Computers whirled ceaselessly in the background as two young people poured over calculations and equations. Empty energy drinks and coffee mugs lined the desks and table, along with crumpled pieces of no longer useful sheets of paper. Thus had been the state of the lab for many weeks. Each day brought the two youngsters closer to their goal. Their goal of time travel.

Their professors scoffed them, saying time travel was only the stuff of science fiction. That time wasn't like how it was shown in movies or books where a person could go back and see events that had already happened to himself. Time was just something science could not touch, or so they were told.

Being told that it could not be done was the only motivation needed for these two. Since their birth, the twins had always been doing the things thought to be impossible. Geniuses they were in all aspects, and being told that something was impossible made them both want to prove that it was, indeed, possible.

So for the past months, the twins had locked themselves in their homemade laboratory to work on a time travel formula. If their was one to be found, these two would find it, despite their parents disapproval of them spending so much time on a 'fruitless effort'. Their parents just didn't quite understand their passion for proving others wrong.

"So maybe if we tried this," muttered the girl drawing an arch to and from various parts of the equation the paper in front of her.

"We tried that already, Ry," sighed her brother before he took a sip of his coffee. His sisters snarled and slammed her fist on the table.

"Damnit, Arty...we've been at this for months...why isn't it working?" she exasperatedly asked her brother who was just as pissed that they were not getting anywhere with this. It was like a dog chasing his own tail.

Arty shrugged his shoulders and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "You're guess is just as good as mine, dear sister," he said before frowning. "I mean if it were as simple as science fiction put it, there really wouldn't be a challenge for us, ya know?" He looked over at his sister who was mulling over what he said. Finally she sighed and nodded in agreement.

"Right. But what if we tried-" she started but could not finish due to the intrusion in their lab.

"Time for dinner, kids," their mother said with a slightly forced smile. Not to be mistaken, Marie loved her two children dearly and was proud of their academic prowess. She just wished that they would spend more time outside of their lab. Preferably spend that time with her and William, their father.

It depressed Maria that the only way to get her two babies out of their lab was to threaten to stop paying for the electricity that those two consumed like candy. She and William were too reasonable by asking only for meal times to be spent as a family. The twins agreed, because they didn't have the money to be able to support their very expensive hobby.

The twins sighed before setting their pens and pencils down. They wished that they could just eat in their lab, since their train of thought could be lost if they took a break. On some occasions like tonight, they welcomed the break. It was a time to refresh and rest their brains.

The three headed upstairs to the dinning room, where everything was set out already. Their father was sitting at the head of the table. He smiled at the three as they took their respective places at the table. After saying grace, the family began to eat the meal that Marie had prepared so well, chatting about various topics.

A half an hour later, all stomachs were full, and the table was cleared. The twins forced themselves to stay as long as they could. Finally Ry couldn't take it anymore and looked to her father with a pleading expression.

"Please, may we go back down? I just had a thought that might help Arty and I finish the project," she said, giving her best pleading look. She had always been more of a daddy's little girl, but her brother was definitely a momma's boy. That being stated, she was sure that William would say yes. After all, Ry had managed to get him to allow her and Arty to build their laboratory in the unused basement.

William sighed, knowing his weakness for his little girl meant a likely yes from him. He couldn't help it even if he wanted to. She was his little girl, and he didn't want to tell her no. Therefore, he nodded silently despite the glare he was receiving from his wife. The two youngsters were up and in the lab within seconds of the nod.

"William, why did you let them go?" asked Marie with a slight frown. William sighed and rubbed his temples.

"Dear, if we hold them back from their dreams and desires, then they will just come to resent us. I wish that Ry and Arty would spend more time with us, just as you do. But I don't want them to hate us for not allowing them to follow their dreams. After all, we were the ones to tell them to follow their dreams. If we backed out of that now, we'd be liars," Will said with a small smile. "Besides, we followed our dreams. They should be free to follow theirs." He rose from the table, kissed Marie, and headed into the library.

Meanwhile the twins had gone back to work. They were scribbling furiously on paper or typing things into their computers. "If only this were as easy as sticking our ass in a slingshot whipping around the sun***," muttered Ry who got frustrated more than Arty. He was there to help his sister keep a calm and level head.

Arty looked up from his work, furrowing his brow slightly. "Didn't you say you say that you had an idea? Mom sorta interrupted you but I figure now is just as good as any to bounce that idea around. I was having one of my own during supper. So let's hear it," he said with a small smile as Ry's whole face brightened because she finally remembered.

"That's right, now here was what I was thinking," Ry began as she walked over to the white board wall. She then began to proceed telling Arty her idea. He nodded and paid attention like any brother would. After finishing, she capped the marker and looked to him for his opinion.

He stood silently, grabbed a marker, and went to the board. "Almost exactly like mine, except," he stated before using his marker to show the differences in his idea as compared to hers. Ry wrinkled her nose. She hated to admit that her brother was probably right. Though both of them were brilliant, he was just a little more so. Ry blamed it on the fact he was born first. Arty chuckled a little at her reaction. "Let's plug it into the computer and see what happens."

A few minutes later, the twins were both standing in front of the computers, mouths agape. Their formula finally proved to be the most successful one that they had tried. Neither one of them spoke, lest their cheers of triumph somehow effect the results. Finally after ten minutes they let out whoops of joy and triumph.

"It works, Arty!" Ry said excitedly as she danced around, overjoyed that for the first time in almost a year they had a probably success rate of over fifty percent. Hell, this reached an eighty percent success rate. Ry didn't know how she could contain her joy.

Arty on the other hand just stood there smiling like a maniac. Months of work, and it was really that simple. He couldn't believe it. Arty chuckled at Ry's reaction. She was the more physical of the two, which was just fine with him. His face turned pensive after a few moments. "Hey, Ry...when are we gonna build the needed machinery for this?"

Ry immediately stopped dancing and glared at her brother for ruining her happy moment. "Damn it. I suppose we should get started then...make a list of what we need, I'll go get us some more coffee," she said grabbing two mugs before leaving the basement and Arty.

The two worked into the night on the list of materials needed to build the time machine that would hopefully send them into the future. It was a rather long list, but most of the parts were small and intricate. Ry would have a blast putting the pieces together. As for Arty he mused over the machine plans like a child at the candy store.

The next few months were spent planning and revising the time machine plans. Ry was the eternal grease monkey during those months, offering advice to Arty on how it might work better if pieces were switched. She kept her grimy hands away from the plans while Arty's hand kept off what they both thought was the best configuration of the time machine.

One night a year and six months later, Ry and Arty were in the laboratory working on the almost completed time machine. A few parts here and there were still needing to be placed. Over all the twins were satisfied with the results so far.

"Okay, Arty so this should be the final configuration of the time machine, right?" asked Ry who was busy looking once again at the plans. If something went wrong in the travel, she would be the one to blame for not setting it up right. If anything should go wrong, Ry would rather her slightly smarter older brother to be at fault. Proof that he wasn't perfect and all.

Arty looked up from his computer and almost laughed at his sister. Her short hair was ruffled though hard to tell with the goggles on top of her head but also greasy like the rest of her appearance. Really, he often wondered if their personalities were switched at birth as he tended to be more on the feminine side, while Ry was more manly. "Yes, those are what we agreed on last night," he murmured before taking a sip of his cold coffee.

Ry grinned cheekily before pulled the goggles over her eyes. "'Kay, Arty. After I place these four pieces in, it should be good to go!" she said before going dead silent. It was a brief meditation which would calm her nerves and shaking hands. One mishap and poof! She and Arty would be history.

Within moments Ry knelt in front of the impressive machine with the parts right next to her. In a way it reminded her of when she used watched her father preform brain surgery. Arty watched silently, thinking that one day Ry would be an excellent surgeon should she choose to go down that path. Ry bit her lip in concentration as her slender fingers deftly put the parts carefully in their proper places.

A few painstakingly long minutes later. Ry sat still again, afraid to the sudden movement would throw something out of whack thus rendering the machine useless along with all the time and energy she and Arty put into this would be for nothing. "It's done," she whispered softly, even fearing that the vibrations from her voice could do something to mess it up.

Arty nodded slowly as a smile formed on his lips at almost the same time as one formed on Ry. Finally, after a year and a half, the twins had finished their time machine. The only thing left for them to do was to actually test it. Both looked at each other with a bit of fear and excitement. After all, they could end up disemboweled on the other side of the warp, or in the past which was not where they intended to go.

"So when are we gonna test this thing out?" Arty asked when Ry had extricated herself from the floor. She pushed the goggles on top of her head and rubbed her forehead, leaving a slight smudge. Shrugging she walked to the tables for some water.

"I'd say as soon as we can gather some knapsacks with some essentials," she said evenly despite how jittery and excited she felt. After taking a swig of water she smirked at Arty. "No time like the present, right?" Arty grinned in agreement.

The two wasted no time in running up into their seldom used rooms to grab clothes, notebooks, and a few other things that they could possible miss when they took their giant leap, or small hop into the future. By this time, both their parents had been asleep for sometime, so neither Ry nor Arty had to worry about trying to explain to them that the time machine was ready to be tested. However, with slight frowns, Ry and Arty watched silently from their parents door as Marie and William slept peacefully.

"I dunno Arty. It just feels wrong to leave with out any kind of explanation," Ry whispered lest she wake her parents. "I mean how would you feel if you went to bed one night knowing your children were at least safe, but then to find them gone with out any sort of explanation? That's just cruel." Ry could see the cogs whirling in Arty's head as he processed the information.

"I agree. Let's write a quick note. That way they at least know something," Arty said softly before heading back to the main level.

Ry stayed behind and smiled softly at her parents. "Bye mom and dad! We will miss you greatly, but we will always love you," she said to the sleeping forms before shutting the door and not noticing the silent tears that fell from Marie's and even William's eyes.

Silently, Ry joined Arty in the dining room where he was diligently working on a goodbye note that also gave some rather selfish on their part requests. Looking over his shoulder to read what he was writing, she nodded. He was expressing both of their hearts rather well. With a flourish they both signed their names at the bottom before taking one last look around their home.

"Good memories, right, Ry?" asked Arty as he started toward the basement. She nodded silently and wiped away the infuriating tears that were starting to fall. "It's okay. Maybe once we get to the future, they will know how to send people back in time," he said, trying to cheer up his sister, though he knew she was still happy and excited to go.

Ry gave him a small smile. "I know. Let's go." He nodded before the two descend into their laboratory to take the ride of their lives and hopefully end up on the other side in one complete piece. Mere minutes later, the two stood next to the machine, holding hands like they had in their elementary years to keep from losing the other.

"Ready?" Ry asked Arty who had donned his own pair of goggles as he didn't want to ruin his eyes if there should be something in wherever they were going. He looked over at Ry and nodded with a grin.

"Ready!" he said as Ry grinned and pressed the rather simple on switch. Their grip tightened as the machine revved to life. Ry gave a little squeak of excitement as she looked at Arty who was grinning like crazy. It was working.

Soon enough, the machine had warmed up and started to emit excruciatingly bright light throughout the laboratory. Before either Ry or Arty knew what was happening, they felt themselves being swallowed by the light. But just as quickly as the light surrounded them, the twins felt like they were falling before being plunged into an unknown darkness.

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Author's Note: Alright! I figured I'd put this at the bottom...

First, I want to thank you all for reading! This is my first attempt at any sort of Star Trek fan fiction, so I hope you all will be patient with me.

Second, I own nothing except the twins, and the plot though no one from the movie was introduced, but that is why it's a prologue. Also, there is no beta at this point for the story, so comments based on grammar flaws might be appreciated (I say might because some people lack the tact to criticize without being an ass about it)

Third, I did not disclose the twins full first name nor their last name because I just wanted to see how people would respond to this story before I took it any further. Another thing, the title is a little...blah..but that was because I had originally thought to entitle this fan fiction as 'Kobayashi Maru' which undoubtedly would get people thinking this was a Kirk/Spock or some sort or Spock fiction which it most certainly will not be. However, because of how this prologue turned out, that name doesn't really fit.

Fourth, with what was said in numero tres, comments are wanted and loved. I really would like to know how people like this or think something could be changed. I want this fic to survive, but it might not for a number of reasons.

With all that said and done, thank you again for taking time to read this chapter!