There Will Be Happiness In Time

By J Itchen

Henry jumps at the chance to go forward in time to live an extra life in the future. Having gone into the past before he always knows that he will come back to the present as if he had never left.

He is sent a hundred years into the future where society is about to erupt in revolt. The uprising uses him as a figurehead, especially as he is not controlled by being registered on the grid. His experience of a time of relative freedom and his willingness to speak about a vision of a fairer changed society gives him prominence.

The rulers try to kill him, if they can find him, because they know he is coming and what he will do. Initially they think that they have succeeded.
The carnal pleasures of a society where sex is more casual also draws him into a close and sexual relationship with two women from the Community that shelter him. One of these women is a key leader of the revolt. He finds that not only is he a lynch-pin for the uprising and takes a very active part in it, but he finds happiness in a community where his lack of genetic damage is important and the women are very sharing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J Itchen
• Release date: Mar 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310139772

J Itchen

J is a graduate from Bristol University, England, who is married with four children. Currently lives in Southampton, England, although when young also lived in other parts of the world (Malaysia, Thailand, Yemen Arab Republic).J has been writing for several years mainly for magazines (more usually science rather than science fiction), for specialist books and recently a web site. Starting with science fiction (not fantasy), genres published have also covered the erotic, plus a combination of the two.

Book preview

Chapter 1 - Cambridge, England, 2014

Henry was next to Jane as they walked with Jake in his pushchair up Mill Road in Cambridge. Jake was only three months old. Henry enjoyed living so close to the centre of town and on bright days like today he liked the stroll.

Why do you think that Bill and the Professor want to see us about our time travel experience now? Henry mused. Bill did not seem to believe a word we said when we told him about it last year.

We will just have to wait and see, Jane said. I have no intention of trying it again, or going forward in time as you suggested. Henry looked at her. He loved her long shoulder length light brown hair and petite face, but trying time travel again was a point of contention between them.

Bill said it was impossible, so he must be right, Henry joked. As they had both time-travelled last time they knew that it was possible. In a way I am glad that no-one believes us as I would have to explain why I became such a bastard in the Irish campaign after the English Civil War. People blame Cromwell, but it was me! Cromwell was not there and left me in charge.

Are you sure that you don’t want to try it again and go forward in time now? Jane asked suspiciously.

Well, no I am not sure, Henry admitted. If I went alone I would have my experience of the future and be back instantaneously for you and Jake, even though I may have spent a lifetime there. It could transform our lives as I would know what happens.

You mustn’t find out what happens to us, Jane insisted. That would be awful. As we found last time we could not change it anyway.

Are you saying OK to me to go again then? Henry asked.

I can see that you are dying to do it, Jane said, I just don’t want you dying if it did not work properly this time around. Also you could come back a changed person, which I don’t want to happen either.

I will come back to you instantaneously and it should enrich our future. Henry said.

I don’t expect you to stay chaste in your future life, Jane said uncertainly. That would be unrealistic and selfish of me. But you must remember that I am your wife and if you go then when you come back you must not pine for some woman in the future.

I had that in the seventeenth century but it has not damaged our relationship, Henry pointed out.

I was there with you that time, Jane said, and I understood. I won’t really know what goes on this time if I don’t come.

Come with me then! Henry said.

No, not after what I went through last time, Jane said. Anyway I could not risk it because of Jake. In any case we are assuming that Bill and the Professor have changed their mind. They may well not have done so at all, they may just want to ask us some more questions.

So why ask us back after all this time? Henry insisted. They were not that interested before, so why the change of heart?

They may just want to know more for some reason, Jane said.

They walked in silence for a while and turned into the Porter’s Lodge at Trinity College. The sun shone strongly in the cool of the May morning. Henry’s heart was beating hard with anticipation. He really wanted to time travel again.

Bill, the PhD student working with the ‘time travel’ professor came to collect them as before and as they walked to Professor Drummond’s rooms, Henry was eager to find out more.

Why do you want to see us again? Henry asked. I thought that your view was that what we said was not possible.

Well, maybe it could be, Bill said, anyway the Professor wants to speak to you.

They walked up the old stone stairs towards the top floor of the quad, Henry’s lanky long body going up two stairs at a time behind the more sedate Bill. Henry reflected that he could have walked up these very same stairs when he was here in the seventeenth century.

The door opened and there was the Professor. He smiled and held his hand out to welcome Henry and Jane. The Professor was also tall and lanky, like Henry, but with neat sandy coloured hair instead of Henry’s black hair and he was definitely older, about fifty.

I’ve been so looking forward to meeting you, the Professor still smiled. Call me John.

Henry reflected that the Professor could have talked to them over a year ago when they returned from the English Civil War rather than just being rebuffed by Bill. He looked very ordinary, no gown or anything like that, although he did wear a jacket and tie. In fact the Professor looked extremely ordinary, nothing of the wild-eyed loony which the popular press had given him as an image when they found out he was investigating time travel. His room also looked very ordinary, not even particularly untidy although there was a massive pile of papers by the desk, or to be more precise four piles.

I imagine that you can find it difficult to speak to people about time travel, Henry said, in case the Press gets hold of it.

Quite so, the Professor looked down, they have tried to send in stooges who pretend to have travelled in time to try to trap me. That is why Bill here has to act as my gate-keeper. Please forgive us but we do need to be careful. Bill needs to scan you for devices.

As Bill picked up a device that looked like a filled in pan, he passed it over Henry, then Jane, than Jake. He found some coins, a couple of phones and Henry’s Swiss army pen-knife.

So that is why you did not speak to us before! Henry said, realisation dawning. The professor nodded. Henry continued. You thought that we may be Press stooges. So why did you have a change of heart?

Well two things really, the Professor said. One was that you are not pushy and did not try again and again to see us. The second is that what you said to Bill rings so true, and even the things you said that Bill did not believe were possible, we now thing are indeed how it works. What you said opened our eyes to understand better what happens. So instead of us giving you information, it was the other way around.

Bill added his bit: John has worked out that the time travel atoms do return to their starting point so that there is a seemingly instantaneous return even though the atoms may have been in their future or past location for some time, possibly years.

However we still don’t know how the memory can return to the present time as well, the Professor said, so that is something we need to understand better. The arrangement of the atoms should be exactly the same on their return, so how did you remember that you have existed in a different time?

I have wondered, said Jane, whether memories are made up of connections in the brain, so when the brain atoms return they have those connections somehow hard wired so that the full memory returns as well. Some sort of memory within the molecules about connections. Jake was being very compliant and lay snoozing in her arms.

However, as you correctly said to Bill last year, the Professor said, the molecules in the brain at the end of life will not necessarily be the same ones that you went on your time travels with. So why should they hold even your later memories, and should they not be patchy and difficult to piece together?

It must be that a critical part of the molecules that holds the memories do stay with you for your full life span, Jane said. So they return en block complete with the memories.

You could be correct, Bill said. However the functioning of memory is not our speciality, we look into how to manipulate space-time.

So, that comes back to why we invited you here, the Professor smiled and suddenly looked nervous. Would you be prepared to try to go forward in time for us?

I thought that Bill said last year that it would not be allowed, Jane said.

Bill and Professor John Drummond glanced at each other knowingly.

That is indeed one interpretation, Bill replied. However as the last experiment with the apes appeared to do nothing at all, by rights we should take it that this experiment would do nothing at all as well. If the atoms do not time travel then they do nothing at all and so it is perfectly safe. We are merely repeating what we did before with the apes which looked to us like a complete failure until you came in with your stories.

Jane and Henry exchanged knowing glances this time.

However, just in case, you need to send a human who can report back on what they see, Henry said. Apes cannot tell you what happened to them.

Why don’t you send a recording camera forward in time? Jane asked.

We have, the Professor said, it came back with nothing. The atoms on the recording system did not alter, as indeed we expected.

However that could be because anything it recorded involved new atoms which did not return, so when it returned it came back blank, Bill added.

Are you prepared to try it? the Professor said.

Yes, Henry said.

No, Jane said almost simultaneously.

Yes, Henry repeated in a determined voice.

Chapter 2 - Off to the future

The professor and Bill looked at them both.

Do I take it that you have already thought about it and only one of you wants to go? Bill asked.

Yes, Henry said simply, looking at Jane to see if she would change her mind either about herself going or indeed letting him go.

That is fine, the Professor said. We can send just one of you. In fact that may be the wisest thing to do anyway.

What would the objective be, simply for me to go and report back when I return? Henry asked.

You would need to bring back proof that you had been to the future, the Professor said. As you cannot bring anything material back you would have to bring back evidence of events in the near future.

Such as the lottery results for next week, Bill grinned. That would come in very handy.

And for the week after, the Professor said. That would demonstrate repeatability.

And finance the project so it can keep going, Jane added cynically. What happens if it addles Henry’s brain?

It didn’t when you went back in time, Bill said. Why should it if you go forward in time?

I am willing to take the chance, Henry said. That is for the sake of science and also, selfishly, for the chance to see the future.

You won’t be able to change the future, you know, the Professor said. If you go then it is already fated that you will go. Whatever you do is what will be done anyway.

That is what we found when we went back in time, Jane agreed. Everything happened as the history books said even if we tried to alter it.

That raises the issue of free will, Bill said. If everything is set, where does free will come in?

Quite so, agreed the Professor. So this is about more than time travel, it comes down to the essence of what we are and what existence is.

So how will we know in the future if what we do is not what was fated? Henry asked. We will not know unless we go further in time into the future and look back at it.

Good question! the Professor said. You won’t and neither shall we. That is not until we get some overlaps so someone see what you have done before you go and do it and reports back on that without you knowing.

So has that happened already? Henry asked suspiciously.

No, Bill said. You will be the first. That is if you do not count your unintended time travel to the past last time around.

So will someone or something be sent back in time the same amount that Henry goes forward in time? Jane asked. Like we were sent back in time by accident when the apes went forward in time?

That is indeed a possibility, the Professor said, but we can do little or nothing about that as it is too difficult to predict where exactly this equal and opposite reaction will hit. Either it will be like what you experienced or we just send back a globe of space with nothing of note in it. It will very probably be the latter, if it happens at all.

When do you want me to do it? Henry asked.

Bill and John the Professor looked at each other again.

Well, now, Bill said, not looking at Henry. Some may interpret this as a breach in the experimentation rules as a human volunteer is involved. However we see no way around that. So we do not want this getting out in any way and we are set up to do it immediately.

Whew, Jane whistled.

I’m up for it, Henry said. It would not help to dwell on things overnight. Let’s do it.

Jane looked at him wide-eyed. This is frightening me.

Another reason to act quickly, the Professor said.

A few minutes later and Henry found himself sitting in a wooden arm-chair in the middle of a sphere of instruments, above and below him as well as to the sides.

How far in the future do you aim to send me? Henry asked.

About a hundred years, the Professor said, Beyond the time when people you know would still be alive but not too far to be so totally different that you may not be able to function well.

We cannot be precise, it is only an approximation, Bill added.

Henry nodded. That sounded reasonable.

I will take Jake away from this, Jane said.

You can sit at the back if you like, Bill suggested. We are just about ready.

As Jane slipped quietly onto a stool at the back with Jake on her lap, the Professor and PhD student made their final changes.

Ready, Bill said.

Ready? the Professor asked.

Ready, confirmed Henry.

There was a whirr of electronics coming alive. Henry then experienced the familiar vortex he had felt once before, the disorientation and dizziness, and then he was out of it. He was still sitting in his chair, but he was no longer surrounded by equipment, just an empty room with chairs in it. He looked around and suddenly spotted that he was not alone. Behind him were six people.

Henry cautiously stood up and turned to face the six people. There were three in a line and one to the side.

The one to the side stood up.

Are you Henry? he asked.

Yes, Henry responded weakly. What is the date today?

The 26th of February, 2125, the man said brusquely. At 3:15 in the morning.

Chapter 3 - Chapter to expurgate

Henry stood up and turned to face the people that were behind him. He did not get good vibes from this group at all. They glowered at him stony-faced and unsmiling. They clearly knew who he was but he did not feel welcome – quite the opposite.

Stand up! the man off to the right of the others said, standing stiffly to attention like a military man.

Henry was not sure if this was addressed to him, but the three in a group all stood up, standing to attention.

By the power invested in me by the District Owners Commissioner, The man said. Henry realised that they were all in a very dark blue uniform, something he had not noticed in the dimness of the poor light in the room.

I am to carry out the sentence passed on the 2nd January 2125. Henry took this man to be the commander. However he had no idea what he was going on about.

Raise pistols! The officer ordered.

Henry suddenly felt like he was in front of a firing squad as three pistols suddenly appeared and pointed at him.

Aim, the officer ordered.

Henry wondered whether he should jump to the side to try to avoid what seemed to be his fate. However where could he go? There was no cover except for the chairs and he did not even know where the entrance door was as it was too gloomy to see.

Wait, Henry said, raising his hand. Let me explain.

Fire! Came the barked order.

Henry felt what must be three darts hit him in different parts of the torso. They stung madly but they were not bullets but sharp red coloured darts. He sank to his knees as whatever drug they carried almost immediately started to take effect. At least they had not shot him dead with bullets, but they clearly wanted him incapacitated.

Henry slumped to the floor, one dart digging in hard when he landed due to it being under him. However he was past caring. He was rapidly losing consciousness. He felt the world go black around him.

Immediately Henry sensed that he was back in the chair. He felt slightly groggy, but that may have been psychosomatic. He looked up. He was surrounded by the instruments again. There was the Professor and Bill, and he could just about see Jane behind them. They all looked at him highly expectantly.

Well? the Professor eventually asked.

I have just been to 2125, Henry said. They were waiting for me. They shot me with darts, which clearly had poison in them. They killed me. So I came straight back again.

Damn! Bill said.

Are you OK now? Jane sounded worried. Was it traumatic?

I did not have time to be traumatised, Henry said. They just shot me, I passed out and I came back here.

They must not to want you in the future, the Professor said. They knew that you were coming and executed you!

What will they be afraid of? Henry wondered.

At least it proves that his brain was not addled by the time travel, Jane chirped up from the back, clearly relieved.

"Unfortunately it is no proof at all of anything as we