An: Thanks to my lone reviewer, TriGemini
CHAPTER EIGHT
Josie looked up as Vaughn shuffled into the room. "Hey," She said quietly.
"Hey," He replied. "My, uh, my Dad wants to know exactly what it is you're working on."
"Not much," Josie admitted. "I was hoping to find some way to hack into the school computers, but it seems to only be Marshall's specialty because I can't get it to work."
"Why would you need to hack into the computers?" Vaughn asked, taking a seat across from her.
"I was hoping to learn some history on the school. Get a better idea of the history of the wormhole. I thought that maybe someone would have an explanation on how to handle all this," Josie explained.
"Maybe my Dad has the override password," Vaughn suggested.
Josie didn't say anything for a few minutes, continuously tapping numbers into the computer. Then she looked up. "How is everything going with your Dad?" Josie asked.
"I don't really know," Vaughn replied. "I haven't exactly spent more than three minutes alone with him. He's in his office now discussing his discoveries with Lucas and Professor Z. I think they're on to something."
"Really?" Josie asked, looking surprised. "Well that's one of us."
"Josie, where's Ms. Sletzki?" Vaughn asked. "Professor Z asked me to check with you."
"I can't say I know for sure," Josie finally said.
Vaughn looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean the army bombarded us. I managed to get out, but I don't really know what happened to Ms. Sletzki. Truthfully? I think I forgot about her," Josie said.
"You don't know where she is? Josie, she knows our secrets!"
"I know!" Josie snapped. "I panicked!"
Vaughn sighed. "I guess we can only hope that she manages to get over here, and that the army doesn't connect her to the wormhole."
"I don't even understand why they would care about the school," He continued. "I mean, what's the big deal?"
"It's not the school, Vaughn," Josie explained. "It's the wormhole. They probably heard about it on the television and decided to take advantage of it. They said they were doing it for the safety of humanity."
Vaughn scoffed. "I doubt it."
"This could be a real problem," Josie said. "It was one thing with all the reporters. But we cannot allow anyone else to become involved with the experiments."
Vaughn nodded in agreement. Josie turned back to the screen and let out a whoop.
"What is it?" Vaughn asked, sounding hopeful.
"I cracked the password," Josie said, grinning.
"You know, I could probably check some of my Dad's records," Vaughn said. "He went to the school. So did my Grandmother."
"Really?" Josie asked with surprise. She turned to look at Vaughn.
"Yeah, it's a family tradition."
"I wonder if we could find her in the records," Josie said.
"It's Gertrude Henson," Vaughn explained.
Josie typed it in the student book, and five Henson's popped up. "There it is, Gertrude Henson." She opened the file and skimmed through it. There were copies of the girl's old schedule, and of her history. "It says here Gertrude attended Blake Holsey with her three sisters."
"Millie and Dana," Vaughn supplied.
"And that her father attended Blake Holsey as well," Josie added.
"I didn't know that," Vaughn said with surprise. He skimmed over the page. "I doubt they had anything to do with science, though. My Grandmother was a cook at this pastry shop where my Dad group up. Her sisters all went into different fields."
"Daniel Henson," Josie repeated. "It sounds familiar." She clicked on the link to Gertrude's father. The page loaded with a picture of the class of 1924. Vaughn grinned.
"Hey, that looks like Lucas," He said with a grin, pointing to the teacher standing in the background.
"No way," Josie said, shaking her head. "He looks nothing like Lucas!"
"Professor Rendle," Vaughn read. He looked at Josie. "Hmm ..."
"It's not Lucas," Josie repeated, rolling her eyes. "Look, there's Daniel Henson." She zoomed in on the picture, frowning. "Okay, that's a little creepy."
"What?" Vaughn asked, looking over her shoulder.
"It's just that he looks really familiar," Josie replied. "This was your great grandfather?"
"Yea," Vaughn said. "I don't really know much about him, though."
Josie lowered the page and accessed the internet, doing a search on Daniel Henson. She frowned when the page came up; she clicked on the first page she set eyes on. "Daniel Henson, 19 09 to 1963. Although he may seem to be the least important member of the team that worked on the creation of the nuclear bomb, this physicist -."
"Hold on," Vaughn said. "My grandfather worked on the nuclear bomb?"
"With Einstein. Cool," Josie added. She bit her lip. "Well I guess we can see where your Dad gets his brains from."
"Yea," Vaughn said.
"Hey, what's going on?" Lucas asked, stepping into the room.
"Trying to get some research done," Josie replied. "Check this out, Vaughn's great grandfather worked with Einstein on creating the first nuclear bomb."
"That explains a lot," Lucas said.
Josie gave him a semi-annoyed look, and he frowned. "I think this is an angle to pursue. What if Daniel Henson did some research on wormholes? He worked with Einstein. It's entirely possible they shared ideas."
"Maybe," Lucas said.
"How are you doing? You guys have anything?" Vaughn asked.
"Not a lot, but we have some theories," Lucas replied. "At the moment we're hesitant about testing the wormhole, or even trying to find Corrine and Marshall. They'd most likely arrive at the school, and that's something we can't do."
"Right," Josie agreed, nodding her head. "I wish there was some way to just … fix this whole mess. Why can't we just use the wormhole to go back in time?"
"For the last time, Josie," Lucas said, taking a seat next to her. "We're not about to risk losing one more person. You might get stuck again, and then what would happen?"
"I know, I just want to fix this so much!" Josie exclaimed.
"We'll fix it," Vaughn replied. "All together, we'll make sure it works out. But we have to stick together."
"And I have to agree," Lucas added.
"I know, I know," Josie said, rolling her eyes. "So what do we do next?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Okay, what's that smell!" Marshall said, jumping up from where he was seated in the rocking chair. Corrine started laughing at his reaction.
"It seems the baby needs a change," Corrine replied, walking over to the crib just as Vaughn started crying.
"Change?" Marshall asked. "Change in what? Attitude?"
"Marshall, stop," Corrine said, a smirk on her face. "He needs a diaper change."
At this Marshall made a face, sort of a cross between disgust and disbelief. "Oh no. There is no way I'm changing Vaughn's diaper!"
"Then I'll do it," Corrine replied, setting the baby down on the changing table. "Relax; you're going to be all clean in a second."
"You will not change that diaper, Corrine," Marshall instructed. "Do you hear me?" He quickly walked to her side. "That's just too much."
"But Marshall, the baby needs to be changed," Corrine said reasonably.
"Corrine, that's Vaughn. Do you remember that? Fellow science club member, a little slow, a football player? VAUGHN!" Marshall exclaimed.
Corrine looked him over for a minute, and then looked at Vaughn. After a moment, her face turned to disgust, and she threw her hands up, turning away. "Okay, change of plans."
"Thank you," Marshall said, relaxing.
"We're going to have to do something," Corrine said, looking thoughtful. "I can't change that diaper, and neither can you. But we can't just leave him in this condition, either."
"So let's call Mrs. Pearson. I'm sure she can do it," Marshall said, looking around the room for a phone.
"No," Corrine said quickly. "We call her for something like this and she'll know something's up."
"This is ridiculous!" Marshall snapped, throwing his hands up in the air. "Out of all the things we could be stuck with, why is it that we're stuck here! Watching him?"
"Marshall, will you just calm down?" Corrine demanded.
"We're not supposed to be here, Corrine," Marshall replied. "Isn't that what the janitor said? So how is it that we can make it all the way here, find ourselves babysitting one of our friends? I say we go to the school and we try to get the wormhole open again."
"We can't just leave Vaughn here," Corrine countered.
"Principal Durst can watch him," Marshall replied.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Corrine asked.
"We can't stay here," Marshall replied. "We have no chance of getting back unless we're near the wormhole."
"But what about what we found out today?" Corrine countered. "About Josie's Mom and about Professor Z? What about Pearadyne?"
"What can we do about any of that?" Marshall asked.
"To let the accident happen, Marshall?" Corrine asked.
He sighed. "What can we do about that, Corrine? We can't let them know who we are."
"I know, but maybe there's something we can do. Leave a note, or something."
"Alright," Corrine said. Marshall grinned, grabbed up a piece of paper and left a quick note, explaining that Vaughn was with Principal Durst, and to be very careful on October 4 (night of the accident?). Then they took Vaughn and snuck out of the house.
