A Quick Trip
by Michael A. Kechula
Liz shuddered,
as Dr. Zangara approached with a huge syringe. Though
she agreed to participate in an experiment,
she didn’t know it meant getting a ten inch
needle rammed into her flesh.
“Do you
really have to stick me with that awful looking
thing?” she asked.
“It’s
a necessary step so you can go backward in time.
However, the needle to go forward in time is much
smaller. Do you prefer to travel into the
future?”
“No. I
want to go back five years and change things so I
can marry the guy I threw away.”
“Then you
must get the injection, and lay down on this
rotating table.”
“But I
thought you had a time machine.”
The needle and
table will have to do until the time machine
I’m building is finished. Which will take
ten more years. Do you want to wait that
long to resolve your problem from the past?
“No.”
“Then
let’s proceed. My time is very valuable.”
“Okay,”
she said.
She screamed
when he jammed the needle in her forehead. “You
said it wouldn’t hurt.”
“It
shouldn’t. When I tested it on lab mice,
they didn’t complain. Okay, I’m
going to start the countdown from ten. When I
reach one, my assistant will start the rotating
table. You may have the sensation that you'll
fly off. It's only an illusion. The
straps will hold you very securely. Okay,
I’m starting the countdown now. Ten…nine…eight…”
Closing her
eyes, she thought of what she’d do when she
was transported five years into the past.
She couldn’t wait to find herself sitting in
a fancy restaurant with Harry, at the point where
he offered her an engagement ring. This time when
he offered the ring, she’d scream, “YES!”
and throw herself into his arms. Then two
minutes later she'd be transported back to
Zangara’s lab.
“…three…two…one.”
The table
began to rotate. In no time, it was spinning at
ten revolutions per second.
Suddenly,
Zangara heard a loud pop.
“Oh hell!”
he said. "She disappeared.”
“That
makes twenty-three that have disappeared this
month,” said his assistant. “Perhaps we
should terminate the experiment before the
authorities find out.”
“Never!” Zangara
shouted. “I intend to win a Nobel Prize. Bring
in the next woman.”
Meanwhile, Liz
returned to the present. Instead of showing up on
the rotating table, as Zangara promised, she
ended up inside a cage at the city zoo. She
no longer knew her name was Liz. And she
didn’t even stir when a male gorilla within
the cage approached and stroked her furry body.
That evening,
a courier delivered an envelope to Zangara.
Inside was a fat check and a note of thanks.
The note said,
“We really appreciate your latest addition
to our collection of endangered species. At the
rate you are supplying us, we’ll soon have
the largest and finest collection of female
gorillas in the world.”
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