WABAC to the Future

[Little Brown Fox]

Hrm. I think I see where this is going.

(Also I am so glad I looked up what "WABAC" was, or I'd have been horrendously lost for a good while at the beginning of the story. And it's something I may or may not have a vague knowledge of, to boot.)

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

WABAC To the Future

Three.

It was the first warm spring day of the season and Atom awoke to the sound of birds chirping in the tree outside of his window. He got up being careful not to disturb his brother Cobalt who was still snoring soundly in the bed next to him. Atom ran down the stairs from his room to find his mother and father already awake, and doing the morning chores. Atom's sister Uran was still upstairs in her room sleeping, or just being quiet.

“Ohayou gozaimasu, son,” his mother said.

“Dr. Ochanomizu called earlier,” his father added, “I told him you were still in bed, and he said that you should come over to the institute when you were ready, and that it wasn't an emergency.”

“It looks like a lovely day outside.” His mother said.

“I know!” Atom answered, “I heard some birds outside my window for the first time since winter!”

Atom attending to recharging and lubricating himself for the day before stepping outside. “I'm going over to the institute now.” he said, “But I may take the long way there. It's such a nice day outside.”

“I'll call Ochanomizu Hakase and let him know you're on your way and will be there eventually,” Atom's mother said.

Atom blasted off using both leg and arm jets. He took the long way around the city, flying past the tracks of the high speed rail where he flew past a train leaving Tokyo bound for Osaka. He waved at the engineer of the train who gave him a salute back. Atom then flew higher and followed an outbound SST flight heading east towards America. He waved at the passengers who were staring out the window at him. Atom then headed back towards the mountains. He dived head first into the base of a snow capped mountain, digging his way into the earth. With his leg rockets blazing he bored a tunnel downwards, and then upwards where he flew out the top of the mountain in an explosion of snow and vapor. Atom did a barrel roll and a couple of Cuban eights, then executed an Immelman turn and headed back towards the city. “Wow! That felt great!” he thought.

He flew over the harbor and noticed several boats dredging the bottom of the channel, apparently looking for something. Atom gave thought to investigating what they were doing, then decided that he'd better go see what Hakase Ochanomizu wanted.

“Ah, so you finally arrived!” Ochanomizu said as Atom entered his office.

“I took the long way here, Hakase.” Atom laughed. “It was such a nice day to just fly!”

“I know exactly what you mean,” the professor said, “I used to have a pilot's license in my youth and access to an aerobatic capable plane. But you know the best weather to fly in is really in the dead of winter on a clear day when the density altitude is very low.”

“So what was so important that you called my home this morning?” Atom asked.

“A strange UFO was spotted over the harbor this morning,” the professor said, “witnesses said that a large red ball just materialized right in front of two ferryboats and sank creating a huge wake that nearly capsized several small pleasure craft. Several ships with sonar equipment and divers were looking for any possible wreckage of the strange craft for hour. I thought I might ask you to lend them a hand, but by now they would have found something if there was anything left to find.”

“Yeah, I flew over the harbor and saw what was going on,” Atom said, “but by then the harbor patrol had the situation in hand so I just continued on my way.”

“Just as well.” Ochanomizu said. “I'd still ask you to fly by there and look, but now I have another task for you. Seems we have a sizable group signed up for today's tour of the institute and we're a bit short staffed. Would you mind taking on some tour guide duties?”

“Glad to, Hakase.” Atom said, “though I might get writers cramp signing autographs!”

“Yes that would be a possible outcome for sure!” Ochanomizu remarked.


Sherman and I parked the WABAC machine in the corner of the parking lot at the Institute of Science. We left the invisibility shield on and I gave the boy his instructions. “I see by the signs near the building that there is an open house starting in a few minutes. I suggest that you get on line for the tour and keep an eye out for Atom,” I told Sherman.

“You're coming with me aren't you Mr. Peabody?” the boy asked.

“No, you're going to have to do this on your own.” I told him. “It might be a bit of a problem if a talking dog showed up, don't you think?”

“Yeah, I see what you mean, Mr. Peabody.” Sherman sighed.

“You go locate Atom and find some pretense to get him out to the parking lot,” I said, “Bring him over to the WABAC and I'll drop the invisibility shield so he can see me. Then we'll invite him on board.”

“Sounds like a plan, Mr. Peabody.” Sherman answered as he headed over to the line forming for the open house.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

I waited in the WABAC for Sherman to return. I nervously watched the clock, knowing that an earlier instance of the WABAC with Sherman in it would soon be arriving. It was vital that the other instance of Sherman and the current one not meet each other because that might cause a time paradox, or at least so the theory went. This sort of thing has never been tested, obviously because the WABAC is the only time machine in existence. Anyway the way I had it figured out, we either needed to make sure that Sherman did not prevent Atom from meeting up with the UFO that was due to arrive within a few hours, or we would have to transport him back to the 1960's ourselves.


Sherman waited in the line leading up to the main entrance of the Institute of Science. The procession of visitors entering the building for the days open house tour was slow, but steady. As Sherman entered the building a group of visitors that had been waiting for a tour to start were being led away by a robot wearing blue boots, blue shorts, and a red cape. He looked a bit like Atom, but was a few inches shorter. A new group was just starting to queue up, and it was into this group that Sherman was deposited by the young man selling tickets. Sherman dropped a few yen coins into his hand and was handed his ticket. “Wait over there,” he was told.

In about five minutes he was in the middle of about two dozen other guests, and an equal amount of people walked out of an elevator that had opened its doors a few yards away. The tour group that had just finished their visit were escorted over the side of the lobby where a refreshment concession and a souvenir sales area were located. The tour guide bid his farewells to the group and approached the gaggle of people that Sherman was now part of. Sherman was relieved to so see who the tour guide was.

Atom counted the size of the crowd before leading them over to the elevator. “Hello folks, and welcome to the Institute of Science,” he said. “My name is Atom and I will be your guide for the next half hour or so. Looks like we will all just fit into the elevator.”
Sherman hurried along to get to the front of the group. He followed Atom closely, looking for some opportunity to talk to him alone. He looked at his watch and frowned. There wasn't much time, in less than 15 minutes he would arrive from the past for the first time.


While Sherman was busy trying to get Atom's attention I was monitoring the instruments in the WABAC. I noticed two time bubbles opening up in the continuum at nearly the same coordinates. One of them had the same signature as the WABAC, this would be the previous instance of Sherman's arrival into this time space earlier when he caused the paradox. The other blip was unknown, but it appeared to come from beyond our solar system, perhaps even from beyond our galaxy. I realized that it must be the UFO that Atom was supposed to come in contact with, the one that would transport him back in time. I zoomed in on the other object with the WABAC's tracking instruments and then realized that our theory of what had happened was wrong.

This other UFO was in trouble. It was emitting krontron particles at a rapid rate and was on course to crash land in the harbor. The kronotron field that it was emitting had opened a wormhole leading backwards in time. Atom wasn't abducted by the UFO, he was projected backward though that wormhole. Both he and the occupants of that UFO should have emerged from that wormhole in the late 1960's.

The WABAC's warning system suddenly came on line. The UFO and the previous instance of the WABAC appeared to be on a collision course. Since both WABAC's were really the same machine, my instruments were sounding the collision warning, as well as those in Sherman's instance of the machine. The WABAC's autopilot made the necessary corrections to avoid the UFO, but I could see on my instruments that the wormhole created by the other craft was being redirected. I then noticed an object flying overhead towards the harbor where the UFO was about to crash land. It was Atom.


The elevator opened its doors on the third floor. Atom stepped out and stood in the hallway, ushering the group along. Sherman noticed a short old man with a large nose and a balding head running towards them. “Atom, I'm glad I ran into you,” he said. “I'll take charge of this group of visitors, I want you to fly over to the harbor. Another UFO has been spotted and it looks like it's about to crash into the harbor.”

“Two in one day?” Atom asked. “OK Hakase, I'm on my way.”

Sherman ran after Atom, “Wait, I need to talk to you!” He was too late, the boy robot had just jumped out of a window and was flying towards the river.


“I'm sorry Mr. Peabody,” Sherman sighed, “Atom had to fly off and meet that UFO. Since I didn't manage to stop him from doing that, is everything going to be OK?”

“Actually, you did prevent him from meeting the UFO,” I told him, “Only not quite in the way we thought. When you arrived here the first time you almost collided with the UFO in the forth dimension. The WABAC's autopilot prevented the collision, but your presence caused the UFO to divert slightly from the path that it was supposed to follow. The UFO was a damaged time craft and it was emitting Kronotron particles that have the ability to open a wormhole to another time, just as the WABAC can. If you hadn't arrived when you did, both the UFO and Atom would have gone though that wormhole leading back to the 1960's. However, because you deflected that UFO, Atom missed the opening into the wormhole. He wasn't transported back in time. Atom must have returned back to the Institute after flying over the harbor after the UFO, that's when you met him on your first trip.”

“So we failed in our mission to set things right?” Sherman started to cry.

“Not yet.” I said. “Get in the WABAC, we're going to fly over to the harbor and meet up with Atom. We are going to have to transport him back to the past ourselves. That's how we will set things right.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

WABAC To the Future

Four.

Sherman got back in the WABAC and I quickly powered up the machine. We took off under full cloak and flew back towards the harbor.

“Atom's told his boss that this was the second UFO that was reported today,” Sherman said, “What's going on here?”

“We were the first UFO that was spotted Sherman,” I said, “Someone forgot to cloak the WABAC earlier.”

“Gee, I'm sorry about that Mr. Peabody.” Sherman replied. “So I guess this time it's the real UFO that Atom ran into before I messed things up.”

“It appears so. Only that UFO shouldn't have been seen in this time frame. It was your initial approach into this time period earlier that altered the UFO's path in time. Atom would have been flying over the harbor earlier when the WABAC arrived the second time with the two of us and encountered the UFO. It wouldn't have arrived the second time. In fact our arrival earlier altered the UFO's time line slightly, that's why Atom left just now. You are about to arrive in the WABAC at the Institute just about now. Good thing you're here with me so you won't met yourself.

I timed the WABAC's arrival over the harbor perfectly. The strange spaceship crashed into the water not too far from where our time machine was hovering. About 30 seconds later Atom arrived, just as the UFO crashed into the water. He dove under the surface and returned a few moments later holding an unconscious female. I quickly uncloaked the WABAC machine and allowed Atom to see us.

The WABAC was now floating on the surface of the bay, and I opened the main hatch.

“Allow me to assist you!” I cried out. Atom flew into the WABAC holding the woman.

“Sherman will you please help Atom treat this woman?” I asked, “You know where the WABAC's medical supplies are.”

While Sherman and Atom took care of Scara's needs I quickly manned the controls of the WABAC machine. I closed the main hatch and jumped us backwards in time by 50 years. I knew that Sherman would probably hate me when he found out what I did, but it was the only way to repair the space-time continuum.

“I think she's coming around Mr. Peabody.” Sherman said.

“Yes she looks like she'll be OK.” Atom replied, looking around. “Just what is this machine?”

Before Sherman could answer I quickly replied, “This is an experimental stealth aircraft with the ability to travel on water.”

“Oh.” Atom replied.

“Why don't you take her ashore, perhaps back to the Institute.” I told the boy robot. “They could probably help an injured space traveler.”

“Sure, good idea.” Atom said. I opened the hatch and he flew away carrying Scara with him.

“What just happened, Mr. Peabody?” Sherman asked. “We didn't do anything to undo my tampering?”

“Actually, I just did.” I replied. I closed the hatch on the WABAC, and motioned for Sherman to take his seat.

“Set the return coordinates please, Sherman.” I replied.

If he noticed anything funny on the controls, Sherman did not let on. He correctly adjusted the return settings to our own place and time and locked them in. I then activated the time controls and in a matter of seconds the WABAC returned us home, where everything once again appeared to be the way that it should.
Sherman looked at me a little funny, “What happened back there, Mr. Peabody?”

“Did you notice anything peculiar about that woman?” I asked.

“She wasn't exactly human.” Sherman replied.

“True.” I agreed. “Her race is a species of locus that can take human form. She was the pilot of the UFO that crashed into the bay. Her craft came from another dimension and was slipping though time when it arrived here. Before your arrival into this time space her ship exploded shortly upon impact sending her and Atom back in time by 50 years. However your arrival into this time space the first time absorbed some of her ships krontron energy. It did not explode and remained in this century. Atom did not go back into time, and he did not prevent the death of the CIA's future agent in Korea.”

“I still don't get it, unless...” Sherman gave me a look of distilled anger, “You didn't ...”

“Yes I did, Sherman.” I confessed. “While you and Atom were attending to Scara, that was her name by the way, I quickly jumped the WABAC 50 years into the past. It was a quick trip, didn't take more than a micro second and I made sure to avoid any bumps so you didn't notice.”

“You mean we just left Atom and, what's her name, 50 years in the past!” Sherman yelled.

“Exactly.” I said. “Which what was supposed to happen, remember? Let this be a lesson to you Sherman. Time travel requires great responsibility!”

“But Atom won't be able to get back to his own time!” Sherman said.

“I wouldn't worry myself about that.” I said. “You see, we actually just caused a rather serious time paradox that will eventually work itself out. There will be two Atoms for a brief while, and one of them will exist in the future.”

“I don't get it.” Sherman said.

“Don't worry my boy.” I said. “Someday it will all become clear to you, perhaps we will go back to the future again some day and you will see for yourself.”

終わり