Original Fiction! More! Oy Vey!
I eyed the thing on the table suspiciously.
"Care to run me through that one more time, Professor Thornton?"
The Professor smiled beatifically, and gestured at the curious helmet-like device sitting on the desk. I licked the end of my pencil and made notes as he spoke.
"This is the answer to mankind's greatest question, my friend. To it's greatest mysteries. Using this helmet we will be able to see things no man has seen in a hundred- no, a thousand- a million years! We will be able to watch the Pyramids being built- see who killed the Princes in the Tower- witness the signing of the Declaration Of Independence!"
He moved to the bank of huge, hulking machines along the back wall of the room, flicking switches and knobs like a conductor at the head of some curious, mechanical orchestra.
"Have you ever wished to see the look in Napoleon's eyes as he realised he was defeated at Waterloo, or how the wind ruffled Columbus' hair as he stood aboard the Santa Maria, or how the wonders of Rome looked before time and age had wreaked their ravages upon them?"
The Professor turned back to me, eyes wild with manic delight, his shaggy white hair framing his face like a mad angel's halo.
"Have you ever wished to gaze upon the true face of Christ? To see for yourself the mighty monsters of pre-history?"
I shrugged and flipped over to the next page of my notebook.
"Can't say I have, but I'm sure it'd be something our readers would be very interested in. How does your... Cona... chrona-"
He cut me off, impatient, infuriated by my stumbling words.
"My Chronoscope works along principles far too complex for your un-scientifically-trained mind to comprehend."
The Professor was beginning to annoy me with his offhand manner and scientific mumbo-jumbo. I flipped my notebook shut.
"Then I'm afraid I don't have a story, Professor Thornton, and I'm afraid the Times won't be sponsoring your work any further. A good day to you."
I turned towards the door, hopeful that my bluff had worked.
It had- the Professor dashed in front of me, that same manic look in his eyes again.
"Wait! Don't you want to see these wonders? Don't you care that I'm on the verge of the most important discovery man has ever made?"
I shrugged again, and he continued.
"Time is... time is like a river, yes? And a river carries away all in it's path. However, my Chronoscope changes all that, changes it irrevocably. It peels back the layers of time, allowing whoever wears the helmet to peer deep, deep into the mists of time- as effectively as a man may peer into a clear stream and see the bottom of the river, should he so wish."
The Professor strode around his lab like a madman, arms flailing as he spoke. Like a worm on a hook, I thought to myself, secretly smug.
"The reason time-travel has evaded man so long is that it would require the energy of an exploding sun to send even the smallest mouse, the tiniest insect back through time- the energy of a thousand exploding suns! Nowhere in creation can we humans harness such power, so it has been impossible for us to do so."
I nodded, intrigued despite myself.
"But now- now I have discovered that thought itself is an energy!"
I scoffed incredulously, but he continued.
"The human brain contains vast amounts of energy, and sends it throughout our nervous system to power our bodies. Therefore, if we could somehow tap into that energy... don't you see, Lawson? Don't you see?"
I was scoffing no longer. I had read something along those lines in a scientific journal, whilst researching for this meeting, but it had all been conjecture- hadn't it? The Professor continued.
"The energies in our own heads are all the energies we need! Our own thoughts, once converted to the right kind of energy... why, a man using the Chronoscope could theoretically see the very beginning of the world!"
I was stunned.
"Could see the very creation of the universe!"
The words hung in the air between us like an Old Testament prophecy. Now it was I that was hooked, I'm ashamed to admit. However, I managed to hold my enthusiasm in check just enough, and instead of the outburst the Professor had obviously expected in reply to his claim I merely raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not convinced, Professor."
His eyes flashed with rage, and I hastily continued.
"I think the best way you can show me how it works is for me to be your test-pilot, Professor."
He shook his head fiercely.
"Never! The first man to peer across the unimaginable gulf of infinite history should be me! I did all the work! It is my invention! I should be the one who-"
Now it was my turn to cut off the Professor.
"Which of us is the journalist, Professor Thornton? Which of us has trained every day for the past fifteen years to tell stories that make men leap from their seats and women faint with wonder? Which of us can tell a story which people will flock to read? Which one of us, Professor?"
We stood, silent, glaring at each other, neither daring to give in.
Finally, the Professor backed down.
"You have a point, Lawson."
He turned away, and picked up the helmet, started plugging wires into it.
"But I must warn you- whatever you see is only that- what you see. You will not be able to touch, will not be able to feel- will not even control where on history's shore you fetch up. The Chronoscope is... imperfect."
I shrugged. Here was my killer blow, the punchline to my argument for being the pioneer.
"If your Chronoscope allows me to see even what was going on in the building across the street these five minutes past, then that's a wonder to rival the Pyramids, to equal the Colossus, to best the Great Wall."
I had him hook, line and sinker. He turned back to me and as I spoke hung on my every word, unashamed greed dancing naked and unfettered in his gaze.
"You'll be able to write your own price for your work- be able to devote yourself entirely to a newer, better Chronoscope."
Plugging the final few wires into his curious contraption, the Professor handed it to me- nearly thrust it into my hands, such was his eagerness. It was surprisingly heavy.
"You may feel a slight... disorientation at first."
I eyed the helmet warily. It looked like nothing more than the cap placed on the head of a man in the electric chair crossed with a coalscuttle, and for a second my nerve failed. The Professor must have noticed, because a wolfish grin crossed his features.
"If you'd rather, I can be the first man to-"
I shook my head.
"It just occured to me, professor- if I'm wearing the helmet, I need someone to write down what I see for me. Would you do the honours?"
The Professor thought about this for a brief second, and then nodded his agreement. My momentary loss of pluck forgotten, he took the pad from me and looked at me.
"You are the first of the Chrononauts, Lawson. And I envy you."
I smiled, and placed the helmet on my head. It seemed even heavier now- the weight of centuries, perhaps? All I could see was blackness, and I began to doubt the Professor. Dimly, outside the helmet, I heard the Professor moving around, and then-
-the world exploded into colour and light and sensation. Everything was so bright, so blindingly-
-and then I was outside. A cool breeze blew against me, and I could smell the sea, salt tang in the air. For a second I was there, and then...
"Lawson?"
The voice was tinny, mechanical, but distinctly that of the Professor.
"I hear you, Professor Thornton!"
Astounded, I looked down at myself, to try and see where I was.
I got the shock of my life- my clothes were replaced by a long purple cloak and white linen. Relaying this to the Professor, shock in my voice, I was rewarded with his tinny laughter in my ears.
"It's worked! The Chronoscope has transported your thought-energies back through time and deposited you in the mind of another!"
This was almost too much to take in. I peered about, trying to reckon my surroundings. Smooth, rolling waves, pleasant green hills, a great column of-
A great column of smoke and ash rising into the sky from a mountain on the horizon, towering monstrously over a small town.
Dear God- I knew this for what it was instantly.
"Professor, I am witness to a volcanic eruption."
The Professor's laughter echoed in my brain.
"Fantastic! Fantastic! Tell me, can you-"
All of a sudden my adventure no longer seemed so wondrous, so magical. I had read Pliny in my Latin class at school- I knew all about the cataclysm that had befallen-
"I think this may be the eruption which buried Pompeii, Professor. Get me out of here."
Flames, leaping into the sky. Lightning arcing through the clouds. Thousands upon thousands, dying in agony, seared and scorched, choked by-
The helmet was off, and I was back in the laboratory. The Professor's eyes were alive, excited.
All mine saw was that horrible, apocalyptic cloud, stretching up into forever, damning an entire people to eternal darkness.
"It worked."
His voice seemed odd now without the electronic modulation of the helmet. I nodded mutely, and could only watch as he thrust my notebook upon me.
"It's my turn, Lawson. What will I see? What wonders will I witness?"
I did not speak. All I could think of was that huge column of ash descending upon the poor townsfolk, incinerating them.
The Professor placed the helmet on his head almost reverently.
As I watched, he stiffened- what was he seeing, I wondered- what mysteries were revealed to him? What worlds played out before his eyes?
"Professor?"
I watched him nod.
"Lawson, it's... it's dark!"
I nodded, before realising he would not- could not see me behind the helmet's visor.
"Don't worry, Professor Thornton. Everything should be coming into focus some time soon."
He shook his head violently- too violently, it now occurs to me.
"Lawson, there's nothing! Nothing!"
I curse myself now, but I did nothing, thinking it to have been a malfunction in the Chronoscope. Indeed, as the Professor stiffened again, I relaxed- it was working for him as it had for me.
"What do you see, Professor?"
His voice was quiet when he spoke, and at first I thought it was the helmet muting him.
"I see... I see a light, Lawson- a single point of light."
Dawn, I thought- but when? I questioned him, but he did not seem to understand me.
"A single point of light, dull and red and lifeless, Lawson- dead light."
Dead light? What did he-
"Ah! Now it brightens! Now it brightens!"
Now we would see what the Professor saw, when he saw. My pencil was poised to write, when-
"It brightens! So bright, so bright! Make it stop, Lawson! Make it stop!"
Panic ran through his voice like fire over moorland. I panicked also- he had not shown me what buttons to press, what switches to flick- oh, the folly of confidence!
"What's wrong, Professor? What do you see?"
He clutched at the helmet, tore at it like a madman, but it stuck fast to his head.
"I see... I see what was, Lawson! What was before there was any to see it! I see the first sunrise! I see the first flames of the first dawn! The very fires of Creation!"
The reporter in me sprang to life at that moment, all notion of saving the Professor forgotten.
"What do you see? Tell me, Professor!"
He thrashed and jerked now, staggering as if one drunk, the helmet still firmly upon his head.
"I see what no man has ever seen before!"
He then stopped and let out a soul-scarring cackle.
"I see what no man has ever seen- and what no man ever should have seen!"
What? What could he-
"I am in the mind of another, Lawson! In the mind of another!"
Horror ran through me.
The Professor was seeing the dawn of time through the eyes of another, as I had seen the eruption at Pompeii- but what had lived before Creation?
I had to rescue him, had to get the helmet off him, and I dove for him as he staggered and lurched.
"Good God, Lawson! It's... It knows, Lawson! It knows I'm in it's head! It knows!"
I redoubled my efforts at that horrifying declaration, yanking and tugging at the Chronoscope helmet for all I was worth but to no avail.
"It knows I'm here! It reaches out for me! It-"
His voice was cut off in a horrible, gargling, wordless yell- an awful shriek that echoed from beyond the bounds of eternity. The hideous horror of that screech unmanned me, and I staggered away from him clutching my ears, hideous alien voices ringing in them as I went, staggered away and out of the laboratory before collapsing into merciful blackness in the street outside-
*
And that's where they found me, lying in the street in front of a burning building. Something in the Chronoscope must have shorted out, I fear, because the entire laboratory burned to the ground that night, and all of Professor Thornton's work went with it- notes, research, test results...
Everything.
My notebook went as well- this story itself is only told as the memories of that awful night will let me.
Professor Thornton's body was incinerated in the fire, they tell me- or at least, when they searched the ruin no-one ever found his remains.
And I pray they are right.
I heard him screaming that night.
"It knows I'm in it's head, Lawson!"
What awful, God-forsaken thing did he see?
What terrifying slumber did he disturb?
What hideous primeval intelligence did he awaken?
"It reaches out for me!"
*
"Care to run me through that one more time, Professor Thornton?"
The Professor smiled beatifically, and gestured at the curious helmet-like device sitting on the desk. I licked the end of my pencil and made notes as he spoke.
"This is the answer to mankind's greatest question, my friend. To it's greatest mysteries. Using this helmet we will be able to see things no man has seen in a hundred- no, a thousand- a million years! We will be able to watch the Pyramids being built- see who killed the Princes in the Tower- witness the signing of the Declaration Of Independence!"
He moved to the bank of huge, hulking machines along the back wall of the room, flicking switches and knobs like a conductor at the head of some curious, mechanical orchestra.
"Have you ever wished to see the look in Napoleon's eyes as he realised he was defeated at Waterloo, or how the wind ruffled Columbus' hair as he stood aboard the Santa Maria, or how the wonders of Rome looked before time and age had wreaked their ravages upon them?"
The Professor turned back to me, eyes wild with manic delight, his shaggy white hair framing his face like a mad angel's halo.
"Have you ever wished to gaze upon the true face of Christ? To see for yourself the mighty monsters of pre-history?"
I shrugged and flipped over to the next page of my notebook.
"Can't say I have, but I'm sure it'd be something our readers would be very interested in. How does your... Cona... chrona-"
He cut me off, impatient, infuriated by my stumbling words.
"My Chronoscope works along principles far too complex for your un-scientifically-trained mind to comprehend."
The Professor was beginning to annoy me with his offhand manner and scientific mumbo-jumbo. I flipped my notebook shut.
"Then I'm afraid I don't have a story, Professor Thornton, and I'm afraid the Times won't be sponsoring your work any further. A good day to you."
I turned towards the door, hopeful that my bluff had worked.
It had- the Professor dashed in front of me, that same manic look in his eyes again.
"Wait! Don't you want to see these wonders? Don't you care that I'm on the verge of the most important discovery man has ever made?"
I shrugged again, and he continued.
"Time is... time is like a river, yes? And a river carries away all in it's path. However, my Chronoscope changes all that, changes it irrevocably. It peels back the layers of time, allowing whoever wears the helmet to peer deep, deep into the mists of time- as effectively as a man may peer into a clear stream and see the bottom of the river, should he so wish."
The Professor strode around his lab like a madman, arms flailing as he spoke. Like a worm on a hook, I thought to myself, secretly smug.
"The reason time-travel has evaded man so long is that it would require the energy of an exploding sun to send even the smallest mouse, the tiniest insect back through time- the energy of a thousand exploding suns! Nowhere in creation can we humans harness such power, so it has been impossible for us to do so."
I nodded, intrigued despite myself.
"But now- now I have discovered that thought itself is an energy!"
I scoffed incredulously, but he continued.
"The human brain contains vast amounts of energy, and sends it throughout our nervous system to power our bodies. Therefore, if we could somehow tap into that energy... don't you see, Lawson? Don't you see?"
I was scoffing no longer. I had read something along those lines in a scientific journal, whilst researching for this meeting, but it had all been conjecture- hadn't it? The Professor continued.
"The energies in our own heads are all the energies we need! Our own thoughts, once converted to the right kind of energy... why, a man using the Chronoscope could theoretically see the very beginning of the world!"
I was stunned.
"Could see the very creation of the universe!"
The words hung in the air between us like an Old Testament prophecy. Now it was I that was hooked, I'm ashamed to admit. However, I managed to hold my enthusiasm in check just enough, and instead of the outburst the Professor had obviously expected in reply to his claim I merely raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not convinced, Professor."
His eyes flashed with rage, and I hastily continued.
"I think the best way you can show me how it works is for me to be your test-pilot, Professor."
He shook his head fiercely.
"Never! The first man to peer across the unimaginable gulf of infinite history should be me! I did all the work! It is my invention! I should be the one who-"
Now it was my turn to cut off the Professor.
"Which of us is the journalist, Professor Thornton? Which of us has trained every day for the past fifteen years to tell stories that make men leap from their seats and women faint with wonder? Which of us can tell a story which people will flock to read? Which one of us, Professor?"
We stood, silent, glaring at each other, neither daring to give in.
Finally, the Professor backed down.
"You have a point, Lawson."
He turned away, and picked up the helmet, started plugging wires into it.
"But I must warn you- whatever you see is only that- what you see. You will not be able to touch, will not be able to feel- will not even control where on history's shore you fetch up. The Chronoscope is... imperfect."
I shrugged. Here was my killer blow, the punchline to my argument for being the pioneer.
"If your Chronoscope allows me to see even what was going on in the building across the street these five minutes past, then that's a wonder to rival the Pyramids, to equal the Colossus, to best the Great Wall."
I had him hook, line and sinker. He turned back to me and as I spoke hung on my every word, unashamed greed dancing naked and unfettered in his gaze.
"You'll be able to write your own price for your work- be able to devote yourself entirely to a newer, better Chronoscope."
Plugging the final few wires into his curious contraption, the Professor handed it to me- nearly thrust it into my hands, such was his eagerness. It was surprisingly heavy.
"You may feel a slight... disorientation at first."
I eyed the helmet warily. It looked like nothing more than the cap placed on the head of a man in the electric chair crossed with a coalscuttle, and for a second my nerve failed. The Professor must have noticed, because a wolfish grin crossed his features.
"If you'd rather, I can be the first man to-"
I shook my head.
"It just occured to me, professor- if I'm wearing the helmet, I need someone to write down what I see for me. Would you do the honours?"
The Professor thought about this for a brief second, and then nodded his agreement. My momentary loss of pluck forgotten, he took the pad from me and looked at me.
"You are the first of the Chrononauts, Lawson. And I envy you."
I smiled, and placed the helmet on my head. It seemed even heavier now- the weight of centuries, perhaps? All I could see was blackness, and I began to doubt the Professor. Dimly, outside the helmet, I heard the Professor moving around, and then-
-the world exploded into colour and light and sensation. Everything was so bright, so blindingly-
-and then I was outside. A cool breeze blew against me, and I could smell the sea, salt tang in the air. For a second I was there, and then...
"Lawson?"
The voice was tinny, mechanical, but distinctly that of the Professor.
"I hear you, Professor Thornton!"
Astounded, I looked down at myself, to try and see where I was.
I got the shock of my life- my clothes were replaced by a long purple cloak and white linen. Relaying this to the Professor, shock in my voice, I was rewarded with his tinny laughter in my ears.
"It's worked! The Chronoscope has transported your thought-energies back through time and deposited you in the mind of another!"
This was almost too much to take in. I peered about, trying to reckon my surroundings. Smooth, rolling waves, pleasant green hills, a great column of-
A great column of smoke and ash rising into the sky from a mountain on the horizon, towering monstrously over a small town.
Dear God- I knew this for what it was instantly.
"Professor, I am witness to a volcanic eruption."
The Professor's laughter echoed in my brain.
"Fantastic! Fantastic! Tell me, can you-"
All of a sudden my adventure no longer seemed so wondrous, so magical. I had read Pliny in my Latin class at school- I knew all about the cataclysm that had befallen-
"I think this may be the eruption which buried Pompeii, Professor. Get me out of here."
Flames, leaping into the sky. Lightning arcing through the clouds. Thousands upon thousands, dying in agony, seared and scorched, choked by-
The helmet was off, and I was back in the laboratory. The Professor's eyes were alive, excited.
All mine saw was that horrible, apocalyptic cloud, stretching up into forever, damning an entire people to eternal darkness.
"It worked."
His voice seemed odd now without the electronic modulation of the helmet. I nodded mutely, and could only watch as he thrust my notebook upon me.
"It's my turn, Lawson. What will I see? What wonders will I witness?"
I did not speak. All I could think of was that huge column of ash descending upon the poor townsfolk, incinerating them.
The Professor placed the helmet on his head almost reverently.
As I watched, he stiffened- what was he seeing, I wondered- what mysteries were revealed to him? What worlds played out before his eyes?
"Professor?"
I watched him nod.
"Lawson, it's... it's dark!"
I nodded, before realising he would not- could not see me behind the helmet's visor.
"Don't worry, Professor Thornton. Everything should be coming into focus some time soon."
He shook his head violently- too violently, it now occurs to me.
"Lawson, there's nothing! Nothing!"
I curse myself now, but I did nothing, thinking it to have been a malfunction in the Chronoscope. Indeed, as the Professor stiffened again, I relaxed- it was working for him as it had for me.
"What do you see, Professor?"
His voice was quiet when he spoke, and at first I thought it was the helmet muting him.
"I see... I see a light, Lawson- a single point of light."
Dawn, I thought- but when? I questioned him, but he did not seem to understand me.
"A single point of light, dull and red and lifeless, Lawson- dead light."
Dead light? What did he-
"Ah! Now it brightens! Now it brightens!"
Now we would see what the Professor saw, when he saw. My pencil was poised to write, when-
"It brightens! So bright, so bright! Make it stop, Lawson! Make it stop!"
Panic ran through his voice like fire over moorland. I panicked also- he had not shown me what buttons to press, what switches to flick- oh, the folly of confidence!
"What's wrong, Professor? What do you see?"
He clutched at the helmet, tore at it like a madman, but it stuck fast to his head.
"I see... I see what was, Lawson! What was before there was any to see it! I see the first sunrise! I see the first flames of the first dawn! The very fires of Creation!"
The reporter in me sprang to life at that moment, all notion of saving the Professor forgotten.
"What do you see? Tell me, Professor!"
He thrashed and jerked now, staggering as if one drunk, the helmet still firmly upon his head.
"I see what no man has ever seen before!"
He then stopped and let out a soul-scarring cackle.
"I see what no man has ever seen- and what no man ever should have seen!"
What? What could he-
"I am in the mind of another, Lawson! In the mind of another!"
Horror ran through me.
The Professor was seeing the dawn of time through the eyes of another, as I had seen the eruption at Pompeii- but what had lived before Creation?
I had to rescue him, had to get the helmet off him, and I dove for him as he staggered and lurched.
"Good God, Lawson! It's... It knows, Lawson! It knows I'm in it's head! It knows!"
I redoubled my efforts at that horrifying declaration, yanking and tugging at the Chronoscope helmet for all I was worth but to no avail.
"It knows I'm here! It reaches out for me! It-"
His voice was cut off in a horrible, gargling, wordless yell- an awful shriek that echoed from beyond the bounds of eternity. The hideous horror of that screech unmanned me, and I staggered away from him clutching my ears, hideous alien voices ringing in them as I went, staggered away and out of the laboratory before collapsing into merciful blackness in the street outside-
*
And that's where they found me, lying in the street in front of a burning building. Something in the Chronoscope must have shorted out, I fear, because the entire laboratory burned to the ground that night, and all of Professor Thornton's work went with it- notes, research, test results...
Everything.
My notebook went as well- this story itself is only told as the memories of that awful night will let me.
Professor Thornton's body was incinerated in the fire, they tell me- or at least, when they searched the ruin no-one ever found his remains.
And I pray they are right.
I heard him screaming that night.
"It knows I'm in it's head, Lawson!"
What awful, God-forsaken thing did he see?
What terrifying slumber did he disturb?
What hideous primeval intelligence did he awaken?
"It reaches out for me!"
*