More proof that truth
is stranger than fiction:
Physicist Ronald Mallett
of the University of Connecticut is actually working on building
a time machine and hopes to have an experimental mockup by fall
of this year. No, he's not a crackpot, says he. His studies are
solidly based on Einstein's theory of relativity and not on the
delusional imaginations of Hollywood script writers or science-fiction
authors.
As for me, all I know
about time travel I learned from Back to the Future, which
was fun and fanciful, and Kate & Leopold, which I seriously
worried would give some nut the idea that he or she could simply
jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and be catapulted into another era.
Can you imagine the
implications if Mallett is successful—especially if time
travel eventually becomes as accessible as the cross-town bus?
A criminal could flee
to another century just before the SWAT team arrives—as could
a faithless lover in danger of being found out…a kid with a bad
report card, afraid to go home…a deadbeat dad…a mom who can't
face one more sink full of dirty dishes…it would give "getting
away from it all" and "escapism" whole new meanings.
It certainly makes
you wonder. If you could pick any moment in time—past or
future—which century would you choose?
I'd have to know more
than just when. I would also want to know what my circumstances
would be. For example, it might be fun to experience a fashionable
soiree in gracious 19th century London—provided I was either
the lady of the manor or a well-heeled, noble guest. But with
my luck, I'd launch myself to the scene only to find myself in
the scullery in midsummer, over a flaming open hearth, roasting
suckling pigs for the swells upstairs. Then I could look forward
to a morning of mucking out the baronial stables and obeying every
other whim of the dictatorial master of the castle. My reward?
A few shillings and the promise of even more difficult tasks each
day. Come to think of it, that sounds like my first secretarial
job.
Or I could book a time
travel trip back to the golden era of luxurious Atlantic crossings
on a posh luxury liner, only to see the name Titanic looming
down at me as I boarded.
Maybe the future would
be a safer bet. After all, we would be assured of not only the
technological advantages we enjoy today, but even more amazing
wonders that would astound even Buck Rogers. But how would we
choose a date? Again, if my luck runs true to form, I'd select
March 16, 2880—the day that the asteroid 1950 DA may very
possibly strike Earth.
I wish you luck with
your studies Professor Mallett; but as far as I'm concerned, I
think I'll confine my travels to other continents and not other
centuries. At least I know what I'm dealing with now.
And what about Kate
who followed Leopold back to 1876? How long do you think it would
take before she'd be hitching a ride back to the 21st century?
I'm sure I would soon decide that it would be easier to live without
handsome Leopold than without corset-free dressing, automobiles,
refrigerators, air conditioning, microwave ovens-and, especially,
indoor plumbing. A chamber pot under the bed would really kill
the romance.
But maybe that's just
me.
Rose Mula was an executive
assistant, a public relations specialist, and an operations manager
for a New England dinner theater chain before discovering a passion
for writing. She has written business and trade articles to earn
a living, and humor for the fun of it. Her work has appeared in
Yankee, Modern Maturity, The Christian Science Monitor, The Reader's
Digest, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Miami Herald, and more
than four dozen other magazines and newspapers. She can be contacted
through email.
