The Reluctant Time-Traveler

Mark Bereza

1 The California summer was hot, humid, and relentless. Yet, it was The

hardly felt by the white-clad scientist working restlessly in his lab.

polished white of the walls, desks, and equipment gave one the impression that the lab was far more high-tech than it actually was. crowded, the room was dominated by two key landmarks: Although fairly

a small scale

particle collider in the shape of a figure-eight and the long metal desk where the scientist anchored his armada of computers. At the focal point of

the desk was a slender silver name tag that read DEAN J. FERGUSON, PhD. Dean was a Stanford physicist and a self-diagnosed insomniac, often rendering this lab both workplace and home for him. Dean had spent so many

restless nights working on his experiments that he could no longer recall whether his passion for physics was the cause or the result of his supposed insomnia. Objectively, he knew the sun was out and shining but hed been

cooped up in the lab so long he had long since forgotten the feel of its warm glow. This didnt stop him from admiring the view of Stanfords The scene upon

gorgeous campus from one of labs many windows, however.

which he gazed was one he had witnessed countless times, but, like a sunset, it never ceased to amaze. Right outside was a well-trimmed and surprisingly

large courtyard (given todays property costs) filled with countless heterogeneous flora painted colors sampling the entire length of the visible spectrum. Beyond that he could see tiny self-driven cars quickly zipping

about in the distance, the automation having made higher speed limits far safer. On the other side of the building, he could hear construction work

being done on the universitys new fully-digital library. What we have today would easily be considered science fiction to

2 anyone 50 years ago, but we never think of it that way, do we? to no one in particular. the image of a rainbow. chase after it. All throughout his childhood, Dean immersed himself in all things sci-fi, ranging from classic Bradbury to the many Star Trek reboots. Its Dean said

Our imaginations expand beyond our reality like It remains in the distance no matter how long we

what drove him to becoming a physicist in the first place; the idea of turning science fiction into a self-fulfilling prophecy was simply too enticing for him to resist. Although a myriad of physics courses had left

Dean a man grounded firmly in reality, his imagination never ceased to meander and his passion for the field never faltered, as evidenced by his countless hours of unpaid overtime. Satisfied with his observation, Dean returned to reality and continued with his experiments. He tapped a few keys and a series of blue LEDs let

him know that the collider was on and working, though its familiar whirr was drowned out by the nearby construction work. he was far too distracted to mind. He didnt mind it, though;

Far too distracted with desperately True to its grandiose

trying to unravel the unified theory of everything.

name, its a theory that would unify relativity with quantum mechanics and create a complete explanation for every physical phenomenon in the universe; a theory many scientists are convinced exists but have yet to uncover. To

Dean, all other science was trivial in comparison - he was convinced that once we understood how the universe worked, everything else would simply fall into place. He was also convinced that the Higgs boson, the particle And so

that gives matter its mass, was the key to unraveling this theory.

3 he worked. And worked. While his colleagues were out ma Running collision

after collision in what appeared to be a vain attempt to establish any kind of meaningful pattern in the data. For over two months now it had been just

him, his particle collider, and whatever happened to be outside the window. Well, that wasnt quite true - there was also James. Goooood morning, Dean. smirking at his own joke. from his monitor. Enjoying the weather, I see, James commented,

Dean, on the other hand, didnt even look away Made any progress on

Aww, come on, give me something.

your Higgs boson research? Not really, Dean responded casually, his eyes still locked to his screens. Dean realized that most scientists wouldnt be so dismissive when

the head of their department shows interest in their project, but Dean had long since learned that James interest was nothing more than a display of supervision a friendly reminder that Dean answered to him. Despite all

his passion and hard work, James impression of Deans Higgs boson research was skeptical at best. His age, experience, and position had left him

highly dismissive of up-and-coming scientists. Well, uh, keep me updated, alright? And go out and get some sun, you hear? anti-leukemia. closed the door. He hadnt lied to James about his progress, however. confidence and efforts, Dean found he had hit a wall. Despite his James added, nodding his head,

Im worried youll develop

Dean could hear him laughing at his own joke even after he

Regardless of what

approach he took, he found it impossible to isolate the Higgs boson due to its unstable nature. His experiments would show evidence of the existence

4 of the particle and its effects could be seen in the data, but he was no closer to understanding its nature than he was before. Just as he was ready

to pull out his hair in frustration, however, a novel idea came to him: Perhaps Im looking at this problem the wrong way, he thought to himself. While isolating the variable in question is the most obvious

approach, subtracting it from the equation could tell me just as much about its nature. If I can calibrate the collider to strip given material of the

Higgs boson, I could rightfully assume whatever changes occur would be due to its absence. approach. His passion renewed, he went back to work with his new

Weeks passed as Dean attempted to calibrate the machine on the

subatomic level and weeks more passed as he ran the collisions thousands of times in the hopes of establishing a recognizable pattern. Deans patience had paid off. Although more tests had to be done

before it could be considered conclusive, a clear pattern was visible in the data: material stripped of the Higgs boson would maintain its momentum but In laymans terms, this

would not feel the effects of friction or gravity.

meant that such material had the potential to exceed the speed of light. Dean was speechless. Such findings, however preliminary, could If Einsteins model

completely change the worlds understanding of physics.

of relativity could be trusted, such material, if accelerated past the speed of light, would actually travel backwards in time. Despite the

broad-reaching implications his findings had, one thought stood out to Dean above all the rest; a thought he could only attribute to his love for sci-fi: Could I make a time machine?

5 Instead of dismissing the idea as silly fantasy, he instead embraced it as the next logical step. Finally, after years of unrewarding experiment

after experiment, an opportunity to fulfill his dream of making science fiction into reality had fallen into his lap. quintessential invention of the sci-fi genre! A time machine! The

In the realm of science,

application quickly follows theory - and he couldnt think of a better application. His break for contemplation over, Dean returned to work once

again, completely forgetting his long-held passion towards discovering the unified theory of everything. It was now but a drop of water in the ocean. There was a massive

The project was intimidating, to say the least.

canyon between accelerating individual particles and accelerating something as massive as a human body - a canyon he would have to cross with hard work and ingenuity. Only a month into the project, however, Dean found himself Unlike his last roadblock, though, this one Ever since his

once again up against a wall.

had much more to do with philosophy than it did physics.

revelation regarding the possibility of time travel, many unanswered questions plagued Deans mind. surface. Even if, by some miracle, I get this thing to send me back in time, will I get there in one piece? same one I left? If so, will the world I return to be the Now, they had worked their way to the

If multiverse theory is correct, Dean reasoned, wouldnt

his altered version of the past simply split off into a different universe? Is it possible he could return to a completely different world? Before he

could even begin to come to terms with that philosophical dilemma, another question rushed through his mind:

6 And even if time is linear, what about The Butterfly Effect? Wouldnt

my simply existing in the past have drastic, potentially catastrophic, consequences for the present? Dean noted the fact that The Butterfly

Effect got its name from the notion that the wing beat of a single butterfly could indirectly cause a hurricane. Thats a single butterfly. Dean

dreaded at the thought of what kind of damage a man armed with knowledge of the future could cause. And what about him? If he indirectly changed the

chain of events that led to his conception by even one atom, wouldnt he simply pop out of existence? This train of thought soon led him to another

dilemma, this time a moral one: Once armed with power to alter the past, do I have a moral obligation to do everything in my power to prevent disasters like the Holocaust? about smaller tragedies like murder? What

Would I have to give up any notions of

objective observation and instead devote my life to fixing the past like some kind of pseudo-superhero? Dean was split. On the one hand, this was an amazing opportunity to

expand humanitys knowledge almost infinitely in technology, history, and science in general. The possibilities were endless. Wars could be averted,

mistakes fixed, lives spared.

On the other hand, the possible consequences In his pursuit of

would be just as catastrophic as they were unpredictable.

knowledge, he could potentially destroy himself, the planet, or even the entire universe. This was too much for Dean. Questions philosophers had battled with He

for millennia were suddenly pressed upon him with a suffocating urgency.

had only been working on the blueprints for a few days and it already felt

7 like the fate of the world was resting on his shoulders. Wanting a break

from the stress and noting that it was already past 2 a.m., Dean decided to call it a day. Far too exhausted to get himself to his car and drive home,

he opted to spend yet another night on his office couch in front of his mini T.V. Most people had long since stopped watching television and it was 2 a.m., so Dean was unsurprised to find a National Geographic rerun to be the only thing on. It was about archaeologists and their frustrations when Most of what they were interested in

trying to examine ancient mummies.

lied within the wrappings, whether it be the corpse itself or the little charms placed within to ward against evil spirits. Any attempt to unwrap

the mummy, however, could cause irreparable damage to the body or destroy it entirely. The most they could do was X-ray the things, which revealed Although he had seen this particular episode several Dean felt As the

little, if anything.

times already, something was different this time around.

something he could only describe as empathy for the archaeologists.

faint glow of the T.V. gave way to the darkness of his drooping eyelids, a final thought crossed his mind. Perhaps, for now, X-rays are enough. So long as the mummies are

intact, technology will keep getting better and we will find the answers were looking for. No need to unravel the damn things... He found Dean

The following morning, James made his weekly checkup. up and about with the energy of a caffeine-injected squirrel.

Well, you seem cheery today, James commented, I assume you finally made progress on your experiment?

8 Nope, Dean replied, smiling, I havent got a thing. Is that right? night? I slept. Like a baby. # # # # # James said, taken aback. Then whatd you do all