The Traveler

 Tempus Viators. That’s what they liked to call themselves. That’s what we liked to call ourselves. They’ve raised me my entire life. My parents were a part of the group; I had to continue their legacy. They disappeared a long time ago, when I was a little boy. I couldn’t have been older than seven years old. That was 24 years ago. Now, this is how I’m living out my life. It’s the only life I’ve ever known. Even if I wanted to leave, I wouldn’t be able to because of the rules. I didn’t know what they’d do to me, but I didn’t want to find out.

Although, If I’m being honest, it isn’t as fun as I thought it would be when I was a little kid. I’ve only ever time traveled once. I was with my parents and they decided to take me with them on their trip. We went back to the 1980s and I got to see the days of Ronald Reagan, the end of the Cold War, and the bright, neon fashion. It was a strange world. I’ve always wished to travel again. However, today might be different. Today I’d be given a real assignment. Maybe things would finally turn around for me.

“Ronen Perez,” one of the leaders, Ulysse, called for me to meet him in his office. I followed him down the long corridors of the large building. Every hallway looked the same as the last one. They each had white ceilings, floors, and hardwood walls that had been painted over in gray. The only reason I could find my way around was because I went to the same place every day. I basically just worked an office job. I monitored things for the organization. Not very interesting for an organization called Tempus Viators.

Finally, Ulysse stopped and motioned for me to walk through one of the doors. I did, and he shut the door behind him as he entered. I’d never been in here before. Photographs from different eras were hung up everywhere, even on the ceiling. I could barely see the wall underneath them, which had been painted light blue. The room was also filled with boxes and I couldn’t tell if they were empty or not. There was only one computer in the whole room, and it sat at a table so that I could see the screen. I couldn’t understand it, though, it was just a bunch of lines of code.

“Mr. Perez,” Ulysse cleared his throat and I focused my attention on him again. “As you already know, you’ve been given an assignment. As per the contract you signed, you must accept this assignment.”

I nodded in understanding.

“So, we’ve assigned you to return to the year 2010. Exactly ten years ago from today.”

Ulysse walked around me and reached into one of the boxes. He pulled out some sort of orb that was small enough to fit into the palm of his hand and he handed it to me.

I stared at the thing. It had been painted the color gold, with numbers printed along the middle of it. I hadn’t ever seen a machine like that.

“To use the time machine, simply twist it to the amount of time you want to go backwards or forwards. You can only move by sets of ten years. Sorry, that’s just the way it’s designed. And you will be looking for the plans for this machine.” He handed me a piece of paper with a sketch of something on it. “This also has some directions on it for where you’re going.”

“Sir,” I said, “can I ask why you’re having me do this?”

“The apocalypse will occur in exactly three days. If you cannot find those plans in time and make it back here to 2020, we will all be doomed.”

I may have imagined it, but there seemed to be the faintest smile on the edge of his lips.