"How exciting is this?!" Riley beamed as she jumped to try and look over the heads of the many strangers in front of her.
They were at a science convention where many people were there to show off their inventions and hopefully get a rich investor to take an important interest in their product. How Riley found that interesting? It's rumored one of the machines could actually make horses into real unicorns with a DNA injection. How is that not amazing!?!
Maya rolled her eyes at her giggly best friend. "Riles, please calm yourself. The last thing we need is attention on ourselves for your overly excited personality."
"I think it's great that Riley's taking a bigger interest in science, Maya," Farkle stepped in with a proud smile. "Riley could be inspired into being the next great scientist."
"Thanks again for inviting us, Farkle!" Riley smiled at the teen boy by her side.
"No problem, Riley. I wouldn't waste a chance to try and make you happy," Farkle said giving a smile of his own to his best friend.
"Of course you're happy she's taking an interest in science," Maya said slightly annoyed. "I don't know how you guys can even be slightly into this. Science is bor-ing!"
"Um, Maya? I don't think that's something you should say in a place full of scientists?" Lucas spoke as he caught some of the people's giving nasty looks at Maya for overhearing her words.
Maya gave him a bored expression. "You speak words, but all I hear is 'Bucky mick boing-boing ha-har!'" She was up in his face and he rolled his eyes at her for insulting him once again.
"Maya, stop teasing Lucas," Riley stated seriously while giving her a look.
"I wonder if one of these machines could possibly make her nice to me," Lucas said out loud.
"Nothing in the world will make that happen," Maya shook her head.
"I'll look around," Lucas said as he started to check scientists' stands for hope of one making such a brilliant creation.
"I wanna see the unicorn!" Riley huffed, stomping her foot down in frustration.
Farkle chuckled. "We'll have to keep walking around. This place is for businessmen, investors, and scientists. I don't think they have posters pointing the way to a unicorn for a fourteen year old girl."
"Well, they should've!" Riley huffed, crossing her arms over her chest childishly.
The four of them continued to walk together; Farkle paying interest to the stands and what the scientists had to say about their creations, Maya bored out of her mind, Lucas looking for his Nice-Maya machine, and Riley keeping a look out for the magical unicorn.
While passing, a scientist in all white caught their attention with his shouting towards them. "YOU!"
"Me?" They all said in unison, pointing to their own chests, heads turning to the guy.
"Yes! All four of you! Come here!" He waved them over. They all looked at each other before cautiously walking over to the man who was fidgeting around with what could be called his creation.
"You look like a couple of young folks. Only ones I've seen all day!" The man said wide eyed.
"Yes, sir! We're here looking for the DNA-bred unicorn that was said to be at this convention today. Do you know by chance where that is?" Riley stepped forward, anxiously.
"Or a machine who turns mean people nice?" Lucas said peaking his head over Riley's shoulder.
"Only in your dreams, Ranger Rick!" Maya said, uninterested.
The scientist laughed at the four of the kids in front of him. "You are a bunch of young souls! So happy and naive!"
They all look almost offended at the term used.
"Why'd you call us over, Mister...?" Maya lingered on.
"Dr. Marbles!" He smiled a happy grin as he individually took their hands one at a time and shook them.
"Dr. Marbles, why they call you that? Because you've lost your marbles?" Maya strikes at him, giving him a disgusted look.
"Maya!" Riley snapped at her once again.
The man only laughed, his salt-and-pepper hair oddly staying in place as he threw his head back. "You guys are such a joy to be around. If you must know, it's what my wife calls me for having such crazy ideas. It kind of stuck."
"Ew, you have a wife?" Maya crinkled her nose. Riley glared at her. Maya held her hands up in defense.
"Yep!" He sighed happily, looking over to another stand. "There she is." He pointed over to see a women talking to a group of other scientists. Her back was turned to them but it can be seen that her and her husband were wearing the matching outfits and her long hair was pulled up in a ponytail, her dead brown hair having strips of grey in them.
"She's doing a presentation over a physical 3D representation on black holes and how they really work in our solar system."
"What's there to know about them? Whatever goes in never comes out. Simple as that," Farkle sad matter-of-factly.
"That's what you think," Dr. Marbles said coming in close to Farkle's face. It caused him to lean back.
"Why'd you call us over?" Maya said loudly, getting the man's attention again.
"Oh! Yes. I wanted to let you four younglings be the first to hear about my new greatest invention!" He gestured to the large glass marble that was displayed on the table.
The kids looked at it unimpressed.
"It's looks like a magic ball psychs use to tell your future," Maya said blandly.
"That's exactly what it is!" The man expressed. "But this crystal ball is different."
"How?" Lucas asked confused.
"This crystal ball can take you into the future!"
"Okay, your name suits you very well!" Maya scoffed.
"There's no way that can take you into the future. You're talking time travel here, sir. No one has invented the machine to time travel," Farkle shook his head, already calling it a hoax and a fraud.
"Until today! I can guarantee you that this crystal ball can indeed take you to the future!" Dr. Marbles moved around to get close to it and pointed a figure to the inside. "Inside this solid is hollow. I had taken the unfinished work of another scientist and finished it to make a remote to control time-jumping--"
"What you're saying means there needed to be trials, sir. Have you tested these to go into the future?" Farkle asked. The other three looked at the scientist curiously.
"Well... No. But I know for a fact this works... Dr. Marbles inventions always work!" Dr. Marbles grinned proudly.
"I don't think this is safe," Farkle stated, shaking his head.
"As great as it sounds to go to the future, sir, I'm with Farkle on this one," Riley said stepping closer to Farkle's side, crossing her arms over her chest while she stood her ground.
Dr. Marbles smiled at the two before nodding, "I see."
"I can assure you it's safe. The only unsafe thing I can think of is where you land. That part seems still uncertain to me," Dr. Marbles laughed.
"So what you're saying is that we could land in a swamp full of alligators or the middle of the ocean?" Lucas said bewildered.
"Yep!" Dr. Marbles continued to nod and grin.
"Oh, heck's no!" Lucas said as he stood by Farkle and Riley.
The doctor nodded at his choice. "Usually if you focus on a single location, it's where you go but whatever position you get in is not in my control."
"What is in your control?" Maya asked suddenly.
He turned his head to the blonde who stared at him intensely. Her eyes squinted at his face as he continued to smile at her.
"Time. It's the whole reason for this invention, is it not?"
Maya crossed her arms and stared down at the scientist, he returning the same intensity. "So what about you, Ms. Maya? Would you like to see how the future took care of you?"
Maya hesitated and her hesitation was caught by Riley. "I'm sorry Dr. Marbles but obviously we aren't interested in your magic glass ball. We're just going to--"
"I'd like to try it," Maya spoke out loud finally.
"Maya, no!" The other three nearly screamed.
"Excellent!" Dr. Marbles grinned before moving to get the machine ready.
Riley pulled Maya's arm to be away from the preparation. "Maya, are you crazy?!"
"I don't know, Riles. I just have a sense that I can trust him," Maya said, never taking her eyes off the man.
"Maya, there aren't verified results with this experiment. There are sure to be complications if you even try to go into the future!"
"Aren't you interested in knowing how the future is like for you, Riley? You could actually be everything you wanted to be. You could own a bunny farm and be married with a ton of little baby Rileys running around! Don't you just want to take a peek of what your future is certain to be?"
"As much as I would love to, I'd rather wait it out until it happens," Riley frowned.
"I'm not. This is an opportunity I'm not going to miss, for you or for anyone else," Maya stood her ground before yanking her arm away from Riley's grip and marching over to the man.
Riley huffed and followed Maya.
"Is it ready, Marbles?" Maya asked, slamming her hands down. She was determined to go through this no matter what.
"Maya, if you're actually going to go through this, then I'm going with you!" Riley said to her best friend.
"Riley, no!" Farkle objected.
"Farkle, I'm not letting my best friend go to the future all alone. The future is going to be a strange place for her alone, it's best to have something familiar while she is there. She needs me. I'm going," she firmly stated to her guy friend. He knew she was serious.
"Well, if you two are going, so am I!" Farkle nodded.
"I still don't want to go!" Lucas shook his head rapidly.
"You really want to be left here in the past with none of your friends or you want to come with us in a time-jump which is only a one-in-a-lifetime experience?" Riley tilted her head.
"But alligators!" Lucas whined.
"You're coming, Huckleberry!" Maya said pulling him closer to her side as she intensely watched Dr. Marbles ready the ball.
"As my wife says at house parties, the more the merrier!" Dr. Marbles said. "How far you want to go? 4 months? 3 days? 20 years?"
"20 years!" Maya selected.
"20 years it is!" Dr. Marbles repeated as he put an addition 20 years to that day's date. "When thinking of a location, I'd prefer to pick a familiar place where teenagers won't be questioned."
The four looked at each other, knowing exactly where a couple of fourteen year olds like themselves would blend in perfectly.
"This is going to be fun!" Dr. Marbles grinned before pressing a button, causing a surge to interrupt the nerves in their body.
"Wait! How will we--" Farkle's question was never finished as with a flash of light they were taken away from their present time and jumping through time to their possible future.
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