Groovy
Chapter 7

no one's POV

Moonbyul instead of going home, went straight to Southwark's lab. When she arrived she was drenched and covered in mud, but that hardly mattered to her. She was on a mission. 

It was Saturday and she wasn't due to work, so understandably Southwark was rather surprised as Moonbyul burst into the lab. 

"Tell me," Moonbyul said then pointed to the machine. "Does this thing actually work? I need to know. Can I go back in time?" 

Southwark stood there, rather surprised by Moonbyul's sudden interest in the machine. The fact that she was drenched only added to his confusion, "Yes. I've ran tests, it works. Why the sudden interest?" 

Moonbyul wiped some rain water from her forehead and sat down, a look of fierce determination on her face. "Because he's an . Because while he drank and slept with his mistress, Solar died alone in misery and pain. No one there too hold her hand. No one was there to tell her how special and beautiful she was."

Now Southwark was confused. "I don't follow." 

"It's simple, I will be your Guinea pig. I'll be your test subject for this machine. All I ask for is one thing return. You've to let me go back and stop the wedding." 

Southwark scratched his head, "When did this wedding take place?" 

"1869."

Seeing the still confused look on his face, Moonbyul went back the beginning and told the whole story. From the finding of the picture to the revelation that Solar in fact had died in childbirth. Moonbyul told the tale. All the while Southwark listened carefully, one hand under his chin. 

Upon finishing her story, Moonbyul stood up. She was still very sad and agitated. "I know you're going to lecture me about not changing the past and all that time line bull but I don't care. Solar was or is, a wonderful and beautiful woman and I can't live another day knowing that she ended up like she did. I have to safe her." 

Moonbyul fully expected him to say no but instead, he smiled. "I've made this machine to benefit mankind, and if God didn't want me to develop this, he would have simply stopped me. Had me hit by a bus or choked to death on a cashew nut. Let's do it." 

Moonbyul looked to the machine and headed towards it, "Come on, I'm ready. Let's go."

Southwark genty stopped her, "Hold the phone. I can't just dump you in 1869. We need to see if it even properly works. A couple of test jumps. I know your impatient but it's the wiser course."

Moonbyul lowered her head and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Let's face it. I'm probably a terrible candidate to be a time traveler." 

Southwark vigorously shook his head. "No. In fact your perfect. That's why I hired you. You're majoring in theater. You're taken a class in costume design. You can't just go there, even if you had the right clothes. You would stick out like a sore thumb. You need to approach this like you're a part in a play. Make a character, come up with a background. Why are you in England for example? You need to prepare and learn how to do things in that day and age. Ride a horse for example. While we work on getting the machine perfected you can develop your 1869 character. You're acting and theater experience will greatly benefit you. So when you go, you will fit in and no one will suspect a thing."

Moonbyul laughed as she realized that Southwark was right, "Okey, I can take some time to prepare." That look of determination again reappeared on her face, "But I will save her." 

"Good, one thing however. In time travel movies, the machine can go back and return at any time. This is a bit different. It opens a doorway between the times essentially and time will flow at the same rate in both times. You spend one day in 1869, you lose one day in 2018 and so on. For safety reasons, I won't shut the door while a subject is back in time. Instead I shrink the doorway to microscopic size. I'll give you a recall device. When you're ready to use the door again, you activate the recall device and I'll expand the door back up for you. Then I will send the basket back down to retrieve you. Do you understand?"

"Yeah I got it." 

"Now it may take you some time in 1869 to get to know this Solar and be in a position to break up her and Eric. So you need some time to be able to put aside for this. I would recommend the first day of your summer break. That way you can go back and have almost 3 months to succeed in your mission. I know that summer is several months off, but that will also give you time to completely prepare for your role as a person from 1869. In that time, I can work on perfecting the machine so I can get you to the proper date  in one piece."

It made sense to Moonbyul. For every second she spent in the past, one second would tick away in the present. So she would need time and summer would be perfect, as she wouldn't have to worry about missing school. 

Southwark then gave Moonbyul a towel to dry off with and sent her home. He told her he hoped the first real test the following week.

That night Moonbyul had a nightmare. She was standing outside a bedroom window looking inside. In the room itself, Solar was giving birth, but it was going badly. She was screaming in pain and in great distress. Moonbyul kept pounding on the window to try and get inside but could not. Nor could Solar or the midwife even hear het banging on the window. 

Moonbyul watched helplessly as Solar died in front of her. Moonbyul woke up crying at that point. 

As she splashed some water on her face she said. "I'm coming... I'm coming." 

For the next week, Moonbyul came and helped Southwark with the various test animals. The wormhole opened at the bottom of the arch and lowered into the hole. They all came back in one piece. Eventually he sent down a video camera to a point of 30 years ago. On the monitor they could see that very room but instead it was dark and filled with boxes. They knew that this very storefront from 1968 to 2003 was a record store. 

With each passing day, Moonbyul got a bit more exited for her first trip. After a number of tests, Southwark told her that it was time for her first trial trip. Which would be a quick trip into the past. 

The night before, Southwark told Moonbyul to come dressed in plain blue faded jeans, ordinary looking white sneakers, a plain black shirt and a rather mundane looking purse. On her way home Moonbyul made a quick trip to the store and purchased the items needed. Southwark also asked her to come with no additional streaks of color in her hair. 

The next day she came, dressed as she should. 

"Good," Southwark said as he looked her over. "I'm sending you back to the 70's and your look won't attract much attention. It's very plain. But first you need to put this on for your protection during the trip. It's a radiation suit. Here's some money from that year. Your mission is to exit the music store and go to the newsstand that was across the street. Buy a paper and return."

She gave the silver radiation suit a look of scorn, but put it on. 

Moonbyul felt silly wearing the silver radiation suit. Of course that was on top of the fact that she was about to climb into a machine that would supposedly take her back in time. That just made her feel stupid and perhaps insane. 

"That geek Jackson would be so jealous. Not sure if I feel good about that or not." Moonbyul mumbled, as Southwark typed something in the main computer terminal. 

Moonbyul turned around to see the huge contraption behind her. The main bulk of the machine was shaped like big silver arch. All kinds of tubes and w