"The Beginning of the End "by Robert S. Morton

Genesis 1:1“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that he had made and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning- the sixth day.” Well earth isn’t so good anymore and now we don’t go by days. What year is it? Infinite! What’s the date? Whatever you want it to be! That is the mentality of earth now. Now that time travel is possible. But what price must be paid for such a luxury? To explain what I mean I will take you back in my memory. I would say “back in time” but that has lost its kick. Well anyways. Back to what is now referred to as “the beginning.” The year was 2250 A.D. or 1 A.U. depending on how you look at it. A.U. standing for After Upheaval. Interestingly, Au is also the chemical symbol for gold, and people thought they had come upon a golden time. It was on this day that Samuel Alastair of America suddenly announced to the world that he had come about the ability to time travel. He was rather thin and had glasses. He was a rather long and lengthy fellow that no one usually listened to. He was always in his lab conducting experiments of all different kinds of nature. One of such experiments was his new form of cloning. He went through a few dozen lab rats before he finally gave up. Another example of his experiments was that he would create a working thinking animatronic brain that could be used for smarter thinking robots. But when it took him about a year to calculate how many connections there are in the human brain he gave up. Needless to say he had conducted dozens of experiments and all of them were failures. So at first no one believed him and said he was mad. Until a man named Howard Lucas made a statement saying that Samuel did in fact discover time travel. Now this would not have been such a big deal to the people except for the fact that Howard Lucas was a president. Now this fact alone did not make all the people believe. It was the fact that the same president had been assassinated about year ago that convinced them. Now when you can show people an important dead man that is still alive and well people start listening to what you have to say. He told everyone that he had tried to convince them about 30 times before someone told him to show them the president. He went onto say now that he had everyone’s attention he should “leave the resting to rest” and he time traveled on the spot with the president back to the president’s time. After that everything started happening so fast. The next day Samuel was back and he had announced that he would start a new corporate organization called the exchange and that it would bring about a new way of life. Samuel had looked different though he looked rougher and leaner then ever before. But this didn’t matter to the people. Everyone was of course intrigued and wanted to learn more about this “new way of life.” Samuel said that his “new way of life” would abolish starvation and homelessness. It would bring about peace to everyone. People became even more intrigued hearing these things. They would wonder how he could do all these things just with time travel. Well that’s the thing about time travel you can get a lot of stuff done in the blink of an eye. A few weeks later after the official headquarters for the exchange was erected, Samuel announced that the new way of life was here and that he would be holding a world wide press conference to explain it. There only the most revered press was allowed inside. Other masses swarmed outside to look at giant projections of Samuel. In a matter of a month Samuel Alastair became more popular and more important than any world leader ever could have dreamed of and his attitude reflected it. At this televised press conference Samuel stood behind a glass pulpit. He had one of his assistants bring him a bottle of water which he placed on the pulpit. Then he started to explain his “new way of life.” He said that this was taking our general society of land owners and changing the dynamic a little bit. He explained that using time travel people would no longer own plots of land but plots of time. This was very appealing to even the government because the world’s resources were almost all used up and with time travel at their disposal their resources would become almost infinite. He said that this would bring a literal meaning to the term “time is money” being that you would have to buy your time. Then he showed charts of prices in standard currency of different time periods and different amounts of time. Also time periods and places that had already been deemed inhabitable and that would be ready for people to start moving in at their earliest convenience. He continued by stating that through this new form of property the land that people currently owned would no longer be needed by them and could be traded for amounts of time. If this were to be the case for someone then the Exchange would send an appraiser to their home and give an estimate. That estimation would then be deducted from the cost of the amount of time that person would want to buy. He said “The way that someone would sign up to own time is simple, they would meet with one of our representatives and after a deal was settled upon a deed to the time period the customer wanted and a PTTB (personal time traveling bracelet) would be provided. What these deals would include is the time you purchased housing and enough food and water for the time that you have purchased. Now when you lived up the time that you have purchased you will then be teleported back through time to the beginning of your time period thanks to your PTTB. Since this is a new form of time the term used for being sent back to the beginning of your time period will be called a revolution. Also other functions your PTTB are pulse monitor, a revolution counter and a watch. Now the reasoning for the pulse monitor is for reasons of the exchange. If this monitor ever reads zero for every person registered in the purchased time period then a crew of our robotic drones will be sent in to dispose of the dead and correct any alterations to the property. Then the next time period can be prepared. Samuel finally took a drink of water walk out from behind the pulpit sat down on the edge of the stage and said. “Now that all the technicalities are out of the way there will be rules set out for the owners of a PTTB. One that I have already said ‘leave the resting to rest.’ If someone dies do not try to go back into time and change events to save them. Rules number two ‘don’t play with that it’s not a toy’ do not try to tamper with your PTTB. If you take it off at any time you will forfeit your time period. Rule number three ‘keep out’ or ‘auto pilot’ do not travel out of your time period. To give you an old term peoples time period is like someone’s plot of land during the gold rush. If they see you panning their gold or in this case in their time period they can shoot you. Let your PTTB worry about your time you just enjoy using it. After the contract is signed these rules are your only rules. Inside of your own time period you can do whatever you want inside the rules already given.” He finished with “you can sign up as early or as late as you please because time is no longer of the essence.” After the press conference was over there was already a line forming for people wanting to by their time period. In a few weeks time almost everyone had there own significant time zone. Even most of the religious fanatics like Hindus and even some monks bought their own time period. Everyone bought time and few people argued with the time exchange rate. But one stuck out in Alistair’s mind. David B Harlem was pretty well off considering all things. David lived alone in a New York down town apartment. He was in his mid twenties and could already retire on the savings he had made, due to his wise investing on some money that he had inherited from his parent’s death. This was Alistair’s 4 go to guy and he could only afford one weeks time. The reason this was so is because he had invested almost all his money into the exchange thinking that this would be a good investment. Now David had many good reasons to protest. He said he should get an employee discount; he helped turn the Exchange into what it is. The list goes on and on. To make a long drawn out argument short David ended up having to take what was given to him in the trade for his small one bedroom apartment. But in spit the small time he was given he tried to attain happiness. Now he was already used to living alone so that did not bother him and the house that was provided was a lot bigger then his decent sized down town apartment. So David tried to accept the time that was given to him. He did this by doing what he loved to do on his down time. That was painting. David was a talented artist. He decided to paint one single masterpiece, and he did so. But it had never gotten finished. Because what David had forgotten through his excitement for his painting is that he only had a week to paint it before it or he was gone, and he was shipped to the beginning again. After being sent back David had realized what had happened and he just decided to start again. This time trying to finish before his next revolution happened. David ended up succeeding but only a few hours early so he only had that much time to enjoy what he had created then it was gone again. Or he was gone again this time traveling stuff is tricky when it comes to terminology. Anyways, after David realized his art would just keep on disappearing he stop painting. He became angry and finally decided that if Samuel would not give him more time he would have to take it. Because he thought that everyone should have an equal amount of time. So he went about writing down formulas and time algorithms. But again just like his paintings, after his week was over he was sent back to the beginning of his time. So he tried to think of a more permanent canvas or parchment to write his equations on. It was a few days later and he finally devised his permanent canvas. It was his own skin. He decided to tattoo the plans down onto his skin so when he shifted back to the beginning of his time it would also. So with his work stay with him he could finally make some progress. So he did make progress and through the revolutions of his time he plotted to change his PTTB so he could gain more time. This was a simple task because not only investing his money into the exchange he invested his time as well. He had learned how the device worked. But since he knew how the device worked he knew this would be more then a simple matter. There where many calculations to take into consideration. Also coordinates to plot he didn’t want to end up time traveling into a wall. So David painstakingly made his calculations until 7 revolutions of his one week time period had passed. He was finally ready to open his PTTB and alter how it worked. Now of course rule number two of the “Exchange Time Travel” clause said “do not try to tamper with your PTTB.” But David did not listen to the rules because he did not think they applied to him. So when he opened his bracelet enforcers hired by the Exchange instantly came and confiscated his PTTB and brought him to the exchange head quarters. This had grown exponentially since the last time David had seen it. The building was three times the size it was before and apparently Samuel had put his own private mansion on top of the hill that was now right next to the headquarters. But the building itself was not the only thing that had changed about the exchange. Samuel talked to the government and he convinced them that since everyone is leaving the natural time that law enforcement on earth would no longer be needed so he convinced them that he should be the “Authority of Justice over Time and Space.” So now what ever Samuel said was law; and if you broke the law you were turned over to the Exchange. So after a long process of taking information, finger prints, and mug shots (the normal judicial stuff) David was finally thrown into a holding cell. It was like a jail cell only more advanced. It wasn’t that big of a cell. A cot hanging off the wall suspended by chains was what there was to sleep on. The bed was like those in normal jail cells. But the bars were harder and more dense then steel. Also this cell came with a specialized PTTB one that was under what was referred to as “ground hog day affect.” This PTTB made the person wearing it do only one thing. Live the same day over and over again. Well by now David felt all too familiar with this feeling having to frequently relive events in his life only now they were shorter. This made David more and angrier at Samuel every revolution he had lived. So revolutions went by and David had finally had enough. He committed himself to studying the routine of the guards that patrolled these cells. He would watch there every move. He would see what their schedule was; and when they would change shifts. There was no time in-between their shifts each time one would arrive and get settled then the other would leave. So he then started to experiment with different escape tactics. He became a master of faking insanity, heart attacks and a numerous other excuses. In attempts to get the guards to come near his cell. Also he became what would appear to be a mind reader; knowing every move that the guards would make. Making moves before the guards would. But try after try he would fail. He was able to do this because every time David would escape they would put him back into the prison cell. This is because only David had knowledge of his numerous previous attempts. But with every attempt he made he would get that much closer to Samuel. Whether it be learning another move a guard would make, or learning how to be more appealing to a desk worker David would always make progress his plan. Making his way past security defusing alarms and knocking out some personnel he finally got to Samuel. Samuel saw David and was less than shocked. He knew there was a possibility that David would escape. Samuel was calm and collective. He sat behind his large glass desk in his large steel chair in his large office room with behind him a large glass window. Everything in there was just like what was his now large ego. “Oh David I would say it is nice to see you but considering this means you broke out of my cell I am less than pleased” Samuel said. David replied “Well it wasn’t easy.” “Well we will have to fix whatever malfunction happened or fire whoever let you out. But you must be going now” Samuel continued “I do have time to manage here.” Samuel hit the call button on his desk then said “Mrs. Baxter please send someone to escort Mr. Harlem out of my office.” When no reply was heard he tried again. “Mrs. Baxter.” With this David pulled out a pistol that he had taken from one of the guards and said, “She won’t be answering that right now. I told her she could have the day off.” Of course Samuel seeing David holding a gun aimed towards him he began to panic. So he hit the panic button installed underneath his desk. It was supposed to set off an alarm but David knew about it. So he had taken care all of them before he went to meet Samuel. After realizing that no one would be coming Samuel tried to reason with David seeing that David still had a look of hatred toward him. David continued to stand there with the gun pointed towards Samuel. Seeing that David could not be swayed by Samuel’s reason he started to plead with him, saying that he would give him anything he wanted. More time, more money, even a partnership in the Exchange. David explained that he didn’t want any of it he only wanted equality for everyone (except for the money grubbing exchange). So with that he took off the PTTB on his arm and set it to not replay the last day. But he set it to replay only one random second of time. Also with that he set the coordinates of space to a randomized algorithm that he had devised when he was in his own time period. So he set in onto Samuels arm and instantly Samuel time traveled to only God knows where. David did this to the other two men who held more stock in the exchange then he did. Then he made an announcement over the P.A. system that went throughout the entire gigantic exchange building. “Employees of the Exchange I am your new boss David B. Harlem. Your previous employer could not conceive nor was he adequate enough to handle the stresses of managing time itself. So he resigned and left this fine company to me. Now I understand that this is a sudden change; and you may be questioning why I think I can do a better job then your good Mr. Samuel did. But trust me when I tell you that I will not fall to the same stress; because I will not have to deal with it. As of now everyone will be given their own time period with enough time to live out their entire life. The Exchange will here by close as soon as the last person has entered their time zone. Also we will be extending all already owned time periods to a full life time as well. So the sooner you get your work done the sooner you can start living the rest of your life. That will be all. I hope you all have a great rest of your lives.” With that David leaned back in the chair and smiled; and in a weeks time everyone’s time period was extended and the employees were about to send themselves into their own time periods. But before this happened David thought it would be fitting to have everyone listen to a final triumphant ballad of trumpets. This was to commemorate the abolishment of inequality. After that all the employees entered their time periods. Only David remained to bask in what he thought he had accomplished. Listening to the end of the ballad he then went through time using his old PTTB. The world sat empty and void of one of Gods greatest creations and they would never be seen again. Because what David didn’t realize is that the more time you spend in a different time period other then your original time the weaker you get. Time itself rejects you in your physical presence there and you begin to cease to exist. Now whenever you go through a revolution that restarts the process of time trying to reject you. That is how I am able to still be alive after the millions of seconds I have lived out of my time period. I would have warned him to if he didn’t send me through time so quickly. Yes I am Samuel Alistair. This is how I could recall all these events to you. The parts I didn’t know before I have either guessed at or saw bit and pieces of thanks to my current affliction. I have also seen many other things through my briefs seconds in time. I have been to many places and times. But nothing I can do or say now will make any difference. Hopefully soon my body will decay and I will die. But I will live throughout a normal lifespan. This is due to my incapability to move much. I have a second to react to what I see then I am shifted to somewhere else. This gives me little time to move. So my metabolism barley needs to function to keep me sustained, in this what feels like an eternal prison. I wish I had said something before. But it was my greed and lust for power that made me keep my mouth shut regarding the sickness. But it was because of this sickness that the three time travel rules had to be erected. Rule number one was because the only reason that anyone would die inside of their time period is because of time sickness. Therefore we couldn’t have them going back and trying to save their loved ones. Therefore they would become wise to the sickness and destroy my business. Rule number two was so no one would figure out how the PTTB worked so they could make their own version of it time travel back before I created mine and sell them on a black market of some sort or even erect their own “Exchange”. Rule number three was to keep people inside of their own time period. If people were to go to other peoples time period even by invitation it would create a society and I didn’t want this. This was because I didn’t want to actually govern a society. I wanted to just sit back and have the control of time and the people inside of it. I wanted to be a god and the first step I thought was to control time. My next thought came when I or I should say my future counterpart achieved the ability to time travel and he was warning me of the time sickness. “Sacrifices were made to other gods so sacrifices will be made for me.” It was this mentality that drove me. I created the Exchange I became more self confident in everything I did. I was the most powerful man on earth. But my absolute power corrupted absolutely. The second David sent me through time I felt my mortality hit me like a ton of bricks and now I feel a typhoon of remorse flowing through me. But I have had time to think in my countless brief seconds and irony has struck a chord in my mind. Like how lonely insignificant notes all come together to make a chord in music. First I realized that what turned out to be my enemy achieved a prophecy for what is now my greatest idol. In The book of Revelations in the Bible it is said that trumpets will sound before the end of the earth. But no one pictured it ending like it did. The second and probably most ironic thing I realized is how our different motives led to somewhat the same results. The only difference was the mass quantity that was affected by our actions. To put it simply it was my greed that led to the beginning of my end. But it was David’s urge for wanting everyone to be equal that was “The Beginning of the End.”