Truth be told, Gerald Fisher had been working on his time machine off and on for decades, but nearly four years ago, he received a strong boost in his motivation to make it functional. Fisher started the work almost as a lark, just proof-of-concept. He had no real interest in visiting the future or changing the past.

But times change and now he was desperate to change history before it was too late, and events were right on the cusp of being too late. The world was about to come to an end.

Ph.D in Physics from Stanford at eighteen, Fisher had established and sold nearly a dozen companies in the last decade alone. He held a lengthy list of patents on his revolutionary devices and it was mild praise indeed to refer to him merely as a genius.

He had been lured into a career in physics not by the possible but by the impossible. He’d read H.G. Wells’ novel “The Time Machine” when he was eight and couldn’t stop imagining the possibilities. As he matured, he realized the full implications of time travel and determined never to do anything that might endanger the time line, however, he never lost the desire to prove that he could invent the first functioning time machine.

Gerald never imagined a world so terrible that he’d consider changing history to prevent it, that is, not until four years ago, and especially over the past few months now that America and Russia were seriously rattling their nuclear sabers at each other.

He wasn’t nearly old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis which, for a few weeks in October of 1962, brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, but those who did remember, and especially military and political insiders, knew the current conflict was much, much worse. It seemed like there was no way to avert this crisis. Tens, maybe hundreds of millions could die.

Gerald Fisher was the only one who could stop this tragedy and tonight, that’s what he intended to do.

He’d established his latest company Timetet almost as a personal hobby. He certainly didn’t need the money, but he did want a place to work where he had control of all the resources and wasn’t accountable to anyone.

His personal workspace was in the basement of the admin building on the company’s modest Palo Alto campus. He was pleased he could employ twenty-five of the brightest minds in applied physics and engineering. Gerald liked to encourage young talent, but that was secondary to completing the time machine.

There was no way to test the device except in use but he was supremely confident in his work. The math all checked out and he’d verified those calculations a dozen times, even using the super computer at his alma mater.

He’d have to live in the past for several years in order to accomplish his goals. He had established an alternate legal identity for himself and once he got to the past and got internet access, Gerald would “infect” all the necessary public records databases with that identity.

He’d converted a sizable amount of his finances to jewels and gold that he could take back with him. He’d need money to live on, and he’d be far too busy to get a job in order to support himself.

He thought about contacting his past self, but he wanted to change only one major event and he couldn’t predict what would happen if he told past Gerald about present Gerald’s intentions or his motivation for them.

He would also take a small computer with him containing all of the data he would require in order to influence the decision of millions of Americans, which was absolutely vital if the present was to be spared devastating nuclear conflict.

As an homage to his original inspiration, he’d designed his time machine to resemble the one in Wells’ novel, at least superficially. It was a one-passenger pod encased in a special plexiglass shield and powered by an illegal miniature nuclear reactor. Gerald detested law breaking. He never exceeded the speed limit, paid his taxes on time, and never attempted to avoid any legal obligation. But this time, he had to do what was absolutely necessary to save the world from disaster.

He was seated in the device. His computer, funds, everything he’d need to live in the past was with him. He sealed the compartment, set the controls, activated the power source. He’d purchased this particular facility because it would exist but be abandoned in the time he would be visiting. What would become the Timetet admin building would be a perfect place to arrive undetected and to hide the time machine until his mission was accomplished and he was ready to return to the future.

He threw the final switch and immediately felt a wave of nausea flow over him. He went momentarily blind and felt weightless. Then there was a distinct thud and his machine came to rest and he felt normal again. It was the same basement, but totally dark. If his calculations were correct, he should have arrived at 2 a.m. Pacific time on Friday, October 3rd, 2014.

Time traveler Gerald Fisher had just over two years to change the results of the election of the President of the United States. Donald Trump must never become the President and be allowed to start a nuclear war that would destroy humanity.

*****

Physicist Gerald Fisher was the only one who could stop a disastrous nuclear war between the United States and Russia and tonight, that’s exactly what he intended to do with his newly invented time machine.

He thought about contacting his past self, but he wanted to change only one major event and he couldn’t predict what would happen if he told past Gerald about present Gerald’s intentions or his motivation for them.

In addition to jewels and gold, he would also take a small computer with him containing all of the data he would require in order to influence the decision of millions of Americans, which was absolutely vital if the present was to be spared devastating nuclear conflict.

As an homage to his original inspiration, he’d designed his time machine to resemble the one in Wells’ novel, at least superficially. It was a one-passenger pod encased in a special plexiglass shield and powered by an illegal miniature nuclear reactor.

He was seated in the device. His computer, funds, everything he’d need to live in the past was with him. He sealed the compartment, set the controls, activated the power source. He’d purchased this particular facility because it would exist but be abandoned in the time he would be visiting. It would be a perfect place to arrive undetected and to hide the time machine until his mission was accomplished and he was ready to return to the future.

He threw the final switch and immediately felt a wave of nausea flow over him. He went momentarily blind and felt weightless. Then there was a distinct thud and his machine came to rest and he felt normal again. It was the same basement, but totally dark. If his calculations were correct, he should have arrived at 2 a.m. Pacific time on Friday, October 3rd, 2014.

Time traveler Gerald Fisher had just over two years to change the results of the election of the President of the United States. Hillary Clinton must never become the President and be allowed to start a nuclear war that would destroy humanity.

Gerald Fisher did save the world but not in the way he intended. Both Trump and Clinton brought the world to the edge of nuclear war by the time he began his trip to the past on July 1st, 2020. He went back to stop Trump from being elected and was successful. Then he went back to stop Clinton from being elected and was successful creating a temporal loop from which the world could not escape.

Gerald and the rest of the world would perpetually live out events between 2014 and 2020, with him first deposing one Presidential candidate and then the other, over and over again, until time itself came to an end…if it ever would.

I seem to need to process the election of Donald Trump and the defeat of Hillary Clinton more than I realized. Here, as you can see, at least in my imagination, they end up not being so different from each other after all.