Time Split – Chapter Three
Jason’s research changed direction, but it still took several months before he finally felt he fully understood the new system.
The physics of it seemed as though the machine behaved towards time as if the subject were a heavy ball in the centre of a rubber diaphragm. The energy required for a traveller to be sent through time was the same as if the ball were being propelled from the centre of the diaphragm towards the outer edge. The greater the energy input, the further from the point of initiation the traveller could go. Alternatively a shorter distance could be achieved, but with the same amount of energy the traveller could stay for longer periods away from their own time. Once all the energy was consumed, as with the ball on the diaphragm, the traveller would automatically return to their initial point in time.
Travelling into the past was naturally a progressive part of Jason’s experiments and his first test in backward time travel triggered a memory for Jessica when Bell disappeared from the pod.
“Remember last year when we saw that rat in the kitchen?” she said, her eyes wide and thoughtful.
“So?”
“Do you think it could’ve been Bell?”
He tightened his mouth and stood silent a moment. “I hadn’t thought of that,” he said slowly, then smiled and nodded admiringly. “It’s quite possible.” He patted his wife’s behind. “Clever girl.”
Jessica laughed, swatting his hand away.
Suddenly the machine powered up and their playful banter stopped. They turned their attention to the pod.
Jason was accustomed to the high-pitched whine preceding a subject’s return, but the thrill of seeing them materialise again never dulled. Each return brought with it new excitements, new discoveries – and this time was no different. He laughed, a brief throaty laugh. “Look.” His eyes sparkled in delight. He picked up the rat and pulled a finger along a wet streak down her back.
Jessica smiled broadly. “The water pistol you used when it ran under the unit.” She raised her brow. “Nice shootin’.”
Jason made his way to the basement with Jessica behind.
“You could be completely screwed up if you think too much about it,” she said.
He returned Bell to the cage. “About what?”
“Last year you were destined to create this device, even though back then you were working on teleportation. Time travel hadn’t even crossed your mind.”
“I see what you mean.” He laughed. “It’s enough to make your head spin.”
In bed that night, still buzzing with excitement, neither could sleep. Instead they discussed the implications of the most recent discovery.
As Jessica raised herself up onto an elbow her long blonde hair slipped from her shoulder. “What would you do with your time machine?”
Jason paused, thinking carefully before he replied. “I would go forward in time to study the advances of human development.”
“Oh… Don’t be so boring.” She laughed, poking him playfully in the chest.
His face dropped in a mock hurt expression.
“Wouldn’t you want to see the dinosaurs? Or meet one of your heroes?”
“No!” He sat up, looking down at her. “It must never be used to go back. The consequences could be devastating. I would never use it for that,” he added loftily.
She looked surprised. “Well why are you experimenting in backward time travel?”
He deflated. “I’m just curious. I needed to see if it could be done.”
“You wanted to be the first,” she teased.
“No, I didn’t.” He shook his head in emphatic denial, stopped, then smiled, embarrassed. “Yes, you’re right.” He justified his actions. “If I didn’t do it, someone else at the MOD would have.”
“Perhaps.” Jessica pushed up and kissed him on the cheek. “It would’ve taken them years instead of the few months that it’s taken you.”
He beamed with pleasure, basking in her praise.
She lay back against her pillow. “Wouldn’t you want to go back to do something good?” she persisted.
“No, nothing.”
“Wouldn’t you even go back to help your own mother?” Instantly she regretted the words which had so casually spilled from her mouth. “I’m so sorry, sweetie,” she said, as a look of pain washed through Jason’s face.
He lay down.
“Shall I make some cocoa?” She softly stroked his chest. “It might help us sleep.”
He attempted a smile, but failed, then gave a slight nod.
Jessica rose and, without another word, donned a dressing gown, then hurried downstairs.
It was still several hours before Jason eventually drifted into a troubled sleep, disturbed by images of his mother. His dreams had started happy, but as the night drew on he found himself again lying in his childhood bed, listening to her cries in the night.
Regularly she’d had a recurring nightmare which wasn’t a creation of her imagination, but the past recalled. She relived the horror of watching her mother being repeatedly raped, then beaten to death.
The brutal monster who captained the cargo ship, ‘The Plenith’, had promised Jason’s grandmother safe passage out of Hamburg after her husband and son were killed. The first day passed without incident, but on the second she rebuffed his advances when he brought food. A violent and immoral man, he’d forced his attentions upon her. Attentions which eventually ended in her brutal rape and murder. Meanwhile, Jason’s mother had watched the entire incident as she cowered in the bathroom.
Seven-year-old Claudia, too terrified to leave the cabin, was eventually driven out by hunger. When the captain caught her stealing food from the kitchen, she was told her mother was missing.
“Fallen overboard,” he lied.
In England, Claudia was passed to the authorities where the captain declared her a stowaway.
Once her story was told, the captain was arrested, but with a lack of evidence and all traces of her mother gone, the charges were dropped and the man released.
Alone in a strange country, she was placed into a foster home until relatives could be traced. Then suddenly war broke out.
Jason woke with a jolt. He was surprised to see daylight streaming through the window. It seemed as though he’d hardly slept and he still felt exhausted. Rising, he started work immediately but, as the day drew on, he found it increasingly difficult to focus on his tasks. The previous day’s enthusiasm was now gone and his thoughts kept drifting back to his conversation with Jessica. What if she was right? What if he could help his mother? Would it make him selfish? Would it make him bad?
By midday, unable to concentrate any longer, Jason stopped trying to fool himself he was making any progress at all.
He opened his wallet and slipped out the passport size photograph he always carried of his mother. It was taken during happier times on a holiday in Jersey. She was relaxed and smiling on the beach, with the sea glistening in bright sunshine behind. It was a beautiful day and two years before the string of crippling heart attacks that finally ended her life.
Slowly, Jason indulged himself and allowed a plan of least interference to form. The more he thought about it, the more it felt like the right thing to do. Several scenarios were pondered until, eventually, he decided the minimum help he could give would be to stop his grandmother getting on ‘The Plenith’.
Passage on ‘The Plenith’, he’d been told, was all they could afford. An offer of financial assistance would allow them to travel on a passenger liner instead.
His enthusiasm again renewed, he continued with his experiments. He now had a goal to achieve. The MOD would still get their new toy, but a little later than planned wouldn’t hurt.
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