Fascinating Dreams 3: Time Travel

A young adult named Ralph lived alone in a lovely apartment in a large city. Ralph was an inventor who built the time machine.

His time machine was a complicated device with a screen and a keyboard. To travel in time, he had to type the place and the time on the keyboard and wait for a portal to appear. The portal looked like an ellipse of semi-liquid matter that seemed to be in constant motion. The portal also emitted a lot of light.

The time machine was in the testing phase. Once completed, it would be ready for circulation. Ralph would become rich and famous. But for the time being, he was poor and unknown. Ralph had made successful trips with the time machine and was ready to make another one. He typed “Rome” and “1 AD”. He would travel to ancient Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. Ralph spoke Latin, the language of Rome, so Rome was a good fit. When the portal appeared, Ralph entered it and disappeared.

Suddenly, Ralph’s landlord, Mr. Anderson, entered the apartment.

“Ralph, are you here?” Mr. Anderson shouted. “You owe me three months’ rent. Do you have the money?”

There was no answer. But Mr. Anderson noticed a light. He followed it and entered Ralph’s lab. The portal was still open. Curious, Mr. Anderson approached the portal, entered it, and disappeared. Soon, the portal closed and was gone.

Ralph and Mr. Anderson appeared in the middle of a marketplace in ancient Rome. Soon, the portal on their side closed too. Everything in the market was for sale: textiles, food and household items. People were busy buying, selling, and talking.

“Ralph, where are we?” Mr. Anderson asked.

“We traveled back in time,” said Ralph. “We are in ancient Rome.”

“So, you did it? You built a time machine.”

“Yes, I did it.”

“Did you know I can speak Latin?” Mr. Anderson said. “I studied it at the university. And I am a history buff. I will make a fortune here. I will sell information about future events to kings and aristocrats. I will stay in ancient Rome forever.”

“You cannot do that. The future will change in unpredictable ways. The world as we know it will be different in the future.”

“I don’t care about that. I only want to make a fortune and become rich.”

Ralph could not allow that to happen. He typed “New York” and “3000 AD” on the keyboard of his time machine. A portal appeared. Ralph pushed Mr. Anderson toward the portal. Mr. Anderson tripped, hurtled into the portal, and disappeared. He would soon appear in New York in 3000 AD.

Ralph returned home, happy that he had saved the world and his time machine was nearing completion.

The End.