Read Future Shock for Free Online Page A

your company?”
    “Don’t worry, Elena. We’ve tested it thoroughly. You don’t have anything to worry about.” She gives me another of those big smiles she likes to throw around. “Now please excuse me. We’re about to get started.”
    Well, that was no help at all. If anything, I’m even more suspicious now.
    She leaves me at a table with five large backpacks, each labeled with one of our names. Chris grabs his, purposefully slamming into Adam’s side as he walks past. Trent follows at his heels, snickering. Zoe snatches her backpack and clings to it, glancing at the elevator like she might bolt at any second.
    I grab mine and sit in a chair against the wall, while the scientists work on the accelerator. Lynne steps aside with Dr. Walters, but they speak too low for me to hear them. What are they discussing? Is Lynne telling him about our conversation? Or am I just being paranoid?
    Adam sits beside me. The last person I want to talk to. “I spoke with Dr. Walters, and he said everything is fine.”
    “You talked to him?” I whisper, looking around to make sure no one else is listening. “What I told you was private!”
    “I didn’t tell him what you heard. I just asked him some questions. They’ve used the accelerator before with different objects and animals. They’ve done lots of tests. It’s totally safe.”
    “Yeah, well, I asked Lynne some questions too, and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t telling me everything.”
    He studies me for a long moment. “Are you going to back out?”
    “No.” I sigh. “I need this.”
    “Me too. But it’s going to be okay, really.” He lightly places his hand on my forearm, but I flinch before I can stop myself. He looks surprised by my reaction. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—”
    “It’s fine. I’m just nervous.” It’s not a complete lie.
    He gives me a lopsided grin. “Hey, whatever happens in the future, I’ll be there to protect you.”
    “My hero.” I roll my eyes. More like I’ll be the one protecting him .
    But the strange thing is, a small part of me does feel better knowing he’s on my side. There’s something about Adam I can’t help but like. Or maybe he’s just a better option than the other people on our team.
    Lynne finishes conferring with Dr. Walters, and she claps her hands to get our attention. “We’re just about ready to begin.”
    The five of us—in identical clothes, with heavy backpacks and coats that are much too warm for this time of year—shuffle toward the dome. The metal tubes that encase it begin to hum, and the floor under us starts to vibrate. My breath hitches. Is it too late to back out?
    “We have one final thing to go over before you enter the accelerator,” Lynne says. “When you’re in the future, it’s very important that you do not look up any information about yourself.”
    “What?” The word slips from my lips before I can stop it. The others gasp and mutter too, so I guess I’m not the only one who wants to know what happens to me. We all signed up for this research project to make sure we had a future—and now we can’t even check if we do?
    Dr. Kapur holds up a hand as though to silence us. “We realize it will be tempting to find out what will happen to you in the next ten years. However, we believe this knowledge could send you into a state of shock, permanently damaging your brain.”
    Hmm. His warning could be a line they’re feeding us to keep us on track, but I doubt any of us would risk brain damage to find out. The temptation is strong though. It’s impossible to not be curious about your own fate.
    “And whatever happens, do not—I repeat, do not —interact with your future self,” Dr. Walters says. “Doing so would not only send you into a state of shock, but could also create a temporal paradox.”
    A temporal paradox? What the hell is that? Adam must have the same question, because he asks, “What do you mean?”
    “Our research shows that meeting a future version of