Time Traveller
You quickly make the necessary adjustments to return the time machine to the present and flip the switch. You feel that now-familiar lurch in your stomach as the machine launches, and the nauseous feeling as the machine traverses timezones and narrowly avoids the impossibiility complex. You are relieved when you feel the machine touch down with a bump, and quickly slide open the door.
You blink in surprise. Instead of the clinical white lab room that you were expecting, you are looking out upon a warzone. Explosions are sending dirt and stone skyward, there is barbed wire protecting the top of trenches and there are soldiers in modern armour rushing everywhere and shouting. As you watch, dumbfounded, an enormous tank rumbles past. The noise is incredible.
Recovering from your surprise, you quickly slam shut the door and begin to set the machine for the present again. You must have made a miscalculation. You frown at the screen. No, you made the correct calculations. That must mean... you stare at the screen in horror. Something you did back in the past must have affected the present!
While you are staring at the screen, there is a deafening sound and something heavy slams into the machine and you are catapulted into the control panels as it topples over. You are rolled over and over as if you are inside a washing machine. When the machine comes to a halt, you shake your head to clear it, and heave open the buckled door.
You crawl out into the churning mud of one of the trenches, aching all over. Turning to look, you see that the time machine is battered and smashed in places, and sparks are issuing from the control panel.
"Lieutenant!" A man shouts nearby, and you feel a strong grip grab your arm and pull you to your feet. You turn to look into the weathered face of a soldier. "Lieutenant!" He says again, "You took a heavy hit there! Blasted mortars! Are you okay?"
"Yes," you say, "But what about the..."
You turn to look down the trench, there is nothing there. Were you about to say time machine? Strange. You look back to the soldier.
"What about the troops?" You continue, yelling over the noise, "We're being destroyed out here!"
"Most are taking cover in the trenches, sir, as you ordered!"
Of course you did. That's good, they're all behind cover. That mortar hit must have confused you for a while.
"We've got reinforcements on the way, sir," The soldier continues, "A battalion of tanks and two of infantry!" He grins, "The Chinese won't know what hit them!"
"Good news!" You say, and gesture down the trench. "Follow me, let's make sure that our men are well supplied for the main push!"
The man nods and follows you as you scramble down the trench, cradling your rifle. You might actually see a victory today, and allow yourself a grim smile. You steel yourself for the violence ahead.
You have a duty to perform. You didn't become Lieutenant for nothing, that's for sure!
You blink in surprise. Instead of the clinical white lab room that you were expecting, you are looking out upon a warzone. Explosions are sending dirt and stone skyward, there is barbed wire protecting the top of trenches and there are soldiers in modern armour rushing everywhere and shouting. As you watch, dumbfounded, an enormous tank rumbles past. The noise is incredible.
Recovering from your surprise, you quickly slam shut the door and begin to set the machine for the present again. You must have made a miscalculation. You frown at the screen. No, you made the correct calculations. That must mean... you stare at the screen in horror. Something you did back in the past must have affected the present!
While you are staring at the screen, there is a deafening sound and something heavy slams into the machine and you are catapulted into the control panels as it topples over. You are rolled over and over as if you are inside a washing machine. When the machine comes to a halt, you shake your head to clear it, and heave open the buckled door.
You crawl out into the churning mud of one of the trenches, aching all over. Turning to look, you see that the time machine is battered and smashed in places, and sparks are issuing from the control panel.
"Lieutenant!" A man shouts nearby, and you feel a strong grip grab your arm and pull you to your feet. You turn to look into the weathered face of a soldier. "Lieutenant!" He says again, "You took a heavy hit there! Blasted mortars! Are you okay?"
"Yes," you say, "But what about the..."
You turn to look down the trench, there is nothing there. Were you about to say time machine? Strange. You look back to the soldier.
"What about the troops?" You continue, yelling over the noise, "We're being destroyed out here!"
"Most are taking cover in the trenches, sir, as you ordered!"
Of course you did. That's good, they're all behind cover. That mortar hit must have confused you for a while.
"We've got reinforcements on the way, sir," The soldier continues, "A battalion of tanks and two of infantry!" He grins, "The Chinese won't know what hit them!"
"Good news!" You say, and gesture down the trench. "Follow me, let's make sure that our men are well supplied for the main push!"
The man nods and follows you as you scramble down the trench, cradling your rifle. You might actually see a victory today, and allow yourself a grim smile. You steel yourself for the violence ahead.
You have a duty to perform. You didn't become Lieutenant for nothing, that's for sure!
