Page 5 - a future in the past

He warmed up Marco Polo and felt a small box in his

pocket that he had brought in with him, hidden within the

folds of his jacket. Then, he went out into the corridor as if
going for a coffee. Checking no one was following him, he

took a right and climbed two floors. He headed towards the
power supply room. Inside, he connected the reserve

transformer to prevent his test from blacking-out the four

floors that depended on this electricity source. He opened
the fuse box and disconnected the differential limiters. He

did not want his test to be interrupted by anything.

Next, he used an iron bar to cause a short circuit. This
generated an electric discharge which formed a voltaic arc

that David tried to maintain for a few seconds. The light

was blinding and the temperature in the room had risen
several degrees. He took the small box from his pocket and

placed it near the arc. He went quickly to the fuse box and
flicked the main switch. The arc disappeared into its

positive pole, taking with it all of the small objects that had

been within its radius: a spanner, a screw-driver, two fuses
and the small box.

David re-connected the main transformer and

disconnected the reserve. He tried to leave everything just

as it had been ten minutes earlier. He left the room, pushing
the door behind him. As the door fell shut, he whispered:

“Have a safe trip, Poppy, I hope you’ve gotten there

okay. Hopefully, I’ll see you in three weeks; you’ll have
enough food until then. Take care!”

David passed Jack on the staircase.