Robert Arvay's Science Fiction Blog

The story I am about to tell is so extraordinary that I am afraid I will not be believed.  Even more afraid am I, that after reading this, you will not remember having done so.  I know that that can happen, because last month my story was published on the front page of every major newspaper in America, and on the cover of every major magazine, and yet today, no one remembers any of that. The fact is that my identity has been erased.  My birth records, my academic records, and my stellar career—all of that was removed from the public record, in an effort to silence me.  But I will not be silenced.  I will continue to speak out, until the truth is finally acknowledged. I was born on January 8, 1948 on a small farm in Kansas.  However, that is only the beginning of the record that has been destroyed.  At the age of three, I exhibited such extraordinary intellectual advancement that the government took me from my parents (who no longer remember me), an...

This is a top secret document.  You are not authorized to read it.  You are hereby ordered to place your computer into a shredder, eat the particles that result, and then commit suicide.  After that, you are to report for debriefing. A vital secret weapons project is underway at, well, I can’t tell you where, except to say that it is at Langley Air Force Base, building 632, room 243.   Forget I said that.   It’s a secret. The project officially began in Tokyo , in 1943.   For those of you unfamiliar with history, Japan was at that time at war with the United States, and was bombed heavily beginning the following year.   It is important to remember this fact throughout the rest of this document.   Bear it in mind.   No, wait, forget it. At a secret laboratory in Tokyo in 1943, the Taimu Toraburo ( 時間旅 行) project began.   If Taimu Toraburo sounds like the words, “Time Travel” spoken in a Japanese accent, that is no coincidence. ...

The Chronovisor is a hypothetical device, that looks and operates a bit like a laptop computer, but which allows one to see the future (or the past).  Whether it truly exists or not is a matter of conjecture, as is also the question of how it might be possible for it to work, if it does exist. Let’s suppose that it does exist, just for this momentary discussion. Suppose further, then, the following scenario.  Joe Schmo is planning to go swimming at the ocean beach next week, and wonders whether it will be a good day to do so.  So, he operates his Chronovisor to view the time and place of his planned swimming trip.  There on the screen, he sees his future self at the beach, enjoying a swim—but then, horror of horrors, he sees himself attacked and grievously injured by a giant shark.  Of course, Joe immediately cancels his plan to go to the beach, and warns the authorities to close the beach for that day.  He then checks his Chronovisor again, and is plea...

My Time Travel Experiment   I was wondering how to prove or disprove whether or not people could travel backward in time.   Suddenly an idea occurred to me.   Since I could not find a way to travel backward in time, maybe somebody in the future could do it, and travel backward in time to the present day. So here is what I did.  This past July I went to my local newspaper and put in an advertisement.  The advertisement was paid in advance and legally contracted for performance, such that it will be published on July 30, 3014, a thousand years into the future.  It simply said, “I am living in the year 2014.  If you are living in the year 3014, you have probably figured out how to travel backward in time.  If you do so, and contact me, I will place a small amount of money in a special trust account which you can access on the 30 th of July, 3014.  With compound interest, this should make you a very wealthy man when you return to the futur...

Astronomers are wildly exuberant over having achieved their long awaited dream of contacting intelligent alien life on a distant planet. A radio-telescope message sent from earth fifty years ago has finally been received, and responded to, by living creatures on a far distant planet.  Here is the response that was received: Thank you for contacting the planet Glip-Glop.  If you are an astronomer, please press one.  If you are a member of a deteriorating civilization and are hoping for rescue by powerful-but-benevolent aliens who will not eat you, please contact the planet R2D2 at galaxy code 911-911-911.  If you are an insurance salesman selling super-nova insurance, press three.  If you believe you have reached this planet in error, please double check your frequency and amplitude, and re-transmit on a more narrow bandwidth.  Otherwise, please hold your radio and wait for an operator.  Your estimated wait time is 210 years.  While waiting, ...

The meeting began with the usual rustling of papers as the scientists took their places at the conference table.  Everyone was eagerly awaiting the announcement by cosmologist Dr. Frank Eidelman, who had promised a major discovery would be reported. When he came into the room, all eyes were upon him, and everyone noted his somber appearance. He took his place, glanced at each conferee in turn, and then began to speak. “Gentlemen,” he said, “we have concluded our investigation into the simulation hypothesis.   The good news is that we have discovered that we are not, repeat not, living in a computer simulation.   The bad news, however, is very distressing.   For we have discerned that although we are not programmed entities in a computer, we are in fact, fictional characters in a short story.” Dr. Henrik Ernst stood, and said, “I object!   That statement is preposterous.   How could any sane person propose that we are merely fictional characters in a...

I had finally done it.  There I was.  “There.”  What other word is there for it?  Looking behind me, far off, at as great a distance as one could possibly see, was the universe.  It was faint, barely a glimmer.  I dared not go even an inch further away from it, for I knew that if I lost sight of it, I could never again find it.  One inch further, and I would be in that place in which there is no direction.  I would have stepped into the infinite void, and I would never know which way to turn, to get back, because without a reference point, there is no direction in which to turn. The void.   It stretches to infinity.   There is nothing out there, literally nothing, nothing at all.   One could travel into it, and keep travelling forever.   There is no end to it.   Nor does it curve back inward upon itself.   If it did, then a straight line would lead one back to his starting point.   In a flat universe, that is i...