Read My Shorts

Quantum Reverse

No one should be alone in their old age, he thought. No one should have to suffer the wrath of time and watch their friends and loved ones decay to nothing around them. And then of course you have to go through it yourself...

He ran a hand through thinning white hair, the wrinkled and liver spotted skin trembling with ague. The same hand rested for a moment on a plain wooden frame where a handsome woman in her sixties gazed back at him, the gaze firm but with a hint of mischief playing around the edges.

"I'll be with you soon, my love," he whispered. "And then all of this will be irrelevant." The sweeping hand took in the plaudits of decades; newpaper cuttings, a Nobel prize for Physics and a map of CERN all keeping watch from the walls as the aged scientist in his torn lab coat consulted one last hastily drawn set of plans and connected a few last wires.

"House computer: command."

"Yes Doctor Trent, how may I be of assistance?" the smooth sound of his wife's voice from the house computer stopped him in his tracks as it always did and reminded him why he seldom communicated with it.

Taking a shaky breath, and running his hand nervously through his hair again he addressed the voice of his past. "Computer, record message."

"Recording on your mark, Doctor."

"Begin recording." Trent took a deep breath and formulated his thoughts. "Well old friend, it seems that the first thing I must do is apologise for not contacting you for some time but, believe it or not, I will see you soon. Or at least someone so similar to you it will make no difference. I suspect the thought running through your head at the moment will be 'Good grief, the old guy's finally lost the plot.' I suspect you may be right, but since Alena died I'm not sure I've had the plot to lose."

He paused as tears leapt to his eyes, the memory of her passing still raw after ten lonely years of desperate experimentation on the edge of theoretical knowledge.

"Bruce, you are my oldest and dearest friend and I'm sorry I've neglected our friendship for so long. I've been working on something for ten years, my friend, something that runs along the edge of everything we’ve ever worked at. This morning after final extensive testing, I’m certain I’ve got it right.

“This message will be delivered to you shortly after I have passed on. Shortly after that, the House Computer here will respond only to your voice, or that of your lovely wife, just in case you've developed a sore throat.

"I've decided I can't go on without her Bruce. Life has no meaning like this. Don't worry I'm not going to jump off a cliff or overdose on malt whisky and pills, although the whisky part sounds good. I think I've found an alternative, and it's only a quantum leap from where we now sit.

"This universe runs the wrong way. The joy of life ends in death; it shouldn't be like that. There should be the joy of birth, of creation, rising from the ashes like a phoenix. No one should be alone and crumbling into a dementia ridden sack of skin. So, my friend, I have decided to take another path. A path that leads back to happier times, and the twin loves of my life, physics and Alena. Once I've finished this little missive it will transmit to you and you will be given access to all my recent research, and the equipment that I leave behind. Make good use of it old friend.

"I hope this message finds you and Mary well. Goodbye, my friend. Live long and prosper and all that science fiction nonsense."

"Command: terminate message. Computer, deliver message to Dr Bruce Sigorsky exactly one hour from now. Once delivered, put house into standby until Bruce or Mary Sigorsky re-activate by visiting. House, you will change ownership to Bruce and Mary Sigorsky when they enter the building. Thank you."

"Understood Doctor, thank you."

The old man walked across the room and hit the switch, watching the readouts on the computer wall as the machine powered up. After a few seconds, the energy levels had reached optimum levels and he glanced over at the portrait. "See you in about ten years Alena, all being well."

Inspecting the shimmering plane of energy hanging suspended in the centre of the room, he nodded once, smoothed his hair and stepped through the portal into the immediate past, a past that would extend backwards a few years until he met his wife at which point they would grow gloriously young together.

~~~

And another little short inspired from the same quote as the previous story.