“There has to be a time warp around here somewhere.”
“I guess,” Katherine mumbled and trudged after them.
“I found a time warp in the school garden last week, remember?”
Sure, she remembered. Trevor had told them all about it, over and over. It had been his job to test the time-portal-finder... and what a test it had turned out to be!
First a shimmering, holographic spot had appeared that was growing larger all the time. That was the closest description Trevor could think of for the warp in the space-time continuum.
Then behind that ‘curtain’ a vortex had opened up. Churning like a washing machine during the spinning cycle - and Trevor had jumped in. Just like that!
On the other side, he’d seen a large ‘thing’ with shiny scales and steaming breath, stretched out right there before him. Creepy! The ‘thing’ had moved in waves and given Trevor the grandmother of all shocks.
He’d lost no time and pressed the ‘Return’ button and had found himself back in the school garden at exactly the same point in time when he had left.
The possible monster couldn’t scare them off. It had been a real trip through time, no matter how short. Back at the lab, they’d thought up better safety features and now it was time for the first experiment together. THE experiment.
They climbed over sticks and stones, until they stood in front of a stone platform, shielded by rocks on three sides and virtually invisible from the footpath. The fourth side was open toward the valley. Just what they needed.
“Okay, here we are,” Trevor announced.
“Then let’s get going!” Chryséis took a deep breath and jumped effortlessly onto the rock terrace.
Trevor and Katherine did the same. Trevor plunked his daypack on the ground and took out a plain object that looked a bit like a flat metal-pear and fitted snug in the palm of his hand. The time-portal-finder. Chryséis had dubbed the time-portal-finder TPF, and the name had stuck.
The three friends were proud of their handiwork. It had taken loads of time and effort to get the TPF looking like that. It had all started with Katherine’s physics project - quantum physics project to be precise. The vacuum battery - an endless source of energy.
At first it hadn’t even crossed her mind to use this energy source for time travel. Trevor had come up with the idea and now they had to test the whole thing.
Time travel was perfect proof that the endless energy source actually worked and wasn’t just some sort of legend. Of course the project was unusual, but they had come this far, right? This year’s physics project would be a rip-roaring success!
The TPF was fitted with a row of black buttons on the right side. They were there, to dial the target epoch.
With three bigger red buttons on the left, they would save reference points in time. First of all, they would save the time of departure. This was one of the new safety features, the first model did not have. The other red buttons would be programmed with other reference point in time, they liked. A kind of shortcut.
Then there was a big white button right in the middle. When it was pressed, the TPF located a time warp. When it was pressed again, it activated a portal. A small display above the buttons indicated the number of years travelled. At the moment, it was set to ‘0’.
Tiny stickers under the black buttons had numbers on them. were still blank. The sticker under the red button at the top showed the date of departure. 21 February 2015.
“Here are the other TPFs with their own integrated vacuum battery. One for each of us. Here and... here.” Trevor handed the girls identical-looking devices, in see-through plastic wraps.
“I put them into sandwich bags, so they won’t get wet.”
“Ah, I was wondering...” Katherine said. “So that’s what you’ve been up to all day yesterday.”
“Good thinking, Trev. In case we land in the ocean or so,” Chryséis quipped and let the TPF slide into her jacket pocket.
“Right, if we lose one or this one here gets damaged, we still have the others as a reserve,” Katherine said.
Trevor carried on talking with a serious expression. “The top red button is for today’s time reference. We discussed that. We have to all press it at the same time - when we are ready to travel.”
“Sure thing. Now, the VICs - one virtual invisibility cape for each of us.” Chryséis opened the front pocket of her daypack and pulled out thin, black plastic hair bands. They had a tiny box on top and a deep-set button on the side. The VIC was probably the best thing.
Katherine and Chryséis had come up with the idea after Trevor’s strange time travel experience. One never knew what lay in wait. In principle, it had something to do with the bending of light waves. In case of an emergency, one pressed the button - and simply disappeared.
Trevor wanted to put his aliceband on this morning, but that would have been just weird. Imagine, a boy wearing an aliceband to the school outing! They had also decided to keep the VICs switched off inside the time portal. One never knew what might interfere with the frequency. The risk was too great.
“Oh flip.” The u-shaped plastic bands were entangled and Chryséis struggled to get them out of the pocket. Katherine looked worried. “Hurry up, Chris! This is taking forever.”
“Okay, okay.”
In the end, Katherine helped her untangle the alicebands. “All right then,” Chryséis said with triumph in her voice. They put on their VICs, careful not to touch the flat button on the side.
“Can we go now?” Chryséis asked all excited. She didn’t notice, how pale Katherine had become. ‘Time travel’ - the words echoed in Katherine’s mind. Her mouth felt so dry. She swallowed hard, but the fear didn’t want to go away. Now of all times she had to panic! Then, a completely useless question shot through her mind: Can you breathe prehistoric air just like that or is it dangerous?’
This whole experiment was insane. Dangerous even! Katherine swallowed again and fought the urge to run.
There was still time to cop out… no, it was too late. She couldn’t let her friends down now!
Trevor had already activated the big white button on the TPF and tried to find a good spot, pointing the TPF here and there. And sure enough, something began to shimmer by one of the grey rocks. Another curtain-thing. A portal to the space-time continuum!
“I knew it!” Trevor cried.
Chryséis stared mesmerised at the shimmering spot. A time warp, this had to be a time warp! For the first time in her life, she didn’t know what to say.
“All together. Now!” On Trevor’s signal, they pressed the red button through the plastic cover, locking in today’s time reference. Done. Step one completed.
“I’m going to activate now. Get ready.”
The girls grabbed each other’s hand and Trevor pushed the big white button a second time.
Chapter 2
A New School Year
It had all begun like any other school year after the winter holidays and the experiment in Carter Valley was still a pie in the sky.
As so often, Walt, the janitor, had fetched Katherine and other students from the Etheridgeville airport.
Time travel was pretty much the last thing on Katherine’s mind as she sat comfortably in the back of the old-fashioned, black Volvo. She gazed dreamily at the passing landscape while trying not to pay attention to Privesh and Hendrik, who were having a boring discussion about sport.
Looks almost like England, she thought. If one ignored the long bearded moss swaying from the branches of Eucalyptus tree.