3/28 CHS Prompt: You find a state of the art time machine which can take you to any era you choose. Where would you go and what would you see?

"I call it… a Chrono-Sequential Displacement Device!"

"And what's that in English?"

"A… well, a time machine."

"And you couldn't just say that because…?"

"Well, where's the fun in that?"

"True. So, what are we doing?"

"Ahem."

"Sorry. 'When are we going?'"

"Excellent. Let's fire it up for 1066!"

"Why 1066?"

"Why not 1066?"

"…"

"See! You can't think of a reason why not!"

"You're right. I can't think of a reason why not. I can think of thousands of reasons why not!"

"Like what?"

"Like the future of the British Empire!"

"Eh?"

"1066. Last successful overseas invasion of Britain. Gave rise to the modern British people, who then went on to create an empire that spanned the world."

"And your point?"

"Do you want to be the one responsible for accidentally screwing that up?"

"Well, what's the point of having a Chrono-Sequential Displacement Device if you can't risk the safety of the planet to please your slightest whims?"

"I'm… not really sure how to respond to that."

"Yes, I often leave people speechless with my genius and wit."

"Yes, that's exactly the reason I'm speechless."

"I detect sarcasm."

"Nooo…"

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"…"

"What?"

"Meet Oliver Cromwell."

"And?"

"Give him a wedgie."

"And you don't think that this could disrupt history catastrophically?"

"For the look on his face? It would be worth it."

"Yeah, probably, but I'm thinking we should try something else. Also, you're a hypocrite."

"And you're a marshmallow."

"What?"

"Marsh… mallow."

"And you're a garden gnome. Now, when should we go?"

"How about somewhere that won't be extraordinarily dangerous to the timeline, possibly plunging the world into eternal temporal failure resulting in the ultimate destruction of the universe? Just a thought."

"So… Atlantis?"

"Atlantis would work."

"Atlantis it is! Let me just fire this sucker up, and let's get ready to go!"

"Um… why are the lights flickering?"

"Well, that would be the humongous drain on the national power grid."

"Um…"

"You didn't think this ran on batteries, did you?"

"Well…"

"Don't worry, it only needs to charge up like this on the first run. The charge will kick in the false reverse dark matter nuclear particle accelerator for later trips."

"That sounds… incredibly dangerous."

"Only if you're a mad scientist!"

"And you are…"

"A mad scientist. What's your point?"

"Oh, nothing…"

"So are we doing this, or are you going to start crying like a little girl?"

"Them's fightin' words!"

"You wanna fight, or do you want to travel through time to a prehistoric civilization known only to legend?"

"Tough call."

"I could get you some cookies."

"Deal. Let's do this."

"Okay, you'll need to put this on."

"What is it?"

"Crash suit, in case something goes wrong."

"Wait, what?"

"Well, it's not like I've actually tested this thing yet. Thus the whole massive drain thing to start it up? Remember that?"

"So… dangerous?"

"Maybe."

"Define 'dangerous'…"

"Erm…"

"Well?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Explosion, regression, black hole, death of the universe. Normal type stuff."

"Um, if you're a mad scientist. Which, I guess, you are…"

"And that's why the protective suit."

"How protective?"

"You probably won't die instantly if something happens."

"You know what, forget it! Let's just go."

"Atlantis, here we come!"

"Is this supposed to be shaking like this?"

"Probably."

"Probably? Why probably? You know I don't like probably!"

"Well, nobody's ever actually traveled in time more than one way at a time before. Some destabilization is to be expected."

"Wait, back up. What's this about time now?"

"Well, everything travels forward in time. That's why time is."

"Yeah…?"

"But we're traveling back in time."

"Yes, that's the idea behind your time machine."

"Chrono-Sequential-"

"Yeah, whatever. What's your point?"

"We're traveling back in time, while simultaneously traveling forward in time. Subjectively. Otherwise, we couldn't be having this discussion. We would, in fact, be regressing or frozen, neither of which is happening, so…"

"Are you saying that we're moving in two directions of time at once?"

"And not being torn into our constituent particles! That's a relief."

"You didn't mention that in your list of dangers."

"You were getting whiny about one little black hole. Would you have come if I did?"

"No."

"There you go. Also, here we are."

"We seem to have landed right in the center."

"Yep!"

"Of this island."

"Yep."

"Atlantis."

"Yep."

"Which has just started shaking horribly, and getting worse."

"Yep."

"My, look at all that onrushing water."

"We should go."

"Good idea."

THE END

Word Count: 750