WILLIAM CHALKER'S TIME MACHINE

Roswell, New Mexico, July 6, 1947

“Come get some sleep,” Audrey said.

“Can’t,” said William, jogging his foot up and down, resting his elbows on his knees, and running his hands over his face, “it all happens tomorrow. I don’t know why they have to make us wait.”

“I thought the weather balloon confirmed conditions weren’t right today?”

“It did, it did. But, all this waiting around is killing me.”

“It’s just a fail-safe measure. Hopefully, we won’t ever have to use the darn thing.”

“But don’t you see, Aud? That’s just it. We’ll know tomorrow if we do. Tomorrow, we’ll know if and when nuclear war breaks out.”

“I wish you hadn’t built the thing. If the Russians ever built one of their own, they’d fire off the nukes the next day, and I pray that won’t happen to us.”

“Yeah,” William said, flashing her a worried look, “me too. But I don’t think even the Russians would be that crazy. You see, there’d have to be some kind of grace period. You couldn’t just build the closed time loop and send the nukes the next day. You’d have to keep going back through it every single day, and eventually you’d drag enough radiation with you to wipe out the whole country. I mean, how long is the life of the statesman? 40 years left after taking office? We’ll know who wins the war if men from the 1980s walk through the device.”

“What if no one comes through.”

“Someone will. It’ll be too much of a curiosity for someone to not want to come back. Right now, it’s a one way trip, we don’t know how to go forward in time, except by just living. But if one day in the future, they find the way to get back, I imagine they’ll take trips back all the time, if for no other reason than to get the history books right.”

“But, won’t we know who won the war if no one comes through tomorrow.”

William paused for a long minute, trying not to think about it, trying not to show on his face, that that’s what had been keeping him wide awake all night, “yes.”

“There may not be anyone even if the bombs aren’t dropped. Like you said, it’s a one way trip. There probably won’t be anyone who’d want to take that trip if they didn’t have to.”

“Yeah, Aud, that’s a thought. But still, wouldn’t curiosity get the better of someone, somewhere down the line. Think of how amazing it would be to go back to the time of the dinosaurs, or to see the dawn of man, discovering fire, living in caves, fighting off sabre-toothed tigers! Why, if someone from our day and age went back a million years, he could be the one to give fire to the cavemen, to give them better weapons to fend off their predators. Think about how far ahead of the curve we’d be if someone were to go back and help speed up the process of man’s evolution!”

“Yeah, they’d have already used the bomb by now.”

He thought about it a minute, “You know, Audrey, I’m glad you said that, you see, because I’m starting to think that, well, we just won’t get around to using the bomb again. The future of the human race depends on it. There’s too much at stake. Think of how far we’ve gone, how far we’ll go. I think that, the leaders of the future will come to their senses. It’s because the bomb’s not important, it’s the threat of the bomb that’s the thing. See, what you said just now got me thinking. You’re probably right. Cavemen probably would drop the bomb, because they’d never seen it in action. That’s why we‘ll never drop the bomb. There won‘t be any men from the ’80s walking through the device tomorrow. I‘m starting to feel better already.”

“Or another way of looking at it is, if you were to go back a million years into the caves, and you brought a bomb with you, you’d be the most powerful man in the world, because you’d be the only man with a bomb. But, you’d only be powerful in your own mind, because they wouldn’t know what a bomb was, or a man actually because they'd be apes. You’d have to drop the bomb as a show of power, then you could rule over them like a king or a queen.”

“Audrey! That’s some hell of a way to think!”

She kissed him on the cheek, smiling, “now come to bed, my little caveman!”

***

The next day.

“We’re ready to go forward, sir,” William told the General.

“Good,” the General said, chewing a long stem of grass nervously, “commence activation procedure, Chalker!”

“You mean turn it on, sir?”

“Don’t be a smart-ass.”

“Sorry, sir. I’m just a little nervous.”

“No room for nerves here. We’re throwing open the doors of time.”

The device glowed. A great white light that could be seen from space flashed in the relatively small portal.

“Someone’s activated the device from the other side,” William had to scream to be heard, “a man from the future!”

The brilliant light began to fade and in the doorway from the future there was an outline of a man. The light bent around the figure giving it a skeletal appearance. The light subsides slowly, but the figure remained skeletal. It stepped further into the past, off the platform and onto the sand of the New Mexican desert.

“Oh my God,” William said.

“Great Caesar’s toga! What the hell is that thing?” cried the General.

It’s skin was grey. The Cranium enormous, giant black eyes called even more attention to the head, piercing, insect-like. The limbs skinny as pipe-cleaners, defied the logic that they would not be able to support such a top-heavy being. It was basically humanoid in shape and form, and glided forward with a graceful fluidity, almost as though suspended by wires. It extended its slender fingered hand toward the men in a gesture of peace.

“It’s us, sir,” William said, when he was composed enough to speak, “us in a million years.”

The General was awkwardly indecisive. He couldn’t tell if he was captivated by fear, or curiosity or being controlled by the damn things and ordered to stand down. He felt waves of serenity lap at him but a nagging voice tugged away it him, it’s a trick! Don’t trust it! Mother of pearl, man, if it’s not wearing a US military uniform, don’t trust it!

“Shoot it,” cried the General, “kill it, quick!”

***

This story is dedicated to Doug Phillips & The Lemon Tree