Chapter 6
Eight that evening finally rolled around, and Danny had his Corolla parked in Dr. Youngblood's driveway of his two-story home. It was located in the northern, eastern area of Cambridge.
Danny walked up to the front door. He rang the doorbell.
After a few seconds of waiting, the door opens, and Dr. Youngblood appeared in the doorway. "Ah, Danny I'm so glad you came. Please come inside," Dr. Youngblood said, then stepped aside.
Danny stepped inside his house, not realizing that tonight would change his life forever.
Dr. Youngblood closed and locked his front door.
Once Danny was in Dr. Youngblood's living room, he followed him through it and then into the kitchen.
Dr. Youngblood stood by the door, then looked at Danny. "You have to promise me that whatever you see down there will stay down there," he said and looked dead serious.
Danny got the chills wondering what was down in the basement. "I promise."
Dr. Youngblood reached in his pants pocket and removed some keys. He unlocked the deadbolt lock of the door then unlocked the lock on the doorknob. He opened the door, and Danny saw it was the stairs into the basement.
Dr. Youngblood flicked on the light switch located just inside the stairwell.
The basement lit up.
Danny followed Dr. Youngblood down the creaky wooden stairs.
The second Danny arrived at the bottom of the stairs with Dr. Youngblood he saw a bank of large floor to ceiling computers along the back bare concrete wall. Those computers had thousands of twinkling lights that were dancing all over the place. He stared at them in awe.
Then he spotted a glass booth big enough for two people off to the left of the basement.
Then he spotted a NASA looking computer console off to the right of the glass booth and in front of that bank of twinkling computers.
Bundles of wires of numerous colors ran from the banks of computers up to the first floors ceiling joists.
Then that bundle of wires ran along the bottom of the ceiling joists then it branched off into two smaller bundles of cables. One bundle ran under the bottom of the joist and headed down to the computer console. The other bundle of wires branched off and ran down to the top of the glass booth.
Danny had his mouth opened in awe at this sight of this setup. "Are you going to launch a rocket from your basement?"
"Something better. With my machine, you can go witness some of NASAs first rocket attempts. Witness their successes and failures," Dr. Youngblood said with a gleam in his eyes while he looked at his setup.
"What?" Danny replied as he did not get the comment.
"It's a time machine, Danny," Dr. Youngblood said, and he looked so proud of his creation.
"You mean a real time machine. Not just a toy?" Danny asked with a little disbelief.
"Oh, it's a real one. Come, I'll give you the run down," Dr. Youngblood replied then he escorted Danny over to the computer console.
Danny checked out the computer console with a 1960s style monitor. "How do you know it will work?"
"I ran a test, and it worked on some objects. I placed three books in the booth, set the travel time to an hour ahead. The books disappeared, then an hour later, they reappeared in the booth," said Dr. Youngblood and looked proud of this little accomplishment.
"Are you going to try it? I mean, are you going to travel in time?"
"I plan on it. But I need someone here to monitor the computer during my trip," Dr. Youngblood replied and looked serious.
It took a few seconds for it to dawn on Danny. He looked at Dr. Youngblood. "You want me to monitor it?"
"You're the only one I trust."
Danny looked a little unsure. "I don't know. I mean, what if you get stuck somewhere? I won't know what to do."
Dr. Youngblood reached down and opened up a drawer on the console. He reached inside and removed a notebook. "I wrote an operating manual," he said then handed Danny the notebook.
Danny opened up the notebook and saw Dr. Youngblood's handwritten operating instructions for his time machine.
"It's sorta crude at the moment, but I plan on typing that into Word at a later date. You know, make it fancier."
Danny continued to glance through the pages of the notebook.
"Plus, I ran a second test. I sent those three books ahead by a month with a return time of ten minutes. They disappeared then returned a month later. So I feel extremely confident I won't get stuck in time."
Danny still looked unsure. "How does it work?" Danny curiously asked while he looked at the device in the basement.
"Watch and learn my young friend. Watch and learn. These steps are all documented in my notes," Dr. Youngblood told Danny while he sat down behind the console.
Dr. Youngblood powered up the computer monitor.
After the monitor was powered up, an Earth Icon with the 'TT' title appeared in the upper left corner of the screen.
"Follow the steps I wrote down in that notebook," he told Danny.
Danny opened up the notebook and saw 'Step 1 – Click on Earth Icon.'
Dr. Youngblood clicked on the Earth Icon.
A password block appeared on the monitored.
"Password is TTNow, which stands for Time Travel Now," Dr. Youngblood.
Danny thought that was not a very secure password. But he continued to follow with the steps in the notebook.
Dr. Youngblood typed in "TTNow" in the password block.
'Travel Times, Destination, and Sync iTravel' radio buttons appeared on the monitor.
Dr. Youngblood clicked on the Travel Times button.
Entries for a 'Start Date and Time" and 'Return Date and Time' above the 'Enter' button appeared on the monitor. Dr. Youngblood typed in 'October 20, 2014, 2045' for the start date and time then he typed in 'October 20, 2014, 2100" for the Return Date and Time.
Dr. Youngblood clicked on the Destination button.
A Google Map appeared. It looked normal.
Then Dr. Youngblood typed in his home address of 1745 Revere Lane, Cambridge, Massachusetts in the search block.
Then the Google map showed the Cambridge area with a 'Destination' button that pointed to Dr. Youngblood's house. Dr. Youngblood zoomed in on his house. He moved the 'Destination' button to the patio in his small backyard. He double-clicked.
A 'Locked' message appeared on the map followed by an 'Enter" radio button.
Dr. Youngblood opened up that drawer again and reached inside. He removed two iPhone looking devices but was labeled different. One was labeled 'iTravel 1,' and the other was labeled 'iTravel 2' and a USB cable.
He connected one end of the USB cable to the iTravel 1 device then the USB end to an opened USB port labeled 'iTravel 1" on the computer console.
He pressed the Sync iTravel button.
A' Downloading' message appeared, and the block started filling up with red color showing the progress of the download.
Then a 'Download Complete' message appeared on the computer monitor.
Danny then saw a 'Time Travel Ready to Commence' button appeared on the iTravel 1 device.
Dr. Youngblood disconnected the USB cable from iTravel 1. He then looked around his basement and saw a lawn chair under the stairs.
"Get that lawn chair under the stairs and bring it over to the glass booth," he told Danny.
Danny looked over and saw the chair. He walked over to the stairs and grabbed the chair. He walked it over to the glass booth where Dr. Youngblood waited with iTravel 1 device in his hand.
Dr. Youngblood opened up the door of the glass booth. "Set the chair inside," he told Danny.
Danny entered the booth and set the chair in the middle of it, then exited.
Dr. Youngblood entered the booth and set iTravel 1 on the chair. He then pressed the 'Time Travel Ready to Commence' button on iTravel 1 device.
He then pressed the 'Time Travel' button that was on a small pad on the inside of the booth to the left of the glass door.
He immediately closed the glass door.
He rushed over to the computer console.
Danny rushed over to the console.
They both looked at the console where a 'Return Time' counter appeared on the monitor. It was blank.
"Let's go to the back porch," he told Danny then he rushed off to the stairs.
Danny rushed off to the stairs after him.
Dr. Youngblood and Danny rushed up the stairs.
After they entered the kitchen, Danny followed Dr. Youngblood to a back door that led to the back porch.
Once they got to the back door, Dr. Youngblood opened it and waited.
Danny saw a patio outside with a brick wall that provided some privacy. On the patios was a table with an umbrella and four chairs.
"Why are we staring at your patio?" Danny asked and thought that maybe Dr. Youngblood was in fact loony.
"Just and wait for the show my young friend," Dr. Youngblood said while he glanced at the patio with a smile.
Danny played along and glanced at the patio with Dr. Youngblood.
Then all of a sudden, a huge spot of psychedelic colors appeared on the patio's square brick tiles. There were blue, red, orange, yellow, lime green, and blue colors that appeared in abstract shapes. The colors slowly started twirling around. Then they started twirling around at supersonic speed. The colors were gone in a poof. The chair from the glass booth magically appeared on the patio to the right of that table.
Danny did a double-take. He rubbed his eyes to make sure his vision was clear. He looked again and could not believe what he saw. That chair magically appeared on the patio from that booth in the basement. And the iTravel 1 device was still on the chair seat. "No. There's no way," he said while he continued to stare at the chair with the iTravel 1 device still in the seat.
"Come, let's watch the rest of the show," Dr. Youngblood told Danny then he closed the day.
Dr. Youngblood turned around and rushed back to the basement stairwell door.
Danny continued to stare in awe at the chair through the window of the kitchen door. Then it dawned on his that Dr. Youngblood was gone.
He turned around and headed back to the basement stairwell door.
Dr. Youngblood and Danny rushed down the stairs.
They rushed over to the computer monitor.
Danny saw an 'Override' button on the monitor. "What's that?"
"By pressing the Override button, that allows a particular time travel mission to be shortened or lengthened. Just follow the prompts," Dr. Youngblood replied while he glanced over at the glass booth. "Let's wait," he told Danny while he saw the '0 days, 0 hours, 10 minutes' Time Remaining on iTravel 1 Mission" message above the 'Override' button.
Then Danny looked at the glass booth and saw it was empty. The chair was gone.
Dr. Youngblood picked up the iTravel 2 device. "I must have this iTravel device with me during my travel. It will have a timer that shows how long I've been at my destination. Plus I can move up my return time or extend my return time. But you can override any of those commands from this console," he told Danny.
Danny took the iTravel 2 device from Dr. Youngblood and checked it out. "Looks like an iPhone."
"A modified iPhone for time travel. But it still can download photos videos, or take photos and videos," Dr. Youngblood replied.
Danny continued to check out iTravel 2 then he placed it back down on the console.
"If I lose it this device, then I will not be able to return back to this time. I will be stuck in another year. Unless someone comes back to rescue me," said Dr. Youngblood while he looked at Danny to be that savior.
Danny did not know what to think while he stared at the empty glass booth.
They waited and stared at the glass booth.
Ten minutes passed, and Danny and Dr. Youngblood kept an eye on the glass booth.
Then a whirring sound was heard from inside the booth.
Bright lights filled the booth like fireworks.
The booth vibrated, and psychedelic colors illuminated the booth. There were blue, red, orange, yellow, lime green, and blue that appeared in abstract shapes.
The colors slowly started twirling around. Then they started twirling around at supersonic speed.
There was a poof inside the booth.
It stopped spinning.
The psychedelic colors dissipated in a flash.
The booth stopped vibrating.
The bright lights fireworks dissipated.
The whirling sound whined down.
Danny saw the chair with the iTravel 1 device still on the seat. "I don't believe it. You built a time machine in your basement," he said while he continued to stare at the glass booth in awe.
Dr. Youngblood looked proud.
"Where are you planning on going?"
"I want to go back and chat with Thomas Edison. I'm thinking of going down to his winter place down in Fort Meyers, Florida. Maybe do some fishing with him. Maybe talk about his laboratory," Dr. Youngblood said then he looked at Danny with hopeful eyes.
"You could go back and record actual historical events. Maybe correct the inaccuracies with the history books," Danny added.
"That's one excellent use."
Danny pondered for a few seconds. "I'll have to think about it. I mean, this is huge responsibility, as far as I'm concerned," he said looking a little nervous.
"Now, take my operating manual and study up on it. I'll only be gone for three weeks. You don't need to be here every second of the day. Just spend the nights here. So give it some thought and get back with me."
Danny nodded that he would do just that while he glanced at the operating manual.