The Folds of Time

Paxton fidgeted in the regal leather chair before the imposing oak desk of Warren Lancey, barely containing his excitement. Though he was a man of seventy-four, on this day, he felt as though he were twenty again. Moreover, even though it had been over twelve hours since the time fold, he still wanted to jump with joy. If only he could shout out the news of his success for the whole world to hear.
"It worked very precisely and exactly as it was supposed to, Warren! It was—beautiful."
Warren put the comm tab he was looking over down on his desk and looked at Paxton for a few seconds. "There is no doubt that the pod traveled to the year 1169 and returned without any problem?" he asked very conservatively. He was determined that he would not become caught up in Paxton’s excitement. It was his opinion that level heads needed to prevail.
Paxton moved forward in his chair and put his hands on the edge of Warren's desk. "There's no doubt whatsoever of that. The data from the test run is conclusive! We did it!"
With Warren in overall charge of Gardner's time project for four years, they finally achieved full success. Paxton's work at first appeared somewhat doubtful to many but quickly took on enough promise to warrant Talcon building an entire department around it. For the first two and a half years, it was a struggle to keep the project going due to some setbacks from time to time. However, he had continued to back Gardner's work, as many of his peers derided him behind his back. Nevertheless, he continued to see the potential in the work that Paxton had been doing.
Warren was sitting in his office with the news that the project was a huge success. Though he knew he should be extremely happy with that great news, for some reason he could not pinpoint, he felt just the opposite. He had the thought that he should be one of the people jumping up and down and shouting from the rooftop that he was right after all. However, he instead had a feeling of foreboding that he just could not shake, no matter how much he tried.
Why he felt that way was something that Warren could not quite put his finger on. There had been an incredible amount of time, effort, and money put into Gardner's project over the past five years.
A full year before Talcon Industries formed the Department for Temporal Studies, they quietly backed Gardner to see what wonders he could possibly make happen. When Paxton had achieved just enough wonders, Warren pushed for a dedicated department with full funding within Talcon Industries.
At its inception, the Department for Temporal Studies had been designated a secret project and, as such, was given the code name Green. Now that Project Green worked as advertised and he would have a major success to add to his resume, Warren felt in his gut that, for some reason, he should be very wary. It bothered him that he could not quite put his finger on what the barely perceived problem was, but it was there nonetheless.
"And how would you, as the lead scientist, recommend that the program proceed from here?" Warren asked, though he could very well surmise what the answer would likely be.
With little hesitation, Paxton replied, "I want to make one more test run to verify it's working properly, and then I want to go back myself."
And there it was, just as he suspected. "You personally want to go back?" Warren asked as he glared at Paxton questioningly.
"Yes, back through time," returned Paxton.
Warren laughed, which was not an easy thing for anyone to induce in him in serious situations like this. "You can't possibly be serious, Paxton. Sending the pod back to make observations with sensors is one thing, but sending a person is out of the question. Especially when you consider the project is still in the early stages of the testing phase."
It had always been Warren's view that it was better to have a machine do all the dangerous exploration of new territory. Moreover, it did not matter to him if it was in space or, as it was now, in time. Technology was also something that needed to be demonstrated as trustworthy when it came to protecting human life. Even then, he thought it wise to keep a vigilant eye on it, just in case.
Like a balloon that had burst, Paxton's excitement quickly deflated. "Then what's the purpose of this project? If we are to fully gain knowledge of our past, we have to send someone there to feel, taste, and smell it. A machine can't possibly do all of that."
"The machine, as you say, will give us all that we need to know for now. There is no use in risking human life at this juncture." Warren sighed and shook his head. "Continue with the tests as planned, and send your report to me as soon as you can."
Paxton angrily slammed his fist on the desk. He could not believe that Warren, who had backed and supported him for so long, was now suddenly backpedaling. He began to feel like the dream that he had held so close to his heart for all those long years was suddenly falling to pieces right in front of his eyes. Moreover, the very man whom he had come to see as being one hundred percent behind him was now the one tearing it apart.

"We designed the blasted pods for people to travel in, Warren. I mean, they have touch-screen displays, life support, and seatbelts, for heaven's sake! They're built for people!"
Warren smiled coolly and shook his head. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Paxton. But I'm afraid there will be no personnel allowed to use the pods for time travel—yet. And I'm sure once you've had time to calm down and rationally think about it, you'll come to agree with me."
"I will never agree with any of that. And you should know that I'm beginning to regret that I helped you work your way up through Talcon! I believed in you because I thought you believed in my vision. I thought you understood the dangers of management decisions driven by corporate self-interest. What the blazes happened to you?"
Warren was rapidly becoming agitated with Paxton's overly dramatic ranting, but his cool demeanor remained unchanged as he replied, "The decision to restrict time travel to passive data gathering by machine is in everybody's best interest. And it's really in yours to comply."
The threat couched within Warren's statement infuriated Paxton to no end. In addition, the egotistical air with which he had uttered it was simply more than he could stand. It was like a slap in the face of not only him but also every member of the team that had worked for so long.
Paxton truly felt outright betrayed and undermined. Even though he realized how childish it would most likely look on his part, Paxton felt a deep-seated need to hurt Warren. His emotionally heated mind latched onto the very first thought that entered it and rapidly turned it into speech.
"Without me helping you get where you are now, you wouldn't even be able to make that decision!" Paxton then yelled at Warren even louder, "If I had it all to do over—I'd pass!"
For a long moment, Warren simply sat staring at Gardner without making any comment at all. Finally, he sighed and shrugged as he shook his head slowly and smiled slightly. He then gave Gardner that look that said, 'Sorry, what can I do?'
"You've greatly disappointed me, Warren. I truly believed you were better than that. Perhaps James was right about you after all."