After being disappointed about the future, Celine's eyes widened as she entered one of the one-floor buildings. Chad brought her to the mall and explained to her that the buildings now are inverted. The reason behind it is the rise of flying cars and giant mushrooms.
Now that they are taking the tube elevator to go down to the restaurant area, she can't believe that she's seeing the futuristic look of this building. It's underground and you can see a preview of every floor. They were able to take off their gas masks since it's already safe.
She realized that they are wearing some dorky gas masks compared to other people around. It's embarrassing but she just comforts herself about the fact that no one will recognize her anyway. She was stuck from home for a long time trying to be a good academic writer.
"We're here! Let's go eat!" Chad informed her and sounds excited.
It's obvious that he loves food so much but doesn't have so much time to eat out. For sure, he's always stuck inside the lab and eats through food delivery. That may be their one thing in common. She hardly goes out of her place unless Derek forces her to have a date somewhere else.
Celine feels sad in an instant just by remembering Derek. If she didn't travel through time, nine years would have passed by now. But she doesn't consider it that way because she was just in 2021 yesterday. Maybe the future will help her forget the pain she's feeling right now. She will be assisting Drake to build a time travel gadget anyway.
The restaurant they are now in looks futuristic. It looks like Chad prepared for this time traveler's tour for her. They sit face to face in the chairs without a table in the middle. It's very odd as well as interesting enough to be a good conversation piece. But she didn't feel like talking. It will take more than a missing table for her to start a conversation.
An android robot approaches them and Chad faces it and taps on its screen. It shows how to order from the robot and also the menu. Everything looks great and instagramable. That's why everyone around in this restaurant is taking pictures of their food first before eating. It's similar to the year she came from and nothing new about it.
"What do you want to eat? I'll order for you!" Chad asked.
"Just get me whatever you're having." She answered lazily.
"That's no fun! I'm choosing a different dish so we can take a selfie with the food." He decided to choose the food on the screen.
When Chad is done ordering, the Android robot rolls away from them to prepare their food. Celine realized that there are no human employees around. The only people in this place are the customers. Everyone is also busy looking at their smartphones as they eat. Looks like screen addiction got worse in the future.
"How did the robots cook the food around here? I don't see any human employees." She finally asked a question that made Chad smile.
"They don't exactly need to cook the food for their customers. The food here is printed using a 3D food printing machine." He explained.
"So you mean, we have to eat fake food?" She exclaimed.
"Of course not! It's still real food but like instant food." Chad explained.
Before Celine could say anything, a bigger robot rolled towards them. It then projected the table and served the dishes Chad ordered a minute ago. It's just pasta carbonara, pizza, and chicken wings with a modern twist. The robot told them to enjoy the food and thank them. After that, the robot rolls away leaving them to enjoy their meal.
"Wow, that's crazy! I'm impressed!" Celine commented.
"See, we made progress after all! Now, take out your phone and take a picture first before we eat." Chad instructed.
"I hate doing that!" She frowned at him.
"You have to do what others are doing or they will suspect that you're a time traveler. It's illegal around here." He insisted.
"Fine!" She took out her smartphone and started taking pictures.
Amazingly, the food tastes wonderful just like real food. It's a great invention to fill up people's stomachs quickly. This is the definition of a fast-food restaurant in 2030. Although Chad told her that there are still traditional restaurants around. But people around this year don't have much time to waste.
After eating, Chad brought her to an A.I. store to pick their avatars. Dr. Cole sponsored it for them so that they can use them when going out. It's the latest technology around this time due to the bad supply of oxygen. The shop assistants are already A.I. avatars as well. It will keep them safe from the toxic air outside.
"I'll see you later after the fitting!" Chad informed him.
"Okay." She replied.
Each of them has an A.I. avatar to assist them with the fitting. They need to get into one of the cubicles around the store. The fitting means that the avatars will be customized for them. It will have their face and they are the only ones who can control it. That's another cool technology nine years later. But Celine is already experiencing them right now.
After only five minutes, they were informed that it's done. The store assistant informed them that the avatars will be sent to them within the day. That's pretty quick for a complicated process. But people during this time are all living in a fast lane. They have an option to also use their avatar as they proxy for events and important occasions.
"Where do you want to go next?" Chad asked her.
"Let's get back to the lab now. I'm already overwhelmed with everything." She honestly replied.
"Okay. We can just use our avatars next time. Mask on!" Chad reminded her.
Celine realized why they didn't need a pretty gas mask. She's excited to use her avatar but nobody is more excited about it than Chad.
"Celine, our avatars are here!" Chad announced in an excited tone.Celine is also excited so she immediately goes where Chad is. She saw the three large metal boxes and now she's standing in front of them. Chad opened the first one with his name on it and there's his avatar. He turned it on and greeted them like a real person."Good morning beautiful people!" The avatar said while the real Chad is smiling widely."Good morning, Chad 2! Please go to your charging dock. You need to get fully charged!" Chad instructed.The avatar walks towards the charging station and lays down on the charging dock. It closes its eyes as if it's sleeping. Celine was impressed with how the A.I. looks so real in the future. A
It's Celine's fifth day in the year 2030 but the testing is about to start. Drake is a real genius. He was able to build the time travel gadget from the year 2021. All they have to do is to apply the technology in the future and it should be ready for testing.Since they are already in the future, it doesn't take long before the technology is already applied to the device. It looks like a smartphone with the ability to make calls and time travel. Dr. Cole made the device that way in case of any unforeseen events during the time travel.Celine is still trying to settle this year but now, they have to go back to the present time. But of course, they are still going back to the future to start the mass creation of the device. Currently, they only have two since it's only for testing purposes. That means Chad has to stay in the lab to mo
"We're now ready to travel to the past!" Drake announced as if she's not the only employee around."When are we leaving the present, doc?" Celine asked.They arrived in the present time three days ago. Dr. Cole needs to wait for Chad's confirmation from another time. They were able to open a wormhole that will bring them to the past. Although they have to experiment with different things. They have sent an old cellphone to the year 2000."Why are we going to the year 2000?" Celine asked."That's the year I started building my first time machine," Drake replied."Wait, how old are you?" She asked because she's confused about his history.
They arrived in the year 2000 without any problems. Thankfully, the Y2K bug was already fixed during the time of Drake's chosen date. Celine remembered the rumors surrounding it when she's just ten years old. She's more concerned about her game console during that time.But now that they are back to the past, they will be able to change what they did wrong before. She only realized that Drake was also ten years old during this time. They are the same age and now, she worries that Drake might have miscalculated his age before going back."Ahm...Drake, I just realized that we're only ten in 2020." Celine told the doctor.The horrified look on Drake's face is priceless! It's unbelievable that a genius like him miscalculated his past age. He put his palm on his forehead as
Wa Nam Restaurant offers a lot of Chinese cuisines this year. It's been around since the 80s. This restaurant still exists during the present time. But the management has changed and so is their chef. This means the food was not as good as before.Drake ordered a lot of food for just the two of them. He's planning to taste all the good food he had here before when he was just ten years old. Seeing familiar faces in this place makes him nostalgic. But he's starting to worry since Chad hasn't made contact with them yet.Fried noodles, dumplings, roasted Peking duck, and a lot more are now served on their table. Drake was able to prepare old bills for this moment. But he's not planning to stay in the year 2000. They need to go to 2010 when he's already 21 years old.
Chad runs to hide under the giant mushrooms around the city. Nature seems to get back to the past before the trees are around. They are emitting carbon dioxide instead of oxygen. That's why people in 2030 have to wear a gas mask if they want to get outdoors.What happened to the planet was humans' fault. They pushed Mother Nature to its limits resulting in it healing itself. Virus after the virus hits the human race. The environment attempts to lower the carbon footprint humans emit. But in the end, it grew giant mushrooms to stop people from going out of their homes.But it's not time to think about that since he needs to find a way to get into the time machine. Drake and Celine got stuck in the year 2000. Chad is their only hope to get back from the timeline they belong to. The time travel authorities closed the wormhole. The
Celine can't believe that she needs to stay in one room with Drake. Sure, there are other rooms in this no-star hotel. The problem is, the owner wants to have as many rooms available for other guests.He's expecting that there will be a lot of people who need a room for the upcoming festival. That made them end up in a room with one queen-sized bed."We should be fine around here for now. When Chad was able to create a new wormhole, we should be out of here right away!" Drake assured her."I just can't get it why the owner doesn't want to get paid for more rooms!" Celine complained."It's the only hotel near the last wormhole. Stop complaining. I'm not going to do anything without your consent." Drake replied.
"Celine, I think we have a problem…" Drake informed her. She just got out of the shower and was confused with what the doctor told her. All she wants to do is to sleep already. It was a long day and she needs to rest. But Drake is being dramatic right now. He's sitting on the couch facing the veranda. Celine approaches and sits with him. She might need to sit down in case it's bad news. Drake is holding both of their time travel devices. It looks just fine and she can't understand what could be the problem. Her mind is racing with different scenarios that might go wrong. "What's the problem?" Celine asked nervously. Drake stares at her and sighs, " They both have dead batteries! " He