Will We Change?

Chapter 1: Will We Change?

The wall clock of the lab ticked with a precision, as if mocking the disarray of the room. Every surface was covered with papers, with each face scrawled in equations so complex, they more resembled some ancient hieroglyphs than mathematics. The machine at the heart of this little universe hummed softly; the curved frame of warm blue metal pulsed like a soft, alien heart. It didn't look like much-just a skeletal construct of wires and gears-but it was about to change everything.

Dr. Eli Renner stared down at the digital count on his wristband: Five minutes until the trial run. Five minutes until he showed the world-and himself-that time wasn't a straight line, but something you could walk backward or forward on, or even mold. 

"Do you think it will work?" a voice behind him asked.

Eli turned to find his assistant, Samara, standing in the doorway. Her wide brown eyes were shadowed with exhaustion, but there was a spark of curiosity that never seemed to fade no matter how many nights they'd spent arguing over theories and blueprints.

"It has to," Eli replied, his tone even, but his hands quaking just slightly as he fiddled with a dial on the machine. "If it doesn't." He trailed off on his sentence. He had no reason to finish it. They both knew the risks involved.

Samara stepped forward, crossing the threshold into the room as if she was crossing onto hallowed ground. "What happens when we succeed? What happens when we change things?

Eli didn't respond for a moment. He reached out and laid his hand on the machine. The subtle hum of vibration beneath his palm made him think of times past, mistakes and losses and moments he'd do anything to rewrite. The night his sister Anna had called, begging for help; the night he was too wrapped up in work to answer; the night everything came to an end.

"If we succeed," he said finally, "then maybe. maybe we don't have to live with the weight of everything we couldn't fix."

Samara crossed her arms, her expression guarded. "And if it breaks more than it fixes? What if we create something worse?"

Eli's lips curved into a faint, humorless smile. "Then at least we'll know we tried."

The countdown beeped: three minutes.

Samara reached into her pocket and pulled out a small notebook, its leather cover worn smooth from years of use. She flipped through pages of hastily scribbled notes and diagrams until she found the one she wanted.

"I'm coming with you," she said firmly, meeting his gaze.

"No," Eli said, shaking his head. "It's too dangerous. If something goes wrong—"

"If something goes wrong, you're going to need someone to pull you back," she cut in. "And let's be honest, you'd get lost without me."

Eli opened his mouth to protest, but something in her eyes shut him up. It was pointless to argue with her. She was made up, as usual.

"I thought you didn't trust me to do this," he said, half-joking, half-cynical.

"I don't," she said flatly. "But I trust myself to make sure you don't do something stupid."

Her sharp tone was undercut by a faint smirk, and for a moment the tension between them lifted. Then the countdown beeped again: two minutes.

Eli exhaled sharply and stepped back, surveying the machine one last time. It looked ready, but readiness didn't mean safety.

"Samara," he said, his voice softer than it had ever been. "If this works, you know we won't be the same people on the other side. We'll have memories of things no one else will remember. Lives that never existed."

"Maybe that's a good thing," she said. "The lives we've got now aren't so great, are they?

Eli didn't answer her, but her words stuck. The truth was, he wasn't worried about his life. This was for Anna-to give back the future she should have had. She had always believed in him, even when he didn't deserve it. This was his opportunity to show that her belief in him had not been misplaced.

"Let's just hope this isn't our last mistake," Samara added, almost as an afterthought.

Eli snatched a small metallic token from his desk-a keepsake. An old coin with the engraving *"We choose our path."* It had been a gift from Anna, back when he still believed in choice, before regret chained him to a single moment in time.

The countdown reached one minute.

Eli looked over at Samara. "Do you ever think about the paradoxes?

Constantly," she said. "And then I consider what happens if we don't do anything. That frightens me more."

He nodded, finally releasing his trepidation. "Let's find out whether we can alter things.

Samara moved up to the machine beside him, placing her hand on the activation panel. Her gaze went to the room's single window, where through the rain, the light of the city shone very dimly. 

"Do you think they'll even know?" she asked softly.

Eli's frown deepened. "Who?"

"The people we're doing this for. Will they feel it, somehow? Will they know what it cost us?

The last beep sounded and light filled the room.