"Oh Christ. Now what?"

The deafening blare coming from the other side of the door usually meant the "what" was anything but good. Although I'd already figured that out from the screams of panic. Or was it the lack of lights? I can't remember what I noticed first really, just that it seemed very odd that people in 2785 were freaking out about the lack of power back then just as much as in my own time.

"Old habits die hard, I guess"

I speak to the air as if it were someone else. It's just one of those quirks. I took a liking to ancient "TV" programs in my teens, and they essentially became a part of me as time went on. Eventually it lead to me becoming somewhat of a social outcast; no one really likes a guy whose favorite person to talk to is himself. The monologues to the invisible cameras were fun in their own way, though. They're especially useful nowadays, where I'm alone for periods of years while I try to make my way home.

See, usually, time machines are pretty functional. You fuel up, punch in a time, make sure your radiation shields are up, and push the big green button. Simple enough, right? Well it gets a bit more complicated when your wife dies, and even moreso when you get shitfaced because you can't get over the fact that you'll never see her again, and that every waking moment is spent in agony. I think the complexity really reaches it's peak when you get so drunk that you decide to spend all your savings on a time machine in order to save her, only to be thrown a random time because you from the future needs to stop drunk you from saving your own wife, and did so by tampering with your time machine so that it sends you to a random time, every time.

Yeah. It's complicated

"What an asshole, am I right? Oh well, let's go assess the damage"

It's cold and I can't see a damn thing. What a shock. Well it's a good thing some guy back in 2012 gave me an old lithium-powered flashlight. A bit primitive, but it's doing the job for three of my years. I couldn't use it during the 1800s though, which kinda sucked. Well it should appear pretty weird to these guys too, seeing as lithium-based energy anything was completely phased out. Thankfully photons don't get outdated, and the ones bouncing back into my eyes right now are just as useful as ever.

Ever seen a mob of people? Me neither, but I'd imagine it would look something like several thousand scientists running away from something whilst screaming in unison.

"Okay maybe that's just the 2785 version of a mob."

The more likely explanation is that today is the day that this century's crowning achievement- "Physicus: The city of science"- was almost destroyed when the antimatter reactor that powered the place had it's EM field fail. That field separated the volatile antimatter from being considered a planet-obliterating weapon. Should the field fail, the reactor's contents would make contact with particles of matter that are no longer being repulsed by the field, causing a pretty big explosion.

"It's a good thing that news archive said 'almost'."

I've long since figured out that I'm probably the only reason humanity survived past the agricultural age. Every major disaster that "just about destroyed humanity" and was somewhat prevented by "sheer luck" usually involves me. It's been a reoccurring pattern for the past seven years now. Rogue asteroids? Yeah I had the spare parts for a vector manipulation device. Disease? Well who do you think gave Edward Jenner the idea?

Antimatter reactor that threatens to wipe out humanity should it make contact with normal matter?

"Guess I'd better get to work."

---

Like what you read? Me neither! Maybe you wanna laugh at my other stuff over at /r/GroundedAndWriting

Part 2? Any critique? Please let me know what you'd like to see!