Read Online My Troubles With Time by Benson Grayson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Benson Grayson
Tags: General Fiction
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1870.
Suddenly, the motor speeded up. I looked at the gauges and felt a surge of relief. Although the batteries were not supplying the engine with the power they should have, the level was sufficient to permit me to take off and hopefully reach home.
Under normal power, the time machine could travel both geographically and through time simultaneously. In order not to place undue strain on the weakened batteries, I decided I would not attempt this.
To test the batteries, I put the machine into a slow ascent, rising gradually in the dark sky until I was some thousand feet above Paris. I then turned to the time controls and began a gradual return to the present. I traveled through the 1870s. The gauges showed the batteries were incurring no strain, so I increased my speed until I reached June 1914.
Gradually, lights appeared below me as electric illumination became more prevalent in Paris. I was tempted to continue traveling on to the present, but desisted. It was prudent to conserve power usage by limiting my altitude and I did not wish to run the risk of damage to the time machine by being only 1,000 feet over Paris, even for a few seconds, during World War I or World War II.
With no little trepidation, I stopped my movement forward in time and took one more look down at Paris. It was a full moon on that particular June night and the spires of Paris were bathed in a soft light. The scene below me was so beautiful that it was hard to believe in a few short months France and most of the rest of Europe would be plunged into the horrors of the First World War.
For a moment I thought of landing and trying to prevent the war. However, a few seconds of reflection convinced me that such an effort would be incredibly stupid. I would have almost no chance of being successful. Equally important, if by some miracle I managed to succeed, the changes that would I would find in the world I would return to could be incalculable compared to the world I had left.
Bidding farewell to 1914 Paris, I began traveling across France until I reached the Atlantic. I feared crossing that vast expanse of water with the weakened batteries, but there was no alternative. I delayed as long as possible, traveling across England and then Ireland.
With a heavy heart, I saw Ireland disappear behind me and began my journey across the open waters of the Atlantic. Fortunately, the weather was perfect and the moonlight somehow lulled my fears. Once, far in the distance, I thought I saw the lights of a trans-Atlantic steamer, but I decided it would be foolish to waste power to get a closer look.
Finally, as I began to think that my instruments had led me astray, I saw the coast of Newfoundland in the distance. Cheered by the sight of land, I turned southwest, generally following the coast of Canada. When I left Canada and flew over Maine, my confidence that I might actually return home safely steadily increased.
The lights of Boston heartened me still more. I banked the time machine sharply westward and began the last leg of my journey. It was fortunate, I thought, that I was teaching at Standish rather than at some institution out west. The gauges were indicating that my power was almost exhausted.
With a start, I remembered that I was still in l914. I stopped the machine’s geographic movement and began moving through time back to the present. My progress was measured in months and years rather than in decades due to the weakness of the batteries.
As I neared the present I thanked God that they were no weaker. My movement through the last decades seemed interminably slow, but finally the gauge indicated I had reached the present. The motor gave a final surge, then, with power exhausted, the time machine descended in a series of erratic circles until I managed, with great effort and even more good fortune, to set it down gently in the back yard of my house.
I unlatched the door and clumsily disembarked, suddenly drained of all energy. I felt like getting
Suddenly, the motor speeded up. I looked at the gauges and felt a surge of relief. Although the batteries were not supplying the engine with the power they should have, the level was sufficient to permit me to take off and hopefully reach home.
Under normal power, the time machine could travel both geographically and through time simultaneously. In order not to place undue strain on the weakened batteries, I decided I would not attempt this.
To test the batteries, I put the machine into a slow ascent, rising gradually in the dark sky until I was some thousand feet above Paris. I then turned to the time controls and began a gradual return to the present. I traveled through the 1870s. The gauges showed the batteries were incurring no strain, so I increased my speed until I reached June 1914.
Gradually, lights appeared below me as electric illumination became more prevalent in Paris. I was tempted to continue traveling on to the present, but desisted. It was prudent to conserve power usage by limiting my altitude and I did not wish to run the risk of damage to the time machine by being only 1,000 feet over Paris, even for a few seconds, during World War I or World War II.
With no little trepidation, I stopped my movement forward in time and took one more look down at Paris. It was a full moon on that particular June night and the spires of Paris were bathed in a soft light. The scene below me was so beautiful that it was hard to believe in a few short months France and most of the rest of Europe would be plunged into the horrors of the First World War.
For a moment I thought of landing and trying to prevent the war. However, a few seconds of reflection convinced me that such an effort would be incredibly stupid. I would have almost no chance of being successful. Equally important, if by some miracle I managed to succeed, the changes that would I would find in the world I would return to could be incalculable compared to the world I had left.
Bidding farewell to 1914 Paris, I began traveling across France until I reached the Atlantic. I feared crossing that vast expanse of water with the weakened batteries, but there was no alternative. I delayed as long as possible, traveling across England and then Ireland.
With a heavy heart, I saw Ireland disappear behind me and began my journey across the open waters of the Atlantic. Fortunately, the weather was perfect and the moonlight somehow lulled my fears. Once, far in the distance, I thought I saw the lights of a trans-Atlantic steamer, but I decided it would be foolish to waste power to get a closer look.
Finally, as I began to think that my instruments had led me astray, I saw the coast of Newfoundland in the distance. Cheered by the sight of land, I turned southwest, generally following the coast of Canada. When I left Canada and flew over Maine, my confidence that I might actually return home safely steadily increased.
The lights of Boston heartened me still more. I banked the time machine sharply westward and began the last leg of my journey. It was fortunate, I thought, that I was teaching at Standish rather than at some institution out west. The gauges were indicating that my power was almost exhausted.
With a start, I remembered that I was still in l914. I stopped the machine’s geographic movement and began moving through time back to the present. My progress was measured in months and years rather than in decades due to the weakness of the batteries.
As I neared the present I thanked God that they were no weaker. My movement through the last decades seemed interminably slow, but finally the gauge indicated I had reached the present. The motor gave a final surge, then, with power exhausted, the time machine descended in a series of erratic circles until I managed, with great effort and even more good fortune, to set it down gently in the back yard of my house.
I unlatched the door and clumsily disembarked, suddenly drained of all energy. I felt like getting
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