"This is impossible!" Rae groaned.
Rae, an all-time baddie, had been stuck in a cramped, windowless cell (a.k.a. A Time Machine) with her best friend Quinn, the ultimate teacher's pet for the past four days. Files upon files of extensive notes and research about time travel in Quinn's perfectly even handwriting were thrown across the floor, all of which came to the same conclusion - 'To travel through time, bending space-time is required to form a loop. Technically known as a 'closed time-like curve'.
Their machine was a long silver cylinder with intricate carvings around the top and bottom which were supposed to ensure that Rae and Quinn were unharmed during each leap. Inside, the spacious room was full of stuffed armchairs, a high-quality plasma TV, and a fully stocked refrigerator. Sometime during their most recent leap, there had been a slight mishap in the circuiting, which caused then to end up 30 years in the future, where air pollution was at its peak. Quinn's asthma had been acting up, so the pair refrained from venturing outside their capsule. Now, Quinn was tinkering with the control panels (while Rae was sprawled across the floor sulking pitifully), chirping happily or else muttering under her breath, something along the lines of "...infinite mass needs to have a length of 0… But if the negative energy density is…" Rae rolled her eyes. What else is new?
Suddenly, an Earth-shattering BOOM! echoed around the chamber and Quinn finally emerged from the control room, soot covering her face and her dark blonde hair in a halo surrounding her face. Rae almost jumped out of her skin at the noise and when she noticed Quinn, her ever-present scowl deepened.
"What. Was. THAT?"
"Um... Rae? Don't freak out or anything, but… we've got a problem."