Message from 2085
Ava stood back and admired her work.
She couldn’t believe it—she had finally done it!
She looked around the weathered old shed where she had been secretly working on her project. It smelled like sawdust and secrets. Ava couldn’t wait to show her friends, but first, she had to take in the beauty of it all.
Ava McMillan had just created the world’s first-ever time machine.
She was an only child and had two best friends, Emma and Olivia. She had been scholarly ever since she was born. Ava could solve algebra at the age of two. Her incredible mind allowed her to skip elementary school entirely—she went straight to middle school when she was just seven.
Yes, it was awkward, but she was proud of herself.
Eventually, Ava realized that middle school was way too easy. She needed a real challenge. So, she came up with the perfect project: building a time machine.
The idea wasn’t random. Ava had been having the same dream over and over—a vivid dream of the world ending in the year 2085. It had started a few years ago, but lately, it was getting stronger, clearer. She felt it wasn’t just a dream—it was a message, and she needed to do something about it.
She carefully planned every step of her project in a perfect order, like putting puzzle pieces together. Her dad, a brilliant scientist who had worked at NASA for 23 years, had a room full of materials from old projects. That’s where Ava got most of her supplies.
Her hypothesis? A rare metal her dad had safely stored might give her time machine the acceleration it needed to break the time barrier.
She did most of the research herself, only asking for help when absolutely necessary. The hardest part was figuring out when the time barriers shifted across different dimensions—that part took nearly a year! Synchronizing the circuits took months more. But after many trials and tons of errors, she was finally ready to test it.
The plan was to go 60 years into the future.
Ava took a deep breath, pressed the glowing ON button, and climbed inside.
WHOOOOOOOP!
When the noise faded, Ava opened her eyes… and saw the same dusty old shed.
She sighed. It hadn’t worked. But she quickly spotted the error—her “Where/When Are You Going?” button hadn’t been calibrated correctly.
She fixed it, climbed back in, and hit the button again.
WHOOOOOOOP!
This time, when she opened her eyes, everything had changed.
Screens were everywhere. Neon lights blinked in every direction. A massive billboard glowed above her:
“Martha McMillan Has Just Created Levitating Cars!”
Ava gasped. Martha McMillan was her grandmother—someone she had never met. Martha had gone missing in 2005, twelve years before Ava was born. People said she was a brilliant inventor, mysterious and full of secrets. They also said Ava was just like her.
No one ever found out what happened to Martha. Some believed she had died. Others thought she’d vanished on a secret research trip and never returned. Most people had forgotten her completely.
Ava looked around. The streets were empty—except for one woman in a metallic hat, facing away from her.
Ava tapped her shoulder. “Excuse me, ma’am. Do you know where this person is?”
The woman turned around slowly and smiled. “That’s me. Why do you ask?”
Ava’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe it. Without thinking, she hugged her.
“I’m Ava,” she said excitedly. “I built a time machine—like you! I’ve been having dreams about the world ending in 2085 and I—”
Martha raised a hand gently. She looked… worried.
When Ava stopped talking, Martha sighed.
“Honey,” she said, “I built a time machine back in 2005. It brought me here. But I’ve been stuck ever since. I can’t go back. I’ve been trying to send a message to my family—to anyone—to warn them. Humankind ends in 2085. I’m the only one left.”
Ava’s eyes widened.
“I guess your mind is like mine,” Martha continued. “You were the only one who could receive my message. I didn’t mean to drag you into this. I didn’t mean for you to build another machine. But now… now we’re both in danger.”
Miraya Madhav 