The Pendulum-Part 1 of 20, a short story by zllmtthw. Date added: 2012-01-07. Times viewed: 421.
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- Intro: Richie is an eccentric scientist that finally solves the plight of mankind. He discovers how to control time.
The Pendulum
Richie always keeps a timepiece with him. He can’t stand wondering what time it is. He meticulously keeps a track of time and has a fascination with it that is often interpreted as morbid. Not only is Richie captivated with time but he also is infatuated with the possibility of traveling through it. Richie never does anything without rigorously planning out every detail down to the millisecond. Much like everyone else, Richie’s entire life is engulfed with nothing but time. The exception with Richie is that he embraces the unknown and attempts to change the time he has. For as long as man has lived, he has unsuccessfully tried to control time. Richie becomes successful in the middle of his life.
Pond City is the name of the town that Richie lives in. He came from modest beginnings. His father was a firefighter and his mother was a nurse. Richie’s parents always thought that he was normal but had a minor case of OCD. His father passed away 18 years ago, when Richie was 13, and his mother retired 5 years ago. Richie had a very hard time dealing with his father’s death and to this day he is still haunted by his memories. Richie’s Grandfather died from a brain tumor when he was 6. His brother died when he was only 10. Richie feels like he was dealt a bad deck of cards and wants the ability to control what card comes next and be able to shuffle the cards into a completely new order.
Richie is a very gifted person. He has an uncanny ability to solve elaborate mathematical problems. When one scientist abandons an equation, Richie solves it. He honestly believes that through diligence, determination and time, he can solve anything. The unknown variable in his equation is time. He feels something inside him, calling to him like a flower to a bee. Richie thinks that anything imaginable is possible if one has the proper tools to build it. Richie earned a Doctorate at Harvard, with a major in Quantum Physics. He thinks that time is like a piece of string that can be twisted, folded or turned in any direction. He has all the calculations figured out, except one. Richie has been working on this one problem for over 6 years and will not give up. With every hour spent he moves one second closer to his dream. He keeps a clock on every wall in his house. There is one special clock that his father gave him when he was a child. The clock is called a Regulator. It has a pendulum that swings left to right and reminds Richie that if he slows down then time will keep moving. In return, Richie stays true to his path of entry.
Time to Richie is like a well-played game of chess. With every move he makes, something else makes a counter move. For example, the sun doesn’t rise without the moon setting. Richie learned this back in high school when he was taught Newton’s Laws of Motion. It is Newton’s Third Law of Motion that stands out to Richie. Newton’s Third Law of Motion states: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”.
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