The Paradox

THE PARADOX

The faint, stale smell of tobacco smoke registered on Lee Harvey’s nostrils as he entered the train compartment. It testified to an illegally gained puff at some point during the day. Looking briefly around. The four cans of beer, which had been in his other hand, were placed down on the small shelf that served as a table between the two seats. Thus prepared he sat down and began looking out of the window at Edinburgh station.

It had been a hard term and Lee was looking forward to the summer break away from the puzzling conundrum of quantum physics. He enjoyed the subject that he mastered in, yet it did good to get away from it.

Outside the window, people scurried about following their hidden destinies. Lee looked, and recognised the lovers going through the parting ritual, neither wanting to be the one, to finally say goodbye. Smiling to himself he thought of the reunion he would be going through tomorrow, ‘arr, Julie Julie!’ he thought.

In no time, the train creaked and began rolling out of the station, accompanied by a fanfare of whistles. Lee watched the window on life slip away, as vibrations and jerks worked their way up through the seat. People outside, were replaced with buildings that blurred as they raced past. Only another eight hours to go.

It was half an hour before the stranger arrived; the urban sprawl had given way to fields and forested glades. Lee studied the man as he came in. Forty-ish, with wispy fawn coloured hair, crowning a bald spot in the middle, slightly longish jaw, face and eyes seemed somewhat familiar though.  The dress sense was on the trendy side of conventional: a close-cut suit and brogues, a pastel shade shirt and tie.
Sitting down he introduced himself as ‘Archie’ and engaged Lee in conversation, which ranged from the journey time to London, to debating the future weather, analysing the latest political manoeuvres. Lee felt himself warming to the style of the stranger’s speech. He animated the conversation with his hands, in such an endearing manner. The man was simply likeable.

Lee had been drinking from the tins of beer and soon found need to visit the bathroom. Gaining Archie’s assurance that he would look after his belongings, he sauntered off, sliding the door open and shut, he disappeared from view. As soon as he had left Archie was in a flurry of activity. Extracting a vial from his hand luggage. He quickly added a few drops of its liquid to Lee’s opened beer. Settling back as if nothing had happened, he awaited Lee’s return.


They talked further about physics, then Quantum physics and finally led onto the theory of time travel Archie had argued in favour of time travelling to the past. Yet Lee had countered with “Remember the time traveller paradox should a man travel back in time with the intent to kill his own father, if successful, he prevents his parents meeting, thereby negating his own birth. As he no longer exists, he can no longer travel back in time to kill his father in the first place…”

“Poppycock!” Archie said, interrupting  “Its like this Dad, I introduced a poison into your beer and judging by your sweating, I guess the first stage of paralysis is setting in..”

“Poison?” Lee blurted out. It was true he was feeling strange, leaden, fatigued almost.

“Yes poison – I had planned it for years!” retorted Archie.

Desperately Lee tried to move, but his limbs only twitched. Helplessly he struggled with the idea he had been murdered. “Why?” he cried out, looking at Archie calmly sat studying him

“You were a bad father, married to your research, you abandoned me…you have no idea how much I resented that. Never there for me when I was growing up….Christ!” The man was obviously mad.  “You’re insane – I’m not your father!” barked Lee.

“Oh, but you are, Dad. In three years time you were to meet a girl, romance her and get married. Two years after that I was born, but you didn’t notice as you were working on a government project involving accelerating tachyon pulses. By the time I was thirty-nine, You’d created a time travelling machine.  Proud moment for you, Dad believe me!  I got to see what had pushed me aside; you had to rub my nose in it.  Yet I saw its potential, that’s why I insisted on being involved in the use of it.  I’ve been to other times before this.”  Archie paused and leaned closer to Lee “You never realised the commercial potential of the discovery. Happy to work for your salary you never saw its true value!”

“And you did!” Lee said, struggling to come to terms with what Archie had revealed.

“Yes I do; is more precise. As a commercial service the research projects alone would be worth a fortune. I decided that I was going to get my revenge and put the time machine on a proper commercial footing at the same time. In my bag is a computer with the blueprints of the time machine and the recall bracelet. Also on the hard drive are five years worth of research into the history of stocks and shares, Lottery winning lines, horse racing and sporting events. History to me, the future to you. I have four thousand pounds of old money to invest. I calculate that it will take me five years to accumulate enough money to finance the building of a privately owned time machine”

Lee realised with horror that the something that was familiar about Archie was in fact family resemblance. Realising Archie was for real, caused Lee to Splutter out “What about the paradox?”

“When you die, I cease to exist?  The theory ignores basic facts. We are only tied together by my conception. One cell from you, one from mother. How long do you think it takes to become autonomous from that event in time? Bearing in mind, we shed a million skin cells a day?
Cells are being replaced all the time. Once the original cells are duplicated they are no longer necessary for the existence of me, I think therefore I am, so to speak.  I can kill you and the only result will be that my past doesn’t exist in the new timeline. The fact I have memories of my childhood, means it did exist once and that is all it takes for me to carry on living after you die…Imagine it as a loop in time”

Drawing a horizontal line in the air, in front of Lee’s face  “I was born, I grew up; you invented the time machine. I travel back in time.” He described a loop backwards with his finger, “I kill you and take your place as the inventor of time travel.  End of story. Beginning of my forty-year-old rebirth. So if you excuse me, I’ll be going!”

He gathered up his belongings and left the compartment.


They found Lee dead at Euston Station. Apparently he had died of a heart attack, least that’s what the papers said. As for Archie…well he could be anywhere, or any when.