(SSSC) The Unfortunate Dr. Madden.

The following pages, obviously torn from a coil-bound journal of some sort, were found in the Sasketchewan home of one Dr. Paul Madden, a reclusive figure who was once considered one of the brightest minds of his time. Madden was a physics professor at one of Canada’ most prestigious schools, but was dismissed from his position at the institution shortly after he began lecturing his students about ‘time travel.’ Madden’s disappearance is today considered the stuff of legend, and is one of the most mysterious episodes in Canadian history.

In his barn-loft turned laboratory, authorities found a curious machine, obviously the one Madden described in the following pages. The Canadian government, which took an interest in the machine for obvious reasons, turned the it over to U.S. authorities shortly after its discovery, but not before the Canadian news media caught wind of the mysterious disappearance – as well as the contents of the man’s laboratory. The official story, of course, is that Madden was nothing more than a crazy old man with a lot of kooky theories who got confused and wandered off somewhere.

A team of experts working at the famed Area 51 facility in Nevada has gone to work picking apart Dr. Madden’s invention, with very little success.


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Oct. 10th, 2052.

Alas! I’ve made a breakthrough in my research! Oh yes, dear journal, my plans will soon come to fruition. I’ll not bore you with the scientific details of this, my most recent breakthrough, but suffice to say that it concerns a process that would hold matter together as it travels back in time using what some may call my ‘time machine.’ I myself have no time for such petty labels, but indeed as I have written upon these very pages, my machine would send one ‘back in time.’ I’ll not bore you, dear journal, with the scientific details of my discovery – this journal could some day find its way into the hands of those whom I’d rather not have access such information. For now, those details are safely stored away in the vaults of my fantastic mind.

That a single man, working laboriously day and night on a project of this magnitude, could eventually produce a working prototype of a machine designed to physically send matter back in time is astounding! I stand flabbergasted at the fruits of my labour. In just several days, dear journal, I should be ready for my first actual test of the machine! Of course, I will not be going ‘back in time’ just yet – tomorrow I will send a petty rodent, perhaps a mouse of a guinea pig, back ahead of me. However, said rodent would of course not have the wherewithal to return himself to present day even if I did provide it with the means to do so.

My machine is quite user-friendly and simple in design, even at these early stages of its development. There are two pieces – the first is essentially a box, atop which sits a crystal globe slightly larger than the average man’s hand. The second is something akin to a television remote, the likes of which I remember so well from my childhood. The user simply presses the date at which he would like to travel to on this ‘remote,’ and places a hand atop the globe. And viola! He is transported back in time. Ingenious. The implications of my invention are astounding – imagine a new brand of tourism, time-tourism! Hunters could theoretically travel tens of millions of years in the past and hunt the long extinct creatures that once ruled the land! Sightseers could see the pyramids of Giza, even as they are being built! The religiously inclined could make pilgrimages to the Holy Land – even as Christ himself preaches his new brand of Judaism! Oh yes, dear journal, I stand to become a very rich man.

[continued below]

Oct. 11th, 2052.

Today I procured a young and sturdy albino mouse from the local pet store. He is rather likable I must admit, not shy at all of a human such as myself as one would expect from an animal of his size. I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve grown attached to the little fellow, even in the short hours that I’ve known him. I’ve decided to name him Emmett, after the wild-haired time-traveler in the film Back to the Future, a well known film from the last century with a time-travel theme. I have no intention of killing the poor wretch in my experiment – I shall place him in a cage, with food and water enough to last him one week or perhaps two. No more than 3 days after Emmett’s journey, if all goes according to plan, I myself will place a hand atop the globe and take the plunge so to speak. After exploring for a spell, I will retrieve Emmett and return to my laboratory.

I’ve chosen a date of exactly 200 years ago, a time when the area in which I currently live was sparsely populated, mainly by settlers who’ve come west to the prairies to try their hand and farming. As good as I can tell from my research at the local library, the land on which my laboratory now sits was once one of these very farmer’s hayfields. No houses nearby from which anybody could observe the markedly odd occurrence of a man seemingly apparating from thin air.

Oct 12th, 2052.

Success! Or should I say, I assume success. Just hours ago I placed Emmett’s cage atop the globe (which was rather precarious, as the damned thing seemed inclined to lean this way or that), punched in a date exactly 200 years ago today, and poof! Emmett and his cage, along with his hardy rations of food and water, simply ceased to exist on this timeplane. The dating parameters on this thing are dodgy at best, so it’s by no means an exact science. Indeed, I can’t even be sure that Emmett and I will end up at the same date. But this is no point at which to begin doubting myself!

Tomorrow, I plan to take the journey myself.

Oct 13th, 2052.

Dear journal, I’m about to travel 200 years into the past! This is an historic moment, and when I return, I will begin notifying the press. My invention will become legendary! I have no doubt that it will change the world.

While I must admit to being rather fearful, I feel confident in my workmanship. Now is not the time to begin second guessing myself.

Some would call me mad. Indeed, perhaps I am! But nevertheless, I will take the journey that just three short days previously Emmett took. Should I go and never return, I’ll leave these pages in my home in an obvious place. Bye for now!

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Of course, Dr. Madden’s initial supposition that the ‘dating parameters are dodgy at best’ proved all too true. Perhaps ‘random’ would have been a better way to describe it.

The young mouse Emmett found himself in the loft of the very barn he departed from - only a mere 50 years earlier. A young boy by the name of Dale found the mouse, in his cage, and the two became fast friends. The oddness of finding a mouse in a cage with a generous helping of kibble and water wasn’t lost on the child, but in his young mind he conjured a fantastical tale involving pirates and robots and perhaps even aliens explaining the mouse’s origin - which to him seemed plausible enough.

Dale’s mother allowed the boy to keep the mouse, whom he coincidently named Madden. Emmett-Madden lived out the rest of his years in relative luxury.

As for the unfortunate Dr. Madden, I wish the same were true.

He found himself in a place totally devoid of any sign of life. A far distant fire lit the sky blood red, and it wasn’t long before Dr. Madden noticed that this strange new world was very, very hot. So hot indeed that blisters were forming on every inch of exposed skin. It wasn’t very long after that that the good Doctor realized that breathing the air surrounding him did little more than burn his lungs terribly. Finally, it dawned on the unfortunate Dr. Madden that the strange new world in which he found himself was the earth – 2 billion years previously. What he had first assumed to be a monstrous fire on the horizon was actually a massive volcano flowing forth equally massive flows of molten rock. The earth at this period didn’t support much life, so there was very little oxygen in the air.

Even if Dr. Madden had not been completely paralyzed by both pain and fear at this point, it’s dubious if the ‘remote,’ which by now was little more than a pool of molten plastic in his hand, would have done him much good.

THE END.

I'm not sure if it's exactly 'scary,' but I had fun writing it. Made a boring day at the office a bit more interesting .

Great story Monger, im a sucker for a good time travel tale.
Its scary enough for a halloween tale if your Dr Madden!!

mojo

Originally posted by mojo4sale
Great story Monger, im a sucker for a good time travel tale.

Its scary enough for a halloween tale if your Dr Madden!!

mojo

True enough! I'm glad I wasn't just amusing myself by writing it .

Great contribution

I though you may leave the time frame of where Dr. Madden ended up ambiguous, so people wouldn't know if he ended up in the beginning or the end of the Earth. It also made me think of the Wells Time Machine novel.

Was there any other significance to the mouse and the naming that I missed?

[edit on 22-10-2007 by Enrikez]

reply to post by Enrikez


That would have been an excellent twist at the end! Unfortunately it didn't occur to me .