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Paulette was so excited about getting the project room operational that she couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned all night, causing Danni to sleep elsewhere. Morning came early and she woke up anxious and ready to get started putting the computers, desks, and other equipment into the project room. Leaping out of bed, she went over to her closet, picked out her outfit for the day, and got dressed. I can’t wait to get to the office and get things set up. I’ve been waiting my whole life to accomplish this project, she thought as she headed to the kitchen. Danni traipsed behind, nails clicking on the hardwood floor, wagging her tail the whole way.
“Hey girl, pick up your bowl for me,” she asked Danni. Danni walked over, pawed her bowl so it stood up, then grabbed it with her mouth and lifted her head handing it to Paulette.
“That’s such a good girl,” she said taking the bowl from Danni and setting it on the counter.
She then prepared Danni’s favorite mix of wet and dry food. Danni sat and waited for her to put the bowl down. “Good girl, all done.” Danni immediately dipped her head to the bowl and began eating.
Despite all her energy, she knew breakfast was the most important meal of the day, so she took the time to make her favorite, a ham and cheese omelet and toast. She sat down long enough to inhale the food.
“Danni, let’s go bye-bye.” Danni came running back into the kitchen and waited for Paulette to hook her leash to her collar. “All right, let’s get a move on, girl.”
She and Danni left the apartment. Once in the lobby, they both jogged out the door and around the corner.
Paulette unlocked the car, opened the passenger door, waved at Danni, and said, “Up, girl.”
Danni backed up, then leapt into the back seat and lay down. Paulette slid into the front seat of her new, but old, beat-up silver and black Subaru Outback she had bought to replace her Chevy Tahoe that was destroyed by the earthquake, and headed to the company.
She pulled into the company parking lot and shut off the engine, exiting the car. She opened the passenger door and said to Danni, “Wait, girl.”
Danni sat and waited as Paulette picked up the dog leash and said, “Down, girl. Let’s go inside.”
Danni leapt out of the vehicle and heeled next to Paulette’s left knee.
“Come, girl,” Paulette said as she walked, well almost ran, into the building. Paulette, not watching where she was going, ran into Susan as she was exiting her office.
“Whoa, slow down there. You look like you saw a fire or something,” Susan blurted out. “Oh, I see you have Danni with you today.”
“Thanks, but I’m just excited to get started on my project. Oh yeah, can’t leave her back at the apartment. Well, got to get going.”
“Oh, right. Well, here’s hoping you get everything set up the way you want. If you need any help, let me know.”
“Sure,” Paulette said as she and Danni ran over to the door to the project room.
The door was made of reinforced steel with special baffling on the inside to keep noise from leaving the room. On the right side of the door, was an electronic keypad that required a six-digit code for entry. Standing next to the keypad, Paulette punched in the code, the door clicked open, she gave it a push, and entered the room, with Danni right behind her. She shifted to the left a little to hit the light switches. The lights were slow to come on, as if they were mocking her excitement.
The room was a hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, with soundproof material to keep the noise down. Off to the end of the room was the bay area that was twenty feet by forty feet, sitting below the entrance to the room. At the far end of the room, there was a special fire-retardant material that could take a blast from a rocket engine, if need be. The bay had a special door and locking system that required the six-digit code so they could get supplies into the room without having to take them through the main part of the building. Everything was stored there.
After getting a picture in her mind of how she wanted to set up the room, she instructed Danni to lie near the main entrance, then she walked to the bay door, punched in the six-digit code, opened the door, and walked in. She spotted the dolly she’d need to move the computers and desks in the far corner. She retrieved it and rolled it over to the first item. The desk was very large. After grunting, huffing, puffing, and swearing, she tried to maneuver it onto the dolly, with no luck. Frustrated, she stopped and tried to figure out how she was going to move it without help.
“I can’t believe Greg isn’t here to help me,” she muttered. Before she finished her thought, she heard the main entrance door locks click. She could hear Danni’s nails click on the cement floor, probably getting out of the way of the door.
She froze for a minute until she was sure who was entering the room. Only she, Greg, and Susan had the code. A minute later, Greg entered the bay area, and Paulette breathed a sigh of relief.
“You thought you would just move and set everything up yourself?” he asked.
With an exasperated look, she replied, “No ... um ... well, yes, but I now realize that I can’t do this by myself. Would you mind helping me move the heavy stuff into the room?”
Rolling his eyes at her, he walked over and put his hands on the dolly. “I guess I can, since I’m standing right here at the moment.”
“Really, why do you have to act like that all the time?”
“Because I don’t think you can pull this off, and I feel it’s a waste of money and resources. But I promised you I’d help you with this ludicrous project, so here I am.”
Paulette was fuming. “Ludicrous! Ludicrous! How dare you say that! You wait and see. I’ll prove to everyone that time travel is possible!”
“I think the only people you’ll prove it to, if it works, will be just the three of us, since you want this all to be so hush-hush.”
Gritting her teeth and trying not to punch him in the arm, she raised her voice an octave. “Greg, if you weren’t my best friend, I’d fire you right on the spot.”
With a small chuckle, he said, “Funny thing is, you can’t fire me. We’re partners. Remember?”
“Great, how did I let you talk me into that again?”
“You didn’t. You were the one who asked me to be a partner in the company. You’ve forgotten that, too?”
Her anger deflating, she realized how wrong she was. “Oh yeah, that’s right. So, are you going to stand there and argue with me about how it won’t work, or are you going to help me move this stuff?”
Greg helped her lift the desk onto the dolly and then wheeled it into the room. “Where do you want to put this?” he asked.
Paulette thought about it for a few minutes. “You can set it up in the middle of the room, about ten feet from the main door. I want to make sure the equipment doesn’t get damaged by the time pod later,” she told him. That reminds me, I need to have a blast window built to protect all this equipment once I get it all set up. She and Greg continued bringing in the additional desks and setting them up so they formed the top part of the letter C. She wanted to be able to have eyes on all the devices at the same time.
A few hours later, they had the desks and computers set up and ready to plug in. There would be a lot of prep work required to get all the cables and such laid out so she could begin to program the time pod.
Greg crawled around the floor, hooking up cables and plugging in the computers. He stood up, brushed himself off, and said, “Everything is plugged in and ready to go.” Then he sat down in front of the computer to the left of Paulette
Paulette smiled and said, “Thanks.” Sitting in front of the main computer, Paulette booted it up, as Danni lay calmly at her feet. “Could you please turn all the other computers on for me?” she asked. “I need to program each one specifically for the project.”
“Sure, hang on a moment.”
They checked to make sure everything was operating as it should, and then she began loading the special software she had developed while in high school, which would be the interface to the time pod. Once the software was installed, she could program the features and functions of the time pod and enter all the required math and algorithms needed to make it to work.
With the software loaded and the basics of the room set up, they called it a day. Greg and Paulette stood up, stretched, and then walked over to the door, Danni right behind them, and exited the project room. Greg headed home, while Paulette, with Danni in tow, stayed behind to tidy up a few things in her main office.
