Secrets of Time: The Experiment

He looked at his watch, his right hand hovering over the red button on the computer console in front of him. The countdown to man’s next great achievement was about to begin. John had been working towards this moment for as long as he could remember. Now he sat waiting for what seemed to him like an eternity for his vision to become a reality. The truth of the matter is that he had only been sat at the computer waiting for 5 minutes. He got out of his seat and started pacing the floor rechecking computer readouts as he moved.
‘T minus 5 minutes and counting.’ Said a disembodied computerized voice.
John took another look at his watch as the Digital display on the wall above his computer changed to 0:4:59 and carried on ticking down the minutes left. Retaking his seat John rechecked his computers readouts.
‘Power up in 30 seconds’ came the voice of Dave his assistant from behind him. It would take just under 4 minutes to gather enough power for John’s dream to become a reality.
‘T minus 4 minutes.’
‘Powering up.’ Said Dave as he one by one flicked the switches on the panel in front of him.
John watched as the power indicators on his console started moving. They had been through this part of the process 5 times before but this was it. This was the first time they would be going all the way.
John picked up a large glass and took long sip of water. He had started to feel the nerves forming in his stomach.
‘T minus 3 minutes.’
‘Closing security doors.’
The door alarm sounded and an orange light started flashing as the security doors closed and locked into place with a loud ‘HISS’ and ‘CLUNK’
‘Doors locked and air seal is good.’
‘T minus 2 minutes.’
John watched as the power indicators carried on filling with green light showing him that the powering up process was working. Pressing and holding a button on his console he watched as a large part of the wall in front of him lifted revealing a darkened glass panel. Beyond this was a large metal object that was slowly starting to turn.
‘T minus 1 minute’
‘Final power up stage.’
‘Optimal power reached.’
‘10, 9, 8, 7, 6.’
John hovered his hand over the large red button in front of him
‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1.’
Hitting the button John watched as the room filled with a cloud like substance and lights on the front of the metallic object started flashing as it started to spin faster and faster.
As John watched the flashing lights seemed to get slower and slower until they stopped yet the monitors showed that the object was still spinning at the same speed as before.
‘Its working, it’s working.’
‘WOoo wOOo WOoo’ a siren sounded and red lights flashed on the walls and console.

‘What The..?’

‘Not sure everything’s reading normal; it’s probably just a glitch in the system. Hang on getting something. System shutting down due to an unknown error.’

‘Once its shut down we’ll run a full system diagnostic.’

The gaseous substance started to dissipate revealing the spinning object its lights flashing.

‘Fatal system error, unable to shut down.’ Came the computer voice.

The object started spinning faster instead of slowing down.

‘System overload evacuate facil-it-y’

Dave fiddled with the switches on his console. ‘We’ve lost main computer attempting to switch to back up. Security doors jammed, attempting to release.’

‘How much time do we have?’

‘Looking at the last computer readouts not long, it will reach critical in less than 5 minutes. The main computers total fried.’

John franticly typed on his keyboard trying to get the computer to respond while Dave moved quickly over to the door, ripping off a panel in the wall he started fiddling around with the door’s control wires. ‘The doors stuck fast.’ Dave said his voice cracking and shaky.

‘Keep trying.’

Dave continued to try and open the door his fingers fumbling at the wires as he tried to stop them shaking. John was still trying in vain to get a response from the computer.

‘It no use, the door just will not budge.’ Dave said turning to face John his voice trembling more as he spoke, his hands shaking and his eyes wide with the fear that filled him.

‘Here let me try.’ Said John in a calming a tone as he could as he moved over to the door. Dave moved away letting John get to the control.

‘It w-won’t d-do an-y g-good. W-we’re g-going t-to die.’

‘DAVID CONTROL YOURSELF and give me a hand trying to get this door open. See if you can find something to prise it open with.’

Dave moved clumsily round the room fumbling in draws on units and in cupboards for anything suitable. Grabbing at a metal ruler he moved back to the door tripping over his own feet as he did causing him to tumble to the ground and role into the wall knocking himself out.

John dived down to Dave’s side ‘Dave, Dave.’ He said shaking him trying to bring him round. There was no response so he took the ruler moved back over to the door looking over at the object that was spinning the fastest it had ever spun. He turned towards the door and placed the ruler in the vicinity of the locking mechanism. As he pulled on the door there was a bright flash of light and a loud explosion.