One year in the future
Gen sat patiently at her desk as she waited for Newt and Hype’s safe return from the past. She remembered the their encounter with each other like it was yesterday, but she’s done so much in the past year. She knew her invention wasn’t perfect, there still wasn’t a way to give you more time, which is something some people were afraid of. It simply allowed the user to go back in time and return to their current time, but the amount of time spent away dictates when you return back. It was a compromise in the project, so you wouldn’t be able to gain more time and have more power. Gen knew that her companions would be gone for about an hour, give or take a couple minutes so she decided to run to the cafeteria to get some food.
Although her dream had been coming true, it had been a rough year, sitting through board meetings and and staying awake countless hours to finish her prototypes. The past twelve months have been all about making a name for herself to the university board, but the news didn’t spread farther than that. If news got out about time travel, the university would be at risk, so she couldn’t even tell her family. It really brought her down how she still wasn’t good enough in the eyes of her parents.
She grabbed her bag and hung up her lab coat on the hook by the labs exit. Of course, the lab is in a secret storage facility behind the boiler room for privacy reasons, so she had to walk through the musty bowels of the building. As she made her way across campus towards the central cafeteria, she decided that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to go to this cafeteria, where her family frequently ate lunch.
They had all taken the news of Gen’s alleged failure pretty well, being the comforting older siblings and loving parents they are, but there was still a cautious air about them. Having to hide such a big secret from her family was the hardest thing she’s done in a long time. Growing up, they had been very open, sharing almost everything; there just weren’t any secrets. Gen knew she couldn’t tell her family, but anytime they gave her one of their pitying side glances when they thought she couldn’t see, she wanted to blurt out her discoveries and shove them in their faces, so she’s been avoiding them.
Normally they would all get together in the cafeteria once every couple of weeks for lunch, which replaces the traditional family dinner for their household, but Gen has gone scarcely over the past year. Two incidents made her really feel left out when the topic of conversation approached two things, work and relationships. The first lunch she attended had been right after her proposal had been accepted, but to her family it had been rejected. Her mother had commented on how happy she looked although her work had been rejected but she just smiled and said she’s found something else to occupy her time. Of course, that was the wrong thing to say, because her family had gotten the impression she was seeing someone and wouldn’t take no for an answer. So when she showed up to the next lunch should could make 2 months later, all they did was pester her with questions about her “mystery man”. She tried to avoid family lunches after that by making flimsy excuses to stay in the lab on those days.
As she walked into the cafeteria, she had subconsciously known that it was a family day, but she plowed forward anyway. It’ll be good to see them she thought. I’ve been far too distant lately, I don’t even know what’s happening anymore.
She looked across the atrium of a cafeteria and saw her family already starting to gather at their regular table. She approached with caution, trying not to draw attention to herself, simply sliding into the empty seat next to Even, who seemed to be in a heated discussion with Tim, and dropping her bag to the floor.
“Seriously Tim, you just don’t understand! I’m not saying that Andrew Garfield was a better Spiderman, I was saying he was closer to the sarcastic sense of Peter Parker from the comics than Tobey Maguire was.”
“Really Even, that’s not what you said yesterday. Please stop trying to act like you actually know anything about Spider Man when we all know you just like to look at Andrew Garfield.”
“Okay Tim, we all know I’m gay, and we all know Andrew Garfield is a very attractive man, but that is beside the point...” he trailed off as Gen’s quiet giggles burst out into full laughter.
“Gen!” Tim and Even squeaked in unison, jumping out of their seats to wrap her in a double bear hug.
I really have missed them.
“Long time no see,” Paige said as she slid across the table from Gen, “how’s the lab?”
“It’s fine,” Gen replied in a short tone as she pushed her two brothers off of her, “no new developments and nothing interesting in anyway.”
“That’s not what I’ve been hearing,” Ward jumped in, “and seeing. Who’s that new friend I’ve seen you running around with? Toad or something like that.”
“Oh that’s just Newt. He’s the labs new intern, well him and his sister Hype,”
“Hype? Please tell me that’s a nickname,” Tim interjected as returned to his seat.
“Of course it is, it’s short for Hyperion.”
“Hyperion? Wasn’t that one of the Mythical Greek titans?” Paige began.
“And is a male titan if I am correct,” Ward finished.
“Yeah okay, but we’re not ones to judge, seriously. We’re all named after time elements so we have no room to criticize someone's name,” Even said giving a harsh stare to the rest of his family.
“Thank you Even,” Gen said relieved her two closest friends were safe in her favorite brother’s eyes. “They’re pretty helpful actually, they know their stuff and aren’t afraid to share their opinions. Everything you could want in an intern.”
“Back to my original point,” Ward said, “is Newt your mystery guy? Or is Hype the mystery girl? You know if that’s why you’ve been hiding from us all this time, that’s stupid!”
Paige picked up right where his train of thought was going, “Exactly Gen, just look at Even, we’ve accepted him for forever. The concept of homosexuality is not exactly new to this family.”
“Thank you for that riveting speech, oh gracious family of mine but there really is no mystery anyone, no need to worry.”
“But that’s why we worry!” Tim nearly shouted, “Gen, in all the years you’ve worked here when have you ever had any sort of romantic relationship?”
Gen knew it shouldn’t have been as much of a shock as it was, but it still hurt to sometimes think about. Of course she’s dated before, but the only serious relationship she’d ever had ended when she began working on her theory. Jake had claimed “I can’t love someone who doesn’t even realize that they’re creating a whole world of fiction in their head. Really Gen, you need psychiatric help if you think that your theory is ever going to get anywhere,” and it had stung more than any other person telling her that she was crazy. So Gen stayed away from dating after that, keeping to herself and occasionally going out with friends, but mostly she worked towards her goal.
“Gen,” Even said in a soft tone he normally reserved for her, “it’s been six years since Jake, and he really was an asshole. You deserve to be happy, and if you’ve found someone that does that, we just want to make them feel welcome to the family.”
“Exactly. Except, not at family lunch. That’s for us, no significant others allowed,” Tim added, reinforcing the already commonly known rule about family lunch.
“Gen, we just want you to be happy for once. You’ve been way happier these past couple of months than you’ve been in all the years you’ve worked here, and your proposal was rejected!” Ward proclaimed. “The only logical answer for this is that you’ve finally found someone that’s gotten you through this difficult time, someone who takes care of you, we just want you to be happy.”
Gen thought for a second what this whole situation must look like; obviously she had been a frequent topic at family lunch, whether she was there or not. She thought about how she would feel if the same thing was happening to one of her siblings; how angry she would be for them. She could imagine their anger disappearing as they see her still fine, smiling more than usual, running around campus with a guy who’s actually her age. She could see how they would make assumptions. After all, her theory was just a silly one so there’s no reason it could have been accepted. No, it’s more plausible that their emotionally stunted sister managed to push past her insecurities and anxieties and fall in love again. Yeah right, Gen wondered, is it really so impossible that my theory was correct, seriously. Why don’t they ever have more faith. I was wrong, I can’t do this.
“I need to start heading back,” Gen whispered and quickly snatched her bag from the floor, “really sorry I couldn’t stay longer, but taking care of interns and stuff you know.”
“Gen we haven’t even eaten lunch yet!” Paige expressed as she ran around the table to get Gen to stay.
“Guys really, I just stopped by to check in, say that yes I am alive, but I really need to go,” Gen insisted as she narrowly escaped Paige’s advancement.
As she quickly walked away from the table she passed her parents who were just coming in. “Gena!” Cassidy cried as her daughter ran past, “Where are you going honey?”
“Mom,” Gen stammered, “sorry, I really have to get back to the lab. Something about not turning in my testing papers or collecting the right data. So yeah. Good to see you . I’m fine. Bye.” Gen fled the cafeteria leaving her whole family to stare at her back as her feet slapped the pavement.
She headed back to her building fleeing to the basement, taking the stairs two at a time to get back to the lab as quickly as possible. Once she was returned to her underground safe haven, she felt protected from the bomb inside her head that was her family.
Of course they care about me I know that. What I don’t understand is why they just won’t drop it when I tell them to. This has to be the worst incident of their compassion by far. I hate that this is the way it has to be, I can’t keep lying to them. Maybe if I actually used my equipment I would feel calmer about this whole thing. It’s sort of terrifying all that I can do, but I still can’t-
Suddenly the machines in the lab were alive with sounds. All thoughts of her family quickly pushed out of her head as she looked over the controls in front of her wondering what could be happening. Then, as suddenly as they turned on, they shut off. Gen was about to check the the control panel when she was startled by a voice.
“Hey Gen, we’re back,” Hype called from the other side of the room, “I didn’t get to do much during our visit, but the jump really takes a toll on me. I’m going to run and get some food.”
“Okay,” Gen replied, “Wait, just don’t go to the central cafeteria. I went to family lunch today and they seemed to take an interest in you two. Also the story I told them was the you we’re both my interns working under me in Dr. Pollard’s lab, because that’s my cover story in case either of you forgot. ”
“Seriously Gen, interns? We’re the same age, and Hype is older than us, how could they have believed it?”
“Well, they were convinced I’m seeing one of you, but hopefully they’ll drop the whole thing.”
“I hope you told them you were seeing me," Hype exclaimed as she puttered around the room in search of all her belongings, "We both know we could run this university if we were ever together."
“Oh man, I should have told them that! That way, when we do take over, they’ll see it coming. Damn,” Gen replied, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of the statement.
“Next time then. Well, I’m off to grab some lunch for us all, I’ll be back!” She left the room with a swish of her dress as the other two began getting the rundown on equipment from the previous jump.
“So,” Newt interjected into the silence, drawing out the vowel, “you went to family lunch? I thought you decided avoiding them was easier because of all the secrecy.”
“Yeah well it is, but for some reason I still don’t understand I went today and it was terrible. They accosted me about my work life and when they couldn’t get anything out of me the moved onto my love life. Then, I made some BS excuse and left, oh, but not before running into my parents and blowing them off too. Really, it went just as well as I expected it to.”
“What were you expecting?”
“I’m not even sure. I wasn’t planning on going but I found myself headed there anyway. It’s just annoying how they get all accusing saying I’ve been smiling more lately but that doesn’t make sense! Oh no, my proposal was rejected, so what possible reason do I have to smile all the time when my life’s work had been shut down. There has to be someone behind all of this because, there’s no way I could just be happy on my own, no, someone had to be there to save me. Then they all think I don’t want to introduce them to the family because of my douchebag ex boyfriend who called me insane and left me with a bunch of problems. And it all just sucks, you know? Because, every time I think about how successful Tim is or how far Even has gotten in his research, I just want to be like ‘Hello! I am a successful working adult who has met her life goal and subsequently jumped into a sci-fi novel!’ But I can’t because that would put us all in danger and specifically you two. I never want you guys to be subject to the pressure of the six Dimeson’s all together.”
“Gen, you know it would be fine. It’s not your fault they see you the way they do. It’s not your fault that the stupid board will give you all of the funding and none of the leeway.”
“Yeah, but I can’t help feeling that if I’d chosen a different profession this wouldn’t happen,” Gen sighed as she flopped down in the desk chair next to the control panel, “I could have gone into neuroscience! I could have gone into medtech! Pretty much anything would have been better than this stupid temperamental, theoretical, science fiction, physics that isn’t even considered real.”
“Seriously Gen, you are just being a negative Nancy. Stop being such a pessimist and be the happy go lucky Gen we all know is hidden under all your insecurities.” urged Newt as sat next to her giving her a reassuring smile. “I mean seriously, in two years when we’re an established experiment, it won’t even matter that you had to hide from your parents, you’ll be known all around campus as the woman who broke the standard. If you don’t want to believe, you don’t have to, but me and Hype both have faith that this will be okay.”
“Thanks Newt,” apologized Gen, “I’m just under way more pressure than I thought that I would have to deal with. It’s all worth it isn’t it though? We get to do amazing work and I’m living my dream. I’ve always been touchy when it involves family, but lets not worry about me right now, tell me how your assignment went.”
Newt looked at her like he wasn’t finished talking about this, but he still moved onto talking about his assignment, “It went exactly how you said it would. I played the part just as convincingly as you need, and you even let us reprogram the jump code for once so that was fun. Besides that, the jump was fine, Hype got a little sick after, but it was only her second time so that was expected. You were as weird as always, but you seemed to be doing fine. Whatever you wrote in that note must have really worked on past you, if only we could get it to work on current you.”
“Ha ha, very funny. I’m doing fine, Newt.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am absolutely positive,” Gen exclaimed as she jumped out of her seat and went back to prepping the room.
As she was looking over the fluctuation stats of the temporal hard drive, Hype strode back into the office carrying a bag full of food announcing, “Gen, I don’t know what you were complaining about, your family is lovely.”
“What are you talking about. are you sure you met the right people?" oh god this is terrible. I can't deal with my family interfering with my work "And I apologize for anything that came out of Ward or Paige's mouths because although they're only four years older than me they are definitely the most opinionated about what I should be doing in my life."
"Seriously Gen, relax. All the other cafeterias weren't serving anything good and I just got back from a jump, so I wanted good food. It’s not like they accosted me or anything, I’m an adult I can take care of myself. Just calm down, all they did was ask me about what I was planning on doing after working in Dr. Pollard’s lab.”
“Okay, well that answer can be potentially very dangerous. What did you tell them? Because, Even once went through a phase where he wanted to be a detective and he still has all the knowledge of how to notice things. He also minored in psychology, so you have to be a very convincing liar.”
“The thing is Gen,” objected Hype as she began unloading the food from the bag onto the counter, “you’re freaking out and underestimate my ability. Like your brother, I also minored in psychology, and probably have logged more credit hours than he has. Also, I didn’t even have to lie to them. I said that I was planning on moving into theoretical physics, and that’s why I was placed under you, which if anything is just stretching the truth. I know how to handle the family dynamic, you should see what happens when all our cousins get together, let me tell you. Newt gets so intimidated one time he accidentally...”
“And that’s enough of that story,” groaned Newt as he reached over and slapped his hand over his sister’s mouth, “It’s stunningly boring and not at all as interesting as lunch is right now. What did you bring us today, oh wonderful sister of mine?”
Hype smacked his arm away and divulged into an explanation of what she had brought, “Well for the gracious creator, I got what you probably would have gotten yourself had you not run out of the cafeteria, which would happen to be a very delicious high quality cafeteria burrito; for my very ungrateful dweeb brother, I have acquired the rarely seen burger on a pretzel roll; and for myself I have gotten a big plate of chilli cheese fries. Now please leave me to enjoy this amazing masterpiece in peace and stop worrying about your family so much.”
“Thanks sis!”
“Well, I'll consider not worrying about it because you brought such good food. How did you know I wanted a burrito?”
“Gen I've been working with you for 6 months, I know that a burrito can make you happy.”
“Yes yes, the way to my heart is through food now let's eat.” Gen plopped down on a stool at the counter which they ate at. They sat in silence as they enjoyed their food but there was a tension that hung in the air leaving Gen to feel a little unsettled. She shuffled her feet against the bar at the bottom of the stool that she sat on and thought about the plan for the rest of the day. “Hold on, what’s the date today?”
“Is sha fictsteenf,” replied Newt around the huge bite of burger he had just taken.
“Wow Newt. One, Gross and two he was trying to say the sixteenth,” corrected Hype as she stared at her brother in disgust.
“Really? It’s already the sixteenth?”
“Yes Gen, where have you been?”
“I’ve been here the entire time, I guess I just forgot my old tutor was coming to do a physics lecture today on campus at one,” she trailed off glancing at her watch, “It doesn’t start for another hour, but I think I’m going to go. It’ll be cool to see him.”
“Who is this again? I know you’ve mentioned his name before, but I just can’t remember.”
“Really Newt, you have a degree in physics and you can’t remember Dr. Grad-Tali, one of the most established physics instructors there is, was Gen’s tutor? Seriously how could you forget?”
“Well, unlike you two, I wasn’t interested in physics until I was a junior in college, which you two seem to often forget. So, I obviously don’t know as much as either of you when it comes to the famous physicist side of the world,” retorted Newt staring down at the rest of his burger in silence.
“Yes, Newt. Gen and I both know you were a late bloomer in the physics world, but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t know that he was her tutor. Since you were so defensive, I think that we should all go and see his lecture.”
“I was planning on going anyway.”
“Well it’s decided then,” Gen interrupted before they could start another round of bickering, “We’ll head over there in half an hour to ensure all the staff seats aren’t gone by the time we get there. And don’t worry about afterwards, I’m sure he’ll be happy to chat with all of us, maybe we can get his opinion on our work.”
“Of course he will Gen, you were probably one of his favorite students,” promised Hype, “I’ll make sure not to embarrass us all.”
Half an hour quickly passed with gossip of what’s happening around campus and who else is coming to speak on campus in the upcoming months. They climbed the stairs out of the basement, into the world of light again and headed towards the lecture hall. When they entered the lecture hall they made their way into the front seats that were reserved for staff. The chatted idly with other members of the physics department that were also there to see the lecture.
At one o’clock on the dot, the lecture started when Dr. Grad-Tali went to the podium, grabbed the microphone from the stand, and began speaking, “Good afternoon everyone, my name is Dr. Quant M. Grad-Tali, but my guess is that if you’re here to see me speak you already knew that. I am a doctor of theoretical physics..” and continued on that track for two hours.
Has he always looked this young? Gen recalled as she watched her old teacher speak about physics, did he have work done or something because he looks like he did when I first met him.
Seeing the look of confusion that passed over Gen’s face, Hype leaned over and asked, “Gen, is everything alright? You look super confused and he’s just talking about his lab, which I know you shouldn’t be confused about.”
“No, everything’s fine Hype, no need to worry.” Gen shot back as she tuned back into the content of the lecture.
When the lecture came to an end Gen and her team stood in line waiting to talk to Dr. Grad-Tali. Gen thought of all the things she could ask him about his time after being her tutor. Maybe we can go get coffee and catch up, Gen assured herself, he did kind of disappear when he was done tutoring me, so that’s one thing we could talk about.
They reached the front of the line and before Gen could say his name, Dr. Grad-Tali interrupted. “Ah, Dr. Gena Dimeson, what a lovely surprise. I’m very glad I’ve finally got the chance to meet you,” he beamed as he enthusiastically shook her hand, “I’ve heard quite a lot about the little project you’ve got going on there, but don’t worry, it’s a heavily guarded secret.”
Gen sat there for a moment taking in all he had said in the past couple of seconds. What does that mean? Of course he knows me, he tutored me for five years! Before she could voice any of these thoughts, Newt interjected with, “What do you mean you’ve never met her before?”
“Well,” Dr. Grad-Tali replied addressing Newt’s question, “I’ve been traveling for about twenty or so years doing lectures...” Is he lying or am I just insane? “...and you all have just more recently become a doctor of physics, if I understand. I haven’t had the chance to meet the new crew since I’ve been away. But, I’d really enjoy chatting about your new project, Dr. Dimeson.”
“Yes of course,” Gen stammered as she tore her thoughts away from confusion, “Let’s exchange cards and set up a time to show you the lab.”
“That would be lovely,” He agreed and handed her his card as she handed him one of the ones she had pulled out of her bag. She glanced down at the card to make sure this was the right guy, and not some imposter, and sure enough the card said,
DR. QUANT M. GRAD-TALI
465-555-2364
QUANT_M_GRADTALI@GMAIL.COM
“We’ll be in touch,” Hype chimed in, grabbing Gen’s arm, “Unfortunately, we have to get back to the lab now, and we wouldn’t want to hold up the rest of the line.” Gen flashed him a reassuring smile as Hype dragged her out of the lecture hall.
“Dude,” Newt bubbled.
“I know!” exclaimed Gen but with a tone of annoyance.
“What is going on?” questioned Hype, the only one daring enough to actually approach the subject.
“It would seem, the good doctor has no recognition of who Gen is,” answered Newt.
“Correction,” quipped Gen, “he has no personal recognition of me. Who know’s who I am through the university, but he doesn’t know he was my tutor.”
“How can he not remember?” Hype puzzled.
“I’m not sure,” Gen started, “but we need to find out.”
