This is the second part of a three part story on time travel.
“Jordan, are you OK?”
Jordan stared at Kayla's face. “What
day is it, Kayla?”
Kayla stared. “It's Thursday. The
11th of February. You must have hit your head pretty hard
when you blacked out. Should I call a medic?”
“No!” Jordan exclaimed. “No,”
more calmly this time. “I'm fine. Just a little short on sleep.”
"Well OK,” said Kayla.
As this conversation was happening,
Jordan remembered what had happened to her. Or rather, what would
happen to her in a few minutes.
Kayla Lanceret was a brilliant
scientist and physicist in her own right. A national leader in laser
development, she wanted to build a world where lasers were more
useful and practical. The only problem was that lasers were either
underpowered or bulky. A small laser scalpel, for example, was
science fiction at this point. So she set about the task of creating
a battery for lasers that could store enough power in a small enough
package to be useful for more than just laser pointers.
For a while, the research had gone
fairly well, until February 11th, 2011. Jordan and Kayla
shared some common lab space, and Jordan had agreed to help Kayla
with an experiment using a high-density battery pack. He had been
heading to get some coffees for the two of them when he heard a huge
explosion coming from the direction of the lab.
The subsequent investigation had
determined that the contents in the high-density batteries were under
huge pressure. That was per design, but the battery container had sprung a small leak. The
spark was suspected to come from a short circuit, and when the it
sparked, it had set the gasses off, causing a huge explosion that
took Kayla Lanceret's life.
Jordan knew what he had to do. “I
don't know about you, but I could use some coffee,” Kayla said.
“I'm kind of busy with this – could you grab it for me?”
Jordan shook his head. “Sorry Kayla,
I didn't bring any cash with me.” That was a lie of course, but
for the better.
She shook her head. “When will the
campus cafe start accepting credit cards? I have cash, I'll go get
some. Just wait here and don't touch anything.” She exited the
lab and strode down the hallway, her footsteps echoing.
Jordan waited until she was some
distance down before entering the room that contained the battery and
the laser. He looked very closely at the battery, and sniffed. It
was definitely leaking some of the chemicals – he could smell it.
He opened up the outer casing and found the problem – one of the
wires was ready to short circuit. Someone hadn't down their job properly.
Jordan
looked at his watch. He could worry about the who later – right
now he needed to fix the damn thing.
There
was a knock at the door. Kayla was staring at him, arms folded.
Jordan exited.
“What
are you doing in there?”
Jordan
sighed. “Just... do me a favor and take a look at the battery. I
think it's gonna short-circuit if you try that.”
Kayla
entered the battery room. “Holy crap! Who designed it with this
wire? It can't possibly stand the voltage!” She smelled the air.
“And it's leaking?” She hit the emergency fan system, evacuating
the noxious and potentially explosive substances.
She
exited the room, closed the metal door tight, and locked it. “Jordan
– you just saved my behind. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to
call the idiots who manufactured this battery cell. It should NOT
be leaking like that.” She got on her phone and started calling.
In
that moment, Jordan breathed a sigh of relief. He had won.
This story isn't over yet. I'll have Part III, the conclusion, up soon.
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