Chapter 1

I woke up in a cold sweat. My body shot up out of the nest of blankets I had created in my sleep. My perfect torso was covered in droplets of sweat, which alternately amalgamated in their descent down my body. My eyes were wide open, and I looked around frantically.

"OH MY GOD!" I shouted. Blinking deeply I came out of my nightmare. Calming down now, I pushed the covers to the side, as I swung my legs over the side of my bed. With a moan, I stood up shakily, and walked over to my bedroom window. Pushing aside the curtains, I let in the sunlight, which streamed across my face and body. I was 6'1" and solidly built. I swam on the college team and had a swimmer's body: lean, but muscular. I had flowing blond hair, and blue eyes that seemed to pierce right through people.

Running a hand backwards through my hair, I turned around and headed towards my shower to get ready. It was Sunday, but I had a major project that needed working on: Uses of Bionanotechnology in Clinical Research. Stripping off my sweatpants, I turned the shower up to the hottest it could go, waiting a few seconds until the steam began to billow and fill the room. Pulling aside the curtain, I stretch out my foot to touch the water when...

"Ding dong!" The doorbell rang. Frustration clouded my face. Now who could that be on a Sunday? I thought to myself. Wiping my foot on the floor mat, I stepped outside of the bathroom, and walked to the front of the house, avoiding windows in my naked state. As I reached the front door, I suddenly felt dizzy. A wave of nausea swept over me for a few seconds before I recovered.

"Whoa. I really should sit down," I remarked to myself. Peering through the curtains next to the door, I examined who had rang the doorbell. But no one was there. Instead, a brown package lay on my doorstep.

"That's odd. There shouldn't be any mail today," I muttered. Opening the door a crack, I reached outside and grabbed the package.

"Ah well," I said. "Maybe it's some promotional thing." I picked up the package, and cradled it under my arm, as I shut the front door. Walking over to the kitchen, I picked up a knife to open it, before remembering that the water was running.

"This can wait." Leaving the package on the dining counter, I walked over to the shower and got in, feeling the warm water suffuse my body. As it trickled over my extremities, I couldn't stop thinking about the package. Quickly shampooing my hair, I rinsed as fast as I could, in my eagerness to look inside the box.

Getting out of the shower, I dried myself quickly with my blue towel, and wrapped it around my waist. I grabbed my laptop and charger from my room, and walked over to the kitchen, where I began to boot up my laptop as I grabbed a grapefruit, and began quartering it for breakfast. As I cut with my left hand, I used my right hand to cut open the package with the knife, a task made possible by my ambidextrousness.

Finishing the grapefruit, I placed it into a bowl, throwing a spoon into it, and sliding it across the counter to the stools. Sitting down, I pulled open the cardboard of the box, while disassembling it, a motion made fast by constant practice. Inside, a smaller black velvet covered box lay immobilized by packing peanuts. Removing the smaller box, I opened it, revealing a gray light.

Squinting, I removed the object from inside the box, trying to get a good look at it. It appeared as if it were a ring. Sliding it onto my finger to check my assumption, the light instantly died out, revealing the ring in full.

It appeared to be carved out of a single piece of black obsidian. The band was thin, with three indentations in the top, filled with three unostentatious gems of three colors: green, yellow, and red. I removed the ring, and again the light began to glow.

How the hell does it do that? I wondered. The ring had no discernible region where light could emit. The band was too thin to contain any form of battery, as well. Hmm, I thought to myself. Maybe it's powered by some sort of solar energy. But then why would it stop in contact with skin? It was a mystery.

I picked up the box again, looking for a label to indicate the origin of the container. But there was none to be found.

I slipped the ring on my right hand, onto my ring finger. At least it looks cool, I thought to myself. Maybe I'll try wearing it for a bit. I began to eat my grapefruit, as my right hand began to dance over the keys, writing out my paper, giving life to the massive amounts of information and ideas present in my brain. Finishing the grapefruit, I typed faster. For three hours, I typed, spilling out 20 pages of information onto the word document in front of him.

At 1:30 p.m. I stopped for a break, my internal clock alerting him that it was time for lunch. As I got up to boil water for pasta, I absentmindedly touched the ring, brushing my thumb against the green gem. Another wave of nausea swept over him. As I touched the faucet, water streamed out at a higher than normal speed. I wonder what caused that, I thought to myself. Filling the pot with water, I put it on the stove, turning it on. I looked away to grab the box of pasta, and when I looked back two seconds later, the water was already boiling.

"That's really weird," I said out loud. I put the timer on for 14 minutes, enough time to perfectly cook the noodles. I walked away from the stove and stretched for about a minute. Then, the timer went off.

"I must have set it for the wrong time," I thought, turning around. Checking the noodles, however, I saw that they were perfectly done. I poured the noodles into a strainer, and then into a bowl. As I went to sit down, my eyes glanced by the clock. My eyes froze. As I watched, the second hand whizzed around the clock, as the minute hand drifted by at a constant speed, much much faster than normal. I walked over to the window and looked outside. Outside my house, a jogger ran by at 50 miles per hour.

Comprehension dawned on him, and my mouth dropped. "I've sped up. Time is going faster!" I said aloud, with growing excitement. "But what caused this?" Suddenly, I remembered the ring. Looking down at my hand, I adjusted the obsidian band. I felt the feeling of nausea again. Looking at the clock, it had slowed to normal speed.

"What in the world!" I said. Looking back at the box, I saw a white card, lying tucked in between the folds of the cardboard. Pulling out the business card, I examined the black embossed type, unsigned.

1) To speed time up, press the green jewel

2) To slow time down, press the yellow jewel

3) To stop time, press the red jewel

4) To return to normal time, touch the obsidian band

Flipping over the business card, I examined the other side. It was blank. Excitement flooded my mind and body. The amount of opportunities that I had were incredibly, and infinite.

My heart began to beat faster as I realized the immense amount of power I had. I have to protect this, I thought to myself. I tapped the red jewel, and instantly felt sick. The power that the ring exerts must cause the nausea as well, I thought, which I also felt when I got the package! I glanced up at my kitchen clock: completely frozen. I moved the business card through the air. It moved normally. Then, I released it. It stopped, frozen in midair. Huh. I guess if objects touch me, then they remain moving through time. I picked up the card from the middle of the air, placing it back into the box. I opened my front door, and walked outside, still dressed in a towel.