Artificially Intelligent

Chapter 4

          Bindy, my dad, and I finally get ourselves together. I scan the terrain. All I can for miles is snow. It's almost as blinding as the ceiling in the weird room. I swear it's magic.

          My dad, being smart, brought my collapsible golf cart like vehicle that I made him a while back. It was designed to fit two people, so we are a little cramped in the seats. Who cares? It has a compact heating unit, is able to get us out of here, and runs off of running. It works with the same technological idea as a hamster wheel or a dam. A wheel turns when the vehicle moves, causing other gears to turn the gears that turn the wheels on the axle.

          The vehicle also has the survival kit Bindy and I made when we were eight. The kit contains a plethora of non perishable food items, a machine that converts snow and ice into water quickly and purifies it, and a whole lot of other stuff like matches, knives, and a pare of thick glasses. We were reading "The Lord of the Flies" at the time and did this for extra credit, okay!

          A long time goes by and Bindy falls asleep before we get to the nearest group of people. Aside from the whistling and roaring wind, it is silent. No one is saying anything. It's killing me!

         When we finally reach the nearest humans, they look at us as if they see a ghost. "No one ever comes this far north." one says, "The nearest airport is down this road a few miles, in Hammerfest." Hammerfest? We're in Norway! I think to myself.

         We thank them and drive for another thirteen miles. Finally, we reach the "nearest airport". There is exactly one plane and the runway was so thickly blanketed with snow that the landing gear seem nonexistent.

         We walk into the adjacent building to the plane and warm up. We ask the only person at the counter if there is a flight back home, but the pilot is at home and no one else can fly. My dad is a pilot, but he says nothing. He looks exhausted, so I leave him be. The person at the counter offers to let us stay the night in the building for free, so we except. It's free. Why not? Plus, it's cold outside, so we're staying.

         The next morning, we wake up to see a grand total of no one else here, besides the counter person. "Apparently, the pilot says he will be here at 7:59." the counter person says as if they hate the world. I look at their name tag to find that their name is "[insert name here]". Welp...that helps a lot. Thank you, name tag, you are very informative. Bravo!

         Some time passes and the pilot walks into the building. "Hi Jemma," he says receiving a less than pleased "hi" in response.

         "SO THAT'S HER NAME!" I think as the sound waves rush over us.

         The pilot leads us to the plain. Something seems off. I don't know if it's the pilot, the setting, or something else.

         "Soooooooooooooooo...what's your name?" I ask as the introverted part of me screams at me to stop, and the science part pushes me on.

         "Copernicus," he replies setting off several alarms in my head. Who did we just meet who has a name alluding to one of Copernicus' theory. Oh craaaaaaa...crud. I'm tiered of thinking of possible answers.

         I devise a plan to figure out who he really is. If he's as stupid as I think he is, then it should work. For his sake, I hope it doesn't. "In that case, can you explain the Heliocentric model of our solar system?"

         "What?! I'm at the center of the...oh," he says probably committing the biggest act of stupidity in history. I look for a parachute or some other method of escape, but to no avail. What the heck is wring with this plane?

         I reach for the knife I took to use as a bluff to make him land, but the abnormally sudden take off stops me.

         "Why are you here?" I ask.

         "I'm getting you back to your time."

         "Time?" I start. then, I look up to see a perfect image of World War II dissolve into a house in the woods. The plane finally stops inside a lab/living room. And guess who's there. Mr. Umbra in the flesh. I look for a way out...nothing. I am not surprised.

         "Okay, you're here," I say, "in that cose, how did that work?"

         "What do you mean?" Umbra replies.

         "The only way that you could theoretically travel to the future is by going faster than the speed of light, and that was about 80 miles per hour. I like 'Back to the Future' as much as the next nerd, but the important word in 'science fiction' is 'fiction'. Also, how'd we get to the past in the first place?"

         "It's magic," Helio replies.

         "Magic? Give me one real life example of magic."

         "The time traveling plane." my dad chimed in.

         I give a weak laugh and spend most of the rest of the day trying to figure this out.