The scientific community was skeptical of Robert's speech, unsure if the syndrome he described even existed.
Thomas stormed into the lab and threw a newspaper at Robert, "What are you doing Thomas and where were you?" Robert asked.
"Why don't you find it by yourself, Robert?" Thomas furiously replied.
Robert picked up the newspaper from the ground and saw the headline—"They are blabbering nonsense" claims the scientific world.
"You are angry because people don't believe our discovery?" Robert asked.
"No, I am angry because other scientists dismiss our discovery." Thomas replied.
Sarah—sitting on the lab chair, smirked.
Thomas looked at her and asked, "What? Is something funny?"
Sarah stared at the glass chamber and replied, "Yes, maybe because you claim that if the scientific world doesn't approve of our discovery then it shouldn't exist right?"
"Yes, they are more smar—" Thomas said before Sarah cut him off and said, "So perhaps I am right because dark energy just looped back in time to the exact moment when I dropped a flower to stabilize it."
Thomas looked at her and asked, "For real?"
Sarah leapt from her chair and hugged them tightly, "Yes… yes, for real—dark energy actually goes back in time."
The trio started working—by collaborating with engineers and mathematicians for way advanced calculation they discovered a new topic for the scientific world to explore—looping mathematics; a branch of pure mathematics exclusive to dark energy only.
"We know that dark energy loops back…but how do we make ourselves travel back?" Sarah asked.
Thomas, writing his hypothesis on dark energy replied, "If we trick the element into believing that the machine it is charging up is also its part then according to theory it can revert back in time."
"What about the time period? What if we landed back during the Earth's formation?" Robert questioned.
Thomas stopped writing and looked at him, "That is the only reason I worked with mathematicians to create looping mathematics—it will allow us to activate only as much dark energy required going back in the time we provided the super computer."
"Mathematics was less complex before," Sarah said.
"I couldn't fully understand it either." Robert added.
With the help of experts they initially created a simple time-travelling machine—a prototype to convince government to allocate more funds into the project.
The machine was a miniature version of a bathroom—a small bathtub surrounded by small thick wires, which ultimately went inside it.
"Why is the design like a bathtub?" Sarah questioned.
Thomas looked at her and replied, "To trick dark energy—the bathtub will allow us to use dark energy to travel back and come back but it will also make sure that we don't lose dark energy—dark energy will be renewable in this miniature model.
"That doesn't explain a lot." Sarah replied—her face showing confusion.
Thomas ran back while Robert placed a small truck in the bathtub—"Tell me a time period." Thomas questioned while standing in front of super computers.
"How about going back in ice-age?" Robert questioned.
"Excellent choice Robert, that means—10011… frequency—4324 Hz" Thomas spoke to himself while feeding the data to the super computers.
It took about 10 super computers to process the time machine for very small objects—the computers started working and so did the machine.
The small bathtub gradually filled with dark energy—the energy was in liquid state but still it didn't possess the property of wetting things.
"In 3…2…1…" Thomas screamed.
White light started emitting from the bathtub and when it disappeared—the truck was gone.
"Where is it?" Robert asked.
Thomas looked at the computer and smiled, "Fighting the harsh temperatures of earth—when it was in ice-age." he said—his voice low and excited.
"The project is a success" Robert screamed and everyone threw the research papers in excitement.
The tireless worked begun—government was convinced and more funds were allocated—design for human travelling was also designed.
Thomas showed Robert and Sarah the rough sketch for the machine—"Is that a shower?" Sarah questioned.
Thomas nodded and replied, "We don't know if dark energy is dangerous or not so we can't just lie in it—but flowing it around us will work same."
Robert closed his eyes—turned his head up, "Guys, lets meet in the past now."
Thomas and Sarah laughed while Robert turned red in embarrassment and finally the day was here—April 12, 2023, the day for which the entire world was awaiting—Time Travelling.
The machine was designed to work like a shower with some dark energy wires through which a it would flow and create a hole in space time continuum—larger for human travelling.
"Who wants to meet their ancestors first?" Robert questioned.
Sarah slowly chuckled—Thomas raised his right hand, "Let me go first—something about an hour or two ago."
Robert smiled and said, "Let's shake the scientific world today Thomas."
Thomas smiled and nodded back—prepared to go back; he stood in between the wires and grabbed the shower handle.
"Robert, in 3…2…1…" Thomas screamed.
The shower started emitting white light—as same as in small model, Robert left the quantum computers and stood beside Sarah, "We are making history today Sarah—you, me and Thomas."
Robert finished speaking and just then something strange happened—the white light disappeared but Thomas was still there—his hands were firmly grabbing the shower handle.
He screamed in agony as the dark energy surged through his body—his hairs fell off from his head and then begun the gruesome torment—Thomas' body started melting—his scream grew louder by each second but nothing could be done.
Robert and Sarah rushed towards the quantum computers to check what was wrong and a way to revert it back but on the screen what they saw amazed them—the calculations were exact opposite to what Robert had initially typed—the time period was correct but the frequency was in negative.
"No, no someone rewrote my calculations." Robert screamed.
Thomas let out his one final scream and with that he melted and disappeared but the disaster wasn't finished—the wires carrying dark energy unstabilized themselves and mixed up—it caused sparkling and the machine exploded—the dark energy shockwave spread across the globe and the lab was burnt down—Robert and Sarah both of them disappeared after the explosion.
Birds were chirping—air was blowing, someone was lying on the grass field, "ugh!" he groaned.
He opened his eyes—it was Thomas, he was in some place which looked familiar to him. He looked around but couldn't find anything.
"Where am I?" he questioned himself.
The place was inhabited by people—it was Earth but he remembered that the experiment failed and he should have died but he was standing without any injuries or pain.
He started moving towards the road where he could see several cars, "I don't recognize any of these car models." Thomas said.
Just when he was about to ask someone for help, his eyes saw something which shook him—it was promotional banner—Baxter Labs.
"Ba-Baxter Labs…b-but it was ju-just an auditorium." His voice both confused and panicked.
Where was he, the question juggled his mind—he was unaware of it for now, but he was in a place he could never imagine.
Instead of taking Thomas back in time—his machine took him to the closest universe—Universe 2.