Josephine and the Quantum Time Machine: Part I

Josephine and the Quantum Time Machine

Part I

By L.K.Davis

"Who wants another drink!? Anyone!? C'mon it's an after party for God's sake", Becky tends to become quite the party animal. It was 2.33 a.m and we were invited back to Greg Smith's house for the prom after party. Everyone was pretty drunk, I was too but I sobered up. The music was in the indie chill out stage, some people went home, so there was about 14 of us left.

Greg lived quite outside Middlewitch in a countryside cottage, with a few neighboring large houses. I went outside to get some fresh air, I was hungry and felt quite sick sitting in room that smelt like vodka and other drinks. The sky was pitch black, stars were more visible in the countryside and it made me feel relaxed. I sat down on a fence which bordered Greg's house. "Jo come in, we're gonna start playing Alco-twister!" Becky shouted from the kitchen window, "No thanks Becks, I'm alright here you go on and twist... or whatever" I halfheartedly replied. Wow. It sunk in. I have finished school. Seems as if it lasted a few months but during the years it seems to last a lifetime. CLUNK. CLUNK. What was that?


Across the field that i was facing was a large barn type building, motor noises and banging kept coming from there. It was only a 100 or so metres away so I thought maybe one of the guys from the after party were messing around in there. I started to feel a little bit better and jumped off the fence and started to walk across the field towards the barn. As I came closer I could hear a voice talking loudly and frantically, as if he... as it was a deep voice... was in some sort of panic.


"Helloooo? What you doing in there!? Greg won't be happyy if you're messing around in there!" I heard no reply just the voice frantically murmuring and the occasional crank of what seems to be a motor. There was a  window close by so I scurried towards it, perplexed to what was going on. I was stunned by sudden array of flashes, brightest I have ever seen. I gasped.


Whoever was in there was not part of the after party. I looked in through the window  holding my breath. Oh my god.

I saw some sort of messy laboratory, but it was void of any person. I swear I heard voices and noises from some sort of machine. Maybe he was away. Hmmm. I really wanted to go in there. I do love a good laboratory but this looked different. The party was pretty past its saturation point really. This was the only exciting thing left to see around here.

I opened the window and climbed through. I could hear beeps and hummings of machines...  wandering closer in, these machines were almost unrecognizable. They had no screens or buttons, just small grey squares on them. some machines I recognized such as a radio and some lights. But the other technology was beyond the likes of Apple and Microsoft. What do they do? Maybe they are just models for a film or some other weird thing.

Curiosity and adrenaline took over me and I began touching some of the machines, they were smooth and seemed robust but very light. All of them had no plugs... which seemed odd. They were warm so obviously some work is being done by them. I touched one of the grey squares....  "DNA not recognized. To activate Lepton amplifier please change privacy settings to all users". It spoke.. in a female tone... didn't sound robotic at all. I looked around some more. There was a sofa which looked very familiar, there were tools and some clothing on one side. I saw a blank white piece of paper which looked slightly thicker than normal. I picked it up and it began to light up. I chucked it out of surprise. An icon appeared and then later 'Interact for magazine'. Interact? Strange... maybe it was some new imported Japanese ipad. I picked it up again and it was quite floppy for an ipad sort of thing. A cover appeared..  it looked like a magazine.. it was called 'NewTheorist' and showed a picture of a man and others in front of slick looking building. Under the title it read 'WEEKLY 7th July 2117/ EB'. WHAT. Was this a joke!? Am I still drunk or high !?

"ahem... I zink you are not supposed to be here young girl" I whipped round and my body was frozen. He almost did not care that someone had trespassed. I was still frozen. "Now where did I put zat lepton amplifier.." His voice had an eastern European twang. "Hmmm just to your right... I think" I answered his rhetorical question still scared and confused. "Ah hah zere zou you are", he touched the grey square I had touched whilst looking at the other equipment. "DNA recognized, activating Lepton amplifier to wavelength 10.34 Gavisons". A Gavison? hmm doesn't sound familiar maybe it's beyond me. "So vat made you come here young girl hmm? Was I making too much noise?" he was setting up some machines whilst fiddling with his watch... or what seemed to be. "I... I.. yes.. well I... just th.." I couldn't speak. "Don't be frightened, I should not be here either". I collapsed in the sofa with even more confusion. "What do you mean you are not supposed to be here, isn't this your barn?", "oooo noo young girl it's not my barn, nor is it my time". What is he on about! "Right you my name is Josephine Eloise Baker and what do you bloody mean by this is not 'my time youunng girl" he turned round. I began to feel nauseous again.

 "I am not from yours time 'Josephine' I am from what yous call ze future. Yous see I have traveled here by accident, my transportation suffered from a fault and sent me to ze wrong space-time co-ordinate. My name is Professor Heinrich Bourbaki and where I come from, I am a ma-ze-matical zeorist who also studies anti symmetric quantum warping in singularities. Me and my team have for several years been able to create singularities in space time and convert mass into transparent mass thereby allowing an object to travel in any direction in minkowski space time without disrupting the nature of space and time itself". I puked behind the sofa... I was in shock. "Lie down, here have some VHC and rest". I passed out.