Further Into The Future!

Chapter 14

When we reached the apartment Jack and Dan were watching a video on the wall. They raised their beers at us when we walked in.

"How'd it go?" Jack said.

"Oh, not so well," said Susan. "The Professor didn't get his article, unfortunately."

"Aw, that's too bad. Take a beer or two so you'll feel better, and join us on the couch here. We're watching a classic movie."

I ignored his offer for a beer but walked over to the couch.

On the wall a bearded man in overalls descended down a rope into a deep cave. The rope dropped down a few feet and the man yelped, but then it stabilized. The shot changed to show the rope precariously tied to a root above that was breaking.

"Cave Searchers," Jack said, pointing at the wall with his beer. "One of my favorites. Come on, there's room for one more." He patted the empty seat next to him and smiled, which tightened the curls in his mustache.

"No thanks," I said. "In fact, I need to talk to all of you."

Dan looked over his shoulder at me with a look of concern. Susan tossed her purse on the kitchen table and walked across the apartment to us. Jack ordered the video to mute itself.

"What's wrong, Professor? Have you finally had enough of Dan's obnoxious behavior?" said Jack.

"Shut up," Dan said.

"No, it's not that." I cleared my throat into my fist, then held my hands behind my back. "I'm leaving. I just wanted to thank all of you for supporting me while I stayed here. You've been the best hosts I could have hoped for.

"I'm sorry that I can't help you with your band, but things just didn't work out for me here in the future and I miss my home time. I hope you understand."

Jack sprung up from the couch to shake my hand. "I'm sorry to hear that, Professor," he said, "but we understand. Would you like to say goodbye to the fog?"

"Jack!" Susan shouted.

"What?"

"Don't you understand? He's leaving!"

"Well, he wants to!"

"Professor, I really wish you would reconsider this," Susan said. Her voice was wavering and she was sniffling. "Things will be better. You can be on stage with us at the American Rock Star competition. People will know about you then. And if we win, you get to meet Hammer! He's the most important person in the country."

"I'm sorry, Susan," I said. "My trip has failed. I need to get back to my own time."

She hugged me more tightly than I ever imagined her tiny frame could. She was now crying openly, and I could feel her tears soaking through my dress shirt. I patted the top of her head.

She finally released herself from me, wiping tears from under her eyes. She walked to the couch, gathered my few personal items, and placed them neatly in my briefcase, which she then snapped up and handed to me.

"I'm going to make you a few sandwiches before you go, just in case anything happens," she said as she walked to the kitchen, so softly it was almost to herself.

Jack shook my hand again, more seriously this time. "I'm sorry this had to happen. We really could have used you," he said.

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do. I have to leave," I said.

"It was fun getting to know someone from another time." He smiled. "Let's stay in touch."

I turned to Dan, whose face wore the same gentle, raised-eyebrows expression it always did.

His soft belly pressed against me pleasantly when he hugged me. I laughed and patted his shoulder. "Goodbye, Professor," he said. He returned to the couch and ordered the volume back on.

Susan walked back from the kitchen holding a paper bag between her index finger and thumb. "I made three sandwiches, two turkey and one peanut butter and jelly. I hope you like them," she said.

"That's great, Susan. Thank you so much for all your help. You especially."

"I don't want you to walk back to your machine alone," she said. "I don't want you to get lost. I want to go with you."

"That's not necessary," I said.

She sighed. "Well, at least bring Tiberius with you. He'll show you your way back to the machine and he won't talk much."

I didn't want to make the walk with Tiberius. The last thing I was in the mood for right then was to spend time alone with a militaristic robot. But I could hardly deny Susan's wish after all she had done, when I was holding a paper bag of sandwiches she had just made for me.

"All right," I said. "That will be fine."

She opened the closet and called Tiberius out. I could hear the disappointed questions of the other robots before the door closed.

"Tiberius will show you the way to your time machine," Susan said, patting Tiberius's pole of an arm. Tears were now streaming down her face. Tiberius didn't seem to notice or care. He seemed excited to be trusted with such a mission, walking to the door even faster than robots usually did.

Tiberius and I walked out the door without saying another word. Before it closed, I looked back to see Jack and Dan taking sips of their beers, watching the video on the wall indifferently.