Just One Target A short story t h a n o s k a l a m i d a s j u s t o n e “Jesus Christ! What have I done?” Thanos Kalamidas An Ovi Magazine Books Publication 2021 Ovi Project Publication - All material is copyright of the Ovi magazine & the writer C Ovi books are available in Ovi magazine pages and they are for free. If somebody tries to sell you an Ovi book please contact us immediately. For details, contact: submissions@ovimagazine.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book. Just One Target Thanos Kalamidas A short story Just One Target “Please, please; do sit down. I will start in a minute, but first I need some silence. Please do be quiet.” Truth said there was a lot of noise in the big room, a lot of whispering, squeaking and hissing, but then again how many times do you have the chance to hear the youngest ever Nobel Prize winner in theoretical physics, actually two times No- bel Prize winner, announcing that he has made a discovery that will change human history forever. Over two hundreds journalists from all the media outlets from all around the world specializing or not in science and physics, had gath- ered in this room after an invitation they received a month ago, which very briefly informed them that Doctor Philip K. Ovi was ready to an- nounce the biggest discovery ever. To be precise, there were two hun- dred twenty one in all, each very carefully selected from the university administration just to make sure that the world will go around avoid- ing exaggerations, conspiracies and fake news. Thanos Kalamidas At the far end of the room, exactly opposite to the entrance doors, was a long table at which Professor Ovi was sitting with two of his assis- tances on one side, the University’s Don on the other and another fa- miliar face who later introduced himself as Doctor Michael Donnelly, Professor of Biochemistry. On the right-hand side of the well lighten stage; there were six men, four in uniform and two in dark gray suits, obviously army and gov- ernment. From their faces you could see that they had no idea what it was all about, which is something that governments and armies don’t usually appreciate, however you could see that they were fully aware that something important was coming and they indented to be a big part of it. It was also significant that army vehicles were parked outside the building filled with soldiers, which also suggested that the army was ready to take over, depending upon how serious the discovery was. Eventually silence came and Doctor Philip K. Ovi moved to the front of the scene while the lights darken in the rest of the room bringing him in a very theatrical way, full in the spotlight. “Thank you!” Through his glasses the professor looked at the crowd. He looked first at his assistances on his right and then turned towards the strangely shaped door a bit further from them. Nobody had no- ticed that door before, but now following the professor’s gaze every- body turned to the door that was standing there on the left-hand side of the room standing alone and seemingly leading nowhere. It was just a door at the side of the room. It had a frame, a keyhole and even a knocker, yet it was the funny glow- ing orange colour that captured everybody’s attention. “Ladies and gentlemen, fellow professors, dear generals and minister,” he started, while carefully looking in the direction of each of the people he was referring. Just One Target “As you all well know, I’m not exactly the person used to publicity and interviews, so I will try to make this brief and explain what I have dis- covered and then make a small demonstration for you.” That was true, Nobel Prize winner for physics, mathematics and chemistry, are not the small talk people and never invited to any of the nowadays so pop- ular talk shows. Straight to the point people. “I was lucky enough to receive my first Nobel Prize at a very young age by contributing my little theory to modern theoretical physics and helping to find some solutions to the theory of relativity. I was once more lucky to be awarded for a second time ten years later for my con- tribution to mathematics and astrophysics. However, I’d like to assure that none of that was my true intention, even though the money has helped me continue my research.” Some of the reporters smiled here and there; not in a bad way, since they all could sense the professor’s sincerity. “All this time there was just one target, among all the discoveries I have made and all of them were nothing other than one more answer or di- rection on my way to reaching my final target. My friends, for the last forty years space travel has been the most important direction, at least in my scientific field. However, I think that I have found another way to travel.” And in that point the professor stood still and with a louder voice he announced: “Time travel.” After Doctor Ovi said that stood there still and silent while waiting for the assembled guests to compre- hend what he had just said. Suddenly some stood up and started clapping, some of them started asking questions, others were still dumbstruck, a few shook their head I disbelief, but the result was a room of total confusion. More confused than anybody else were the gentlemen from the army and government, they were just sitting there looking at each other in bewilderment. “Please, please let me finish what I have to say and then you can ask whatever you want. Please do sit down.” The professor was ordering Thanos Kalamidas everybody about as though he was in a classroom and strangely enough it worked. In only a few seconds everybody had returned to their seats and sat looking at the doctor with curiosity, doubt and shock written across their faces. The professor didn’t sit down. He walked towards the strange orange door that was still shut. “Well, this is it. It is not a machine as most of you would imagine and it is not a door either. It’s an Ovi. That’s the only name we could come up with,” he added, turning a smile in the direction of his two grinning assistances. In the future you and the rest of the world will have the chance to check all the mathematics and physics involved with the Ovi, but at the mo- ment I will ask you to keep quiet while I continue with the demostra- tion.” The professor took off the bleached-white laboratory coat he was wearing revealing a long gray smock and sandals. Mouths opened to ask a question, but no sound came out, and eyes were attempting to record everything they were seeing to memory. Again, there was total silence in the room. “Ovi takes us to the past. Always to the past and whenever we tried something different mathematics and reality shown that this is some- thing we cannot change. As I said before, you will have the chance, you and the whole scientific community, to check out results. Before you start again...” he said, as he noticed that the army men had pulled themselves together and had begun moving in his direction. “I have to tell you that all my life I have been a devoted Christian,” at this point he paused and looked as though he was saying silent prayer. “Till now we have not made any tests with Ovi, only simulations. It is about time that we make one and I want to be the first to travel into the past. Much more, I want to be there when the Lord, Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem. I want to be there when he performed his last mir- Just One Target acles and I want, if possible, to be one of his followers and why not the 13th apostle?” With these words he withdrew a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, his hand slowly reached out to the doorknob, turned it and began to pull it open. A strange wind entered the room from the open door and everybody saw a gray fog begin moving into the room. The fog rapidly increased in mass and seemed to clog up the air. Everybody just watched. The generals had stopped and the reporters stopped writing; they all were glued to this event. The professor sensed that this wouldn’t last much longer and was nervous that the generals will stop him from proceed- ing any further, so he dashed into the fog. He had managed only a step before he was knocked back into the room, something had collided with him. “Oh, my god, I failed!” It was the only thing he managed to say before a noise could be heard coming from out of the fog. Everybody was now straining to hear and understand what was going on, the room was filling with sounds and noises in a language unknown to them. Then came a song, “Hosanna! Hosanna!” Somebody was singing. No, not somebody, there were a lot of voices singing and then a leaf blew into the room. It was a palm leaf and it was followed by another. Everybody moved backwards, except the profes- sor who was still on the floor with his eyes wide open. More singing came and then he felt something else come out of the fog. The cries of ‘Hosanna!’ had suddenly turned to screams that had made everybody in the room turn pale. One of the professor’s assistances ran past the professor and managed to force the Ovi, with the help of his back. The gray fog began to clear and the room stared in horror at a strange shape that was beginning to appear. In front of the Ovi, next to the doctor was a donkey, a small gray-white donkey and upon its back was a man. A man dressed in a long white Thanos Kalamidas dress and sandals. He was a man with long hair and a beard, plus a very familiar smile on his face. The professor was the first one to react. “Jesus Christ! What have I done?” THE END? An Ovi Magazine Books Publication 2021 Ovi Project Publication - All material is copyright of the Ovi magazine & the writer C Ovi books are available in Ovi magazine pages and they are for free. If somebody tries to sell you an Ovi book please contact us immediately. For details, contact: submissions@ovimagazine.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book. Just One Target Just One Target Thanos Kalamidas 1st edition: April 2008 2nd edition: October 2021 Ovi magazine Design: Thanos Thanos Kalamidas A short story t h a n o s k a l a m i d a s j u s t o n e “Jesus Christ! What have I done?” Six-foot-one, grew up in sixties and seventies, studied in England and France, worked for long in England did some in Japan and France ending up in Scandinavia, love jazz music and black strong coffee. Love sports when I can watch them on TV, eating pizza, chocolate biscuits and drinking bitter ale. It all sounds like brain damage.