Time Twist

A prologue to the novel 'Time Slicer'

Available from Amazon and www.rogerchappell.com.au

Chapter 1

July 1, 2021

Philippa Harris stood alone in her lab, frozen in thought. It was a quiet moment in the late afternoon, the sun had reached the windows tinting the room with yellow, warming the silence which filled the otherwise cool lab and helped calm her thoughts. She felt ready. In front of her was the result of the last five years of her life. She stared, trance-like, at it as it waited innocently on the table. It was no larger than a book now, and thinking about what it could do quickened her pulse. She knew what she was planning was a risk, but it was now or never, and she was tired of waiting.

As she stared, she became caught up in the moment. A moment she felt might last forever if it could. A moment to remind her how hollow being alone feels. But if the evening's plan went ahead and was a success, all that could change in an instant. She felt her skin tingle in that moment, while the late afternoon sun crept further into her lab, and finally reached the metallic box, giving it a magical orange glow.

A wave of nausea came from nowhere, and snapped her out of her trance. She made it back to her desk to sit down and was about to go over her checklist again when her assistant, Arjun, burst through the door with a train of words in an excited Indian accent.

‘Slow - down - Arjun.’

‘Sorry, Boss.’ He took a breath and started again.

‘The TV show. Six pm, they confirmed it!’ Arjun was pacing around the lab in excitement. ‘It's on; you're going to be famous!’ He finally found a chair and rolled towards Philippa’s immaculately tidy desk.

Philippa's work for the last five years was about space-time and a theory of quantum gravity. The theory suggested space-time has a foam-like structure, full of microscopic wormholes. She'd found a way to enlarge any one of those wormholes and send particles through to any other point in time, proving the theory. Now she had a device to demonstrate it.

Arjun's grin faded as he noticed Philippa's discomfort. ‘Are you okay boss? Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you bursting in like that, but I just saw the email—’

‘No, it's okay Arj—just a little nausea. I'll be fine. But yeah, great that the TV will be here too. No pressure at all,’ she said, instantly regretting the sarcasm.

‘No, I mean it, it will be fun, lots of champagne! I hope—’

‘No-no-no boss, you can't drink,’ Arjun said, wagging his finger at her, ‘no champagne for you!’

It had been difficult for her to completely give up the occasional drink, especially since losing her husband. It had been five years since he went missing, but now, thanks to IVF and her need to always plan ahead, she was carrying his baby.

‘I'll just have a sip,’ she assured him, ‘right, time to get ready. I'm heading home to freshen up, and I'll see you back here around five-fifty?’

‘No Problem. See you then!’

He closed the door behind her, paused for a second, still facing the door, then turned and stood looking at the room. He breathed a long, loud sigh and headed over to the device.

***

Philippa's home welcomed her with warmth and music, thanks to her smart devices. The decor was minimalist and kept tidy except for the books which seemed to end up all over the house. Her books gave her comfort, and company, or at least tried to, but there was a gnawing loneliness they couldn't mask, just as there was a coldness the heating didn't touch, and the country music did little to drown out the silence which provoked her and echoed between the walls.

She went straight to the kitchen, eyed the half a bottle of wine that stared back at her, then turned and went for the coffee machine. After spending too much time choosing dinner from the freezer, she placed one in the microwave and listened to Glen Campbell sing about being a highwayman as she waited.

'I guess I'll always be around, and around, and around, and around,' he sang.

She ate at the kitchen counter with only her thoughts for company as usual. How far they'd come with their project and how she missed her husband more than ever relentlessly consumed her. But if tonight was a success, all that could change in an instant. She hoped Arjun wouldn't try to stop what she was planning. He's so cautious. Unadventurous.

'Or I may simply be a single drop of rain. But I will remain. And I'll be back again, and again, and again and again.'

Glen's words stayed with her as she finished up and got ready to head back to the lab.

5:45 pm July 1, 2021

The university which housed Philippa's lab was alive with excitement. The TV crew were setting up, and Arjun was running around helping them wherever he could. A white sheet covered the time travel device, and rows of white fold-up chairs were arranged in a semi-circle around it. A small crowd had built already.

Arjun checked his watch, then looked around for Philippa to find her approaching him.

‘You look great,’ Arjun said with a relieved grin, ‘are you ready for your big moment?’

‘Of course. More than ready.’

He took a deep breath, ‘let's begin.’

They made their way to the front of the table. The chatter in the room faded off, and people began taking seats.

The TV personality, A young woman in her late twenties, approached them.

‘Hi, I'm Sarah Collins. I'll be running this story. I have the info Arjun sent over, you're Professor Philippa Harris, and this is your assistant Arjun Miller? I think we're okay to start if you're both ready?’ She asked.

‘We are,’ Philippa replied, giving Arjun a hint of a smile.

Sarah turned to a camera, waited for a nod from her producer, then began to speak:

‘Tonight, I am told history is about to be made. We're at the University of Riverton, in the physics lab of Professor Philippa Harris. They claim they have achieved what—until now—was thought impossible. They have managed to send matter either forward or backwards in time. I'll let that sink in for a few seconds.’

She turned to Philippa , ‘Professor Harris, I understand that you have been working on this for quite some time now?’

‘Yes, I have dedicated the last five years of my life to developing a portable device to prove my theory.’ Philippa sounded a little nervous.

‘And,’ interrupted Sarah, ‘is this what we will see demonstrated here tonight? I understand that you have been sending atoms back and forth in time?’

‘Ah, yes, however, we have progressed a little,’ Philippa replied, ‘we’ll demonstrate the process tonight with a much larger object. If all goes to plan, you'll see a duplicate of what we send back, appearing before it's sent.’

‘How much larger?’

‘Well, I was hoping we could use your handbag.’

Sarah laughed, unprepared for the suggestion. ‘Really? Well, if it helps science—’ She motioned to her producer for her bag, ‘—then I don't see why not.’

Handing her bag on to Philippa , she smiled, ‘You will look after it, right?’

‘Of course,’ Philippa replied, walking to the front of the table, ‘I'll have it on me the whole time.’

‘Er—’ began Sarah.

Arjun cut in, ‘Philippa , I don't think—’

The crowd was silent as Sarah cut him off.

‘So, are you saying that you, yourself, will be the test object? With my bag?’

‘If you have no objections?’ she asked, but she didn't wait for a reply as she turned to address the gathering. ‘So, let's say 'hello' to 'future me' sent back to about now!’

Philippa checked the time on her wrist and made a mental note of it.

There was silence, then some murmuring from the guests. Arjun raised a finger and was about to say something to Philippa but stopped when a floating blue sphere of light appeared. It was no larger than a marble, shimmering energetically just behind the table.

The room fell silent, and the sphere suddenly grew to about two metres in height and became more transparent, with just the thin outer surface glowing electrically blue. In the centre stood a duplicate of Philippa . The sphere faded, and then it was gone.

Second Philippa looked around at everyone, enjoying their stunned faces. She was holding a metal box with what looked to be a small iPad on top connected to it by cables, and dangling from it was a short lead with a plug on the end.

‘Hello Sarah, I believe this is your bag?’ Second Philippa asked. She was grinning as she walked around to the front of the table, holding it out to Sarah.

Sara's jaw had dropped, and the room was still silent. She looked from the original Philippa to the new one and back a few times. ‘I—’ she began, then composed herself. ‘I have to admit, I am shocked. I see two Philippa s, and two bags.’ She glanced at the camera as she took her bag from second Philippa and began checking the contents.

‘This is my bag,’ she announced.

The first Philippa held out the bag she was holding, ‘and this one?’

Sarah put the bag down and looked at the one she had given to Philippa just a minute ago.

‘Well, I just handed it to you, so—’ she examined the contents, ‘indeed it is. It's identical, they're—’ she was becoming lost for words.

‘Okay,’ interrupted the second Philippa , ‘let me explain what just happened. I sent myself back in time, from a few moments from now,’ she motioned to her other self, ‘and you're about to see me do exactly that.’

The first Philippa , bag on shoulder, walked around the table and uncovered the device as Arjun joined her, and they checked settings on the tablet screen connected to the metal box under it. The same device that the second Philippa was still holding, except this one was still hooked up to the large power supply under the table.

Arjun nodded to Philippa and moved away to the end of the table. Second Philippa joined him and leaned in to whisper to him.

‘Something very strange happened as I was sending myself back. I thought the whole test was about to fail, but then I arrived in the past. We'll discuss it later, but it's something that needs to be analysed. Everything is being recorded, right?’

Arjun was tense; beads of sweat had appeared on his forehead. He replied without looking at her. ‘Yes boss, all events and data now being logged as requested.’

She gave him the thumbs-up sign and re-joined Sarah at the front of the table.

Original Philippa reached under the table and flipped a switch. She uncovered and picked up the device, unlocked the tablet, and ran the app.

‘I am now entering the destination time of 6:11 pm on today's date. You will notice that's about three minutes ago, when the other me appeared. The tablet will now perform the required calculations, store the correct time signatures to apply, and when it's ready, a 'GO' button will become active. When I tap it, you will briefly see the blue flash of a sphere surrounding me. I'll appear to vanish, but I'll actually just stop travelling forward in time with you. I'll have escaped the flow of time and be stopped at one point in reality, hidden outside of time!’

Philippa looked around to see if she had lost anyone. Everyone's gaze was fixed on her, except for Arjun, who now fidgeted uncomfortably. She continued, her voice now a little shaky.

‘Then a gap, a wormhole, will be enlarged around me, which will instantly transfer me to the point in reality which matches 6:11 pm. The loop will be complete, and my counterpart there–future me–will be the only one of me remaining in the room.’

The room was still silent in anticipation.

Philippa found her hands trembling slightly as she studied the screen. They had tested on mice before with no adverse effects. But this was her first test on herself, and she'd reasoned it had to happen sometime, so why not now, and really 'wow' everyone. Besides, it obviously worked, despite what her other self said. Her last memory of her husband Thomas smiling at her flashed through her mind as she stared at the tablet. She re-checked the settings one last time before she gently touched the 'GO' button.

Instantly, a blue, glowing sphere engulfed her. Inside the sphere, Philippa stared at the tablet, and a look of worry spread over her face. She looked up at Arjun, and back at the device, and a second later, she vanished. Then she suddenly re-appeared still in the sphere, and as she did, a third Philippa emerged in the sphere, also holding a device and stepped away from her, still in the bubble, which was now growing larger. Third Philippa was wearing different clothing, and her face was somehow slightly different. Second Philippa had started briskly walking over to Arjun but was now moving in slow-motion. Several people in the room stood up, and Arjun started to panic. He was trying to go over to Philippa but kept retreating, knowing he could not enter the sphere. The original Philippa looked up at something from within the sphere in slow motion, terrified. Another figure began to faintly appear in the sphere and third Philippa started to say something, but no sound came, as if she was muted. The two Philippas in the still expanding bubble looked at each other in shock. The First Philippa then unplugged the power cable to the device. As she did, there was a loud BANG from under the table, followed by a column of smoke. The sphere vanished, and with it, the two Philippas and the other figure inside. At the same instant, second Philippa, who was now frozen mid-step on her way to Arjun, also vanished, leaving a silent room except for a hiss from the power supply as more smoke escaped.

Chapter two - Twenty-three years later

Orange leaves crunched under Isaac's feet as he zipped his jacket up higher against the wind. He checked his wrist. Not late yet! He was usually late for something, this time it was dinner at home. He'd been in town with a few university friends, and as usual, lost track of time. Dinner was at six, it was 5:44, and it took about twenty-five minutes to walk home. It's not that his aunt would be annoyed that bothered him, but that Isaac would be annoyed with himself. Sometimes he'd swear less time had passed that actually had, and felt he'd lost five or ten minutes somehow.

Isaac ran for several blocks then rechecked his watch. That should do it. He walked the rest of the dusk-coloured streets, occasionally being lit by a passing car.

He rounded the last corner, reached his house, and opened the door at precisely 6 pm. ‘Ha!’ he said out loud to no one. He took a deep breath and went through.

Inside, Isaac was greeted by the aroma of dinner and country music coming from the kitchen. His aunt was busy placing bowls of food on the table.

‘Just in time!’ She announced as she sat down at the table.

Isaac brought water over and sat down opposite her.

‘How was your day?’ She asked, glancing up at him while placing spoonful’s of mashed potato on her plate. Susan asked him this every day, and he usually had a lot to tell her, but some days, when he had too much to think about, he didn't feel like answering. He found talking to people in general was an uncomfortable interruption.

‘Meh. You?’ Isaac replied while filling his plate.

‘I managed to get some work done between the drop-outs, and I even had time for gardening.’

‘Internet still dropping out then? When's that going to get fixed?’ Isaac asked casually, not caring for the answer.

Drop-outs didn't bother him much now; he had one of the new phones, with Quantum storage and Graphene Super-Capacitor battery tech. This meant he could use 'Google Now', an app that could predict the information you might want in the future by analysing your browsing and app usage then pre-downloading and storing the data locally on your device. The idea was to help free up bandwidth bottlenecks during peak usage times.

‘This week sometime, I expect,’ she motioned to the box on the floor with the large Starlink logo on it. ‘I received the replacement dish today, which reminds me, a package arrived for you too.’

Isaac looked up from his food, ‘for me? Who's it from?’

‘I didn't look, I just put it in your room.’

Isaac set his phone down and enjoyed the rest of his dinner before clearing up the table and heading up to his room. It was a huge room, and he'd had it all his life. The house was built in the early 1900s when people thought they needed massive bedrooms.

He flicked the light on and grabbed the package from his desk. It was a box about the size of a cake tin. He was about to take it downstairs when he checked the sender. It was a law firm. He paused and decided it might be better to open it in private. Why would a law firm be sending me anything? he wondered, trying to think if he might have done something he could be sued for lately. He began to open it, then stopped. What if it's bad news? Maybe I should leave it for tomorrow, and just enjoy the evening.

He set the box back down on his desk, pulled his phone from his pocket and messaged Chel.

Still ok for tonite? he tapped.

Chel's reply came quickly: Yep, but can I come to yours? I need to get out

Sure, see you soon?

About 30, still doing dinner :(

Isaac smiled, knowing why she added a sad face.

He had met Chel at university. He'd noticed her around the science labs, and later found out her father worked there. The first time they spoke, he was in the library reading a book, and she just sat down opposite him, took one look at his book and stated, ‘Well, you're wasting your time!’

Isaac had ignored her at first, annoyed at being spoken to by a stranger. She didn't let him off that easily, though.

‘Hey, I'm talking to you, that book you're reading, it's rubbish. String theory is too flawed. Books on it should be re-classified as fiction.’

He looked up at her and studied her face. She looked serious, so he decided to annoy her.

‘It's okay, I'm a flat earther,’ he lied.

‘No, you're not.’

‘Aren't I?’

‘Nope. If you were, you'd be funny looking. Every flat-earther is funny looking, but you're slightly cute looking, ergo, not a flat-earther.’

It was somewhere between Isaac feeling his face flush with embarrassment, and getting lunch with Chel that day, that he decided he wanted her as a friend. Three years later, and they were more than just friends.

He sent her another message:

'How's your pizza?'

She replied with an angry face emoji.

He stuffed his phone in his pocket before heading downstairs to join his aunt, who was catching up on her YouTube subscriptions on the TV.

‘Chel's coming over.’

‘Okay. Don't the Millers go out for pizza on Wednesdays?’

‘Yeah, usually, but her dad decided he wanted to cook tonight, which she's a little salty about,’ Isaac grinned, ‘being the pizza lover she is.’

‘Well, I know I'd rather have his chicken korma over pizza any day,’ Susan answered.

‘Yeah, he should put that on a pizza,’ Isaac suggested.

Susan stood up and headed for the kitchen, ‘Now that is a brilliant idea.’

She made her coffee and settled back on the couch to her YouTube. Isaac joined her there, staring at his phone. He cancelled all the notifications without reading any and idly lost himself in Instagram while he waited. Thirty-five minutes flew by before there was a knock at the door. He jumped up and let Chel in.

Chel greeted Susan while Isaac grabbed beers from the fridge, and they headed up to Isaacs room to study.

Isaac's desk was an old wooden dining table, which was perfect for two people to study at, spread books out and still have room for snacks.

‘Snacks!’ Isaac announced as he set the beers down, ‘be right back!’

He raced downstairs while Chel got comfortable at the desk and opened a bottle. She was pouring two glasses when she noticed the box that had arrived from the law firm. She examined it, shook it, and set it back down. She took a sip as Isaac returned with a bowl of chips.

‘What's with the box?’ She asked, gesturing to it with her glass.

‘No idea, it arrived today from some law firm, but I didn't feel like opening it yet.’

‘I'll open it!’ She said, grabbing it and ripping at the tape.

Isaac remained quiet as she opened the box, slightly amused at her excitement. Inside was a letter, and in bubble wrap, a metallic device resembling an old mechanical computer hard drive, and some cables.

Isaac read the letter aloud:

‘Dear Isaac—that's me,’ he said, trying to be amusing.

‘Please find enclosed an inheritance item as instructed by your Mother Philippa Harris, on June 15, 2021, to be delivered to you after your 21st birthday. We apologise for the lateness of the delivery. We wish you well, blah blah blah.’

‘That's nice,’ Isaac said, ‘but what the hell is it?’

It had USB sockets on it and a three-pin power socket which one of the cables with a strange disk-plug end fit into. Another cable was an ultra-thick USB to USB. One of the sockets was marked with the word 'phone'. On the side was a power switch. He pulled out his phone and connected it to the device using the USB cable, then flipped the switch. His phone popped up a warning about high power drain, which he dismissed; his phone could handle anything. Another notification appeared, asking him if he wanted to install the 'S-T app'. He tapped OK, and the install began.

‘Geeze, it says 'two minutes remaining'. That's one huge app.’

He noticed Chel's confused expression.

‘My mother was a physicist, remember? So, this is probably a log of all her work or something that she wanted me to have to continue in her footsteps with. It does kind of look like an old hard drive.’

He set it down, and they sipped beer as they waited. After what seemed like longer than two minutes, the screen activated with the message of the install being completed. Isaac picked it up, holding the attached device behind it, and tapped the 'Open' button. The screen changed to pale blue, and in red, the words:

Gravity Space-Time

Flux Modulation

V. 28a

May 2021

Then it went blank for a second before the word 'CALCULATING appeared. After a few seconds, it displayed the current date and time with the seconds counting up and 'SIGNATURE READY TO RECORD' under it.

Under that was a live circular static pattern with rapidly changing numbers circling it. And under that was the heading 'DESTINATION'. There was already a time and date set there, being 23/6/2021, 17:30:00.

Isaac tried to alter the date, but the field was disabled. Under it was the word 'CALCULATING' alternating between white and red. After several seconds, it was replaced with a green 'READY', and a new button appeared that simply said 'GO'.

He showed Chel to get her opinion.

‘What does that do?’ She asked cautiously, noticing Isaac's serious expression.

Isaac's heart was beating hard now. He had an idea what this was. He recalled reading that his mother had worked on quantum theories of space-time wormholes. He didn't believe her work ever came to anything before she died, but a part of him was screaming, 'what if…?'

He grinned and held his finger over his phone with the device under it humming slightly. He looked up at Chel, as he felt the device getting warmer and his heart beating faster, feeling the moment.

He bit his bottom lip and tapped 'Go'.

Chapter 3 - June 23, 2021

Everything around Isaac froze and was tinted blue. A white vertical line appeared in mid-air in front of him. It grew wider and rapidly began to envelop him. His jaw dropped, eyes wide open. Suddenly, the whiteness receded to just a line again and then it was gone. The blue tinge dissipated, and he was left standing in his room, holding the device. The whole room was different, Chel was gone, and the late afternoon sun struggled to stream in through gaps in the closed curtains.

‘What the…’

He looked at the device. The destination date and time were now at the top under 'Current date/time'.

‘No…’ he whispered. He slowly left his room and crept downstairs. The whole house was different. He reached the kitchen, which now looked old fashioned. There was a smell of coffee, and music was coming from some device on the counter. His heart was still pounding when he heard a voice behind him.

‘Who the hell are you!’

Isaac spun around but couldn't speak. He instantly recognised her from old photos. They stood staring at each other when she noticed the device in his hand.

‘Where did you get that?’ She said, using a baseball bat to point at the device.

‘Uh, wait,’ Isaac began nervously, ‘uh—are you Philippa Harris? I'm Isaac Harris…and I think I'm your son.’ He was talking fast now, in a higher pitch, unable to hide his fear.

‘I was just up in my room…and I got this today from some law firm, so I hooked it up and it had an app and I ran it and pressed go…and there was a white flash and then everything changed and I think I just travelled to the past!’

Philippa slowly took the device from him, pulled out a chair and sat down. She examined it and found the engraved code on the back. She went to her wall safe and retrieved an identical device, with the same code on it.

‘Well, well. It worked. What year is it?’

Isaac sat down. ‘Mum?’

‘Yes. It seems that you are my future son, and it also seems I planned for you to get here. Your name's Isaac?’

Isaac's shoulders dropped as he took a deep breath and nodded with half a smile. Philippa swapped the bat for a bottle of wine from the kitchen and motioned to Isaac to have a seat. Neither spoke as she poured a glass from the other side of the island counter and offered him one, which he gladly accepted. She took a sip, staring at him intently while thinking.

She started smiling.

‘I had a son! It looks like you turned out okay. What year is it for you?’ She asked again.

‘2044? My aunt Susan raised me in this house since I was four.’

Philippa’s smile faded. ‘This means one thing: I die.’

There was an awkward silence before Isaac asked what had been on his mind since opening the package.

‘Why did you do it?’

‘Do what?’

‘You arranged to have this device sent to me, but why?’

‘In one week, we demonstrate the device publicly. Not this one,’—She motioned to the one Isaac brought with him—’ another one, at the lab. For the first time, I plan on testing it on myself. I haven't told my assistant because he'd probably talk me out of it. But I need to do it; I'm tired of waiting.’

Philippa took a sip of wine before continuing.

‘I take risks, but I plan for all eventualities. So, I thought, in case anything goes wrong, I'll arrange to have this copy sent to you or my sister—your aunt Susan—when you're older.’

Isaac thought for a second, ‘But, why? Why send it to me?’

‘Because, Isaac,’ She leaned in, speaking softly now. Tears started to burn her eyes as she looked into what could have been his father's eyes. ‘I wanted to make sure I got a chance to know you.’

Isaac smiled and took a sip from his glass, trying to hide his own tears. Philippa went to where he was sitting and motioned for a hug. Isaac stood up and felt like he was about to cry as the realisation that he was with his mum again hit him. He hugged her for a long time.

‘You look just like your photos,’ he said, wiping away a tear. ‘I feel like I'm in some dream.’

Philippa smiled back, ‘and you have your dad's eyes.’

‘Wait,’ Isaac said, blotting his eyes and composing himself, ‘you said this means you die, which I know you did; you died when I was four, so is that me in there?’ He asked, motioning to her bump.

‘I assume so, I have already named him Isaac, and he is due in November.’

‘November 15, 2021,’ he said, reciting his birth date. ‘So…. can we now prevent your death?’

‘Maybe,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘But we'd need to know how and when I died exactly. And in doing so, we'd create a paradox which would cause space-time to twist to compensate.’

‘Hmm, I was never told the exact details of your death,’ Isaac said dejectedly. ‘Twist?’

‘If we save my life, it will create an alternate timeline, then you'll never receive the device in this timeline and come back to help save my life. If it works, then the fact that you're here now means the two realities twisted at some point in the future to allow both events to happen despite each other. I need to do more research on that side of things.’

‘Wild,’ breathed Isaac, now relaxed and enjoying being there. ‘You have to tell me – how does the device work exactly?’

Philippa lit up excitedly, ‘I'm glad you asked! Okay, reality, or space-time, has and always will exist. Its structure is like foam, and made of infinite slices, where every second of time covers millions of those slices. Time behaves like a 'flux' around life, so we don't stick at one slice but instead, flow through reality and experience time.’

Isaac slowly sat down again, fascinated.

‘My device,’ Philippa continued, ‘produces a bubble of anti-time by reversing the time-flux field around you, causing you to slip out of time's grasp, and you're then experiencing just one single slice of reality.’

She was speaking excitedly now, her passion for her work pouring out. ‘For you, it appears as if time has stopped all around you, but in fact, it's you who has stopped! To everyone else, you vanished, left behind at a previous slice of reality.’

‘Like hidden outside of time…’ Isaac said.

‘Precisely! The device then inflates the nearest hole in the foam–a wormhole–to outside of reality itself. However, because the universe can't allow anything outside of reality, you are instantly transported back in if you go through! But here is the fun part: Where you re-enter, will be at the slice of reality that matches your destination time!’

Isaac looked puzzled, ‘but how do you end up at the right time, or 'slice'?’

‘It's simple: Before you go through, the anti-time bubble adjusts your current time signature to be the one you would have if you were in your destination time! You automatically re-enter at the point that matches the time you set. Then the device shuts down, and the bubble collapses. Time flux reverses back to normal, and you're caught up in the flow of time again.’

‘So to Chel–my girlfriend–I just vanished?’

‘Yes,’ Philippa smiled at the mention of a girlfriend, realising there was a lot she'd love to hear about from him, ‘but don't worry, you can easily return to the moment right after you left.’

‘Of course… Wow. I can't believe you figured all this out. It's…. crazy. But brilliant. And I get what you mean about time signatures too, I've always felt that each second has a different feeling to it and sometimes I feel it changing through me when I relax enough.’

‘Ok... that's interesting,’ Philippa raised one eyebrow a little before continuing. ‘It was many years of mathematics, experiments and failures. Plus your father said something once which strangely put me on the right path. I admit I was a little obsessed for a while, but it was life-changing when I discovered it.’

Philippa sat down next to Isaac with a sigh.

‘I could never use the device outside of the lab because there is nothing small and portable that could perform the calculations fast enough and have the power to handle the device drain. It takes what I assume to be a quantum powered phone from your time?’

‘Graphene super-cap battery. Quantum based storage though… Wait! That's it! My phone likely downloaded all the university logs and events of the past one hundred years, maybe what happened to you is recorded!’

Isaac disconnected his phone from the device, opened the 'Google Now' app and searched his mother's name.

233 Results

He searched 'Philippa Harris Death.'

'3 Results'.

He glanced up at his mother with a smile and tapped the first result.

‘Okay, so it says you were killed during a quantum physics demonstration of a space-time manipulation device on July 1, 2021, due to a hardware power surge… blah blah… it says it's believed the power supply was tampered with. ...hah, it mentions Mr Arjun Miller here, Chel's dad. He was your assistant? Wait! This is next week… How is that possible? If you died next week, I wouldn't have been born...’

Philippa’s gaze darted around as she bit her bottom lip, thinking about what he just read. She stopped and looked at Isaac.

‘It's possible… fascinating,’ she whispered.

‘How??’ Isaac frowned.

Philippa got up and started pacing.

‘What I said before; you would be from a slightly different reality. An alternate universe. One in which the event of next week happened much later. One which was probably created from the demonstration going wrong. It's like whatever happens during the demonstration, sends a ripple through time, creates a duplicate reality at some point, which twists with this one for a while. It's probable, however, that realities would merge again some time afterwards. Ones with identical pasts likely could.

‘Wild,’ Isaac said again, ‘so, what now?’

‘Now, we have another drink, order some food and enjoy the evening! I'd love to hear all about you, and then we'll try to figure out a plan.’ Philippa's excitement was growing. ‘We have one week to fix this,’ she said with determination, ‘I'm no more prepared for my demonstration failing than I am for my death!’

She topped up their glasses and asked Isaac to bring up everything available on the event of July 1 and the weeks around it.

Chapter 4 - June 28, 2021.

Three days before the demonstration

Arjun whistled quietly to himself as he drove. The sun glinted rhythmically on his face through the trees lining the streets of Riverton. He reflected on how fortunate he was right now. He worked with a genius scientist and was a major part of a significant breakthrough in manipulating space-time. He planned to become a physics professor and teach at the university, so working under Philippa was a fantastic opportunity. He was very protective of what they had achieved together in the last few years.

Turning onto the road that led to the University, his mind drifted to the day before, when Philippa started with the whole outside funding thing. ‘Arjun, I'd like you to meet Mr Jones, the Investor I was telling you about last week,’ her words had been repeating in his head.

He'd seen too many discoveries bought and used the wrong way, either by the military or private enterprise with more money than sense. He knew it was inevitable, but he didn't have to like it. And who was he to argue? He felt helpless.

Arjun turned onto the campus grounds, parked and made his way briskly to the entrance. Deep in thought, he pulled up the collar of his coat as dry brown leaves swirled around him on the floor of the undercover parking. He checked his watched as he entered the elevator to the foyer, then made his way to the lab to meet with the investor, a Mr Isaac Jones, a meeting Philippa had set up.

***

Isaac made it back to Philippa's home later that evening and went through to the kitchen where dinner was being made.

‘Well, that was weird, hanging out with a young Mr Miller,’ he said. ‘I've had dinner at his house with Chel, his daughter, and it was difficult to keep in mind that he doesn't know me.’

‘I can imagine,’ replied Philippa , handing Isaac a beer and a glass, ‘I know we agreed it's a long shot, but he's the only one that would know how to make it fail. As much as I hope it's not true.’

‘Well, I didn’t find anything out, he seemed quite excited by the work, I really don't think he'd do anything malicious; I know him—well, future him, but still, the Mr Miller I know wouldn't hurt a fly. He's kind, generous, and pretty funny.’

‘Funny eh?’ Philippa asked, amused at the thought. ‘He's quite brilliant too.’

They sat in silence while Philippa sliced some cheese, placed it on a cracker, added a red grape to the top then popped the whole thing in her mouth.

‘Remember,’ she said, covering her mouth, ‘he doesn't know I plan on using the device on myself at the demonstration, so it's safe to say he didn't… won't…set out to hurt me. But if it was him, I want to know why.’

‘Okay,’ Isaac said thoughtfully as he poured beer into his glass, ‘so what do you want to do?’

‘That's easy,’ she grinned, before taking a long sip of her sparkling water.

Chapter 5 - July 1, 2021

‘No, it's okay Arj—just a little nausea,’ Philippa replied to his concern, ‘I'll be fine. But yeah, great that the TV will be here too. No pressure at all.’

It was the day of the demonstration, and Arj was excited.

‘No, I mean it Arj, it will be fun, lots of champagne! I hope—’

‘No-no-no, you can't drink boss,’ Arjun shook his finger at her, ‘no champagne for you!’

‘I'll just have a sip,’ Philippa assured him, getting ready to leave the lab.

She picked up her bag and headed for the door. ‘Right, let's get ready. I'm heading home to freshen up, and I'll see you back here around five-fifty pm?’

‘No Problem. See you then!’

He closed the door behind her, paused for a second, still facing the door, then turned and breathed a long, loud sigh before heading over to where the device sat, still bathed in the late afternoon sun.

Arjun sat on the floor in front of the power supply under the table and removed the front cover. Sighing, he began soldering a connector onto the output circuit board.

‘Sorry Boss.’ he whispered out loud.

A minute later, he pressed his lips together, replaced the cover, and cleaned up the tools. After covering the device with a white sheet, he arranged chairs in a semi-circle between the table and the large windows. Satisfied that everything was ready, he let out a sigh as he stood at the window to watch the sunset and wait for the catering team to arrive.

At 5pm the guests began to trickle in and chat amongst themselves. At 5:30 the TV crew arrived and began to set up, with help from Arjun.

Philippa walked up to Arjun as he was checking his watch.

‘You look great. Are you ready for your big moment?’ he asked.

Isaac arrived and found a seat at the back. He watched as his mum and Arjun walked to the front of the table, and the room went quiet. The TV lady went to them and chatted before starting her monologue:

‘Tonight, I am told history is about to be made…’

Isaac stared at Arjun, looking for anything out of the ordinary. He seemed nervous, but that was to be expected. He was on camera and this was a big deal. Isaac looked around at the other people in the room, scanning for anyone behaving suspiciously. Everyone was quiet and still, listening to his mother speak. He felt proud of her at that moment.

‘How much larger?’ The TV lady asked.

‘Well, I was hoping we could use your purse.’

Isaac shivered and shifted in his seat. He suddenly realised he might be about to see his mother's death played out in front of him. His attention snapped back to the demonstration in time to notice Arjun's demeanour suddenly change: He had started fidgeting, adjusting his tie, scratching his neck.

‘Philippa , I don't think—’ Arjun began.

The TV lady cut him off, ‘so are you saying that you, yourself, will be the test object? With my purse?’

Isaac smiled; his nervousness forgotten. He was looking forward to seeing his mum time travel. Even though he'd already done it himself, he was curious to see how it looked to others from the outside.

A blue sphere of light appeared behind the table.

The sphere grew, flashed white, then faded away. In its place stood a second Philippa .

Isaac smiled. That was pretty lit, he thought, looking around at others in the room. Most people looked shocked. Even the security guards looked quite entertained by what just happened. We could sell tickets to demonstrations like this.

He watched his mother as she walked around the table where she and Arjun checked the screen. Arjun looked concerned. He checked under the table and said something to Philippa . Philippa replied and motioned him away to the end of the table.

Philippa picked up the device, unlocked the screen, and ran the app.

Isaac sat up in his seat, not wanting to miss any of what was about to happen. He was a little nervous again now. What if it wasn't the power supply that was the problem?

He forced himself to not think about it.

‘Then a gap, a wormhole, will be enlarged around me…’ she continued as the room remained silent.

Philippa checked the settings one last time. She looked up at the audience, then at Arjun. She turned and found Isaac's face at the back of the room, pausing for one last look. She smiled at him before she gently touched the 'GO' button.

Instantly a bluish translucent sphere enveloped her. She was frozen still inside. Then the sphere flashed to white and vanished, taking Philippa with it. At that instant, Isaac, sitting quietly by himself in the back row, also disappeared.

The lab subtly changed; a few people were now in different seats, and items on benches at the back shifted as the silence erupted in applause, with several people jumping to their feet.

Arjun joined Philippa next to Sarah, grinning widely as cameras flashed. Sarah waited for the applause to die down before wrapping up with a concluding monologue.

The caterers then uncovered some canapes and began walking around with trays of champagne. After much handshaking with various attendees, Philippa pulled Arjun aside to chat.

‘Arjun, I'm afraid I have a confession to make.’

Arjun looked surprised, ‘you have a confession? Does it have anything to do with how you did that without being plugged into the power supply?’

‘Yes and no,’ continued Philippa , ‘the investor… Mr Jones? Well, he's not really an investor. He's actually my unborn son Isaac.’

Arjun was silent for several more seconds, then stuttered, ‘W-what?’

‘He's my son. From the future.’

She proceeded to explain what happened a week ago; Isaac showing up, them finding out she had died during the demonstration, how they had to suspect Arjun because there could be no one else and that she used Isaac's phone instead to prevent the accident.

Arjun went to the nearest chair and sat down.

‘I feel sick,’ he whispered. Philippa retrieved glass of water from one of the tables.

Arjun sighed, gulped some water, then began to speak. ‘Philippa , you know I have the most respect for you. I live for the work we have done together, and I would never, never put you in any danger. I never thought you would use yourself in the demonstration.’

He took another sip of water and continued, ‘so I now have a confession for you. I did try to cause it to fail today. After you left this afternoon, I adjusted the power output of the supply so that it would output erratically. That should have caused the safety routines to kick in and shut down the whole procedure. But if what you say is true, it seems it might not have happened that way, but instead had some terrible consequences… in another timeline. I am very sorry.’

‘Arjun, why?’ Philippa was in a bit of shock to hear him confess it, ‘why did you do it?’

‘Well—’ he began but was interrupted by his thoughts, eyes wide.

‘Wait, this is a paradox!’ he said with a look of wonder, ‘I thought a harmless failure will keep everyone away for now… give us more time to work on the power supply size. I did it because I felt strongly about outside investment, but you arranged that, to try to find out what happened! If you'd never sent Isaac, I would never have been motivated to tamper with it. So, Isaac was the cause of your death, AND the reason it was prevented - a temporal causality loop.’

Philippa shook her head slowly at the realisation of what he'd said was true.

‘So, where is Isaac now?’ Arjun asked, looking around, ‘I saw him at the back during the demonstration.’

Philippa scanned the room to make sure he was gone, ‘I believe he too would have vanished when his phone did, as soon as the demonstration succeeded. The reason for him to come back in the first place ceased to exist the moment I didn't die.’

Arjun looked sheepish, ‘I really am sorry, Philippa . I was reckless.’

‘You were doing what you believed was right. I can't fault you for that, but in future, talk to me instead, okay?’

She patted his arm, ‘It's time to celebrate; let's get a drink.’

‘No-no-no, you can't drink, boss!’ Arjun started wagging his finger, then stopped, ‘well, maybe just a sip!’

Chapter 6 - May 6, 2044

Chel watched Isaac hold his finger over his phone with the strange device under it now humming slightly. He looked up at her, bit his bottom lip and tapped the screen.

He was engulfed in a blue sphere of electricity for a second before vanishing. At the same time, Chel also disappeared, and the whole room changed slightly. Two different timelines began twisting together merging back to the one they used to be.

Downstairs, Isaac suddenly felt dizzy. The room around him started altering. His aunt Susan vanished. Furniture changed or disappeared, and some other pieces appeared. He sat down. Years' worth of new memories flooded him, existing alongside the ones he already had.

Then he saw her.

Standing in the kitchen was his mother. Now 23 years older than when he had seen her just one minute ago, yet her appearance was completely familiar.

Philippa caught him staring, his face white, mouth open.

‘You okay?’ She asked, ‘you look like you've seen a ghost.’

‘Uhh… this is going to sound weird, but I think I saved your life…’

Philippa suddenly realised what was happening. She cleared her throat.

‘You just missed out on some good Canapes,’ she said knowingly with a grin. She'd planned to say that line for a long time.

‘Mum, it's incredible,’ Isaac got up, and looked around, ‘I have two sets of memories now, although the other ones are starting to feel… less real, or old. A minute ago, I was at the lab, at your demonstration… it was 2021.’

‘I thought that part would be a bit weird for you. I've been waiting 23 years for this day. This moment must be the other end of the time twist, where this timeline became tangled with the one in which I died. Although I'm surprised you still have both sets of memories intact, I was certain one would fade within a few seconds, if there at all, leaving you with the memories from the timeline that took over. Maybe you have some weird natural connection to time itself...’

‘Can someone please tell me what's going on?’ Chel asked timidly from the couch.

They spent the evening with pizza—at Chel's request—and revealed the entire story to her. Philippa retrieved the device from her safe to show Chel. She was dubious at first, suspecting a prank, but her suspicion was soon replaced with amazement. Philippa also explained what happened after Isaac vanished from the lab, including Arjun's confession and the whole paradox of the events.

‘Mum?’ Isaac asked, ‘what drove you to invent the time travel device in the first place?’

‘Your father, Thomas,’ Philippa said, ‘it was his sudden disappearance that motivated me all those years. I had to know what happened. I wanted to go back, find out, and maybe save him somehow. But unfortunately, it has always meant a one-way trip because of the power supply issue. Two of me running around for five years wouldn't work, so without a portable high-capacity power supply, it simply wasn't an option. So I waited, hopeful that Arjun would discover the answer one day. Eventually, other work came and went, we moved on and the project was shelved. Life happened.’

Isaac bit his bottom lip and started to smile. He picked up his phone and held it up.

‘wasn't an option until now, that is…’ he said, grinning.

Philippa grinned back, looking from Isaac to Chel and back again.

‘Did I ever mention the exact date he went missing?’ She asked, also biting her lip, as Isaac plugged in his phone and powered up the device.

*******************************************************************

The story continues...

...in the full-length part two novel: 'Time slicer'. Find it on Amazon or www.rogerchappell.com.au