The government is keeping close tabs on this project; it could change the delicate balance of power. Security seems to be of the utmost importance; there are guards to guard the guards and guards to guard the guards' guards. As I said, security seems to be of the utmost importance.
Above me I can see the one-way reinforced window. I do not need to see inside to know that that is the control room.
Knox must be up in there.
Around me machines keep a constant record of my every sensation: heartbeat, eye movement, temperature. . . you get the picture.
To my right, embedded in the steel wall, is the digital timer. In dragon green numbers it proclaims:
To my left it sits, a loathsome dinosaur of metal, wires and microchips. . . a stagnant symbol of man's supposed glorious ascent in the technological world.
I am quickly released from the monitoring equpment and the straps which insure my cooperation and am led to the hulking pile of metal. This leviathan scares me. One of the men raises a gloved fist and extends his index finger. The finger circles in a clock-wise direction. The canopy opens to reveal a roomy cockpit with a plush velvet seat.
Knox should make an appearance now, where the hell is he?
Again the faint whisper of hydraulics, to my rear this time, . . footsteps. The two men retreat and disappear only to be replaced by Knox.
00:01:02
00:01:01
01:01:00
01:00:00
Knox is a tall lanky man with a cloud of perpetual worry hanging over him. His face is criss-crossed with deep crevasses of wrinkles from a lifetime of worrying. The unruly white hair seems to have a shade of blue buried deep within the roots and his brown eyes are barely dots behind the thick plastic lenses of his military issue glasses. He seems like a cracked out version of Einstein. I chuckle to myself.
Seeming somewhat perplexed Knox begins to speak.
"You may wonder what this is all about," his voice has a reedy quality which annoys me. I keep my smile plastered to my face.
"You, my fortunate young friend, are sitting in a Vortex machine, the first in a long line of machines." His eyes begin to shine and a small wistful smile plays upon his lips. I think that he is unaware that he is rubbing his hands together.
"The Vortex machine is capable of ripping through the very fabric of time and space.
"I will be quite frank with you, we are not sure where or when you will emerge. Utilizing cutting edge nano and microelectromechanical systems in combination with revolutionary new applications of fluid mechanics and quantum physics you will traverse the time/space stream and emerge in the past or future. Of course, there is the possibility that you will emerge in an unknown alternate reality." His face clouds over and a somewhat funny crossed pinched look settles in. I chuckle again.