Link to beginning of story:
https://steemit.com/fiction/@justephen/justin-time-chapter-1-an-original-novel
Link to Chapter 23: Journey in Time
https://steemit.com/fiction/@justephen/justin-time-chapter-23-an-original-science-fiction-novel
Chapter 23 Review:
Justin actually goes back in time. His mission was to go to the zoo and warn himself (little Justin) to delay entering his mothers car so as to avoid the car accident. After arrival, Justin snagged his pant leg on a fence and was unable to warn little Justin. When he arrived back to present, everything was difference. He realized he had entered a different parallel universe. He then went back to the day prior of the zoo event, and found little Justin in bed. Although he was able to warn little Justin, he created quite an uproar ending with his dad shooting him and wounding his arm.
Chapter 24: Dr. Filbrick
Dr. Filbrick was having a conference with the most brilliant minds in his staff. Dr. Filbrick was a man in his mid seventies with unkempt white thinning hair that was balding in the back. He stood 5'6" and walked with a small hunch.
"I need an update on how we are progressing with our time traveling vehicle. Have we been able to get it to travel faster than the speed of light yet? Well, Eugene?"
Eugene was Dr. Filbricks number one scientist. Eugene received full honors in science and engineering at the University of Burkley and then M.I.T. He is a bonafide genius with an I.Q. of 192.
"Yes and No.", Eugene continued, "We have managed to make the capsule rotate at the speed of light. At that speed, time will stop for the individual inside, but will not reverse it. We have been working on this for years now. I no longer believe that this is our best approach.”
"Do you believe that the capsule needs to move substantially faster for us to accomplish this?", inquired Dr. Filbrick.
"I believe that won't help at this point. I believe we need to have this capsule or an object moving through space and not staying stationary." It is this moving through space that will warp space and therefore time. That means we need it to travel 670,616,629 miles per hour. It would circle the earth 7.5 times per second. We don't have the funds nor the technology to come anywhere near this. I hate to say this, but I think we need a new approach."
"How about Professor Times theory?", suggested Jamie Luis, who was a first year scientist. "I have read his work thoroughly and I think he is on to something."
"What did you say!?", yelled Dr. Morten Filbrick as his face started turning red. "Let me make this clear to you. I will NOT let Justin Time or Katherine Time ruin my business anymore. I was only two years away from legally inventing the serum that would bring patience out of a coma before Katherine Time illegally used it on her son. She got rewarded and I got nothing. Then very recently, we invested 8.9 million dollars to create a drug to prevent and reverse brain strokes. That drug is now on the market! Now you want to give kudos to her son! A little 25 year old punk? He was pooping in his diapers when I started this business. I am done. This meeting is over. We will continue tomorrow."
After everyone departed, Eugene had requested a private meeting with Dr. Filbrick. Dr. Filbrick didn't respect many people, but Eugene had all of his respect and it had been well earned.
"So Eugene, what was it that you wanted to discuss with me?", asked Dr. Filbrick.
"I wanted to speak to you in private rather than at our round table brain storming session out of complete respect for you. As much as I hate to agree with Jamie, he has a point and I will tell you why. Please don't get upset as I want what is best for you. You know I do."
Dr. Filbrick started to get angry, but gained his composure, "Okay, continue."
"I believe from a cost stand point we are very close to replicating was Justin suggests. Our DNA and biochemical department has already perfected the expediting of the cloning process. We can make an embryo grow to full adult size within one week. That is amazing. The only portion we are missing as much as I hate to agree with Justin, is the traveling process. Spiritually as well as physically. He virtually maps out much of it between his book and articles. He has had subjects time travel spiritually. This is all public knowledge. We can acquire this. We should be able to accomplish this before Justin and you will no longer feel like you finished second."
Dr. Filbrick said nothing. Although he felt defeated, he knew Eugene could be right. "Let's discuss this with Elroy our operations manager and Lawrence our attorney. We can get together some time next week."
"You look terrible! What happened?", yelled Blair. Justin laid in the reclining chair covered from head to toe in mud. His arm was bleeding and he had a big ripped hole in his favorite sweater.
"You're here?! Thank God! What time is it? What day is it?", Justin yelled.
"Of course I am here. Where else would I be? You have arrived back just as we planned."
"We need to get you cleaned up. What happened?"
Blair helped Justin into the the bathroom and helped him take off his sweater.
"My god. what happened to your arm?”
"I was shot."
"At the zoo?"
"No. By my dad."
"What? I am confused."
Justin explained the series of events that had taken place. He told Blair that because he snagged his pants and was stuck on the fence, he missed his window to warn little Justin because he was no longer by himself. He explained that when he arrived back, it was in a different time continuum and not only was Blair not present, but Kirstin didn't even know who he was. Then Justin explained how he panicked and attempted to arrive at his parents house the day before the zoo and spawned at the high school football field and had to run about five miles.
“I think I scared little Justin because he yelled. My dad started running upstairs, so I jumped through the second story window and hid behind a bush. My dad thought I was a burglar or something. He shot me as I tried to scale our wall."
"You stink. How did you get so muddy?", Blair asked.
"It was raining and the football field was drenched and I slipped and fell face first in the mud. I wasn't thinking straight. I was panicking. Then I stepped in dog crap."
"Well...did it work? Did little Justin go in your mother's car on school day?"
"What? Oh! I..I don't know."
"How's your head feel?"
"Fine right now, but that can change."
"After you're through with your shower, let's go to the hospital."
"We can't do that! We can't explain what happened. I have the equipment down in basement for us to care to my wounds."
They cleaned Justin up and tended to his wounds. His gun shot wound was not as serious as they thought.
"A thought just occurred to me Blair.", said Justin.
"Maybe we should go to the safe now. Although I am here, we were really not successful in caring out the instructions."
“Wow! Do you know what just occurred to me?", asked Blair. “We may not have been successful in our most immediate task of warning little Justin, however you were extremely successful in your pursuit of time travel. You did it!"
"I guess I did. Didn't I? I had been through so much, I never stopped to think about the magnitude of what happened."
"Let's go to the safe.", said Blair with renewed enthusiasm.
Opening the safe, they both immediately noticed that what used to be 13 envelopes of different sizes, shapes and colors was now ten envelopes with one prominent envelope in front with the heading 'open this one first.' Blair and Justin looked at each other.
"Well", said Blair. "You better open it."
Without hesitation, Justin opened the envelope and it read:
I would yell at you, but then I would be yelling at myself. I understand that you had an accident when snagging your pants against the fence which created a chain of events of which you had to improvise. Although you arrived back at the appropriate time, your tumor still exists. Also, you created a different chain of events which now must be repaired as well. As you may of noticed, inside this envelope is a smaller sealed envelope. You must deliver this envelope to a lady named Madam Clearvision. Rest first and then leave tomorrow morning. Listed below are your specific instructions, the appropriate time of arrival and the coordinates of where you are to arrive. Please remember to keep your mind clear and focus.
Elroy Lemons was the operation manager for Geno Chronology Inc, a publicly traded company whose CEO and Founder was Dr. Morten Filbrick. They were in a very private meeting with their attorney Lawrence Ledsmith and Eugene Forthworth who was Dr. Filbricks key employee. They were discussing how they could covertly replicate Justin Time's advances in time travel.
"I have a special 'friend' who I think can help us with this. He is an ex CIA agent and I am sure he can perform the necessary duties.", said Elroy who was using his words carefully.
"As your attorney, I cannot condone anything that may be illegal.", said Lawrence.
Everyone just stared at him. Picking up that he was better off not being in this meeting, Lawrence said, “I just realized, I am late for an appointment."
After Lawrence left, Dr. Filbrick continued, "Are you saying that this ex agent can actually retrieve this information from Justin Time?"
"He is very good at what he does. This should be easy for him." said Elroy.
"Let's move on this as soon as possible then. We must keep this among the three of us only. Agreed?"
Everybody nodded their head in agreement.