You pick up any number of tricks related to camera angles, film editing, and effective use of voice-overs. And yet, your confidence has been badly eroded. The memory of Dean Mean's scorn and your humiliation torments you, making it hard to concentrate.
In the end, it's Brett who saves you. One day, she shows up at your door wearing a goofy triceratops cap, three horns bobbing about. You have to laugh and invite her in.
"I got you one, too." Brett takes out an even sillier cap. Its elongated brown brim resembles the wide muzzle of a hadrosaur. Two eyes adorn the cap's crown beneath its green top, which is meant to imitate the curved bony crest of some duckbills. "Here, put it on."
You do so, to humor your friend.
Pulling out a bottle of wine, she says, "Hey, remember how we wanted to go see the dinosaurs more than anything?"
You make a face as you pour a couple of glasses. "I still want that. But…" You throw up your hands. "It's hopeless."
"No, it isn't. Sure, it's a crazy hard problem, but solving it would be so worth the effort." She holds up a glass. "Here's to time travel."
"To time travel," you echo, clinking glasses, not feeling it.
"It seemed like you were close, Lokua Sale."
"I thought so too, but…"
"But those bastards did a number on you." Brett's quivering with indignation on your behalf.
Then your friend does a remarkable thing. Gently, patiently, by the time you two have finished the bottle, Brett persuades you to dig out your schematics and tools, and try that modification you'd come up with.
A Fresh Start