Chapter 3 - The Theft

Time travel itself was very convoluted, you couldn't just travel forward or back in time from your present time, that was impossible. Dr Hawking, Sheldon's hero and the only man he felt was an equal to him, had understood time travel completely right, you couldn't just go back in time, the physics of their universe would not allow it. Even if you could overcome that problem, there was another problem, that made time travel in this universe impractical, you had to know the exact time when the planet earth would be in the same place when you traveled, to the second, or you could end up in space or a few hundred feet above or in the ground when you arrived. So basically, if you could travel back, you had one point in a year where you could go back safely, a tiny window in that year where you could survive the event and that date was not of your choosing. If that wasn't a big enough problem, the calculations to find that exact second, were so complex it would take computers that didn't exist yet, so going back in time was impossible, like the great man said.

However, Dr Hawking didn't know that Sheldon had found another way to go back that didn't actually go back in their universe using their physics. Sheldon's String Theory research allowed him to prove the existence of alternate universes and that was the secret to time travel. For time travel to work the time traveler would have to jump, through a worm hole, to an alternate universe then come back, however when he came back he didn't have to enter our universe at the same point in time, he could come back at a different time because of the worm hole, thus either going back or forward in time. Sheldon had been interested and experimented in time travel all his life, he always knew String Theory was the answer, so since he solved String Theory he now knew how to manipulate time.

With all this new knowledge, Sheldon should have been happy, but he was just sitting down at his desk in his room, it seemed that all energy in his body was gone, he just felt old for his years. Sheldon had read Dr Lewis' paper and there was something in it that only he knew and Lewis didn't, it was obvious to Sheldon now that Lewis had stole part of his work to make his discovery. When Lewis had visited him years ago, Lewis was taking a wrong turn in his research and Sheldon mocked him when he wouldn't admit it and take Sheldon's advice to try another route. Sheldon gave him a hint on where he should look but didn't really tell him how to do it. Sheldon was letting the man do some of his own work, however when Lewis left back to his university, after that summer, some of Sheldon's papers were missing. Sheldon never thought about Lewis stealing them, but in the original papers there was an extended convoluted equation in the calculations that really was an extremely inefficient way of doing the particular calculation, that was mirrored in Lewis' work. Sheldon had did that particular calculation years ago while he was still dating Amy, she had been kidding around with him all day and he wasn't really thinking clearly, he couldn't keep his mind on his work, only the beautiful vixen who was all smiles and giggles. So Sheldon did the calculation in the worst way possible, his mind only half on it and because it always reminded him of Amy, he had delayed simplifying it until recently. As Sheldon read Lewis' paper he saw the same inefficient equation, it stood out like a sore thumb, no scientist would have done it this way, it was Sheldon's Amy equation and Lewis stole it. Lewis had obliviously caught himself up to Sheldon that summer then stole some of his work, the problem was Sheldon had no way to prove it. This was nothing like what happened to him with Leonard, Raj and Howard at the North Pole, they kept his original data for him to publish, he made the mistake of telling everyone he found the answer before he ran his results and proved it. He thought about that a lot and realized it was unethical of him to do that, he had let his pride override the scientist in him. The guys saved his job and toned down the ridicule of him, when they told Gablehauser what they did, so the university wouldn't fire him. That whole thing cost them all from being considered for tenure for the next three years. But no, it was nothing like what Lewis did, he stole another scientist's work and that was done with malice. It was actually a crime against science, there was suppose to be honor among scientists to share data, he cheated and took away what was Sheldon's, Lewis was a bad person and Sheldon wanted him to pay for his deed.

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Penny got to the scene to find everything under control, the angry wife surrendered the gun to the police instead of shooting her cheating husband, so they didn't need Penny. She quickly cleared from the call then got her cell phone out, hitting one on the speed dial. "Hey Sweetie, now what is wrong with Sheldon?"

The five of them were now in Leonard's office putting together a plan to find and help Sheldon, when Leonard's phone rang. Leonard quickly picked up the phone when he saw it was Penny. "Hey you, something really bad happen to him today, I mean really bad. You know how he has devoted his life to solving String Theory?"

"Oh God Yes. Being around him all these years, I probably know as much about String Theory as a Physics undergraduate, maybe more."

"Well he solved it, and has been working on his paper and support data for the last month, he was going to release his preliminary work in two weeks."

"That sounds great, why would that be a problem…wait you said he was going to release, what happened?"

"A Dr Lewis from MIT released his preliminary work today, solving String Theory."

"Oh no, that makes Sheldon's work useless, right?"

"Yeah, that about sums it up. He could still present his work, but it would just be for review and verification, Lewis will be the man who solved String Theory."

"He must be devastated Leonard, he devoted his life to that work." Penny then got quiet, "He gave up Amy for his work."

Leonard looked over at Amy. "I know, she is here now, trying to help." At the mention of her name, Amy looked back at him and gave him a small sad smile.

"Have you guys talked to him already?"

"No that is the problem, Honey, Sheldon is missing."

Penny stopped talking for a minute, thinking of the implications of what Leonard just told her. "Sweetie, I can't put out a missing persons on him for 24 hours. Have you checked all the places he normally goes to hide?"

"No, that was the next thing we were going to do. It is just everyone is a little upset and I thought you might have a good idea or something."

Penny nodded in the car, before she realized Leonard couldn't see her, "I understand Honey, I'll keep thinking of things and see you when I get home. You guys check out his usual hide-aways and see if he turns up. As a matter of fact, the Cheesecake Factory is on my way, so I'll make a quick stop there and if I find him, I will give you a call."

"Thanks, Honey, be careful, Love you."

"Love you too Sweetie….Leonard, I promise I will be careful, I know how much this means to you and me. I won't screw up, so you just be careful too, okay."

"Okay, see you later."

"Later" Penny hung up. She took a breath and sighed, he always worried about her, but it had seemed to reach a point they could both live until now. The baby coming changed everything, she could now see his worries returning even stronger, and as much as it sometimes bothered her, she really couldn't be mad at him, he adored her and she was crazy in love with him. The longer they had been married, the more they needed each other, and the less she was able to get or stay upset with him, he was really a wonderful husband. It actually made her feel special that he worried about her and the baby, so much. She hadn't told him yet, but after her talk with Amy, she decided she was going to take a desk job, in another month or two, when she was showing, she was going to do it for him, no for all of them. Having their baby, had become the most important thing in her life now, and it sent a quiver of delight through her as she realized they were going to be a family in the not too distance future, it was just a matter of time.