unfringed | File #005 :video

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File #005 :video | written:

[First comes the video, with Walter in his usual labcoat with a makeshift laboratory in the background. It's obvious he's converted his living room into a lab with the sofa and table pushed up against the wall. He has taller tables arranged around with various types of equipment on it and he's looking down at some notes before he starts speaking, clearly reading what he's written.]

Hello, Luceti. My name is Doctor Walter Bishop. If you are seeing this, which I hope you are, then you are entered into candidacy for a new position as lab assistant. I am looking for individuals who are at least somewhat familiar with a laboratory setting and it's procedures. You must have an open and willing mind to see beyond that which--

[A microwave beeps and he stops reading, hurrying off excitedly.]

Ooh, popcorn's done!

[He comes back with a freshly popped bag of popcorn a few moments later and plops back in his seat, emptying the contents into a bowl off screen as he rereads his note.]

Where was I.... Open mind...lab....experiments... Ah! Yes, here we are.

To see beyond that which modern science calls "conventional." Those with mechanical expertise or degrees in physics or biochemistry are highly favored. It also helps if you can cook well or have an EZ-Bake Oven. Has anyone seen one recently? Such shame not to have one.

Oh, and yes here--

[He holds up his note, written in a careful left-handed slant to the camera so people can read it.]

Position: Lab Assistant
Hours: As necessary

Description: Looking for individuals who are at least somewhat familiar with a laboratory setting and it's procedures. You must have an open and willing mind to see beyond that which modern science calls "conventional." Those with mechanical expertise or degrees in physics or biochemistry are highly favored.

Extra Skills: Ability to cook, access to technology (EZ-Bake Oven), love of music, ability to work well under stress.

[He drops the notice and grabs a handful of popcorn.]

Please inquire within. O-or here, I suppose. I can answer any questions you may have since you'll be working for me.

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[Well, she doesn't have a degree in physics or biochemistry, and as far as 'laboratory procedures' go she's only too familiar with being the subject of them, but she can't help but wonder...]

Are you looking for someone to cook for you in addition to doing all of this laboratory work? That sounds like two positions, not one.

[~~And what the heck is an EZ-Bake Oven?~~]

Oh, no, I can cook quite well - it's just sometimes I'm very distracted and can't. Also, they should be aware there will be food in the lab. My son often complained because he couldn't tell the difference between his breakfast and my experiments. He nearly ate an ear once and could have died.

[He munches on his popcorn and then squints at the little screen.]

...Has anyone told you that you're very pretty?

[Wait, what breakfast food ever looks like an ear? Maybe bacon, if it was tied in a knot...]

[...waitwhat.]

I-I'm sorry? [Elizabeth sounds very flustered by the comment and has some trouble recovering. Probably from how out-of-nowhere the compliment comes from.] Well, um, yes, actually. My fiance isn't stingy with his praise, I suppose.

Oh, how wonderful. Congratulations, my dear. I was just afraid that since you seemed rather confused that perhaps you always looked that way and no one ever told you.

How long have you been engaged?

[Well that's an... interesting way of putting it. Elizabeth laughs a little at the strange way of wording it, but she supposes it's true. Gai never minced words, but no one in Columbia had really praised her like he does. So perhaps she had always looked this way and no one had ever told her.]

Since Christmas Eve. We haven't set a date yet, but I think we're enjoying being engaged for the moment.

[This is a topic she could talk for days on, careful Walter.]

That's lovely. A long engagement is a very good way to get to know each other better. My wife and I--

[He stops, thinking of his wife and then shakes his head. No, not a good topic.]

Is he from your universe?

[Elizabeth knows, very well, what that cut off sentence means. Sad topic, and Walter is either suffering from being separated from his wife or he, like Booker, lost her. She doesn't pursue it for that reason. No need to rub it in.]

No, actually. He's from the year 2039, and I'm from 1912. Somehow we just fit together, though.

Oh. Oh! How delightful! Both times, actually - not that I've experienced either, but I do have quite the love affair with early Americana and the idea of time travel.

It's amazing that you found each other here.

It is-- we met at a very crowded, very loud party too. He could have easily just not seen me, or not spoken to me. And I'm not sure I want to know where I'd be if he hadn't.

...wait, early Americana and time travel? Or time travel in early America? [Because while Robert and Rosalind's work was technically in dimensions and not time travel, it does sound familiar enough for her to wonder.]

Was there time travel in early America? I wouldn't be surprised if someone attempted it at the very least, but at least in my universe it still hasn't been developed.

And what a wonderful story - it's like you two were destined to meet. I met my wife through a mutual friend at a science conference. It was... It was a magical day.

Well, maybe in some version of early America. I can't imagine that my universe is the only one with someone like Jules Verne-- dreaming of what science could accomplish.

Oh! So you're both scientists? It must have been very easy to find things to talk about.

Oh it can't be - Jules Verne is quite popular even in my time among the literary and scientific communities. Well-- You can't really be a part of either without knowing him, to be honest.

And...Well, I was a scientist. Belly was, too. El-- She was just a wonderful person. A better person than I ever was.

That's what I thought! But I guess, where I come from, everyone was more concerned with 'facts' instead of fiction. Science, and history, and advancement... so little art that wasn't concerned with one of those things.

[Elizabeth frowns slightly at her journal and tilts her head.] You sound like my friend. So I can say that I have experience with people who fall in love with good people. If they mourn the good love they lose, they tend to be good people too. Maybe not saints, but who is, really?

Those are equally as important, but without the arts and imagination, the facts cannot flourish. We get our best ideas from flights of fancy - the idea of challenging what is known to create something new.

And it's very kind of you to say, my dear, but I am the furthest from a saint that one can ever get.

Yeah? That's what the man who rescued me, twice, says. It doesn't convince me. [There's a bit of a laugh in her voice, but it's true. Booker maintains that he's a terrible person, that he doesn't deserve any good things in his life-- and that's something Elizabeth is fighting tooth and nail against. It's almost a reflex now.]

And the man responsible for my education. And the man I'm going to marry. I guess I tend to attract those types for some reason.

I would tell you to reconsider your choices, but to be honest, without women like you to keep us from our destructive paths, we might be worse off.

Exactly. That's what I'm doing, I'm keeping them all out of trouble. [Not really--she loves them all just the way they are. She knew ~~mostly~~ who they were, some of the things they were responsible for, and given what she was...]

Besides... it isn't as though I'm perfect either.

Perfect or not, they are lucky to have you looking out for them.

...My son used to do that. Until he found out what I did...we're better now, but I don't think I'll ever be able to repair the damage I caused. I think maybe that is why he isn't here. It's punishment.

If it was a punishment, I guess that would mean we were all being punished for something. But everything is so disjointed, so happenstance... and there's a chance to find friendship and love here. If we were being punished, we would always be miserable here, right?

[...Such hope in someone so young. Yes, hope was for the young. He looks at the video screen for a moment, and then is glad that this is only audio. He doesn't have to avert his eyes and keep her from seeing how close he is to breaking. His research keeps him grounded, but without Peter he's lost. He is afraid all the time and he's scared that whatever is happening at home will happen without him. How is he supposed to let his son go into that machine alone? He knows he has to let him go, but he can't let him go alone.

After a long pause, he responds.]

...Yes, of course, my dear. You are correct. Congratulations on your engagement.

...did I say something wrong? [Elizabeth can only read the sudden congratulations as an indication that she's upset him somehow. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned love to someone who had lost their wife.]

No. No, you said nothing wrong. I just-- I have much research to do before I can retire for the night. And an assistant or two to find, still.

There is nothing you did wrong.

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File #005 :video | written:

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[Audio] ((HOW DID SO MUCH TIME GO BY ALREADY ALKSDJFLDS))

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