Day 23 of 30: A letter to someone, anyone.
My friend asked me to write her a hand-written letter for her birthday, which after a few months I haven’t managed to do. Because there is nothing that I wanted to say to her that I haven’t said, good or bad it is. So, this letter turned out to be more like a short story. And, I didn’t get to write it by hand because it became a little too long. So, I apologize, friend. But I hope you like it.
Dear Iwawa,
You told me to write about something that I have never told you before or something that I was too afraid to tell you. And I said that I have none of that since I have told you everything. Like everything, everything. But, actually, I kinda lied. There is, in fact, something that I have never told you before, or anyone in my immediate circle. It is a highly classified project that I have been working on. So, the secret is…
I was building a time machine!
Phew. It feels like a heavy burden have been lifted off my chest.
It wasn’t only me who built the machine, but I will tell you later about it. It started off from an unwanted visit. One day, when I was stuck with my writing, Einstein’s ghost came to me. Yeap, the very Albert Einstein that we know of. He proposed some kind of design, a time machine that he never got to make in his lifetime. Being a theorist, his explanation seemed too absurd for me. (And I was surprised that I could translate the design as a time machine. Guess, I am that smart.) His theory almost racked my brain, but since he looked so desperate, I couldn’t help but agree to it.
But first, I need help. I need a team. Do you know who came first into my mind? Matthew Gray Gubler! Maybe because of his fascination with ghost, I reckoned that he will be thrilled to hear about Einstein’s visit. And I couldn’t be more right. You should’ve have seen him dancing in ecstacy! He said he will help me with anything.
Matthew also introduced me to his nice smart friend, Dr. Spencer Reid. He said, Spencer is his buddy from FBI crime lab. I wondered, why would I need an FBI guy in my team? It turned out that Spencer has a doctorate degree in Physics! So he could help me translate Einstein’s theory into an actual design. Brilliant Gubler, isn’t he? I thought he was just a goof.
Then, I asked my idol/friend, Elon Musk to join the team. A big fan of Einstein, he said ‘yes’ right away, but anything about weird machine will attract him anyway. Iwawaaaaa… if you only knew how my knees wobbled when I popped up the question to him. I felt like I was proposing to him, you know. By the way, it was Elon who suggested me not to tell you. I already said to him, “But she’s my best friend, beside she’s a great secret keeper.” But he argued that since you worked in a bank, should the secret leaked somehow in the banking industry, the machine will be commercialized and the stability of space-time dimentions will be ruined. I am sorry, Iwa, I guessed he was a little bit paranoid given his background and experience in banking. I hope you wouldn’t mind.
The last one who joined my team was Haruki Murakami-san. He’s no engineer nor physicist, but he’s a dreamer and a guy full of crazy ideas. Dream is a vital part of invention, right? Besides, I’ll need him to help me with my writings :P
Then, the team started off. We began in a good note until the machine could actually looked like a machine. But things happened when we decided to test it. It failed… which was normal, right? You just don’t get things perfectly right on the first try ever. But then, another fix and failure, then more fix and failure later, the team started to break apart. What worse was that Einstein’s ghost stopped appearing to us and that really devastated Matthew. He lost interest and then stopped coming at all.
Then, Elon got so busy with his tunnel. It turned out that tunnels interest him more than Einstein’s machine. He signed off, too. At least he was decent enough to email all of us. And Murakami was too busy with cats he could barely focus on the machine. The nice Dr. Reid was the last one standing. But too bad, it’s like all the bad guys somehow decided to go on a rampage, because non-stop criminal cases coming his way and… you know. He just got to save the world.
So, there I was. Alone with my failed machine. I wanted to tell Einstein that I have failed him. But, since he never showed up again, there was no one to be sorry for (except for me, of course). I pondered over that occupied space in my work room. I imagined going back to the past with it, to Berlin 1915, which is 100 years ago and surprised the young Einstein that his theory could actually work. I started to operate the machine as if it could do things. I punched on some keys and codes and sequences, then hit on the travel button. To my surprise, the world around me started to fall apart, the space melted into a spiraling tornado and I got sucked into it.
Guess what? I time-travelled!
But, wait, I remember that I puked after that. Oh, the memory was so fresh in my head, I felt nauseous as I am writing it. The trip was horrible. I felt like my body was torn to pieces and my head should have exploded. Were it not for a monumental moment in mankind history, I wouldn’t be willing to do that again, ever.
I saw a nearest coconut tree, and quickly I leaned on its bark. After I recovered, my brain started to process my environment. Apart from the tree shade that I was under, the sun seemed blindingly bright (didn’t help my headache at all). It must have been very hot, but my temperature sensor nerves hadn’t fully functioning yet (or maybe because I was sweating a lot, too). White sands scattered beneath my feet. I heard the squawking of seagulls from the distant. Then I didn’t have to look to my left to confirm that I was actually on a beach.
I realized right away that I wasn’t in Berlin. Then, I saw the date on my machine which showed that I was actually in the future! The timeline was wrong. I might hit the wrong key or something (hence, the miss-destination). But there I was, 10 years in the future, somewhere on a beach. But that’s okay. Who cares? I time-travelled! But don’t you think it’s odd that I am describing things that happened in the future with past tense? I think so, too. But that’s what happened when you went to the future!
It was about sun down, and the waves reflected golden descending sunlight on each peaks and valleys. Like a mosaic of emerald, sapphire, silver and gold. When, I heard a laughing sound from a distant, I instantly followed it. When I got close to the source of the sound, I saw a little girl and a man were playing with the waves. I kept my distance because I didn’t want to be seen, so that I couldn’t make out their feature clearly. But I knew that the man was the little girl’s dad, because she screamed “daddy!”
A little far to the land, I saw a beach mat complete with beach umbrella. There was a figure of sleeping person under a sarong and a wide beach hat above it. Near her (I figured it was a woman), laid a moving little lump. I couldn’t help myself to get a closer look. I wanted to prove my curiosity that the lump was actually a baby. With my lightest steps, I moved closer and closer towards them. The lump moved more vigorously and made it to crawling position. I was right it was a baby, and a second after that the baby was facing me. For a moment I thought he was going to cry, but instead he cooed. I couldn’t help but smile and waved at him. I really wanted to pinch him on both cheeks because he looked so adorable like bakpao with bright eyes! So smushy I wanted to eat him. He then chuckled at my face. Did I looked odd or something? I don’t know. But he started to laugh so hard, he woke the sleeping woman next to him. I quickly retrieved to a hiding spot.
Older, tired, yet brighter familiar figure emerged from the sarong. “oh you woke up.” She said to the baby. She smiled to the baby, with a loving motherly warmth. Not long after that, she fanned herself, while eyeing the two playing figures near the waves. “Guys!” she shouted at them. Her voice was a little coarse, but it was heard. “Guys let’s get inside, it’s getting too hot.” Still grumpy about the heat, I thought she would never change. By the way, the woman that I was describing is you, if you still don’t get it.
I looked to my right, way over to the land, stood a snug-looking little inn called “The Long Vacation”. I held my giggle because I didn’t want my existence to be known (except by your baby son, because I already got busted earlier). Without a doubt, I reckoned that the establishment was yours.
Not long after that, the four of you were getting ready to get inside. I wonder where the future-me might be? I hope we still be friends. Apart from the butterfly effect, what would your future-self do if you meet the present-self me? It might be very awkward, wouldn’t it?
I decided I had seen enough and I needed to go back to my time. But before that, the sun was setting. I couldn’t help admiring the beautiful sunset. It was brilliant.
So, back to the present. There are 5 people on Earth who know the machine exists. But, only you and me who actually know that it does work. What do you think I should do with this? What can we do about it?
Love,
Panini.
image from link
Out of Words 