According to Word, I started this August 15, 2008 at 5:33 PM. And I haven't picked it up and finished it until a year later!
Haven't posted anything new to this part of the site in a while...hope everything is up to standards!!
Enjoy!
Old Friend, Little Friend
By doodlegirll
***
"DDDAAADDD!"
Thunk.
"Ow!"
Thirty seven year old Cornelius looked down from the top of the time machine towards the ground, where his friend had been under the red machine moments before. His friend was now sitting up, rubbing his baseball-capped head, a grimace on his face.
"What happened?" Cornelius asked. His friend looked up.
"I happened." He said.
Cornelius looked from his friend to the staircase on the other side of his lab, where he heard hurried footsteps clonking up the stairs excitedly. Moments later, his eight year old son appeared.
"Dad!" Wilbur said, running towards his father and the other man on the floor, an eyebrow cocked curiously.
"What is it, son?" Cornelius asked. "You know you're not supposed to come up here without using the intercoms first. This thing could blow at any minute." He gestured to the time machine.
"I know." Wilbur said. "I just wanted to show you something!"
"What?" Cornelius asked.
Wilbur held up a piece of paper. "I had an idea for the time machine!" He said.
Cornelius took the paper. On it was a detailed drawing of a time machine – similar to the prototype he knew his son (and the man sitting on the floor behind him) would one day steal for frequent joyrides. Surrounding the time machine was a circle. There was no color in this circle; it was just a circle, almost like a halo surrounding the machine.
"This is great, Wilbur." Cornelius said. "But what is this surrounding the time machine?"
Wilbur grinned. "It's a bubble!" He said.
"A bubble?"
The boy nodded. "A bubble." He repeated. "It surrounds the time machine and allows it to travel, like the Bubble Transport bubbles do."
Cornelius smiled. "That's a good idea, Wilbur." He said. "I'll keep this in mind."
Wilbur beamed at the thought of his idea being used on the time machine. His father took the picture to his desk and pinned it to the bulletin board that held all the time machine's rough sketches, blueprints, and formulas.
"I'll keep it right here so I don't forget." Cornelius said. "Now Wil and I have to get back to work."
"Can I watch?" Wilbur asked, grinning in confidence that his father, whom he knew to be a giant teddy bear (or a squishy jellyfish, whichever worked).
"I don't know." Cornelius said, glancing back at the man on the floor behind him. "It's pretty boring…"
"I won't get in the way, I promise!" Wilbur pestered. "I'll sit right here and watch and not touch anything!"
"Well…alright." Cornelius said. "Just don't touch anything and don't get in mine or Wil's way, got it?"
Wilbur nodded eagerly. "Got it!" He said.
Cornelius smiled at his son, who walked over to the stool at his desk and sat down, watching with enthusiastic eyes. He turned back to his friend on the floor.
"Lewis, are you sure this is such a good idea?" He whispered. "I mean, that's me over there…"
"Relax, Wil." Cornelius said. "If I can meet my future self and actually know it, I think it's safe to say you can meet your future self and not know it, and it not cause a paradox."
Wil sighed. "I guess you're right." He grinned. "And I though Franny was the one who was always supposed to be right!"
Cornelius laughed. "I have my moments." He said. "Now come on, let's get back to work."
The older version of his son nodded as he dropped back onto his back and slid back under the time machine as the younger version hopped off the stool and strode towards the two men.
"So, Dad, when is this thing going to be finished?" Wilbur asked, looking up at his father, who was back in the 'cockpit' with the hatch open.
"We don't know, Wilbur." Cornelius answered. "We're just trying to get the cloaking device to work for now."
"Oh." Wilbur said, slightly disappointed. "When we will be able to take it for a test drive?"
"When it's finished." Cornelius said.
"When will that be?"
"I don't know, Wilbur." Cornelius said, growing a bit irritated. "It depends on how fast Wil and I can work."
Wilbur chewed his bottom lip, knowing he was getting on his father's nerves. He looked at Wil under the time machine.
"Why do you always wear a hat?" He asked.
Wil stopped clanking with the wrench and looked up at the small boy. He blinked at him, only to be blinked back at in response.
"Well, uh…" He started, awkwardly. "I have bad hat hair."
Wilbur blinked. "Bad hat hair?"
Wil nodded. "Yeah. I don't have time to brush my hair in the morning. So I wear a hat."
The young boy scoffed. "It can't be any worse than Dad's!" He pointed across the room at his father.
Wil chuckled. "I think my daughter would disagree with you there, little buddy."
"You have a daughter?"
Wil nodded. "Sure do." He said.
"How old is she?"
"She's seven." Wil answered.
"What's her name?"
"Krystal." Wil went back to work with the wrench, tightening the bolt as tight as it would go. "But we all call her Krys."
"What's she like?"
Cornelius cleared his throat, and Wilbur looked up.
"Wilbur, stop pestering the man!" He said, not unamused. "I'm sure you'll get to meet Krys one day. But right now, Wil and I have a lot to work to do. We're going to test this as soon as I finish up here in the cockpit, okay? Just stand back and let us work."
His son nodded. "Okay, Dad." He said.
Wil remembered with a pang how it had felt to watch his dad build all those inventions. He remembered it quite clearly. His father had always loved him, always found time to spend with him, but there was always something akin to longing in his heart. He had always wondered what it would be like if his dad were like everyone else's dad, if he had just a little more time to spend with his son. The uncertainty of inventing, testing, had always kept him away from his father's workplace, especially after the many time machine mishaps there at home.
Which, speaking of, he was hoping to avoid today…
Cornelius finished fastening the last wire into place, and hoped out of the time machine to the floor.
"How's it going down there, Wil?" He asked.
"Almost done." Wil answered. "Just one…more…"
Finally, the screw was as tight as it would go, and Wil wheeled out from under the time machine. He climbed to his feet, wiping his greasy hands on a rag.
"Ready to test it?" Cornelius asked, and Wil nodded.
"As ready as I'll ever be." He answered. "Start her up!"
Cornelius pressed a button on a control pad next to his hand, and the time machine's turbines began to spin, and the gears began to turn inside. A low whine sounded from it, and it slowly lifted into the air.
Cornelius and Wil gave each other a grin, and Wil's younger self looked enchanted with the machine.
"Is this the one, Dad?" He asked Cornelius. "Is this the one that's going to work?"
"I think so, Wilbur." Cornelius said, ruffling his son's hair, much to Wilbur's dismay. "I think so!"
He walked towards the levitating machine, cautiously.
Suddenly, the low whine turned into an erratic beeping, and the time machine began to twitch in midair. Thick, black smoke began to seep from between the panels that made up its exterior, and Cornelius realized with horror that this was not going to be one of the prototypes that worked.
"Hit the floor!" He shouted to his son across the room as he himself dove to the ground, covering his head with his hands. "It's going to blow!!"
Within seconds, Wil had his younger self in his arms, shielding his small body with his own.
The time machine erupted into a huge blast, shaking the building to its foundation, smoke filling the entire room. The sound echoed off the walls and windows, and the room became hot. After a moment, Wil released the small boy in his arms, the both of them coughing as they waved the smoke away from their faces.
"Dad?" Wilbur called into the fog. "Dad, are you alright?"
Another cough joined with theirs, and after a moment, one of the panels of glass above their heads slid away, cool spring air gushing inside as the smoke rose into the blue sky. Cornelius, black with soot, emerged a few seconds later.
"That was close." He said. "That one nearly blew the lab apart!"
Wil coughed one last time before clamping a hand onto Cornelius's shoulders.
"I don't think I remember that happening!" He said.
Cornelius laughed, and for a moment, the two of them forgot about the small boy in the room with them. Until, that is, that Wilbur tugged on Wil's sleeve.
"Wil!" He said. "You lost your hat!"
Wil's eyes widened and his hand went to his head. Sure enough, the old baseball cap was gone. The blast must have knocked it off…
Large brown eyes stared at the prominent cowlick above Wil's forehead, and he chewed his lip nervously. He didn't dare say anything.
"Wow." His younger self said after a moment. "You were right!"
"Right about what?"
"You do have bad hat hair!"
Wil and Cornelius burst into laughter, both filled with relief.
"Why don't you go find your mother and get cleaned up, Wilbur?" Cornelius suggested. "Wil and I will clean up in here."
Wilbur nodded. "Okay, Dad." He said. "See ya, Wil!"
"See ya later, little buddy." Wil said as he ruffled Wilbur's hair to match his own.
Wilbur grinned and disappeared down the stairs.
Wil looked back at his father. "That was a close one, you know." He said. "We're both lucky I had a short attention span at that age!"
Cornelius smirked. "No kidding." He said. He sighed as he looked around him. "Come on. Now let's try and find that cap before Franny comes up here to inspect the damage. She is not one with a short attention span…"