Ethan’s other brother Chris popped his head into the
workshop door. “Yo little brother! I got breakfast.” Silence greeting his
pronouncement of food. He entered the workshop and looked around, not spotting
Ethan anywhere. Strange, he’s normally
hard at work at this time in the morning. Continuing his search, he found
Ethan unconscious against the wall.
“Ethan!” He
rushed to his brother’s side, calling emergency services as he did so. Within
the space of a half hour the unconscious man was being examined in the
emergency room of the local Life Sciences Center. Shortly after arrival Ethan
regained consciousness.
Chris rushed out to get a nurse who summoned the
doctor after verifying that Ethan was awake. The doctor came in, poked and
prodded and shined a light into his eyes, all the while watching his reactions
and listening to his moans of pain. “Are you in a lot of pain? On a scale of
one to ten with ten being the worst possible pain. How would you rate the pain
you are experiencing?”
Unable to speak, Ethan slowly raised all ten fingers.
“We’ll get you something for the pain. Now that you are awake, I want to do a
complete brain scan. This is a completely painless procedure and only takes a
couple of minutes. Is that okay with you?” Ethan nodded, immediately regretting
the action as the pain in his head ramped up.
The doctor walked over to a computer display on the
wall and touched several sections, setting up the scan, placed a
strange-looking machine around his head and initiated the scan. Beams of light
emerged from the machine, moving all around his head as images appeared on the
computer monitor.
“There’s definitely indication of extensive brain
trauma, but it’s not anything to worry about. We can fix that easily. After
touching the monitor in a few places, the beams of light, this time a different
color, emerged from the machine surrounding Ethan’s head. After a few seconds,
they disappeared and the doctor, after examining the monitor again, removed the
machine. “How are you feeling now?”
“Much better. Thank you, Doctor.”
“You’re welcome. Any idea what happened to you?”
“I was examining this antique desk that I was fixing
to restore when I saw something weird stuck to one of the legs. I touched it
then I woke up here.”
“Well, not to worry. We’re going to keep you overnight
for observation then you can most likely go home tomorrow. It’s standard
procedure whenever brain trauma occurs. I’ll check back in with you once you’re
admitted.” The doctor left, found his brother Chris in the waiting area, and
explained everything, much to Chris’s relief.
₪₪₪₪₪
Ryan materialized just outside the workshop. Cautious
peeking through a window revealed that the place was empty. He quickly slipped
inside and looked around. Wow. This place
looks like a museum. Look at all these antique tools and furnishings. He
pulled out his imaging scanner and pointed it around the room, storing 3D
images of the workshop for the historians back in his time.
He then took out his temporal scanner and scanned the
workshop to find that which didn’t belong. The object was located quickly and
placed in a special container. He activated his beacon and was returned to TPC
headquarters. Mission accomplished. Or was it? The TPC control room instruments
indicated that the timeline was still skewed somehow.
Thorough diagnostic checks indicated that all of the
equipment in the control room was in perfect operating condition. This caused a
great deal of confusion amongst the TPC personnel and generated considerable,
and sometimes heated, discussions on what do to. Ryan told the senior scientist
to let him know what they decided to do about the apparent aberration. He was
going to lunch then back to his office to file his reports.
₪₪₪₪₪
The next day, feeling good as new Ethan entered his
workshop and cautiously approached the old desk. Finding no evidence of the
strange object, he went over to his workbench and studied the original
manufacturer’s specifications and determined what was needed in terms of
materials and tools to do the restoration work.
₪₪₪₪₪
Ryan was summoned to the control room a few hours
later and informed that something was still amiss, and a return trip was
necessary. “No shit, Sherlock” he replied, using his favorite old-time
expression. “I could have told you that.” Once again, he stepped into the
travellator with the controller’s warning about not interacting with anyone he
saw ringing in his ears.
He grunted in response to the unnecessary
instructions. This time, however, Liam made a slight error entering the
geographic coordinates and Ryan appeared inside the workshop right in front of
Ethan. Oh, fuck. What do I do now? He
wasn’t supposed to see me materialize. Ryan’s brain went into overdrive
trying to figure out what to do.
His brain, however, wasn’t the only thing in
overdrive. One look at Ethan and his pulse started racing. Ethan, however, had
a completely different reaction. He simply passed out from the shock of a
super-hot guy appearing out of nowhere right in front of him. Ryan grabbed him
quickly and eased him down to the floor.
For some inexplicable reason, he cradled Ethan’s head
in his lap, gently stroking his soft brown hair. It was undeniably love at
first sight. Shit. I’m in trouble. I
fucked up big time. He recognized his feelings for what they were and
cursed himself. He wasn’t supposed to interact with anyone, let alone fall in
love with the first person he came into contact with. I think I understand now why we’re not allowed to interact with people
in the past. The question is; what do I do now? He pondered, waiting for Ethan
to regain consciousness, which didn’t take long.
Regaining consciousness, Ethan sat up slowly. “Who are
you? What are you doing here?” He asked.
“My name is Ryan. I saw your sign outside and I was
curious as to what kind of restorations you do.”
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