Professor Smith and the Time Machine
Dr. Andrews Ismay Smith, Ph.D., ( a remotely related descendant of the family of a captain of an ill-fated ocean liner and whose first and middle names were for those of ancestors who were connected with ocean liners in the 1910’s) is a Professor at the Northern University of Time Studies. ( N.U.T.S.) Together with a staff of scientists, engineers, technicians and experts in the fields of construction of electronics equipment and computers, he had developed in the year 2012 a Time Machine and had traveled back to the fateful nights in April , 1912 and was aboard the RMS Titanic, busily recording the events aboard that ship on a specially designed state-of-the art video recorder, disguised in a wooden case resembling an old-fashioned crank operated movie camera. He had obtained permission from Captain Smith , J. Bruce Ismay , Thomas Andrews and the rest of the officers and crew to roam about the ship at will in all areas. On the fateful night of April 14, 1912, at 10:40 PM ship’s time, there was an incident which of course was the climax to Smith’s efforts. After the collision and the aftermath, as the water slowly rose to the bridge. Smith muttered under his breath to himself, “Time to get back to the year 2012.”A red light flashed on the indicator screen of his control box and the display read “Battery power too low to activate controls. Can not activate command.. Can not ………can not………………………..not.” and the screen went blank………….
Epilogue:
Fear not for Smith. Clinging to wreckage and floating near a strong -willed eighteeen year old girl who was also clinging to some wreckage and had somehow managed to retrieve and blow a whistle to which the officer on the rescue lifeboat heard , he was one of the few who was rescued and eventually returned to New York aboard the Carpathia. Addled by his experience, he searched his brain for some method to recharge the batteries during the entire length of the return trip on the Carpathia, It was not until he reached New York , disembarked and roamed the streets until he finally thought of contacting a wizard of electricity in nearby Menlo Park, New Jersey, managed to recharge the batteries and return to the year 2012., So all’s well that ends well. When asked later why he did not think of re-charging the batteries by solar power during his stay that sunny morning on the Titanic, Smith laughed. “I don’t see what’s so funny !”, a friend replied. Smith answered, ‘It was cold that morning on the deck of the Titanic so I put on my overcoat. I put the Remote Control Unit in the pocket of my overcoat,in the deep dark pocket of the especially constructed hermetically sealed , waterproof and most of all light proof pocket !”
P.S. Dear Reader. :
In case you are wondering how we know all about Professor Smith’s adventure, considering this is being written in the year 2005 and the time machine was not invented until 2012 ? That’s very simple. Professor Smith was as easily able to get back to the year 2005 as it was to get back to the year 1912 and he did us the favor of a visit to give us the story.