Jump-Starting Time

The moment that Dr Joe Philby had been working towards for decades has finally arrived. He can hardly believe it. All the other scientists said it couldn't be done, but with the team's genius, a slice of good fortune and the application of a little serious effort, Joe is finally ready to take humankind to a whole new step.

The time machine is ready.

"Good luck, Joe," Bennett says to him as Joe places his safety goggles over his eyes.

"Thanks, Benn," he replies to his old friend and colleague, "but it's no longer down to luck: we have to be confident this thing is going to work now. Otherwise, I might was well just walk out the nearest airlock without a suit."

Bennett smiles and nods. He looks a little sad, as though he believes this could be the end of his long friendship with Joe if they've got their calculations wrong.

"Don't worry, old pal," Joe smiles reassuringly, "it'll work out. I'll be seeing you again."

"God be with you nevertheless," the old physicist pats him on the shoulder. Then he says: "Right, lets fire this baby up! Assume the position, Joe!"

A quick goodbye to the lab assistants - Julie and Colin - and Joe steps into the chamber of the Hytron-Quantuum-Contrabulator - the time machine.

"Back soon!" he says to them all as the door closes on him for the last time, his voice cheerful and confident.

But his confidence isn't entirely genuine. His stomach is full of serious butterflies as the door closes on him, sealing him into the titanium chamber. The calculations all work out, there iss no reason for it to go wrong. The tests worked on the mice, so why wouldn't it work for something larger? Still, the way it's all been set up, he will only go back in time by a few moments. In fact, the way they've calculated things means that he should go back in time by just about the same amount of time it takes to fire up the machine and send him back in time - so he will be in no danger of meeting himself.

It also means they haven't needed to build the machine so it can bring him forward in time again. They'll be able to build such a machine - that would mean they could explore much earlier time periods - once they are sure they can prove this one works to the grant board, who would then provide the funding needed.

The machine hums as Bennett, Julie and Colin make it ready. Joe paces about the chamber, very nervous. This has been his whole life - he gave up a wife and family for this, his biggest regret and a huge hole constantly burning in his heart.

Well, this is Joe's baby now. The time machine.

"Ready Joe?" the disembodied voice of Bennett comes from the in-chamber speaker. "Starting the countdown. Good luck, buddy."

You take a deep breath as Bennett calls out numbers from ten slowly down to one. Then suddenly, a fog-horn type alarm sounds and Joe feels the strangest feeling surging through his body.

Then he feels light-headed, and his body drained of energy. He collapses to the floor, and his vision seems to fizz as though his eyes are full of cheap lemonade before it fades to black...

...When he wakes up, Joe feels different. He can't quite tell what it is at first, but slowly his faculties fire up and he finds that he is lying in a bed - well, that was as good a place as any to appear, but why a bed? - and was wearing a pair of pyjama bottoms. He hasn't worn anything to bed since he was practically a kid - what's going on?

It is dark, so he can't tell where he is, but as he begins to wake up, he realises that the rheumatism in his fingers has completely gone. It is bliss, absolute bliss. Joe runs his fingers over his face, through his hair, over his bare chest. And a jolt of shock shoots through his body.

His skin is so soft, his hair so short and tidy, his chest so much smoother. What's happened to him? Quietly, cautiously, Joe gets up and leaves the sanctuary of the bed. His eyes are getting used to the dark a little now, and he can see that his bed isn't the only one in the room. He can't quite make out the other sleepers, though.

He moves quietly towards the door, his brow creased as the undeniable sense of déjà vu creeps into his system. He's seen this place before, hasn't he? He leaves the large room, and finds himself in a wood-floored corridor. At the far end of the corridor is a light.