Imagine you have a time machine that allows you to go to anytime and place (so its more of a space/time machine). So where would you go?
And before you try, you can't change past events, or use information from the future to make you rich.
I think I'd go back to medieval times and visit every country to see what it was like to see how people lived back then.
I won't go into how flawed this topic is as I don't fully comprehend the space-time continuum. I will also immediately dismiss the portion about not changing the past as every action we take creates an infinite number of alternate universes (go ahead flip that coin and doom us all to robot-slavery!).
The only plausible way for someone to get the chance to use a time machine is to either have direct involvement in the creation of the time machine by inventing, working on, or funding the project or to have no involvement and be approached as a client to use the time machine.
I can only presume that I have made a fortune through scrupulous dealings in mercenary work, arms dealing, and blood diamonds in Africa by the year 2021. I assume I was approached by the lead financier of the project as a recent scarcity of coltan (a vital ore required to manufacture most modern devices) has driven prices up and pressured the financier to ask me for additional funds to complete the project or provide him with the valuable mineral as 80% of the world's supply of coltan comes from Congo (controlled by my forces). Intrigued, I make generous offerings with the deal hinging on immediate access to the use of the time machine and full disclosure of all participants, scientists, collaborating institutions, and financial records. I would immediately perform full background investigations of all people within the organization and all of their acquaintances. This number is likely to be between 50,000 and 100,000 people.
As the project nears completion I transfer command of my mercenary forces to Vice Commander Yeti and prepare to be the third living creature to travel back in time. The first was a lab monkey found fossilized in the side of a hill in Mozambique approximately 250,000,000 years ago. After some tinkering the lead scientist and creator successfully traveled back in time 30 years and placed is hand print in cement at a predetermined time and location. He also successfully returned to the present time and verified the previously mentioned hand print with video footage.
Now that time travel has been verified and a living human managed to ravel back in time, alter the space-time continuum, and return to the then altered universe, the time for my adventure arrived.
After I am taught how to use the time machine I stow my gear, put on my dry suit (lined with $100,000 in period specific denominations) select the time to 1950 and ensure the time machine has its maritime floaters on. I yell "COWABUNGA!!!" as I travel back in time over 70 years to the deep ocean off the coast of Hawaii. After getting my bearings in the night sea, I release the CO2 valve to inflate my kayak, stow the majority of the gear I brought along including a custom tailored suit, various gold and silver coins, one knife, and 12 pages of coded water-proof paper. The only thing I leave behind in the time machine is 100 pounds of semtex and shaped charges which I promptly detonate (while not looking at the explosion) when I have rowed out to a safe distance. I row back and ensure no useable or identifiable pieces of the time machine are left-- none are. What was not destroyed by the explosion has fallen to the bottom of the ocean and is likely lost forever. I have many miles to row and I must reach the coast before dawn.
Exhausted but finally reaching the beaches of Hawaii I cut open the kayak, fold its plastic remains and add anything else that is not era specific to 1950s to the jumble of rubble. I remove one last non-period item from my briefcase containing my coinage and various personal items-- a 40 pound block of some finely powdered aluminum with some iron oxide (rust) and a little bit of paprika with a magnesium fuse. I light the fuse take a few steps back and watch as any trace of the future is incinerated in the thermite. I then take a nice stroll to the nearest hotel as dawn breaks.
I reach the hotel, confirm the date by purchasing a newspaper at the bar after having my shoes shined for a nickel and then proceed to get a room. The next day I purchase more clothes, luggage, and a ticket to the mainland United States.
Back in the year 2021 my trusted friend Yeti has moved on to the second stage of my plan. After confirming my arrival via an anonymous love letter to a "hairy mountain cave dweller" published in the San Francisco Herald in 1951, Yeti immediately calls his forces to attention and gives orders to the Vice Commander Orangepeel, Minister of Killing Stuff Crusty, Minister of Misinformation Dutch, CFO Sumac, Head Nurse Dr. Compton, and the janitor Gizzmo.
TO BE CONTINUED...
