The Red Hot Pawn Prose Competition 5
05 Nov '05 00:26The Sonhousen time machine having just been finished, we had to
decide what era to go back to and change and see how the results
turned out.
Some of us wanted to go back and off Hitler, others wanted to go
back and stop Isaac Newton from inventing Calculus.
Our group won with the proposal to take non-lethal weapons back to
stop the Crusades from ever happening.
This proposal was given due consideration as it was the deciding
moment in the development of intolerance of other religions, we
thought it might make a difference in how the cultures interacted
in the subsequent centuries.
We thought about what non-lethal weapons we could take back to
the year 1000 or so and one idea popped up with infrasonic generators
that generated violent inner ear reactions from both infantry and
cavalry. We also brought some high voltage Tesla coils to simulate
lightning from heaven and some recordings of simulated
dinosaurs and other large animals of predation.
We brought solar powered amplifiers, stadium loudspeakers,
fog producers with holographic generators and such to scare the
bejesus out of the self-righteous army.
Just in case for backup we brought skunk oil to spray at the oncoming
hordes.
We went back to the build-up of the first crusade, set up our
equipment just before the entrance to Jerusalem where the
Crusaders were sure to show up.
Everything was in perfect order, fog banks allowing the projection
of demons from hell followed by dinosaur like sounds and lightning
discharges and thunder with a lot of smoke and
here comes the crusaders. They were to the last man a superstitious
lot anyway and our equipment worked to perfection. The fog bank
provided a nice spooky screen for the demon display, the 100
million volt tesla coils produced a nice lightning and the stadium
speakers added the dinosaur touch, then
a highly amplified and down-modulated voice speaks out in latin:
"Who dares to invade my demense?" it demanded.
"I lay down my curse upon you who enters here"
in a demonic demonstration worthy of Freddy Cruger.
Lightning flew all around them with blasting thunder caused of course
by the hidden stadium speakers.
"I send you the worse smell in the world, you will never lose, always
you will have the scent of hell", then followed the skunk oil driven
by hidden fans which made a nice wind full of dust from the road.
That did it.
The crusaders, shaken to the core, returned home with stories
that magnified daily.
We followed the results, going uptime a few years to check if
there were returning armies but the curse stood. No more
attacks came forth for the next 1000 years.
Satisfied, we packed up all the theatrics gear, put it back in the
time machine, which was as large as an 18 wheeler back home,
and checked back to our time, the year 2006.
The differance was stunning.
By the year 1200, a new order had established itself in religious
circles, with the main concept of tolerance of other faiths.
Christians and Muslims and Jews and Buddhists and Jaynes and
many others came to cities from Jerusalem to London
to form multi-disciplinarian studies which resulted in a new
flowering of scientific endevour resulting in the landing on the moon
by the year 1600.
by the year 2006, in this new world, no major wars had taken place
for 1500 years. There were multicultural colonies on the inner planets
and the terraforming of Mars was in its final stages.
Colonies went as far as Pluto and lightships were venturing out well
past Alpha Centauri and most of the stars within 50 light years had
some sort of probe sending back data.
Genetic engineering had eradicated most of the ills of the last
1000 years, everyone was living to nearly 200 years of age,
200 productive years.
When we returned, nothing was recognisable to our eyes.
We had taken the steps of recording all the books in the library
of Congress and as much other data as possible, science,
art, literature, dance, theatre, music, etc., all in HD TV.
We landed back where we started, near Trafalgor Square,
but of course there was no such thing, now it was a cultural
center with exhibits from all around the Solar System.
We parked our machine in front of the center and went inside
and were greeted by some people who looked at our outre'
clothes and devices from what seemed like the stone age.
They did not immediately put us in detention cells, they had been
removed from the culture 1400 years earlier.
They thought our equipment was quaint and assumed it was some
kind of practical joke done by some media production company for
the upcoming comedy season.
They asked us, so where did you come from, really?
We came from the year 2006.
Well that makes sense, they said, since you ARE in the year
2006. No, a DIFFERANT 2006.
Look at the literature we have from our timeline.
Your TIMELINE they asked incredulously.
Yes, we invented a time machine which allowed us to change a
series of events which in our world caused centuries of misery,
world war, atomic destruction of cities, riots, Jehads, terrorist attacks
by religious fundamentalists of all religions.
How can that be, they asked again with distain and a building
sense of distrust obvious in them.
YOU CHANGED THE PAST TO ALLOW US TO GET TO THIS POINT IN
OUR DEVELOPMENT? they charged.
They had world leaders and intellectuals debate this in open courts
all over the solar system.
We Cannot believe you could have caused this much change
in our world.
You must go back and undo all you have done, we have
considered this very carefully and you cannot be allowed to change
the past even if it is an improvement.
So the end result was they accompanied us back to the year
1000 and we were forced to confront our own selves setting up
camp just outside Jerusalem.
We forced our own team to stop setting up the equipment and
forced them to go back to Trafalgor Square.
So Sirs of the Court, that is why you see two of us in our party and
two trucks full of recordings.
The newspapers were full of the latest headlines of bombing in
Baghdad, Riots in Paris and the 2000 dead american soldiers in Iraq.
decide what era to go back to and change and see how the results
turned out.
Some of us wanted to go back and off Hitler, others wanted to go
back and stop Isaac Newton from inventing Calculus.
Our group won with the proposal to take non-lethal weapons back to
stop the Crusades from ever happening.
This proposal was given due consideration as it was the deciding
moment in the development of intolerance of other religions, we
thought it might make a difference in how the cultures interacted
in the subsequent centuries.
We thought about what non-lethal weapons we could take back to
the year 1000 or so and one idea popped up with infrasonic generators
that generated violent inner ear reactions from both infantry and
cavalry. We also brought some high voltage Tesla coils to simulate
lightning from heaven and some recordings of simulated
dinosaurs and other large animals of predation.
We brought solar powered amplifiers, stadium loudspeakers,
fog producers with holographic generators and such to scare the
bejesus out of the self-righteous army.
Just in case for backup we brought skunk oil to spray at the oncoming
hordes.
We went back to the build-up of the first crusade, set up our
equipment just before the entrance to Jerusalem where the
Crusaders were sure to show up.
Everything was in perfect order, fog banks allowing the projection
of demons from hell followed by dinosaur like sounds and lightning
discharges and thunder with a lot of smoke and
here comes the crusaders. They were to the last man a superstitious
lot anyway and our equipment worked to perfection. The fog bank
provided a nice spooky screen for the demon display, the 100
million volt tesla coils produced a nice lightning and the stadium
speakers added the dinosaur touch, then
a highly amplified and down-modulated voice speaks out in latin:
"Who dares to invade my demense?" it demanded.
"I lay down my curse upon you who enters here"
in a demonic demonstration worthy of Freddy Cruger.
Lightning flew all around them with blasting thunder caused of course
by the hidden stadium speakers.
"I send you the worse smell in the world, you will never lose, always
you will have the scent of hell", then followed the skunk oil driven
by hidden fans which made a nice wind full of dust from the road.
That did it.
The crusaders, shaken to the core, returned home with stories
that magnified daily.
We followed the results, going uptime a few years to check if
there were returning armies but the curse stood. No more
attacks came forth for the next 1000 years.
Satisfied, we packed up all the theatrics gear, put it back in the
time machine, which was as large as an 18 wheeler back home,
and checked back to our time, the year 2006.
The differance was stunning.
By the year 1200, a new order had established itself in religious
circles, with the main concept of tolerance of other faiths.
Christians and Muslims and Jews and Buddhists and Jaynes and
many others came to cities from Jerusalem to London
to form multi-disciplinarian studies which resulted in a new
flowering of scientific endevour resulting in the landing on the moon
by the year 1600.
by the year 2006, in this new world, no major wars had taken place
for 1500 years. There were multicultural colonies on the inner planets
and the terraforming of Mars was in its final stages.
Colonies went as far as Pluto and lightships were venturing out well
past Alpha Centauri and most of the stars within 50 light years had
some sort of probe sending back data.
Genetic engineering had eradicated most of the ills of the last
1000 years, everyone was living to nearly 200 years of age,
200 productive years.
When we returned, nothing was recognisable to our eyes.
We had taken the steps of recording all the books in the library
of Congress and as much other data as possible, science,
art, literature, dance, theatre, music, etc., all in HD TV.
We landed back where we started, near Trafalgor Square,
but of course there was no such thing, now it was a cultural
center with exhibits from all around the Solar System.
We parked our machine in front of the center and went inside
and were greeted by some people who looked at our outre'
clothes and devices from what seemed like the stone age.
They did not immediately put us in detention cells, they had been
removed from the culture 1400 years earlier.
They thought our equipment was quaint and assumed it was some
kind of practical joke done by some media production company for
the upcoming comedy season.
They asked us, so where did you come from, really?
We came from the year 2006.
Well that makes sense, they said, since you ARE in the year
2006. No, a DIFFERANT 2006.
Look at the literature we have from our timeline.
Your TIMELINE they asked incredulously.
Yes, we invented a time machine which allowed us to change a
series of events which in our world caused centuries of misery,
world war, atomic destruction of cities, riots, Jehads, terrorist attacks
by religious fundamentalists of all religions.
How can that be, they asked again with distain and a building
sense of distrust obvious in them.
YOU CHANGED THE PAST TO ALLOW US TO GET TO THIS POINT IN
OUR DEVELOPMENT? they charged.
They had world leaders and intellectuals debate this in open courts
all over the solar system.
We Cannot believe you could have caused this much change
in our world.
You must go back and undo all you have done, we have
considered this very carefully and you cannot be allowed to change
the past even if it is an improvement.
So the end result was they accompanied us back to the year
1000 and we were forced to confront our own selves setting up
camp just outside Jerusalem.
We forced our own team to stop setting up the equipment and
forced them to go back to Trafalgor Square.
So Sirs of the Court, that is why you see two of us in our party and
two trucks full of recordings.
The newspapers were full of the latest headlines of bombing in
Baghdad, Riots in Paris and the 2000 dead american soldiers in Iraq.
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