Time Dome

"First of all, this button opens the door from the inside. But this button right here," now Rob was pointing at a button on the right side of the wall, "does this."

He then pressed it. The floor right in front of the door slid open, and a seat with a small podium with controls rose. When it stopped rising, Steven noticed that this seat and the podium with it’s controls must somehow move the time-machine. Especially since they faced the direction of the window on the door. But how did it move? There were no wheels visible. But yet, a few things here have a little twist within them. Maybe the wheels are hidden.

"Go ahead there, take a seat, see what the controls do," motioned Rob. Steven then came over to the chair, and took a seat. The controls looked simple. There was a joystick type of control in the middle, a red button on the left, a green button on the right, and below that button was a white button. The red button was labeled ‘lift’, the green button was labeled ‘drop’, and the white button was labeled ‘plant’.

"These controls give me the impression that this machine can… levitate? Like the dome we’re in right now?" Steven asked.

"Correct. We’ve discovered levitating techniques as well, but that is another concept and explanation all together. I may explain it to you when you come back from the experiment," Rob replied.

"Ok. Also, what does this ‘plant’ button do?"

"It implants a small, metal plaque on land, attached to a cord. This makes it so the time-machine can implant this on land, hover over water, slowly drop into it, and the machine can be underwater and not just be floating around. It’ll be connected to something."

"That’s great! I can investigate underwater then!"

Mr. Meyer then asked for Steven to come to him. He was by the cabinets. Steven got out of the seat pressed the button on the right side of the wall. The seat and podium with controls went back under the floor. He then walked over to Mr. Meyer.

"In this very bottom compartment, there is a tranquilizer gun," Mr. Meyer said, and took it out.

"We don’t want to kill anything in the past, since it could greatly affect the present… you know, one of those time paradox things… but we want you to have protection just in case some animal you encounter does attack you. We want you to be as safe as possible. You see, with these advanced darts…," he was saying, but then glanced at his wristwatch.

"Oh, we should be starting now. I think we’ve shown you enough. If you need to know more, just look in the manual Dr. Jones showed you. The other area in the back that you haven’t seen yet is your living headquarters. You can check that out later. Oh, but most importantly, the computer has an icon on the main screen that says, ‘Return To Present’. Simply click on it, and the computer will instantly send a message to us, telling us to bring you back to the present. There are other things on the computer that may be useful for you. Remember, any concerns on how to operate anything are in the manual, including a list of what is in the other cabinets. And I suggest when you are in the time-traveling process that you are seated, particularly at the seat you were just in. I’m sorry for all the rush, but we just received our deadline for turning in samples, so we must hurry. The sooner the better. So just sit back, relax, everything should be just fine. You’ll know when the countdown begins when you hear th e generator humming," said Mr. Meyer.

Steven nodded, he was ready now.

"Well, I hope you’ll enjoy this. I’ve spent the last few years designing all of this, and I glad it’s you who will enjoy it," Rob said.