TSJ #36, Chapter 13: A Woman Scorned

WHEN TOM SWIFT JR. returned to his laboratory he was surprised to see Phyllis Newton waiting on him. Phyl was sitting impatiently on a chair right outside his door. The teenage girl was wearing a long, yellow dress and clutched a matching purse. Tom could tell by the look in her eyes that she was extremely angry.

“Where have you been?” she demanded. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you?”

Tom was taken aback. “I’m sorry – nobody told me you were coming! I honestly had no idea. I just stepped out for a few minutes to get a bit of fresh air, and–”

“What do you mean, today? I’ve been waiting on you since last week! You promised you’d get back with me as soon as you returned from space. Remember? You promised!”

Tom winced. “I’m sorry. You’re right. It’s just that there’s been a lot of things going on. You see–”

“There are always a lot of things going on,” Phyl complained. “You seem to have plenty of time to go to Neptune, but somehow you can never find time for me.”

“You’re right,” Tom agreed. “I have been terrible. I’m going to make some time for you right here and right now. Come with me.”

The young inventor unlocked the door to his laboratory and invited Phyl inside, Still fuming, Phyl entered the room and Tom closed the door behind him. She was surprised to see a semi in the middle of his lab but she said nothing. Her mind was elsewhere.

As soon as the door closed Tom walked over to his workbench and activated the time dilator. I hate doing this, but I really don’t have time for her right now, he thought to himself. At least this will give me a bit of an edge. I just wish she hadn’t picked this exact moment to come over! I’ve got so much to do before Bud gets back.

“What’s that?” Phyl asked, pointing to the time dilator.

“It’s, um, a bit complicated. It’s kind of hard to explain.”

“I’m not the village idiot,” Phyl snapped. “You don’t need to patronize me. If you can explain it to Bud then you can explain it to me.”

Tom was surprised at her sharp attitude. “Are you ok? I haven’t seen you like this before. What’s bothering you?”

“You really don’t know? After everything you’ve done to me, you honestly have no idea why I’m upset?”

What is she talking about? Tom thought. As he tried to listen to the angry girl in front of him, out of the corner of his eye he suddenly noticed that some papers were missing from his workbench. He turned his head and saw that all his Dr. Reisenbach’s notes on the time trigger were gone. “No!” Tom cried out. He ran over and began a hasty search for the missing notes. His heart sank as he realized they were gone.

“You’re not even listening to me!” Phyl shouted.

“I’m sorry,” Tom apologized. “I’m so sorry about this. I’m afraid that right now just isn’t a good time. I think someone’s been into my lab and stolen something.”

Phyl’s anger boiled over. “I don’t care, Tom. I really don’t. I hope they’ve stolen everything you’ve got! What I care about is that we are finished. Do you hear me? Finished! I’ve had it up to here with you and I’m not going to take it any more. There are plenty of other guys out there – guys that will actually pay attention to me.”

That stopped Tom in his tracks. “What? What do you mean, we’re finished?”

“Don’t give me that,” Phyl shot back. “You figure it out, ‘genius boy’! The only time you’ll ever go out with me is when Sandy and I twist your arm. I’m tired of it! I’m tired of playing second fiddle to a girl who’s been dead for years. I’m not doing it anymore. It’s over. I should never have gotten mixed up with you in the first place.”

“You mean Irene?” Tom asked, puzzled.

“Of course I mean Irene! She’s all you’ve been able to think about for years. Why, I bet that stupid truck over there even has something to do with her. Everything you do does! Tell me I’m wrong, Tom. Go ahead. Tell me that gizmo on your desk has nothing to do with Irene.”

Tom felt acutely miserable. His plans had been stolen and his girlfriend was having a complete meltdown. He was at a total loss. I don’t know what to say, Tom thought, as Phyl stared at him.

“Well?” she demanded.

“Hold on,” Tom said suddenly. “Do you hear something?”

Phyl stopped. “Of course I hear something! I’ve heard that growling sound for the past five minutes. Isn’t that normal?”

Tom shook his head. Ice-cold fear shot though his veins as he realized what the sound meant. He walked over to the window and looked outside. What he saw confirmed his worst fears. A cloud of utter darkness was racing toward the laboratory at blinding speed!

When Phyl saw the look of utter terror on his face she walked over and glanced outside. “What’s that?” she asked.

“Doomsday,” Tom replied, barely able to speak. A feeling of total panic overwhelmed him. He had never felt so afraid and helpless in all his life. “It’s the end of the world.”

A moment later the cloud engulfed them. To his surprise the laboratory remained unharmed. The rest of the building, however, melted away into complete oblivion. A moment later the power went out, plunging the room into shadows.

Tom reached over onto his workbench and felt around for a flashlight. He turned it on and looked around the room. The entire laboratory appeared to be intact, but he could see nothing but blackness beyond.

“What just happened?” Phyl asked, her voice quivering. “Is this another one of your experiments?”

Tom found himself unable to speak. He knew exactly what had happened but he could not form words. The magnitude of the event overwhelmed his sense. He felt crushing sorrow and remorse – a bitter pain that dwarfed even the death of Irene. It was as if everything cheerful and happy inside him had been erased, replaced by the blackest depression.

“I’ve destroyed the world,” Tom said at last. He felt as if he would never be happy again. “It’s gone. Everything is gone.”

Phyl felt herself start to panic. “That doesn’t make any sense. How could the world be gone? What did you do?”

Wearily, Tom told her about the nanites. “Ed must have disregarded my warning and created a batch of them anyway. It looks like they got out of hand and consumed everything. In a few minutes there will be nothing left anywhere.”

Phyl’s eyes widened in horror. “Can’t you do something about it? Isn’t there some way to stop it?”

Tom shook his head. “I built a kill switch into the nanites, but Ed must have made a mistake when he manufacturing them. I knew he would – that’s why I told him to not make them in the first place. The batch that he made can’t be turned off.”

“If you knew this was going to happen then why did you give them to him?” Phyl screamed. “Why did you give him something that could destroy the whole world? What got into you?”

“I didn’t mean for this to happen!” Tom protested. “All I wanted to do is go back in time and save–” and then he stopped, realizing what he was about to say.

Phyl finished his sentence for him. “And save Irene, you mean. Is that what all this is about? You were willing to risk the safety of all life on Earth just so you could save your girlfriend? And I can’t even get you to go out on a date with me!”

“I’m sorry,” Tom replied, utterly crushed. “I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just thought I could save her. If Ed had listened to me none of this would have happened.”

“If you hadn’t been obsessed with Irene none of this would have happened!” Phyl shot back. “The world would still be out there today if you had just moved on with your life – if you had actually loved me, instead of treating me like some dumb obligation. I never meant anything to you!”

“That’s not true,” Tom protested.

“If Irene had wanted to go out with you last week, would you have put her off?” Phyl demanded. “Would you have given her a rain check and gone to Neptune instead? Would you, Tom?”

“I’m sorry,” Tom repeated. He felt like a dead man. “It just all went wrong. This wasn’t part of the plan.”

There was silence for a while. Phyl eventually spoke up. “Hey Tom – if the whole world has been destroyed then why aren’t we dead?”

“The time dilator is protecting us,” Tom explained. He told her about his invention and how it manipulates the flow of time. “The nanites can’t get inside the field. Fortunately it has its own power supply, so it didn’t turn off when the electricity was cut off.”

“So can’t you use that field to protect everyone else?” Phyl asked.

Tom shook his head. “The generator was only designed to protect this lab. Even if I did extend its range it’s already too late to protect Shopton – the damage has been done. And if I shut down the field now so we could move it somewhere else, we’d be instantly consumed by the nanites.”

“Wonderful,” Phyl replied. “So we’re the last two people left on Earth?”

“Well, there’s also the outpost in space, Nestria, and Bartonia,” Tom pointed out. “They won’t have been effected by the nanites. But that’s all.”

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to fix this,” Tom replied. “I’ve got to! It’s up to me, Phyl. There’s no one else left who can do it.”

“What about Tom IV? You stole the time machine plans from him, right? Can’t you get him to do it?”

“I don’t have a way to reach him anymore,” Tom explained. “After the recent break-in Tom IV put a lock on his Negative Zone. In order to open it I’d need to be able to reproduce his electronic key. That’s something I can’t do – Tom IV kept that to himself.”

“But your Zone still exists,” Phyl replied. “Why, it’s right over there! You don’t have to reproduce anything.”

Tom shook his head. “That was just where the tunnel manifested itself. The actual machinery that generates the Zone itself is huge – it’s buried underground, well outside the laboratory. It’s gone.”

“So I guess it really is up to you,” Phyl said.

Tom got back to work on his time machine. At first he was concerned about the loss of his notes, but after a few hours he realized that was actually a blessing in disguise. Since he didn’t have those notes to use as a crutch, his brain was forced to resolve the problem. He soon began realizing what pieces he had been missing.

The first problem was finding a way to restore power to his laboratory. He ultimately decided to tap into the atomic power capsules that powered the atomicar. The energy he needed to finish the time trigger was negligible compared to the power they could produce. After running a few cables and building an interface he was able to restore electricity to his lab.

“How long do I have to stay in this room?” Phyl asked. “I want to get out of here.”

“You have to stay at least until the cloud collapses. When the blackness goes away it should be safe to turn off the field. In theory, anyway. I wouldn’t want to try it.”

“I’m certainly not going to stay in here with you,” Phyl replied pointedly. “As soon as that cloud disappears I’m going to get transported up to the outpost. Or maybe Nestria. Anyplace but here.”

Tom nodded, but said nothing.

It took hours for the black cloud to dissipate, but eventually the darkness cleared. Phyl shivered when she saw what was left of the world. One of the laboratory walls had been outside the field and was eaten away, revealing the frightening outside world. There was nothing left but a flat blue sky and a flat, endless sea of green nanites.

“It’s horrible,” Phyl said. “Are you sure it’s safe to turn off the time dilator?”

“No, I’m not. I didn’t build those nanites and I don’t really know what other flaws they might have. It’s possible that when I shut down the time field they might re-energize and consume this lab. I just know.”

“Can I be transported through the time field?” Phyl asked.

“I’m afraid not. The time difference creates too much distortion.”

“Then I guess I’ll stay here,” she replied grumpily. “At least for now.”

It took two more days for Tom to finish his time trigger. He was now glad that he had been storing food in his lab. At least we’re not hungry, he thought.

“So what are you going to do now?” Phyl asked. Her mood had not improved with time.

“What do you mean?” Tom asked. “I’m going to go back in time and stop Ed from creating the nanites. What did you think I was going to do?”

Phyl shook her head. “No you’re not. You’re going to go back in time and save Irene. You might stop on the way back to the future and talk to Ed, but that’s not going to be your first jump.”

“Traveling into the past is very dangerous,” Tom protested. “Making two jumps backwards is far more hazardous than just making one. It makes much more sense to get Irene first.”

“And what about jumping into the future?” Phyl asked. “Isn’t that equally dangerous?”

“Oh, no – that’s the easy part. I can just use my time dilator to adjust the speed of time. That part of the trip won’t be a problem.”

“I still don’t think you should save her,” Phyl said flatly.

“Why not?” Tom asked, surprised.

Phyl shook her head. “You’re just not thinking anymore, are you? Don’t you realize that you’re the only person that can fix this planet? If you go back in time to save Irene and something goes wrong then the whole world is doomed!”

“It’s not like that,” Tom protested. “I have a plan. Nothing will go wrong.”

“You had a plan about the nanites, too, and look what happened! Your ‘plan’ led to the extinction of all life on Earth. Stop fooling around, Tom, and get serious! Save the world. Don’t put it in jeopardy again just to save someone who’s been dead for years. It’s a stupid thing to do.”

“I haven’t come this far to give up now,” Tom replied evenly. “I can do this.”

“No, you can’t,” Phyl replied.

Tom looked at her awkwardly. “I guess I’ll be going, then.”

Phyl shook her head. “You’re a fool, Tom. I just hope you can save the world. How long do you think it will take?”

“It should be instantaneous. As soon as I disappear the world should go back to the way it was. If it doesn’t, then I’ve failed and there’s no hope.”

“What will happen to me when you change the past?” Phyl asked. “I mean, I remember the world being destroyed, but you’re going change it so that event never happened. Does that mean I’ll remember something different?”

“I don’t know,” Tom confessed. “I’ve never done this before. I guess we’ll find out.”

Tom looked at Phyl, hoping she would say something encouraging, but she only shook her head. He sighed, got into the cab of the semi, and activated the time trigger. The machine disappeared in a flash of purple light.