Further Into The Future!

Chapter 2

"The database?"

"We have no record of you in the computer. We couldn't match your DNA, or your picture, or even your retina. Do you know why that is?"

"Yes. Obviously, it's because I'm a time traveler. I don't exist in this time."

She squinted at me, scrutinizing my face to determine whether I was lying or I believed what I was saying. Either way, she didn't believe me.

"Could you give me your name, please?"

"Professor John Bedford," I said. She scribbled on the notepad with a torpedo-shaped silver pen.

"What is your date of birth?"

"May 11, 1913."

She started to write again, then she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Could you give me your age?"

"I'm thirty-six."

She tapped her chin with the pen, thinking. She mumbled some numbers and I realized she was subtracting my age from the current year. Finally she nodded and wrote something down.

"You could try a little harder to hide that you don't believe me," I said.

"Yeah, I could," she said. "Do you know your weight and height?"

"175 pounds and five feet nine inches."

"That's pretty big for someone from 1949, isn't it? Weren't people really short back then?"

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," she said. "What would you say is your hair color? Dark brown?"

"I usually call it black."

"Black. And your address?"

"I could only give you a really old one that probably doesn't exist anymore."

"Yes, of course. What about relatives? Could you make my day a little easier and give me the addresses of some living relatives?"

"I doubt there are any," I said. "I didn't have any children. Maybe some really distant nieces and nephews, but I don't know where they live."

"Of course. Of course. Relatives all died 150 years ago." She scribbled something and tapped the paper loudly with her pen to make the period at the end. "Well, that's all I can fill out."

She waved the form in the air. It was almost blank.

"I'm sorry," I said.

She patted me on the shoulder. "That's all right, Professor. Just make yourself comfortable. There's nothing wrong with you, you just collapsed from exhaustion and panic. You only need some rest. A lot of rest."

She walked to the door. "We need to find somewhere for you to stay," she said. "I'll start working on that right now. You can stay here until we find something, OK? And if you ever think of some relatives you have but you forgot about, please tell me."

"Can I ask you some questions now?"

"Sure," she said after a doubtful pause. She was clearly eager to leave, her hand grasping the doorknob.

"What happened to my time machine?"

"Your time machine?"

"Yes. It was in the clearing where I fainted."

"Oh, right. The justice department said something about a vehicle of some kind. They said it was too heavy for them to move out of the clearing, so they figured it was also too heavy for someone to steal. You shouldn't worry about it."