Topic
Time Travel
Many have opined that this topic belongs properly to fantasy, but following convention, we too classify it as science fiction.
Slight Courage
I slip back to my ten-year-old self, the hospital. A shallow inquiry to Mom, as if to say something palpable, to be retained: Why do you have to leave me? Why now? Her lips move, a gentle separation, but hold a wordless tenure. I slip forward to my own child, no longer a child…
The Hour Glass
Their apartment building was very old. He had tended it a long time, knew every inch of brick and mortar. In the basement, the pulse of its heart. He kept it alive, though no other tenants will need it now. He kept it alive for this. Her body waited at his feet, wrapped in clean…
The Price of the Future
Eight minutes. Isaac Poulter sat with his wife and children, all staring at the old digital clock they had managed to salvage. Jenny, Isaac's youngest, sat spinning the hand crank that powered the clock as hard as she could, but her little arms were clearly getting tired.…
Remainder
She pays, gladly. Of course. It was his money, anyway. Using it to see him again seems right, something wiped clean, fractions evened out, remainders made whole. How far back? She wants to go back more, as far as possible. Maybe before he was sick, even. But two years is the…
Kronoship(r) FAQs
Welcome to the Kronoship(r) Frequently Asked Questions page, where you can find the answers to any questions you might have about owning a Kronoship. (If your question is not answered here, please contact Kronoship Customer Support so we can go back in time and add it before you…
The Time Traveler
I fell in love with a time traveler. Several years my senior, he stilled himself for hours, caressing my skin, gazing into my eyes, as if he could hardly believe my heart was his. "Why become a time traveler?" I once asked, concerned he would soon depart. "I wasn't always," he…
Crazy
After my accident in 1972, I fell into a coma. A few days ago, I woke up. How I've managed to stay alive, I don't know. For nearly 50 years, as I lay in bed, I wasn't able to see or speak or move. But I heard everything, and I followed what was happening in the world. When I…
Ad Nauseam
Was this the fourth, or the fifth time around? It didn't matter; Rhea had lost track. She was watching Jin who, for the fourth--or fifth time now, was attempting to fix the fault in the machine before they were sent back to start all over again. This time, they had taken the…
Pay Here to Exit
We were trapped in the lobby of the building, confronted with some obstinate robots. I tried every language I knew, but they just stood there and refused to explain themselves. The only communication they offered was a sign: pay here to exit. Pay with what and where? Would we be…
Eye of the Storm
My father always said the rich have a responsibility. They create possibility. He's gone fifty years now, but sometimes I see him standing in his tailored Savile Row suit on the other side of a veil of tears. If she had stayed home that day. All morning it rains metal.…
School Project
My granddaughter is a pupil here. That's why I've agreed to help. They've put me in Miss Nerhu's office. It looks over the ribbon of parched grass that rings the school, to the embankment of buddleia and sycamore growing wild beyond. There's a hint of sandalwood and I wonder…
The Cube
On the outskirts of town I came across The Palace of Green Porcelain, a derelict museum with a collapsing roof, where a Hungarian caretaker was liquidating items. Dappled emerald light played on the cracked tile floor, dried leaves scuttled in the corners. I examined an old…
She Died As She Lived
The girl who claims to be my daughter stares at me pale-faced, wide-eyed, one palm shading her eyes against my car's headlights, the other outstretched as if that would stop me from running her over with a twitch of my foot. The wending, midnight road is empty save for the two…
The Future History of Your Body
They take your hipbone and join it to another's. Excitement at the matching sizes shine on the paleontologists' faces, tired from weeks of digging through rock. They set it reverently aside from the pile of bones, adding to the slowly growing constructions of complete human…
The Last Caricature of Jean Moulin
Back when we thought we'd use the time machine for bringing back lost art, Mathilde wanted to find the last caricature of Jean Moulin. In the hot darkness of the workshop, she played me a speech--a poet bellowing over the wind. Single words came out to me. Visage. Cortege. Des…
All The Difference
When I got my license to travel through space-time, the first thing I planned to do was look up Robert Frost. Yeah, that Robert Frost. Don't give me a hard time. I get teased about it enough. "Why would you do that to yourself?" Caleb asked. "Sounds super boring." "He's looking…
Cons of Time Travel
"Time-traveling's cheap and easy. It's space-traveling that ain't. "See, our molten mudball pirouettes around a star orbiting a galaxy hurtling who cares where. Go a day back in time, you slide along a single temporal thread, not the three dimensions. So 24 hours ago, the…
This is Not the Beginning; That is Not the End
The Pihsecaps speeds through cloud layers--bright-dark-bright-dark--until finally, with a stutter of the engine, we burst through the haze. Finn swears. He blinks and straightens himself up in his seat, obviously shaken. "Shhh--" I grit my teeth and pull on the controls to…
Vacation in Sunny Future!
"Vacation In Sunny Future! Chat Now! Our Friendly Bots are Standing By!," said the screen. I wanted to go into the past from my perfectly ordinary life, but that was illegal because I might change something. Like all those stories where the world goes to hell because of some…
Popsicle
The nebula was stunning. Suzy leaned further onto the metal safety bar, her forehead nearly pressing against the observation window. It was like waves of pink smoke had been painted across a star-studded sky. This, she told herself, might just be worth the pain of the past. This…
Your Cat
Your past is now your future. You have traveled thirty years back in time to save your cat. Child-you penciled this pivotal date and time in a diary decorated with unicorn stickers, and here you are. Again. You're shaky with nerves as you stare at your childhood home with…
Time Machines
The man burst into Jayon's antique store the instant it opened. Actually, he ran into the door first, because he was too impatient to wait for the scanner to register his presence. He plunged toward the counter, waving an advertising holosheet at Jayon. "Is this ad true?" he…
The Centurion
It's the loathsome vibrance of his skin that clues me in--that, and his strange fascination with clocks. Most Federation aliens have varying degrees of tentacle iridescence, but only centurions possess that strange, almost obsessive preoccupation with time. The morning after she…
Lost Between the Plates
Clap. I felt it that time. A surge as the plates shifted against each other like two lovers. It was a big jump, judging by the decor. Horrid paisley wallpaper in a thousand shades of mustard. I think that makes this the 1970s? Or is it the 1960s? I lose track. This isn't…
The Style of Time Travel
No one ever wants to look like a peasant. No matter how many times I insist the ensemble is simpler, less expensive, and honestly, less conspicuous on the other end, no one ever wants to look like a peasant. They don't get into this job to go around as peasants, or Russian…
Pilgrim Problems
"You can't wear sunglasses while you're working. This is Colonial-era New England. There are no sunglasses. Our visitors deserve an authentic experience, Katherine." Kat got in one last eye roll from behind the safety of her sunglasses before she took them off and stowed them in…
How Not To Time Travel
The first time you do it, you fear you've gone insane. You trip over a pile of clothes you meant to put away and become displaced, watching as your phantom twin enters and trips in a synchronous motion. With an intake of breath you're back, shivering on the floor, running…
You Can't Get There From Here
Everyone said it wouldn't work. I proved them all wrong. Then, I proved them all right. A mathematical anomaly got published. The physics guys said time travel looked possible. Theoretically. They also said in practice it wasn't. But I was more motivated than they could know. I…
Three Things Cameron Couldn't Tell You
When the two of you met that day, seemingly by chance, near the grocery checkout, there were three things Cameron couldn't tell you. The first was love. That since those days when you'd been much younger, when you'd both been grad students working in the labs, Cameron had been…
For the War Effort
It was a civil war of the most bloody, brutal sort, not East vs. West, or brother vs. brother. But rather: Past vs. Future. They (the Future) had a staggering technological advantage. Our skies were filled with weapons that we did not understand; our cities pillaged and…
Erasure
Burke looked less nervous than when he had first contacted her. Now that the whistle-blower had committed himself, he seemed calmer, almost jovial. "Before I worked for the Government, I worked in advertising," he said, while she confirmed that the car-park in which they stood…
Best. Scientist. EVER.
2274: Someone chases you. You steal the time machine. You are going to become the best scientist in history. You travel 2042: While physicist Douglas Wells lectures, you enter the auditorium and correct the Wells Equation. Thanks to this, time travel is now theoretically…
Fragments of a Falling-Out
and maple syrup in my mouth. A diminished stack of pancakes sits between us on the kitchen table. I glance around me to estimate the time, a habit as deeply ingrained as blinking, or biting my nails. I haven't worn a watch or carried a cell phone in years; they don't last beyond…
Mothers and Sons
Madame Delphine enters the cabin, sits down in the bucket seat and puts her hands on the controls. I look at her with admiration. She's not much to the eye; a grey-haired little lady with circular glasses, a white three-piece suit, and the black gloves she never takes off. And…
We Really Need Your Help, Bob
Bob Dinser was at his desk, working through another annoying customer-complaint case file, when a sparkly blue portal opened right in the entrance to his cubicle. Instantly a wiry, scantily clad man stepped into Bob's office. He stood right next to Bob, who scooted his chair…
The Space-Time Martini of Grandfather Mirabilis
"He can't be gone." Art stared at the four foot high, thirty-legged, polka-dot spider wearing a straw boater. "Grandfather summoned me. He wouldn't just disappear." His grandfather did weird things, but sending fake urgent invitations wasn't one of them. The elongated…
Protocol
Protocol is clear. I can't tell anyone what happened after I landed, not ever. Letting slip even the smallest detail could change the future. They chose me because I can keep a secret. I can keep my mouth shut. At least this secret won't have to be kept long. One month. That's…
Out Of Time
There is no time. The last of it ran out a while ago. Or maybe it was longer. Or maybe it has not yet run out. We traveled through time, of course. First, we could skip forward and get to the good parts. Moving in the usual direction, but faster. That was easy. But what we…
Instructions for Time Travelers
0. Memorize the continuum index: Genghis-Mao-Curie-8AZ7. 1. Observe, but do not intervene. The path to dystopia is paved with good intentions. Never exit the time machine while in the past. Never communicate with prehodiernians. 2. Set left-hand dial to desired era. Set…
An Hour at the End of the World
John liked how quiet the apocalypse was compared to civilization's peak. He was still on course to save humanity and all, but he found the silent world peaceful in a somber way. The house where he stood had blown over in the war, leaving just its foundation, and that stopped…
Uncertainty
Anne thinks: he never thought of me; not even when I needed him the most. Not even when she left. She observes the garden, the flowers. We should have killed the roses, she thinks. Arnie comes out onto the porch and sits in the adjacent rocking chair. He hands his wife a plate.…
Twelve Deaths
I tell Jack Henderson's story like it's a fairytale. He was, after all, a prince of sorts, and depending on who you ask, I could play a wealth of roles. You could even say it's truly my story. So here it goes. Once upon a time, a man died a dozen times. A woman--me--loved him…
Recycling
Used time machine for sale. Again.
Tenure
The Philosopher came again to the worn steps curving up Academy Hill. The slate walk stretched away before her, circling the school. She sometimes walked this path for hours, puzzling out problems. "Hey," the Artisan shouted, "Wait up." "Well, keep up," the Philosopher grumbled.…
Walk With Me
There she was, the little girl whose smile would make a ten-year journey worth it. Of course, if she found out who I really was, she would never forgive me. Sarah crouched beside the creek, dipping a long stick into the water, watching the ripples spread before the current swept…
Armistice
Declaration of Armistice in the Time War All human combatants must read from top to bottom. We did not lose the Time War Remember that no matter what our adversaries may say We have learned important lessons, now we must rebuild, rearm and remain vigilant Given their different…
A PSA for Time-Travelers
Attention all time-travelers coming here/now! We are transmitting on every frequency we can, using tachyons tightbeam technology. Please take into account all space coordinates before traveling to our time. Make sure you calculate the rotation of Earth along its axis as well as…
Letters from Goodyear
On my eighteenth birthday, I was kicked out of foster care with a duffel bag full of second-hand clothes and a battered envelope addressed to Elle. I hadn't been Elle since I was six, which my mom would've known if she hadn't abandoned me. But at least she'd sent me a birthday…
Something Borrowed
For a long time, Wren thought fondly about the time she watched her husband lose his virginity. Of course, he hadn't been her husband then, but as was tradition for those planning on marriage they paid a few months' salary to take a temporal excursion back to view intimate…
The New Resistance
We'd been hearing about them for a while now. This latest in the new batch of renegades. Time terrorists. These were calling themselves the New Resistance. I had an appointment to be meeting one of them that afternoon. Somebody who was supposed to be a member (or former member).…
Slow victory
I know they won't allow me to travel back in time for no reason. They only accept big missions, with clear goals: kill somebody, cause a discovery, change the outcome of a war. I'm so tired of changing the past to adapt it to our preferences. This time I sneak in alone and tell…
Lies Time Travelers Tell
I was born in 1992. I'm not from around here. I know we just met, but I really like you. I can't believe this happened; I'm on birth control. I wonder what the future holds for us. I've never met anyone like you. I've never met you before. Time travel doesn't exist. I'll see you…
Moments
At 11:17 a.m. on my third day, I saw you across the quad But you disappeared before I could reach you. At 4:55 p.m. in 1919, One of Clemenceau's aides got in my way And you were gone again. At 8:23 p.m. in 1604, You smiled at me in the Globe When I said, "So Shakespeare did…
The Do-Over
The affair lasted longer than expected and left bitter feelings all around. Angela saw no other path; she and Mark deserved a do-over. Thinking about the affair--their hands meeting while reaching for the same just-ripe banana; their first rushed kiss under the bug-clouded…
Life is Sweet
Probably the weirdest thing to come from the commoditization of time travel is the candy. There's the gummy candy with cartoon dinosaurs on the label that says it can show you the Stone Age, though usually all you end up seeing is empty tundra. Then there are those chocolate…
The Ant and the Grasshoppers
The history of human achievement is the history of saying "if only we had known." If only we had known DDT is dangerous to mammals. If only we had known asbestos causes lung cancer. If only we had known lead is a neurotoxin. But now I've been living the opposite. If only I had…
The Immortal and the Time Traveler
"Stop following me," the time traveler says upon finding the immortal, again and again. "I was here first," the immortal says, every time. "How did you become immortal anyway?" the time traveler asks only once there's no color left to their hair. The first time the question is…
Halfway
First contact came without any warning, and wasn't what we expected. Obligingly, they appeared in our image, magnified into angelic beings of light. This will be our last meeting, they said. It's important that your history unfolds as it's supposed to. Last meeting? we asked.…
The Venue
The marquis read "ONE NIGHT ONLY" in fixed lettering. There was no need to put that on the variable signage and waste space. Everything here was a single performance. No artist ever came back to this venue; that was part of how the venue was so successful. If your favorite…
The City's Gratitude
***Warning! This story may be triggering for some readers.*** "Let me see if I've got this straight," said the police officer to the scruffy looking man in front of her. "You're from the future and it's very important you talk to the mayor right now about a horrible threat that…
In Defense of the End of the World
Many call me a visionary genius. To some of you, that is a good thing. Others deem me a reckless madwoman. To some of you, that is a bad thing. The truth is, I am just someone who cares. I believe--I have always believed--that most people care. But we've been trained, over…
The Practical Guide to Punching Nazis
1. Act natural. You don't want to give them a reason to suspect you. When they realize the data card is missing, somber men with humorless eyes will invade the lab. They'll interrogate everyone, even the purebloods. Keep your head down and don't draw attention to yourself. As…
My Ribs a Cage
For thirty solid seconds, I stood frozen. I did not breathe--I wouldn't be surprised if my heart neglected to beat. I felt the comforting presence of the other realities pressing at the back of my mind, but I pushed them away. A strange sensation filled me: cold, flicking down…
One of a Kind
The Times, London, 1895 Public Notice: Offered for private sale is a gold watch engineered to allow the discriminating Gentleman the opportunity to experience time in a new way. This is a one-of-a-kind item. Serious inquiries only. Reply to Box 154 at this newspaper. New York…
Repeat One
"We exist within a glitch of the space-time continuum," he said, hands flailing, "and are doomed to relive this exact moment, this exact conversation, forever." Marty laughed. Of course this would happen. All he had wanted was to take a walk through the Myriad Gardens: get some…
The Day the Future Invaded
The future invaded on a Friday afternoon in the middle of winter. Without warning, buildings arose amid intersections and metallic pathways gleamed into existence above forests. Toys that had not yet been dreamed arrived in children's rooms while their parents frowned at…
A Hazy Shade of Winter
That winter, she was getting old. She had already passed the age that she thought of as "young." Once she was past thirty, she no longer had that feeling of being a child in a grown-up body. (She had felt like an adult, but still had the vague feeling like she was faking it. She…
The Treasures of Fred
When my father died, he left behind several hundred pounds of quartz (very valuable), a bin of meteorites (valuable for my classroom), two hundred classic science fiction magazines (maybe a collector would buy them), and a 1970 edition of the Handbook of Mathematical Functions…
The Visit
"Dad, do you think time travel is possible?" Billy asked. "Like on Space Cadet Jake?" "Probably not the same way it happens on television." Father tousled his son's hair and adjusted the telescope. The sky was darkening rapidly. Venus and Jupiter blazed overhead. Even Mars was…
Spacedad
For my Earthdad Each time he comes home, his face changes. He is an old man at her birth, a youth at her third birthday party, and a fifty-something when he walks her to her first day of kindergarten. She hears the adults mutter about how Clare's mother can't keep a husband…
The Last of Time
I clean the time machines. It is a brute labor job, but unionized, so the pay and benefits are not half bad. Particularly for someone with little education and, like me, a record holding a few early abrasions with the law. What can I say? I had an interesting youth. Mostly the…
Dinosaur-Man
The Creationists rejoiced: the theory of Evolution was dead. Buried in sediments seventy million years deep--the time of the dinosaurs--the unmistakable fossil of a human being. Studied, tested, corroborated, error-corrected, it was confirmed by fifty-four renowned academic…
An Amateur's Guide To Time Travel
***Editor's Note: This is a work of fiction. Please don't attempt time travel in this way*** The best way to time travel is to fall. You must be brave. Jumping from a swing or down the last three steps on a stairwell will only take you back a few seconds. You may have the sense…
The Man's Smile
He says he can bring your wife back. But on one condition. Then he leans across your kitchen table and whispers to you. "I won't do that," you say. "Then you're out of luck," he says. "I could never do that to a child." "Humans have done much worse for far less." He leans back…
Afternoon Break
To Sky Williamson, one of my best friends. Rest in Peace, ol' son. It only seems like it's always full-moon night at the Tesseract. Even in broad daylight. I was on the first week of my three weeks allotment of vacation time at the paper. So, early Friday afternoon, I dropped by…
Perfectly Justified Response
"Did you know the Earth formed through planetary accretion during the formation of the Solar System approximately four-point-five billion years ago?" These words greeted Nome as she stepped out into the basement laboratory, pulling her workplace-mandatory goggles on over her…
Calvera
It's a neutron star, he says to me, eyes always up at the night sky. We know they exist by what they emit. Nebulas and pulsars and white dwarfs and neutron stars--Emitt only ever speaks of lights in space. Looking out from the front stoop, where he sits on the rock of the steps,…
Making Time For the Kids
I ran hard from Billings Place to the East 2nd school yard and saw the sniper at the gate, shooting me in the gut, where I fell, died. It hadn't happened like this before; coming back, I'd changed things. I'd been a survivor of the massacre. Shit. I had no time to think about…
Letting Go
Her expression tells you everything even before she speaks, and your world comes undone. Then she confirms it: she tells you that her mission is a go. She is so excited, her face is radiant with possibility, and her eyes sparkle with the light of distant stars. You manage to…
The Recent Future
"Did it work?" I call down into the gravity well, which is really just an 8 x 5 x 4 hole we dug up in Billy's backyard. No answer from the cylinder. It sits in the center on its side, gleaming dully, its forward lights blinking. We installed the lights to show when the machine…
Futures Market
In 1980 my future self traveled back in time to speak to me. I was twenty years old, sitting on the front porch of my parents' house in Utica clipping my toenails. He was thirty years old, wearing a suit and tie. "Pay attention," he told me. "You're going to invest in these…
1:40 AM
Before the man with a gun entered the convenience store, Grace was sitting alone at a sticky, soda-splattered table, her broken arm throbbing like a heart, the roof of her mouth burning from the coffee she had drunk too quickly. It was nearly two in the morning, and there were…
The LevoGyre
Gyroscopes whir and hum around me like celestial music. "Prowl the air," I mumble, head spinning. I come to, contorted and cramped into some tiny space, my nipples brushing the tops of my legs through my thin blouse. Where...? Oh yes. I am tucked into the center of the seven…
The Sentence is Always Death
I'm forty-three, well beyond my years for needing a nanny. Yet Nanny is in the audience. Of course she is. After all, it is Nanny I am taking the fall for. And like all the times before, she has a plan. But first we wait. There are a few cases ahead of mine. "Case #1201. Miz…
The Future Faire
The sign comes first. It hovers high in the sky, projecting green neon light, and we believe it because we don't have technology like that. Site of the first ever Future Faire. Mysterious builders spend several summer weeks carving a circular clearing within the dense forest at…
Cigarette Lighter Love Song
,***Editor's Note: Adult Story, Adult Language*** Before this place becomes a bowling alley, a rock and roll dive, a karaoke bar, a Tex-Mex joint, before this place becomes the spot where the only girl I'll ever love escapes the world, this place is a roller rink, a hangout for…
Chronology Of Heartbreak
Jack left the restaurant with red wine blooming through his shirt and Kristine sobbing into napkins. Tears had run tracks down her makeup and he almost, almost felt bad for her. But he'd cried just as hard eight months from now. No, harder. Kristine couldn't understand. This…
Flip Side
Squatting on the curb in front of a boarded-up duplex, a woman rocks back and forth, arms crossed, arguing with herself. "You were driving too fast!" "He should have looked both ways!" The sun is shining brightly. Her freckled flesh is sunburned where it presses through tears in…
Hiking in My Head
The people in my head seem to have been there for a very long time. I can't remember how long, because I can't remember anything but the cheery, pastel-painted hospital room I awoke in. The doctor, a large man with a flamboyant moustache and grey hair, says I have amnesia. He is…
Sticks and Stones
I watched the boy lift the faux-fur lined hood of his Parka coat up around his red-cheeked face and pull the weather-beaten door closed behind him. The wind pushed against his tiny frame as he hurried along the sloping grass embankment outside the short row of council houses.…
Join Our Team of Time Travel Professionals
The sounds of half-tuned electric guitars blasted from the doorways of Manny's and Sam Ash, dueling across the grimy patch of 48th St known as Music Row. Magda waited until the group of time tourists she was following had turned the corner, then plunged her arm into the nearest…
Diamond Doubles
The disappearance of the noted science fiction editor Dan Woolover around the 10th October, 1966 was a cause of great mystery, as were the other disappearances in the area of Tubb Street, Brooklyn, around the same time. However, letters discovered recently at Mr. Woolover's…
True Love
"This wasn't at all what I expected," said Helen of Troy. The man behind the counter nodded, an expression of professional empathy pasted onto his face. "There was no epic love, no grand romance," said Helen. No, she was Molly. Molly. But it was difficult to stop thinking of…
Note to Self
"Do you recognize me?" Thomas glanced at the man who bumped into him. The cheap bottle of wine bought to celebrate his promotion nearly slipped out of its brown paper bag. Thomas juggled it and looked again. The man standing in front of him had unmistakable bright blue hair.…
Private Memories
I watch you commit suicide for the fourth time. This time I almost have you talked out of it. But something happens, I don't know what. And the gun's in your mouth and you've pulled the trigger before I can even react. I scream out your name, but it's too late. You're falling to…
Grief In The Strange Loop
I lost my father when I was ten. His fault, everyone said. Shouldn't have left a boy of ten in charge of a machine like that. I'd lost my kid sister once already, a child's prank, the first day Pop ever allowed me near the dials, his hands that seemed too large for science…
Leaving Home
Grace heard the knock on the door, but she did not recognize the man on the other side. He wore a crisp dark suit and close-cropped hair. He had a vague, forgettable face and a bland tie. Everything about him screamed, "Eraser-man." The last time one of those had arrived on her…
The Time Travel Device
I'd assembled my time travel device out of circuits, microchips, and clever wiring; but the gods or magic or fate controlled it. Perhaps an inventor who loves to read puts too much of himself into his creations. Or perhaps a literatus who engineers cannot separate his own…
The Time Travel Device
I'd assembled my time travel device out of circuits, microchips, and clever wiring; but the gods or magic or fate controlled it. Perhaps an inventor who loves to read puts too much of himself into his creations. Or perhaps a literatus who engineers cannot separate his own…
He Could Be Ambrose Bierce
"On August 6, 1930," said Mona, "Justice Joseph Crater stepped into a taxi in New York City and was never seen again." "Are you still stalking the guy across the street?" said Daryl. "I'm not stalking. I'm monitoring." With nervous white fingers, Mona parted the blinds. "What…
The Number Two Rule
The front window of the diner had a nice view of the playground, and that wasn't pervy because I never interacted with or talked to the kids--especially the little blonde girl. In fact, I never interacted with anyone, at least I tried not to. I needed to kill myself before I did…
Professor Jennifer Magda-Chichester's Time Machine
Professor Jennifer Magda-Chichester stood on the stage of Stockholm Concert Hall, smiling proudly into a sea of tuxedos: "It is a great honor to receive this most prestigious of awards," she said, a cluster of ubiquitous nano-microphones reproducing her every word in perfect…
Older, Wiser, Time Traveler
First off, step one--commit a crime of passion. You shouldn't plan this, obviously. In fact, you can't plan this. The defining characteristic of a crime of passion is precisely that it's unplanned. Oh sure, there are tendencies. There are indications. A crime of passion doesn't…
A Time to Kill
"Jordan, it's over here." Ella stood on the banks of the river. Jordan descended the rocky slope to stand by Ella. "See, I told you it's beautiful." She stared out across the water. In the moonlight, the rippling stream shimmered. "Yes it is." He met her gaze. Ella smiled and…
Regret Incorporated
Name: Marcus Nills That field wasn't so tough to fill out. Marcus exhaled and ran his finger down the page to the next section. Security ID: Again, nothing to worry about. He tried to stay cool but he could feel his palms sweating around the pen. It was no big deal though. Just…
Spiral
Nadia woke in the time spiral. "Time is only a line, a curve, a wave of the hand, and its course is moved," said the man with the silver finger. But that was years ago, eons ago, minutes ago. She no longer knew. Warm arms wrapped suddenly around her, and a husky voice whispered…
A Gentlewoman's Guide to Time Travel
Pack extra unmentionables. �In the future, many women clothe themselves scantily. �It is impossible to get a proper foundation garment; most clothiers have no knowledge of whalebone corsets or bustles. Stay in the prescribed routes. �Certain areas of the future are safe for time…
Only Backwards
Mason leaned in to kiss Andrea. His first kiss ever. His heart pounded and he closed his eyes as her warm breath brushed his lips. He shivered, lifting frosty fingers from the cold porch, hesitating, not sure where to put them. Not on her, certainly. But it didn't matter anymore…
Deathbed
"I remember dying," my husband tells me. "Everyone I know comes to visit my deathbed." "It will be nice to see everyone," I say, forcing a smile. I don't bother to remind him that what he remembers hasn't happened yet, at least not for me. We only have a few weeks left, and I…
Love at the Corner of Time and Space
When she left him at the Crossroads of Time for the second time, Darrin didn't start to worry until he'd counted to four million eight hundred and ninety-seven. Then he lost count, again, and started to wonder if Ashley was coming back for him. They'd had another big fight,…
Apology
"At no point in the past or future will your life have any bearing on anything, at all," the redheaded, twenty-something time traveler with a sleeve of tattoos tells me. "That's why it's okay to kill you." She is sprawled across my leather couch in the exact same position as I…
Just Enough Time
The Time Traveler entered Starbucks in a hurry. There were five of us, the usual. I was drinking a mocha with whipped cream, trying hard to hold the hot cup and not look like an ass. I wondered if I should have shaved. I was going after Jenn, you know, nodding at what she said.…
Unveiled
"Behold!" said Itami when he removed the cover to unveil the device in the middle of the hangar. "The time machine." Dr. Darren Guillet's eyes widened. The red-painted machine looked like a riding lawnmower. It had a plain looking control panel, one seat, and a large dish to its…
The Plum Pudding Paradox
"Professor Thomson, I'm here to save your Plum Pudding theory." J. J. Thomson looked up from his desk. The stranger wore gentleman's clothing, but they were dirty and disheveled. His deep-set gray eyes sparkled with intelligence. Thomson grunted and dropped his pen into its…
Palindrome
Mike pushed through the door, closing it carefully behind him. It was cold outside. "Evening, Joe," he said. The bar was nearly empty, and silent but for the tinny voices of a pair of broadcasters calling the hockey game. Mike glanced over for the score; the few patrons…
Palindrome
Mike pushed through the door, closing it carefully behind him. It was cold outside. "Evening, Joe," he said. The bar was nearly empty, and silent but for the tinny voices of a pair of broadcasters calling the hockey game. Mike glanced over for the score; the few patrons…
Palindrome
Mike pushed through the door, closing it carefully behind him. It was cold outside. "Evening, Joe," he said. The bar was nearly empty, and silent but for the tinny voices of a pair of broadcasters calling the hockey game. Mike glanced over for the score; the few patrons…
The value of folding space
The first time I folded space, I did so to cheat at hide-and-seek. It was purely by accident, and despite winning the game rather quickly, I didn't really understand what I'd done, not yet. It was several years before I found that I could move through my folds in space, that…
Over Tea
Deugaw lifted his china cup again. He looked ancient, but gained fifteen years as his hands started to shake when the little cup came off the saucer. I watched as he took another tiny sip, smacked his lips again, sighed, and then went through the shaky process of getting both…
Flipping the Switch
"�what could possibly go wrong?" Caruthers says, as he flips the switch. My gut tightens and I hold my breath. Nothing happens. "Are you crazy?" Over the years working together, I've been close to hitting him a few times, but this is beyond even what I can endure. "You're a…
Fiddle
Popular cliché has it that Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (better known as Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, or simply the Emperor Nero) played the fiddle while Rome burned. But here are some facts: Rome burned in the year 64, and fiddles (well, violins, but the distinction…