Timestamp, a novella by Michael Gullo (2009)
The crowd erupted with questions, “Why are you giving it away? What’s in it for you? How does it work?”
Then, Jake heard Melissa’s voice over the din, “Can we try it?”
“Sure, you can try it, but I’m sure you’ll be disappointed at first.”
“Why would we be disappointed?”
“That would take hours to explain. The best way is to try it.” He paused and considered his next words very carefully: “It’s best to try it out and then sleep on it.”
A voice spoke out from the back of the room, “I’ll try it, Jake.”
It was Black’s partner. He had slipped in with the reporters, and Jake immediately realized where he’d met him before. He had been at Uncle Jake’s funeral, and he was the cashier at the convenience store on Uncle Jake’s block. He had been a commuter who locked himself out of his car in front of the apartment building, and only two weeks ago, he had been the police officer waiting in the student life office when he’d been summoned there to hear the news that Uncle Jake was dead – now he was a reporter covering the story of a lifetime. “Absolutely! You can try it out. You’ve waited a long time for this, haven’t you?”
“I have, yes.” He stepped forward and put out his hand: “Name’s Mike Myers with the Albany Times Union.”
Jake took the confident handshake and made equally self-assured eye contact. “You couldn’t do better than Myers?” he asked below the murmur of the crowd.
“It got me in, and now it’s getting me a ride.”
“Well, there’s a few things you need to know before you go. First, it’s like Vegas: What happens in time, stays in time – except death. If you die there, you stay there.” Jake fixed his eyes on him. “Do you understand me, Mike?”
“Yep, I get it. What else?”
“The machine opens a portal, but once you come back, it closes. We have never gone back to the same place. See what you want to see the first time because you won’t see it again.”
“Ok. Anything else?”
“Just one more. You can choose to stay, but it’s a gamble. You gotta choose before you go, and once you’ve gone there is no coming back.”
“Oh, I’ll be coming back. I’ll always come back.”
“That’s just what I thought. Are you ready?”
“Yep.”
“Ok, step into the closet.”
Jake looked at Redd who sat at the keyboard, and Redd addressed Mike, “where we headin’?”
“Let’s try December 21, 2012.”
“Interesting choice.”
“I certainly thought so.”
Redd set the clock and hit the enter key.
“The Windows timestamp? You gotta be kidding me!”
A wry smile crossed Redd’s face. “You like that?”
“It’s cute. Ok, let’s go.”
“You already went.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Many voices spoke at once, and Jake yelled to be heard over the cacophony, “Listen up. This will all be explained in the packet, a copy of which has already been given to Miss Blevins.”
Kerrie had finished in the van and peeked in the door to let Jake know she was done. Jake stepped down from the folding chair and grabbed up the notebooks. He looked at Cody and Redd and turned to Melissa. “Have at it,” he said, and walked out the door with Redd and Cody following.
It was very late that night when they returned. The street, which had been crawling with news crews in the afternoon, was now a media city. The police had joined the crowd and worked to maintain the fragile balance between the appearance of free speech and law and order. The crowds rushed the barriers and shouted questions when they saw their car pull up. Redd’s boys now stood guard at the steel door as well as at the corners down the street. The door was opened, and the group rushed into the room.
“Are you sure about this, Redd?”
“Yep, I’m sure. Just one more trip, Jake, before everythin’ gets outa control.” He turned on the computer.
Cody picked up scraps of paper and cups left behind by the reporters earlier in the day. “Hey, you know what I meant to ask you, Jake. What did Black whisper to you before he left.”
“He guessed that this wasn’t the only one. It was like a warning or something.”
“He probably right about that.” Redd joined in.
“You’re not coming back, are you, Redd?”
“Nope.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“It’s for the best, Jake.”
“I know.”
“Tell Kerrie I wished her luck.”
“I will.”
“I’m sorry how things turned out with you two.”
“It’s for the best, Redd.”
Jake intentionally avoided looking at the timestamp that Redd had set into the computer, and he hit the enter key. He turned the computer off when Redd was gone, and he and Cody left the room for the last time.