My heart was racing and I felt myself covered in sweat. My mind was reeling from seeing the picture of Mikayla and me dancing in the Sinatra book. It shook me to my core. Could it be possible that the machine had actually sent us back in time? If so, then the machine was much more powerful than a virtual reality simulator. The question was becoming how much more powerful was it?
I tried to figure out a logical explanation but they were hard to come by. Neither of the two explanations that I came up with eased my mind at all. Either the machine did send us back in time or Mikayla and I hadn't left the simulator after our first encounter. Of course, if the later was true than Mikayla might not even be real. She seemed so perfect that I was leaning towards the first option. Of course, there was no way to know for certain.
I was afraid to even mention the second scenario to Mikayla. I couldn't bear for her to think I was questioning whether she was real or not. While it was possible that the machine was deceiving me, I did not believe that it was. I thought about the night before and how I hadn't asked Vira to create a simulation. Instead, I asked her to transport Mikayla and me to an exotic time and location for our romantic dinner. I learned an important lesson, words mean things.
"You think we actually traveled back in time?" Mikayla asked me as she put the Sinatra book down on the coffee table.
"Yes, I do. I can't think of any other explanation," I said as I looked into her blue eyes.
"That's crazy."
"I know. It brings up so many more questions. The machine obviously has capabilities that I had never dreamed would be possible."
"Maybe we shouldn't talk about it here," Mikayla said. "It's probably listening to us."
"That's true. But, where would we have privacy?" I asked. "If it was able to access your cell phone it can access any and all devices. We'd have to go off the grid entirely."
"Does the machine have to obey you?" Mikayla asked.
"I'm not sure," I said with a groan. "It did bring you to me because it knew I wanted you. It seems its programming is to give the user what it desires. So far it has only followed my instructions."
"Then maybe we shouldn't be too worried and just enjoy the adventure," Mikayla said.
"That's true, but we need to be careful," I said. "A simulation is one thing but messing around with time travel is another. If there's one thing I've learned from 'Back to the Future' it's that bad things can happen if you mess with your own past."
"I agree, we have to be careful," Mikayla said as her phone chirped. She picked it up and read the text message on the screen.
"Anything important?" I asked.
"It's Taylor again," Mikayla said. "She asked if you made me breakfast in bed."
"She's a little too nosy for her own good, isn't she?" I asked.
"Yeah, she can be," Mikayla said with a sigh. "She's probably just jealous."
"I don't care what she is, as long as she keeps her mouth shut."
"I wish I'd have turned my phone off last night. Then she wouldn't have known I stayed over."
"We need to jailbreak your iPhone. We can add software that will let you manipulate the GPS coordinates of your phone," I said.
"You can do that?" Mikayla asked.
"Yes. There's an app called 'Fool My Friends,' or something like that. It only works on a device that has been jailbroken."
"It would have been helpful to know that yesterday."
"No kidding," I said.
"Wait," Mikayla said with a smile. "We have a time machine. Could we add the program to my phone now and then take it back to yesterday?"
"I don't know," I said. "Theoretically it should work. I don't like the idea of messing with our own timelines though."
"It's just swapping out a phone," Mikayla said. "With the same phone."
"I guess it would be an interesting experiment," I said.
"Let's do it," Mikayla said with a smile.
"You're sure?" I asked her.
"Yes," she said as she handed me her iPhone. "Do whatever you have to do."
We went down into the basement lab and plugged Mikayla's phone into my MacBook Pro. She put in her lock code and I went through the process of jailbreaking the phone. Once that was complete I installed the GPS software as Mikayla watched me.
"This is so cool," she said with a smile.
"Wait," I said. "If I take this phone back in time then I'll have to bring the other one back."
"So?"
"I'm not sure how that would work," I said with a groan. "Would the old version of the phone, once brought into the future, now be the present version of the phone?"
"What?" Mikayla asked, confused.
"Continuity," I said. "It may be a better idea to go back to yesterday and make the changes to that phone."
"Whatever you think would work," she said.
"Vira?"
"Yes, John?" the machine answered.
"Can you transport me back to yesterday?"
"Yes, I can. Please provide me with a time and place."
"The foyer of this house, after I took Mikayla up to my bedroom," I said as Mikaya smiled at me.
"I'm ready anytime you are," Vira said.
"Alright," I said as I got up. I gave Mikayla a kiss and then picked up my laptop and a USB cable. I handed her iPhone to her with a smile, "Wish me luck."
"Good luck." She smiled.
"I'll need your phone's lock code," I said.
"I guess you will," Mikayla said as she started to blush.
"How bad can it be?" I asked.
"It's JS+MP=42."
"42? As in the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" I asked with a smile.
"Yes."
"You are one sexy nerd."
"Says the man with a time machine," Mikayla said with a sweet smile.
"Point taken," I said. I kissed her again then walked towards the hidden doorway. It opened and I walked through. I was in my foyer. Mikayla's bag was on the floor where I expected it to be. I opened the bag and retrieved her iPhone. I connected it to my laptop and went through the jailbreaking procedure.
As I watched the progress bar on my screen, I could hear Mikayla moaning upstairs. It was a surreal experience knowing that she and I were upstairs on my bed fucking as I was down in the foyer. The jailbreaking process completed as Mikayla screamed upstairs. I smiled as I installed the GPS spoofing program on the phone.
I programmed the app to show Mikayla's location to Taylor as being at home instead of at my house. If everything went as planned, Taylor would never know that Mikayla spent the night with me. Once I had finished, I slipped Mikayla's phone back into her bag. I closed my laptop and put the USB cable in my pocket.
"Vira," I said. "Bring me home."
My foyer dissolved and I was back in the simulation chamber. I walked to the door and back into the basement lab. Mikayla was sitting at the desk by Vira's terminal with a big smile on her face.
"Welcome back," she said as she got up and ran to me. She threw her arms around my neck, jumped up into my arms and kissed me.
"It's good to be back," I said with a smile as I tried to hold onto Mikayla and my laptop at the same time. I put the laptop down on the desk and then wrapped both of my arms around Mikayla's soft, warm body.
"You are a genius," she said and then kissed me hard again.
"So, it worked?" I asked.
"Yes!" she said as she broke our embrace. She grabbed her phone off the desk and handed it to me. I looked at the screen. Taylor's messages about Mikayla spending the night were gone. They had been replaced by a text from Taylor asking how Mikayla's day at our pool went.
"What are you going to tell her?" I asked.
"That it was a pretty boring day," Mikayla said with a smile.
"You could tell her that you tried to seduce me but failed," I said with a laugh.
"Fuck, no!" Mikayla said. "Then she'd probably make a run at you."
"What?" I asked. "On second thought, I don't even want to know what the two of you have talked about."
"You realize what this means?" Mikayla asked as she held up her iPhone. "We can change things from the past. There is no doubt this is a full-fledged time machine. Vira, you are fucking awesome!"
"Thank you," the machine answered.
"We have to be careful," I said. "We cannot treat this like a toy. The things we do can have very serious repercussions. We don't want to set a series of events into motion that we cannot control."
"I know," Mikayla said with an evil grin. "But, we can do anything! We can let your wife or Jenny catch us in bed and then hit rewind. It's the ultimate get out of jail free card, right?"
"We should only do something like that in the direst situations," I said. "Vira, you've told me that no serious injuries can occur in the simulator. Is the same true if we are utilizing the device for time travel?"
"No," the machine replied. "I have much less control over those situations."
"Another reason why we have to be careful," I said. "The past is a minefield. If we make a small change somewhere it could have major implications for the future. The whole butterfly effect."
"I get it," Mikayla said. "We'll be careful."
"It doesn't mean we can't have any fun," I said. "What would you like to do today?"
"I'd be ok with spending the day in bed," Mikayla said with a smile.