Romanowski and Rosemary

1. Welcome back

A flurry of claps resounded in the pristine white room of the lab as Cheryl groggily opened her eyes. The broad circular light on the ceiling cast its sharp glow over her eyes, making her wince. 

"Cheryl Martinez, welcome back to the 21st century!" The scientists and mentors jeered as she attempted to sit up. Confetti popped around the corners as the people of the department, incredibly proud, clapped without a stop.

She squinted her eyes, feeling so tired and heavy, as if she had been carrying the weight of the world over her shoulders. The air around her smelt like medicines and disinfectants, strangely mechanical. It had been so long that her nose scrunched at the artificial whiff of air. And then she realised she would never get that freshness of the 4th century again. 

That made her sad. Glancing at the small monitor attached to her bed, the words C. Martinez 04 successful arrival were flashing in neon green.

Weakly, she raised two thumbs to the cheering team, but even smiling was taking a toll. Everywhere, a dull pain echoed through her.

"What year, what my age…?" she managed to squeak out the question that had been bothering her for the longest time. She had spent five years in the 4th century BCE (which, by the way, seemed to have gone by too fast).

Now the fact was worrying her if she was twenty-eight already.

"We are halfway through 2022," one of the scientists informed, checking the reports. "You were twenty-three when we transported you in the year 2020. So your current age is twenty-five-plus."

Cheryl gawked, absorbing the strangeness of it. "But I spent… five whole years in there?" She sounded more like asking than telling.

Dr Samuel chuckled, "Ms Martinez, are you sure you haven't calculated the wrong duration of your stay there?" 

"No." she closed her eyes, pressing her temples. "All the historical events I witnessed happened… between the years 333BCE to 329BCE, five years," she murmured. 

"She is correct," Dr Adrian, the head of the project, confirmed as he examined the newly gained data on his monitor. "Because of their prolonged stay in the ancient years, the effect of reverse time dilation came into play. That means 2.5 years in the 4th century BCE equated to 1 year here." 

He turned around in his roundabout chair to face her. "This concept actually defies physics laws, but it's not surprising since time travelling has already broken a lot many laws," he concluded.

This was too fascinating as Cheryl listened to everything. "Oh. That's why I was having this strange feeling… like time was going faster in that… era." She was made to lean against the pillows as a doctor checked the tubes connecting her.

Dr Cordon, who was working on a monitor connecting a large digital screen, answered for her. "We can understand the effect you felt based on space-time differences. For you and the ancient people, the three dimensions were the same, except the fourth one, which is time. 

"This dimension moved faster for time travellers compared to the ancient humans, despite both being in the same world. That's quite mind-boggling, and we are constantly working on this hypothesis." He piped in. 

Before he could inquire about something else, Cheryl hastily asked, "And how did killing ourselves transport us back?"

The scientist nodded. "After the failure of progressive declaration, we programmed the electric compulsion in such a way that it could detect a dying heartbeat, and thus activate itself. 

"We gave you the electric compulsion, which partially killed you to transport you to the 4th century. This time we applied the reverse formula, where you partially killed yourself to restart the electric compulsion." He shrugged.