Time Traveler
I enter. Inside are eleven people, mostly men. Some are wearing casual clothes I recognize - jeans and a T-shjirt, a Nehru jacket. One of the women is young and pretty. She is wearing slacks and a dressy blouse with ruffles. Others are wearing clothes made of a luminescent material that glows softly in the dim light. Three of the people are Asian looking. They are all seated at a curved table except for a heavy set man at the midpoint of the arc who is standing. He directs me to a chair in the center. I sit and he does too. The curve is nearly 180 degrees, so I feel surrounded with people on both sides and in front.
He begins to speak. "We are the Time Travel Council. All time travelers are subject to our rule. You have developed a time machine and therefore now subject to our jurisdiction."
"But I've never heard of you. I'm an independent scientist. I'm doing no harm. I've helped history remain on course. I developed my machine by myself and I do not feel I should be subject to your jurisdiction or anyone else's."
"You are arrogant. Do you really think you are the intellectual equal of Alan Turing, as good a cryptographer at those in Hut 3?"
"Well, no, I suppose not, but so far I ..."
"So far you have been guided by us. Do you really think you are the first to invent time travel? There have been dozens before you. Some of them are in this room. We have observers in every age and every land. All of us here travel regularly to other times. When we saw that you were on the brink of building a workable machine, we intervened and inserted a bit of software of our own so that we could control your journeys. You were foolish to go to Pharsalus in mid-battle. You're lucky you weren't killed. You wouldn't be the first to do that, either. But we merely observed that first trip to be sure you didn't harm the timeline. When you cleverly kept it intact by decrypting that message, we realized you could be useful - to a point. You are the first cryptographer we have had, although your talents in that respect are limited. We are all scientists and engineers by training and talent. We saw your potential in a few areas in the timeline that were weak so we took control of your machine and sent you to Fiji to a critical time. But you have made some bad choices." His voice became ominously angry.
I did not like where this was going. I pressed the emergency return button on my machine, but nothing happened.
"Your machine will not work in here. Not unless we choose to let you go. But you are now a time traveler and have earned the privilege of traveling so long as you do no harm - so far. But you must prove to us that you are worthy to continue. It is critical that you remember what you have done and what needs to be done in history. Stumbling along making random choices could lead to a temporal disaster. If we find you do not have the mental acumen to follow history's timeline, we will have to dispatch someone to your era and prevent you from building your machine. It is simple enough. We can make a part unavailable, contaminate a material, even cause a vehicle accident that disables you if necessary."
"But that's not fair. I, I ..."
"Don't be upset. You can earn the right to continue your time travel. To do so, you must successfully complete a test of your historical memory." He looked around the table. Is there anyone with a question for this traveler?" No one speaks or raises a hand. "Then we shall proceed." He comes around the table and takes my elbow in his hand. He leads me to a side door. The label on the door says Testing Room. "There is a computer there. The instructions are on the screen."
He begins to speak. "We are the Time Travel Council. All time travelers are subject to our rule. You have developed a time machine and therefore now subject to our jurisdiction."
"But I've never heard of you. I'm an independent scientist. I'm doing no harm. I've helped history remain on course. I developed my machine by myself and I do not feel I should be subject to your jurisdiction or anyone else's."
"You are arrogant. Do you really think you are the intellectual equal of Alan Turing, as good a cryptographer at those in Hut 3?"
"Well, no, I suppose not, but so far I ..."
"So far you have been guided by us. Do you really think you are the first to invent time travel? There have been dozens before you. Some of them are in this room. We have observers in every age and every land. All of us here travel regularly to other times. When we saw that you were on the brink of building a workable machine, we intervened and inserted a bit of software of our own so that we could control your journeys. You were foolish to go to Pharsalus in mid-battle. You're lucky you weren't killed. You wouldn't be the first to do that, either. But we merely observed that first trip to be sure you didn't harm the timeline. When you cleverly kept it intact by decrypting that message, we realized you could be useful - to a point. You are the first cryptographer we have had, although your talents in that respect are limited. We are all scientists and engineers by training and talent. We saw your potential in a few areas in the timeline that were weak so we took control of your machine and sent you to Fiji to a critical time. But you have made some bad choices." His voice became ominously angry.
I did not like where this was going. I pressed the emergency return button on my machine, but nothing happened.
"Your machine will not work in here. Not unless we choose to let you go. But you are now a time traveler and have earned the privilege of traveling so long as you do no harm - so far. But you must prove to us that you are worthy to continue. It is critical that you remember what you have done and what needs to be done in history. Stumbling along making random choices could lead to a temporal disaster. If we find you do not have the mental acumen to follow history's timeline, we will have to dispatch someone to your era and prevent you from building your machine. It is simple enough. We can make a part unavailable, contaminate a material, even cause a vehicle accident that disables you if necessary."
"But that's not fair. I, I ..."
"Don't be upset. You can earn the right to continue your time travel. To do so, you must successfully complete a test of your historical memory." He looked around the table. Is there anyone with a question for this traveler?" No one speaks or raises a hand. "Then we shall proceed." He comes around the table and takes my elbow in his hand. He leads me to a side door. The label on the door says Testing Room. "There is a computer there. The instructions are on the screen."