Chapter 3

Luke woke up the next day hungover. "S**t!" he cursed, he off his schedule. He looks at the table and sees a few drawings and calculations. 'What was I doing?' he thought in confusion, then shook it off.

"Not is not the time for that," he said. Last night, he presented an unfinished prototype using the first core he made. To travel further back in time, he would need more calculations and a stronger core.

The core has already been made, but the calculations were halfway done.

"Mr. Idiot is calling," his virtual assistant said.

"Ignore," Luke said in annoyance.

"Mr. Idiot, that's an interesting name," Tim said surprising Luke, he turned around, he almost growled at him.

Tim ignored the look of hostility he was getting from Luke. "This place looks like the lair of some evil scientist planning on taking over the world," he said walking towards Luke to see what he was doing.

Luke covered the calculations he made drunk. "How did you even get in here?" he asked.

"Travis told me the passcode to this place," Tim replied honestly. "I also seduced your receptionist, I have a date with her by six tomorrow evening."

Luke sneers. "Someone is getting fired," he mutters.

"I saw your presentation last night," Tim said taking a sit next to him. "Maybe you aren't depressed."

"Then why are you here I'm not depressed, you just said so yourself," Luke said.

Tim shook his head. "I said you are not entirely depressed, but there are a few things I need to ask before I can fully conclude on your mental health," he said taking out a notebook and a pen.

Luke grumbles in frustration. "What is it?" he asks impatiently.

"Okay, but you have to promise to answer," Tim said.

"Sounds like the questions are going to be stupid," Luke mutters, Tim's hands twitched in annoyance. 

"Alrighty," Tim said, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths. "First question, how are feeling right now?" he asked.

"Hungover," Luke replied doing calculations.

Tim was surprised he answered and nearly cried at his cooperation. "Next, now that you've proven that your time machine works and it's not just you being delusional, what do you plan on doing next after you bring your guardian back?"

Luke pauses what he is doing and his brain begins to click on confusion.

"Do you not know?" Tim asked.

"Shh!" Luke said. He had never thought that far before, what was even his plan before he died? "Become the successor of this place," he replies.

"But isn't this what you are already?" Tim said. "If that is what you want after that, then why are you working to bring him back?"

 Luke didn't know what to say about that. "Don't bother with such an unimportant question," he said brushing it off. 'I am not going to be distracted by such a minor thing,' he thought as he continued calculating. 

'He doesn't know.' Tim wrote down. "Alright then, what was your dream before you were taken in by the late Dr. Freeman?" he asked.

"To die," Luke answered.

Tim pursed his lips, looking at him blankly. "Are you joking?" he asked.

"I don't have the energy to joke," Luke replies seriously, he presses a few keys on his table, and the time-traveling device is brought up.

He pressed a few more keys and the lab began rearranging. Tim clung to his seat in fear, he was moved without a warning.

Then a welding mask was put on his face. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"Work," Luke replied typing out a set of instructions. "Keep that thing on if you still want to keep your eyesight."

'Can't this guy just make the time of the week to attend our sessions and just let me do my job?' Tim thought watching as Luke dismantled the time machine removing the battery or core slowly with robots.

Once the core was removed, much of the equipment began to float around it. 

He dumped that core into cold water, and the sound of something hitting cold water was heard.

Almost immediately the container filled with cold water was stored in a cold room at the bottom of the room, a larger container made of lead was pulled out of the cold room, this was where the stronger battery was.

Once the core was removed, a few things began floating, rotating, and revolving around the core like a star.

This was behind a safe room fortunately otherwise, Luke and Tim would also be affected by the pull of the core.

'It's like a mini sun,' Tim thought with his eyes widening in surprise. 

The core was put in the time-traveling device. A holographic screen appeared in front of Luke and he began writing a few codes.

He smiled widely, it almost looked maniacal. There was no need for any more calculations, why was he even calculating anymore, the core was powerful enough to travel back in time and bring him and his guardian back to the present, this would happen before he disappeared.

He begins chuckling as he types certain instructions.

His giddy mood soon came to an end when a problem began to arise.

Tim too noticed the problem, because of the warning sign showing on the screen. He was about to get up, but the safety glass shattered and everything began floating while a bright blue light engulfed everything.

Luke was trying so desperately to control the situation by dumping the device in the cold room. This wasn't the first time this was happening, but nothing responded.

The error sign covered the screen and Like jumped off his seat and said to Tim, "If you don't want to die, you'll get off and run."

Tim jumped off and he and Luke began running. Unfortunately, they were pulled back by the gravitational pull of the core inside the device.

"I'm too young to die, I still have a date tomorrow," Tim said as he was pulled into the light.

Luke laughed out loud. "So lame!" he said, then he too was pulled by the gravitational force and he closed his eyes accepting his fate.

The room became empty and the time-traveling device as well as half of the things in the lab were gone as well.