"Will this be suitable?" Asked one of the guys.

"Yeah, it's fine." I said awkwardly. I was uncomfortable around all these adults, and I just wanted to be left alone. The only thing that made me feel slightly better was that they let me have a lab coat. "You can go now." I waved a hand, shooing them away.

One of the men stayed while the others left, the man watching me intently. I scowled as I began to work on the 'Time Watch'. See, I was building a Time Watch, but I was also building something else. A teleporter, or I was trying to build one at least. I've made some a couple of times, but I was never able to make one that took me farther than a few states out. This'll be hard, especially because I'm surrounded by miles and miles of water. As I built my Time Watch, I was switching from that to my teleporter, trying to make it look like I was building the same thing. The guy who was watching me got pretty bored, and he began to snore in his chair. That gave me an advantage on my work, but not by much. There was still a camera staring blankly at me. As I worked, I tried to ignore the pain from my wounds that were given to me on a daily bases.

I wonder what mom would think about all of this... I thought, screwing in a bolt. I thought about my mom quite a bit, actually. Even though I hardly ever see her. We talk sometimes, on the phone, but I'm always too awkward to say much. When I was little, she thought going to a lab would be good for me. When she learned their real intentions, she didn't know what to do... I didn't either...

"Mr. Friday," said an annoyingly cold voice.

I tried to ignore Eric as he entered the little area.

"Your Time Watchers are pretty sneaky, I'll say that much."

Good, they got away. "Yeah," I muttered, switching from the watch to the teleporter and vice versa.

"Those little kids got away from my small party fast. They're smart, you were right about that."

"I-I'm right about everything," I said quietly, my social skills refusing to come out around the adult.

Eric let out a small laugh. "Sure you are." He reached over and tried to pat my arm, but I yanked away.

"Don't touch me!" I shouted, letting go of my things and backing away as far as the room would let me. That was another thing with autism: there's a certain spot we hate being touched. For some, it's their face, their leg, but for me, its my arms. I don't mind if kids tug on my arms, but with adults, no. No way.

"Calm, Dan, calm." Eric put his arm down, then looked at my work. "How's everything going?"

"Good," I said in an awkward tone.

"Yeah? How long will it be until the watch is done?"

"Today," And so will the teleporter.

Eric smiled. "That's good."

"Wh-What are you gonna do with it?" Man, adults make me so awkward!

"Science, research, tests, etcetera. We could change the world with this thing. We could make more of them. We could make peoples lives better with this."

"No," I shook my head.

"Why not?"

"I-It could ruin the world. Not make it better. If everyone has a watch, then they could ruin the past and future."

Eric shrugged. "Maybe." He turned and walked away, slapping the guy in the chair to wake him up. He whistled a tune, making me groan in agony and cover my sensitive ears.

"Stop whistling," I said in a hurt voice.

Eric chuckled and closed the door.

* * *

I shoved the teleporter in my lab coat pocket. "I'm done," I told the guy in the chair. I stared down at the soon-to-be-ex Time Watch, feeling sad for it. The name Robert Garner was on the watch's face, and I smiled weakly at the little watch. "Sorry, little guy." I said quietly. "I don't think you'll get to meet Robert Garner... Whoever he is, I bet he's a great guy... I wonder if he's a kid..."

The word Pilot showed up on the face, then went back to Robert Garner.

"He's a pilot... So he's older than I thought..."

The doors opened, and I held the watch tightly in my hands. I hugged it, wanting my creation to live. Even though I knew it wouldn't.

"So you're done, Friday?" Eric asked.

"Yes," I shuffled towards him and handed him the watch. Sorry, bud...

Eric smiled and took the watch, inspecting it with a critical eye. He put the watch on his left wrist easily, moving his other normal watch to make room.

"Do you know how to use it?" I asked, my hands going into my pockets as I readied myself.

"I've read all of your notes. I think I've got an inkling." Eric began to press the correct buttons, trying to go back one minute in time. Here we go, I thought, my right hand finding its way around the thin teleporter.

The Time Watch beeped. "Not Robert Garner. Commencing self destruct." Then with three fast, high pitched beeps, the Time Watch exploded on Eric's wrist.

Eric cried out, then stared down at his wrist, which was cut up by some shards of the watch that had flown off when it imploded.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," I said cleverly, smiling even though I wanted to cry, "if you're not the watch's person, it's gonna explode."

"What the hell?!" Eric barked. "Friday, you're in so much tro--"

I pressed the button on my teleporter, then zapped somewhere else. Thankfully, it wasn't water. But... it was not somewhere I wanted to be in particular. This is why my portal gun would be much better. It looked like the apocalypse had happened a long time ago. The streets were barren, and a newspaper flew by like a tumbleweed. I quickly grasped the paper and read it (well, read what I could).

"I must be in another dimension." I said to myself. "The script here is definitely not the alphabet I learned when I was a year old..." I looked up from the super old paper and stared at all the buildings, which were mostly tan from the dust that flew around. I knew I wasn't in a desert, but it sure felt like it. "This must be the effects of radiation..." I looked at the really weird blue jay in front of me.

Its horns were curled on its tiny head, and its beak had small teeth. Its eyes were like an alligator's. Other than that, it didn't really have any other changes. "What happened here?" I asked the bird.

It screeched at me, making me jump, and flew off, screeching to itself as it flew away. I looked around for any other animals, only finding some dinosaur like lizards that hissed at me as I stepped around them. Haha... Cute... I thought, smiling at the lizards and watching them scamper away. I turned the corner and looked about, then walked towards a statue. "Well, hey there." I said to the colorful statue of a fiddler with a sombrero.

The statue's head turned to me, then began to walk over to me at a rather fast pace. "What the--?!" I shouted, running away. Is this the inhabitants here?! Their worse than walking dolls! I ran around the corner and jumped into a convenient store, my heart racing. I need to get out of here! I pulled out my teleporter and looked at the tiny screen, then felt my jaw drop.

"Seriously?! I have to wait two more minutes?!" I shouted, then regretted my outburst as the glass near my head shattered, a colorful fiddle in the window. I ran away from the window and fell over the old counter top, landing on something soft. "What?..." I sat up from the thing I landed on and looked down at it. It didn't smell very good, and I gagged as I smelled the vomit like scent from the creature.

"Jay? What's going on?" I heard a thirteen year old boy's voice ask from under the creature's little wings. The wings were the size of a bed pillow, and they wouldn't carry the creature anywhere. The window cracked again, and I got off the creature and peered over the counter. The statue was almost inside, swinging its fiddle into the glass.

The boy from under the creature moved the little wing aside and looked up at me, slightly shocked. "Uh... Who are you? I thought I was the only normal here."

"Long story." I said. "Right now, though, there's a statue trying to break in."

The boy glared at me. "Did you lead that zyrite here?!" He shouted, getting up and peering over the counter like me.

"Sorry?" I tried, not sure what was going on.

"Whatever." The boy shook the creature's shoulder. "Get up, Jay Feather, we've got company."

The creature opened a big black eye and looked at the boy, then stood up and blinked at the 'zyrite' outside. The creature was pretty expressionless, well, it was until it saw the statue. Its tail swished from side to side as it opened its mouth to reveal dull, thick teeth. It roared and leapt over the counter, aiming its horns at the statue. The boy followed the humanoid as it crashed through the window and stabbed its horns into the statue.

I watched stupidly as the humanoid dragged the statue to another building and slammed the zyrite's back into the bricks. The statue hit its fiddle against the creature's head, but surprised me when the fiddle broke. The creature wailed and stepped back, shaking its head. When it recovered, it opened its mouth again and shot green acid at the zyrite.

So that's why it smells like vomit, I thought, that acid is stomach acid. The zyrite quickly incinerated, leaving acid and a colorful puddle behind. The humanoid was still angry, and it spat acid at the puddle as it jumped from side to side.

"Easy, Jay," the boy said soothingly, jumping on the creature's back and stroking its feathers gently. "It's okay... You got him... We're safe because of you... You're the biggest badass ever..."

The creature relaxed, closing its mouth and becoming emotionless again. The boy slipped off the creature and looked back at me, glaring. "What the heck, man?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that..." I stood up and hopped over the counter, walking towards them. "I'm not from this dimension, if that makes any sense."

"Yeah, I can tell." The boy snorted. "How'd you get here? Teleported?"

"Yeah."

"Mmph." The boy rolled his eyes, then looked back at the humanoid next to him. He sifted through his pocket, then pulled out a glowing fruit and put it in the humanoid's face. "Here, Jay. Have a treat."

The creature quickly ate the fruit from the boy's hand, licking his lips as he swallowed the food.

"I should probably go now." I said awkwardly.

"Maybe you should." The boy walked past me and went behind the counter, then picked up a backpack and hopped over the counter again. He climbed onto the creature's back, grasping its horns like handles, and rode the creature away.

Okie-dokie, then. I thought, pulling out my teleporter and looking at the time that was left. The screen was green, and I smiled. Good, I can leave. But I might need to coordinate better. I was in a rush last time. I pressed a few buttons, then zapped somewhere else. A cargo truck swirved away from me as I teleported near its side, and I walked over to the side of the road. I put my hands on my hips as I stared in front of me, a light breeze tugging on my lab coat.

I checked my watch, surprised to see the year was 2012 Maybe I accidentally discovered a super useful bug in my teleporter. Wait... I remember seeing a video on YouTube of a random guy in a lab coat teleporting from the side of a truck! Was that me all along?! I looked at the car that would be the one to record me, ignoring how poorly I said my sentence in my head, then sighed as I saw it pull over. It was me... Geez, okay, time to run some more. I bolted, hoping my teleporter would hurry up and get ready for the next jump. When it did, I put in another coordinate and zapped elsewhere.

Elsewhere as in someone's living room. I held my breath as I saw a family of (one, two, three, four,) eight, seeing them all stare at me. "Uh... hi?" I asked.

"Hi." A boy with shaggy blonde hair and brown eyes said to me, waving slightly.

"Where did you come from?" Asked a girl with wavy black hair and green eyes.

"Depends, where am I?" I put my hands in my pockets, surprised at how calm everyone was.

"Norman, Oklahoma. 2017." An elvish looking boy said with a slight accent.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God, I'm in the present and where I need to be."

A little girl walked up to me and tugged on my lab coat, and I knelt down to her level. "Um, are you from, um, a lab?" She asked, swaying back and forth nervously.

"I escaped from a lab." I said, smiling gently.

"So did he," the girl pointed to the elvish boy, and he nodded.

"Oh, yeah?" I asked, standing up again.

A falcon flew out of the cantina that led to the kitchen and landed on the elvish boy's shoulder. "Don't forget me!" The falcon exclaimed.

"Oh, and Runora too." The little girl added sweetly.

I smiled again. "Sorry for teleporting in like this," I said as I turned to the family, "but I had a bit of trouble with my teleporter today."

"It's fine," a man with a navy blue ballcap said, smiling kindly.

"Believe it or not," said a woman that sat next to the man with the ballcap, "this isn't the weirdest thing that's ever happened."

I was about to ask a question about what she ment, but was interrupted by dogs barking and some creature squawking. Two dogs ran down the stairs, followed by a hippogriff galloping behind them. They ran towards me and jumped up and down, trying to get my attention.

"Hi, there." I said, petting the animals.

"Sorry about them," apologized the man in the ballcap as he stood up, "they get excited around other people." He took the dogs by the collars and dragged them away from me, and the hippogriff followed him out the door.

I looked at my teleporter, then smiled as the screen became green. "Well, it was nice meeting you all."

"Come back anytime." The woman said.

I nodded as I set the coordinates, then zapped. I sighed as I saw my familiar walls, then sat down on a chair. Now, where are my Time Watchers?
________________________
Hey, guys! Yeah, I know, long and confusing chapter. Then again, it's Friday. Sorry for the super late updates. I was in Texas to visit some family. Anyway, thanks for making my book #426 in sci-fi! It means so much to me! You all are awesome!