After ten minutes of slow climbing on the dome, Harri could feel her abs and legs burning. It was quite a workout. It also seemed that the dome became warmer as she approached the top. Once she was a few feet away from the source of the light beam she was able to go on all fours since the area was flat enough. The light was so bright that she could barely see anything. She crawled slowly over to the light and reached towards it with her fingers.

Before she could even touch it, she felt heat. It was as hot as fire when she moved close enough. If this was the way in to the time machine, it seemed very dangerous. Anyone passing through this light would burn up.

She decided she needed to turn around and tell Bruce what she had discovered. She rotated her body and turned opposite to the light, but before the could try crawling down, she noticed a dark ring of glass that she couldn't see before. It was as though her eyes were beginning to adjust to the extreme brightness.

The ring of transparent glass stretched around the top of the dome as far as she could see. She went flat on her stomach, and after cupping out outer perimeter of her eyes, she looked into the glass.

It was dark but she could tell there was open space inside of the dome. She squinted, blocking out the bright light above her as much as possible and allowed her eyes some time to adjust to the dark. She saw water, hundreds of feet down and what looked like a floor. It was the way in!

She crawled quickly back the way she had come and soon saw the top of Bruce's head. After crawling down for a few minutes she realized that the steepness was increasing and she would have to slide down the rest of the way. She turned a few inches away from Bruce, giving herself space and pushed off with her hands, sliding fast down the dome into the water.

Before she could surface she felt Bruce grabbing her arms and pulling her head above water.

"Harri!" he said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah!" she breathed and coughed a few times. "That wasn't as fun as it looked."

She gripped the side of the dome with Bruce and noticed he had her flippers under his opposite arm.

"Float on your back and I'll put them back on," he instructed and she did as he asked.

"Did the boat move?" she asked, noticing the boat had moved from beside them to further away in front of them.

"No," he said. "But this rock seems to be rotating..counterclockwise."

"Bruce!" Harri said, grabbing his shoulder. "I saw something! A way in!"

"Okay," Bruce said, looking like he was thinking hard. "I do have some wall climbing suction cups..they're not exactly lightweight or easy to swim with but I can find a way to carry them-"

"No!" Harri exclaimed. "It's not up there! It's underneath! I saw through glass up there, there's an opening with air above it and I saw a floor..at least I think it was a floor. But there's definitely a hole in this thing under the bottom, right in the middle."

Bruce pulled his swim mask up to his forehead and wiped his face.

"If that's the case," he said. "We'll have to come back with tanks."

Harri nodded. After she did the enormous beam at the top of the device cut off. It was dark again. The olive green wiring in the rock under their hands were still illuminated.

"Wha-" Harri said, and they were both blinded in the dark for a few moments. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Bruce said and pulled his mask back on. He was relieved that the flood lights from the boat were visible. "We have to swim back now."

.

.

.

When they were both back on the boat they collapsed tiredly on the deck after crawling onto it. Bruce sat up and looked at the slight change in the dark sky. It was after 4 a.m. and he could tell the sun would be rising in a few hours.

Harri and Bruce went inside of the yacht quietly.

"That was exhausting," Harri said. "Do you think there were sharks in the water?"

"Probably," Bruce told her honestly.

"So...we get the tanks now and.." Harri said.

"No," Bruce said. "We need to recuperate. It will be a long swim underwater since the rock is so huge. We don't want to get exhausted under there..also, there won't be enough air to get under there and back unless we are really in tip top shape. Even then, it's a huge risk."

"This thing looks like a real time machine," Harri said. "We won't need to come back to the boat if it works-"

"You've become quite a believer," Bruce said.

"I mean...look at it," she said and they looked out at the device.

"We'll still need rest before we can dive under it," Bruce told her.

"Yeah," Harri nodded tiredly. She felt like she would drop.

"Let's give it ten hours," he said. "Enough time to rest and eat. "Two p.m. we'll go back over."

.

.

.

"Did you sleep at all?" Harri asked Bruce as she poured herself some coffee six hours later.

"Few hours," Bruce said. "And you?"

"Same," she responded and looked into her cup. "So...this is like..my last cup of coffee..from the future. I mean the present future."

Bruce looked up from a laptop he was on.

"Does that thing have internet?" Harri asked.

"No," Bruce said. "I'm just trying to figure out what happened with the drone I sent over before we swam up to the device."

"Oh.." Harri said. "Maybe it just died."

"Possibly, but that wouldn't typically happen with any of the equipment I use," Bruce told her.

"So? What then?" she asked.

"I might send out another one," he said. "I've got one more."

"And if it dies too, then what?"

"I guess we'll see."

"Okay."

Harri left Bruce to his tech devices and went back to her room. She looked at some pictures in her cell phone. Adriana..Arsenio...the wedding. She thought of how wonderful it would be to go back to those times, before the tragedy and heartbreak of losing her sister. She looked at photos from her own wedding to her husband, Antonio.

A picture of her and Adriana hugging brought tears to her eyes. Adriana was very pregnant, happy, glowing. Harri began to wonder if this whole trip, this time machine, if it was all a dream. Despite the coffee, she felt herself drifting into another nap.

.

.

.

"Yo," Harri said tiredly to Bruce, who was sitting in the entertainment room with a scotch in hand.

He glanced at her and took a sip of his drink. The TV wasn't on, and the room was quiet.

"So we have an hour before we go back over," she said. "And you're drinking. You sure that's wise?"

"Maybe you should have one too," he said and got up to pour her a drink.

"I don't like scotch," she told him. "Plus, I think we'll have plenty of time for booze in the past."

"Wine alright?" Bruce asked and went over to the bar.

"Bruce," Harri asked. "What's up?"

"Red or white?" he asked her.

"Fuck both," she said. "Tell me what's up."

He began to pour white wine for her and handed her a glass. He placed both palms flat on the bar.

"The second drone went down," Bruce said. "The second one I sent to try to figure out what happened to the first one."

"Oh...sorry to hear that," Harri said and began to drink. "I know those things are expensive."

"It went down because of radiation," he told her.

"Radiation?" she asked.

"The device..the time machine..the rock..it's radioactive," he said.

Harri swallowed more wine from the glass.

"Okay," she said, waving a hand in the air. "That's okay, if we were exposed to radiation. I mean, we're going back to the past anyways so that should undo it."

"Madame Twyla," Bruce said. "Didn't mention this. She told me that whatever changes happen to the body, up until the time we go back are permanent. For instance, I've lost weight. She basically stated that when I go back to the past I will lose weight no matter what and it won't be anything I can control until..well after this afternoon when we go back into time. I'll have to wait months."

"So...the radiation..what are you saying? That's permanent?" she asked, beginning to panic and grabbing at the wine bottle.

"I honestly don't know," Bruce said.

"How bad is this?" Harri asked, before pulling the wine bottle up to her lips.

"Moderately bad," he told her truthfully. "We don't have any radiation sickness symptoms now which is good..but there's a chance in the next decade or so we'll have cancer or something."

Harri didn't move the wine bottle from her lips. She continued swallowing and Bruce picked up his scotch glass again.

"It was hot," Harri said. "The light..I tried touching it-"

"Let me see your hand," Bruce said and grabbed Harri's wrist. "Okay..it looks fine. No radiation burn."

"So.." Harri said after swallowing wine again. "If we go back..and we have damage..won't it stop damaging us shortly after..I mean.."

"We've been out here a few days Harri," Bruce said. "I don't know how long it's been affecting us."

"Gosh...this is ..." Harri said and pulled the bottle back to her lips. She walked over the the couch and dropped down onto the floor. Bruce joined her.

Harri finished the entire bottle of wine and Bruce had taken in almost half of the scotch. They ended up on the floor by the couch, in a drunken conversation about how their lives would end.

"If this.." Bruce slurred. "Is what it takes to save my wife..I'm okay...I'm okay with that. I'd die in her place any day."

Harri looked at him. "Still kinda sucks though.." she murmured. "My sis owes me big time for this."

Bruce laughed.

"I'm serious," Harri said. "But who knows...I mean there's a high chance of getting cancer anyway..with or without this radioactive rock island."

"I have a great doctor," Bruce said. "If we do, he will treat us both. He's excellent."

Harri picked up Bruce's nearly empty scotch glass and took a sip.

"I thought you didn't like scotch," he said to her.

"I don't," she said and swallowed the rest.

Bruce watched her drowsily pour more of the scotch over the last slivers of the ice cubes that were remaining in the bottom of the glass.

"Maybe we're not sick.." Bruce said. "Twyla told me..for each person saved, one dies..she said it could be someone other than me. That was before we decided you were coming too..so maybe this is some...harmless form of radiation. Because for sure it would have been me if the radiation is deadly and she knew about it.."

Harri squinted. "What do you mean?"

"I mean.." Bruce's slurring a bit worse. "What do we know about this device and this technology? Perhaps the radiation only affects other..devices-"

"No," Harri said. "About the person saved and someone dies."

"Oh..that," Bruce said, sounding bored. "She said if I save Adriana it means someone else will die."

"Oh..fuck..." Harri said and took another drink of scotch. "So maybe it's me.."

"No," Bruce said. "I won't let that happen. I know who it's going to be."

"Who?" Harri asked.

"The Joker," Bruce said, as though it was no big deal. "I'm going to kill him."

"Bruce..." Harri said. "That's...a gamble..someone could die before you get to even find him."

"I'll find him straight away," Bruce said. "I have a plan. Lucius will tell me. My approach will be different this time."

Harri was shaking her head.

"This is becoming a shit storm," Harri sighed.

"It's not," Bruce said. "Trust me. I've got it all mapped out in my mind. Lucius will give me the location..I'll execute him..."

"And then what?" Harri asked.

"That's it," Bruce said as though it was obvious.

"What about Adriana?" Harri asked him.

"Adriana?" Bruce said.

"Yes! She won't be happy about you killing him," Harri said.

"She never told me what he did to her, but now I understand. I will talk to her..she will open up to me. And..I will let her know that she was abused, as gently as I can, because she didn't understand it. The Joker had to be killed before he could do that to someone else.." Bruce said.

"Yeah...good luck with that," Harri murmured.

"She'll know that I love her and Arsenio with all my heart and that whatever he did to her doesn't matter," Bruce said.

Harri looked at him blankly.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she mumbled drunkenly. "I'll leave it between you two."

"Thank you," Bruce said. "I would appreciate if you also didn't tell her about everything..with her dying and us having to-"

"Oh, so you think I'm stupid?" Harri said with offense. "I'm a complete moron, huh? By the way sis, you died and Bruce and I had to go back in time to save you. And Bruce wanted to go back to get a better chance at killing the Joker..by the way. Oh yes, he knows about you and the Joker-"

"I get it,"Bruce said. "I'm sorry."

"What if she doesn't open up to you?" Harri said. "What if she doesn't want to talk about the Joker with you?"

"She's my wife," Bruce said. "She knows how much I love her..She can talk to me about anything."

"But she didn't," Harri declared.

What Harri said was true, but it hurt. The booze was making her very honest.

"Sorry," Harri said. "I didn't mean...I mean I know you two had a great relationship-"

"Yes," Bruce said. "We do.."

"Bruce.." Harri interrupted. "You're speaking in present tense."

"Am I?"

"Yes.. like..'we do..have a great relationship'...'she can'..talk to me about anything," Harri said.

"What's wrong with that?" he asked her.

"Well..she's gone, and you're talking like she's back," Harri said. "I think you're getting ahead of yourself. If we can't figure this machine out..."

"We will," Bruce stated and moved to stand up but immediately felt the wave of drunkenness hit him. He staggered forward and fell against Harri.

"We can't even walk now.." Harri said as if barely noticing him falling onto her shoulder. "We're drunk off our ass...radiation destroying our brain cells and shit..."

Bruce leaned against her arm quietly. She was right.

"What the hell," Bruce said and shrugged. "Let's go."

She turned, yanking her shoulder from under his head.

"Go?" she said as he caught himself from falling on the floor.

"Yeah," he said. "Drunk..radioactive...let's go now."

"You know what would be fun?" Harri asked, a bit excited.

"Hm?" Bruce said, struggling to sit up.

"Ganja!" Harri exclaimed before getting up with ease, compared to Bruce, and dashing from the room. She returned moments later and began rolling. Bruce laid on his side, propped up with his elbow.

"You brought weed with you," he said.

"Of course," she told him.

"You're very different from you sister," Bruce told her and looked away as she began to smoke.

"She couldn't smoke weed," Harri said. "We tried it when we were like 13 and 14...we heard it was so medicinal and she was desperate you know...Her gift."

Harri began to puff and Bruce looked back at her.

"We thought it would maybe calm her down or...make things easier.." Harri said. "It just made things so much worse. She was traumatized for weeks..had to miss the first two months of high school. My mom beat my ass for getting the weed for her."

"You were just trying to help," Bruce said.

"That's what I said!" Harri said and threw her hands up, joint between two fingers. "But yeah I got in big trouble. Adriana wasn't mad at me at all though. She was the most forgiving person I've ever known...she was so fucked up from just smoking that one time. She couldn't sleep at all, her hair started falling out from the stress...I felt horrible. But she was still so nice to me the whole time."

Bruce looked at Harri remembering what had happened, and he began to remember what happened between himself and Adriana at the end. He reached for the joint in Harri's hand. She didn't even seem to notice him take it. She was staring ahead as he smoked.

"This doesn't make me a bad example," Bruce said before he inhaled again. "Does it?"

Harri looked over at him. "No," she said. "I mean..we'll go back to the past and it's like none of this ever happened. I'll never tell Arsenio the story of how his dad got high..because technically it never happened right?"

"Perfect sense," Bruce said.

Bruce leaned against the couch and Harri against the table. They sat on the floor looking at each other for a few minutes.

"You look like a Boyce paining I saw once," Bruce said and pulled in more smoke.

"Boyce?" Harri asked. "Don't know him."

"Joanna Mary Boyce..a painter, one of her works," Bruce said. "It was a woman..with curly hair..striped shawl I think."

"You're really fucking high aren't you?" she asked and laughed.

"It was a nice painting," Bruce told her.

"So, what painting looks like Adriana?" Harri asked and Bruce went quiet.

He stared off for a long time, lifting the remainder of the joint to his lips several times.

"She needs to be painted," Bruce said finally. "No one compares...No painter that I'm familiar with has painted such beauty."

They were quiet again.

"Let's go now," Bruce said to Harri.

"Can you even stand up, bro?" Harri asked him.

"Yes," he said and forced himself to rise to his feet.

They stumbled through the halls and down the stairs to the the closet area where they had left their diving suits.

"Is this mine or," Harri asked holding up a larger suit.

"Wrong one," Bruce managed to say before they exchanged the suits in their hands.

"This thing is like a puzzle," Harri said, confused by the arms and legs on the Lycra. "Oh well."

"Wait," Bruce said. "Let me find my hood,don't-"

"Huh?" Harri asked while trying to pull her shirt over her head but she felt Bruce grabbing her arms, stopping her.

"Harri look," Bruce said. "Just wait for me to find my hood and I'll go change in the other compartment."

"I'm forgetting where my arms are, let me change now," she said, pushing him back a bit. "Before I forget."

"Harri, I'm extremely..compromised by the drinks and the 'ganja', I'm just trying to be a gentleman," he said to her.

"Oh come on," Harri said, muffled words my the t-shirt coming over her head. "I'm sure you've seen boobs before."

Bruce fought himself, telling himself to look away but he couldn't. Harri didn't seem to notice or care.

"Your hood is on that hook," she said and pointed to the wall behind him, after pulling the Lycra over her hips.

"Okay," Bruce said, thankful for the distraction as he turned to grab the hood from the hook on the wall.

"You were totally just staring at my boobs just now," Harri let out a goofy laugh behind his back.

"I tried to warn you," he slurred. "Going..to the other compartment now."

.

.

.

"Have you ever swam with a tank before?" Bruce asked Harri on the deck before they went into the water.

"Once..on vacation in the Maldives," she told him.

"Okay...okay.." Bruce said nervously, very aware of their drunken state.

"It was easy!" Harri said and got into the water fearlessly and began to swim.

Bruce put the breathing apparatus on him mouth and followed her. They swam underwater and Bruce realized that the entire ordeal was much easier than it was earlier. They seemed to be swimming quicker. Maybe the alcohol and marijuana made them more fearless.

They approached the round rock floating in front of them. It cast an enormous dark shadow over the water underneath it. The sun was out and they went from sunny blue waters to the dark grey shade under the time machine. They swam and swam, Harri confident enough that she didn't look back at Bruce one time. They struggled finding the exact center of the device which caused them to use more oxygen.

She was right, there appeared to be a large round opening in the center of the device and a dull stream of sunlight could be seen when they were close enough. They swam up to it and felt their heads emerge from the water. Harri looked at Bruce and began to take herself off the oxygen in her mask but Bruce raised his hand stopping her. He then took off his own mask, inhaling the air inside the machine a few times. He took several deep breaths, making sure the air was safe before reaching forward and taking off Harri's mask.

Once her mask was off she could see better. They looked around.

"Hello?" Harri said loudly, her voice echoing off the walls, and she began to laugh.

Bruce looked up and could see the opening up into the sunlight where the beam of light had been shining that night. He could see no source of where the light would have been coming from.

He moved the the rim of the round opening and pulled himself up onto the floor. The floor was only about fifteen feet wide and there was a rounded wall surrounding them. He noticed six openings, from floor to ceiling. They looked like doorways. He leaned down and pulled Harri out of the water. They removed their tanks.

"We both only have about eight minutes of air left," Bruce said to her. "Shit... I don't know if that will be enough for us to get from under this thing."

"I guess this thing better work then," Harri said.

Bruce stood from kneeling and observing the tanks and looked at the open slots in the wall. There was one right behind them. It looked pitch black.

"So..should we just..go through?" Harri asked. "Any one of these?"

"I'll go first..I need to make sure it's safe," Bruce said.