January 2, 2036
Professor D. Jurich reviewed the results from the final computer simulation and handed the report over to his associate Dr. M. DeAngilis, while saying, ‘Well, Michael, every simulation has worked perfectly, all of the equipment has performed flawlessly, so I think it is time.’ Dr. DeAngilis scanned the report before replying, ‘Yes, David, you are right, I cannot delay it any longer, we have done everything but actually flip the switch. You can schedule the test whenever you are ready.’ ‘Tomorrow!’ was David reply before the last words left Michael’s lips.
Early the next morning, Michael and David arrived at the lab to begin the prep work on the computer and electronic systems. The University Administrator and seven reporters, some of which had setup cameras in the lab, greeted them. Michael looked around and whispered to David, ‘I wonder what they broke running around the lab.’ David on the other hand did not whisper but instead shouted, ‘WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THE LAB! You have no idea what type of damage you can do to this equipment’, he then gestured at one of the reporters about to enter the room labeled VR Chamber, ‘Don’t go in there, and all of you, GET OUT OF THERE!’ A few minutes later, all of the reporters were standing outside in the cold New England air, while Michael and David discussed the situation with the University Administrator. Michael addressed the administrator, ‘Look Stephen, we delivered the report yesterday and told you about the test today, so you could be prepared to issue a statement IF we are successful.’ David interrupted, ‘Not to go out and bring a pack of hyenas into the lab to wreck havoc.’ The discussion continued for almost an hour, before they allowed the reporters back into the lab. The administrator was the first to address the reporters, ‘Welcome to the window to the past gentlemen, may I present Doctors David Jurich and Michael DeAngilis, soon to be world famous quantum physicists. At this point, I will let Dr. Jurich explain why we are here.’ David stepped forward, ‘Historian know the big picture, we know what happened and sometimes if we are lucky we know why things happened. What we hope to accomplish here is to find out the little things as to why things happened.’ David continues will a long discussion of quantum physics and the theory of time travel, but after about 90 minutes, he has slowly worked his way around the lab and is standing next to the room labeled VR Chamber. ‘But now that I have put everyone to sleep with the technical talk, let me show you what you are all here to see, the Time Pod’, as he gestures to the room. ‘You see, we cannot actually send someone back in time, but instead we can ‘access’ history via a time portal, the data is then processed through the three super computers sitting in the other room and converted into sight and sounds. Our subject, that would be me, stands in this room, while Dr. DeAngilis accesses a point and place in history, then the sights and sounds of that place would be projected onto the screens that are on the surfaces of this room. Of course I would not be visible to anyone in the past, though Dr. DeAngilis theorizes that many ghosts are actually watchers from the future, but I would be able to move around, see and hear what is happening. Just imagine, I could stand in the audience while President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address.’ At that point, the reporters were invited out for lunch, while the two doctors checked over the equipment for that afternoons test.
David welcomed back the reporters, ‘Today is January 3, 2036, but in a few minutes, it will be January 3, 1836 inside that room’, as he gestured to the VR Chamber. He continued to explain, ‘While I am in the chamber, you will be able to see what I can see on those monitors on the wall’. At this point, David entered the chamber, and Michael started to speak with the reporters. ‘I need just a few more seconds to finish initializing the equipment, and then we will access history. We will be observing a Presidential dinner celebration on January 3, 1836. Ah yes, there we go, alright gentlemen, please watch the monitors.’ Michael flipped the last switch and the equipment started a steady hum, it was more than two minutes before the super computers had processed enough information to generate any images, but once they did, it was awe inspiring, David was standing in the middle of the dining room within the White House, President Andrew Jackson was sitting with Vice President Martin Van Buren, David walked over to listen and discovered that they were discussing the next election. Jackson was trying to convince Van Buren to run for President by explaining that Sen. Calhoun would not challenge him because Jackson was going to endorse his Vice President. David continued to walk around the White House, listening in a various conversations, while Michael continued to monitor equipment, power levels, etc. But, unknown to anyone in the room, somewhere below the lab, the amount of power being used was too much for the forty year old wiring, the first breaker popped, the lights flickered in the room. Michael turned to the reporters, but before he could explain that they there was nothing to worry about because of backup systems, one of the reporters took a panicked stepped backwards and tripped over one of his cameras. The camera fell one way, while the reporter fell another. The camera fell onto some wiring, disconnecting one of the dozen or so data feeds for the super computers, while the report fell in the opposite direction landing against one of the backup power supplies with sufficient force to disconnect it. So it was the combination of the first breaker and loss of one of the backup power supplies that started the chain reaction. A second breaker popped, then a third, Michael turned back to the equipment and realized that he had to shutdown the test before they lost containment of the time portal. He started the shutdown process and yelled at the reporters to evacuate the room, but it was already too late. David was completely unaware of what was happening, he simply thought he might be hearing a slight hum in the distance, he started to look around, when the world suddenly looked as if it exploded and then everything went black.
The next day the local paper reported that an accident as one of the University Labs resulted in the death of 10 people: a University Administrator, two University Professors, and seven local reporters.
His whole body ached, but the pain inside his head was completely unbearable. David kept his eyes closed and tried to will the pain away, when he thought he heard a voice with a southern twang say, ‘Good morning sir’. ‘I must dreaming’, David thought, ‘just go back to sleep’. That southern voice continued, ‘Excuse me Mr. President, it is past 9 o’clock in the morning, you are suppose to meet with Vice President Van Buren at 10 o’clock’. David jumped up immediately and looked around and thought, ‘Oh my god, I am still in the White House, I need to get out of the time pod’. David yelled out, ‘Michael, shutdown the time portal and get me out of the pod.’ David then realized that he was sitting in the President’s bed and that southern voice had a face and tha face was looking directly at David. Harrison had been President Jackson's morning butler for almost four years, but had never seen the President look so confused. ‘I am sorry Mr. President, but Michael only works in the evening, I am Harrison and I don’t know anything about time portals or pods’.