Chapter 8 - Elias Mercer Was Not Alive
They nearly made biggest mistake.
Assuming “ELIAS IS HERE” meant Elias himself.
It did not.
Next controlled visual window showed Thomas pointing behind him.
A metal nameplate on apparatus:
ELIAS MERCER — PRIMARY CONTROL.
He meant Elias’s machine.
Not person.
Good.
One false supernatural leap corrected early.
Thomas was alone.
No 1908-dead father trapped with him.
Then Thomas showed more cards.
TIME?
Ethan held board toward viewing panel:
Thomas staggered.
Same reaction Evelyn had.
Then:
EVELYN?
She stepped forward and wrote:
HERE.
Thomas cried.
Evelyn cried too.
For them, perhaps hours since 1896.
Then Thomas wrote:
SECOND BELL BAD.
DO NOT FULL CLOSE.
Lucas understood.
Full circuit might recreate split rather than release.
Elias notes described partial-anchor extraction.
Node B and primary chamber had to synchronize without Second Bell closure.
Could modern electronics control more precisely.
Maybe.
But field strength had to be high.
September peak gave best chance.
Evelyn asked:
“Can Thomas come out before?”
Lucas said perhaps not enough energy.
Independent engineer Dr. Maya Chen disagreed.
“We may be able to create artificial peak.”
Risk.
Ethan asked probability.
No one could quantify.
So no hero pushing button based on guess.
They spent days testing objects.
Small brass washer placed in primary chamber under partial cycle.
It disappeared for 0.8 seconds.
Returned warm.
High-speed camera showed frame gap.
Then pocket watch placed.
Disappeared 14 seconds.
Returned with mechanical hand advanced only two seconds.
Evidence of time-skipping.
Then cloth strip.
Returned aged? No. Minimal.
System worked somehow.
Now challenge:
extract Thomas without re-taking Evelyn.
Why would it target her?
Her body possibly “tagged” by prior phase state.
Sensors near Evelyn registered resonance even outside lab.
When system activated low, her heart rate changed.
So she could be involuntarily recaptured.
Solution:
distance.
Move Evelyn off property during extraction.
She hated.
“What if he needs to see me?”
“You can video.”
“I promised I’d get him out.”
“You can help without standing inside machine.”
This was not silencing.
Risk minimization.
She agreed.
Then Margaret confessed another piece.
In 1974 Charles tried object tests after Evelyn vanished.
One rat disappeared and returned dead.
Another returned alive but aged several months.
Lucas had not known.
His grandfather Samuel removed those notes from archive.
Why?
Because Samuel concluded repeated biological passage caused instability.
Evelyn had already crossed twice.
A third could be dangerous.
That strengthened case to keep her away.
Margaret said:
“My father knew and still planned another human test.”
“On whom?”
Margaret looked ashamed.
“Me.”
Ethan stared.
Charles intended use Margaret as second subject to determine genetic/familial effect? No relation to Mercer. Better not genetic. Because she was witness and controllable daughter.
He told Margaret she could “bring Evelyn back.”
Samuel stopped him.
Helen helped Margaret flee lab.
That was why lab sealed in 1975.
Not because experiment ended peacefully.
Because Samuel threatened expose Charles.
Charles welded shut.
Margaret had spent decades thinking she was coward for refusing.
Evelyn told her:
“You were seventeen.”
Margaret cried.
For first time, guilt loosened.
May you like
The family story wasn’t just about time.
It was about adults using urgency to make young people responsible for impossible choices.
