A Quantum Leap

Sir Atwood glanced at his pocketwatch. It was 12:07. Looking up, he shifted his attention to his daughter, Becky, standing with her back to him at the end of the chapel's aisle. For a moment, he was caught up in fatherly pride at the sight of his daughter, pure and beautiful in her white wedding dress. Then, he noticed her tremble, and his worries returned. Despite her impeccable upbringing, the stress of the situation was testing Becky's resolve.

"Counfound that useless man!" he muttered.

His wife gave him a gentle rap with her fan.

"Mind your temper, James," she said, not taking her eyes off of her daughter.

"I won't stand for it!" he shot back. "It's bad enough that we've been driven to give up our only girl to some useless writer, but now he doesn't even have the decency to arrive on time to his own wedding..."

"There are plenty of reasons--" Lady Atwood started.

"No! I'll have no excuses! In a time such as ours when we can travel instantaneously, there is absolutely no reason for this disrespectful tardiness--"

"James!" Lady Atwood cut him off.

Sir Atwood thought he might strike his wife, but she pointed his attention toward Becky. She'd heard their conversation and was looking back, though at her father's glance she quickly turned away, trembling again.

Just then, a flash of blue light filled the room. The wedding-goers turned and gasped in astonishment. Robert had emerged from the Quantum Tunneler's portal, completely disheveled. His tuxedo jacket was covered in dirt, his cravat undone and hanging limply around his neck, his left shoe altogether missing.

The chapel was silent. Then,

"...Robert?"

Becky had barely whispered his name, but it rippled through the air like a pebble dropped into a pond.

Robert started toward the aisle.

"Becky, I--"

Sir Atwood stood from his pew, furious.

"Explain yourself, you miserable excuse of a man!"

Robert took a step back, startled.

"It was the tunneler, it malfunctioned--"

This drew a collective gasp from the crowd; quantum tunneling had been perfected to such a degree that disruptions hadn't been heard of in decades.

"Nonsense!" roared Sir Atwood.

Drawing courage, Robert started forward again.

"It dropped me in the most beautiful place, Becky. A meadow! A meadow full of flowers in the mountains, just like the storybooks used to talk about. The air--it felt so, so raw! So clean and full of life!"

His words drew murmurs from the crowd; since the advent of instantaneous travel, no civilized person had set foot in "the wild." It was unseemly.

"And the people, Becky," Robert continued, "They were so strange! So tall, and with the most curious sparkle in their eyes! I was just starting to approach them when the tunneler found my signal again and brought me back--"

"That's quite enough!" yelled Sir Atwood. "You show up here, filthy and late, and then babble on with wild stories? If you're any kind of a man, you'll stop this talk and proceed--"

He was yelling in Robert's face now, but Robert was unfazed. Calmly, almost serenly, he pushed his future father-in-law aside and continued toward his betrothed.

"Becky...it inspired me like nothing I've ever seen before. I--I'd like to show you. I think I know how to do it again."

The crowd looked toward Becky in hushed silence. Her hand was at her mouth, a stunned expression on her face. But then,

"...Yes. I want to see."

The crowd erupted into dischord. Sir Atwood began striding toward the altar, bellowing "NOW SEE HERE!" Robert payed him no mind. Running to Becky, he took her by the hand and then withdrew a strange device from his jacket pocket. At the press of a button, the chapel was filled once again with a blinding blue light. When the crowd could see again, Robert and Becky had run to the QT Portal, holding each other by the hand.

"Are you sure this will work?" asked Becky.

Robert shook his head.

"I'm not...but do you trust me?"

"STOP THIS INSTANT!" yelled Sir Atwood, charging down the hall.

Becky smiled.

"I...I do!"

She kissed Robert, and then activated the portal. Together, the two stepped forward, disappearing forever in a shimmer of blue light.