June 2012, Geneva, Swizerland

[damncompass]

The morning sun is breaking through Joshua's windows, reflecting even more off of the five feet of snow that's starting to melt in the June heat.

Inside, Joshua is snuggled up to the woman beside him, sleeping with a smile on his face.

Comments

[damncompass]

Joshua smiles, more than a bit sheepishly. "I'm not really sure where the idea came from, but it just hit me when I was reading it, and I developed it over the years." He reaches out and touches the back of the book a bit wistfully. "It's one of the few things I have from... before."

[timelessinventor]

"From before... oh, yes, your little incident. Claudia mentioned it." It only took Helena a moment because from her perspective, that was over a century ago. "It is quite a good theory, though I suspect The Space Machine wouldn't have made for half as interesting of a book."

Still, traveling through space by staying at a fixed point in time? Sounds good to her.

[damncompass]

"Yeah." Joshua sighs deeply. "Guess you could call it an... incident." The wind seems to go out of his sails for a moment before he collects himself. "No, I think Space Machine would be something more... interplanetary. Or... something. Besides, time machines are awesome, however improbable."

[timelessinventor]

"And while there is certainly a time and a place for rockets, that book was decidedly not it." She got round to rockets later, both in life and in fiction. "How did your research come to bear fruit, anyway?"

[damncompass]

"Aheh." Joshua sighs and points at his shirt. "Rheticus. Sixteenth century mathematician. Part of his research was teleportation, but everyone thought he was a nut. When I was reading his stuff, I realized that he and I had the same idea, even though he was using different language to explain it." Joshua shrugs. "And then my professor gave me his compass...." Yeah. And we all know how well that went over.

[timelessinventor]

"Those things work? I was under the impression that the entire box of his belongings has been with the Warehouse more or less since he died, all marked 'useless.'" But the man's pursuits were such (teleportation and all that) that it was deemed safer to collect them just in case, as she heard the story. "Come to that, how did you even - ah. James, I take it."

[damncompass]

"Well, I haven't seen any of his other things, but from the writings I did find, it was only the Compass that he used for anything." Joshua sighs, and shakes his head. "Yeah. I should have known he wasn't a physics professor. Claudia knew more than he did, and she was ten." There's a long pause before... "I don't know how the hell I missed that secret panel. I spent twelve damn years with only the compass for comfort. I... I thought I had it. I was so sure that I could do it."

[timelessinventor]

"But you acted before you were ready, and found yourself in a bit of a faff. It happens to us all." She certainly wouldn't be here if she'd followed her original plan.

[damncompass]

"Yeah, and that one's Artie's fault." Joshua winces. He's never really talked about it or dealt with it much. "He showed up and, well, I didn't really take it very well, and tried it before I was truly ready."

[timelessinventor]

"Charming of him, as usual." But at least he got what was coming to him for that (all things considered, now that she knows Claudia a bit better, Artie was lucky to only be kidnapped).

[damncompass]

"Yeah, well. Fifteen years of unpicked bones and all that." Joshua sighs. "My own fault, when it comes down to it, though."

[timelessinventor]

"Why do you say that? You were rushed into your work and no lasting harm was done." No one died, after all (Helena can't say that for her own work).

[damncompass]

"But lasting harm was done." Joshua sighs, pulling his knees to his chest. "I abandoned Claudia when she didn't have anything else."

[timelessinventor]

"Oh, darling, you're nearly as broken as I am. Look at me." She takes his hands and waits until he looks up. "You did not abandon her. She's a very bright young woman; I'm sure that was no different when she was ten. No doubt she knew the risks of your experiment as well as you did, and that you were going to try it before you were done no matter what."

[damncompass]

Joshua looks up at her, taking a shaky breath. "I still feel like I did, though. I knew that was a possibility, but I did it anyway. I was selfish." He doesn't pull back from her touch, however. "I... I don't know."

[timelessinventor]

"She knew it was a possibility as well. And I dare say if Claudia blamed you, she wouldn't have put so much of herself into rescuing you." She says that as someone who's been in Claudia's position (because she has; it's just that Claudia was successful).

[damncompass]

"I guess." He knows she's right, however. Claudia doesn't put that much of herself into things that aren't worth it. Or, at least things that she thinks are worth it. "I... I don't know."

[timelessinventor]

"I don't expect you to know right this second. But do us all a favor and don't bottle it up for another ninety years." She drops her gaze to their hands. "It won't help."

[damncompass]

Joshua blinks at her for a moment. "That's the tone of someone who knows." He's a bit confused now.

[timelessinventor]

"Indeed it is, darling." Helena sighs. "I doubt Claudia would have mentioned the bronze sector." She did seem a bit perturbed by it (not that Helena can blame her).

[damncompass]

"As in Bronze Age?" Joshua isn't exactly sure what the bronze age has to do with bottling things up for ninety years. He's got nothing.

[timelessinventor]

"More akin to bronzed baby shoes."

[damncompass]

"Wait. What the fuck?" Joshua has a horrified face. "They..." He pauses. "I don't know if I want to be a part of this anymore."

[timelessinventor]

"I asked them to." Really, she would have thought the information he'd got had filled him in by now. "No doubt they'll be discussing doing it again after this mess, but I asked them to in the first place. In retrospect, spending a century with nothing but my thoughts for company was not my brightest idea."

[damncompass]

"Why?" Joshua's still horrified by the idea.