The Delay

An off-the-wall scientist tries to prove a myth to be a reality

Houston, Texas 1602n. The 23-year-old independent, reckless scientist, Dr. Alex Morgan, waited patiently in his laboratory. Located on an abandoned farm, hidden from the curious eyes of society. He fidgeted with chemical burn marks on his not so white lab coat and tapped his shiny black points on the cold floor. Ever since Morgan discovered science, he had been wanting to try the impossible. At exactly 1.11 am on the 21 of July the stars Vega, Mira and Sirius were all supposed to line up with Mercury and open a “sound portal” to a parallel universe. Of course, people denied it, but the off the wall scientists took matters into their own hands. This scenario only happens once every 45 years, and each rogue has significantly failed. However, Morgan had convinced himself that the code had been cracked. According to his immaculate calculations and deep knowledge of astrology, the previous scientists weren’t pointing their aerial in the right direction. It sounds like a silly thing to do but they didn’t realize that we orbited around the sun. The telescope was only invented last year, so they weren’t aware that the night sky shifted on our 365-day journey around the sun.

 

It was currently 12.30 am and Morgan was checking if his contraption that took 6 months to construct, was all in place. The aerial had to point at an exact angle of 15 degrees north, north west, the live, neutral and earth wires all had to be separated, the circuit breakers were flipped and most importantly, the Safe Range EMF was live. This device picked up electromagnetic fields out of human earshot, and the sound waves from the parallel universe vibrated at such a high level, dogs could not even hear them. He sighed deeply in relief and flicked his mop of blonde hair back. His heart thumped against his rib cage, threating to pop out his chest at any second. He stared at the bright LED array that moved from green to red depending on the strength of the soundwaves, it was still green, meaning there was silence on the other end.

 

Alex Morgan’s hands dripped with sweat, it was 1.00 am, 11 more minutes and he could finally prove the myth wrong. He itched with excitement, he felt as if he couldn’t breathe. It was now 1.10, and he counted down the seconds, his eyes glued to his wristwatch. Alex switched on his recording device. He held his breath watching the secondhand tick in time with his heartbeat. Thirty more seconds. The light grew brighter. Twenty more seconds. It started to flicker. Ten seconds. Five, four, three, two, one. Morgan’s neck snapped up and his eyes went straight to the LED. He was stunned, speechless. The light still burned green, mocking him of his failure. He couldn’t move, he felt unworthy and lifeless. Without a word he gained strength in his legs and pulled his heavy body up from his metal stool. He turned away from the useless machine with tears in his eyes. He felt broken. He looked at his watch and hoped it would be a delay, maybe his watch was behind, or he calculated a wrong time. But it was now 11.13 and it was radio silent. Alex Morgan has no will to live anymore. He hung his head of lead in disbelief. All those years of work for nothing, for silence, to only hear the echo of his footsteps.

 

Static suddenly shot through the air. Morgan turned around faster than lighting, his eyes landing on a bright red LED light. The static deafened him, he struggled to keep his eyes open. He dropped to the floor, trying to stop the blood curdling noise from making his ears pop. The sound stopped abruptly, and the shabby lab was once again filled with silence. Morgan got up and ran to the communicator. The light still shone a brilliant green. Alex stared, breathless, at the light. Leaning closer and closer to it. He was on the edge of his seat, waiting, listening for anything. Then suddenly unclear, muffled noises came from the sound amplifier. Overwhelmed Morgan picked up the radio with his shaky hands and spoke into it “Who are you?” he asked. The other end crackled but was silent. Finally, the words “Explorers…in the further regions of experience. Demons to some, angels to others,” echoed around the laboratory.