New York City, New York, 2025

December 4th, 6:00 PM

When I walked through the portal, I ended up in my regular New York apartment. As one does after time traveling, I had a headache and was feeling dizzy. Luckily I didn't have a sprained ankle and several scientists crowding around me this time. Already starting to see double, I collapsed on my black leather couch and closed my eyes as I waited for the dizziness to go away. As my mind came to rest, memories of the eighteenth century came back in a frenzy. I remembered going to the tailor shop with Daphne and going to the garden with her. The memory made me smile until I remembered that she was set to be engaged in two days. Not that I wanted to marry her. That wasn't the case. It just saddened me to know that she was being forced into getting married and forgetting her dreams. It's not like I could do anything about it, though. The only thing I could do is meet her at night and be a friend to her. I was actually pretty excited about showing her different kinds of music. I figured I would bring a couple of cassette tapes, my cassette player, and of course my iPhone.

By the time I had thought of that idea, my dizziness was gone and my headache was mild, so I got up and started looking through my cassettes.

After about an hour of going through my music, I decided on showing Daphne "Beat It" by Michael Jackson, "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel, "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon, "Somebody to Love" by Queen, and "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons for something a little more recent. To be honest, I didn't know about what classical music she had or hadn't heard, so I did a little research for that part. I ended up finding a piece called Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture that was oddly composed in 1880. Listening to it, I got the feeling that Daphne would adore it. I would show her that one on YouTube.

Just as I was starting to look up some other genres, I heard a knock at my door and figured it was Lucas. My assumption was proven right when I opened the door.

Lucas was carrying several binders of notes and blueprints. He walked inside while rambling about a new project he was working on for NASA. After they sent a man and woman to the moon last year, he'd been frantically analyzing ultraviolet and infrared radiations from recent findings. Now, he was part of a team that was trying to relate those findings to a possible trip to Mars.

"Stephen, I need your help," he explained, "I know you have a far greater knowledge of classical mechanics than me, so I want you to help me on this project."

I watched as he set out the notes on my coffee table. There were a variety of sketches, graphs, and pages of math. Seeing all of the notes made me smile as I remembered what my studies were like before I accomplished time travel.

"I'm happy to help. Let me get my own notes."

Grinning like a madman, I hurried to my room and looked over my shelves of binders from different courses I had taken over the years. I selected a few from my classical mechanics studies and got back to Lucas.

"So, what do you need?" I asked as I looked through the binders.

"I have to work on some sketches of artificial and natural satellites so that we can send one to Mars for extra research."

"Well then, let's get started."

Lucas and I spent the next few hours going over our binders of notes and brainstorming how to build an efficient satellite. Our moods ranged from intense concentration to unstoppable giggling during conversations. It reminded me of why we didn't collaborate on projects often; we were unpredictable. Sometimes we got lots of work done, and sometimes we didn't get anything done. Today was a happy medium, though, and I did love spending time with him. By the time we had done a day's work, it was ten o'clock at night, but Lucas insisted on spending time together that didn't consist of frying our brain cells. I was glad he offered to stay. That meant I could tell him about my day with Daphne.

"I went to eighteenth century Vienna again today," I began.

"Did you see that girl you told me about?" he asked, a little threatening.

"I did. But you don't have to worry. I talked to her about not telling anyone--and she hasn't. I also told her I can't tell her anything about her future or the future in general."

His glare softened.

"That's good, Stephen. I hate to be so uptight about an experiment that isn't mine, but I wouldn't want you messing anything up. Between you and me, you don't always think straight when you're into a girl."

"I'm not into her! I'm just barely getting to know Daphne. We're good friends, that's all."

The smirk on Lucas' face told me he wasn't convinced.

"Just be careful with what you say, that's all," he warned.

"Yeah, yeah. What's been going on with you? I mean, besides this huge project."

"I'm thinking about getting a new place. Now that I work for NASA, I think a nicer apartment is the right call."

"No way, that's great! Do you know where you want to go yet?"

"I'm thinking Brooklyn Heights. I've already checked some apartments out, and they look really nice."

"That sounds awesome. And it's not too far from Prospect Heights, so we can keep hanging out."

"I know. I was worried about having to move far away and not being able to see you as much, but Brooklyn Heights really caught my attention. I have my eyes set on this one place that I'm buying this weekend. Do you want to help me move my stuff?"

"I'd love to," I said with a tired smile.

We spent about a half hour more talking. By the time we were done, it was almost eleven o'clock, which really sucked because I had a class at seven o'clock tomorrow morning. Despite inventing a time machine, I was still a college student. It was my second year at NYU. If I kept up the good work, though, this would be my last. I've been trying to convince my professors to let me graduate early since I took so many classes during high school, and this time machine would hopefully guarantee it. If I did graduate early, I would want to check out some of the job offers I had gotten ever since that conference where I revealed the time machine. Lots of organizations and universities wanted me to work for them. The truth is, I could hardly believe it. On the bright side, I still had lots of time to think over the remaining school year, and thinking about it the night before a morning class was no good, so I decided I should go to sleep.

It was Wednesday at noon, and my morning class on nuclear physics had ended a few hours ago. I had another two classes left today, so I decided to spend my free time practicing an old hobby of mine: jigsaw puzzles.

When I got to my apartment, I opened a drawer in my room filled with my boxes of puzzles and chose a Star Wars puzzle that Lucas had given me for my birthday back in September. I was also a huge Star Wars fan.

Building the puzzle helped to put my mind at ease. Any time I was stressed about school or work, it helped me to spend some alone time with myself and a good puzzle. As I organized the pieces into sections, I felt the pressure of this whole time traveling business release. As much as I couldn't wait to see Daphne, I was still scared about saying something that could make multiple timelines instead of one, continuous one. And if I did that, I would no longer be credible to other physicists, and that would make it impossible to get a job. I could already hear the voices in my head.

Aren't you the one who put us all in danger with your time machine?

You were too young to study time travel.

Go study something less dangerous, like accounting.

I shuddered at the thought of being an accountant. Not that it's not useful; I just can't handle sitting in an office all day every day. I like contributing to science, and this time machine was just starting to make my name known among physicists.

As I connected a piece to what I had finished of the puzzle, I felt my eyes grow heavy. I had been so busy talking to Lucas last night that I didn't get as much sleep as usual. Stifling a yawn, I used my nearby lab coat as a pillow and laid down on my couch for a nap.