The Time Travel Watch

It was a hot Sunday morning in the year 2074, and George Smith was locked up in his study. He was a 23 year old college graduate with a bachelor’s degree in technology design and was a huge history junkie; but things had not been going well for him. George was unaccomplished, unable to create a single piece of technology that worked. But things were starting to look brighter. George was in the process of creating a watch that could transport him through the space-time continuum. The only problem was how he would return to the present. Up in the study, George’s fingers danced over the unfinished watch, precisely placing things where they needed to go, and connecting wires together to make it work. The sweat rolled down George’s face, the only light in the study shining down on him and the watch. George had worked all through the night, the reason being that the World Science Fair was being held in his hometown of New York City later that day. George had to finish the time travel watch or else he would not have anything to present to the judges. It was his life-long dream to win the Fair. He was nearly finished now; the only thing left to do was connect a few more wires. “Come on, almost there,” George said aloud to himself. He connected the final wire, and leaned back in his chair and gave a large sigh of relief. The watch shone in the light, radiating energy throughout the entire room. He picked up the watch and admired his work. Then George thought to himself, “Should I test it out to make sure it works? If so, what do I test it on?” He looked around the room, finding nothing. Then George came up with a thought that would change his life forever. “What if I tested it out on myself?” He strapped the watch around his wrist, and adjusted the settings. There was a button to change the year, one to change the month, and another to change the day. He set his watch to November 11, 1911. George pressed the word “Go” on the touch screen of the watch, and immediately realized he had made a grave mistake. The only light in the room went dark. A green wormhole slowly started to appear in the corner of the room. The wind outside blew open the window and rushed into the room, throwing George off balance.  He fell to the wooden floorboard, slowly being sucked into the wormhole. After a short moment of struggling, George let himself fall victim to the wormhole, his body growing longer and longer, until he was finally sucked all the way through. The wormhole disappeared, and the room went silent. Papers littered the floor and the window sat open with only a slight breeze blowing into the room.
         In what seemed like seconds to George, he found himself lying on a wooden bed. George sat up suddenly, taking in the environment. There were numerous barracks, but only some of them were filled. There were weapons that looked old-fashioned to George. George was just about to get up when a small siren went off down one of the small tunnels. All of the sleeping soldiers rose, their gear already on. They grabbed the nearest weapon and marched down the tunnel. George decided to follow them. Following at a far distance, George saw sunlight. But there was one problem; it was gray light. He barely stepped out of the tunnel, but enough to see the horror. Dead bodies were scattered over the scorched grass. Barbed wire was guarding the bunker. Weapons of all kinds littered the ground in the bunker, often being picked up to be used. The soldiers themselves had dirt and blood smeared on their faces. George turned as white as a ghost. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Gun shots and grenades exploding rang through the air. As soon as George started to turn and run back down, a bullet whizzed past his head and, unknowingly to him, knocked the watch right off his wrist. George sprinted down to the underground base. A soldier picked up the watch, not knowing where it came from. To him, it looked like a futuristic object that glowed a soft green color. He pressed the button on the side, and the date changed. He kept pressing it to see how far into the future it would go, fascinated at its ingenuity. George ran back up to the fight to find his watch being messed up. He tore it out of the soldier’s hands, and before the soldier could speak, George unknowingly pressed “Go.” The green wormhole appeared again, and this time George ran through it. The soldiers had barely known of his presence among them.
         In another couple of seconds, George was back in what he thought was his own time. But something seemed wrong. There were no people around. The air was misty and the buildings were dilapidated. The road he was standing on had a large crevice running through the middle of it. Odd, George thought. “Where is everyone?” he shouted. Then it hit him. A soldier must have messed with the settings on my watch and now I’m in the future, he thought. When he finished his thought, a door opened down the street, and a man burst through the opening, clutching his briefcase to his chest and running at a full sprint down the street. “Hey!” George yelled after the man. But the man didn’t heed. He turned the corner, and there was a huge blasting noise that sounded like a laser cannon. George stepped back in alarm. Just then, a man walked around the same corner with what looked like a small hand blaster. He saw George, took aim and fired. George instinctively put his arms up in defense. Oh boy, he thought. There was a loud noise like a bullet ricocheting off a metal wall. George winced at the sound, and that’s when he heard a scream. He looked up and saw the man lying there on the ground. The watch, George thought. He glanced down, and saw that the watch was now glowing a soft red color. Wow, George thought. He walked over, picked up the laser blaster, and admired the handiwork. Then George realized that he had been gone for a long time, and that he needed to get back for the World Science Fair. He adjusted the date settings to July 16, 2074. “Please work, please work, please work!” George said aloud to himself as he was being sucked back into the wormhole.
         After the briefest moment, George was thrown back into his study, where everything was back to normal. “Thank goodness,” George mumbled. Then George looked at the clock. It was 5:00! He gathered his briefcase, his watch, and the laser blaster, and headed downtown. The parking lot was jam packed with cars, so George was forced to park in the street. He rushed inside, relieved the competition hadn’t started without him. George set up at an empty booth, placed all of his items down, and prepared to present to the judges. The announcer stated that the competition had begun, and George waited patiently for the judges to get to him. Of course, George was the last competitor to present. When the judges walked over to his booth, they stared at the marvelous technology displayed before them. George explained. “This, my fellow men, is what I like to call a Time Travel Watch. It has a button that when you set the date and press ‘Go,’ you will be transported back to that exact date. And this” George pointed to the laser blaster, “was brought back from the future itself. This, my friends, is the future of weaponry.” The judges immediately began writing notes on their scoring sheets. They walked over to the announcer, and told them who they had picked. “Well,” the announcer said, “I think we have our winner.” George held his breath, thinking the worst. “The winner of the 25th World Science Fair is…” Time seemed to slow down. George was staring at the judges, waiting for an answer. Finally, he got the best one of all. “George Smith!” George ran onto the main stage, receiving his trophy. He held it up in triumph. It was the first time in George Smith’s life that he felt a sense of accomplishment.