New York City, New York, 2026

March 4th, 8:13 PM

The past couple of months had been the craziest, yet most fun of my life. Sneaking around the streets of Austria with the girl of my dreams was everything I could ask for. I didn't get much sleep with that and college, but it was all worth it to get to see Daphne. Besides, I would be graduating with a master's degree in about two months anyway.

Over the past few times I've seen her, Daphne and I had ballroom danced in the middle of vacant streets, kissed in our favorite public garden, and talked to each other about whatever we felt like talking about. Some nights it was me hugging her through tears about her engagement, but others were lighthearted and spent hearing our echoes of laughter as we told each other stories about our lives. My favorite of hers was that time she got ink all over herself as a child from trying to reach her mother's quill to write a letter. She was shorter than the desk at the time.

Now, I was combing my hair in preparation for another date. Lucas and Mai were standing next to me, leaning on my bathroom counter and discussing Lucas' findings at NASA.

". . .so basically, our findings on Mars are more revolutionary than anyone could've thought of. We're just trying to figure out what the next big step is. Crazy, huh?"

"Totally insane," Mai said, "If you guys need a chemist sometime, I'd love to join you. There's gotta be something I can help with. I've been dying to work for NASA, at least for an internship."

"I'd have to make some phone calls, but it would be so cool to have you there!"

"Does my hair look alright?" I asked, "I tried gel in it today."

"Yeah, looks fine," Lucas confirmed.

Mai glanced at me with a smirk.

"So, how are things going with Daphne?" she asked in a sing-song voice.

"Better than ever. Gosh, I wish you could meet her. She's the kindest, most beautiful girl I've ever met."

"Huh," Lucas muttered.

I turned away from the mirror to look at him.

"What?" I asked.

"I don't know, I just still think it would've been better for you to end things way earlier. This is getting really dangerous, Stephen. I don't want you to have to regret anything."

"You know, I really thought you'd be happier when I found someone so special to me."

The room filled with tension. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mai glancing nervously between Lucas and I.

"I am happy, but I'm more worried that all of your sneaking around is gonna mess something up one day."

"I know what I'm doing, Lucas. I've been doing this for months and everything's fine."
"But one day, you're gonna get a little too comfortable and you're gonna do or say something that'll put us in danger. You knew the risks you were taking when this started, but you're getting too caught up in your relationship now."

"Because Daphne's so important to me. I don't wanna lose her."

"For a scientist, you think an awful lot with your heart."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means. It's careless of you to put your girlfriend before pretty much all of humanity."

I looked down at the counter before shaking my head.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this from you," I muttered.

To my surprise, Lucas' voice softened at my remark.

"I know it's hard to accept the truth-"

"Really?" I asked. My voice didn't follow his quiet tone.

"You know what it's like to care about someone so much that you couldn't stand leaving them? You know what it's like to deal with the pressure of time travel and deciding whether that person is worth all of humanity? And you know what it's like to feel hopeless at the fact that you know it'll never work between you two? I've spent the last few months torn apart at the thought of saying goodbye to her."

"You shouldn't have gotten yourself into this mess in the first place. Maybe you'd already be moving on if you had listened to me and ended it right away."

"Oh, yeah, like you would've done it so easily."

"Yeah, I actually would have. That's your problem, Stephen, you're too trusting and it ends up hurting you in the end."

"And you're not trusting enough. You've been watching my back ever since I built that machine like some sort of babysitter and I'm sick of it."

Things would have escalated quickly, but Mai spoke up before Lucas and I had the chance to damage our friendship any further.

"Guys," she said, her voice stern, "no one is going to benefit from you two arguing like this. Lucas, I get you're just trying to avoid a disaster, but Stephen is right. If he didn't know what he was doing, he wouldn't have built the machine in the first place. You have to let him be happy while he does so without doing harm."

Lucas shook his head, went out to my living room, and reached for his black leather jacket.

"Fine. I'll see you guys later," he said before walking out.

Mai sighed and set a hand on my shoulder.

"I'll talk to him," she said, "He really just is worried about you. Have fun tonight."

She left. I saw her catch up to Lucas, but didn't watch their conversation. I sat down on my couch and buried my face in my hands, cursing myself for allowing my emotions to get in the way of my experiment. One of the worst things a scientist could do was to have bias where there shouldn't be.

After a good ten minutes of questioning my choices, I remembered that Daphne was still expecting to see me tonight.

I got up and washed my face in an attempt to hide the stress in my expression, although it was hard to tell the difference since my cheeks and nose normally had that pink color to them. Taking a deep breath in the mirror, I gave myself an awkward pep talk.

"Everything's gonna be alright. . .you're gonna go see Daphne in a few minutes and everything's gonna be alright. You'll talk to Lucas tomorrow. He doesn't hate you, he doesn't hate you, he doesn't hate you," I repeated desperately.

The last thing I did before leaving my apartment was think about Daphne, and it brought me a giddy smile.

My time machine had never looked so intimidating as that night, not even when I had just finished it months back. The steel circular wall made me cold just by looking at it. I decided pep talks weren't my forte because my hands had begun to shake since I left my place. Barely hitting the button that opened the machine door, my heart jumped when a notification popped up on my screen in big letters.

CAUTION: ONLY ONE (1) ROUND TRIP AVAILABLE

LEARN MORE?

"That can't be right," I mumbled.

I tapped the "Learn More" option and skimmed through the text with a frantically increasing heart rate. My heart sank deeper and deeper as I processed the tragic message.

THIS DEVICE HAS A LIMITED CAPACITY. THERE IS ENOUGH ENERGY FOR ONLY ONE (1) MORE ROUND TRIP.

"No no no no no. There has to be a glitch or something."

I scanned around the lab room, grabbing everything on the shelves that could help me store more travel energy into the machine. The bottles of chemicals, glass test tubes, and fragile microscope slides crashed onto the floor after being knocked over by my shaking hands. Alas, I didn't find anything that could make the time machine function for any longer. Still refusing to accept the truth, I went from the shelves to the center of the room, pacing around the long black desks, recalling what I used to give the machine its energy and how I could reproduce it. The eerily quiet night was only accompanied by my whispers of every law of physics I had used to make the time machine.

"Of course," I said at last.

"I used a supply of Mai's particles. . . I just can't remember if I used it all."

I dashed to a case of particles in my cabinet, each little glass tube in its place. My relief was short-lived, though. I examined every single container only to find that I had used all of the particles the first time I placed them into the machine.

"No!" I yelled as I shut the case and slid to the ground.

The thought of seeing Daphne again for the last time brought a pain I didn't want to imagine. Barely able to see through my tears, I reached for my nearby notebook and pencil, and leaned on my lap to write.

Vienna, Austria, 1799

March 4th, 9:02 PM

As soon as I stepped out of the machine, I took in the air of my environment in disbelief of how I ever took it for granted. The night sky was clearer than I'd ever seen it due to the lack of factories made after the Industrial Revolution. The warm, sweet scents of a nearby bakery reminded me of my childhood experiences at Sullivan Street Bakery with my parents.

"Come on, Stephen," I said to myself in a dry chuckle, "you haven't even seen her yet and you're already getting choked up."

I began my walk to the local garden, Daphne and I's regular rendezvous spot. On the way, I fumbled with the envelope in my hands, trying not to imagine how she would feel when she read the letter inside.

Daphne hadn't arrived yet when I got to our favorite bench in front of the jasmines, so I sat down and put the envelope in one of my tailcoat pockets so that she wouldn't see me holding it when she did get there. My whole body was trembling, and the queasy feeling in my stomach told me it wasn't the cold weather causing it.

"Hello, Stephen!" I heard from a few feet away.

I looked up to see Daphne, looking gorgeous as ever in a billowing red dress barely covered by her black cloak. The shaking in me intensed, particularly in my lips, which made my greeting sound more like a quiet yelp. She didn't seem to notice, though. Her grin only widened as she sat next to me on the bench.

I couldn't stand it. I wrapped her in a tight hug, desperately trying to memorize the texture of her dress and the floral scent of her perfume. Her laugh alone could've made me break into a sob, but I stifled it for the sake of not ruining our last night together.

"Please do not take this to be a complaint, but may I ask why so affectionate tonight?" she asked through giggles.

I pulled away from the hug and grinned.

"I just missed you so much since I last saw you," I responded.

"Darling, how sweet. My heart aches every time you say you have to leave, but is brought back to life when I see your endearing eyes again. Pardon me for arriving late tonight. I tried to leave the ball early, but Herr Leitner insisted I stay a while longer, and with my mother there, I couldn't refuse him. I was thinking of you the entire time I was there. How fun it would be to attend a ball together and dance for hours, don't you think?"

"I can't think of a nicer way to spend my night. Although I must say, the bar isn't all that high considering I spend most of them studying at the lab."

"Do you not attend parties in the future?"
"Oh, others do for sure. I'll go every once in a while, just to have a night without so much stress. Still not often, though."

"Interesting."
Daphne smoothed down the skirt of her dress and then looked up at me with a smile.

"So, what shall we do tonight?" she asked.

I sighed and looked around at the flowers surrounded by green leaves and vines.

"I want to spend tonight like any other night," I suggested.

"Let's just talk and be with each other. It's a nice night to be under the stars. In fact. . . let's really be under the stars. I'll lie on my tailcoat and you can lie on your cloak, and we can appreciate the sky and pick out our favorite constellations and talk about what it must be like on other planets."

"Stephen, that sounds lovely, but. . .you know I can't risk damaging my dress. My mother would ask about my whereabouts and I've been having trouble coming up with excuses lately. I do need to be cautious."

I grasped her hands and looked at her with pleading eyes.

"Please," I whispered.

"Oh, don't look at me like that, you know I can't say no to you when you do."
"That's why I'm doing it. Come on, it'll be romantic."

Daphne looked away and pondered the idea. I smiled when she stood up and took off her cloak.

"I promise, you won't regret this, even if something does happen to your dress."

"I believe you," she said with a smile.

Once we were both on our backs facing the sky, I held her hand and sighed.

"Do you have a favorite planet?" I asked.

"Well astronomy isn't one of my strong suits, but I've always liked seeing Mars. It's that red spot over there, is it not?"

She pointed to a small speck not too far from the crescent moon. I nodded.

"It's not a planet, but I've always found the moon fascinating. Seeing it go through its phases over the months and wondering what it's like up there. . .," I paused to chuckle, "I used to dream of becoming an astronaut when I was a kid."

"A what?"

"It's a profession from the future, way into the future for you. I shouldn't say too much though."

"You really must stop saying things like that. It makes me so curious."

"I know," I turned to meet her eyes, "I just can't help myself. You know how clumsy I am with words."

Daphne smiled and planted a kiss on my lips, cradling my face as she did.

"I know, darling. It makes you so endearing," she said between kisses.

I could've lied there for the whole night with her, feeling the warmth of her breath and of her skin. It only lasted an hour or two, though, before Daphne sat up and began dusting off her dress, saying that her mother was without a doubt already suspicious. The letter in my coat pocket grew heavier as I walked her out of the garden and to the cobblestone street.

"When will I see you again?" she asked, a hopeful, heartbreaking gleam in her eyes.

"I'm not sure," I managed to say as I was already choking up.

Her smile faded when she saw my eyes get misty.

"Darling, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just my allergies. That time of year, you know?"

"Are you sure?"

I nodded and cupped her face in my hands, desperate to memorize every single feature of it. Her warm, brown eyes, her soft lips, her cheekbones, and even her pearl earrings. Then, before I got the chance to start crying, I kissed her one last time. An impassioned kiss that we sunk into as my grip tightened on her waist. The way her fingers caressed my hair sent my heart racing.

I felt a tear stream down my cheek when she pulled away, leaving both of us breathing heavily. Her cheeks were redder than they were previously with her makeup.

"I am ridiculously in love with you," I whispered, since the words wouldn't come out any louder.

She grinned and wrapped me in a tight hug.

"I love you too, darling. Most ardently. I hope that's what 'ridiculously' means."

I couldn't take it anymore. I closed my eyes and cried on her shoulder. I never wanted to let go. Daphne pulled away from the hug, worried.

"Darling, what is it? Is something wrong?"

The only reply I could give was to shake my head. With shaking hands, I reached into my coat pocket and took out the envelope.

"Don't read this until you're at home, in your room. It'll explain everything."
I placed it into Daphne's hands. I knew she wanted to beg for an explanation right then and there, but she decided not to. I tilted her chin up so that our eyes met.

"Please don't forget this," I said, "And don't forget that you've made me happier than I ever thought I could be. I'll see you later."

"You're scaring me, darling."
"Just promise you won't forget."

"I won't, I swear. You've made me a great deal happier as well. Without music, it's you who gives me life."

I smiled through tears and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Goodbye, Daphne."

"Farewell."

I took one last look at her, all of her, and turned away. I knew a part of me would be staying in eighteenth century Vienna.