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Paulette walked up behind Greg and tapped his shoulder, startling him. He spun around to see a humorous grin on her face.
“What did you do that for?”
“Oh, just because I could. Thought I would check on the progress of Danni’s seat and harness.”
“It’s coming along. Trying to make sure the five-point harness fits around her neck and torso without being too tight. Also, I just finished adding the special rings that will latch to the regular belt system in the time pod that attach to the specialized seat.”
“Looks great. So, it will be usable soon?”
“Yep. I should be done within the hour.”
“Great. I can’t wait to try it on her.”
“I’ll call you when it’s ready.”
Greg got the final piece on and, with a satisfied grin, set the harness on the workbench. He phoned Paulette and started speaking before she even had time to say hello.
“I’ve got the harness and seat ready for you to try out on Danni when you’re ready,” Greg said.
“That’s great. Danni and I will be right over.”
A few moments later, Greg heard the door click open and shut again. He turned to see Paulette and Danni waltzing into the room.
Smiling like a Cheshire cat, Greg strutted over to her and handed her the harness. He then spun around and went to the time pod to secure the seat in place.
Paulette took the harness and looked it over before getting down on the floor to talk to her best buddy.
“Danni, I’ve got a special harness for you to try on,” she said as she held it out for the dog to sniff. “What do you think? Want to get up and put it on?” Danni’s tail thumped happily on the floor, and she looked up at her owner and seemed to smile. Paulette got up off the floor, then said, “Danni, stand up.”
Danni stretched her entire body as she began to stand. Once done she stood looking at her owner with great expectation. She stood perfectly still while Paulette placed the harness over her head and snapped the buckles together under her belly and around her neck. She checked to see if the harness fit snuggly and made a few adjustments to tighten it up.
“Okay, Danni, heel.”
Danni trotted over to Paulette’s left knee and followed her to the time pod, where Greg had just finished installing the special seat.
“Danni, up,” she commanded. Danni obeyed and jumped up into the time pod.
“Danni, up in the seat.”
Danni tilted her head as if to question Paulette’s command and continued to stand there.
Paulette patted the seat and said “Up, Danni.”
This time Danni understood and jumped onto the seat. Once Danni was sitting and facing forward, Greg latched the harness to the time pod seat and to the specialized seat. He tugged hard on all the straps to make sure they were snug and then stepped back to look at his handiwork.
“Looks good,” Paulette said.
“It should hold her in the seat with no problem,” he replied.
“You know, she may need a helmet and goggles. What do you think?”
“I’d say since she won’t be able to control her head like we can, that maybe she should have a helmet. Do you want me to make one for her or see if I can find one that will fit her?” he asked.
“See if you can find one that will fit her first, and if not, then make one,” she replied.
Paulette disconnected Danni from the seat and had her jump down and stand still while she took her harness off before heading back to work on tweaking the programming.
Greg left the room and went back to his office to search the Internet and locate a helmet that would fit Danni’s small head. He looked through Amazon’s website but found nothing he liked, so he searched tactical helmets for dogs on Google and found a site that supplied a helmet with the goggles built in. The helmet had holes on each side for Danni’s ears to fit through and a nicely rounded snout cover past the built-in goggles. It also had a strap that would secure nicely under her chin, giving her protection against any jolts that might occur during the trip. The helmet came with a mount on top that would allow a camera to be connected, which would make it possible for Paulette, Greg, and Susan to see whatever Danni was seeing.
Greg called Paulette to let her know what he had found. He sat there for a few minutes waiting for her to pick up, when suddenly she answered with a shout.
“What!” she blurted.
“Sorry for disturbing your concentration, but I think I found the right helmet for Danni,” he replied.
“Great, can you send me the link so I can look at it?”
He sent her the link through the company chat window, and a few minutes later, he heard her squeal loudly into the phone speaker.
“This is awesome! I love it, and I think it’ll work great. How long before it can be here?”
“I can have it delivered by early next week, if that will work for you?”
“Yes, that would be fine. It will let me get a few more issues worked out before we send her through.”
Paulette hung up the phone and looked down at Danni. “Hey, guess what? Mommy is getting you a cool helmet with goggles. What do you think of that?” she asked.
Danni looked up at her and happily swatted her tail up and down on the floor in response.
“Come on, Danni. Let’s go home for the night.”
Danni stood up and immediately fell in next to Paulette as they headed out the door. Paulette waved at everyone as she headed out the front doors of the company toward her car. She opened the back door. “Up, Danni.” And Danni jumped up into the back seat and lay down for the ride home. Paulette got in and started the car. She was so excited she talked to Danni all the way home.
Later that evening, Paulette was sitting on the couch with Danni lying next to her, when she called Danni over to lay her head on her lap. “So, what do you think of traveling in time, Danni?” she asked, knowing full well the dog wouldn’t actually answer. However, Danni looked up at Paulette with those beautiful brown eyes, surrounded by black circles, giving the appearance that she wore eyeliner, and stared into Paulette’s eyes, while thumping her tail. Paulette smiled and petted Danni on the top of her head. “You’ll do just fine in the time pod. It’s kind of like riding in the car, except you’ll go faster and see a lot of different things. When you get back from your ride, I’ll take you to the veterinary clinic and get a full workup done on you to make sure you’re still okay. Though I have no doubts you will be.”
At the mention of the veterinary clinic, Danni raised her head and whined slightly in disapproval. “I know you don’t like the vet, but it’s a necessary step if I’m to be a good scientist and doggie parent.” Danni again laid her head down on Paulette’s lap and enjoyed being petted before they headed to bed.
Danni looked so cute with her new helmet on. The sleek black helmet fit her perfectly, with her floppy ears sticking out over the sides, and her short, stubby snout poking out from under the goggles. The helmet also sported a go-pro camera attached to the top of her helmet, already turned on and ready to record every moment of her exciting flight. Paulette let out a giggle. “You’re too cute there, Danni,” she exclaimed. Even Greg and Susan thought she looked cute in her new tactical helmet and goggles.
“You think she’s ready to fly through the bowels of a wormhole and back again?” Greg inquired.
“Yep, she looks the part for sure.” Paulette giggled.
“I hope you’re sure this time?” Greg said.
Paulette whipped her head around. “What do you mean this time?”
“Well, don’t you remember that time in my garage back when we were in high school?”
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You don’t mean...”
“Yep, that time you thought you had it all figured out and tried to send an orange into the past. Except, instead of sending it into the past, it exploded in our faces. It took forever to get all the orange pulp out of our hair.” Greg couldn’t hold it together anymore and bent over laughing.
“Yeah, and the look on your face was precious.” Paulette gaggled until she couldn’t breathe.
Greg managed to stand again and looked at her. “Seriously, though. Are you sure this is going to work? I know you already sent the pod back and all, but this is a live animal, not an orange.”
“Yes, I am absolutely positive it will work. Trust me, I wouldn’t send my pet through if I wasn’t.”
“Well, I guess it’s time to see this thing work. Lead on Paulette.”
Paulette stood and patted her left leg. Danni stretched as she got up, then stood next to Paulette’s leg.
Paulette looked down at Danni and said, “You ready for an adventure of a lifetime?”
Danni cocked her head side to side, tail wagging, and gave the best doggie grin she could.
“Okay, let’s go, girl.” Paulette led Danni to the time pod door, “Up, Danni,” she commanded. Danni jumped up into her special seat, turned around and sat down, and Paulette latched the harness down to the passenger seatbelt system. She patted Danni on the head and gave her a big hug and kiss. Danni reciprocated by licking her on the face and smiling in her cool gear. Paulette backed up, looked at Danni, and shook her head in total amazement. “You look ready to go, Danni,” she said. “Hang on for the ride of your life.” Paulette reached out and turned on the other go-pro cameras that were installed and pointing out the clear door. The whole trip would be on video. She gave Danni one more look, closed and latched the door shut, walked back behind the blast wall, and sat down at the computer.
She reviewed the information and made sure that the program would send Danni fifty years into the future and the time pod would remain there for fifteen minutes before returning to the present. Once she was sure everything looked good, she hit the send button; and it transferred the program to the time pod. A few seconds later, she pushed the launch sequence command, the time pod fired up, and a moment later, the wormhole appeared. The time pod blasted its small engines, lifting the time pod off the floor and into the wormhole. Within minutes, everything vanished.
Paulette, Greg, and Susan were all holding their breath as they waited for the return of the time pod. However, a minute into the blastoff, they realized they’d have to breathe since Danni wasn’t scheduled to return for about fifteen minutes. They all blew out the remaining air in their lungs and breathed slowly as they waited.
Exactly fifteen minutes later, a wormhole appeared in the room, and out came the time pod with Danni still sitting upright in the seat. That was definitely a good sign. Paulette rushed over to the time pod as soon as it settled down onto the launch pad and shut its engines off. She opened the door, turned off all the cameras, and reached out to unhook Danni. While she was unhooking her, Danni lathered Paulette with slobbery kisses all over her. “No more licks,” she commanded. Danni stopped licking her so she could finish unhooking the harness. “There, you can come out now.” Danni jumped out of the seat, ran right into Paulette’s arms, and licked her all over again. “Okay, okay, enough with the licking. Let’s see what you recorded.”
Paulette carefully removed Danni’s helmet and all the secured digital SD cards from all the cameras, then took them back to her computer. Inserting one card at a time, she uploaded each video to her hard drive. All three of them were excited to see what the cameras captured.
A few minutes later, Paulette queued up the first video. The video started out with her buckling Danni into her seat and the then her entry into the wormhole. What appeared next, astounded all three, as they sat there watching a swirling of colors and lights while the time pod twirled its way through the wormhole. At one point, all light dissipated, then reappeared a moment later. Moments later, the wormhole opened into a beautiful sunny day; and the time pod landed in a forested area, with the outline of Seattle in the distance.
Paulette checked the other videos to see if there was anything interesting or intriguing in them. She brought up one of the door cameras that pointed toward the northeast and forwarded past the wormhole travel until the forest appeared. They again saw Seattle in the distance but also noticed objects flying around in the air. Paulette zoomed in on the video, and their mouths dropped open. What they were seeing were flying vehicles of all makes and sizes, and Seattle had a more futuristic look to it. All of this in fifty years. This was amazing. She could hardly wait to see what two hundred and fifty years brought.
The whole time they were watching the videos, Danni was lying under Paulette’s desk, sleeping off her long ordeal. Paulette, Greg, and Susan stood up and headed out of the project room with Danni still sound asleep. Paulette whispered to Danni, telling her she’d be back for her in a little while. Danni didn’t even stir.
An hour later, Paulette came in to get Danni. She called for her and Danni lifted her head and stood up, coming over to stand next to her. “Hey, it’s time we get you to your least favorite place,” she said with a smile. Danni wagged her tail and followed along next to her left leg as they headed out to Paulette’s car. She liked this car much better than the one that was demolished by the earthquake. It was her favorite color — blue — and it had four-wheel drive for those nasty winters they occasionally got in Seattle.
They arrived at the car, and Paulette opened the back door and patted the seat. “Danni, up,” she commanded. Danni jumped in, turned around, and lay down, and Paulette closed the door. Opening the driver’s side door, she slid into the seat, fired up the car, and headed down the hill to the vet clinic. Traffic was light, so it only took about twenty minutes to get to her destination.
She slowed down and then turned into the parking lot of the clinic and found a parking space near the front. Getting out of the car, she opened the back door.
“Danni, sit.” Danni sat down and Paulette reached in, picked up the lead, and attached it to her collar.
“Down, girl.” Danni jumped out of the car and waited as Paulette closed the door.
Paulette turned and she and Danni walked inside the clinic.
“Welcome to the Pet Clinic. How may I help you today?” the receptionist asked.
“We’re here for Danni’s comprehensive exam appointment.”
“Ah yes, I see it right here. I have you all checked in. If you would take a seat in the waiting area, a tech will be out soon to get you.”
Paulette led Danni to the waiting area, where they took a seat on the cushioned benches as they waited for someone to call Danni back.
It wasn’t too long when the vet technician came out. “Danni,” she called. Paulette stood up, and she and Danni headed over to the vet tech. “Can you have her step onto the scale please so I can get her weight?” the tech asked.
Paulette led Danni over to the scale. “Danni, on the scale and sit,” she commanded. Danni walked onto the scale and sat down while the scale read her weight. It showed Danni weighed a healthy forty-eight pounds. Satisfied, the technician led them back to the room where they’d wait. Paulette and Danni entered and sat down on the brown leather bench in the corner. Danni looked around her environment, inspecting everything. The room consisted of a stainless-steel counter, where the smaller animals were checked, and a sink and cupboard to the left of the counter. There was a small computer monitor on the corner of the counter space under the cabinets that the doctor used to log all the information in for the animals they examined. After a few minutes, the doctor came in.
“Good afternoon, Paulette,” Dr. Eric Tyson said.
“Good afternoon to you, Dr. Tyson.”
“What brings you in with Danni today?”
“Well, I want to get a complete workup on her. I’ve been putting her under a lot of stress lately. Could you do everything, like blood work, x-rays, dental exam, and such?”
“Sure, I can. I don’t see why we need all these tests, but if that’s what you want, then I’ll get them done. It’ll take a while. You can wait in the waiting area, if you like.”
“All right, thanks,” she replied.
Dr. Tyson led Danni out of the room and into the back to perform all the requested tests, while Paulette left and went to the waiting area.
She sat down and smiled when she saw all the old magazines. It was nice of them to keep them for people to look at despite everything being electronic these days.
To keep her mind occupied while Danni was being examined, she shuffled through the myriad of old magazines available to read. She always enjoyed looking at the Dog Fancy magazine, even if it was years old, so she picked one up and thumbed through it, stopping occasionally to read an article or two. It took longer than she had anticipated, and she had already read several articles in multiple magazines and drunk several bottles of water and a Diet Pepsi.
“Paulette, the doctor is ready to see you again,” the technician stated.
Paulette looked up from the current article she was reading in the latest horse magazine, smiled, put it up, and followed the technician back to the room she had come from earlier. She walked in to see Danni sitting there, wagging her tail and excited to see her again.
“So, Paulette, I’ve run every test imaginable, and the good news is, I can’t find anything wrong with her. She’s in perfect health. Her teeth need a little cleaning at some point, but everything else is perfect.”
“That’s great. I’m so thankful that there’s nothing wrong with her. Thank you so much, Dr. Tyson.”
“You’re welcome.”
Paulette took Danni by the lead, and they headed out to the front to pay the enormous bill she had run up, but it was worth every penny. She could barely contain her excitement. She knew, in her heart, Danni would be able to go to the future and return safely back home. She could hardly wait to try out the time machine, herself. She’d have to leave Danni behind for the first short trip but would have Greg modify the time pod to include a seat for Danni when she got back, so that she could take Danni, her best friend, with her on the next, longer excursion.
It was time to go home and get some much-needed rest. Soon, she’d travel to the future, and couldn’t wait to see what marvels awaited her.
