Through Time And Back ...

The last seconds on the clock were ticking. The ball was still in my hands. I stood there, blank, waiting to disappear, but to my disappointment, nothing happened. The robot sniggered.

I guess it is best to start from the beginning. I was the daughter of the the two most eminent scientists, of the 21st century. Papa was a physicist-cum-theoretician whose latest invention, the Gyro-ball, had been my pet project for many months, after which I finally broke the code and was able to build a prototype. I guess I was a child prodigy, however, I was only slightly above average in terms of academics. My position often reminded me of Meg Murry from ‘A Wrinkle in Time’.

It was then that my mother, another physicist-cum-theoretician, invented a formula to make things go either relatively very fast, or relatively very slow, to the only constant speed in the world : the speed of light.this was the root of all the trouble. This formula made it possible for time travel to take place. My father immediately put it into practice by fixing a small button on the Gyro-ball, which made the formula practically possible. This was never revealed to the public, due to certain circumstances which followed, which I am about to reveal.

I, tampered with the formula.

Before I could realise what I had done, I found myself whizzing through the 13 dimensions, shrouded by the space-time spectrum. I landed with the Gyro-ball in my right hand, and Mummy’s precious formula(which I had been referring to) in the other. I then realised the inevitable; I had travelled through time!

Judging from my surroundings, it seemed as if I had gone ahead of time. The few trees around me, in a desolate park, had several branches that looked almost robotic in essence.

I suddenly saw a robot, fast approaching me. It looked exactly like the stereotypical robot of the world I had left behind. “Are you Sakshi?” It asked in a strangely human voice. Its eyes were glinting. When I nodded my assent, it continued, “The child prodigy, who is the only being to travel through time?” The last question disturbed me. Didn’t they have the formula for time travel? I murmured a yes.

The robot straightened up and declared, “I am Kay, the only talking being you will meet around here for miles.” I was becoming visibly disconcerted. Only talking object? What happened to ‘living person’? Due to worry, I absentmindedly squeezed the Gyro-ball and promptly disappeared.

Kay went into hysterics at my disappearance. When I return back, she questioned me about the mechanism acting behind my vanishing act. I answered her with a question, “Don’t you know the Gyro-ball? What about the formula for time travel?” She explained, that both had been discarded by my parents when I had time-travelled(that’s how she knew me!) and the future generation had been expectantly waiting for me all these years.

When night came, Kay settled me down in the most comfortable and downy mattress I had ever felt. She told me about the problems faced by them - deforestation, extinction of most animal species and acute shortage of natural resources. I tucked in my luggage- a ball and a sheet of paper - in with me and slept fitfully.

In the morning, as soon as I woke up, I noticed a difference - there was a huge swarm of robotic locusts surrounding me. Kay stood I front of me.

She smiled rather evil and pressed down a button in a small timer. She snarled “You have 2 minutes. Your Gyro-ball will no longer help you to disappear. Either give me the formula, or get devoured by my friends!” My mind, which was still in a blur, barely managed to register that she was a traitor!

The seconds kept counting down. My mind raced as I struggled to remember the formula’s application in the Gyro-ball as I was certain that she could not know about it. The monotonous ticking became louder as it reached the ethereal zero. I tried to become invisible, as a final hope, but the robot had done her job well. The Gyro-ball was utterly screwed up.

Suddenly, it all came back in a flash to me. I couldn’t explain the thing afterwards, but I guess that the brain functions better under pressure. The timer reached 5 seconds… and then…4… I closed my eyes and pressed the button.

The next moment, I was back whizzing through the dimensions enveloped by the spectrum, until I was back in my house. My mother and father, who had been searching for me high and low, were relieved to see me return unscathed. The Gyro-ball was of no use now. With Papa and Mummy looking on, I burnt the formula - the mischief maker behind all the trouble.