Below is my 100-word story for Friday Fictioneers. The prompt this week is the beautiful photograph below by ©Dawn Q Landau
To find out how to get involved in this weekly flash fiction challenge/group, click here
To read other contributions, click here
If time travel exists how come no one has ever comes back to tell us?
Unnoticed by those going about their business below, Charlie could see global warming had been devastating.
The great coastal cities were gone. No surprise there, he thought. What did surprise him was the ingenuity of the mountain people. They had carved stepped terraces into the hillside, reduced erosion with retaining walls and looked quite comfortable walking from one shallow pool to the next.
It reminded Charlie of the happiest time in his life, walking on the beach with his Grandma as the tide swirled round their ankles.
How could he return to 2016, knowing that by reporting on this future he would destroy it?
©Siobhán McNamara
Dear Siobhán,
A touching and thought provoking story. What would we do if we could visit the future? Perhaps we’re better off not knowing. I do know that I’m living the science fiction of my childhood.
Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle, I think we’re better off not knowing too!
I love the dilemma of wanting to know the future in hopes that the information and insight might help to change the future now for the better.
But then again, it’s all academic, isn’t it?
We can almost predict the future now, but we still have to go through our song and dance to process information, and hope that we make the necessary corrections.
Then a meteor shower hits us. wipes us all out, like the dinosaurs, and it’s all for naught anyway.
I’m going to finish my graham crackers and milk. Anyone care for some?
Good story by the way.
Randy
And I thought wiping out coastal cities was being pessimistic!
Enjoy your crackers and thanks for stopping by 🙂
A thought provoking response to the prompt. Nice work.
Thank you Sandra 🙂
Interesting question. Perhaps a time traveler who returned to present time would be heralded as being mentally unstable ? Good story 🙂
They most likely would be heralded as mentally unstable!
I think if we went to the future it would be a one-way trip…
That would probably be for the best ….
Thanks for reading 🙂
Dear Siobhan,
Paradoxes will surely clog up the time stream pipeline so none of that can ever happen. Hard telling, not knowing… Your story was a treat. Well done.
Aloha,
Doug
Glad you enjoyed it Doug 🙂
Siobhan, Interesting and entertaining story. I’m one who doesn’t want to know what the future holds. Well written. 🙂 —Susan
Best not to know I think
Thanks for reading 🙂
“If time travel exists how come no one has ever comes back to tell us?” Because no one believes us when we do!
Good story.
Sinceriously,
TimeTraveler
Oh dear, what a predicament! I know a few people who were abducted by aliens and find themselves in the same situation 😉
The way I see it, if travel into the past were possible, the grassy knoll would have been crowded with tourists from the future, all clicking little cameras. 😛
That would most likely by the case! Thanks for reading 🙂
I do enjoy a good time travel story on occasion. This was one of those occasions.
Thank you Dawn, I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Nicely-framed tale with the last question.
Thanks Hamish 🙂
In the sci-fi movies that deal with time travel, the biggest problem (or temptation) seems to be doing something that would change the past (which would also change the future.) But I like your question about why no one comes back. Maybe you found the answer.
janet
Thanks Janet 🙂
So they don’t come ack because they like their future as it is? That’s more optimistic than those awful sci-fi movies where there are only sky high cities.
Sometimes its the simple things that touch us most, true at least for the main character in this story. A little idealistic I know. but one lives in hope!
Thanks for reading 🙂
I wish we could do something about it all.
I wonder what the answer to your question is?
I wish we could too – awareness is a start.
Thanks for reading 🙂
Nicely done. The picture is so interesting – are those stones? Pools? What? You really did a nice job incorporating all those ideas into 100 great words.
Thank you 🙂
And yes, it’s a really interesting picture. Such a variety of interpretations this week.
Einstein claimed that time travel was theoretically possible. Mr. Peabody., Sherman’ s friend, insisted that no one should visit a time during which he was already alive. That means I have to miss out on the 1960’s.
Time travel can certainly be a tricky business
Really interesting story. Well done.
Thank you 🙂
A touching story, Siobhan. The future is so fragile, I think. If we could go forward and come back with advice, would we? Should we? Some wonderful thoughts and imagery.
Thank you Dawn, and thanks for such a lovely, thought-provoking picture
Quite the thought provoking piece.
Thank you Camgal 🙂
Interesting story. One of the biggest problems with time travel is that if you return to anything other than the split second you left, there will be another you there. And then you’d get to see why everyone treats you like they do first hand! Yep, lots of problems with time travel.
It’s certainly a tricky business!
Fantastic story, Siobhan! The last line was like a punch to the solar plexus. I found the whole story moving, indeed.
Thank you, I’m glad you connected with it 🙂
Great story! The final line is beautiful!
Thank you 🙂
Lovely story, and it shows there might be some hope for the future after all!
I hope so.
Thanks for reading 🙂
a beautiful and moving piece… perhaps there is some hope for humankind. 🙂
I hope so – it depends into whose hands the future falls
Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I guess there is something to be valued in every era isn’t there? Even the very darkest times have some light and the shadows only stand to enhance the luminosity.
So true, without dark how would we ever know how to appreciate light?
Thanks for reading 🙂
I never know what time it is anyway! Time and space are fascinating topics, curved space, the Butterfly Effect, Lorentz Equations, the cosmic microwave background, 10 dimensional hyperspace … 🙂
I’ve been known to turn up on the wrong day on more than one occasion. Time travel would fry my head! Fun to write about though ….
Thanks for reading 🙂
Loved this story. Huge issues examined through a human-sized lens. Marg
Thank you Marg, I’m glad you liked it 🙂
Hi Siobhan, it’s a dark future, I hope never be like that, I enjoy walking on the beach and all the goodness of Nature. Well written, we need to be more gentle with our Earth!
Thank you Elizabeth, we certainly do need to cherish what we have 🙂
Dear Siobhan, This is a wonderful story! Very astute of you to figure out. I think that if there is time travel – it is like “OBSERVE ONLY” and no one can interact with the past or future. I don’t know, I think my head is going to explode thinking about this. Great writing! Nan 🙂
It all looks so simple in the movies but the reality would be so complicated
Thanks for reading 🙂
Charlie had a dilemma, all right, all right. Excellent story, Siobhan! Narration real crisp and taught. You even had me at The Time Tunnel pic! I love that show! I have it on DVD.
Keep the Irwin Allen lamp burning!
That is the picture that always springs to mind when I think of time travel.
And I love that you have the Time Tunnel on DVD – quite futuristic!
It IS!
Like the narrator, I’m not sure you’d want to go back. A very thought provoking tale, Siobhan.
Thank you Russell, time travel would certainly come with a lot of responsibility