Chapter 47: December 27, 1981

I got a package today. At first I thought it was from my grandmother. I hadn’t received a package here, or even in this time, so I didn’t really think it could have been anyone else. Melanie’s family had come to see us for Christmas, and were still here. So it made no sense that it would be them.

It has been months since my mystery partner in time has sent me any mail. I appreciate that. But today’s package was a welcome surprise. Not because I wanted to know if he was ok. I didn’t really care about that. But the content of the package is intriguing to me.

Inside is a metal alloy conductor coil that won’t be available for purchase by the public until 1997 or so. Some of the parts that aren’t available yet are less important to have early. This conductor, is key to exciting the tachyon particles that make the whole thing possible. I need this piece when I’m ready to start exciting tachyon particles for early experiments that will allow me to study how to control them beyond just activating them.

Having this coil sixteen years early is going to give me a great head start. Merry belated Christmas to me.

Mike,

I’m running out of names of time travellers, so I’m going to just start referring to you as Mike. That ok?

I know you’d asked me to piss off, but I thought that maybe you could use a little bit of help getting stuff started with all of the unforeseen life you’ve been living. I’m not begrudging you that life, I think it’s good for you, but it is going to distract you from your purpose.

Anyway, try to keep that thing pretty well hidden for the time being. It’s not strictly legal for a civilian without any kind of engineering or science doctorate to have that. You might not end up doing time, but it would raise some odd questions that will be hard to explain away.

I’ve been keeping an eye on you, and you’re doing a good job with your other responsibilities. So enjoy the Christmas gift. And maybe burn this when you’re done reading.

Wells

I read the letter a few times, and showed it to Melanie, before I burned it in the fireplace.

Should I write back? If he’s been watching me, I suppose he’ll know I’m grateful. He? I guess I’ve decided he’s a he.

Melanie seems to think he’s some time-travelling guardian angel. I don’t know about all that. Is he my very own terminator? This seems very un-Terminator-like.

Wells is a good fit. Time After Time was playing at a theater a few months ago, and I saw it on the marquee and decided to stop by and watch it. It was a matinee on a Wednesday, and Elliot slept through the entire thing.

It was right after his last letter. Malcolm McDowell’s H.G. Wells made me think about this mystery man. This mystery man seems clever and earnest like Wells, but the unknown element makes me wonder what is right below the surface, more like Alexander Delarge. He scares me a bit.

I wonder, after seeing it, and him picking this as the pseudonym here, is that a coincidence? Or has been watching me that closely?

Another thought has occurred, and that is that while I’ve been writing this as something of a journal or a diary, do I let anyone in the future read them? I asked Melanie one time if she wanted to, she asked if I ever said anything that might hurt her directly in them. When I told her that I not, she said she didn’t really want to know what I’d written, didn’t want to know about the future I might be dreading or longing for. She’s a smart woman.

But if I’m willing to let her read these. Who else might I be willing to let read this. Maybe this mystery traveller goes by Wells because he knew I think of him as Wells. My bootstraps are starting to hurt.