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I punch the coordinates into my watch: Long Island, 2035. I wince, anticipating that god-awful moment before the jump where my spirit and body become two lousy dance partners, all awkward and out of sync. Thank fuck this is the last chronojump I’ll ever have to do. If I don’t screw it up, it’ll be the last anyone has to.
There’s a flash, then the world goes fuzzy.
I rematerialize in the drab, rain-soaked streets of 21st Century New York, populated by miserable morons who don’t realize how good they have it. Their world’s still not fucked enough to need guys like me. Fixers, hired by the Bureau to break stuff: hearts, promises, necks—whatever it takes to keep the timeline stable.
The coordinates have jumped me right outside Dr. Yamamoto’s apartment building. Judging by the scuffed bricks and chipped paint, you’d think my target’s a second-rate insurance salesman, not the genius who’s about to invent time travel. I ring the intercom and a middle-aged man with greasy hair stretched across a balding head appears on the screen.
“Who are you?”
“It’s… complicated. I just need a few minutes of your time, Doctor. Maybe we can—”
The lock clicks open.
Upstairs, Yamamoto’s door is ajar. I’m greeted by piles of takeaway boxes and walls lined with mechanical sketches. Dr. Yamamoto sits in his underwear, with a Magnum pointed in my direction.
I smile. “You can put that down, Doctor. I only want to talk.”
“Then start talking.” Yamamoto places the gun on the table.
“I’m Jonas Stolz from the Chronosecurity Bureau. I’ve been sent back to ensure you abandon your time travel research.”
“Sounds like a crock of shit to me.”
“It won’t in sixty years’ time.” I press a button and a hologram beams from my watch.
“Your discovery will change the world. It will also royally fuck it. In my era, chronojumping has created so many holes that spacetime looks like goddamn Swiss cheese. The universe is hanging by a thread, Doctor, and your discovery’s to blame.” I tap the plasma pistol on my belt. “I’m sorry, but today’s either the end of your lifework or the end of your life.”
He snorts. “Nothing to worry about on that front. I’ve all but thrown in the towel. It’s impossible.”
Yamamoto points to the wastepaper bin overflowing with scrunched up scraps. I unfold one to reveal a page of intricate equations crossed out with angry pencil strokes. At the bottom in large letters: NO C.I.= NO FUCKING CHANCE.
“What’s C.I.?”
“Chronological Instigator. Need something to power the machine. Something, for example, like that little fusion reactor on your wrist…”
Before I can even look up from the paper, the Magnum shot rings out.
I’m lying in a blood-soaked puddle staring at the ceiling. Yamamoto leans over me, peeling the watch off my arm.
“It seems you weren’t sent here to stop my research, Mr. Stolz. You were brought here to complete it.”
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AUTHOR BIO:
Ben Daggers is a short story writer who loves exploring the dark edges of fiction, then slowly backing away before things get a bit too dark.
When not writing, procrastinating, or feeling guilty for procrastinating instead of writing, Ben spends his time doting over an emotionally needy Italian greyhound.
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WHY WE CHOSE TO PUBLISH “Closing the Loop”:
We used to say that we publish very little flash fiction, but lately a number of excellent pieces have crossed our desk. While we still prefer longer, meatier stories, a good story is still a good story, regardless of its length.
Author Ben Daggers delivered a piece of flash fiction that is tight and unexpected, the elements we look for in any good story.
Because time travel stories abound in speculative fiction, we’re especially picky when it comes to them. It’s difficult to come up with something clever enough to pass muster with us.
Many time-travel stories (and a number of sci-fi movies) deal with trying to fix the past to prevent some future disaster. This story could easily be expanded into one that deals with those future consequences and attempts at more fixes. What made this flash successful for us was that the author chose to leave the rest of the consequences to the reader’s imagination while still crafting a satisfying story.