Originally published in Planet Magazine No. 39 (September 2003).
Five minutes later, and ten seconds older, Dr. Insanium stepped out of his time machine and shook hands with himself.
“Hello,” he said, smiling.
“Hello,” said Dr. Insanium.
“Well, I’d better get back to five minutes ago. It was a pleasure to meet you, it really was.”
Dr. Insanium stepped back into the time machine from which he had come, closed the door, but suddenly opened it again.
“I just had a really cool idea,” he said, “Let’s switch places! What I mean by that is, you go back five minutes, and I’ll stay right here in the future.”
It was a startling and unexpected suggestion to Dr. Insanium. “Hmmm. . . What the heck, why not!”
They switched places, and both of them and the time machine seemed to glow with success.
Dr. Insanium started making a pot of coffee, stood thinking for a moment, then decided he had more to discuss with his new friend.
Four minutes and thirty seconds before that, Dr. Insanium stepped out of his time machine and confronted himself once again. “Something just occurred to me,” he said, sipping coffee, “What the hell are you?”
Story © 2003 by Glen Thompson
Illustration © 2003 by Robert Sorensen
