Scene One: Year 1955
(A room bustling with laboratory equipment and diagrams of strange structures. In the center, a sorrowful inventor buries his face in his hands.)
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(The assistant enters without knocking. The inventor shows no reaction.)
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Assistant: Why do I see your tears so stubborn?
Inventor: I don't understand.
Assistant: Understand what?
Inventor: Do you remember that brilliant idea I told you about before?
Assistant: The Transitional Hydrogen Model? It was a truly remarkable idea! Pity it never succeeded.
Inventor: (with regret) On the contrary—it did succeed. Unfortunately, it already existed... sixty years ago.
Assistant: That’s truly odd. Anyway, I came to say hello and let you know there’s nothing new.
Inventor: (gazes downward silently)
Assistant: (begins to leave but turns back) Maybe someone used a time machine in the past to steal an idea from the future. Your invention may have fallen victim to the web of intellectual theft my friend Luay’s investigation office is swamped with.
Inventor: (suddenly intrigued) That’s possible. Let’s go to the investigation office and uncover the thief’s identity!
Assistant: Understood.
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(They leave for the investigation office.)
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Scene Two: The Investigation Office
(A well-organized space, like a beehive: coordinated desks, synchronized file exchanges, and neatly aligned computers. The two companions sit across from Luay, the director.)
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Luay: Intellectual property is like any other tangible property—this is a clear principle. But in your case, it evolved from an imaginary idea into a tangible machine, and there lies the issue. Are you certain that the machine built sixty years ago matches your current design in detail?
Inventor: Honestly, I can’t be sure. But yesterday morning, I read that the Transitional Hydrogen Model does exist, with evidence!
Luay: Precisely—that’s the point. Does the physical evidence exactly match your machine?
Inventor: It resembles it. Regardless, hydrogen can only be converted into a pure fuel suitable for electric vehicles through one equation—and it’s mine!
Luay: It’s possible there’s another equation.
Inventor: Perhaps.
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(The assistant intervenes, noticing neither man has a definitive argument.)
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Assistant: Then let’s use the time machine and return to the past. We’ll investigate the rise of hydrogen technology there—clearly neither of you has a conclusive case. (pauses to think) A time machine is a burden upon the delicate fabric of what two eras are meant to be. So it may be best if we destroy it too!
Inventor & Luay (in unison): An excellent idea.
Assistant: I dislike the word “excellent.” It’s too neutral—even bad things can be “excellent.”
Anyway, let’s go!
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Scene Three: Year 1895
(A candlelit room. A young man hunches over papers, sketching and writing phrases above each drawing—phrases that seem like madness. As the three intruders enter, the young man jumps in fright and drops his pen.)
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Luay: We’d like to question you. (flashes a badge—or more accurately, a sleek official license)
Young Man: (calming down) About what?
Inventor: The time machine has spread like automobiles. Each generation now has its own traveler to the New World—or returnee from a bygone decade. I believe you know what I mean.
Young Man: No, please clarify.
Luay: My client accuses you of stealing his future idea—by traveling more than sixty years forward.
Young Man: (laughing) And you used a time machine to come back and arrest the man you think used it for future theft! What a paradoxical device!
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All Three: (together) We agree.
Inventor: But you still haven’t answered—what about the Transitional Hydrogen?
Young Man: (firmly) That’s my original idea.
Inventor: But it matches my design exactly!
Young Man: Search the table all you want. If betting weren’t banned, I’d wager you won’t find an exact match in my notes. I haven’t finished the project yet, but the current draft will prove that similar ideas can exist—unlike identical ones.
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(The inventor steps toward the table while the young man continues his defense.)
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Young Man: I’ll add this in my defense—current time machines can only go back twenty years. Except for one, which was modified by a skilled mechanic. But even he dared not proceed further after discovering the machine couldn't prevent aging during time travel.
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Inventor: (searches the papers, gradually blushing as he realizes the young man’s equation is entirely different—and, in fact, reveals his own equation to be flawed. He steps back in sincere apology.)
I'm sorry. You’re right. We’ll return to our time now—and this time, with an idea I’ve drawn from you, young genius!
Young Man: How strange! Aren’t our thoughts... siblings?
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(The candlelight mingles with the laughter of all four.)
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