In Part Two of George Cox’s quietly unsettling novella, the fog thickens — and so does our narrator’s uncertainty. The stranger’s story grows stranger still, and new details begin to blur the lines between coincidence and obsession.

She paused, making sure that this had registered before continuing.

‘It is not possible to travel back and forth across time, and it will never will be.  You cannot travel into the future.  However, you can travel back into the past.’

Again, she paused for the significance of this to register.

‘So, if I understand you correctly, that means you are here on a one-way trip. Right?’

‘Exactly. Now we are getting somewhere.’

‘So, you can’t return to your own time?’

‘No.’ She shook her head to emphasize the point.

‘But why travel then? You surely don’t want to emigrate here because life is better in the 21st Century? Oh God, I hope those who claim mankind is heading for disaster are not going to be proved right. Or are you escaping something, a fugitive from your own time? A world run by machines?’

She laughed.

‘No. it’s none of those.  I can reassure you that the quality of life gets progressively better over the coming centuries: not smoothly and not without setbacks, but always improving.

And I love your idea of criminals being sent back in time – just like you used to transport them to Australia – that would make a good story but no, that’s not the case.  And no, I am certainly not asking you to harbour someone on the run.’

‘So…?’

‘It’s complicated.  Back where I come from, the theory of the feasibility of backwards time-travel has been known for over a century, but it is only over the last fifty years that the problems have been resolved and it has become feasible to construct the necessary ‘launch’ facilities.

‘Launch facilities?’

‘Yes, unlike anything you might have read in science fiction, it actually requires a large and complex base from which to send somebody off across space-time, and it consumes a great deal of energy.

Incidentally, you don’t actually send a person, you send a unit of volume: the chosen standard for which is a cylinder, a metre in diameter and two and a half metres long: just sufficient to accommodate a single individual plus a few personal belongings. This selected volume has to be contained in a sealed immensely-strong container because when it disappears it leaves an instant vacuum. This needs to be filled in a controlled manner rather than allowing a violent implosion. Incidentally, when the unit arrives at the intended destination it instantly creates space for itself by pushing aside whatever is there, hopefully just air; this sends out a shock-wave just like an aeroplane breaking the sound barrier. So, there is no stealthy arrival!

The other complication – indeed something that delayed the project for years – is the need to carefully identify and target the destination, both in time and space.  Even a few metres out and the time traveller could end up permanently buried or falling to the ground from a substantial height.‘

He looked at her, again reflecting that if this was a scam, she had certainly done her homework.

‘Next question?’ she asked.

He thought for a moment.

‘How do you know, back in your time, that the individual has arrived and survived the process?’

‘Good question.  We bring with us a ‘mail box’, a small ceramic jar in which we can leave messages’

‘Aha! So that’s what you were doing in the churchyard!’

‘Exactly!’

‘The jar needs to be buried somewhere that’s unlikely to be disturbed.  It can’t be left in open ground in case it gets dug up or built over. The outside wall of a church like yours is ideal.’

She was putting together a complex but remarkably complete picture, hard to believe but impressively constructed.

He nodded.

‘So, with scores of centuries and with the whole globe to choose from, why ever pick a quiet village in rural England in the first part of the 21st Century? I can’t think of a less interesting destination!’

She smiled.

‘Gregory, think about it. It’s the ideal destination. You live in an era which is well-understood and well-documented.  You speak English, albeit an archaic version, and by my time, English has become the dominant global language. And most importantly the environment is stable; the last thing one wants to do is to arrive in the middle of a war. And with regard to the actual spot, it needs to be somewhere that will have remained unchanged from your time to mine: hence your churchyard.

And yes, Gregory, that means your church is going to survive for at least the next six hundred years.’

At which, she smiled broadly.

He sat, trying to absorb all she had said. She waited patiently for his next question.

‘Can I make us a drink while I gather my thoughts?’

‘Nice idea.’

‘Better still, I’ll pop across the road and get a couple of take-away coffees. Much better quality.’

For a moment, her expression indicated concern.

Sensing this, he added ‘Don’t worry, I promise I will come back and I won’t talk to anybody.’

As he crossed the road, he realised he was beginning to question his earlier doubts. The woman was calm and logical, able to respond clearly to each and every question, without groping for explanations. Was there just the slightest possibility that she was telling the truth? He would undoubtedly soon find out if it was a scam, once she revealed the nature of her requested support came up. Then another thought struck him – what if it was some sort media stunt? Perhaps it was an elaborate practical joke with the denouement coming in front of a hidden camera?

He returned with the two drinks and resumed his place in the armchair. The woman sipped hers, looked at him and said:

‘Thanks, that’s nice. OK. Let’s carry on. Next question?’

‘How many people have made such a journey?’

‘Three’

‘Just three?’

‘Yes, just three. The first two were intended to be the forerunners of a group of twelve. But I am the third and I will be the last.’

‘The last? What? Ever?’

‘Yes. A little time after launching the first two pioneers, it was decided to close the whole programme down. Permanently.’

‘But why? Major problems? Was it proving a technical failure?’

‘No, as far as was known, it was working perfectly.  The fact is the programme had always been controversial.  The underlying concern was that any interference with the past affects the future. In other words, after a visit by a time-traveller, the future will be different to the future that existed when the time-traveller left it.  Minor changes are inevitable but it would be very easy to trigger off seemingly-small changes whose effects became magnified over the centuries.

For example, to minimize the risk, all the selected time travellers were required to be irreversibly sterilised before the transfer: no eggs or sperm to be taken back in time.  And ‘yes’ in answer to your next question, that includes me.’

‘But I always thought that one of the theoretical attractions of time travel was that one could go back and positively change history: for example, to assassinate Hitler before he came to power’

‘Far too dangerous. If one managed to do so, who’s to say the world would have turned out better?  The circumstances that brought Hitler to power would still have existed in Germany in the 1930s.  Hitler did not invent the rise of right-wing nationalism – it stemmed from the humiliation of the terms imposed on Germany in 1918 – nor did he create the widespread feeling of antisemitism; he simply exploited the public mood and conditions of the time. Say he had been assassinated and replaced by a leader with the same views and goals but who proved to be a much more competent war strategist? Germany may not have invaded Russia and as consequence might have won the war.

Overall, the world – my world – has ended up in a good place. It’s far too dangerous to put this at risk.’

He reflected on what she had said, having to admit to himself that the logic was strong. He smiled.

‘Yes, I can see your point. Actually, it reminds me of a short story I read many years ago. It was set in the future when time travel had become a package-holiday business. This middle-age couple being regular church-goers decide to visit one of the premium destinations, namely Jerusalem at the time of the crucifixion. Well, part of the package is that you got the appropriate clothes, hair dye and skin darkening, a basic language course and the services of a personal guide.  So, they go back in time and quickly find themselves in a crowd at the point where Pilate is asking whether he should release Jesus or the robber Barabas.  Knowing what’s expected of them they join the chant of ‘Barabas! Barabas!’.  Then they look around and recognise Mr and Mrs Jones their next-door neighbours, and behind them, the Smiths whom they see regularly at church, and beyond them several other familiar faces…’

‘Oh, how horrible!’ she laughed ‘But you’re right, it illustrates the dangers.’

He smiled and nodded.

‘But presumably this was already fully appreciated and taken into account before the project was even started?  So why cancel it after its apparently successful first trials?’

‘There was a suspicion that those trials had left minor ripples on the future.  It wasn’t clear and they were certainly very small, but given the opposition that existed in the first place, any such doubt was sufficient to get the programme closed down.’

‘Are you saying you could detect differences in the future, once the two travellers had been launched?’

‘No, that’s not what I’m saying.

It was obvious from his expression that his mind was now struggling.

‘I know that’s hard to take in Gregory.  It is a difficult concept to grasp.  Believe me, it took us years to understand the ramifications of what we were dealing with. Let me explain.

We can only live in one future. From the moment each individual is sent back, those living at the time of the launch are living in whatever future that the traveller’s actions might have influenced.  They are not aware of any other possibility. There is no comparison that they can make.  That means that in detecting any influence one has to look for small clues: examining historical records for anomalies such as references to the programme or to technologies that could not have been known at the time.’

‘And you think that you have detected such an anomaly?’

‘Possibly, but it’s not clear. However, the very suspicion was sufficient to bring about the closure of the programme.’

‘So, how do your fellow travellers feel about their project being cancelled?’

‘As of now, they don’t know about it.  There has been no way of contacting them directly.  Think about it, Gregory, there’s no direct way of communicating with the travellers once they have been launched.’

‘So how do they report back? How do you ever know they have arrived?’

The woman laughed.

‘As I said, the only way is what you caught me doing.’

‘Eh?’

‘We have to bury a hand-written message in a ceramic pot!’

‘But that will take centuries to reach its intended recipients, always assuming it survives.’

‘No Gregory. Think. In the recipient’s perception it’s immediate.  They can dig it up any time after the launch.  Though you’re right about survivability. As I said, the pot has to be buried somewhere that won’t be dug up or built over. That really limits the options. Cathedrals and historic castles would obviously be possibilities, but digging around them would pose problems. Hence, the perfect choice – alongside the wall of your church!’

He could not avoid pulling a face, conveying that he found this part of the story less than convincing.

‘Surely, with all your advanced technology, you could have come up with something better than leaving hand-written notes in jars?’

‘No. Think about it, Gregory. It has to be something that can be left for hundreds of years and that betrays no hint of advanced technology to anyone that discovers it in the meantime.   The rules are crystal clear: we can’t leave any physical evidence of our travels whatsoever.’

Again, he had to admit to himself that she had answered his question fully and clearly.  He smiled at the thought of his having left the café to help an apparently confused woman, only to interrupt her in the act of sending a trans-century communication.

‘And have you heard anything from your two earlier travellers?’

‘Yes, but only from one of them, and that simply said he’d arrived. At the time of my launch, we’d only unearthed the one pot.’

‘So, one of them might not even have successfully completed the transition?’

‘No, we’re pretty sure that he arrived OK.  Most likely the pot got disturbed.’

‘So, you alone knew that the programme had been cancelled when you were despatched on your trip? So, what’s the purpose?’

‘To search out the others and tell them, and to explain that the further anticipated travellers aren’t coming.  And that’s where I need your help’

‘Right, so you need some money to fund this quest?’

‘No. I don’t need money. I just need help in tracking them down.’

They sat in silence looking at each other; he trying to take it all in, she awaiting an answer. It was at that point that he realised that if he wasn’t entirely convinced by her story, he was no longer of a mind to dismiss it out of hand.

‘OK. I’m up for it.’ he said ‘Where do we start?’

Coming Soon: Part Three — The Man with No Past
The narrator returns to the graveyard. But someone else gets there first.

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