Welcome to the Machine

Chapter 1
Chapter 1

Gloria, along with her eldest daughter, Sara, entered the basement slowly. It had only been a few days since Stan’s funeral and neither was truly wanting to start the task of going thru his things. Stan was Gloria’s husband of 20 years. His death had been sudden and unexpected. She blamed his death at least in part on his job as a researcher. Gloria didn’t have any proof but she knew he was under lots of pressure and likely dealing with all types of dangerous substances. He constantly had to bring projects home to study. She couldn’t believe that the seemingly healthy man that she had known could be stricken and gone so suddenly. At 40, she was now a widow with two daughters to take care of. Sara was 16 and Suzi was 14.

She had already managed to go thru his clothes and clean out the closet and drawers in their bedroom. The basement was another matter. It was here where he spent a large portion of his time. It was a cross between a workshop and a labratory. She rarely even ventured into the basement when he was alive. It was ’his’ room. She felt more like an invader and left this area to him. Although he never said anything it was obvious to her that he appreciated this ’space’. He was free to experiment, do research, hobbies, whatever he wanted without outside intervention. As such, Gloria still felt like she was invading and even wondered if maybe she should just close the door and never enter the room again. Leave it like Stan left it.

’C’mon, Mom. Let’s get it over with. I don’t wanna think too much about it. Let’s just do it. OK?’ Sara told her as she stood at the top of the stairs.

’I’m sorry, honey. It’s hard....’

’It’s hard for me too, Mom. But I think if we just dig in it’ll be easier.’

’I hope’ Gloria answered but didn’t sound convinced.

Gloria flipped on the light switch and they continued down the stairs. The room was messy. Papers were strewn about. A desk was hidden under a clutter of papers. Another desk contained a computer. Beside the keyboard was an unopened cola and a partially eaten sandwich. Further in the room was another computer on a table and more papers.

’You know, Sara, I bet he knew where to find any paper he was looking for. It looks like a mess to us... but he knows...errrrrr knew where to find whatever he wanted.’

Sara nodded but wasn’t convinced. Still, she let her mother believe what she wanted.

’Mom... what on earth is THAT’ Sara asked pointing to something in the middle of the room covered by a bedspread.

’I don’t know. Let’s see’ Gloria replied as she walke toward the mystery item.

She tugged on the bedspread and set it aside.

’Well, like, we still don’t know....’ Sara answered while studying the machine in front of her.

It was dusty, like everything else in the room. There were a couple of angled lights...or what looked like lights on either side. On the back side was a table with a laptop computer that had cables that fed into a large rack of electronics under the table. Another cable ran along the floor to the computer on the desk.

Sara, who had inherited her fathers knack for computers, recognized that her father was linking the two computers but she couldn’t figure out why. Why not just use one or the other she wondered?

’Sara, why don’t you go grab some boxes and we can start storing some of this stuff. Maybe the school would like to have some of this stuff.’

’Are you sure, Mom? Maybe we outta, like, figure out what it is?’

’I’m sure. It’s probably not even finished anyway. The school is always looking for computer donations and we still have yours. We don’t need this stuff. Just hurry along and get the boxes.’

Sara hurried upstairs while Gloria looked over the machine. Her first concern was the dust. She straightened the papers by the laptop and began dusting. Her rag hit the powerstrip where the laptop was connected and the computer suddenly popped and then began to reboot. Both computers whirred to life. Gloria just stared as it quickly cycled through it startup routine. Rather than booting into Windows as Gloria was familiar, this machine only booted into something very different.

After the computer had ran a couple of diagnostics that looked much like any computer’s boot screen, this machine suddenly printed the text ’Scanning Subject’ The ’lights’ on the floor suddenly came to life and seemed to move upward. ’Saving Sequence’. Gloria wanted to move but couldn’t. ’Beginning Regression Sequence...... DEFAULT Regression..... FULL’. Gloria’s eyes widened. The ’lights’ suddenly brightened.

Upstairs, Sara noticed the house lights dim. She also heard some activity from downstairs and could see a glow from the basement.

’Mom? Are you OK?’ she asked but heard no reply.

She left the boxes and ran down the stairs. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she saw the last of her mother’s clothes seemingly fall in an empty heap!

’NO! MOM!’

Suddenly, she heard the sounds of a newborn crying..... coming from underneath the pile of clothing. She glanced at the computer screen ’Regression Successful’ The computer seemed to be waiting for some type of user input.

’Mom? What’s going on? This can’t be what it looks like.... Mom? MOM!’ Sara voiced cracked with nervousness as she approached the pile of clothing. She reached down and pulled a crying baby from beneath the pile of clothing. ’It’s OK baby. Don’t cry’

As she lifted the baby something fell from its hand. It was a ring. Her mother’s wedding ring!

’What have you done? This can’t be.... ’ Sara said as she wrapped the baby in the discarded blouse from the pile of clothing.

The baby finally quit crying and Sara softly laid her back down amongst the clothing. ’What am I gonna do with you?’ she quietly asked. She then went to check the computer on the table.

She clicked the ’next’ button and watched as the next prompt appeared. ’Reverse-Load-New Subject-Quit-Info’. ’Reverse’ she mumbled under breath ’it’s reversible?’ She clicked the ’Info’ button. ’No Info available’ ’Damn!’ she said as she slammed the mouse.

Her mind raced. She was messing with something she knew nothing about. ’Reverse’ seemed like an obvious choice but maybe that meant reverse aging? Or maybe it wasn’t fully working correctly and even if ’reverse’ was the proper choice it wouldn’t work correctly. She didn’t even know what her mother had done to cause this. Another thought crossed her mind.....what if the power went off...or the computer rebooted....would her mother be stuck as an infant? She suddenly imagined the conversation with her grandmother....’Hi grandma. How are you? I’m fine. Mom? Oh she’s doing well.... I think she might, like, need changed though!’

’Mom.... please forgive me if this doesn’t work, but I gotta try!’ Sara said as she clicked the ’reverse’ button.

The machine again whirred to life. ’Scanning Subject...MATCH OK....Reversing’

Sara watched as the ’lights’ around the baby brightened. Suddenly, the baby began to grow. Her arms and legs lengthened. Her wispy hair began filling in. Soon a toddler was lying amidst the clothing. She was curled in a fetal position and sucking her thumb.

’C’mon!’ Sara implored of the machine.

The toddler kept aging. The baby-fat disappeared. She was now a young girl and still aging. In a few seconds the young girl turned into a skinny young teen.... and then a not so skinny teenager.

Sara wished she could stop the process as she saw her mother looking more and more like a young adult. Maybe still a teenager.... or barely 20 she figured. Still, getting her mother back from infancy was the priority. Her features became more distinct as she approached her mid twenties. Muscle tone seemed to start dwindling as she approached her 30’s. Then 35...and finally the baby had grown into the woman that Sara recognized as her mother!

’Mom! It worked! You’re back!’ Sara yelled as she ran toward her mother. But her mother never answered. She was still in the fetal position and sucking her thumb!

’MOM?!’ Sara said as she shook her mother.

Finally, Gloria’s eyes opened. Wide at first..and then even wider! She grabbed at her blouse to try and cover herself as she quickly scrambled to her feet.

’Uh......did what I think happened.... ~really~ happen?’ she asked.

’If you think I was starting to wonder about disposable or cloth...the answer is yes.’ Sara answered with a nervous laugh.

’How did you....Uhhhh...I mean get me back?’

’I dunno. I, like, guessed!’

’You guessed? Never mind. I don’t wanna even think about it right now. Obviously, we won’t be donating this machine ANYWHERE just yet! We need to figure out what Stan’s done. I’m not sure if it is even legal!’

’Why wouldn’t it be legal?’ Sara asked.

’I don’t know where this technology came from. I know he was smart.... but this is a little over the top! We need to figure it out. One way or the other this thing has got to be worth some money!’

While Gloria talked, Sara made her way back to the computer and continued messing with it. She clicked the ’New Subject’ button.

’Sara, What are you doing?’

’I’m just seeing how it works. How did you, like, end up like that in the first place?’

’I hit the powerstrip with my dustcloth and it just came to life. Before I knew what was happening it started and I couldn’t move.’

’Hmmmm well it must’ve automatically booted into the sequence.’ Sara guesssed. ’Full regression is the default but this screen has all kinds of options. Here, I’m gonna make you my age!’

’NO.... You’re not!’ Gloria ordered as she jumped out of the way just as the machine restarted. ’We don’t know what we’ve got here. I feel pretty lucky this time....This thing is not a toy!’

Sara frowned as the screen informed her ’No subject present. Sequence halted’

’You know a lot about computers. Maybe you can read thru all of your father’s notes and make heads or tails out of all this. Try to find out how he figured this out and what his plans are...errr were. I’m going upstairs and freshen up. It’s been quite a day... to say the least.

’~OK~’ Sara whined as she picked up a pile of papers.

Gloria headed upstairs and Sara began reading. Some of the writings were very technical but others were more down to earth. She tried to separate the technical notes from the others. She also noticed that her father had scribbled dates and times on most of the notes. She sorted thru them and tried to organize them in order. She figured she’d have an easier time of understanding what she was reading if it was all in order. After a couple of hours she heard the voice of one of her classmates from behind her.

’Sara, how’re you, like, coming along? Any good stuff?’

It wasn’t one of her classmates. It only sounded like one of her classmates. It was her mother.... her teenaged mother!