Time Traveller
The time machine beeps, whirrs and creaks as it adjusts to the new timezone. Your fingers fly deftly over the numerous switches and keyboards, entering velocity, molecule seperation and collection rates and other important details.
Satisfied, you throw the switch and feel that now-familiar lurch in your stomach as the vessel hurtles through timezones and avoids impossibility barriers. Presently, you feel a thump as it touches down, and after taking a deep breath, open the door and step out into...
A field?
You are in the middle of the field behind the lab building, with a dozen scientists charging across it towards you. Clearly, whatever you did back there caused a slight change in history that led to the lab being built a few hundred feet away from the original place. Strangely, you somehow remember it being built in both places.
"Congratulations!" The overseer beams at you as he shakes your hand, "You're the first person to ever travel through time! But why the offshoot with the machine?"
"There was no offshoot," You smile, though a little disconcerted, "This is where the lab used to be."
"Oh, erm...right, yes, well, there must have been a mix-up in time somewhere. Still, no lasting problems, hopefully! Come, let's go for a cup of coffee while we talk over what you've been through!"
He leads you back to the lab building, but suddenly stops in the doorway.
"Oh my," He suddenly looks stricken, "Of course! That terrible war!"
"What war?" You feel sick, all of a sudden.
"The great war of 2003, between North America and China. Over four hundred thousand people killed!"
You stare at the overseer, speechless. Until he mentioned it, you didn't remember any such war. Now the blanks are beginning to fill themselves in.
Somehow, your actions changed time and started a devastating war!
You faint, the start of a scream issuing from your mouth.
Satisfied, you throw the switch and feel that now-familiar lurch in your stomach as the vessel hurtles through timezones and avoids impossibility barriers. Presently, you feel a thump as it touches down, and after taking a deep breath, open the door and step out into...
A field?
You are in the middle of the field behind the lab building, with a dozen scientists charging across it towards you. Clearly, whatever you did back there caused a slight change in history that led to the lab being built a few hundred feet away from the original place. Strangely, you somehow remember it being built in both places.
"Congratulations!" The overseer beams at you as he shakes your hand, "You're the first person to ever travel through time! But why the offshoot with the machine?"
"There was no offshoot," You smile, though a little disconcerted, "This is where the lab used to be."
"Oh, erm...right, yes, well, there must have been a mix-up in time somewhere. Still, no lasting problems, hopefully! Come, let's go for a cup of coffee while we talk over what you've been through!"
He leads you back to the lab building, but suddenly stops in the doorway.
"Oh my," He suddenly looks stricken, "Of course! That terrible war!"
"What war?" You feel sick, all of a sudden.
"The great war of 2003, between North America and China. Over four hundred thousand people killed!"
You stare at the overseer, speechless. Until he mentioned it, you didn't remember any such war. Now the blanks are beginning to fill themselves in.
Somehow, your actions changed time and started a devastating war!
You faint, the start of a scream issuing from your mouth.
