Chapter 2
Thursday morning arrived, and Ernie parked his car in the parking lot at the Atlantis Aviation plant.
Ernie didn't notice Laurence Lincoln in his Impala while he walked to the front entrance with two other coworkers.
Laurence drove his Impala away through the lot.
Inside his cubicle, Ernie worked on his wing design at his drafting table. Last night's subject about Laurence Lincoln was out of his mind.
Ernie got curious when he heard a typewriter. He got out of his chair and walked over to his cubicle wall.
He eyed Rebecca while she typed at her desk. He wanted to go over there and kiss her in the worst way.
"Go ask her," Louie said while he entered the cubicle.
Ernie saw Rebecca look up from her typewriter in his direction.
Ernie quickly ducked down a little red-faced.
"You're late," Ernie said while he walked back to his drafting table.
Louie yawned while he sat down at his drafting table. "I was up late testing my extraordinary project."
"What kind of project?" Ernie asked while it piqued his curiosity.
"Oh, something H.G. Wells wrote about a long time ago," Louie replied.
"H.G. Wells?" Ernie replied, not having a clue.
Kenny entered the cubicle and looked serious. "Please step in my office, Louie."
Louie looked a little nervous and remained quiet while he got up from his drafting table. He knew he was in trouble.
Ernie sat down and started working on his wing design while Louie left the cubicle with Kenny.
Five minutes had passed, and Ernie still worked on his wing design.
Louie entered the cubicle.
Louie entered looking depressed while he held a cardboard box in his hands.
Two men in suits appeared at the cubicle entrance. They looked serious while they kept an eye on Louie.
Louie started packing his personal belonging into the box.
Ernie worked on his drawing and avoided eye contact with Louie or the two men. He knew what was happening.
Louie walked out of the cubicle with the cardboard box in his hands.
The two men left behind Louie.
Ernie got off his chair and headed to the cubicle opening. He slowly peeked over the top of the cubicle wall. He watched while the two men escorted Louie to one of the exit doors.
Ernie walked back to his drafting table and sat down. He glanced over at Louie's desk, and the cubicle started to get lonely.
Kenny entered the cubicle.
"Ernie, staff meeting in ten minutes," Kenny said then walked away.
Ernie glanced back at the cubicle opening and knew what the meeting was going to be about.
"Staff meeting in ten minutes," Ernie heard Kenny tell the occupants in another cubicle.
Ernie glanced back at Louie's desk and already missed his friend.
The rest of the workday was quiet for Ernie. The staff meeting was to inform everybody that Louie Rodriquez no longer worked for Atlantis Aviation. Kenny was not allowed to tell everybody the exact reason, so rumors started circulating around the office area. Some employees rumored Louie was fired for poor performance. Some employees rumored Louie was fired for sexual harassment against a female employee.
Ernie sat at this drafting table and was curious as to what happened to his coworker and friend.
The workday was over.
Smiles were on all the faces of everybody while they left the Atlantis Aviation building and headed to their vehicle in the parking lot.
While Ernie walked through the lot, all he could think about was Louie.
Laurence drove his car through the lot in search of Ernie. He smiled when he saw Ernie open up his car door up ahead. He drove his car down the aisle. But a group of engineers walked out between some cars and stepped in front of Laurence's Impala. He stopped his car and looked disappointed when he saw Ernie back his Tercel out of his parking spot.
After the group of engineers got out of his way, Laurence drove his Impala after Ernie's Tercel.
Ernie drove his Tercel out of the parking lot and headed down the street.
Laurence drove his Impala out of the parking lot and headed after Ernie's car.
While Ernie drove through Waterford, he didn't have a clue that Laurence was following him.
He drove over a bridge in town, and underneath was the Waterford River. This provided an excellent place for shops and a few restaurants along part of the river while it flowed through the town.
Ernie drove down another street where homes on large lots were built. On the east side of this street, these home had the luxury of having waterfront property along the Waterford River. And of course, many of these homes had docks built for their pleasure boats.
Ernie pulled his Tercel into a driveway of a home with a log cabin design.
He parked his car near the house, whereas the rest of the driveway led down to a wooden boat dock.
Laurence parked his Impala across the street. He turned off his engine then spied on Ernie while got out of his car and rushed to the front door.
Ernie pressed the doorbell button by the front door of the home. He heard the doorbell ring inside and waited.
He didn't notice Laurence Lincoln in his car across the street. The door opened, and Louie appeared from inside his living room in jeans and a tee-shirt.
"Hey Ernie," Louie said the second he saw Ernie outside.
"What happened?"
Louie motioned for Ernie to come inside.
Ernie stepped inside Louie's home.
Louie closed the front door.
Louie and Ernie stood in the living room.
"Let's talk out on the back porch," he said then walked away and headed to the kitchen.
Ernie followed.
Louie entered the kitchen and walked over to the refrigerator. He opened it and removed a can of Coke. He tossed it over to Ernie.
Ernie fumbled with the can the second he caught it and almost dropped it to the floor.
Louie chuckled over the sight then turned and headed to the sliding glass door.
Ernie followed Louie.
Louie sat down in a chair on the screened back porch. He picked up his Corona beer that was on a small side table and took a drink.
Ernie sat down in a nearby chair.
He popped open his can of Coke. It foamed out the opening and dripped to the porch floor.
Louie chuckled.
Ernie looked at Louie's backyard and saw he had a beautiful view of the river. He looked at the boat dock that was missing a boat.
Louie looked over at Ernie. "I was fired for stealing parts."
Ernie looked a little surprised with Louie. "Stealing parts? Why would you do that?"
"Because they were perfect for my project," Louie said then took another drink of his beer.
"Perfect for your project? What is this special project?" Ernie said then took a drink of his Coke.
"Something that will make me more money than working for Atlantis Aviation."
Ernie looked curious. "More money than Atlantis Aviation. How's that?"
"I can trust you. Come with me," Louie said while he stood up.
Louie headed back to the sliding glass door.
Ernie set his Coke down on the floor and got up. He headed back to the sliding glass door.
Louie and Ernie entered the kitchen and headed to a door to the right.
Louie opened the door and motioned Ernie to head down the stairs of the basement.
Ernie walked down the stairs, and Louie followed.
Ernie saw a workshop in the basement while he walked down the stairs with Louie trailing.
At the one end of the workshop was some film developing equipment.
The second Ernie set foot on the floor he saw a large object covered up with a tarp on the other side of the basement.
Louie walked Ernie over to the covered object.
Louie walked over to the tarp. He grabbed a corner and removed the tarp.
Ernie saw a strange object. The front half resembled a Cessna 150 minus the overhead wings but had the landing gear.
"Is that front fuselage of our Atlantis 150 Trainer?" Ernie asked.
"Yep."
Louie walked over to the front and reached inside the hole that once housed the propeller crankshaft. He pulled on a latch and the front opened like the hood of a car.
"Storage space," he said, pointed inside the opening.
Ernie walked over and peeked inside the storage area. "How did you manage to take that?" Ernie curiously asked while Louie closed the front.
"Actually, I bought that. It was from a crashed Trainer where the front end was salvageable."
Ernie walked around to the rear that housed a nuclear looking engine with wires and tubes running everywhere.
"Now that you got my curiosity peaked, what is this? A new type of car?" Ernie asked while he studied the engine a little closer.
"A time machine," Louie replied proudly.
Ernie stopped and looked at Louie in disbelief. "Did you say a time machine?"
Louie nodded with a huge grin. He opened the left door and motioned for Ernie to get inside on the right side.
Ernie walked over to the right side and opened the door while Louie got in on the left side.
Ernie peeked inside and saw that it sat two people with additional storage behind the seats.
He sat in the right seat and looked at the console that was modified from all its aircraft instrumentation removed.
There was the original ignition switch with the "Off," "Right," "Left," and "Both" positions.
Just above the ignition switch was a "Power" button.
Next to the Power button was a green button.
Above those buttons were four toggle switches.
Above those switches were four small gauges for operating information about the engine. All gauges had white, green, and red bands.
In the center of the console were two digital pads. One was labeled "Date" and the other one was labeled "Time."
Below the digital pads was a small keyboard attached at an angle.
"How does it work?" Ernie curiously asked while he glanced at the console.
"First you put the key in the ignition switch and move it to the both position. Then you hit the power button. Then flip those three switches," Louie said while he pretended to go through the motions.
Then the two digital pad will activate, and when ready, you can type in the date and time you want for your time-traveling destination. Of course, the machine will only time travel to this exact spot. You can't tell it to time travel, let's say to Los Angeles," he said while he pretended to type on the keyboard.
Ernie looked at the digital pad and keyboard. "And it will travel through time?"
"No. After the three gauges are in the green, then you press that green button, and you'll be on your journey."
"Interesting," Ernie said while he stared at the console.
"To shut it down, just flip the toggle switches back down and hit the power button again and turn the ignition switch to off."
"Did you try it yet?"
"I have some finishing touches to complete. But it should be ready in a few days. Then I hope to use it to go back in time and witness history. And to make a few bucks for retirement. You know, gambling bets, or stock investments," Louie said while he looked determined.
"What's used to power this machine? It looks nuclear."
"My secret."
Ernie looked a little doubtful while he looked at the console again.
"Well, bring back some pictures of the future or the past," Ernie said while he had his doubts.
Ernie and Louie got out of the time machine.
He helped Louie cover it with the tarp.
A little while later, Ernie was backing his Tercel down Louie's driveway.
He pulled back onto the street and drove away.
Laurence started up his Impala. He pulled, drove away, and followed Ernie's car. He looked determined.
Ernie drove his car through the thick traffic in downtown Waterford.
Laurence was five cars behind Ernie's car as a few drivers were in a rush and pulled in front of his Impala. Laurence craned his neck to make sure he didn't lose sight of Ernie.
Then the traffic light changed to yellow, and the car in front of Laurence stopped.
Laurence was too busy eyeing Ernie's Tercel that he didn't notice the car stopped in front of him. He saw it and slammed on his brakes. His Impala screeched to a stop inches from the rear bumper of the car in front of him.
Laurence craned his neck and lost sight of Ernie's car. He pounded on the steering wheel in frustration.
Later that night, Ernie relaxed in the living room of his apartment in his lazy boy chair. His eyes were looking at the TV screen, but his thoughts ran through the day's events and Louie's time machine.