Tempus [HIATUS]

Tempus- Prologue

So close. He was so close, he knew it. Hunched over his oak desk, Isaac went over his formula again, trying to find the hole in his calculation. The gravitational constant was in place, he had calculated the exact amount of europium he needed, and the force required to bring its atoms into just the right vibrational frequency necessary to bring the oscillator attached to his chest to life.

But something was missing.

Newton roared in frustration, and knocked over all his papers, instruments and tools, spilling candlewax on to his most prized possession.

''OH GOD!'' he scrambled to the tome, brushing off the hot liquid from the pages. Grateful for Da Vinci's tempolocomanipulator diagram being unscathed, he stroked the sheet with scorched fingers, soaking in the beauty of its design. He scanned through the spidery, mirrored design for the ten thousandth time, picked up his own notes again and compared the contents.

Something was odd. He looked at Da Vinci's scrawl again. New lines had formed in his writing, completing some letters to form new ones. Isaac tried reading them, but they did not make any sense. There was a knock on the door.

''Sir Isaac?'' Nelson, his attendant let his head peek out the small portion he'd opened the door, and cringed at the fumes that struck his nose. ''Are you still alive, Sir?''

Isaac waited for a bit, then turned around to look at his butler. He adjusted his tilted wig, and quickly tucked a sweaty strand of his own hair under it.

''What, Nelson?''

''Oh, right. You look to be alright, Sir. Magdalena and I were worried, Sir. You haven't exited this room since you came home last week, and we were not sure of your methods of self-sustenance, you don't appear to have taken any food with you.''

Newton turned back to his desk, and made a shooing gesture with his hand. ''Annoying bastard.''

''Uh, sir?''

''What?'' Though Isaac couldn't see it, he knew Nelson to be tugging at his collar.

''Maggie and I, uh, we, uh , hadn't been-''

''The key to the safe is in my right slipper under my bed, sod off.''

''Thank you, Sir Isaac, ring the bell if you-''

Nelson exited hurriedly as the soft tapping of Newton's middle finger against his temple voiced his annoyance. There was a gentle thud as the door swung shut. Isaac took his spectacles off, and rubbed over his eye, feeling the left one twitch erratically. He probably needed some sleep, but his ambition demanded urgency. He looked at the notes again.

And finally understood. Da Vinci had etched the lines into the letters to form letters that were the RIGHT WAY AROUND, instead of his typical mirrored writing. Isaac read through the manuscript again, and, struck by an epiphany, he scrawled a new barrage of calculations and drawings on a new paper, continuing onto his desk when he ran out of space.

Of course! Temperature was just the rate at which atoms collided, it was just their kinetic energy. The higher the energy, the faster the oscillations of an object. He had always assumed the speed at which the atoms moved was infinite, or undefinable, but according to what he'd just read, there was a different answer: Mass is directly related to energy, which means that an atom cannot bear an infinite amount of kinetic energy, because its mass is finite. If Newton could find the exact relationship between mass and energy, he could tweak his tempolocomanipulator to agitate atoms to their maximum potential, and even beyond to finally be able to-

He found it. Newton looked at the mathematical beauty of his formula.

''This will change the world. I've done it. I did it! Ahahah!''

Isaac jumped up from his work, prancing around to the point that his wig flew off, knocking over several flasks of his alchemy in the corner. A noxious stench joined its brethren in the air.

''AHAHAHAHAHA!''Newton tugged at a chain near the door, hearing the barely audible ringing upstairs. ''NEEELSON!!! I did it! ''

He plopped down, sitting crosslegged, and started working at the device on his chest. He rewired some of its circuitry, crawled hurriedly to his workbench when he realised he needed to solder, adjusted the europium core's conductor rods. The old man's hands worked in a fever incomprehensible, the sweat matting his hair to his skull. When he was done, he stood, inspected the somatic insertion needles, and nodded with satisfaction.

The door opened, and Nelson peeked in timidly, once again.

''You rang, Sir?''

''Nelson, look,'' Isaac smiled, left eye rocketing around in its orbit,''its done.''Manic laughter ensued, and died out in a gurgle.He clutched at his chest, feeling the alveoli in his lungs crystallise. There was a wetness down the sides of his neck. He touched it, and realised his ears were bleeding when his hand came off bloody.

Nelson jumped forward through the doorway as Isaac's knees buckled.

''Isaac! SIR!?''

''Come closer, Nelson. Here, take these. Those are my notes. You might need them where you're going.''

''Sir Newton, I don't understand-''

''You don't have to,'' Newton grinned through bloodstained teeth, and plunged the somatic needles of his final accomplishment into the chest of his butler,''But don't worry, they will.''

''WHA-'' The butler glowed red hot for a second, and disappeared with a POP.**************************************************

Magdalena found Newton dead, slumped over his notes which were covered in blood pouring from all his orifices, surrounded by chemicals of which at least thirty could have been responsible for his demise.

Thank you for reading.

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