Lydia gave him a wolf whistle while Purdue applauded.
“Thank you, Healy,” Sam called out as he forced a modeling gait. Healy could not help but sport a proud little smirk at his achievement of bailing out Lydia’s guest with some of his own garb. Once they have settled down and Purdue had switched on the machine to power up over the next twenty minutes, Lydia pointed out the details to them.
“Sam, are you getting this?” Purdue asked, and Sam nodded, pointing his camera to the inventor and his lady friend.
“Please do not film the schematic, Sam,” Lydia implored. “Only the effect of the experiment, yes?”
“Don’t worry, Professor. I am not filming any intellectual property,” he reassured her.
“Good. Now, Dave, these are the theoretical co-ordinates of what the machine is going to concentrate the power beam on. When we add the last component you will hear a loud crack, like a gunshot. That is when you should start paying attention,” she instructed. Her excitement was obscured by her urge to get everything just right.
Lydia’s voice was shivering slightly, exhibiting her apprehension. Her time was running out and there were only so many chances at getting all the right ingredients in the quantities for her recipe. Her oven could only rise to the occasion with the most rigorous scientific power sources or else this cake would be a flop.
To the left of the schematic there was a dental cast freshly made, but Sam chose not to ask. He kept his movement undetected as much as he could as not to interfere or distract as he filmed the entire preparation process. Purdue did not seem at all nervous through Sam’s view finder.
‘You daft son of a bitch,’ Sam thought. ‘Anything for a thrill. Anything to be the first and the best, hey?’
Purdue’s awkward posture gave him a more twisted appearance over the fragile frame of the small woman next to him. They looked like two characters from an old black and white film about ghouls, Sam thought. And to make it more authentic through his eyes they were in actual fact discussing the impossible in a science lab. How apt it was!
“Right!” Lydia said finally, shifting the large worn paper aside. “That is all you have to know before you go in. Healy! One last drink before we embark on the most brilliant…”
“Dangerous,” Sam muttered in between.
“…experiment ever attempted. The new and improved formula!”
“Hear, hear!” Purdue grinned. Lydia wheeled her chair to the sound proof cover on the other side of the altered spare room. Sam halted his recording and nudged Purdue, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Why, naturally, Sam,” Purdue answered. “This is unprecedented!”
“That is precisely what is worrying me,” Sam whispered with intense urgency. “If this goes wrong, if anything is one iota too little or too much, you will be electrocuted, Purdue! Dead fucking meat! Is that getting into your thick skull at all?”
“Yes, it is,” Purdue said. The tranquil nature of his response disturbed Sam even more. He sounded almost indifferent.
“This is an uncontrolled experiment in someone’s basement! The chance of success is meager and more than that, it is suicide,” Sam pressed.
“Sam, this basement was constructed by one of the most exceptional minds in modern times. Besides, all virgin experiments are somewhat uncontrolled, aren’t they? Nobody knew what fire could be used for at first,” he whispered to Sam as he watched Lydia adjust the plating. “The Wright Brothers did not know if their craft was actually going to fly… until they risked it. Nothing would ever be discovered if people were too wary of the risk factor, Sam. Nothing.”
“God forbid anything goes awry, what do I tell people?” Sam persisted, appealing to Purdue’s personal issues in desperation. “What do I tell Nina?”
Purdue’s light blue eyes stared at Sam from behind the enforced glass of his spectacles. He was quiet, in contemplation of Sam’s words.
“That is a low blow, old boy,” he replied at last. “Don’t use Nina as some bargaining chip between my quest for discovery and my quest for love.”
“Come, boys! It’s time!” the raspy order came from Lydia. Between the two men the momentary stand-off spell snapped like a rubber band and they both returned to the task at hand. Sam had his camera rolling again and Purdue went into the changing booth to dress himself for the occasion. He removed his shoes and shirt. In his socks and vest he stood for a minute, listening to the humming current that flowed though the copper veins of the machine. Sam’s warning suddenly became very real, uncomfortably sensible.
But if he backed out now and Lydia nailed the experiment with someone else he would regret it forever. He slipped on the brown overalls and stepped into the combat boots that were reinforced with rubber and asbestos. Over his white hair he slipped the tan leather aviator cap, feeling like an idiot as he fastened the straps with plastic press studs under his chin.
“Oh, don’t forget to remove your glasses, Purdue. I have some tinted goggles here for your eyes to protect them against the light flashes of the surges,” Lydia called out to him.
“Alright,” Purdue replied.
‘As if I did not look stupid enough already,’ he thought, shoving his business writing pad into his boxers. On it he had noted the important information such as names and dates he was to keep track of to find what Lydia sent him for — hypothetically.
“You have to hurry,” she pushed, beginning to sound rather whiny. “There is a storm due later this afternoon and I want this machine switched off by then. Let’s do this already!”
Sam did not like the sound of the machine that was already removed from his favor by its makeshift construction, especially in consideration of the feat expected of it. To him the Voyager III was like a rusted old Volkswagen employed to race in Monaco’s Grand Prix. He hatched an idea.
“Lydia, tell us laymen, where would the tentative co-ordinates send someone, should the Voyager III be capable of time travel?” he asked.
He feigned interest in her theory, but Lydia did not notice. An interview from a renowned journalist such as Sam Cleave was an ego booster, blinding her with vanity so that she did not realize that he was simply trying to probe at the depth of her delusion.
“In theory,” she attempted to sound modest, just in case the model folded, “Purdue would have ended up where I last…” she suddenly stopped and deliberately coughed profusely so that she could formulate an answer that would not betray her secret before continuing.
“Do you need some water?” Sam asked. Lydia nodded. He put the camera down and ran to the bathroom next to the chamber room. By the time he returned she had sorted out her words. Drinking the entire contents of the glass, she inhaled deeply.
“Thank you, Sam.”
He picked up the camera again and she explained, “As I was saying, he would probably arrive in 1944 here in France. I picked the date and location from an old document I once read that intrigued me about…”she seemed indifferent to the details, “…about, uh, I think Nikola Tesla’s involvement in Nazi propaganda or something. Anyway, I used those settings, but as you realize it is only a point of reference.”
“Of course. Of course that makes sense,” Sam agreed. But his interview was cut short by Purdue’s appearance, spoiling Sam’s idea to stall long enough for the predicted storm to come before they could have the chance to do the experiment. But it looked like his well intended procrastination was run down by Purdue’s zeal to make history.
Chapter 11
At CERN the day was drawing into an atmosphere as volatile as the weather.