Scarlett made large steps towards the machine, her heart surprisingly calmed as she carefully picked up the banana cover from the bottom plate of the time machine. Happy? It would be probably an understatement to describe her state just with one word 'happy'. The professor could feel volcanic eruptions inside her body that weren't flaring lava as it would happen in real life but blissful elation, fulfilling the girl with pride and outstanding achievement. She was feeling euphoric. Her first-time travel. The banana was back but it didn't end here. Where was the edible inner fleshy part?
"It's back", the professor whispered to herself, mouth slightly dropping open, eyes staring at the boy who also seemed to deal with thunders of confusion roaring in his mind, relatively uncertain about what had happened. Both of them continued gaping at each other, their minds were mulling over the same fact. The professor, however, could have won the staring contest as she had been holding the gaze without blinking. None of them dared to speak, letting the tensed, uncertain clouds fade away.
A blow. A small blow of wind could work to flow away every scattered cloud around them but the air also seemed to stop. A flicker of a light blub could also do enough to their odds in order to enlighten the unknown factor they were contemplating but, damn, all the blubs were fused at the very moment. Realizing that the blubs were out of positive and negative charges to lend them a hand in the dark and the air also had refused to blow in their direction, the boy finally decided to break the ice.
"I'm wondering what happened to the inner side?"
This was the question that had froze both genius minds on their spots. Without tearing apart the gaze, the professor walked towards the boy and continued hosting the silence for a few more seconds before she opened her mouth saying, "I don't know but there's the only way to know."
Dylan started shaking his head, predicting the meaning behind the words shortly. They had discussed it already that they would prepare the girl's travel once the banana was back, and now that it was there, but they hadn't known that only the protective cover would appear. As daring as the professor could be at times, they were needed to act rationally to make a decision that would prove optimally helpful to them nor on excited, adventurous nerves.
"Look, you said yourself that you would prepare my travel once the banana is back. It's right here. What's holding you back now?", the professor was not going bonkers as she did during the first travel, but it didn't mean she would sit back and let the boy command around. Why was he backing off his words? He had never done that.
"The body", he pointed down at the peel the girl was holding in her hand. His tongue wet the center of his lips as they pressed tight into a thin line in uncertainty as to what could have happened to the lost part of the fruit.
"No one is going anywhere until the fog is clear", saying that he turned around on his feet and walked out. The lines on his face were of firm resolve, telling the girl that he wouldn't budge before finding out what had happened to the inner side.
"You can't do that. Why have you started acting shit all of sudden?", the professor followed the boy out to the attached room.
"Are you, perhaps, jealous?", a year back, there were only two projects that demanded a filthy amount of money, Dylan's new advancement in Artificial Intelligence and Scarlett's time machine.
After running a background check on the professor and getting familiar with her golden achievements, the government approved millions of dollars budget for the time machine while turning down the AI idea releasing an official statement that more research was needed to be done on it. Well, the research could have proceeded throughout the year, they just bet on a fast, reliable horse that had won many races. As a result, Dylan had to change his idea and move to a smaller project.
"Nonsense, why would I be jealous of you? You're my friend", even though the government didn't approve a budget for his project, he was glad that his friend got selected.
"Then let me travel as we agreed on", the girl put the banana skin on the table and looked back at the boy who still had a strong disapproving look over his face.
"I can't do that when there is a number of unknown factors yet to find. Can we jump on the b part of a question before finding out the value of x in part a?", he asked the girl without realizing that he would be twisted in his own words.
"That's exactly my drift. Let's find out the value of x", just like the saying went that in order to understand someone better, you first were needed to put yourself in their shoes. If they intended to know what happened to the banana when it time travelled, they were also needed to travel back. The professor wasn't asking the boy to join her. She just needed someone to operate the machine while she was inside.
"Scarlett, try to understand. I'm only worried for you. We sent the fruit you love to suck on and the result is in front of you. It...", Dylan paused halfway through what he was about to say. The fruit. Then, it hit his mind. They sent a fruit back in time that was composed of cells, a biological unit. What if they send a matter composed of chemical elements? Would it come half or all intact?
"I've got an idea. Why don't we send a thing made up of atoms than of cells this time?", the boy desperately waited for the girl's response who tilted her head, not catching his point.
"I mean a non-living thing."