Free Prisoner in Time (Time travel) by Christopher David Petersen Page A

charge to fifteen joules. Handing the paddles to Dr. Warner, he positioned them on Bobby’s chest.
     
    “Clear!” he shouted.
     
    He depressed the buttons and instantly sent a charge across his heart. Bobby convulsed on the table, then lay flat.
     
    “Still in v-fib,” Dr. Fullerton shouted.
     
    “Charge to twenty,” Dr. Warner ordered. “Clear.”
     
    Again, he depressed the buttons on the paddles and instantly, Bobby’s body convulsed on the table once more.
     
    “V-fib,” Dr. Fullerton shouted simply.
     
    “Dammit,” Dr. Warner shouted angrily. “Charge to forty.”
     
    He replaced the paddles and called “clear” again. Like the two times before it, Bobby convulsed, then lay still as the cardiac monitor blared “flat-line”.
     
    “Charge the paddles to fifty,” Dr. Warner shouted frantically. “Push another amp of epi.”
     
    He slapped the paddles to Bobby’s chest and depressed the button. Again, his body heaved and contracted, then lay flat as the cardiac monitor reminded all of their failure.
     
    “God Dammit,” Dr. Warner shouted loudly, his emotional state now slowly unraveling.
     
    His mind raced as he considered his options. Desperate for a solution, he stared at the patient, trying to force a moment of clarity… but there was none to be found. Looking around the room, he searched the eyes of his colleagues hoping for answer, but he received only blank stares in return.
     
    “Charge the paddles to sixty,” he demanded. “Push an amp of atropine.”
     
    “Doctor?” Dr. Johnson shouted.
     
    Placing the paddles once again, he called “clear”.
     
    “Doctor?” Dr. Johnson shouted louder.
     
    “I’m a little busy right now?” he shouted back in frustration.
     
    “David, it’s no use. He’s gone,” Dr. Johnson responded, his tone now steady and sympathetic. “There was just too much damage.”
     
    “No, I won’t accept that. There’s still time. I can save him.”
     
    “No David, you can’t,” Dr. Johnson responded resolutely. “All you’re doing is frying this poor boy. It’s time to stop.”
     
    Dr. Warner stood with paddles in hand and thought about his colleagues words. He looked to the patient, then to the monitors. The hard truth of the doctor’s words finally registered within him. He looked around the room and nodded in simple resignation.
     
    “Call it,” he said, his tone barely audible.
     
    The Waiting Room:
     
    Time: 10:13pm
     
    The Robbins family sat quietly as they waited for news of Bobby’s condition. As the TV broadcast its endless barrage of commercial advertisements, their minds slipped in and out of focus.
     
    Geoff stared through the TV, the sound barely detectable and only registering in his subconscious. At the forefront of his mind was the fate of his brother. He replayed the events of the evening, considering his role in his brother’s tragedy.
     
    “I should have waited for him,” he blurted out, breaking the silence between the three.
     
    “What?” his mother asked, unsure of his statement as her mind was pulled from its own random thoughts and force to focus.
     
    “I should have waited for him, earlier... If I had, we would have ridden together and none of this would have happened,” he replied in solemn tone. “Why didn’t I wait for him?” he spat angrily.
     
    “Geoffrey, don’t you do that! This isn’t your fault,” she shot back instantly. “It’s no one’s fault. It’s just bad luck.”
     
    “The hell it is,” Geoff’s father retorted angrily. “It’s that stupid redneck’s fault. When this is all over, I’m going to sue his ass for so much, his damn grandchildren will be paying.”
     
    “Dad, Arles is dead. He died in the crash.”
     
    The shock of Geoff’s words took a moment to register in his parents minds. With the chaos of the evening, he had forgotten to mention the death of Arles and now, hearing it for the first time, his parents had mixed feelings.
     
    “Damn, I