The funding for the project was a bust. Four years were wasted. For the last year they had been begging for money at every rectorate, almost on their knees, which was not even enough for electricity. The missing parts or devices were often bought with their own money, but the plant consumed so much energy that now there was nothing to even think about financing the project themselves.
Olesya got into Arkady's laboratory by accident. Olesya was in her last year of study when Dima left her after finding out she was pregnant. She didn't want to get rid of the baby. It was her own fault for getting involved with an idiot, but it wasn't the child's fault. She needed a job and at least a corner of her own, so she wouldn't have to live in a dormitory with the baby.
Not wanting to leave the university, since her diploma was on the horizon, the girl decided to walk around the departments in the hope that someone needed a secretary or a laboratory assistant. After spending half a day and already despairing, Olesya found herself in front of the door, on which instead of a normal plastic plate was a piece of paper, taped with tape, on which was written "Sukhanov's Research Laboratory". The girl hesitantly knocked and entered. The smell of rosin immediately hit Olesa's nose. She saw the shaggy back of a young man's head bent over some kind of instrument.
- Hello," said the girl hesitantly, "please tell me, do you need a laboratory assistant?
- No," the man said without even turning around.
- I'm sorry," Olesya mumbled, turned and was about to leave the lab when suddenly she heard behind her back:
- Wait... I'm sorry, what did you say?
- Do you need a lab assistant? - She repeated hastily and hopefully.
- Oh, yes, you do need it! - laughed the boy, who seemed only a few years older than Olesya. - But who will give it to me? I've asked, I've asked, but I'm constantly being cut back in financing... - He waved his hands.
- I understand," Olesya sighed. - Well, I'm sorry, thank you anyway.
- You know what? You leave me a phone number. I have to be at the rector's office in half an hour with my report, so I'll bring it up again.
- Yes, of course," the girl said. At least some hope, but hope nonetheless. She wrote her number on a piece of paper on his desk.
To Olesya's surprise, an hour later the phone rang.
- It's Arkady," she heard a voice that sounded familiar.
- Arkady?
- Yes, you came into my lab. It's about work.
- Yes, yes," she rejoiced, "I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Olesya. I study economics.
- Tell you what, Olesya, you come to my place. We'll talk.
***
Arkady turned out to be such a simple and pleasant guy that they became fast friends. But the subject he was working on left Olesya puzzled. Arkady showed her the machine he had designed and said:
- It's a space-time shifter, Veiculum Tempus, as I call it.
Olesya looked perplexed at Arkady and after a second pause asked:
- So you're saying... it's a time machine?
The inventor laughed.
- Well, that's what the author of a sci-fi novel would say. But in general, it depends on what the device will be used for. My goal so far is only to study the space-time continuum.
- Why study it?
- Well, look at this. Answer me a simple question: What is time?
- It's... the fourth dimension," Olesya blurted out after a moment's thought.
- It's geometric," Arkady laughed again. - But we used to understand well only the first three, that is, if we want to move in space, we can go forward, backward or jump up. And if we want to move back a week, in which direction should we move?
- But it's impossible to travel through time.
- Let's just say that practically no one has ever done it before. I mean, no one has ever time-traveled objects or living beings. I'm still working with micro-matter.
- You mean something microscopic?
- I am investigating the possibility of time travel of atoms and molecules.
- What good are the molecules from the day before yesterday?
- You're a wonderful girl," the good-natured guy kept laughing, "I think we'll work well together. I'll show and explain everything to you in time.
And they began to work. Arkady told how hard he had worked to get a laboratory assistant and a salary for her so that he wouldn't have to sit in the lab at night. They gave him some more money on the condition that he would achieve at least some results within the next year, otherwise the project would be closed. And they did. There was a lot of work, they sat together every day until the evening, but suddenly Olesya was so engrossed that she did not notice the time, managing to devote a couple of hours a day to her diploma.
Her job was mainly to enter data into the computer, and there was a lot of data, because Arkady worked hard, forgetting to eat and comb his hair. He never left his machine, dictating to Olesa a myriad of dates, numbers, and values, but not forgetting to let her go to lunch. One day he uttered, without realizing what he was saying:
- In your position, you must eat well.
Olesya froze on the threshold of the laboratory, staring at Arkady in surprise and fear.
- How do you know? - They quickly switched to you, and their relationship was very trusting.
- I'm sorry," Arkady said. - It's none of my business, of course... Don't worry, I don't want to interfere in anything.
- Are you gonna tell your superiors?
- What do you take me for? - He laughed and then became serious again. - I know you need a job. And I don't want to be without a lab assistant again. Come on, come and eat!
***
It seemed to Olesa that the four years she worked with Arkady were the happiest in her life. She finished university, rented an apartment, forgot Dima, gave birth to her son Egor, and devoted all her time to her child and her work in the project, which she was no less passionate about than Arkady. On one remarkable day, they managed to move from one cell to another and an hour ahead in time the aerosol sprayed in the air.
- What's it for? - Olesya asked before starting the experience, already knowing that Arkady had been working on it for many months.
- You know," he smiled, "some things can be invented and then they can be used. But seriously... Look, imagine that a perfume company is presenting a new perfume fragrance. The representative of the company starts talking about this fragrance, and then the air in the hall where the listeners are sitting is filled with the wonderful smell of the new sample, which they want to put on the market. And it was only an hour ago that they moved this fragrance in time and space into the presentation room. You may say, we could have done without it, but not so long ago we did without telephones, computers, and even earlier without television sets and without electricity at all.
- No, why get around it, because you can also get rid of bad odor in the same way.
- Of course! If you improve this device and reduce its cost, every housewife could have one. After all, computers also took up the whole room at first, but now you can carry it in your purse. Imagine you come home and smell a bad odor. You press a button and send it ten meters outside the window, and even last week. Any woman can find a lot of uses for this device, and not just women.
The rectorate was due in a few days, and Arkady and Olesya were working almost into the night to get the latest data and adjust the settings. It was made clear to them that if they didn't provide accurate data, they'd never get funding again. That evening Olesya picked up Egorka from daycare and returned with him to their lab on the fourth floor of the university to help Arkady, even though he had discouraged her. But she knew he'd be alone until morning, so after buying pizza and beer for them and soda for her son, she drove to work to polish up the travel time, which jumped back and forth by a few seconds.
They ate quickly, fed the boy and got to work. Egorka pushed a chair to the open window, laid out his cars on it and began diligently with a loud "zh-zh-zh" to depict a traffic accident. The summer evening was so warm and quiet that there was not a drop of fresh air coming into the laboratory from the open window. Arkady began to tinker with the device.
- I was trying to adjust not only the movements from present to future, but also from past to present yesterday," he explained as he set up the connection to the server and plugged in the power.
- What's this for? - Olesya asked.
Arkady made a smart face, thought for a second, then, as usual, laughed and answered:
- Well, you know, it might come in handy.
He continued fiddling with his buttons while Olesya turned on the computer to be ready to enter data. Then she heard a muffled "What the hell...", then a moment later, "What the hell...". She paid no attention, knowing that Arkady had developed a habit of talking to himself from working alone for so long. But the quiet "What's going on?" that followed it all still made her wary and turn around. Her young boss, anxiously shifting his gaze from the monitor to his machine, which was already connected to the power supply, was frantically punching the keyboard buttons and twisting the knobs of the device.
- What's wrong, Arkady? - Olesya asked, still calmly.
- Uh... what? - he seemed to have forgotten about the girl's presence out of excitement, but turned around and beckoned her to his monitor with a wave of his hand. - The time regulator is out of control, - Arkady said absent-mindedly, continuing to fight with knobs and buttons.
Olesya walked over to his huge P-shaped desk and saw the counter spinning frantically on Arkady's shifter. Arkady called his device Veiculum Tempus, but Olesya called it the Great Primus. And now she could see the numbers flickering in the window of the Primus, counting down the days, months, years, centuries... Back, back in time. She didn't really know if it was dangerous, knowing that they had never been in any danger, since they worked mostly only with space, moving objects into the past or future for no more than an hour. But Olesya could see that Arkady didn't like it at all, judging by the sweat on his forehead.
Finally, he did something either in the computer program or with the device itself, and the numbers stopped. For a moment there was silence in the laboratory. Olesya didn't know if she could breathe a sigh of relief, and continued to look at Arkady hopefully. He took a breath and with a trembling hand grasped the mouse and opened the results of what had happened on the monitor. For ten seconds he stared at his computer without moving. Olesya forgot to breathe and didn't dare to ask a question, but finally she spoke quietly and hesitantly:
- Arkady... Are you okay?
- I'm afraid not, Olesya... - he did not answer at once. His pale face alarmed the girl.
- What happened? - she asked in a whisper.
- We've thrown a healthy chunk of space here from the past.
Olesya had several questions on her tongue at once, and she didn't know which one to ask first.
- From what past?
- From very far away. One hundred and fifty million years.
Olesya didn't immediately grasp the meaning of his words. When she repeated the figure three times, her eyes popped out of their orbits.
- Millions?! Wait, did you say "millions"? Are you saying that the air that the dinosaurs breathed is here now?
- That's about right. Of course, not right here in the lab. In order to say exactly where the space transfer took place and how large it was, it is necessary to process the data.
They calmed down a little. Arkady sat down at the computer again and tapped away at the keys, occasionally glancing at the monitor and nervously running his hand through his hair. While they whispered excitedly, Egorka broke away from his machines and listened curiously to the conversation between the adults, not understanding a word. But, seeing that his mother and Uncle Arkady were at work again, he took up the game with his usual calm look. Suddenly, pausing and looking out of the window, the boy said:
- Mom, look what a big bird!
- Yes, yes, Egorushka, I'll look now," Olesya muttered absent-mindedly, scrutinizing the numbers appearing in an even column in the data table.
Egor pushed the chair even closer to the window, climbed on it and stood up to his full height, looking at the bird making big circles outside the window. Apparently, other people saw it too, because from down the street there were frightened screams and, after a while, the sound of a police siren. Although the little boy was standing on a chair, the window sill reached him almost to his chest. In his three years Egor was a smart boy and knew that one should not bend over the window sill, so he just leaned on it and waved to the bird. As it flew past, it seemed to notice him, because it circled in a wide circle and flew straight to the open window of the laboratory.
Everything happened in an instant. Olesya heard her son's desperate squeal and instinctively rushed to the window before she saw what was happening. It took her two or three seconds to run five or six meters from Arkady's desk to the window, but it seemed like an eternity. During that eternity her brain had time to capture a horrible picture. Her son's tiny body was held by the huge claws of a nightmarish creature, as if it came out of a horror movie. These claws dug into Egorka's skin, and from under them thin red rivulets of blood were already dripping down his shirt. The creature lifted the boy from the chair, half dragging him over the window sill and helping itself with its beak, which had incredibly sharp teeth inside.
Without fully realizing what she was doing, Olesya ran to the window and grabbed her screaming son with both hands. The bird, sensing resistance, yanked its prey sharply and dragged the child over the window sill. Olesya herself screamed frantically and clung to Egorkin's legs, risking to fall out. By that time Arkady came to the window, but all he could do was to grab Olesya's waist to prevent her from falling, as Egor was out of his reach. Egor's and Olesya's screams were picked up by screams of terror from below, screams too unreal, wild, primal.
Suddenly the bird let go of the boy. It let go so suddenly that Olesya, who was holding his legs, almost flew down. Trying to keep her balance, she grabbed the window sill with her hands, feeling Arkady pulling her back with all her might. Grasped the window sill with her hands. Empty hands. From the moment the bird let go of Egorka until Olesya regained her balance, a tenth of a second had passed. She could still hear her son's distant scream, cut short by a dull thud against the pavement as Arkady dragged her into the lab. She didn't hear her own scream. She only felt her mouth open wide and her lungs closed to air by a terrible spasm that tore at her chest.
There were more screams downstairs, gunshots, some shrill cackling, and another thud of a huge shapeless body hitting the pavement. Olesa, sitting on the floor, heard all these sounds mixed with a hoarse scream, like in a dream, when you can neither wake up nor make any sound:
- Egooooor!!! Aah! Egooooor!!!
Olesya realized it was her, and it was as if something snapped her out of her stupor. She pushed away Arkady's hands that were convulsively pinning her to the floor, flew out of the laboratory and ran down the corridors, down the stairs and down the halls of the university, which were deserted at this hour. The girl ran out into the small square in front of the building and didn't immediately realize where she should go next. People, cars, police, the smell of gunpowder - it was like the set of a bad movie. On top of that, there was something in the middle of the square that looked like a poorly made effigy of a prehistoric bird or a fairy tale dragon.
Then Olesya saw that the bulk of the crowd was concentrated under the windows of the building. Her legs gave up on her. The dream repeated itself: she tried to move, but the air suddenly became as viscous as melted butter and did not allow her to move her legs. Olesya, out of breath, approached the crowd, stretching out her hands in front of her like a blind person. Apparently, by the look on her face, people realized who she was, because the crowd parted as if the girl had pulled her apart with her hands. On the pavement lay her little boy. He was unnaturally small, crushed by this cruel accident that had pushed him into the claws of a terrible bird and then thrown him down onto the pavement.
Olesya knelt down and slowly lifted the tiny body, holding it to her chest. Egorka's head tilted oddly and fell onto her elbowed arm. She didn't scream anymore, but she didn't notice anything around her. She didn't feel Arkady running up behind her and putting his arm around her shoulders, or the EMTs trying to take the boy from her arms. Olesya clutched Egorkin's body tightly because she had to protect him from the bird, not let it take her boy away, not let him fall down. She didn't feel the prick in her shoulder, but her hands suddenly felt cotton, Egor slipped from her fingers as he had just a few minutes ago in the lab, and a sticky hot liquid remained on her fingers. Olesya's eyes closed, and she flew somewhere. "I'm flying after Egor," she thought, "that's good... that's good.
***
Olesya woke up in a white room and saw Arkady sitting on a chair in front of her bed, pale, with disheveled hair and dark circles under his eyes. When Arkady saw that she was awake, he took her hand.
- Olesya," he whispered, "Olesenka... I'm so sorry... I'm so terribly sorry....
The tranquilizers Olesya had been drugged with in the hospital did not allow her to immediately think about what she should do. It seemed that in her dream she had decided that she had to do something very important, but she had forgotten what it was. Well, she would remember later. It was beginning to get dark outside the window, and it seemed to Olesya that not just two hours had passed since she had picked up Egorka from the day care center, but a whole week.
- Arkady," Olesya whispered with naughty lips, "what was that?
He paused, as if weighing the words that might hurt her more.
- They say it was a pterosaur. The cops shot it. Then the scientists took it away. They kept me at the police station for the rest of the evening, asking me countless questions.
Olesya closed her eyes and lay still for a long time, feeling terribly tired and broken. Arkady was saying something, she thought she could make out the words, "I'll take care of everything... the funeral..." but they came to her as if her head were covered by a pillow. She didn't notice how she fell asleep, and when she opened her eyes again, it was starting to get light outside the window. Olesya glanced at the clock that someone had carefully placed on her nightstand next to her bed. It was half past six in the morning. The effect of tranquilizers had passed, and the girl suddenly clearly remembered what she wanted to do yesterday.
Olesya got out of bed, found her clothes in the closet and quickly dressed. She quietly went out into the corridor and down the service stairs, where an elderly nurse had scattered dirty laundry. As she went into her den to pull out another bale of laundry, Olesya silently opened the door to the street and slipped out into the cool freshness of the July morning.
It wasn't far to the university, so the girl quickly walked along the streets that were beginning to wake up, approached the building, trying not to look at the place under the windows with a brown stain on the asphalt, went up to the fourth floor and entered the laboratory in the firm belief that she would find Arkady, who had been awake all night. She was not mistaken. Her boss was standing at his desk with his back to the door, slowly putting all the junk he always lovingly referred to as "work supplies" into a large box. He turned around at the sound of the door opening, his eyes rounded in surprise.
- Olesya! Why are you here? No, no, you have to stay a little longer in the hospital, I told you I'll take care of everything...
- Arkady," Olesya asked, ignoring his words, "have we been disconnected from the server yet? Is the primus still working?
- We'll be disconnected at ten o'clock today," Arkady said quietly. - I was told to gather my things and...
- What's in it for you?
- Well, there was an investigator. They made a case. They took the pterosaur away.
- Are you going to jail? - Olesya spoke in an unnaturally businesslike and confident voice, which Arkady wrote off as shock and kept trying to shut the conversation down, but she stubbornly waved it off and continued.
- The lawyer said we could try to..." he hesitated, choosing his words, "to turn the case around as a professional error... even an accident, if we could.
- 'Arkady,' Olesya said resolutely, 'you must throw me back to yesterday.
He stared at her as if the pterosaur from yesterday had flown into the room and landed on Olesa's head. At first he looked at her fearfully, then with pity, thinking that she had lost her mind from grief. Finally, Arkady rubbed his forehead with his hand, took a deep breath and said:
- Olesenka... I'm so terribly sorry about what happened. Forgive me, it's my fault.
- Arkady," Olesya interrupted him, "we're wasting time. You said we'd be disconnected from the server at ten.
He stared at her even more startled, realizing she wasn't joking.
- But I can't do that," he said at last. - I'm already under investigation. Do you have any idea what would happen if something happened to you, too!
- That's why you're coming with me. I mean, you'll fly with me. I mean, well, we'll do it together. If you fly me alone, you're right, you're gonna have to take the fall for all of us.
- Olesya, do you realize what you're asking me to do? We've never done this to a living thing!
- How did they not? - The girl pointed her hand at the window, which was very painful to look at because of yesterday's memories. - And the pterosaur? He flew here yesterday, big as life! - Her voice trembled.
- It was an accident, Olesya. We don't even know how it happened! It happened because of a glitch in the program! Are you sure he would have survived if he hadn't been shot?
Olesya came close to Arkady and looked up into his eyes. Her eyes glistened and her lips trembled. She stared at him silently for a long time, and he tried his best to endure her gaze, knowing perfectly well how she felt now. Finally, the girl whispered:
- Arkasha," she had never called him that before, "my little boy... My Egorka... he's gone. I have no one else. What will I do here without him? I want to go there," she waved her hand toward Veiculum Tempus, "to him, to my boy.
Arkady stood there with his hands down, powerless, not knowing what to say. Olesya wiped her eyes and said, louder, but calmly and decisively:
- I understand you. If you can't, I'll do it myself. With or without you, I'm going in there. I know how to hook it up and run the program.
She headed over to his computer and turned it on. Arkady didn't move for a second, but then he walked over to her, took her hand and gently pulled her away.
- Come on, I got it.
He knew he was to blame. He was the one who had dragged this girl into his work, the one who had let her bring a child here, even though it was against safety regulations. He should at least try to help her, even though he had no idea what would come of it. Arkady turned on his computer, connected to the server and started the program. It was seven o'clock in the morning, they had three more hours. For what? To change their minds? To ruin someone else's life? To have time to make things right? They waited patiently for the program to finish downloading. Then Arkady sat down at his desk and tapped his fingers on the keys.
They didn't talk. There was nothing to talk about. It wasn't too late to call it off yet, but Arkady knew he wouldn't. He had no more arguments to dissuade Olesya. The fact that he was going to be tried didn't count. Now he would be tried for Olesya's disappearance as well. How would he be able to explain where she had disappeared to? "I sent her back in time," he would say? Finally, Arkady entered all the data. Except for one.
- Olesya," he asked calmly, "at what exact hour should you appear there?
- Let me think," she struggled to remember all the details of last night. - I picked up Yegor from day care at half past six. At six I was here. The bird appeared around seven. Set it for half past seven," Olesya said firmly.
- Are you sure about this?
- Yeah. It won't take me long.
- All right. (chuckles)
Arkady clicked the keys and mouse for a couple more seconds, got up from the table and walked over to the machine. Turning on Tempus, he waited for a while for it to catch the computer's signal. When it did, a familiar light bluish cloud appeared in the laboratory, marking the contours of the space that was to be moved in time. Arkady turned one of the knobs, and the cloud grew in size.
- There," he turned to Olesa and looked at her sadly, "according to your height. Now get inside.
- No," she replied, "increase more. Otherwise you won't get away.
He hesitated a moment, scrutinizing from head to toe the figure of the girl he had grown accustomed to, who had become not only his indispensable assistant but also his friend. He gazed sadly at her lovely face, as if he were trying to imprint it in his memory forever.
- I'm not going, Olesya. I'll stay here.
- No," she grabbed his arm fearfully, "they'll put you in jail here! Come on! We'll fix this together and nothing will happen!
- If you can fix it, nothing will happen. I'll just wait for you here, in today's day, the door will open, and you'll come in... with Egorka. And if it doesn't work out... there's no reason for an idiot like me to do the same stupid thing twice.
Olesya nodded, realizing how he felt about saying goodbye to her now and not knowing what would happen to him in two hours.
- Go," Arkady nodded encouragingly and smiled through his strength. - If I don't get disconnected from the server at ten, I'll know you've done well.
Olesya ran up to him and hugged him tightly. Then she stepped into the blue cloud and froze, looking at Arkady. He gave her another nod and pressed a button on his Tempus. Olesa felt as if her brain began to spiral, simultaneously pulling outward from her skull. The light faded, she found herself in some kind of dark gray fog. Her brain spiraled tighter and tighter, and Olesya thought that it couldn't go on forever, or she wouldn't have any brains left at all. Just at that moment the tourniquet in her head loosened, light appeared, and she saw first vague and then increasingly clear outlines of their laboratory.
She saw Arkady sitting at his desk, and... Egorka, diligently rolling his cars by the open window. Olesa felt as if her heart had stopped. She found it hard to breathe, a tight lump squeezed her throat, and tears came to her eyes. "Egorushka...," she whispered, but no one heard her. She wasn't even sure she managed to open her mouth and move her lips, so paralyzed with happiness at seeing her son alive. Arkady was the first to notice her.
- Olesya, what are you doing? Are we going to eat pizza? We still have time to adjust the settings.
- Mommy, look what a big bird," Egor shouted at that moment, and Olesya was pushed out of her stupor with such force that she jumped on the spot. In a split second the events of yesterday... or no, today's evening flashed through her mind. The events that hadn't happened yet squeezed the girl's heart like a vise.
- Egooooooor!!! - she shouted, rushed to the window and, grabbing her son, quickly dragged him to the middle of the laboratory, holding him so tightly against her that Egorka groaned slightly.
Olesya caught Arkady's surprised and slightly frightened look and relaxed her embrace a little.
- Mom, what are you doing? - The son whimpered a little resentfully. - Look, what a big bird. - He hesitantly kept pointing his finger at the window, not understanding whether his mother was angry or frightened.
Olesya glanced in the direction Egor was pointing. There was a huge crow sitting on the window sill on the outside. It pecked its beak a couple of times on the window sill and flew away. Olesya was shaking. Arkady got up from the table and walked over to her.
- Olesya? What happened? Are you all right? - He asked worriedly.
The girl relaxed a little more, but still breathing heavily, smiled slightly and murmured, already cradling her son affectionately:
- Sorry, Egorushka. Yes, yes, of course, that bird was huge. It was a crow. - Olesya looked at Arkady: - It's all right. Yes, let's finally eat pizza. And then we'll adjust the settings. Not on the Primus, but on the computer. Right in the program, so it's more reliable.
- You're right," Arkady shook his head, "precise operations are better left to a machine.