Who Killed in a Museum?

Who Killed in a Museum?

David Mora

04/19/2023

Everybody has their own things, a motivation in life that makes people feel like they are
on the right track, they fall into the moment, and they configure their own lifestyle until a
commodity is reached. I reached that motivation already, a time of satisfaction where the only
preoccupations are how good is my hair primped today or why my eye bags are darker than
before—I think they are a gift from hard work, right? Being destined as the good daughter in a
Cuban family has not been easy, my sister is a star as well, but I know different ways to be
brilliant, excelling myself until getting my goals achieved and being recognized for whichever of
my royalties—am I destinated for success? Dear Alba, time will confess it.

It's 2025, and constant rains are happening but not much to scare the population, at least
the water level is not up to 2ft, however, having some umbrellas may be not an option in Miami.

My best friend, Alex, is one of my motivations on this path of my life. His resistant sight,
funny way of explaining his speaking, his hair combed as two mountains colliding with
delicacy—He must be everything I am looking for; should I relegate the idea? He's my soulmate
in everything we do. I’ve known him since middle school, experiencing the typical tracks of
being smart kids in peculiar courses, determination is our key. When entering high school, I had
to leave him be his own soul, I don't think he usurped my position as a loyal companion, but I
was moving out of town, now I'm back to the same breeze of Miami and, why not, encounter
myself again in this atmosphere. In the end, I'm unsure that things changed a lot, a bunch of our
imagination explode in a bit of time, however, he is always like that, inoffensive, cautious,
chilled out, a soul destinated to keep a fingerprint in life, betraying will never be our meaning to
be.

College reflects a sense of ruth situations in my perception, everyone walks away from
that mysterious environment. Excelling is my task, there will not be time available to get rid of
my working mind when I'm more than a pretext, I should do, and did, essential things to get on
my own, that's how life works as a student. Alex and I were getting back together, the most
meaningful and precious memento of my whole lifetime—being a scientist with him meant
keeping track of everything, his concentration and assistance make my definition and strategy
stronger, we are a complement. Zoila is also one of my best friends I met during my first year in
college, she enacts kindness and commitment, one of the best in her design class besides her
glasses always being destroyed due to crazy glue.

In our second year as college students, challenges become even more difficult through
advantages and disadvantages, at least we encourage competition, it's like a chain contributing to
maximize the perfect team—even though we're not likely the same, nothing to care! They still
assist me on this project that travels my mind to loneliness and desperation, my version of a
quantum machine with AI implements with a wireless energy source. I've been working on this
since my frustration in high school, now it's a reality to enroll this commitment one more time in
the science contest in Vizcaya Museum, an odd place despite being so antiquated, and, to kill my
sweaty hands, in a hot summer.

"Alba, do you know how many college participants are enrolled in that contest?" stated
Zoila with such an interest in being part of it, "I don't think we are gonna be the only ones with
this idea."

"Chill out your nerves," recalled Alex with deep intuition. "I researched and many of
these groups are conformed of more than five members, we are only three, and check on us! We
are almost done."

Zoila reminds me of a little fish afraid of water—which is not a lie. The project was
almost done, and the design made by her was so amazing and delightful relying on her low
knowledge of science but with some hand from Alex's calculations and experience with AI
implementations and computer science; there is more than one brain in this group. I still need to
explain to my dad why more than twenty car batteries are in the basement are there, the machine
used too many watts to function, I need to avoid degradation for this success in the contest.

"Imagine that you guys are using more than 1,000 watts, I think greater than that, for this
loco machine? Boy, you are going serious on this." believed our science professor, D'Amato,
when we passed by his office one day before the contest.

D'Amato assisted us a lot also on this machine, he checked the ideas and design for the
purpose of a working supply for quantum solutions, even helping us since the fall term when the
contest was announced; there's not much to accredit him, nonetheless, his eyes were everywhere
to elaborate this idea. Diversely, the machine has never been used or turned on, at this time, and
thanks to Alex's solutions on the functioning, it should be working for the contest. "Your friend,
Darwin, also came to me for some help with his mini-particle accelerator. His project is going
well but not as yours, definitely."

Darwin is a classmate Alex and I have had since our freshman year in college and an
assistant of D'Amato in science courses, he doesn’t represent an obstacle nor a motivation to
keep his ideas, we had a short conversation, admitting that his purposes are also excelling
himself and overpass this contest may be one of his goals as well. Typically, I don't see
competition on him, we struggled so much, not even a thunder may usurp this chance to win a
scholarship at MIT.

The show has arrived, I put on my well-cleaned eye contacts, and my best short suit with
some Converse, relaxation was over at these moments, but my anxiety surplus the fear. "Just kill
them, Albita!" Shouted my mom in her car with my family; they all went to work unless I knew
they were supporting me. I thought was going to be hot, but the weather indicates a low rain for
the next hours, gray clouds may not be an exception.

The contest was commencing, around twenty-two groups presented at the garden of the
museum, flyers everywhere, a huge billboard, what hard work. While my team was arriving
late—as usual— I decided to check again the functioning of the machine and the batteries, it was
supposed to do calculations with codes generated by the implementations of AI, codes that not
even Alex could decipher its generator; the code was already generated, thus, the time is now or
never to get this.

The clouds were getting darker every 30 minutes, each group participant was making
amazing presentations from other colleges around the nation, we were group number thirteen at
this moment. Professor D'Amato was evaluating each symposium in silence, the judges were not
so cruel despite some of those projects being outdated or malfunctioning. I could not stop my
nervousness and my sweaty hands, Alex and Zoila were speaking to me about other things but
that didn’t help, until Darwin came and showed off his project to us.

"A brilliant idea and complex design, right? Otherwise, your project seems well carved."

"As it is, I hope your little creation does not explode while just turning in on." Zoila and I
laughed at Alex's comment.

The judges called out our names, it was the moment to demonstrate what real scientists
do, hopefully. Zoila takes out the sheet from the machine while Alex and I presented the projects
and their purposes; suddenly, some thunders could be heard from a thousand miles away, I tried to rush the presentation without lacking professionalism and information, but thunders were
getting closer. Alex turned on the machine with a box with the car batteries connected; the box
started to smell like burned copper, and the machine was overcharging the batteries or the other
way around. "It shouldn’t be doing that." Alex proceeded to stop the machine, but the batteries
were doing their job. D'Amato and Darwin approached to force the machine apart from the
batteries, "guys, displace the pieces!" said the professor, but the machine was reaching a hot
point that could chop our fingers. The judges and the other participants moved far from the area,
leaving us with falling thunder tickling one of the batteries in the box, causing a huge burst that
reflected my house at Kendall.

I opened my eyes with the feeling of a water stream washing my hair and stood up just to
see a different and worn-out garden with Alex, Zoila, Darwin, and D'Amato on my side, the
machine was off at least, but the place was flooded—did the machine affected on this? Our
phones were pointing to 2125—are we hallucinating, do we see the same thing?

“This is… Vizcaya? Why is this too much flooder than before?” Alex was trying to
figure out how to get to travel from 2025 to 2125.

Professor got his idea, and the sea level rose more than 5ft after 100 years… a huge
difference but I cannot see flying cars, technology-innovated trees, or… healthy water? —things
are getting serious, this is not the future we were expecting to observe.

“It is like actual Presidents don’t even know what to do with society” stated Zoila with
stigmatic reasoning—I don’t feel we are within societies, I can’t hear anything from far away!
“The water looks like millions of Kraken died around Vizcaya if they ever existed. What
I’m saying, is we don’t even know where we at!” Darwin was frustrated, time is unpredictable,
but this got us too far from our imagination—How do we escape?

Professor D’Amato gathered us around; we were freaked out, our maps in our phones
were still working expecting that our cellphones’ brands may be extinct at this point in the
future. “OK, first, we need to calm down and do not get desperate, guys. We are alone here so far
but stuck in this museum.” GPS showed us how the museum is flooded within its surroundings,
there was no escape to other places, and our exit was in the museum—Everything is so blue,
even on a gray day, climate made its purpose.

The car batteries were destroyed, eventually. Our last resource was to keep looking for
power sources around Vizcaya or until someone from this strange future came to help us, which,
as D’Amato stated later, is even terrifying to let people assist us. —My doubt was, how do we
can find something like more than twenty car batteries? Maybe Vizcaya’s power source may
help, not enough but at least we have something, right?

Alex proposed to divide into pairs and explore Vizcaya’s adjacent sites, our phone’s
service plan was unable to use, however, our voices could be heard around this total silence,
nothing must go wrong with intense behavior. I needed to stay with the machine and figure out
what happened, D’Amato knew that I was the last one who utilized it before the event. The guys
moved the machine inside the center floor and left all windows and doors open, what could
happen here is unpredictable, but I decided to be alone, we had much time in here to expect that
is completely solitary and safe where I am. Alex and Zoila, D’Amato and Darwin; these two
pairs went out to find hints or clues on this environment and, hopefully, find the highest power
source on the island.

Time passes, and I am by myself with this machine, even speaking to it as if the AI
implementation would answer my frustration—It is not my fault that we are trapped in this place, in this time, in this destination… Focus!— I forgot how many hours I lost without sleeping, I
have to keep on this, why did the machine send us specifically 100 years later? Suddenly, I
smelled the same burn odor that exploded during the contest, one of the batteries as fuming…

The smoke sparkled around the center floor, I could just see reflected lights coming from
the screen of the machine, and the machine started to work again. —It is functioning again!
Guys! The machine turned on again! We can escape now! Gu...! —The same burst that delighted
us was again imploring to explode, it absorbed me.

—Where am I? Not again, please, I just came from a 100-year trip…— I checked my
phone, and I was in the same place and same position as if nothing happened, considering three
days of difference in the future; I traveled three days later thanks to another malfunction of the
machine. But something was different on this trip, I felt as if my breathing was getting
accelerated, and more anxious than before, something was happening in my surroundings, more
than just a heavy torment.

Alex, the one who motivated me to keep trying, to love my methods, to interpret my
ideas in better ways, was there on my right side… is him, at the same, it was not… I could not
open my eyes facing a tragic scene in a thriller movie, Alex had a knight lance incrusted in the
middle of his chest, blood dripping from his hands and body; someone had just recently killed
him. —My face was shocked, I did not know what to do, where to go, how to react, nothing, just
a simple silence as if my life went on pause for minutes. My best friend was assassinated with
bloody hands marks on his cheeks disappearing with the raindrops, it could not be an accident,
and why is he alone?

The machine commenced to make the same weird sounds and strenuous shaking moving
the floor, fuming was intensive this time, the screen lighted on strongly, and the burst happened one more time. I came back to the same place three days before, and my brain is getting more
exhausted with now three trips in time. Seconds later, the group gathered around in the center of
the museum where I shouted. They could only spectate my clear face with illuminated confusion,
I just saw my best friends’ assassinated body in the future—How can I explain that to them, so
they don’t believe I’m losing my mind? I won’t. They gave me some canned beans that were
encountered in the storage of the museum’s cafeteria, they were not outdated but with a weird
taste, however, eating was the only way to forget what I saw. Whenever I flipped my face to see
Alex, I could not avoid the sentiment; on the other hand, my mind knew that something tricky
was going on, maybe he will not die if I can avoid it, but… why would one of these groups kill
him?...

I tried to concentrate my focus, but Zoila’s purple face was making my cheeks turn red
while holding my laugh—Zoila, what the heck happened to your face?

“Ask the dumbass of Alex, he just gave me a cup of water from the filter machine next to
the cafeteria. I hope not to die soon or later due to this!” Shouted Zoila with such exaggeration
while looking at Alex with contempt.

“Pardon me! I couldn’t notice the clear water and your impulse due to your thirst. I think
distilled water is also contaminated unless we use the bottles of water left in the storage.”

That night, I pretended that nothing had happened, or will happen, it is very confusing to
relate this rare moment with the present, I could not sleep at all—If that happens in the future,
then, in case we come back, he will disappear. I do not want to think that someone will do it, but
why? Zoila is one of his best friends, Darwin is just a mate and D’Amato does not rely on killing
a teenager… or does he? Never mind, I will come up with something and put a limit on this
future.

The next day, I found Alex observing and manipulating the machine as if he knew what
he was doing while the others went outdoors to seek more supplies. Apparently, Alex was
resolving old calculations to discover that the machine’s AI implementations are more than just
generating codes for quantum solutions…

“Do you remember the codes that the AI-generated for the quantum calculations? Do you
exactly remember the code it used for the contest?” Alex thought that I could know what that
series of numbers on the screen was, but something significant approached my mind when he
asked me that. —You’re meaning that these numbers are related to the fact that we travel in
time? And specifically, 100 years after our present?

Alex’s assumption relied on that the AI implements calculated the time in minutes and
organized this series with a variety of numbers. It makes sense… On the last day when I traveled
in time 3 days later, the numbers on the screen were 10,512,000 minutes, which means, 20 years
in the future! —The time machine planned to send me forward 20 years later in time, but why
did I only travel just 3 days in advance? I thought in silence.

“I hope not being wrong, the AI’s calculations history reflects 10,512,000 as the last
calculation made, but it doesn’t require us, the only one that I found correct is the prior one
which is 105,120,000 minutes, or, 200 years in the future!” Alex assumed one more time, “If we
only traveled 100 years in time, it means that the capacity of the car batteries and the lighting
that tickled the box was able to send us just 100 years instead of 200 years that the AI-generated
as a code.”

The power source was the issue; depending on the number of watts the machine
absorbed, it will work as a time machine according to the code generated—Who could say that
lighting which is more than 1 gigawatts could only send us 100 years of difference, this machine is monstrous if other power sources similar to lighting can send us 200 years later in the first
attempt. That’s why only one car battery could make me travel just 3 days in the future with the
20 years planned by the AI.

Alex and I were exchanging ideas to travel back in the past, maybe converting the
numbers into a negative sequence may revert the function of traveling forward but to the past; of
course, without me giving so much information about my last trip, his life was still in my hands.
Darwin, D’Amato, and Zoila came back from their short trip, with such concerned faces.

“We are having some situation around and is not just the fact we are trapped in this
temporal line or something, but…” Drawing got interrupted by Zoila’s desperation, “the sea
level went higher than last night! We are going to be drowned if we do not escape!”

D’Amato tried to chill Zoila out by resting her on the floor in the center area of the
museum, “as you may see, these constant but short rains are flooding the place around 1 inch per
an approaching of 3 hours; right now, there were accesses that yesterday we could explore but
now, they just trespass the walls with contaminated water… we must find a solution now.”

Alex reminded us how simple lighting helped us to travel in time, besides explaining the
actual function of the machine. The group felt astonished but comprehended to assist before the
place got completely flooded. Darwin got an idea, the GPS apps are the only services available in
this future, the weather could tell if, with these constant rains, possibilities of thunder may be
coming… they do.

“Consciously, there’s a torment coming tomorrow between the morning and afternoon
with a chance of dark-cloudy sky, which is almost happening now,” stood Darwin with muchneeded confidence, “instead of looking for power sources, it’s time to arrange the space for the
torment and relocate the machine with the box of batteries…”

We all agree with this plan, but D’Amato encountered a disadvantage for our present,
“once the machine is set to travel and, hopefully, we get to come back to our time… the artifact
needs and have to be destroyed.” Alex jumped to interrupt him, “What!? Why will we do such a
thing!? You know how much effort and time we put into this for you to destroy it!?”

My heart was going faster than before, Alex and D’Amato were discussing out loud that
the only voices on the island were fighting to not get rid of the time machine. I understand
Alex’s point, imagine being famous for constructing a time travel machine out of a quantum
converter, but D’Amato was also in the right reason, this is not a game, and time travel may have
consequences for our present and maybe this future, government, and everyone will attempt to
annihilate us instead of sharing our simple college project.

Stressed out, I left the center and went outside for a little bit while Zoila calmed down the
issue. I have never seen Vizcaya’s frontier so nice and delicate to watch, I took a walk to explore
the site by myself after being stuck with this weird device that just generates problems than
solutions. I felt someone walking my steps, Darwin went behind me…

“Are you feeling well? I know this type of situation may alter you, I know you since
middle school and you frustrated yourself easily…”

So much pressure gives me a sense of doing something, but I cannot, I am not weak, but
this place turns me sick with this cold environment—I’m fine, don’t worry, seeing Alex with
such a furious attitude gives me some goosebumps.

“I understand, Alex is not an easy person, you may know but we were close friends
during high school. We were always working together and excelling in ourselves, but he was the
one that took mostly every credit besides me,” Darwin opened to me, is this a good memory
about Alex?... “However, Ales was always an egocentric friend, he liked to get over people and accredit himself as a first place among professors and superiors. And me? I was just left out as a
kid without its awards, always Alex’s shadow.”

I could not watch Darwin’s face with such repentance and agony, Alex was his best
friend as well, but he just let himself be and pass over everyone he knew, that is not the Alex I
used to love and accept. We had some conversations and met ourselves better than before,
Darwin ended up being a good guy with frustrated sentiments, I felt him, but Alex?

On our way back, we stepped out with D’Amato being pushed off by Alex with Zoila’s
face terrified by this attitude. Darwin and I commenced to separate them with an awkward
silence; Alex went away from the center floor and sat down in one of the garden’s banks. I tried
to calm Alex down outdoors with darker clouds approaching our site. The palm trees were
shaking with much intensity, Alex was convinced that he would own the machine if I do not do
anything, “Alba, the machine is our creation! We cannot just get rid of it!” I tried to understand
him but the sounds of thunder coming to us altered the noises. —I know how you feel, Alex, but
we must not face the consequences if we own this machine. This will generate problems crueler
than being famous,” my voice was cracking when seeing the lighting coming…

“Isn’t that what you want it? Excel yourself and be proud of something that elevates your
professionalism. Come on, Alba, if you don’t wanna do it, I’ll do it then.”

Alex ran inside, the torment was commencing with heavy winds and extraneous
raindrops pointing at the dirty windows in the museum. I was shocked due to his attitude, that is
not the Alex I met again in college; the rapid noises were accelerating my heart again, the group
was discussing inside the museum; Alex was trying to move the machine outdoors to the
garden…

“What are you doing!? Stop pushing the artifact!” Shouted Professor D’Amato angrily
while grabbing Alex’s arm around the big machine. “Let me alone! You won’t destroy my
creation, step back!” Alex took one of the spears from the knight soldier statues at the exit to the
garden, he was pointing at Darwin who attempted to grab the same spear.

“What you gonna do, uh!? Incrust that into us?! Stop playing, we must move on and
escape!” Said Darwin with a fear sense of dying now. “I’m the one who created the device! I’m
the one who invented its function of it! I’m the one who’s gonna travel and come back to you!
I’m gonna sacrifice myself for you and come back to save you!” Alex’s words just did not make
sense to me, he was trying to escape without us. The torment was approaching faster even when
we expected it would arrive tomorrow, the moment was happening.

My brain had many thoughts, the project could make me more brilliant than ever, but,
sacrificing? What is he going to sacrifice for? We are all stuck on this, and it is our fault, Alex,
this has to end. I jumped into the center floor and pushed Alex from his back. “What is your
problem!? We are supposed to escape from this place!” —Not like that, Alex! Understand and
open your eyes, we must escape before there is nowhere to go!

Suddenly, Alex let the machine grab my shoulders, leaving the spear on the floor, my
heart was bumping even harder, “Why are you making me this!? We need to support each other,
Alba! Nights and nights without sleeping, you and me working as crazy scientists! All of this to
destroy it without any evidence! I will not start again!” He turned me pointing to the machine
while grabbing my shoulders, Zoila was coughing with no stop, and Darwin tried to separate
Alex’s hands from me, D’Amato was the only one proceeding with the plan by taking the
machine out with the torment.

Alex let my shoulders and gave a header to Darwin, pushing him down with
vulnerability, I could not see this massive scene, he was punching him, what do I do… I grabbed
Alex from the neck of his blue t-shirt, confronting every fear inside of me. I pushed him back
again, he was angry, desperate, he became out of his mind, about to tackle me, his best friend,
my heart stopped at this point, I closed my eyes, closed my feelings… I pushed Alex with my
body with all the strength that an 18-year-old girl could have.

Alex hit one of the statues with a lance pointing down, he snacked his head hard, I was
vulnerable in every sense of this word. The wasted statue left the lance to fall off, incrusting the
middle of his chest. The only sound we could hear at that moment was the raindrops tackling the
plants and the lightning hitting the pavement.

My mind turned white, and my body left this universe, I ran towards him and gave him a
hug, the last hug. Hands full of blood, lighting illuminating the place. Zoila stood up while
astonished, Darwin was speechless but ran outdoors to help D’Amato. I stayed there, hoping that
what just happened becomes a dream at the end of this nightmare…

D’Amato was calling out my name, the machine needed to be set up to function; Zoila
grabbed me, leaving Alex on the floor with a lance standing on his chest. I could not cry again,
but my face was shaking with every expression as if extreme confusion blasted into my eyes. My
bloody hands disappeared with the heavy rain; D’Amato did not see any hint of what occurred. I
modified the code generated by the AI implementation, 100 years specifically to the past in
minutes. D’Amato was screaming for Alex, we told him that we would be back for him after this
trip, it was impossible to say that he was now dead inside on the center floor. The lighting was
getting closer to the box full of car batteries, it was commencing. The burst happened again; my
consciousness disappeared.

We opened our eyes again, fearless but secure that everything has ended; it is like nothing
has moved from their place—was time frozen or something? And Alex… I got to see him one
more time, however, his way of protecting me from the burst was not intentional, I hope he was
not like that until that exact moment. Vizcaya keeps prevalence as we left on our last trip
together.
D’Amato took the machine with him and destroyed it in his laboratory with the excuse
that the artifact was sent to an exhibition of sciences. Zoila, Darwin, and I made a promise, we
decided not to talk about what happened in the future and how my best friend, the one who is
still telling me that everything is going to be fine, ended up being killed by me in this museum.