Time And Time Again

Time And Time Again

Jeremy Williams was about to test his time machine.
Since he first read the novels of Philip K Dick in early adolescence he
had been obsessed with the concept of time travel. At every turn he had
been met with an unequivocal opinion that it could not be done. Being a
person of exceptional firmness of purpose he had rejected all such
discouragements and equipped himself the better to attain his end by
following courses in Physics, Astrophysics, and the outer reaches of
relativity. It was while he was studying the last named that a
theoretical possibility of attaining his goal presented itself.
Retiring into private life, he had spent the next ten years developing
a working time machine.
He had given considerable thought to the scenario he would adopt at the
first test.
He would have a digital clock tick down to the moment of departure,
when a hooter would go off and he would press the button. So as not to
over stretch the machine on its initial run he set the target time as
being ten seconds before the 'off'.
3..2..1..0&;#8230;. the hooter started to sound. With a sharp jab of
his forefinger he pressed the button to start the machine.
There was a blinding flash, a searing pain consuming his whole body, as
the stresses of unguarded time travel pulled him apart.
He came to some ten seconds earlier. At last he was to test his time
machine for the first time. 3..2..1..0. With a sharp jab of the
forefinger he pressed the button to start the
machine&;#8230;&;#8230;&;#8230;