In Times Like These (In Times Like These, #1)

by Nathan Van Coops

“If you meet experienced time travelers, you can usually trust that they are intelligent. The nature of this business rapidly weeds out the morons.” -Excerpt from the journal of Dr. Harold Quickly, 2110.

“They say timing is everything. I would argue that spacing is a close second. It’s no use showing up right on time, if you fuse your leg through the coffee table.” -Excerpt from the journal of Dr. Harold Quickly, 1989

“It doesn’t pay to insult another time traveler. In fact you should make it a rule of thumb to never anger anyone today, who can go back and stab you yesterday.”

The thing is, what kind of people are we if we know something bad is going to happen and we do nothing to stop it?”

There’s also a swing set, a long metal slide, and the type of merry-go-round that you race around and jump on to get dizzy. I loved those as a kid. Wish they hadn’t gotten rid of them. Safety really took the fun out of playgrounds.

As a teacher of anything it is often difficult to remember that just because you have covered something does not mean it has sunk in properly, or really been processed to the point of understanding.

“I almost envy them some days,” he continues. “Ignorance has its perks. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to have an uncomplicated existence.”

“I frequently lecture on the dangers of misusing time. People often ask me afterward about what I feel is the biggest waste of time, suspecting that I will say something like television or arguing politics. I think the biggest waste of time is feeling sorry for yourself. That and traffic. Thankfully I found a way out of that one.” -Excerpt from the journal of Dr. Harold Quickly, 1972

There’s only one of you to go around, so you have to pick. You have to decide which relationships you are going to keep working on and make them great. It’s the only way I’ve found that works.”

“But apparently I live,” I say. “One version of you does at least,” Benji replies. “That’s not to say that you stay him though. Like I said. You can make different choices. Your destiny would change then, along with aspects of your timestream signature. How this plays out is up to you now.”

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Benji says. “You go through with this, you’ll know one way or the other. You don’t, and it will eat at you. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that wondering ‘what if’ can be the worst of it. You go back there and you might die. That’s true. And I won’t say that’s an easy choice to make, but I’ll tell you this, dying ain’t the worst thing that can happen to a man.”

Surviving isn’t all there is to winning, Ben. A lot of good men have died in the act of doing something great. That doesn’t mean they lost.”

“A time traveler’s clock ticks no slower than anyone else’s. Guard your minutes and seconds closer than your dollars and cents. You can predict when you’ll be out of money, but not when you’ll be out of time.”