Opening Line #170:

It wasn't the first time I had tried to build a time machine, but this time I was almost sure it would work. I stepped inside the box and closed the door. Through the window I could see my shadowy laboratory, the big workbench littered with tools and parts, the floor covered with sawdust and bits of wire and metal, the walls glittering with foil. The foil was necessary to reflect the elapsation energy back into the room, keeping them from disturbing the chronoflow of the surroundings.

I switched on the power and watched the CF meter. When the needle finally reached 100% I turned the first big dial to 10. The dial went to a maximum of 200---200 hours into the future. A second dial went up to 5000, and a third dial went to 100,000. I wasn't ready to try anything like that yet; 10 was plenty for a first time.

I reached confidently towards the activation button, and pressed it. The box lurched, then stopped. I opened the door of the box and stepped out, then closed the door behind me. I went to the door of the laboratory, covered with foil. I turned the knob and stepped out. It was night. I checked my 24-hour watch, which read 1300. It should be daylight, but it was night. The machine had worked, I was ten hours into the future.

I walked down the street with an eerie sense of unreality, looking at the trees and streetlights, the dark cars and unlit houses. I was suddenly struck with a realization that I now possessed an immense power, a power no one else on earth possessed. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and looked up at the stars. "I am a god!" I shouted.

My voice carried to the heavens, but the heavens did not answer. I ran back to the lab and closed the door. I entered the box and closed that door, planning to go back the ten hours I had traveled. I turned the power on and watched the meter until it read 100%. I reached for the dial, and stopped. There was no dial to go backwards.

Oops.

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