It’s the Thought That Counts
World-shaking innovation is born in solitude. Jobs and Wozniak in Apple’s garage of Eden. Orville and Wilbur in their Kitty Hawk middle of nowhere. And Percy Ledby’s innovation would wait for a seclusion of its own...
The room filled quickly as Percy stifled a yawn. The anticipation gripped him as he saw the looks on the faces of the suits who entered. He was surprised he could sense anything. After all, he had been awake for over 48 hours. His thoughts were not of history in the making; rather of his pillow and his wife.
As this came to mind, Percy startled at a memory. He hadn’t forgotten a gift for his wife. Quite the contrary, he had been pondering it for months, though this was the first time since he received the rush order from his boss.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! he thought. What can I get for Dominique? Nothing seems perfect, and I want it to be perfect for her...
His reverie was interrupted. The meeting was to begin.
“Gentlemen...” The word was spoken with the knowledge that it would resonate through history. It was spoken by the head of Percy’s research firm. Percy knew him only from hearsay and rumor. He was much slimmer in person than in gossip.
“You are here today to witness the making of history. I must remind you that what you see here cannot leave this room until it is perfected. These fine men...” A gesture to Percy and his assistants. “Have forged for us the technology, and it is up to us to determine how best it can benefit society. Without further ado...”
Percy gulped a quick, deep breath and stepped to the podium. Beside it, on a table, was the tachyon bath generator. It was two feet long and a foot wide and tall. The heavy metal base anchored the smooth metal cylinder sprouting from it. It was obviously only prototype: Functional, but ugly as sin.
Percy spoke momentous words with no sense of the ceremony. “We have developed the first tachyonic temporal displacement device. In essence, we now have the ability to travel through time. I’ll give you a brief explanation how it works.
“Einstein was right when he said that anything with mass cannot go faster than the speed of light, necessary for temporal reduction. Tachyons, however, have no mass and can travel back in time. To skirt Einstein’s limitation we bathe matter with tachyons, and then polarize the atoms to nullify gravity as well as mass. Through this, time travel is possible. Are there any questions?”
The room fell silent, half because of the historic pronouncement and half because of the inept manner with which it was delivered. In time however, every hand rose. Percy pointed to one of the suits.
“Commercial applications aside, what are the potential dangers of this device?”
Percy shrugged. “My team and I have developed the tachyon cannon, and it is for humanity to decide how it shall be used. I have the utmost faith that humanity will use the cannon as they have every other technological innovation: they will make the mistakes entitled a human, but in the end, benefits will far outweigh these mistakes.”
There were further questions and answers, but before long, the most important one was asked: “Will you demonstrate the machine for us?”
Percy drew an orange from his pocket. “I will now send this orange back into time one minute. It will instantaneously appear on the opposite side of the desk.”
Percy set the orange into the path of the beam, and set his finger on the switch. Before he could flip it, a voice slipped from the crowd. “Wait a minute. If the machine worked, wouldn’t the orange have materialized already?”
Percy cocked his head, and he noticed his colleagues doing the same. “I...” Percy stammered. “I... guess you’re right...”
* * *
Back in their office, Bob clapped Percy upon the shoulder. “It could be worse, Percy.”
Percy tossed the orange into the wastepaper basket. “How?”
“It could have...” Bob stretched. “Killed a rich guy?”
Percy was not amused. “At least that would have been something.”
Bob shrugged and looked out the large window. Snow gently fell, drifting in the quiet haloes in the lights of the city. “Don’t let it get you down. It’s Christmas Eve, after all. Let the evening be special, but not because of what could have happened here. Make it be special because of who you’re with.”
“Dominique...” Percy smiled as he spoke her name. He loved his wife, and was consumed with the desire to take her into his arms. “Bob, you’re right. I’m so lucky.”
“I’ve heard about her for months, ever since I came to work on this project. And still I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting your wife. Can we have dinner?”
“I’m sorry,” Percy shrugged his shoulders. “Dom prefers quiet nights in. We don’t go out much.”
“But when you do—”
“You’ll be the first.”
“Good.”
As Percy caught sight of the tachyon cannon, his countenance sank a bit. “I should take this home,” he said. “See if I can figure out what went wrong.”
“Are you sure? Personally, I don’t even want to look at the thing until we have to come back.”
“Yeah,” Percy said. “I’m sure. Dom likes it when I have something to occupy me.”
“Well, if you wish. Merry Christmas, Percy. And Happy New Year.”
“Which year?” They both chuckled at a joke only a temporal physicist could love.
* * *
Percy’s drive was a gift as he was one of the few on the road, and the flurries didn’t obscure his vision at all. Percy almost believed that the magic of Christmas Eve was making a winter wonderland just for him.
With the scene so serene, his mind turned to other things. And of course, he thought of Dominique. Specifically her present. Finding it had been quite a struggle. He had spent long hours at the stores after he left the lab, and only a single item caught his eye. It was a brooch depicting a night scene of the ocean. It may sound gaudy, but it was not. Obsidian was shaped into a shore, with blue crystal rounded irregularly into a sky. This twilight was studded with small diamonds, twinkling like the stars they were supposed to be.
He had asked the woman at the store, and she specifically denied it was tacky. He would have asked someone else, but he knew no other woman well enough. Percy envisioned the gleam in his Dominique’s eyes, and it warmed him on the way home.
“Dominique,” he said. “I’m home, honey...” Percy was suspicious. The house was dark, with on sign of his wife. Like any good husband, terrible thoughts flashed through his head, and the only way he could fight them was to assume a masculine posture, and search the house.
He tiptoed up the stairs. “Dom? Are you home?”
His hand tightened around the keys in his pocket,. They could make a great weapon...
He called her again as he reached the top of the stairs. “Dominique? Are you o—”
The ‘kay’ was swallowed by his small shout. She crept from a shadow. But it was her, and she was okay. Percy stood down. “Dear, you startled me.” He mustered a smile. “ Merry Christmas Eve, honey. I got home as soon I could. Things didn’t go as well as I hoped they would. But work is over now, and I’m very happy to be home with you.”
Dominique still did not speak. The light from the door she had opened was flattering. Her hair was long and dark as a starless sky. Her features were soft and warm, and she was just as soft in body. She wore a set of pink silk pajamas.
Dominique let a moment pass, and in a whirl, her soft eyebrow turned razor-sharp. “Percy Ledby! I can’t believe you left me here alone so long! And on Christmas Eve!”
“I— I’m sorry, honey. I told you that—”
“Yes! You told me you would be late, but not this late! I was about to go to sleep without you! And on Christmas Eve! How could you neglect me so?”
Percy snapped open his arms, and took her into them. She kept her body stiff, but permitted the hug. “I’m sorry, honey. Can we please put this past us? I’d like to have a nice Christmas.” She did not budge. “I have a nice gift for you...”
‘You’re always apologizing.” Now, she budged. “It better be nice.” She started down the stairs without him.
Percy dashed by and took her hand. “Honey, please sit by the tree, and I’ll get everything ready.” He smiled. “Okay?”
She rolled her eyes. Percy knew this was how she said yes. He bounded down the rest of the stairs, and into the kitchen. He turned on the stereo, and the smooth crooning of Bing Crosby filled the house. It seemed like the snow was falling in time to the music. Percy filled two glasses with the fresh eggnog he had left in the fridge, and set it on a tray beside some fine mint candies.
He paused. What was he forgetting?
He lit a long white taper candle inside a crystal holder. He brought them into the living room, where Dominique was waiting for him by the tree.
“Here you are, love,” Percy said. “Eggnog and candies. Just for you.”
She took a sip and grabbed a candy. The light from the candle caressed Dominique’s face with a delicacy he only wished his fingers could.
“I’m hearing something...” Percy put his hand to his ear. “I... Yes, I think it sounds like reindeer hooves! I think it’s Santa.” He walked to the fireplace. “I think Santa left something for you...”
Dominique rolled her eyes. “Just bring it to me.”
Percy did. The gift was meticulously wrapped. Dominique ripped it open.
He smiled, awaiting that look on her face, the one that would reassure and help justify the fact that a temporal physicist had landed a woman so beautiful.
Dominique opened the jewelry box, and tossed it to the ground. “What the hell is that?”
Percy’s heart dropped as quickly as the brooch, whose jewels shone in the lights on the tree. “I— I thought you’d like it. It’s a pin. You can put it on your blouses and jackets.”
Dominique tapped the side of her husband’s head. “Think about it, Percy. Think. When am I going to wear something like that? At a party, maybe. And you take me out so infrequently. And even then, I could only wear it once. And besides. It looks tacky. You really do have a screw loose.”
“I— I’m sorry...” Percy watched as Dom gulped the rest of her eggnog. She dropped the glass on the tray, and started up the stairs.
“I’m going to sleep,” she threatened. “Merry Christmas.”
And Percy was left alone. His scientist mind, ever practical, turned to his tachyon cannon. He really should bring it inside. It was a precision instrument.
He bounded through the snow in his slippers. At no time did he imagine that Santa or his reindeer were overhead.
He put the cannon under the tree. Percy thought it appropriate.
“I should go to sleep...” Percy tried to clear his mind, to no avail.
When am I going to wear something like that?
It looks tacky.
You really do have a screw loose...
It hit him.
“A loose screw...” he said. He knelt on the floor and looked over his cannon, the light sufficient for his acute eyesight. Sure enough, the connections between the phase coil and the power converter were loose. Percy was in a state of confusion.
“Why can’t I have such a good psychic relationship with Dom?” He asked aloud. He hand-tightened the screw, and the first working time machine was under his Christmas tree.
He decided to test the device.
Behind him, Percy felt a gentle breeze, and a wobble in space. A finger identical to his own tapped his shoulder.
“Hello, Doctor Ledby,” said Percy to Percy1. “I guess it does work!”
“Indeed, Doctor,” said Percy1. “Go ahead. Get her a nice present.”
Percy smiled at him, and readied his finger on the power switch. “I’m going a back a week to do that. Goodbye!” Percy1 was gone.
Percy was about to throw the switch when he felt the next wobble behind him. It was another Percy. Percy2 tapped him on the back.
“Who are you?” He paused. “I mean, when are you from?”
Percy2 didn’t look well. His eyes were muted, and he lacked Percy’s spring of step. His speaking voice was tense and curt. “You’re going to get her a diamond ring. For Christmas.”
Percy nodded. “I think she’d like that.”
“She won’t like it. She’ll feed it to her poodle. Try getting her a new stove, okay? Maybe she’ll like that.”
Percy opened his mouth to speak, but the wobble to his left stopped him. This disruption was far larger and lasted much longer than the ones previous. Percy3 emerged from the wobble. With a wild look in his eyes, he grabbed Percy’s shoulders. “No! You can’t get her a stove. Now she thinks you hate her cooking.”
Percy cocked an eyebrow. “But she doesn’t cook at all.”
Percy3 shrugged. “Truth lies only in what she believes. You have to get her something different. Get her an oil painting for the soap opera room.”
“O... okay...” Percy was still confused, but he was allowed no rest. A tremendous wobble broke to his right. The force was so great that Percies1-3 were thrown to the ground. From the wake emerged a man with disheveled hair and an insane look on his face. It was Percy4.
“No!” Percy4 shouted. “You can’t get her an oil painting! The one you pick doesn’t go with any of the house’s décors. She doesn’t want anything for Christmas.”
“Is she just saying that?”
“Who knows?”
Before Percy could decide, the ground shook, and fear of expectations gripped all the Percies. It was the beginning of a wobble. By the looks of the rumbles, the house couldn’t withstand the strain.
“Oh... that’s not good,” Percy said. “Maybe time isn’t so flexible...”
Before the bulk of the wobble started, the house exploded.
And when the wobble began, the universe unraveled.
Copyright © 2006 by Bewildering Stories
on behalf of the author
