Dr. Spend turned on the machine. He looked around his lab one last time trying to remember every detail, every sparkling test tube, all the buzzing computers, the clean, white countertops.
“Doctor, Doctor, are you ready?” Lucas the lab assistant asked.
“Yes, I’ll be fine.” The doctor said as he climbed into the machine. Upon sitting in the cool, white leather seat, the world turned to fast forward. Dr. Spend saw, in just a few short minutes, the lab become old and useless; the countertops turn to gray with dust, the computers shut down, the mice, now free of their cages, scurrying around. The doctor remained stoic, for this was expected. He watched as men rebuilt the lab. They brought in new technology; odd-looking pieces of plastic went on windows, large pieces of shining copper were set on glass desktops, large panels of walls moved at the push of a button, revealing more strange, new technology. People rushed in and out, writing on clipboards, prodding at plants and animals surely not of this world. One animal looked to be made of rubies, another was ash in the shape of an insect, others looked like giant tarantulas, and some even looked partly robotic. The plants only grew in weird orange soil. Some had small limbs that held incredible flowers; others looked like they were crystalline, though the majority looked to be dead. Soon, the machine slowed to a stop in the year 2057. Men in white lab coats bustled around, studying strange, blackened figures with six-fingered hands.
One man, who looked about 40, wearing a white coat and glasses, stopped the doctor, “Who are you? You aren’t part of the research team?”
“I am Dr. Spend, this is my lab.”
“Sir, Dr. Spend dies in 2032. We rebuilt this lab to honor him.”
“No, I am Dr. Spend.” The doctor was almost yelling, “I have travelled here in a machine I built. I AM DR. SPEND!” People studying the charred figures looked up from their work.
One man gasped, “Is it really you?”
“Of course it’s really me!” the doctor exclaimed. “Who else would I be?”
The man introduced himself as Lucas Winder, the doctor’s old lab assistant. He explained that after seeing no sign of the doctor for 50 years, he was pronounced dead, and the lad rebuilt. The doctor was caught up on what had happened while he was gone. The bodies, he learned were those of Martians, which was where most people lived now. “Only scientist stayed behind on earth.” Winder told the doctor.
“An earth filled with only science?!” the doctor asked excitedly, “I think I’ll stay here!”