A Timeless Journey (30 page)

Sophie’s distinctive perfume made me turn my head around and there she was with Lauren standing behind me.

“How long have you been standing here?” I asked in a guilty tone of voice.

“Just enough to hear that you want to sleep on the beach. I may be upset and angry for what you have done, but I am not a bad person to let you sleep outside. You can sleep in the room. As Chris said, you have paid for the holiday too.”

“Thank you Sophie! I’m truly sorry for putting you through this.” I answered, relieved that she had seen past her anger.

“I’m not interested in your guilty feelings. I am doing this because I have no choice and please, try to stay as far away from me and as long as possible.”

Seeing that Sophie was making a scene by raising her voice in the lobby bar, I decided to leave.

“I am going to the apartment now, after the last two days I’ve had, I need some rest.”

“You sticking to your stupid story, I see,” replied Lauren.

Lauren’s angry comment didn’t faze me and ignoring it was the best way not to get involved in a futile argument. She was mindlessly standing by her friend and that was fine by me. At least Sophie had someone who was going to look after her. I greeted them with a nod of the head and tight lips as a sign of guilt and left the bar feeling estranged from my friends and guilty for hurting Sophie.

The rest of the holiday went exactly as I had read it in the book, in a desperate and miserable way. Despite my efforts to change the dire situation between us, I spent most of the days alone and at one point, the loneliness became unbearable. I wanted so much to show my Link device and the mind scrambler to my friends just to prove I wasn’t making things up, but we were in a foreign country and I couldn’t risk losing these precious objects if one of my friends decided to get revenge for what I had done by telling the customs I possessed suspicious objects.

The last day of the holiday turned out to be the most positive day for me. I had a few hours left before flying back home and the thought of it made me happy. After the loneliness I had experienced in the last week and a half, I was looking forward to see my parents again, especially after missing them for two years.

As I waited for the airport transfer to arrive, I sat in the lobby bar with my suitcase next to me, consuming Havana Club seven with ice, a drink that had become my only friend during that holiday. I just wanted to get drunk and sleep through the whole return flight since my friends weren’t willing to have a conversation with me.

We arrived at the Manchester Airport in the early hours of the morning. After going through the passport control, I said goodbye to my friends and Sophie and rushed to get an earlier train back home. When I arrived in Leeds, as I waited for the next train to Ripon, I remembered how the megacity of West Riding looked in the 26
th
century and a vague melancholic smile escaped through my lips.

All the way to Ripon I looked out of the window and images of the future megacity ran before my eyes, filling the countryside with the high-tech tall buildings that dominated the future skyline. I had returned back home as I had wished while I lived in the future. However, I wasn’t feeling happy as I would have expected and only the love for my parents managed to keep my sanity intact.

38

After an awkward and torturous holiday, I returned home feeling heartbroken from missing Luna and Sky and guilty for upsetting Sophie. To avoid upsetting her any more than I had, on our return from Dominican Republic, I picked a few personal things up and moved back to my parents’ house, leaving Sophie alone in our house. Moving back home wasn’t easy. I had to explain to my parents what had happen while I was away. Although, I expected my own parents to stand by me, they too refused to believe my story and sympathised with Sophie.

From the moment I returned home, I felt the loneliness and the abandonment. My mental state took a deep dive towards depression. The primitive and underachieving world around me and the fears of not being able to reunite with Luna and Sky again, had overloaded my brain. There was a period where I felt unable to concentrate on the reality in front of me. The rejection from my best friends, the grim reality and above all, my longing for Luna and Sky, felt too much for me to cope.

I tried to amend my friendship with Sophie, but she kept refusing to see me and eventually I gave up trying and left her alone. Chris and Lauren had sided with her and tried their best to avoid me and spare the awkwardness. My parents liked Sophie and blamed it on my stupidity for letting her go. The days at work weren’t great either and every day that passed at the Yorkshire Ambulance service call centre seemed long, very long.

My job was a far cry from working at the Institute of World History in the future. The symbolic pay, the primitive working conditions, the long hours and the dirty office politics in this reality seemed much worse to me then before my time travel. Due to my amazing experience in the last two years, my motivation and my priorities had changed drastically. I preferred the arrogant but the honest way of professor Chang’s conversations rather than the fake smiles and sarcastic remarks of my work colleagues in the call centre. I felt less valued and respected from some people in the office. The new life I had in the last two years in the future, had opened my eyes and mind to the point that I came to perceive this old reality and the strange human behaviour as primitive. Although sometimes it was hard, I chose to ignore most of my work colleagues’ behaviour rather than tell them what I really thought. After all, it was going to be impossible for them to understand my new way of thinking and I wasn’t going to take upon to educate the 21
st
century society with the values I had come across in the future.

Although, I was aware about the time difference between Dominican Republic and United Kingdom from the novel, due to the accumulated stress, I managed to entirely forget this fact for a few days. I kept trying the ring at ten in the evening British time to no avail.

One evening, a week after returning from my holiday, as I tried in frustration to activate the mind scrambler, I suddenly thought of the four hour difference between where the Laguna city was and my hometown. Remembering that I already knew this from the novel, I released a sarcastic smile. That night, as I waited for the clock to reach two in the morning, an uncontrollable trembling, due to my strong emotions, took hold of my body. I kicked myself for forgetting and the thought I was going to see Luna and Sky, made me happy.

At two o’clock exactly, I placed the ring over my head and waited. Nothing happened for the next few minutes and then the Link wristband, which I kept in my pocket all the time, released a small vibration. Quickly, I took the device out of my pocket and placed it on my left wrist. I waited for the projection of Link on my arm in desperation, as I wasn’t sure the device work in this reality. Apart a few small vibrations, nothing showed on my arm. Then the ring vibrated.

A weak blue, spherical field covered the top of my head, flashing on and off like a dying neon light. I jumped out of my bed and, in an impatient tone, spoke loudly.

“Hello, Luna can you hear me?”

There was no answer from the other side which I found hard to understand as the scrambler was showing signs of working. I looked back at the Link to see if it showed any sign of working. There was nothing showing, but a slightly vibrating bracelet on my wrist and no projection. I couldn’t understand why the Link was vibrating without a connection. Then it occurred to me. The bracelet was sensing the interference from the mind scrambler. Clearly there was a signal, a weak one, but nevertheless it was something. I couldn’t explain why Luna wasn’t able to hear me. Perhaps she was able to hear me and it was me who couldn’t hear her.

I started to move around the room, hoping that maybe the signal was stronger elsewhere and then I remembered. The mind scrambler should be able to work from anywhere on the planet. Perhaps the reason it wasn’t working, was due to the weak signal between two realities. There was a 562 year gap between the two rings and maybe the time fabric was too thick in this part of the world to allow us communicating together. My explanation lacked the scientific knowledge and I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The blue sphere stayed alight for another hour before it disappeared and I fell asleep more desperate than ever.

After the failure of the first night, I desperately tried again every night for a fortnight until one morning I was finally able to hear Luna’s voice again.

“Scott, I can h… you, not ve… clear, but I can hear you.”

“Luna, I can hear you too. I miss you so much. How is our baby, everything alright there?”

Her voice kept breaking up due to the weak signal.

“I can barel… hear you Scott. You need to be posit… and relaxed for the dev… to work. If you are tir… and your nerves tense, it won’t fully char… and this is why we haven’t been ab… to communicate.”

I took a moment to make sense of what she was saying and then I remembered. Only positive energy was able to charge the scrambler. I tried to relax by taking deep breaths, in and out… in and out… and with every breath the blue colour of the half-sphere over my head enhanced. After this effort, I was able to hear Luna clearly in my head once I relaxed.

“The blue field just got stronger. Can you hear me now?” We both spoke almost simultaneously.

“Oh Scotty, I can hear and see you now. Close your eyes, please.” She asked in a soft voice.

I closed my eyes and Luna appeared in front of me and before I had a chance to speak, she grabbed and held me tight in her arms. A warm fuzzy feeling captured me as we cuddled up virtually in each other’s arms. It was beyond me how the device worked so perfectly between two different realities and it felt as if I was back to the only place I wanted to be. I was virtually able to hold her in my arms and speak with Luna again after nearly five weeks of silence.

I looked around the living space in our apartment expecting to see my daughter.

“Where is Sky? Why she is not with you?” I asked worryingly.

“I forgot to tell you when you were here. It is punishable to use this device on children under fifteen, but I know a way around it. I will think of when I last held her and you will be able to access my thoughts and see both of us. Be ready, I will virtually place her in your arms. I don’t know how long my thoughts will last, so you have to make the most of it. It won’t be the same as direct contact, but at least you can access her through my thoughts.”

“Thank you Luna,” I replied and gave her a long passionate virtual kiss.

As soon as she took a step back and stretched her arms towards me, baby Sky appeared in her arms. I reached out to hold her. A warm feeling ran through my body, my eyes filled up and I felt the weight of fatherhood again. A few moments later, Luna interrupted our tender moment as she couldn’t keep up her thoughts of baby Sky any longer, due to the emotional sight of me and Sky.

We carried on talking for the next hour, catching up on what we have missed while away from each other. We discussed what chances I had to return in the 26
th
century, until passion overwhelmed us and we gave in to mind pleasure which this time around seemed to make more sense than the last time when Luna was standing in front of me.

It was after four in the morning in Ripon and I had to go to work in a few hours. As much as I wanted to be with Luna, I had to end the connection, at least until the next night.

“Luna, I wish we could stay connected all the time, but we know this is impossible and I have to go to work in three and a half hours. Thank you for returning happiness back to me and I will see you again tomorrow. Now I know why the scrambler hasn’t been working in the last two weeks. I have been too tense because of the thought of not seeing you again. Give Sky a kiss from me and tell her I miss her dearly.”

“I will, Scott. I love you unconditionally and please, try to find a way back here.” She begged.

“I will try with my whole being. See you tomorrow evening, my love.”

Once I opened my eyes, Luna disappeared from my sight. I took the ring off my head and the sadness of not having her near, gathered within me like a dark cloud before the storm. When I went through the anomaly to return back in the 21
st
century, I never thought I was going to miss my new life this much, but after talking to Luna, I realised the reality where I was born did no longer feel like home. I had become a stranger in my own timeline.

I had less than three hours to catch on my sleep before getting ready for work. After seeing Luna and baby Sky, I had absolutely no desire to spend most of the day sat in a cubicle desk talking to strangers about their health problems. I thought of ringing in sick for the day, but what use would it do staying at home crying. Eventually I changed my mind and decided not to ring sick. Seeing Luna again had made me happy and sad at the same time. My emotional state was unstable and I just needed to be left alone with my thoughts at work that day. 

Now that I had established a permanent nightly contact with Luna, the days seemed to pass quicker. It wasn’t long when the working by day and seeing Luna virtually by night, started to make me tired. The fact that I hovered between two realities and, since I focused my mind more in the virtual future with Luna, rather than the present, disconnected even more my mind from the old reality and the people around.

Having lived in a perfect world for two years, this reality seemed so primitive and pointless and I felt depressed for being in it. I started to lose respect for people as fast as they spoke or did something below the 26
th
century standards. I found it hard accepting the ways the majority of the society behaved.

My parents never took the courage to believe me. My claim to have lived for two years in a distant future, not only didn’t convince them, but they started to believe I was losing my mind. I kept repeating to them that one day I might go back and they would never see me again. Their reaction was a constant accusation of insanity towards me. My parents support meant a lot to me and since I wasn’t getting it, I felt betrayed and frustrated.

After the initial depression and the continuous rejection for the old reality, I felt it was time for me to sit down and start writing my story. It was the last day of September 2012 and after three months of suffering the consequences of returning to home, my friends’ rejection and my parents’ refusal to believe me; finally I decided it was time to put my story on paper. Writing about everything that has happened to me from the moment I went through the anomaly until now, it meant recalling the most important moments of the past two years. As painful as this resulted to be, I also believe so far it has been therapeutic to recall the best time of my life.

Once I will finish writing this novel, the only thought in my mind will be to return in the same beach and wait for the anomaly to appear again. For some strange reason, I have this feeling that the anomaly will appear regularly on 18
th
of June of each upcoming year. It is just a wishful thinking which I have to embrace and hope it comes true.

It is unfortunate that time travel in the 26
th
century has been banned. Otherwise Luna could have travelled to this reality and transported me back to the future. Although there is still a possibility for her to do just that, she would risk being locked in the IEF for unlawfully travelling in time. Knowing that Luna would never admit she has done anything wrong due to justifying her actions with the reason of being in love, there is the possibility that she would remain locked in the facility for a long time. I cannot allow her to spend her life restricted in a facility. Above all, I don’t want Luna to face this primitive world where I seem to be trapped.