Finding Time 01

When we left, his thanks were effusive, his excitement palpable and his thoughts full of plans for what ages he would explore first. I reminded him it was unpublished work and he should be discreet when talking about it.

I left him happy as I walked back to my lab, texting Sally to tell her the news that the Professor was one of the few now, she replied that the lab was locked up and she had gone back to her room for something to eat. I made my way there and found her in the little kitchen talking with Emily.

Emily had done a bit more research on components for the interface and had a few questions for me. She ran through a list, pinning me down on the parameters and specifications. While we were talking I asked her if she could add a pan and tilt function for the camera. She agreed, adding a USB output to control the camera's orientation.

She gave an estimate of two to three days to have the board proofed and printed, another day to mount the components. We'd have to pay for the materials; it could come out of my budget. We could have the lithographic masks and get our own made in the future.

It was my turn to be generous with my thanks; she'd solved a big problem by integrating everything. All we needed now were the programs to control them. I didn't know anyone who might be capable, and Emily offered to ask around.

She also had a favour to ask: she wanted to visit Troy and see Helen, Achilles, and the Wooden Horse. I invited her over during her dinner break, leaving me plenty of time to grant her wish after the Head of History had been for his show.

I was pleasantly surprised when Sally came over with two plates of food. She sat next to me as Emily made her excuses and left us to eat. We talked as we ate about the sonar system and the need for better resolution. What we needed was a military grade one.

She'd have to submit the idea as a research project and go the official route to get access to equipment like that. Until the parts for the spare machines came I had plenty of time on my hands and Sally's project was a perfect way to spend it.

I helped her wash up the dishes, wondering again how many future eyes were on us now. I was going to give them something to talk about soon, I was planning to ask her out tonight, I wanted us to see how we got on socially, see if we could talk about things other than work.

"Have you got the lab key?" I asked as we finished in the kitchen.

"Are you going back?" she answered.

"No, I was going to ask if you wanted to come out for a drink."

"Mm, that'd be nice. Come on, the keys in my room," she said, starting for the door.

I followed her down and into her room.

"The key's next to the laptop," she said as she crossed to the wardrobe.

I picked the keys up and saw her pulling on a sweatshirt as I turned back.

"Ready," she said, walking back towards the door.

"Yep." I replied as I joined her.

We walked side by side to the Student's Union and headed for the lounge bar on the second floor. It was virtually deserted, just a couple of lads drinking at the bar, I bought a carafe of Sangria and led her to a table in one of the alcoves.

We both had a couple of glasses of wine while we talked about ourselves. We learned that we were both from a middle class background, her father a GP (General Practitioner) and her mother a High Court Usher. She had an older brother and a younger sister.

I joked with her that both her mother and my father, a barrister, would be out of a job when the police had the Time Tunnel to investigate crime. My mother, a teacher, would probably benefit.

I'd been drawn into physics by a fascination with how things worked at a quantum level, she was intrigued by the universe itself and was a fan of SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence). She hoped to work as a staff astronomer scanning local space for near earth objects like comets and asteroids.

I told her about my like for teaching and research. How hard I'd worked to get where I was, choosing my studies over my social life. In all honesty, I'd expected to live a quiet life but now that I'd made this discovery, I had to deal with the consequences.

My yawn brought on hers as we finished the second glass, the lack of sleep over the past couple of days catching up with me. Sally was also tired and suggested we call it a day. I agreed and took the lead by standing.

Our arms brushed as we walked downstairs giving me the opportunity to take her hand. She turned her hand, rewarding my move by interlocking her fingers with mine. I was elated yet conscious of the fact that the future was looking over my shoulder.

She released my hand and slipped her arm under mine as we walked back to her block, pointing out and naming some of the bright stars we could see through the light pollution.

I debated going for a goodnight kiss, but it was a bit too schoolboyish, kissing on the doorstep. As we got to the door I caught her hand as she slipped her arm from mine, giving it a squeeze as I told her.

"Sleep well, I'll see you in the lab tomorrow."

"Mm, you too," she replied, giving me a smile.

"Okay, Good night then."

"Goodnight," she answered, withdrawing her hand from mine.

Feeling awkward I turned and started walking away. As I got to the intersection with the main walkway I glance over my shoulder but she was gone.

I was playing imagine on the way home, Sally seemed willing to let our relationship cross from professional into a more personal one. My discovery of the time tunnel assured me of at least an associate professorship and tenure. If my discovery weren't too disruptive, I'd be set for life.

I slept well, getting up with my alarm and having a quick breakfast before setting off for the lab to prepare for Professor Lopez's demonstration. Sally came by while I was in the middle of taking the transponder off and reminding myself to look into motorised camera mounts.

It took me five minutes more to free the transponder and another few to realign the camera so it was ready for her to fire up. I walked over behind her, resting my hands on her shoulders. She'd used virtually the same settings as I had to take us back to the Viking era.

I'd left her to it and walked over to my desk, using the time to answer my email when the knock came at the door. "Come in," I shouted, standing.

His eyes stopped at the screen as he scanned the room. "Is that it?" he asked, making his way over.

"Yes," I answered following him. "I'd like you to meet my co-researcher. Sally, this is Professor Lopez, Head of the History Department."

"Hello." he said, offering her his hand. "You can call me George."

"Thank you," Sally answered shaking his hand. "I've picked Denmark during the tenth century, but we can go anywhere you want.

"Can you show me København? It was established about then," he asked excitedly.

She zoomed out, centring the camera over the new location before zooming back down. It looked nothing more than a fishing village, but it made George happy.

"We'll be able to control the camera better in the next model I'm building," I said as I joined him in looking over Sally's shoulder.

We dropped our view through the roof of one of the houses, finding a small group of women sitting around a table. I wondered if George understood their language. He was standing transfixed next to me, his breathing slowed as he stared at the screen.

"This is an end to academic speculation; all the detail you could ever want is there," he said sounding a little sorrowful. "Twelve thousand years you say, that means right back to ten thousand BC."

I hadn't thought of it that way. "Yes, that must be back near the beginnings of man's change from nomadic to pastoralism."

He nodded. "And all of the great civilisations that grew from that."

I had an odd thought about being able to trace my ancestors.

"The good, the bad and the ugly," Sally put in.

George gave a wry smile. "History is soaked with blood, so there are a lot of ugly things out there for us to see."

"Yes I know," I answered, thinking of the Roman arenas.

"The attack on Lindisfarne is a savage example." He stated.

I recognised the word, or rather place, a monastery set on an island, I knew more about the folk group who adopted the name than the place itself.

He turned back to the screen. "Can we have a look at the settlements in Newfoundland?"

We visited several other times and places, then we talked about the improvements I had in mind. He was eager to have access to one and was willing to work with the deficiencies of our prototype.

I agreed that he would get the first one I constructed and went through the details of the set up he'd need. Sally advised him on the telescope mount he would need, telling him the bigger the better for reducing the jittering effect.

He left about eleven; Sally and I took time out to go for an early lunch so as to be back in time to for Emily's demonstration. Her visit was a quick one. She was going to take pictures, but I went one bett1er and gave her the video clip on a memory stick.

Sally wanted to work on her program to get a look at Venus' surface. I let her carry on while I caught up with my emails. When I took a toilet break, I brought back coffee and talked Sally into taking a quick break.

She wondered how they were getting on with the time tunnel in the Astronomy Department. They'd been star hopping when she was there last. Jumping from sun to sun and mapping the planets in the goldilocks zone. The search for earth type planets was a hot topic with a lot of prestige. I mentally wished them luck, a big headline-grabbing discovery would bring a public focus on one of the time tunnel's more benign properties.

She returned to her work while I did a search for motorised pan and swivel mounts. They were widely available and the mid-range models I was looking at would cost me less than two hundred and could be cable controlled, I should be able to justify that on expenses and went ahead and ordered a few.

I was browsing the news when Sally called me over to show me the picture of a very hazy yellowish landscape. "That's it!" she announced excitedly.

Though I didn't want to admit it, Venus was the same as Mars to me, I just couldn't get that excited about alien rocks. Never the less I stayed and watched, putting my hands on her shoulders and enjoying her closeness. She toured the surface for about twenty minutes, moving from a rocky plain to a sandy one.

My desk phone rang and I answered it; it was the porter telling me he had a parcel for me. When I asked him who it was from, the answer 'Korea' told me my magnets had arrived. Leaving Sally, my excitement quickened my pace.

The parcel was heavier than I expected and I had to borrow one of his assistants and a sack truck to get it to my lab. Sally shut down and helped me unpack them. Even inside their protective packing the magnets clung together.

There were a hundred of the magnets, twelve for every tunnel and a few spare. Each one had to have its own little coil wound around it, then be mounted around the cluster of iron atoms. It was a bit late to start today, but I had something productive to do tomorrow.

Since I had my car in the staff car park, I suggested another country pub meal, and she accepted. I took her home first to change, having a cup of coffee in the kitchen while I waited.

She came back dressed in a sleeveless cream top that hung down to her thighs and white leggings with wedge sandals. Finishing my drink I stood, my eyes scanning her surreptitiously. She took the cup from me and turned to the sink to rinse it, giving me a chance to admire the rear view as well.

The pub we chose had a terrace and we ate out there. We chatted about the differences that the Tunnel would make, little things like finding where you lost your pen, or where that elusive sock disappeared to.

The talk turned to us finding more useful things to do. Part of the trouble was the amount of time it took to find a specific time and place. The other was that without expertise to interpret what we were seeing we would be no more than sightseers, which struck me as being a little pointless.

I suggested inviting Professor Lopez back, she could showing him how to use it, and then she could help me construct the cores. She told me that she had a ten o'clock appointment with her head of department; she was going to put her sonar project to him. She could join me after, probably around eleven.

She asked me to help draft her proposal, I eagerly agreed and we started to talk about that and on the way to her place. While she could put together the astronomical argument justifying it, I was going to work on the technical details of the method we were going to use.

I finished my bit before her, interrupting her with a request that she check the toilets for me; it was a little on the late side for me to be wandering around a female hall of residence. She took the opportunity to take a break and we ended up in the kitchen making coffee to take back to her room.

She joined me on her narrow bed, sitting close enough for me to feel her warm thigh pressed against mine. She pick my laptop up to read through what I'd written. My arm automatically went around her as she huddled in to let us both see the screen.

She leant back against me, lifting her arm to let my hand slip to her side as she laid her head against my cheek. I was thrilled by her closeness, the aroma of her shampoo, our legs pressed together to balance the laptop.

We sipped our coffee as she read through, asking the odd question to clarify a point or two. She made sure it was saved and closed the lid, leaning forward to put it and her empty cup on the floor. She straightened and took mine, putting that down as well.

When she sat back up, she slipped an arm around my waist. "Thanks," she said, drawing her legs up under her as she half turned and bent in to hug me.

I put my arms around her, my excitement building as my hands smoothed her back. Her weight pushed me back onto the corner of the bed; she followed me over, rising on her knees as I lay back.

I prised off my shoes before I brought my legs up onto the bed, the pair of us turning to lie face to face. She grinned at me. Leaning in I met her halfway for our first kiss. It was my first non-platonic kiss in a long time, and despite the excitement I felt, I was as nervous as a kitten.

I returned the passion in her kiss, rolling my lips on hers as her head twisted from side to side. Still following her lead, I opened my mouth to let her tongue snake in as she pressed it through my lips.

With my arm trapped under her, I could only stroke her back, but the fingers of my other hand were buried deep in her hair, massaging her head as her arms held me tight. She rolled back slightly when she broke the kiss, letting out a soft sigh, as she looked me.

"What?" I asked grinning at her.

"You. You were taking too long to make a move," she replied smiling.

"I was still making sure," I protested.

"Well you're sure now," she said, putting her hands up on my shoulders.

I wasn't sure yet whether she was offering romance or friends with benefits. I knew well enough that I could fall in love with her; I hoped those were her feelings too. In the back of my mind was the fact that but for my upcoming notoriety I'd be an eligible bachelor whose future looked rosy, a future my discovery was set to upturn.

She slipped her hands over my shoulders, looping them across my back, her head nestling next to mine. "I'd invite you to stay but I haven't got any condoms and I'm betting you don't either," she said quietly in my ear.

Her question was unexpected and my heart skipped a beat as I parsed it.

"No," I answered a little flustered. "You'd win that bet. I can go and get some."

"I doubt there's anywhere open," she replied resignedly. "Oh I wish I could take the pill."

"I can wait till tomorrow," I replied, giving her a grin. "I'll cook you some dinner and you can bring the wine; my place is more private and I've got a bigger bed."

She gave me a squeeze. "Mm, that sounds like a good idea."

"Good, what would you like to eat?" I asked happily.

"What can you cook?" she asked, standing and bringing her hands to my shoulders.

"Try me - I've cooked for myself for a while."

"Oh, a challenge," she said with glee. "Can you do pasta?"

"Yes, I do a good Bolognese?" I asked standing.

"How about a Linguine?" she asked, cocking her head.

"I think I can manage that," I said, slipping an arm around her waist.

"Good, I know a pinot that goes well with it."

Truth be told I'd never cooked one before. I would have to look the recipe up but I was fairly confident of making it work and projected it into my reply. "Okay, pick you up at seven?"

"Yes, if I'm not already with you," she said with a chuckle.

"Okay," I replied smiling back at her. "We'd better transfer my work over. Have you got a memory stick?"

"No, you can email it to me."

"You'd better give me your address then," I said pulling out my phone.

"It's 'sallym1993' etc," she replied.

"Wait a minute," I said as I thumbed my way through the menu. "Okay," I said as I updated the contact.

As I dropped the phone back into my pocket she slipped her arms around me, giving me a quick hug before stepping back.

"So, I'll see you in the morning," I said a little awkwardly.

"Yes," she replied, turning to the door.

I picked my laptop up and put my shoes back on. She gave me another hug as we kissed goodnight, further stiffening my already swollen cock. Making love to her filled my thoughts as I walked back to my car. I was filled with hope, anticipation, and more than a touch of lust.

I remembered to log on and email the work across to her, imagining her sitting naked at her desk as she opened it as I clicked the send button. My cock stirred at the thought and grew harder still as I turned and looked at my bed and thought of her sharing it with me.

I slept well and was at the lab quite early, setting the 3D printer going to make the ribs and mounts for the magnets before starting to wind the coils. As soon as the clock passed nine, I went down to the staff room to phone George and invite him over.

I went back and resumed winding the coils while I waited for him to come over. He wasn't long and he brought two of his post-grad students with him. I showed him how it all worked and left them to it while I carried on with the coils.

I took a break at ten to check on the printer and collect the finished work on the way back. I was considering moving to my shared office because of the distraction of the excited chatter as the Professor and his students explored.

Sally was exuberant when she arrived, her professor had praised her for her originality and would endorse her proposal. Though it wouldn't be formally approved till next week's departmental meeting, she could start researching the sonar array now.

I let her use my laptop while I carried on the tedious work, grateful for the quiet of the room. Sally asked the occasional question but didn't disturb me much until it came to writing the emails.

She'd found three universities that had hydro-acoustics departments and were doing research into advanced echolocation. At this stage, we were only asking for advice without revealing the alien location of the depths.

With the emails sent, she and I took a break for lunch. We looked in on the lab on the way to check on George. He was happy enough, asking me if the students could stay on while he got back to running his department.

I agreed they could stay for the afternoon, but was vague about giving them more time tomorrow. As we were walking over to the student union building, Sally got a text from Emily - she'd found someone who could write the program for us.