“They are. Your Americans are playing tomorrow.”
“Your Americans, huh? Did you forget you live here, too?”
Jasper smiled. “Soccer supersedes current living conditions.”
Jack scoffed. “Whatever you say. By the way, did you save any lunch meat?”
“I did. I also made some iced tea.”
Jack went back into the house and came out a few minutes later with food and beverage in tow. He joined Jasper and watched the highlights of that day’s games in the World Cup qualifier. “So tonight’s the night,” he said more aloud than to Jasper.
“Tonight’s the night,” Jasper agreed.
The two sat in silence for a few moments thinking about what was to come that evening. Jasper broke the silence. “Marni and I had a very interesting conversation.”
“Oh, yeah? And how is Miss Rejoicing?”
Jasper suppressed a smile. “She’s quite well. Anyways, back to our conversation; it was quite stimulating.”
Jack started to speak but Jasper ignored him and pressed on. “We spoke on Jack the Ripper.”
“Jack the Ripper?”
Jasper nodded. “We discussed how interesting it would be to use today’s technology in forensics to solve old crimes. Both Marni and I agreed that the Ripper crimes would be the most interesting to solve. There was so much evidence associated with the crimes that with today’s technology, it would have been easy to determine the killer.
“Nineteenth century forensics was not completely useless, although nothing like today. Wouldn’t it be great if we could use our time travel technology to help solve some of the world mysteries?”
Jack thought about Jasper’s comment for a moment. “Perhaps. Then again, some people may not like the identity of Jack the Ripper discovered. The Ripper was rumored to be the Duke of Clarence. That could be very embarrassing for royalty, even today.”
“Still,” Jasper said, “maybe someday we’ll decide it’s at least worth looking into.”
“Maybe,” Jack agreed.
“Speaking of someday, have you decided on a time to which you might like to go?”
“All this talk about nineteenth century England makes me want to go there. Rippers and dead bodies and everything,” Jack said sarcastically.
Jasper shrugged. “I think nineteenth century England would be very interesting. London had very unique dynamics around the turn of the century.”
“I’ll keep it in mind,” Jack said rising from his seat. “Well, I’m going to take a shower. I’ll see you later on.”
As Jack walked away, Jasper considered the possibilities.
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
Chattanooga, Tennessee – Present Day
“Are you sure you’re ready to test the implant? We’re on our own time schedule and we can push it back if we need to.”
Jack shook his head and then smiled reassuringly. “Relax. We’ve crunched the data a thousand times.” He turned his head to admire the model of the implant on the table next to them. It had taken them years to develop the research and then contrive that research into this technology.
There was nothing remarkable about the appearance of the implant. They had coated it in silicate glass which was common with other implants. But while the implant looked ordinary, it was certainly not ordinary in function. Now that it was implanted in Jack’s brain, the device would allow him to travel through time.
Through their research, they had studied the human brain extensively and advanced a theory that the subconscious mind could actually be found. All of their research led them to the association areas of the cortex that generally control perception, thought and decision making which they determined was the most likely place for the subconscious to exist.
That was the easy part. Their biggest challenge was to cease the laws of physics long enough for time travel to exist. Using Einstein’s equations on general relativity, they designed the implant to self-generate traversable wormholes. But to create a wormhole, the device relied on a specific type on energy that science said did not exist on earth.
Through years of research, they hypothesized that the human subconscious was the one place that could generate the exact type of energy that they needed for the device to work properly.
Previous theories on time travel predicted that there was only a specific amount of time that ran backwards which limited the range of time travel. By harnessing the subconscious mind and using thought, imagination and memories, Jack and Jasper were able to overcome this projected constraint.
In the end, they had built the perfect means of traveling through time. Of course, everything was still theoretical. Jack hoped to change that.
“How’s your vision?” Jasper asked a few weeks after the operation.
“It’s fine,” Jack lied.
Jasper looked closer at Jack but didn’t convey what he was actually thinking. “That’s good. Do you feel like going out tonight? Nothing crazy, maybe go to a movie or something?”
“Maybe,” Jack answered. “Is that new movie playing that you’ve been talking about?”
“It is. The next show starts at seven thirty.”
“I guess we could go. Should we invite the ladies?”
“They’re both working late. I though you already knew that?
“I guess I just forgot. I’ll go get ready.” Jack got up and walked past Jasper. As he did, a vision flashed through his mind of grabbing Jasper and driving his head through the glass table. The violent thought scared him a little because it was so foreign and unexpected but he shook it off and went upstairs.
During the movie, Jack found it difficult to pay attention. He had felt strange ever since the surgery. At first, he was sure it was just the lingering effects of the anesthetics. Now, he wasn’t so sure. Everything was hazy.
The area around the point of surgery had healed nicely but his head still throbbed dully around the area of his incision. It wasn’t a white pain but more of a blue flame that
