© Copyright 2008

Bob Thomas was in a meeting room, drab, heavy smell of tobacco smoke. Three men in military uniforms, and one in a suit were sitting at the table. Two guards in military uniforms were standing by the door.

“Mr. Thomas, why didn’t you come to us first?” Bob Thomas was still groggy. “Mr. Thomas!”. Stirring himself, he answered, “Can I have some coffee?”, one of the men poured some from a steel urn, put it in front of Thomas with metal containers with cream and sugar.

“I actually recently read a science fiction story just like what is happening. I read an intro online then ordered the book, Foresight War, I think it was Tony Williams.”

“On line?” Thomas answered “Ah, it’s 1954, I was using a computer network, I can explain it more later. Anyway, the book was about a British man from 2004 who finds himself in 1934. He has some items that he normally carried which he used to get the attention of a scientist, then he helped Britain do better in World War Two.”

One of the men in uniform introduced as “Mr. Chadwell” asked, “So why didn’t you do that?” Thomas answered, “You see, that’s the problem, there’s only a little to fix, and much to get wrong, from 1954 to my year, 2008. There has not been a nuclear war, there was even the fall of communism, sure there are things that could be better, could have been better, but nuclear war was avoided so narrowly, that any change made now could change that outcome.”

Story: 1954: Part 1

Story: 1954: Part 2

Story: 1954: Part 3

Story: 1954: Part 4

Story: 1954: Part 5

Story: 1954: Part 6

Story: 1954: Part 7

Story: 1954: Part 8

Story: 1954: Part 9

Story: 1954: Part 10

Story: 1954: Part 11

Story: 1954: Part 12

Story: 1954: Part 13

Story: 1954: Part 14

Story: 1954: Part 15

Story: 1954: Part 16

New England July 26 2006 to July 26 1979

By Bob C.

© Copyright 2006-2007

July 26th 2006, 12:00 am. Something doesn’t look right. After that strange lightening storm, the lights in New York are different.

12:01 am. “This is channel 4 news, bringing to you a special report. We don’t have our expected news feeds, and we are hearing news headlines that don’t make sense. Paul Volcker has been named President of the Federal Reserve. The Sandinistas have recently taken control of Nicaragua. These are events that happened in 1979. Saddam Hussein has been named President of Iraq 10 days ago.”

12:45 am. “This just in, the pilot of flight 2213 from London, passing from Connecticut to New York, reports seeing the World Trade Center. Phone connections are not working outside of New England.

5:11 am. Channel 4 shows a graphic with a clock and the words “New England Adrift in Time.”
“Bringing to you continuing coverage of todays incredible events. Persons in every part of all 6 states of New England report today’s date as July 26th 2006. In every other location of the world, the date is July 26th 1979 5:11am, adjusted for their time zone. At 6:00 am Eastern Daylight time, President Carter will address the nation.

6:00am. “On behalf of the people of 1979, I want to welcome our new inhabitants from the year 2006. Our prayers go out to those missing loved ones in New England. We are gratified to know that in many cases they have been found, 27 years older. In other cases we learn that they lived full lives in the years after 1979. There will be many issues to work out, including energy supplies, ownership of property, people who are both in 1979 outside of New England, and in 2006 in New England. We are up to the challenge. There will also be new hopes, technologies that have been developed in the 27 years. There have been some new deadly contagious diseases, even to 2006 technology, but my understanding is that they have existed before 1979, but have not been noticed yet.”

930am, Senator Ted Kennedy’s office. “The, ah, distinguished Senator from Massachusetts.”.
“And am I, ah, addressing the Senator or ex-President?”
“Still Senator, you would have been riding high in the polls, until November when the Iranians seize the US embassy staff as hostages. Then in late December, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. The voters rally around Carter. By April, and a failed rescue attempt, and the Soviets still in Afghanistan, the polls go decisively towards Ronald Reagan, and he coasts to November, and takes the Senate majority also.”
“I, ah see”
“You do get the third harbor tunnel for Boston, and an underground central artery. Costs 15 billion dollars, maybe 7 billion in 1979 dollars. Mostly finished in 2004, and by 2006 is falling apart with shoddy workmanship and design.”
“How about the harbor cleanup?”
“It gets done, but too late for Mike Dukakis. In 1988, George Bush, VP under Reagan for 2 terms, beats him. He used the dirty water to tar and feather him. In 2004, his son beats Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.”
“The Middlesex assistant DA who went after Senator Brooke?”
“The same one.”
“So which one of us sits in the Senate chambers?”
“We shouldn’t work it out between ourselves. It would set a precedent. Let’s see who is here in 1979, and which way gives us more Democratic seats.”
“Agreed.”

Index to Chapters

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