Ascent (9 page)

“Did you know the Large Hadron Collider is able to create black holes large enough to swallow the earth?” By the tone of his voice, you can tell it’s something Rick’s excited about.

Matt shakes his head and I move closer to eavesdrop on the conversation. “That’s just a conspiracy theory. The LHC is colliding particle beams to test the laws of nature. It’s not going to swallow the earth. You’ve been spending too much time in internet chat rooms.”

“No, dude, seriously. You don’t understand what they’re trying to do there. They’re trying to send our planet into a wormhole so another society can take us over. There’s proof that some of the creators of the LHC are not from this galaxy.”

Matt laughs. “You’ve got to be kidding me, right? The best scientific minds today are working on the LHC. They’re not trying to send us down a wormhole to another planet. That’s crackpot stuff.”

The word crackpot doesn’t affect Rick and he keeps going, undeterred. “Seriously, you believe everything the government tells you? All sorts of top-secret experimentations happen behind the scenes. It’s why I’m spending the summer at IYD: these guys are in on it.”

“They’re in on the LHC?” Matt’s voice grows more incredulous by the moment.

“Yeah, dude, they really are. And you know what? That device that’s going to take us back in time? It can send people back here. You know that, right? I mean, we can’t travel back in time. But the future can travel back in time. They can come back here. The future is trying to stop the Large Hadron Collider from swallowing the earth.”

“Right.”

“Really, I’m not kidding around here. This isn’t coming from me, this is coming from scientists who believe the reason the machine isn’t working is because it’s jinxed. It’s never going to work. The future won’t let it. It’s why they’re so desperate to make sure their theory works this summer. They’re going to try to save the world and get rich in the process.”

I glance at Liam. He’s far enough ahead of us that I’m pretty sure he can’t hear the conversation – pretty sure, but not certain. I wonder if IYD realizes they let the crazy in. I thought we took a test for that. Rick has everyone’s attention though.

“They’re in on it? Yeah right. We’re all here on some kind of confidential government experiment.”

“They wouldn’t tell us though. We’re their guinea pigs. They’re using us to experiment.”

Matt stops walking and I almost run into his back. I want to go back in time, not be someone’s guinea pig. I mean … this is safe, right?

“I think you’ve been spending too much time with your imagination. IYD has been around for twenty years. Many of the graduates hold government office or are corporate CEOs. The Party runs everything.”

“Exactly! See what I mean? Corporate CEOs and government officials! Like you can trust any of those people. They’re using us to experiment. But I’m okay with it. I
want
to be experimented on. I want in on the secret. I want to know what’s going to happen to the earth when the LHC III opens a black hole and we all slide into another dimension. I need to know how to prepare myself for the end of the world!” He looks around. His eyes are wild, like the Party is spying on us and maybe he shouldn’t have started the conversation inside IYD. “Look, there’s lots going on you don’t know about. Some of it is occurring right here in Las Vegas.” His voice is so quiet I’m sure that only Matt and I are able to hear him. “Be on the look out. Keep your eyes open. You have no idea what’s going on.”

We catch up with Liam and stand outside the entrance to the class. Rick stops talking. I suppose it’s because he doesn’t want Liam to hear the crazy talk.

“Have a good day,” Liam says. Then he pushes the buttons on the control outside the door. The circular metal door opens and we walk into class.

***

Dr. Thompson spends the entire class talking about Winn Theory and going over equations I don’t understand. I can’t get Rick’s crazy talk out of my mind. And now the reality of what we’re doing is starting to sink in. We’re here to test scientific theory. We’ll be the first time travelers if the device the lab has developed is successful.

And I wonder what else is going on around here. Rick comes across as being… off. But he also knows stuff. Could something be out here that we don’t know about?

I wonder if coming here was the right decision.

It’s the only chance for a better future for my Dad and I. The Party is trying to control everything.

In my heart I know I made the right choice. I want fresher memories of my mother. Something different than the acting I see on TV. I want to remember what she was really like. I want a better understanding of what happened.

I should have known something was wrong back then and I should have tried to help.

Even though I was only eight, I should have tried.

But I was never able to tell her good bye. We were a mother and daughter and then we weren’t.

My desk glows with information about wormholes, space-time, and curved space. The information on the screen boggles my mind. Traveling through vortexes has so many implications on humanity. It hurts my head. I can barely take it all in.

And I’m trying my best. But I’m here for one reason and one reason only.

I want to give her another chance.

***

We eat lunch in a cafeteria shaped like a circle. We have a broad choice of food: steak, crab, a million desserts … The fanciful meals give a taste of what the Party can offer us once we’re members. Inconsequential gossip fills the room. After lunch we return to class.

It’s time for the good stuff. The information we’ve been waiting for. The reason we’re here. Dr. Thompson walks to the front of the class. In his hand he holds a flat, circular object. The object has a glowing ring around it and what looks like a dial. All at once we’re more alert, sitting up straighter than before, trying to see what he’s holding. This is Marvin’s greatest invention and what we’re here to test.

Dr. Thompson stands in the front of the class and looks around the room. He stares at each one of us as if he is trying to read our minds. I wonder if he
can
read minds. It seems like something he’d be able to do. He walks over to the touch screen and tabs through a couple of icons. A few seconds later our confidentiality agreements fill up the screen and I see the one with my name and date signed at the bottom.

“Good, it looks like we have everything we need to get started. Remember, if you break the confidentiality agreement you’ll be asked to leave the premises and you’ll be sentenced to prison. Or worse.” He pauses, looking around the room. “Treason is subject to the death penalty. We don’t want that now, do we?”

We shake our heads. Part of me wants to ask about what’s ‘worse’ and part of me doesn’t want to know.

The lights go off in the classroom and Dr. Thompson holds the device up so we all can see it. It looks like an electronic compass without a dial. Instead it has a glowing, digital arrow on its face.

“This is the Slider. Twenty years and millions of dollars have gone into this device. The Slider is able to locate the vortexes that can take you back in time. I’ll show you how it works.” He holds it up so we call can see. The room is mesmerized. “The Slider has four modes: search, date, transport, and return. We simplified it down to four modes to keep it simple during times of high stress. When activated, the Slider shows you the direction of an available vortex and how long vortex is available while it’s in search mode. When you arrive at the vortex you type in the date you want to travel to, walk into the vortex, and push transport. When you want to return you need to wait for another vortex to open. When it does you walk into the vortex and place the device into return mode. Marvin wanted the device to be easy to use and to understand. But although it’s simple to use, it’s not a simple device. IYD has only fifteen devices and they are kept locked in a heavily guarded safe in a secret location. It is important that none of these devices go missing. Is that understood?”

We nod our heads. I’m dying to look at the Slider. I can’t believe it’s possible. I’m scared and excited at the same time.

But more excited than scared. I want a second chance with my mother.

“Now, we’ll be watching a video that illustrates how to use the Slider. Watch carefully: you don’t want to find yourselves on the other side of the time continuum without the ability to come back.”

Dr. Thompson presses a button on the podium and the lights in the room grow dim and then go completely off, throwing the room into darkness. Then the screen in front of the room comes to life.

On the screen is Marvin Winn talking about the Slider. He’s older than I expected. I guess all the money in the world can’t stop the world from turning on its axis.

“Hello, class. If you’re here today, you’re one of the lucky few. Congratulations: you’re about to become part of history. In more ways than one.” He laughs at his own joke.

He looks so much older than the photos I’ve seen of him. Marvin is a man few people know but who, at the same time, was able to re-shape Las Vegas into what it is today. Rumor is that the guy became obsessed with time travel and started to sell off his casino holdings to see his obsession through. And there he is on screen, showing us how to use the device that represents his life’s financial investment.

I take notes on my desktop as he speaks. Dr. Thompson’s right. I don’t want to get lost in time and space. I listen as closely as I can, though Marvin Winn might as well be speaking Latin.

But I pay special attention to how to use the device.

In times of stress you want to remember how to get back. You don’t want to get stuck in the past.

My hand flies across the desktop as I write down everything I need to know how to get back. Everyone else in the class is writing with equal intensity.

***

At the end of the video we know the basics on how to use the device and Dr. Thompson is back up in front of the room.

“Any questions?”

A hand shoots in the air. I glance over my shoulder and it’s Rick. He’s bouncing up and down like he has to pee. He’s wearing black pants and a crisp white shirt. The same thing he wears every day. He looks like a cross between an Italian waiter and one of those guys who rides his bike around town trying to get you to believe in God.

I wonder how God fits into Marvin Winn’s calculation.

“Yes, Rick?”

“Who gets to go first?”

“Good question.” He pauses and looks around the room. “Who
wants
to go first?”

Rick’s hand is back in the air. “Me! I want to go!”

It’s like being back on the playground in second grade, picking teams. No one else raises their hands. No one else dares.

I hear a smirk coming from Marcus’ corner of the room.

“Any other volunteers?”

No one else makes a move. It looks like Rick has won the chance to be a human guinea pig. Or like Rick is the one he doesn’t care if the Party loses.

“Great.” Dr. Thompson looks pleased. Like he was worried he’d have to force someone to go. “We’ll send Rick first then.”

Rick’s smile is enormous.

Chapter Twelve

Matt

A bowling ball in a puddle of muck with sticky hair. The hissing sound of the engine. Wheels spinning.

Silence.

The clouds race away and the stars sparkle in the night sky.

I can’t stop staring at the bowling ball. I want to reach down and touch it. To move it, place it on the passenger seat where it belongs, even though it’s not really a passenger seat any more.

But there shouldn’t be hair growing out of a bowling ball.

It’s leaking. And it’s not leaking water.

I’m scared to touch it.

I swing open the door and start to run.

***

I open my eyes.

It’s dark. I turn to my side and see the digital alarm on the wall. It’s 4:41 AM.

I shake my head to clear the thoughts away.

It’s the movie I can’t get out of my head.

There should be a special hell for people who carelessly take the lives of others. That’s what I was that night. Careless. I wasn’t thinking. I was having too much fun. And everybody else paid for my bad decisions with their lives, leaving the movie playing in my head.

My stomach tightens and I feel liquid in my throat. My mouth fills with the taste of metal. I sit up. I can barely remember what it was like to be able to sleep at night without the reel playing in my dreams.

My mouth fills with spit.

When I know what’s about to happen, I jump off my bed and run to the bathroom to throw up.

***

The weekends at IYD come with a reduced schedule. Assigned reading about political history, the laws of physics, economic theory – then we’re free to do whatever we want, as long as we stay on hotel property. Under any other circumstances, this could’ve been one of my best summers. IYD is nothing like the stuffy boarding school atmosphere I was expecting. But when I think about it, I don’t know why I was expecting anything different. Marvin Winn is famous for creating the ultimate Las Vegas experience.