Chapter 11
Morning arrived, and Danny was excited while he ran down the sidewalks of campus.
He arrived at the Caffeine Palace, and anxiously waited by the front door. But he started to get worried when Cindy was not in sight.
He stepped inside the Caffeine Palace and could not see Cindy waiting there.
He stepped back outside and looked around the area. Cindy was still not in sight.
After Danny waited for five minutes, he got a little depressed. He thought Cindy stood him up, so he moped away.
"Danny," Cindy's voice called out behind him. Danny's eyes lit up and turned around. He saw Cindy rushing up to him.
"Sorry, I'm a little late. So, I'm ready to see something that will blow my mind."
Danny had a smile while he motioned for Cindy to follow him.
Cindy and Danny walked down the sidewalk and headed to the parking lot of his dorm building.
A little while later, Danny parked his Corolla in Dr. Youngblood's driveway. He turned off the engine then got out of his car.
"Who lives here?" Cindy asked while she got out of the Corolla.
"Dr. Youngblood," he replied while he walked her to the front door.
Cindy thought for a few seconds. "I'm not familiar with him."
"He's a professor in the Physics Department. Spends a lot of his time doing research."
Cindy thought for a few seconds. "I vaguely remember him," she said while she looked at the house. "Is this what you wanted to show me? Some physics professor's home? That's not very mind-blowing," she said and did not look very impressed.
"Just wait," he said while he shoved Dr. Youngblood's house key into the lock of the front door.
"Why do you have a key to his house?" she asked and really started to feel uncomfortable.
"You have to trust me. I'm not setting you up for something that will hurt you. You will be glad you came here," Danny told her while he opened up the front door for Cindy.
Cindy hesitated still a little leery. But there was something in Danny's eyes that made her also feel that he was honest. She stepped inside Dr. Youngblood's house.
Danny stepped inside closed and locked the door behind them.
Danny walked Cindy through his house and then down the wooden stairs to the basement.
The basement was quiet except for the low hum of the bank of computers against the wall.
"Now, you cannot tell a soul what you're about to see," he told her the second they arrived at the bottom of the stairs.
Cindy looked around the basement. Her eyes widened a little the second she saw the bank of computers, computer console, and glass booth. "What kind of experiments is Doctor Youngblood doing down here?" she said while she stepped off the last step of the stairs. "Making monsters? His own Frankenstein" she jokingly said then made an impression of a Frankenstein monster walking all stiff-legged.
Cindy walked over to the computer console. She checked it out and saw the destination counter that now read '20 Days – 9 Hours – 6 Minutes Left on iTravel 1 Mission' message. "What does this left iTravel one mission message mean?" she asked, and her curiosity got peaked.
Danny walked over to her. "Like I said before. You can't tell a soul about this," he said and looked dead serious.
"I don't have a clue what this is to even tell someone."
Danny hesitated for a few seconds. A smile grew on him. "It's a time machine."
Cindy looked at the computer monitor, then at the glass booth. She laughed while she glanced back at Danny. "That's a good one."
She looked at Danny, who seems deadly serious. She stopped laughing. "You're not joking."
"I'm serious. Doctor Youngblood built a time machine. And it works."
Cindy looked at the computer console for a few more seconds. Then she looked over at the glass booth. "No way," she said, as she wanted to believe him but knew that nobody had ever traveled back or forward in time.
"It really works. I tried it"
Cindy looked at Danny, who seems deadly serious. She laughed. "You're outstanding. I almost believed you."
Danny reached in his left pants pocket and removed the iTravel 2 device. "It's for real. I can prove it. I'll take a quick trip and tell you something about your life," he said and looked sincere.
Cindy looked at Danny's sincere eyes. She decided to play along with his game, so she tried to think of a recent event. "Okay, my parents and I came here on May fifteenth for the undergraduate admissions information session and campus tour. Take a picture of us in the place we had lunch on campus," she said.
Danny had a huge grin while he sat down at the computer with the iTravel 2 device.
After Danny had everything configured on the computer and the iTravel 2 device synced and ready for time travel, he rushed off to the glass booth.
He smiled while he stepped inside the booth and closed the door.
Cindy sat down at the computer console and watched the glass booth.
After Danny pressed the button on the iTravel 2 device and the pad by the door of the booth. He gave Cindy a little wave.
Cindy waited for Danny to step out of the booth to tell him that this was all for show.
Then Cindy heard a whirling sound from the booth.
Bright lights filled the booth like fireworks.
The booth vibrated.
Psychedelic colors illuminated the glass 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.
The booth spun. Danny was a blur inside the booth.
Then Danny disappeared in a poof.
The booth stopped spinning.
The psychedelic colors dissipated in a flash.
The booth stopped vibrating.
The bright lights fireworks dissipated.
The whirling sound whined down.
Cindy stared in awe of the empty booth.
The booth was empty, and the basement was quiet except for the low hum of the bank of computers.
Cindy stared at the empty booth in disbelief. "He vanished. He just vanished," she stood up then cautiously inched her way to the empty glass booth. "How can I explain this to the police," she said while she got within four feet of the booth.
Then the whirling sound from the booth filled the air of the basement.
A bright light filled the booth like fireworks.
The booth vibrated.
Cindy ran away in fear and hid behind the computer console. She cautiously peeked over the top of the console at the glass booth.
She watched while psychedelic color illuminated the glass 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.
The booth spun around at supersonic speeds.
The booth stopped spinning.
The psychedelic colors dissipated in a flash.
The booth stopped vibrating.
The bright lights fireworks dissipated.
The whirling sound whined down.
Danny appeared in the booth in a daze. He buckled over in pain for a few seconds. He felt better and straightened up.
Danny opened up the door to the booth.
He stepped out of the booth and gave Cindy a smile when he saw her peeking over the top of the computer console.
"You vanished. Then you reappeared. What just happened?" said Cindy while she walked away from the computer console relieved that Danny reappeared.
"I went back in time to May."
"Is this some type of David Copperfield magic booth?" she asked while she walked over to the glass booth. She walked around it checking it out. But she was afraid to touch it, thinking it might burn her fingers or freeze them instantly.
Danny walked up to Cindy while he pressed a couple of buttons on his iTravel 2 device. He showed her a picture of Cindy, her mom, and dad while they sat in Subway. "I went to my undergraduate admissions information session and campus tour on May twelfth."
Cindy looked at Danny in a little disbelief but knew it had to be true. "We can actually go back in time? For real?"
Danny nodded his head in agreement with a smile.
Cindy looked excited. "Let's go somewhere. I want to time travel and go on a wild adventure," she said and looked antsy.
Danny got a smile. "I have an idea of where we can go. But we need to do a little planning. I mean, lets time travel and make it a mission for the good of some people," he said.
"What do you have in mind?"
"I'll tell you in a minute," he said then without thinking, Danny grabbed her by the hand and rushed her over to the stairs.
Then when he got to the bottom of the stairs, he smiled when he realized she accepted his hand holding her hand.
They rushed up the stairs.
A little while later, Danny and Cindy were in his Corolla heading back to the MIT Campus.
"So, what do you have in mind?" she curiously asked while Danny drove down the street away from Dr. Youngblood's house.
"I want to go back again to nineteen sixty-four and prevent The Rocking Tones being killed in that explosion."
Cindy thought about his plan. Then something felt odd about it. "Did you say go back again? Like you went before?" she asked while Danny turned left down another street.
"Yeah. I went back to that diner in Pennsylvania where they ate before getting on the bus, which exploded some hours later. I saw that Victor Burrows guys with two thugs. The thugs installed the bomb under the bus then they left the parking lot. I tried to warn the band members, but Roger, the manager, and some other guy threw me out of the diner. Then my iTravel device brought me back here. I failed."
"Sounds like we need to go back earlier. Maybe a week."
"That's what I was thinking. Maybe we can find out who was behind placing this bomb," said Danny then he turned right down another street.
Then Cindy looked at Danny. "I can't believe that you met The Rocking Tones. In person. How cool is that?"
"Actually it was really cool, but they looked so young in person as compared to those photos you see on the Internet and in books."
"You're right, this is blowing my mind," she said while she recalled what she just witnessed.
"Let's go back to my room and plan our mission."
Cindy nodded in agreement, and it was quiet during the rest of the drive to the MIT Campus.
A little while later, Danny and Cindy sat on his bed, studying his laptop. On his monitor was a website on the "History of The Rocking Tones."
"They died around three fifteen in the morning on October fifth, nineteen sixty-four," he said while they looked at the charred tour bus.
"I remember reading this one book, and it stated that there was a rumor that The Rocking Tones were planning on replacing Roger as their manager. They felt they needed someone bigger to get them even more famous that The Beatles. So maybe Roger is a possible suspect," said Cindy.
"I would find that hard to believe. After all, he was the one that really got them the gigs that started them off into the direction of stardom," said Danny.
Cindy thought for a few seconds, then her eyes widened a little. "I thought I read somewhere, but can't remember where, that six months before their Ed Sullivan show, The Rocking Tones had a major argument with Roger. Maybe that's a starting point?" she said.
Danny thought about her suggestion for a few seconds. "I guess anything is a possibility," he said.
The room in the dorm opened. Bobby appeared in the doorway. His eyes widen the second he saw Danny and Cindy sitting on Danny's bed. "Ah, Cindy. I didn't know you were here to see me."
Then the eyes of Becky, a girl with short redhead peeked over Bobby's shoulder from the hallway.
Danny felt this was an awkward moment.
Becky pushed Bobby into his dorm room.
"I was actually here to talk with Danny on something," Cindy told Bobby.
Becky saw Danny and Cindy then looked at Bobby a little upset. "Bobby, you said we would be all alone."
"We're just leaving," Cindy said while she got up off the bed.
Danny grabbed his laptop and got up off the bed.
Cindy walked over to the door and walked past Bobby and Becky.
"You know something, with all the girls he brings here, you might want to have yourself tested. You know, for STDs," Cindy told Becky then she walked out the door with a smirk.
Danny rushed after Cindy.
Bobby looked a little pissed.
Becky looked like she was having second thoughts with being alone with Bobby.
A little while later, Danny and Cindy sat alone on a bench on campus.
Bobby was long gone from Cindy's thoughts.
"We need a cover story to explain why we're trying to connect with the band," said Danny.
They both thought for a few seconds.
"I know, we're reporters for the Cambridge Chronicle doing a big piece on The Rocking Tones," Cindy said.
Danny thought about her suggestion for a few seconds. "I like it. But we'll need some form of identifications."
Cindy thought about his response for a few seconds. "I can take care of that. After all, I'm majoring in graphic design."
"Okay, let's go and prepare for our little adventure," he said.
They both got up off the bench and headed off down the sidewalk.