Short Story–“Truth Machine” Part 1

21 November 2025

Another early attempt at the short story. This one a science fiction story, involving time travel, in a longer “short” form (pun intended).

4 February 2013

We all toy with the idea of time travel; we inevitably ponder what we would go back and change, avoiding the consequences of our actions, or changing our actions to avoid some misery. Many of us go beyond this stage, desiring to travel through history to see what actually happened, meet famous people, and perhaps change past events. SciFi has trained us to believe that terrible consequences come from meddling with the past–the slightest alteration could change our futures, even erasing us from time. More recently, many subscribe to the idea of a multiverse in which every possible decision is acted out in one of these many different, though parallel, universes. At some point in the past, I toyed with the idea of a time machine used to prove different theories on human development: a scientist builds the machine to learn the “Truth” of ancient history. What follows is the ‘setup’ for this short story, entitled “The Truth Machine.”

Truth Machine, Part 1
“So you are actually going to journey through time?” Karl Norwich asked. He was a professor of philosophy, a man of large girth and easy going manner. His hair was long and beginning to turn gray from its normal curly brown. He laughed at everyone thinking most people took themselves far too seriously.

“If your only purpose is to be insulting, like usual, I suggest you leave–we have much to do,” George Harwood replied. George was a physicist who, with an engineer named Igor Krieg, invented the first machine for time travel. Professor Harwood was once a tall, handsome man, though somewhat thin, before age had given him a permanent stoop. His hair was limp and white, face narrow and drawn. Professor Krieg sat inside the capsule going through a final check of its systems. He smiled at their old friend’s obvious jest. He was a stocky man with droopy eyes and an equally droopy mustache. Some said he resembled Einstein, a physicist of the early 20th century, two centuries before the present.

Karl smiled at George and bowed with a flourish. “Excuse my failed attempt at jest. I came to try and dissuade you from your purpose, in the name of our friendship.”
George looked up from his terminal and shook his head slowly. “I note your concern. However, in the name of science, I must go.” His face hardened with resolve. “How would you feel if I offered to send you to ancient Greece to hear first-hand the words of your beloved Socrates?”

“I would refuse,” Karl laughed. “Some things are best left surrounded by the myths we have created for them in our own minds.”

“That’s absurd!” George snapped. “Where would we be if your Greek philosopher-scientists hadn’t gone in pursuit of knowledge? We still would herd sheep, fearing the spiteful vengeance of gods more concerned with their loins than their creations! We would be ignorant of the world we live in!”

“Easy, George,” Igor soothed, “Karl is only trying to help.”

“Perhaps,” Karl said to George, “and perhaps not.” His face became serious. “Do you remember when we were sophomores and attended the many dances on or around campus, to hear the bands and socialize with the fairer sex?”

George and Igor smiled. “How could we forget,” George replied.

“Do you recall the time,” Karl continued, “we saw the lady who we deemed to be as close to perfect beauty as we thought we would ever see?”

George nodded, then frowned as quickly. “That blonde?” Igor grinned and winked at both the others.

Karl smiled. “You had to meet her, and I tried to dissuade you. I argued that you would break the illusion of perfection we saw in her beauty. You refused to listen and asked her to dance. You discovered she had the intelligence of stone yet believed she was the most beautiful woman in the world. She expected all men, including you, to worship the very ground she walked, reminding you the whole time of the worthless nature of men generally.”

George looked puzzled, frowning and shaking his head. “I do not think that story has anything to do with learning the truth of human origins.”

“Perhaps,” Karl began slowly, “and perhaps not.” For a time, they regarded each other in silence. “I see you are still determined to go,” Karl said after sighing.

George nodded. “I must learn the truth.”

“Then take my advice and go now,” Karl implored. “That way, if by some strange chance I am right, you still have time to change your mind. If you are right, then you will know better where to go to prove your point during tomorrow’s media circus.”

“I believe he is right,” Igor added, looking at his companion.

George thought for a minute before responding. “I agree–we will make preparations for my immediate departure.”

Tune in next time for the second installment!