "Perfect," Meredith agrees.
    "May, 1963 he spoke at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Right in Cleveland Heights," Jalen told the group.
    "Very good," the professor chimed in. He needed to let them work this through on their own the way they had done the first time. Maybe this time, things would settle the future into the right direction. "One thing of importance, his car was mobbed that evening as he headed to another church. Timing will be of the essence. But how will you reach him personally?"
    "We probably can't," Halle acknowledged already feeling somewhat defeated.
    "A note," Wilson told them quietly.
    "A note?" Jalen asked him.
    "That's a good idea! We write a note to him. Outlining what will happen if he carries on in this manner," Michael said.
    "Are we really trying to stop him?" Meredith wanted to know.
    "Not stop him, save him," Jalen said.
    "It's kind of the same thing. He got too powerful. We'd have to stop that power from happening and that's what would change his life," Meredith told him. "If we change one thing in the past it will have a ripple effect."
    "That's not true, is it professor," Michael asked honestly.
    "It is definitely true, son. You need to find a happy medium here. One that doesn't stop the great doctor, but one that may save his life. There's a fine line. What you go back and change in the past will certainly affect his future. Our future."
    "That's why a note is going to work," Wilson says again. "If we send him a note, like a telegraph, weren't they around back then?"
    The professor nods his head and says telegram.
    "Okay, so, we send a telegram, whatever, and that way we can stop it if it doesn't work out and we need to reverse what our actions were," Wilson said thinking all the way through the possible ramifications that what they are about to embark on can happen.
    "Wilson's right," Halle said. "In fact, a telegram or a note of some sort is the only way to go. Okay, now that we have that decided and we're going back to the date May 14, 1963. Returning at the exact time we leave. Is there anything else we should know?"
    Halle turned to stare at the professor then. He shook his head no. Halle sought out his face a little longer. He gave her a small nod. She was wondering if she would be able to help her father and it seemed as if the professor understood her. But now was not the time. They had to go through with this mission for some unknown reason and get back. Then Halle could try resolving her very personal and present day issues.
    "Professor, are you going back with us now?" Michael asked.
    "You all are going to drop me off, so to speak, first. To ensure that I get back to my time period and that I'm in a safe place. Then you'll leave again and we won't see each other. I won't know what you've done. I will only see the results and pray that you are able to right a lot of wrongs," he added sadly.
    "Okay, we got this," Meredith told them all but was mostly saying it to herself.
    "This is very important. Michael, when you drop me off to my time that I select. YOU need to stay down here with the time machine. Under no circumstances are you to leave the basement. Do you understand? Also, children, please remember race relations are not good. Even in Cleveland where things are seemingly normal, they are not what they seem. Meredith. You can pass for black or white. Use that to your advantage as needed. Michael, you have the power to save or destroy them. Use it wisely. Jalen and Wilson, stick together. There is safety in numbers but remember, black men are feared. Do not go looking for trouble. Am I clear?"
    The small group nodded their heads even as they shielded their eyes after being in the dark recesses of the sub-basements and headed back into the time machine room.
    "One last thing. Do not come looking for me. Ever. No matter what happens. If things get that bad I will find you again. I found you once," the professor added quietly.
    "Why did you find us?" Halle wanted to know.
    The professor didn't answer her as he stood back, looked around the room and entered the time machine.

"Jalen, I need to speak with you privately for a moment," the professor stopped Jalen with a small tug on his sleeve.