The Girl & the Machine Read Free Page A

paradox or something,” Franklin said weakly.
    “A paradox?”
    “Like, if I went forward in time, I’d break the universe.” He felt rather stupid in front of this girl genius. He should have learned more about his own condition, about the science behind it. He felt like a cancer victim who had never bothered to learn about germs.
    Heather dropped her half-eaten slice back in the box and scooted closer to Franklin. “It doesn’t work like that. You’ve tried to go forward in time, right? And it never worked?”
    Franklin nodded in agreement.
    “It’s like this.” Heather pulled Franklin up and led him to a gurney at the back of the lab. She pushed him onto the wheeled table and started to roll it forward. “For everyone else on Earth, we can only move through time in one direction.” She pushed the gurney forward. “We have no control over how fast we’re going, or that we can only move forward. But you do.” She tapped his knee, and Franklin dropped his foot to the slick, tiled floor, then used the traction of his sneaker to push back against Heather, making the wheels of the gurney go backwards. “But you’re still limited. You have a block of some sort, something that’s preventing you from moving more than backwards and forwards within your own previously-lived timeline. With the machine, we unblock the restrictions you currently have, and you’re free to go anywhere in time that you like.” She pushed him off the gurney, and Franklin was free to move as he wanted to.
    He still didn’t fully understand what the machine would do to him or how it would work, but Heather plopped back down in front of the pizza, satisfied she had fully explained herself.
    “What makes a person like you want to spend her life working on a machine like this?” Franklin asked, sitting back down. He didn’t eat any more. His stomach was upset; his nerves were on edge.
    “You made a lasting impression.” She stared at him with clear, sincere eyes. Then she shrugged. “I’ve always been sort of nerdy, anyway,” Heather said dismissively.
    To be honest, it surprised Franklin. Heather wasn’t super-model gorgeous, but she was hot enough. Her dark skin was smooth, and her hair had been relaxed and twirled up into a cute bun. Heather had a little bit of a hot-librarian-thing going for her. She wasn’t exactly slender, but she had an everyday-girl charm about her that Franklin found attractive.
    She didn’t look like a nerd. Like a genius.
    Gooey cheese slid down her pizza, landing with a greasy plop on the napkin. Heather looked down at it as if surprised she was still eating.
    “I wasn’t always the way I am now,” she said softly. “High school was hell. I was a ‘late bloomer,’ so to say. I didn’t get boobs until I was a junior. I wasn’t into the same things other girls my age were. Didn’t care about make-up or hair products. Never interested in boys.” She glanced up. “I’m not interested in girls, either,” she said somewhat defensively. “I have always only been interested in science. But try defining asexuality to a bunch of horny teenagers in high school. Try explaining to them that you really, sincerely would rather study and learn about physics and genetics than put on cheap glitter and go to a party. It doesn’t really work out well, let me tell you.”
    “I’m sorry,” Franklin said.
    Something like steel edged the look in Heather’s eyes. “I’ve changed some since then,” Heather said. “I had to.”
    She tossed her head toward the light gleaming from the machine. She wore a little makeup—just a thin outline of turquoise around her eyes and a burgundy shade of lipstick—and she’d obviously done her hair for both looks and practicality. For the first time, however, Franklin realized that Heather had carefully manufactured her appearance not so much to look good, but the same way a warrior might wear armor. Her neat, slightly preppy clothes, the way she did her face—it was