The Chrononaut

"The Chrononaut"

The time vessel was perched on the launch pad, ready for ignition.
Terrence opened the hatch as his assistant watched.

"So you're really going to do this?" the assistant asked. "You're going
to travel five thousand years into the past in an experimental time
machine to the primitive 21st century?"

Terrence looked at his assistant and said, "I'm a psychiatrist, I want
to test out my theories and it will only work in the past! I want to
find a group of people who will all die soon, and inform them of their
demise and record the results!"

"Isn't that macabre?" said the assistant. "What purpose would that
serve? You'll just end up frightening people."

"Don't you see?" said Terrence. "Without time travel something like
this wouldn't be possible! I can go back to the 21st century, gather a
group of people who are about to die, and study their reactions when I
tell them where I came from, then return back to the modern era and
record the results in a psychology journal!"

"It's sick!" said the assistant.

"You're just saying that because you're not a psychiatrist! I'm doing
this for science!"

Terrence said goodbye to his assistant and closed the hatch behind him.
He activated the control console and the time vehicle took off into the
sky, phasing into temporal space before it even left the atmosphere.
The amount of time spent traveling through the dimension of time was
staggering, but Terrence had the stamina to see this thing through.
Once the vehicle exited temporal space, Terrence had to traverse the
distance that separated the position of the Earth in his century, and
his eventual destination of Earth in the 21st century.

Once he arrived in his target time, there was a problem; the vehicle
splashed down in the water off the coast of Redondo Beach just after
midnight, and Terrence was forced to swim ashore.

"Hopefully that thing is waterproof!" said Terrence as he tried to dry
off on the deserted beach. Luckily for him, it was summer time and he
didn't get too cold. Terrence pulled out his pocket computer that had
all the important information that he would need. He walked into a
liquor store and grabbed a Super Lotto plus sheet and copied the six
winning numbers from his pocket computer to the paper. When the slip of
paper was filled out to his satisfaction, he produced a weather-beaten
silver dollar that he had scored at an antique shop in his own time.

"I'd like a lotto ticket, please!" said Terrence to the old man who was
behind the counter. He took his coin and his slip and ran it through
the machine.

"The drawing is tonight!" said the man as he handed the original slip
and the lotto ticket back to Terrence, while ignoring that Terrence was
still dripping wet.

Several months later, Terrence owned a large home in a nice section of
a coastal area near Los Angeles. He had done some research, and had
invited a group of people over for a party that evening. When all seven
of the guests had arrived, Terrence turned off the television and made
an announcement.

"I have agreed to pay each of you a thousand dollars to show up here
tonight," said Terrence. "I knew you wouldn't show up for free, but
before I give you your cash, there is something I have to tell you. I'm
a time traveler from the future!"

Terrence waited as the guests reacted to what he had just said before
telling them more.

"I am from five thousand years in the future, give or take a decade or
two," said Terrence, "and the one thing you all have in common, is that
you are all going to die soon!" Terrence pulled out his mini-computer.
"All the knowledge known to humanity in the 71st century is recorded on
this device. That's how I won the lottery, because this device told me
what the winning numbers were. Every statistical fact about your lives
is recorded here, as well. When and where you were born, as well as the
circumstances of your deaths."

One of the guests looked upset over this and said, "Are you threatening
us?"

"Oh, absolutely not!" said Terrence. "I personally am not going to do
anything to any of you. Your name is Percy, correct?"

"Yes," said the guest.

"You're going to die in a car accident some time early next week."

"Can you stop it from happening?" Percy asked.

"History can't be altered, as far as we know in the 71st century!" said
Terrence.

"Well," said Percy, "is there anything you can do to help me? Maybe you
could take me back to your time and replace me with a duplicate, and he
could die in my place!"

"I am forbidden to interfere!" said Terrence. "I am here only as an
observer!"

Percy sat down and looked concerned. A young woman sat there on a couch
fidgeting, and Terrence caught sight of her.

"You're going to overdose on ecstasy at a rave this Friday night!" said
Terrence.

The young woman asked, "I've tried it before and nothing bad happened!"

"There's a first time for everything!" said Terrence.

A second woman looked nervous and asked Terrence, "What about me?"

"Your death is interesting," said Terrence, "you're going to be
abducted and killed by a rapist less than a week from now, yet through
the miracle of time travel, I can give you details about it before it
happens!"

"What if I try to get away?" said the woman. "I could rent a cabin in
Big Bear, and hide out until everything dies down!"

"No matter where you go, no matter what you try to do," said Terrence,
"you will be abducted and killed! In fact, by trying to prevent this
tragedy from occurring, you might in fact set into motion the chain of
events that will lead to your eventual abduction!"

The woman started crying. "Can't you help me?" she said between sobs.

"I am forbidden to interfere," said Terrence, "I am here only as an
observer."

Just then, Terrence noticed someone he didn't recognize munching on
snacks from the snack table.

"Excuse me, are you related to one of the guests?" Terrence asked.

The man swallowed the food in his mouth and walked up and shook
Terrence's hand.

"My name is Mace, I'm also a time traveler. I'm from two hundred years
in your future; you're from the 71st century, I'm from the 73rd
century. Are you here just to manipulate the minds of these people and
terrorize them?"

"I'm doing a study!" said Terrence. "I'm documenting their reactions to
being faced with a no-win situation!"

"So am I!" said Mace. "When you try to return to your own time in your
water-damaged time vessel, you're going to be killed when you exit
temporal space!"

"Can you help me repair my time vessel?" Terrence asked.

"I am forbidden to interfere!" said Mace. "I am here only as an
observer!"

THE END