by Floyd Looney
Dr. Jim Stutz was a thin, bespectacled and pretty boring doctor in the beginning. He had struggled his way through medical school like most students. He did family medicine for a while before getting offered the chance as a flight surgeon on a deep space mission. He wasn't on the vessel being sent to Uranus of course, he would stay at the mission control center and study the medical charts and heartbeat of the astronaut.
Needless to say this made him very interested in space. While he was there, at the private space consortium he even befriended an older scientist. This older scientist had left him with something “special” but he warned that the human race was not ready. It turned out to be the basic idea of being able to relive ones life over again, a very limited means of time travel. The old man had never found a way to make it work though.
Dr. Stutz had plenty of time on his hands, he wife had left him after just a few years. He had bored her to tears too many times. It was done in his spare time and was taking an eternity because he wasn't really motivated. Until he met Jane.
One evening while working as a doctor of family medicine at the hospital a harried couple came rushing into the emergency room, they were holding their son. The boy was turning blue, he wasn't breathing, the parents were in shock themselves. Dr. Stutz managed to get the boy breathing but there was a good chance of lifelong brain damage due to the lack of oxygen for so long.
In fact, all Dr Stutz could think about was the boys mother. He found her captivating, he was fascinated by this woman. He hated himself for this distraction, she was a married woman whose son was in need of real care. If only there had been a way to get to the boy faster, if only he had taken more specialized courses.
One night, later that week, it came to him. He could travel back to the time he was still at medical school and change the course of the future. He might be able to keep little Dennis McCall from being brain damaged and save that beautiful woman from a life of heartache. He imagined that her husband would become an alcoholic and resent the boy and Jane for the rest of his life. Yes, something had to be done.
The old man had said, even if the system could be created properly, he needed to find a day – a moment – of great trauma in his life. His life had been very boring. Except the day after his wife left him while he was still in medical school, he had tried to drown himself at a river but was much too cowardly to go through with it.
It took weeks but he finally got it finished. He would go back in time and save the angel Jane from so much grief. Maybe he would find that in the new time-line she would leave her husband, maybe she yearned for a boring doctor.
Did he really want to live his life over again? Could he really flip the switch?
Funerals for the McCall family pushed him over the top. A car accident, they were told, sent them careening off a high cliff. Yes, he would use the device. He would change this, for June and for Dennis and even for that good-for-nothing husband of hers, what was his name? Danny?
…
He woke up on the bank of the river. The car door was open and kept making an insistent and annoying sound, “shut me” it said over and over until he was able to gather the energy to do that. It had worked, he was back to where he planned to be. A part of him felt remorse at the life he left behind but the more he thought about it, there was no big loss.
His time in medical school was different. He changed some of his courses, he specialized more in trauma and space medicine – for that had fascinated him. He also wanted to make sure the old man who had shared the secrets with him would not get a chance to share it with someone else in this altered version.
He found a rather modest house in a working class subdivision next door to the McCall family, Danny McCall had a blue-collar job at a cannery, though he was close to being promoted into lower management. On the appointed day he was watching Dennis playing outside, his mother was hanging laundry on a clothesline. The young boy put something into his mouth.
In a shot Jane was grabbing the boy, trying to get the object from his mouth. The boy quickly went limp in her arms and Dr. Stutz showed up and knew exactly what to do. The boy was soon breathing again and he took them to the hospital to check the boy out “as a precaution”. Danny showed up, Jane embraced him. The doctor was a bit crestfallen to see there was true love in her eyes for her husband.
Well, that is a good thing isn't it? Now Dennis will grow up normally, with two loving parents. He would also grow up calling the doctor who saved his life “uncle”, which he didn't remember but was told about by his parents plenty of times. Now he was attended backyard barbeques at the McCall house often.
The good doctor was then hired to oversee the medical aspects of another space mission, this enthralled teenage Dennis. He took the boy along when summer came, the kid soon had stars in his eyes. Something like this would keep a boy from drugs, bad friends and messing around with girls too young, so Jim Stutz kept the boy involved.
Dennis changed in the Air Force. He came back a real man and was trained to become an astronaut for the Rising Fenix Corporation. It was a proud moment for the parents to see their boy, not only an air force pilot for his country but now on course to be the center of a mission to the outskirts of the solar system.
Dr. Jim Stutz was now a part time contributor to a cable news channel, he was becoming a bit of a minor celebrity just as Dennis was now that the space launch was getting close. The doctor was hired as one of the commentators for special coverage of the mission, the medical aspects and the fact that he knew Major McCall personally.
As he sat in the studio discussing these things with the anchors and crew during a commercial break, something happened to get everyones attention. On one of the large screens that everyone was staring at and moving closer to was the image from Washington DC. The White House was in flames, but so was all of DC. The air itself seemed to be twisted and the firestorm pulled the building apart and soon enough it was all gone.
Washington DC had been hit by a nuclear explosion. World War 3 was now inevitable, no it had already started. Their correspondent from Moscow was talking to them, there was banging on his door. The Russians were rounding up Americans, he could hear shouting and the sounds of gunfire outside. Finally the door came crashing in and armed men entered and the screen went black.
Dennis McCall would either be trapped in deep space or, even if he managed to get back to Earth without contact, return to find a ruined and dead world.
Dr. Jim Stutz sat there stunned for several moments. One of the crewmen said something about missiles might already having been launched. This woke him up. He got to his SUV and drove toward the remote shack where he had stashed the time travel device so long ago. It was surrounded by a high fence topped with razor wire. He unlocked the padlock and rushed inside.
It took more than twenty minutes to get everything working, or at least turned on. There was a good chance something would fail, it had been sitting there for so long. The radio in the corner had been playing the classic music he liked but suddenly went static. There was no time left, he had to activate the device.
...
He opened his eyes. He was wet, his hair was drenched and dirty. He heard the open door of the old car chiming, he could hear the water of the river on the other side of him. Not only was he going to save the boy Dennis McCall but he would have to find a way to save the world from nuclear annihilation. It was a tough order to fill, but he would have to find a way.
Medical school was a breeze, he managed to graduate sooner than most anyone else. He had made all the right investments and had no student debt either. This time when he saved Dennis McCall that night he did not stick around to play godfather. He did not become a friend of the family. Instead he used his knowledge to get into the ears of certain diplomats.
Soon enough an international mission to another solar system was being set up. He remembered enough about the future breakthroughs in cryogenics to recreate it. He was a wealthy man, old and sick rich people were now freezing themselves until a cure
could be found. Sure, people had done that before but those had been nut-cases with useless technology.
It took more than a decade to get the international mission to another star system off the ground and a crew of none people from five countries would be included. He was a bit stunned to see the name of Major Dennis McCall on the list of candidates for the two US slots.
He wanted to talk Dennis out of it. Then he remembered that while the boy seemed like family to him, that lifetime had been deleted for everyone else. Sure Dennis might remember that this old man had once saved his life but the familial affection was not there this time.
He was relieved when Dennis was washed out as unsuitable. Upon further investigation he found that Major McCall had not been a pilot this time but a technician, fixing computers for the Air Force. Since getting out of that service Dennis had done a lot of different jobs and was presently just driving long-haul freight across the country. The doctor grieved for the old Dennis.
In fact, Dennis had lied to his parents. He told them he was going into space. This Dennis was a bit of a flake it seemed, unlike the stand-up man he had been last time around. Dr. Stutz wanted to find a way to make it all better.
So he decided to hang out with Danny McCall. They talked about old times, he thanked the doctor for saving his boy again. They drank and hung out at a cabin in the woods. Jane, the man said, didn't mind him being out late these days. They were not the perfect couple this time around it sounded like. This saddened the doctor again.
On the set of the World News System, covering the international mission – now leaving the solar system, there was much jubilation. Humanity was moving out among the stars. It had taken a bit longer than anyone thought it would when the first satellites were launched but it was really happening.
Dr. Stutz used his connections to sound out whether there would be a war. Everything sounded pretty normal. Russia hadn't had their democratic overthrown by a coup by the military or by the President this time around, at least so far.
He used his other connections to try and straighten out Dennis, got him a job at one of the private space ventures. He was a bit stunned to see that Dennis McCall was a fat slob, but he knew his computers really well. One night the whole team watched live coverage of the manned Europa mission, the frozen little moon seemed to have liquid water at the core and humans had come to look at it.
It was past midnight but he and Dennis sat on the roof of the building, in lawn chairs, drinking bottled water and looking at the stars.
“When I drove a truck I sometimes pretended I was in a space capsule.” Dennis said after they had been quiet for a long time. “Why though? Why does it feel like part of me should have been an astronaut? Part of me feels like I should have been special and sometimes like I shouldn't exist at all.”
Dr. Stutz could feel his eyes well-up with tears. He didn't want to say that it might be partially his own fault, is it really possible that people could feel other time-lines? Other possibilities?
“You could go to the moon anyways.” the doctor said “Might have to get into shape though.”
In fact the doctor, having invested knowing much of the future, had become quite wealthy. Not a billionaire by any means but well-off enough to convince the private space venture that he would partially fund a mission to repair the old Lunar Homestead, which had failed to become anything more than an internet server – which had lately completely crashed.
“The servers weren't properly shielded from radiation and micro-meteorites.” it had been concluded. Being able to say that your web page or discussion forum or whatever was hosted on the moon had been a “cool” thing, once upon a time.
The new mission would also leave behind two full-service habitats for anyone in the future who might need them. There would be access to water, stored food and solar power, they were called Moon-Huts.
Dennis McCall's parents were jubilant about his being chosen for the moon mission. “My boy is something, he is somebody!” Danny said, Jane told him he had been drinking too much. Instead he followed Dr. Stutz around “I'll hang around with the doctor, he'll make sure I'm okay.”
Later Danny cried. He also didn't want to go home looking like a drunken bum.
“I don't know how I managed to earn a living.” he confided in the doctor “I'm not good at anything, I don't even know what I'm doing at work half the time. Now I just tell people to do what the boss tells me to tell them. I'm not sure why this job even exists, and it pays well.”
The doctor had set all that up. He had bought that company a long time ago, it was all in secret, everything pointed to a shell company and its law firm.
Months later, a decidedly thinner and dapper Dennis McCall was launched on a private mission to the moon. Danny, June and Dr Stutz got to watch from the offices of the World News System although this was not a huge story but just a time filler. Going to the moon had gotten to be routine, besides there were people headed to another star and standing on Europa these days.
They were all shocked when other news interrupted. War in Europe seemed inevitable as Russian troops and hardware had crossed borders toward the Monument for Peace erected after the last conflict. Russia accused the European countries of using them and betraying their promises made as part of the last peace agreement.
“The world is always on the verge of insanity, it seems.” Dr Stutz muttered out loud. The WNS anchor standing next to him just nodded. WNS got in contact with officials in Moscow and Brussels and DC and they all argued on the air, as images of shells destroying the monument was shown live.
“Is this how the world ends?” Danny asked.
“Dennis.” Jane said, the doctor looked to where she was looking. On a smaller monitor was the live image of Dennis in his spacecraft. He didn't look scared like most people considering the imminent end of the world, instead he looked pissed.
“Put me on!” he was yelling, ignored by the WNS officials “I have something to say.”
The doctor tapped the WNS chief producer on the shoulder. He was a busy guy trying to get guests on before the world ended. “What?”
“We already have a guest we can put on the air.” the doctor told him.
The spokespersons for the various governments were told to shut up for a bit. This was not what they expected to hear with the first battles already taking place. That a man in a spacecraft heading toward the moon was now part of this split-screen seemed to take them aback.
“My name is Dennis McCall. I was a technician in the Air Force, but I actually did earn the rank of Major, believe it or not.” he said by way of introduction “My lifelong dream was getting into space and today that dream finally became a reality.”
He turned the spacecraft slightly and the image of Earth filled the porthole behind him. “That is you and everyone else down there. On that little blue planet. That is all we have, maybe forever, we don't know yet.”
Everyone in the studio was silent, wondering if he was going to make a point.
“Grow up.” he said “Russia is the largest country on Earth. Why does your government want to act like children with nukes? Yes, Europe is full of snobs that look down their noses at everyone else. That's why we had a revolution. War is not how you respond to sleights and insults. You are a member of the UN Security Council aren't you? Why does Russia need to respond like a petty autocrat from some backwater country?”
“This isn't how a proper country behaves. I should say government, because the people of these countries have nothing to do with it. Except they keep electing the same kind of people into power. It is high time that the people on this planet started making their governments act like grown ups.”
A bit of silence.
“Is this really what you think should happen? Do you really want the end of the human race and civilization to happen, over this? So Europe owes Russia some respect and a flag at a monument and you send in your armies? Really?” Dennis said “I am sure glad high school girls don't have nukes and armies,
the wars would never end. You guys are behaving the same way.”
“Oh sure, some humans will survive. Civilization might rise again in a thousand years. If they remember your names at all, they will curse you as devils. You can't behave? You can't keep your armies to yourselves? Mom, he touched me! This is not how leaders of countries should act, children are taught better manners than this. Can't you calm down and act like reasonable people?”
The screen went blank.
“Looks like the satellite was hit.” someone said out loud “Trying to reconnect on a different bird now.”
Within a few minutes the first reports that the fighting had stopped started coming in. The title on the screen blared “Back from the Brink of Armageddon” as images of military vehicles pulling back flashed across the screen. Then soon enough the words on the screen were changed again “Truce”.
Danny and Jane embraced. Then they both embraced Dr. Stutz. All three had tears on their faces. It occurred to him that they were all a family.
The WNS anchor on the screen clasped his hands in front of him “Cooler heads seemed to have prevailed. It looks like war over what amounts to a petty issue has been averted.”
Dennis McCall was on the moon, he was told about the peace talks but he didn't really seem to know how many people gave him credit for it. He kept saying he was busy and that “I am happy” in response but Dr. Stutz wondered if he was happier to be doing what he dreamed of rather than being hailed as a hero.
That night Dr Stutz went to the secret cabin, surrounded by razor wire and destroyed every piece of equipment and burned the cabin down. He didn't want anyone messing with the time-line any more. Then he went back to have dinner with Danny and Jane and one of her friends, Norma he thinks she was called.
END
What Time Is It?
By Floyd Looney