Apex Book Company

Thomas Edinborough slid into the pod naked that day, with hardly a clue of what may happen. There were thousands of ideas, of what time travel would be like, lots of speculation, and more theories than were worth sharing. So that day Thomas Edinborough, though he had been ‘trained,’ slid into the pod with hardly a clue of what was waiting for him. He leaned back in a thickly cushioned chair, in front of the main view screen, when a voice came on overhead.

‘Tom, I hope you aren’t too angry about me taking your clothes. You have to understand it’s in your best interest.’ The man laughed despite his pre-launch jitters.

‘Don’t worry about it Hal, I’d rather be naked than torn apart by the space time continuum, or whatever the hell you call it.’ That was one of the theories, that any foreign object would disrupt the timeline. Or something like that. But it didn’t make any sense, since he himself was a foreign object, more precaution than anything.

The man on the other side chuckled in return. ‘That’s what I like to hear…We’re just gonna get the port up and running. So just sit tight for a bit.’

‘Roger that, Hal.’ So that’s what he did, he sat and waited, looking around the empty silver chamber. He, his chair, and the view screen, were the only objects in the pod, the rest was metal.

The pod was a large ball that sat atop of a ramp. When it was time for launch it would be released and roll through the port, which consisted of… Well… large amounts of science and chemistry that Thomas didn’t understand. Really he didn’t have to do anything, or worry about much. In a sense, he was just a lab rat. Just to see if it could be done, the port was where all the action was. That’s the real miracle that’s what made time travel possible. The port. The only problem was they couldn’t decide what year or day they could go back to because they had no idea how to calibrate the thing. The theory was that it would transport its passengers exactly one year into the past from the time that the pod entered the port, but it was all speculation, of course.

‘If you change the past.’ He said slowly, liberally, feeling each word on his tongue, as he quoted page 507 of, ‘Time Travel Theories Through the Ages.’ He turned the view screen on, so the cameras which lined the side of the pod displayed the port. ‘Then there would be no hope for a real future.’ He stared at the port, which was now charging, and beginning to break out in a fusion of electricity and fire. It was all contained and seemed to move with a strange fluidity, bursting with colors, yellow, purple, blue and red. It scared him to death, but its beauty was also somehow reassuring. He swallowed hard and forced out his last words as a mutter. ‘But, I’m willing to take the risk…by God I am..’ He closed his eyes and said a quick prayer.

‘Tom,’ came Hal’s voice overhead. ‘Get yourself strapped in, it may be a bumpy ride.’

‘Roger that Hal,’ the man replied shakily.

‘Tom,’ Hal said again, ‘You okay?’

‘Ya…’ he felt a little queasy, staring at the port through the view-screen, but spoke all the same. ‘Ya just a little…nervous.’ He forced a lonely smile.

‘The count down begins soon.’

‘Gotcha Hal.’

‘Tom.’

‘Ya?’

‘No matter what happens in there, come back to us. I got a victory cigar with your name on it.’

Thomas chuckled. ‘Roger that.’

He could hear the energy field through the steal casings of the pod, bursting, exploding, and reforming. Over and over, again, so that it made a soft buzzing noise through the thick silver walls. He took a deep breath and stared through the view screen as the count down began.

Ten, nine, eight, seven…

Thomas still stared through the view screen, as he saw the port begin to form some consistency. It began to swirl and all the vibrant colors together, into one large pool of green lightning, that roared louder than before. It collected itself together into a single orb like mass which shone with such intensity that Thomas nearly had to look away from the view-screen. The flashes of light grew more and more intense, until the green shine melted away, until it was a pure white with glimmers of gold sparkling about the edges. It shone almost furiously in his eyes.

Six, five, four, three…

He clenched tight to the arms of his cushioned chair.

Two, one…

The pod rolled forward, as he watched what he had thought of as the floor, loop over his head, time and time again. It was moving fast. He watched the view-screen. The cameras were spinning and sometimes, the port was upside down. But he never lost sight of it, never took his eyes away. The green orb seemed to sneak a smile in at him before it ate him alive.

Thomas Edinborough opened his eyes. It was early in the morning, and his head hurt, it was throbbing and he didn’t know why. Must’ve been the beers last night. He thought beginning to get out of bed, when the phone beside him rang. He answered.

‘Hullo?’ His voice was just as strained as his head felt.

‘Tom!’ It was Hal, and he suddenly remembered why he had gotten drunk the night before… the launch was today! ‘You need to be sterilized by 3:30.’ Thomas glanced at the clock, 1:30am. Exactly 10 hours before he would be the first time traveler. ‘I’ll be right in Hal, you can count on me.’

‘Good man!’ Thomas laughed as he hung up the phone, but couldn’t help and think how long the day was going to be.

Thomas Edinborough slid into the pod naked that day with hardly a clue of what may happen. He was nervous, but he waited patiently, trying to review what he had learned in his head, before Hal came back with the countdown…

‘If you change the past.’ He said slowly, liberally, feeling each word on his tongue as he quoted page 507 of, ‘Time Travel Theories Through the Ages.’ He turned the view screen on, so the cameras which lined the side of the pod displayed the port. ‘Then there would be no hope for a real future.’ He stared at the port, which was now charging and beginning to break out in a fusion of electricity and fire. It scared him to death, but its beauty was also somehow reassuring. He swallowed hard and forced out his last words as a mutter. ‘But I’m willing to take the risk…by God I am…’

And Thomas Edinborough traveled ten hours into the past. Again and again and again and again…

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M.S. Crawford is a student by day, and a writer by night. He is well known for his non-fiction on prominent authors in the scifi/horror community. (Such as Tim Curran and Jay Lake.) He is currently working on his first novel, The Tears of Amanthane.