Time Travelers

By Gary Kuyper

A collection of short sf stories delving into the fascinating concept of Time Travel

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Kuyper
• Release date: Feb 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310899485

Gary Kuyper

Gary Kuyper began his professional literary career writing self-help and general interest articles for Daan Retief Publishers who produced a monthly book for their woman’s club called Woman’s Forum. These articles would sometimes require research and had titles as diverse as The Human Brain and Body Painting!Being a professional photographer on a part-time basis Gary has also managed to have his articles on photography (With accompanying photographs) published in books and magazines. He has also done some free-lance photography and photojournalism projects for numerous local newspapers.Over the past four years he has constantly managed to be one of the top finalists in the Nova Short Story Competition (A competition for budding writers of science fiction and/or fantasy).Last year (2009) Gary had the pleasure of seeing The Devil's Little Tadpoles grace the pages of the local SF & Fantasy Fanzine Probe.He is an avid film buff and amateur film maker. A few years ago I managed to take first prize in the SA Ten Best Film Makers Competition with a short film entitled The Crimson Cobra - An action-packed martial arts / superhero movie using some of the very talented local artists.He is a qualified prosthetics make-up artist and has used this talent on both amateur and professional productions. He has also appeared on television in a youth program especially made for enlightening people in the art of special effects make-up.Gary has a rather excellent general knowledge being not only an avid writer but reader of any material that is able to stimulate him cerebrally.He taught himself Adobe Photoshop and has become adapt and proficient enough at utilizing the software to such a degree that he has managed to sell a number of creations to various institutes and organizations. He is particularly fond of a logo designed for the Krazy Mug Coffee Shop and several covers that have graced the front of Probe.Gary has a vast knowledge of music and has appeared on the local Television Music Quiz Show Note for Note where he was able to win a substantial amount of prize money.In 2008 he entered the SF / Fantasy Mini Radio Play Competition and took first prize with his The Adventures of Captain Max Power of the Intergalactic Police - an obvious homage to the early Flash Gordon radio series’. A number of skilled professionals are now planning to produce Max to CD and have it aired on a local radio station (SAfm).All his literary and photojournalistic accomplishments have been done on a part-time basis due to the fact that his full time career is lecturing mathematics as well as engineering science at a Technical College. Although this is a most fulfilling profession, it has long been Gary's ideal to become a full-time writer – especially of fantasy, science fiction and horror novels.He has recently published his first full-length fantasy novel - The Chronicles of Baltrath: The DARK WIZARDS.As a considerable amount of time and effort has been expended in building the world of Baltrath, Gary has begun work on a sequel to The Dark Wizards.

Book preview

TIME TRAVELERS

5 thought-provoking tales from the master of

Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror

Gary Kuyper

This is a first edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author

Copyright © Gary van Nikkelen Kuyper 2016

This is a Smashwords edition

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental

An affiliate of the INKUBATOR© Group

DEDICATION

For one of my oldest and dearest friends and his charming ball and chain

Justin & Jo

CONTENTS

Foreword

The Friction in Science Fiction

The Stories

What Goes Around...

Made to Order

Latent Images

A Mammoth Error

Frozen Assets

Further Reading

More by Gary Kuyper

F OREWORD

The Friction in Science Fiction

If I had written a story 50 years ago where the characters cooked their meals in microwave ovens, communicated verbally by means of cell phones, sent digital mail via an internet system and found their way around using a Global Positioning System (GPS) - then it would definitely have been considered Science Fiction.

My question is, now that those speculations have become hard reality, would my story still be considered SF?

Many authors claim that they would be only too thrilled if their predictions regarding mankind’s technological advancement were to be realized. In truth, I believe it would have the exact opposite effect, making the narrative somewhat bland and uninteresting.

Take Jules Verne’s 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea for instance. The story is still enjoyed because of the intrigue, mystery, action and adventure elements, but the novelty of a vehicle able to travel long distances beneath the surface of the ocean has lost its power and uniqueness. In fact, I have been told by a number of young readers that they had failed to complete the novel as it was unable to hold their interest.

This strengthens my argument that the more accurately a SF writer is able to predict the future, the more likely future generations will avoid his/her work.

Now take H. G. Welles’ The Time Machine and The Invisible Man. Time travel and invisibility are regarded by many as ridiculous and impossible concepts to achieve - and yet their popularity has not waned by one iota since their conception. Yes, Welles may not have been the first to conceive of these popular concepts used in many contemporary SF stories, but his novels were certainly the first to explore their impact and implications on human society.

Many of my SF stories revolve around the concept of time travel. The truth is, I have always been interested in that particular area, and often contemplated upon different ways in which it may be achieved. If you enjoy reading about time travel then you’ll be happy to know that here are 5 short stories in this anthology dealing with that very subject – but in each case the means to achieve it is vastly different – as are the protagonists, my group of time travelers.

Enjoy!

Gary Kuyper 2016

WHAT GOES AROUND…

Six months ago I killed a man who claimed to have come from the future.

For a number of reasons…factors, the above statement is not entirely true.

Firstly, I didn’t actually kill him. Perhaps, allowed him to die, would be a more appropriate way to have phrased it.

Secondly, I am not sure if it was a man. The full-body metallic suit he…it wore was certainly humanoid in shape, but the voice beeped and buzzed tinny from the mouthpiece of the silver helmet. The eye-slit was too thin to determine the true nature of its ocular organs.

Thirdly, it did not claim to have come from the future. This proclamation I found written in the Queen’s English in a note that was inside an unlocked briefcase handcuffed around the suit’s wrist.

Now, you might find this strange, but the only part of my statement that I know to be undoubtedly accurate is the fact that this being had indeed come from the future.

The suit was constructed from overlapping metal panels and made the strangest humming sound. The droning was unlike any noise I had heard before. It was this very resonance that had beckoned me to my front door.

But, taking everything into consideration, it would be most logical to deduce that the creature that once inhabited the bizarre suit had indeed been a male of the human species; a pathetic laboratory assistant with an even more pitiable name - Niles Butterworth.

His death must have been rather painful. The screams were terrible and will probably haunt me for a very long time. I believe that I could have prevented his demise, but chose not to. I will shortly explain why, but let me start at the beginning; at the time I heard the alien sound.

It was late, around eleven thirty, and I was browsing over some important notes in my study when the reverberation was felt. Before the actual sound was heard, the air had become filled with an electrical resonance that caused every hair on my body to tingle.

Newton, my Golden Labrador whined as he experienced the very same sensation. He looked at me with consternation, as if asking the source of this strange phenomenon.

Then I heard it, the peculiar hum. I exited the study and noticed through the front windows that my security lights were on. Someone or something had triggered the motion sensors.

I moved swiftly to one of the windows and peered down the path leading to my front door.

I stared, first shocked and then angry, at the strange figure that approached my house in what seemed to be a drunken stupor.

Just before he reached the door, I swung it violently open, and although I could see that the suit was a sophisticated state-of-the-art construction, I still foolishly blurted out, Hey buddy, don’t you think it’s a little early for Halloween?

Your face… he said holding out a shiny gloved hand towards my head. Your face…so familiar…I know you. He pulled the hand back and studied the metallic glove. What is this? Then he collapsed face down onto my porch.

I moved back and half-closed the door.

There was a familiar odor about him. He smelled curiously of ozone.

I stared, wary that this may be a prank of some sort, but at the same time I knew he was genuinely in need of assistance. It was only now that I noticed the handcuffs and briefcase.

I opened the door and moved cautiously forward. I gently nudged him with a foot. When I received no response, I gave him a more substantial punt.

He groaned quietly through a black speaker grid that