The First of Many

“Where am I?” A young boy frantically looks around the padded room that he finds in, “Can anybody hear me?”

A hard pounding on the door made the boy turn around, “SHUT UP KID! I’m tired of your complaining.”

The boy then realizes that it’s best to follow his instructions. He sits down in the far corner of the cell and closes his knees over his head. “Why am I here?”

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A little bit outside the cell, the lead scientist-Dr. Gerald D. Dickinsonbocker- is giving a speech.

“…And furthermore, I would like to state-”

“SIR!” A voice interrupts the Doctors short speech.

“What is it Stephenson?” The doctor says, turning around to face the panting scientist.

Stephenson look the doctor in the eye and begins, “Dr. Dickinsonbocker, first off I’d like to apologize in advance. You see, I ran the transporter test like you told me to, and it worked, but we have a problem, the transporter works backwards. So…We got someone you might want to meet.”

Dr. Dickinsonbocker sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses, “Very well, who did you accidently bring here Stephenson?”

Stephenson rubbed the back of his head, “That’s the thing sir, it’s a boy. A teen to be exact. I know the code says “shoot all who aren’t on the team”, but he’s just a boy, it doesn’t seem right to me, and most of the team agrees.”

Dr. Dickinsonbocker stopped walking and looked him in the eye, “Did you say teen?”

“Uh, yes sir. I did.”

“I see, how old?”

“Scanners say about fourteen sir.”

Dr. Dickinsonbocker smiled, “I think I know how to solve our problem Stephenson.” Then he continued his walk to the holding cell.

“How’s that sir?” Stephenson asked.

“You’ll see Stephenson, you’ll see.” The Doctor said before rounding a corner.

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The sound of a hatch opening caught the young boys attention, bringing his eyes up to the other side of the cell, he could see that it was sliding upwards, revealing three men behind it. One was quite old, maybe in his late-seventy’s, while the other was very young, possibly around his mid-twenties, the third one looked to be middle age. They were all wearing lab coats.

The younger one spoke first, “Here he is Doctor.”

The older ones eyes seemed to light up when he saw the young boy, “He’s perfect Stephenson.” The Doctor turned to the middle ages one, “Jonson, prepare the machine.” Jonson nodded and left. He then leaned in and whispered to Stephenson, “Calm him down first.” Then he left. Leaving Stephenson alone with the boy.

After the Doctor had left, Stephenson sat down at the other end of the cell, facing the boy. “So?” he started, “What’s your name?”

The young boy responded without looking up from his knees, “Matthew. Why do you want to know? You’re just going to experiment me to death.” His last statement made Stephenson cringe.

“No we’re not. Truth be told I’m not sure what’s going to happen to you. But, I can assure you that we won’t kill you.”

Matthew looked at him, “What makes you think I trust your word?”

Stephenson sighed, “I didn’t expect you to trust me, I just wanted you to know that me, and the whole research team don’t feel right killing a kid. We might be shady, but we’re not cold-blooded…well a few of us may be literally.”

“Then what about all those agents who go out killing people just because they got nosy?”

Stephenson glared at him, “That’s a different agency. They work for the government. We work for world sciences, every country knows about this, and every country is working on it together. The government or rulers of each country decide whether or not to tell their people.”

Matthew relaxed a little, not much, but a bit. Either he’s a really good liar, or he doesn’t want me to be concerned about it. I guess I could play along. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it. So what now?”

Stephenson looked to the door, “We wait for Dr. Dickinsonbocker.”

Said doctor walks into the room, “It’s ready Stephenson, and the delegates are all here.”

Stephenson nods, then get up and reaches his hand out to Matthew, who takes it and gets up.

“So, doctor, would you mind telling me what exactly I’m doing?” Matthew asks.

The doctor chuckles, “What’s the fun in that? Don’t worry, we’ll brief you with the delegates, I just don’t want to explain my-self twice.”

Matthew sighs, as he knows that’s the best answer he’s going to get for now. “I see.”

The doctor laughs, “My, my, such intelligence, at such a young age. Come now, follow me to the viewing area for briefing.” He walks out of the room and they follow.

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They had just arrived in the viewing area, and all chatter between the people there had ceased as they entered. Instead everyone was staring at Matthew, “Why is everyone staring at me?”

The doctor turned to Stephenson, ignoring his question “You handle this, I have to get down to the lab and do some final checking overs.” He then started to walk down a stairwell next to the front where they were at.

Stephenson nodded, “Will do sir.” He then motioned for Matthew to join him up on the podium at the front of the room, which he obliged.

Once they were standing on the podium, Stephenson put a mic around Matthew’s neck, then put one around his own. “Attention everyone.” He said, the light chatter that had started up again had ceased once more, and all eyes were on him and Matthew. “I would like to introduce Matthew, our first human test subject for project Giovanni Alpha Beta.” A light applause followed his announcement. “I would like for you to ask your questions while Dr. Dickinsonbocker sets up the experiment.”

A few hands were raised, Stephenson elbowed Matthew lightly, signaling him to choose a hand.

“Ummm. You in the very back.” Matthew pointed to a woman in the back.

The woman stood up and cleared her throat, “Thank you. How were you chosen for this experiment if I may ask?”

Stephenson answered her, “You see, we were running a test on project Giovanni Beta. And it worked backwards, and due to the rules the government has forced upon us. We had a choice, and I’m sure you’re all aware of those choices. But we just couldn’t do either, because. Well, he’s a kid, it didn’t feel right. So we picked the best option.”

A quite murmuring of agreement was heard throughout the whole audience that signaled their agreement. “Any more questions?” Stephenson asked.

One man stood up, “Yes, I have a question. None of us were briefed on the experiment, such is the Doctors way. Could you possible brief us on project Giovanni Alpha Beta?”

“Certainly.” Stephenson replied, “Project Giovanni Beta Alpha is one of our most top secret projects, kept away from even the government. The World Sciences has been working on it since the early 18th century. It’s a space-time traveler. Capable of travelling anywhere through space and time. It was just recently finished, and our last test was on mice and dogs, no side-effects occurred. Unfortunately the unit was designed by and for a fourteen year old. As the creator was one, we have tried to modify it to fit us. But quickly realized that it had to be that size, and that anyone older than fifteen wouldn’t have the strength to survive the trip.”

Matthew turned to him, “Why not fi-” He was cut off as the Doctors voice rang out from the stairwell, “Matthew, the test’s ready for you. Come down here.” Matthew nodded and took the headset off then walked over to the stairwell, “Wish me luck” he said, before going down.

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“Okay, so listen up.” The doctor started, “The controls for the system are really simple. But for now, just set it on view and project. We don’t want you to head off to another time yet.” They stopped in front of the machine, and the doctor handed something to Matthew, it was a belt, with two thin, small black cases on it, and a watch “Just in case things go wrong, here’s a D.C.M. and S.A.D. System, use it to contact us. These things will work even if you were in a black hole.”

Matthew held the belt and watch in front of him, “What exactly do these things do?”

“D.C.M. Stands for, Digital Communication and Monitoring. It allows us to contact with you. The other one, the S.A.D. system is a survival kit.  S.A.D stands for, Safety and Defense. The watch controls both of them.”

Matthew nodded and replaced his belt, with the one the doctor gave him, and put the watch on his wrist as well, “So what now?”

The doctor pointed to a button on the machine, “Push the button.”

“Okay.” Matthew pushed the button and a hatch opens up, revealing the inside of the machine. “Do I just step in?” He asked.

The doctor nodded and handed him an odd-looking headset. It looked like a wire wrapped around one ear, and a small button goes into and covers the other. “I know you have one on the belt, you actually have a breeder in there. But wear this one.”

“Okay.” Matthew took the headset and put it on, “How does it work?”

“Simply push the button to activate it, a beep will tell you when you have a call. Try it now.”

“Sounds easy enough.” Matthew pushed the button on his headset and a screen popped out in front of one eye.

“Okay,” the doctor said, “Now we’re connected. Keep this on throughout the whole test.”

“I’m good with that.” Matthew said, as he slipped into the machine, and closed the door.

A voice rang through Matthew’s ear, “Can you hear me?”

“Yes, loud and clear. Now how do I turn this thing on?” The machine made a whirring sound the second he finished the question.

“The machine’s controls change depending on the user. Operate it the way that feels best.”

“Awesome. Activate, viewing mode. Project image.” The machine brought out a projector, and a screen appeared on the inside and the outside of the machine. “Show memories.” A list of his memories came up on the screen, “Show, Las Vegas shows.” A list of the shows he saw in Vegas came up, “Play, KA” KA started playing.

The Doctors voice came through the headset, “This is an amazing moment for us Matthew, the machine has never worked this well before. The delegates have decided to let you test its physical abilities. Since we’re not sure about its capabilities we want you to travel ahead two minutes, and two feet to the right.”

“I’ll try Doc.” Matthew replied, “End memory playback, bring down projectors, show internal screen only.” The system did as it was told. “Travel two minutes forward, and two feet to the right.” A bright flash and a loud screeching outside the machine started right after his commands.

He could hear the Doctors voice screaming over the headset, “ABORT ABORT ABO-” The screeching reached ear-splitting levels for those outside the machine, drowning out the Doctors frantic screaming.

The last thing Matthew saw, was the screen, with one word on it:

ERROR.