Chapter 3
Ralph sat in Eric's office for over an hour, his right leg shaking, wringing his hands together, eyes shifting back and forth, and staring at the floor. Suddenly, Ralph jumped up and said, "I'm going back to the quantum generator building to find out what is happening. What are those guys doing?"
Eric yelled, "Ralph, no, you are not! Sit back down! They can't work any faster with you there threatening them."
Ralph turned and put his fist through the cement block wall beside the door—cement pieces and dust flying in the air and dropping to the floor—knowing Eric was right.
Eric's office administrator opened the door, stuck her head in, and asked, "Is everything okay here?"
Eric said, "Yes, Ralph just had to blow off some steam."
Ralph looked at her and said, "Sorry." He looked away, walked across the room, crossed his arms, and stared out the window. After standing there for a few minutes, he closed his eyes, took several deep breaths, and called Bill Maxwell.
In Ralph's left ear, Bill said, 'I'm here, kid; what's up?'
'Bill, Pam's gone, and no one knows where she is. Do you know if she is dead?' Ralph pleadingly asked in his mind.
Bill answered, 'No, the counselor's not dead; I would know if that had happened.'
Ralph took a deep breath and said out loud, "Oh, thank God." He turned to Eric and said, "Bill says Pam isn't dead, so she has to be somewhere."
At that moment, Eric's phone rang. He answered, "This is Eric." He listened and said, "Great, we'll be right down."
"Ralph, they have an idea where Pam may be. They can show us at the quantum generator building." Ralph was speed-running to the building before the words had left Eric's mouth. He burst through the door, knocking it off the hinges, and left it rattling on the floor with Eric close behind him.
Ralph stood there with a frantic look on his face. All the scientists and technicians had their red super suits on. Eric asked calmly, "So what have you got to show us?"
Arnold took a deep breath and said, "We have slowed the video recording down of the portal opening and linked it to the timeline device locator and chronometer. We think we know the exact timeline that she was pulled into. When we stop the video at the clearest focal point, you can see a large room with many people walking around in black suits, and some even stare back at us. We linked that exact point to the timeline device and now know which exact timeline she went into."
Ralph hopefully asked, "Does that mean you can get her out?"
Arnold explained, "Theoretically, yes. But we must first replace the blown circuit board with a more robust version. Other boards have a similar problem to the blown board, so to prevent any other boards from malfunctioning, we must also replace them. It will take about one week to rebuild the boards and replace them. Then we can send someone in to find Ms. Hinkley."
Ralph immediately said, "I'll go and get her when everything is ready." They all looked at each other and then over at Eric. Eric nodded with a reluctant acceptance, knowing that if he said no, Ralph would blow another gasket, and it would probably take all of them to hold him down.
He told Ralph, "Okay, we have a plan—let's leave these people to finish their work," and pointed for Ralph to leave the building.
As they both stepped over the door on the floor, Ralph said, "Sorry about the door."
As they walked away from the quantum generator building, Ralph still looked overly concerned. While moving down the walkway, Ralph asked Eric, "Do you think they can really do it? Get Pam from that other timeline?"
Eric said, "They are some of the best scientists in the world, Ralph. If anyone can, they can."