Chapter 7

  The next morning, Kelton arrived at the Milton Cohen building 20 feet in front of Beta. Kelton looked at the label on the door. How did he know that name? Images hit him like a brick to the solar plexus. His head pounded as memories flooded in a single wave. Jacob and Milton and Dev and Gillian and the pickup truck and the doctor and the nurse converged on his memory. He felt the memories in every part of his body. He dropped to his knees and then collapsed prostrate on the floor. Beta ran up behind him.

  “Doctor Kelton, are you OK? What happened?”

  Kelton struggled to his feet and leaned against Beta for a few seconds. “I may be having some side effects from being in the Box. Stay by me for a few seconds while we get into the office. I need to sit down for a while.”

  Beta and Kelton walked into the lab together, Kelton still leaning a little on Beta. Chaz and Alex were already there. The two had recovered the box from the hospital. It sat prominently on the table in the center of the room. “We need to huddle. There's been a significant development in the last few minutes.” Kelton said as he shuffled to the whiteboard.

  The team pulled up chairs around Kelton. Beta handed a cup of coffee to Kelton, who was already starting to feel better. Kelton told the team about his experience. He struggled with the words it would take to share the experience. He reminded the team about the struggles they had had getting the box out of the laboratory door. He skipped the part about Jacob and Milton. He shared his observations about what he had seen and heard and his ability to move instantly from place to place just by thinking about it. He told them everything about his conversation with his dead father-in-law and the phone call that Gillian had received from Beta.

  Turning to Chaz, “I saw you and the doctor and nurse Schmedlap in the trauma room. I saw that enormous bright, white smile of hers.”

  Chaz scoffed, “Well, that smile and that name are pretty hard to forget.”

  “She was wearing a surgical mask when the field dissipated. When I saw her with my eyes for the first time.”

  The team had many questions, but they all boiled down to the same question, “Were you hallucinating?”

  “If I was hallucinating, these are the brightest, clearest, strongest memories I have ever had from a dream.”

  Alex chuckled, “We are so busted! And I had been so glad that you didn't see us drop the Box while we were trying to get you into the back of the pickup truck.”

  “I guess I missed that,” Kelton chuckled. “There were a lot of distractions.”

  “Distractions? What kind of distractions? Have you told us everything?”

  Most of Kelton's strength had returned. He shifted in his seat. “This next bit is going to be a bit hard to swallow.”

  Alex laughed, “What, it's harder to swallow than spiritual migration, faster than light travel, and talking with your dead father-in-law? In for a penny, in for a pound. Let's hear it.”

  He told them all about Milton and Jacob.

  Chaz laughed derisively. “Life after death? I hope you're not going to suggest we write a paper on this. We would get laughed out of the building.”

  “Whoa, hold it. We were already there with Gillian’s father.” Alex tugged at his wristband. “This may be the most important thing discovered in the last 2000 years.”

  Kelton, Beta, and Chaz rolled their eyes.

  Chaz said, “Get serious, Jesus boy. There's no need to go down that rabbit hole.”

  “So - you want to limit our paths of investigation?” asked Alex.

  “You want to investigate the hallucinatory extrapolations of a traumatized brain? Good luck with the peer review.”

  “Some things justify going around the usual systems. There’s never been a double-blind test on the effectiveness of parachutes. Shall we try that? You want to be in the control group?” Alex said.

  “We don't know what I saw. We don't know anything based on a single experiment,” said Kelton.

  “Mmm hmmm,” said Alex. “The undercooked potato/ undigested beef theory. Let's try another theory. I suggest that no time elapses inside the box. Time and space are not the typical environment for his spirit. Remove time from the equation, and your spirit is freed from your body but somehow still connected. Have you ever felt frustrated about the passage of time? Maybe time isn’t our natural habitat. Fish don’t complain because they are wet.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Everyone started talking at once. They argued and discussed the theory for almost 30 minutes. “Such nonsense!” concluded Chaz.

  “You sounded just like Tilly,” snickered Beta.

  “We've got to increase the sample.” Alex turned to Kelton, “Put me in, coach; I'm ready to play.”

  The argument erupted again with greater intensity. Chaz erupted, “You are going to get killed, or worse, we are all going to be fired and expelled.”

  “I think Hermione said it better,” said Beta.

  “There is no way we can do this. We can work our way up to it over a couple of years, but we have to do this the right way,” said Chaz.

  The team left the lab that night disappointed, frustrated, and angry with each other.

  The next morning, they unlocked the lab door as Chaz waited behind Beta. They stepped into the brightly lit room. They heard the capacitor whine. It took a second to recognize that the engaged black box sat on the table in the middle of the room.

  “What the what the...?” muttered Chaz.

  Kelton walked in the door behind them. “What is going on in here? We decided yesterday that there were no new tests - not until we came up with the protocols. What are you doing here?”

  Beta protested, “We just got here. The lights were on, and the field was engaged when we came in the door.”

  Chaz continued. “For the sake of clarity, by ‘we,’ Beta means both of us - Beta and I just got here.”

  “Where is Alex?”

  On cue, Kelton, Alex, and Beta turned to look at the box. “That's Alex's laptop over there by the controls.”

  “How do you know it's Alex's laptop?”

  “Do either of you have an Our Lady of the Guadalupe sticker on your laptops?”

  SNAP

  The sides of the box winked out; Alex lay in the framework; he had four wristwatches on his arm and a tablet computer on his chest.

  Startled, Alex jerked and twisted his head to look at the team. “Where did you guys come from? Busted again!” grinned Alex.

  For the next hour concern, jealousy, frustration, paranoia, and anger rained on Alex from three directions.

  As the heat of the discussion dissipated, Beta said, “We have no idea what could have happened to you. You were in the lab alone. There were no safety measures. No one to even video the experiment. If anything had happened to you...”

  “None of us would have ever worked in a research lab again,” Chaz continued.

  Beta bristled, “That's not what I was going to say. How did you even get it to work by yourself?”

  Alex brightened, “That's kind of the cool part; I used an automation app, plugged a couple of USB switching devices in, and set up a timer. It really wasn't hard for a computer geek like me, and DANG, if it didn't work like a charm.”

  “But what if it hadn't?” Drawing a deep breath, Kelton got the team's attention. Looking directly into Alex's eyes he said, “I don't know that I have any choice. I think I will have to cut you from the lab team.”

  A strange look flitted across Beta's face.

  Before Beta could say anything, Alex responded, “Yeah, I get that. I didn't follow protocol, but in my defense, there was no protocol. I had a window of opportunity, and I took it. So yeah, you can fire me, but wouldn't you rather get some notes on my experience?”

  They spent the rest of the morning in fierce discussion. Gradually, the argument wound down.

  Chaz turned to Alex, “OK, I've got to know; what did you see in the box? What was your experience?”

  “I got here at 2:00 this morning. I set up the automation, put every wristwatch I've ever owned on my wrist and got in the box. And don't worry, I made sure that every part of my body was inside the framework. I clicked on the start button on my tablet here, and suddenly, you three were standing around the box.”

  Kelton dropped his notepad onto the desk. “Did anything else happen?”

  Alex shrugged, “I should think that was quite enough. I clicked on the start button and made you three appear. My mechanical watches are all 11 minutes off. My Apple Watch shut down entirely but rebooted itself, and it's showing the proper time. I got here, but no, I experienced no consciousness inside the box. It took you a while to remember,” he said to Kelton, “ Let's see what happens tomorrow.”

  “There’s no tomorrow in this lab for you’” said Kelton flatly. “Clean out your locker and take your things with you. I’m sorry, but that’s the way things have to be.”

  “Ahem,” said Beta. “I’m afraid you are going to have to let me go too. “

  “Did you help Alex?” asked Kelton.

  “No, I stayed late last night, and one thing led to another, and I tried out the box.”

  “What?” Kelton exploded. “How about you, Chaz? Are you conducting unauthorized experiments, too?”

  Chazz held up both hands, palms outward. “Not me. I don't fit. I don't want to lose a foot or a shoulder or the top of my head.”

  “So, you tried it on for size?” questioned Kelton.

  “Well, you know, the day of the accident, I brought the frame back here after things calmed down. I cleaned up a little, and I kind of slipped on the glycerin on the floor into the frame.”

  “But did you inhale?” Alex had an enormous grin on his face. The others looked at Alex like he had stripped a gear somewhere. “Why do I have to keep reminding you guys how hysterically funny I am?” Looking at Beta, he asked, “ I gotta know, though, how did you get it to turn on?”

  “I used the Clapper and a lamp timer. “

  “What Clapper?” asked Chaz.

  “You know, clap on.” Beta clapped twice, “Clap off,” and clapped twice again.

  Alex and Chaz burst into laughter. Kelton put his head in his hands and tried in vain not to laugh.

  It got very quiet after the laughter died down. Kelton looked from Beta to Alex and back to Beta again.

  “And what was your experience in the box, Beta?”

  Beta shook their head slowly, “I didn't think it had even worked. I lay down in the frame and clapped my hands, and from my point of view, nothing at all happened. Except the wall clock was now advanced 12 minutes.”

  “12 minutes?”

  “Well, lamp timers are just not that accurate, are they?”

  That started the team laughing again.

  “You haven't remembered anything else since then? You've been out-of-the-box for about the same amount of time that I was when I had my ‘memory’ episode.” Kelton held up air quotes.

  Chaz was getting angry now, “Episode is the correct term. Especially now that Alex and Beta haven't been able to replicate your experience. Maybe you need a neurological exam.” Picking up steam now, he said,” I think you all need your heads examined. What were you thinking? When this gets out, they're going to shut us down, and we're all gonna be flipping burgers! That is not going to happen to me!” He jumped up and stormed out of the laboratory. The door closed gently behind him.