Andrea dressed up and left her room. She went to the internet cafe that was located at the top floor of the hotel. "2 hours usage please," she told the caretaker as she paid him a $10 bill.

"Let's see," she typed into the search bar, "How to get out of the future."

What greeted her search was something that she least expected.

Time travel to the past is physically impossible. The famous equation, E = mc 2 specifies that energy is equivalent to mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. Time travel into the future is theoretically possible. Travel near the speed of light for a considerable length of time- two weeks for example. When you return to Earth, you may not have aged but the Earth would have aged two weeks. That's how you travel into the future.

What a coincidental example, thought Andrea.

But the same cannot be said about travelling into the past. As an object approaches the speed of light, it approaches infinite mass and requires infinite energy to continue propelling it forward. This does not prohibit traveling into the future, since all we need to do is approach the light barrier. But to travel into the past, we need to break the light barrier, and this would require energy greater than infinite, which is definitely impossible.

That means I can't get back into the past, Andrea thought. I wonder who wrote this article? She saw that it was written by a certain Dr G.Khan, who was a scientist. Andrea became a bit excited when she saw that he was working in the same university that she was in when she still existed- Usrington University.

I think I better go there right now and try to meet him. He might understand my predicament, Andrea thought. After all, if Doc could have the DeLorean, probably Dr Khan could have a time machine as well.

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The Anglo-Indian scientist known as Dr Gabriel Khan walked into his open-plan office that he had been occupying for the past 22 years. He caressed his grey hair, which was even messier than the day before. He sighed and looked into his office that he had occupied ever since he had become a scientist.

Unlike several other scientists, Dr Khan had made numerous breakthroughs. Sure, the university was paying him a fixed salary ever month, but Dr Gabriel Khan was well-known for coming up with breakthoughs that completely revolutionized the scientific community, including his hypothesis of time running in reverse inside black holes. What he was about to learn that day, however, was to completely change his life.

*************************

Andrea walked into Dr Khan's laboratory in a flash that made Dr Khan startled. Dr Khan was baffled at her appearance, and asked her, "Do I know you?"

"You too?" asked Andrea with a sad tone in her voice.

"No seriously, I've never seen you in the university before," said Dr Khan, "Are you a new student?"

"Doctor, I need your help, please," said Andrea, "My name's Andrea and I saw your article on time travel on the Internet."

"My dear, everyone has seen it," said the scientist, "And many of them knew I'm writing."

"Dr Khan, I'm from the past. I travelled two weeks into the future."

"You're bluffing," said the scientist, "Time travel is physically impossible."

"Dr Khan, you have to believe me," begged Andrea, "Just hear my story out, please."

The scientist heard Andrea's story reluctantly, having mixed thoughts. While he thought that Andrea was cooking up a story, his instincts told him that Andrea's story was true.

"You're name's Andrea, right?" he asked. Andrea nodded.

"Look Andrea, you have to understand one simple thing: In our world, time travel hasn't been perfected yet. So that means that you can't return to your world."

Andrea was shocked at Dr Khan's revelation.

"Obviously someone has erased your existence in the past," said Dr Khan, "So even if you do return to the past, you'll still not exist."

"Doctor, you've got to help me. Please, I can't bear to live in a world where I don't exist."

"Then you'll have to get used to it."

The doctor was about to walk away, when Andrea made a stunning revelation, "It all started when I met this auburn-eyed guy named Ryan..."

"Auburn-eyed? Are you serious?" said the doctor in shock as he turned behind and rushed to Andrea, "His name was Ryan?"

"Dr Khan, why are you getting so alarmed? Is something going on?"

"Tell me Andrea, did he by any chance get a hold of your mobile phone?"

"Of course. He took my phone without me noticing..."

"Oh dear. OH DEAR!"

"Why Dr, what's wrong?" asked Andrea, "Who's Ryan?"

Dr Khan ignored her question.

"Forgive me if I offended you Andrea," said Dr Khan, "I thought your story was unbelievable, but now that Ryan's in the picture, it's gotten even more complicated."

"What are you talking about?" asked Andrea.

Dr Khan walked into his storeroom and beckoned for Andrea to follow.

"Dr Khan, could you please explain what's going on? Who's Ryan?"

"What I tell you is strictly confidential, alright?" told Dr Khan. Andrea agreed.

He switched on his laptop. Within minutes, he opened a document that had a bluish background to it.

"Someone had came back into time and killed you in the past so that you would never exist," said Dr Khan, "Whoever did that to you certainly has a grudge against you."

"But Dr Khan," said Andrea, "If that person killed me in the past, my entire existence would have been erased. So how am I still here in front of you?"

"That's what doesn't make sense," said Dr Khan, "That would rule that person out as a time traveler."

"So he's from another universe?" Dr Khan nodded.

"Perhaps."

"What does Ryan got to do with this?" Dr Khan ignored Andrea's question.

Dr Khan took Andrea's hand and walked into a room inside the store.

"What's this?"

"It's my TiMo," said Dr Khan, "Everyone doesn't believe that this technology exists. Well, except the CIA."

"How is this going to help?" asked Andrea.

"It's works as a time machine and also a navigator between parallel universes," said Dr Khan, "We're going to travel back to the date you were last in.Then we can think about the rest there."

"Are you sure this is safe?" asked Andrea, "Have you done this before?"

"Andrea, you did read my biography on the Internet right?" She nodded.

"Where do you think I would have gotten those scientific discoveries if I didn't use this?" said Dr Khan in a sarcastic tone.

Dr Khan stepped into the machine and Andrea followed him. The door of the machine closed behind them.

"Alright. The date's set," said Dr Khan, "We're going back to October 30th 2015, the same time where you were last known by anyone else."

"Dr Khan," said Andrea with a jovial tone, "Thank you for doing this."

"I'd be willing to do anything to time-travel again," said Dr Khan, "Let's go and get your future back." Dr Khan chuckled.

He pressed the green button located on the wall and at once, the two of them disappeared into oblivion. A blinding flash of bluish-green light filled the room as Dr Gabriel Khan and Andrea Walker left their own time and vanished completely into the unknown.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5