Mission: Time Paradox
A Short Story By Birithivy Yogaratnam
![](https://res.cloudinary.com/jerrick/image/upload/d_642250b563292b35f27461a7.png,f_jpg,fl_progressive,q_auto,w_1024/63f6ad1b3f141d001d7bfe53.jpg)
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once," - Albert Einstein
Location: Berlin, Germany
Time: 5:45 PM
Agent Assigned To Mission: Agent X
Agent X was part of the "time initiative" branch of the agency. He, along with other agents, were tasked with completing missions in the past. In order to sustain and maintain the fabric of time and continuity, the agents must go back in time to ensure that no changes or deviations from historical events will occur. With nefarious organizations creating contraptions that can send their associates back in time, it had become a tall task to ask the agents to go in time and make sure that these events are averted. They would be alerted of what time period to go to in any point of their stay at the agency. Their sole purpose in life was to train, learn anything and everything about history, and be prepared to where they would be sent.
When an organization sends someone to a timeline to change the events that occur, the agency receives a blip on their "fabric of time" radar. Agent X and the others had no idea how this radar worked, let alone how they could go back in time to maintain the state of events to occur, even if someone tried to change the timeline itself. It was mind boggling stuff. All Agent X was worried about, or even cared about at that moment, was to land in Berlin in the year 1945. The task that was given to him was as followed: ensure the death of the dictator. Agent X was told that an organization was sending an agent to disrupt and create an anomaly where they would help get the dictator and his mistress to escape. To ensure Agent X would get there before the other agent, the agency was going to send him right to the bunker it self.
As Agent X got into the contraption to send him back in time, he was told the rules and procedure that he had to follow during his time there. With this technology, he would avoid any issues with tampering with the time-space continuum in that timeline. Usually, in time travelling, people would be afraid that even something as simple as sneezing could change the course of history, creating a butterfly effect that could catastrophically change present day. But with the agency (and other organizations that copied and followed), they had found a way to ensure and keep safe all the interactions the traveler would have. The only way they could change history is if something different were to happen in the certain event. In this case, the only way present day and history would change would be if the dictator were to stay alive. The only thing was: the traveler couldn't bring technology or weaponry that wasn't introduced at the time.
As Agent X was rushed through time through the contraption, he could see light flashing backwards. He felt like he was in the end of a light tunnel, a wormhole of visuals being sucked away behind him as the light ahead frequently changed. He looked around to see the city of Berlin changing over the course of history. Buildings were being deconstructed as time went backwards. The skyline was getting smaller, with the darkness of WW2 fast approaching. As he got to his time stop, he fell to the ground, feeling the usual sickness that comes with that instant and tormenting speed of travel. Agent X looked around in front of the infamous bunker, checking his vitals and checking if he was able to function. He was getting ready and prepared for the other agent to come through their travel.
As Agent X waited, he looked around to see a war torn city. Smoke billowed in the far east, with the skies being mixed with dark clouds of smoke. As Agent X got a hold of their surroundings, the other Agent fell to the ground a block away. Agent X could hear it, as he heard screams of people running away from that agent. As the people ran from sight, X saw the other agent. They were running towards the bunker, with a weapon in hand. X walked over and stood in their path, with the other agent stopping a few meters away from him. Now was the time, Agent X thought. This was all that training coming back to him. How he prepared everything for this moment. This was different than all the other agencies and their training procedures. This was his chance to do something extraordinary. To ensure that evil didn't win. To ensure that history will stay in tact.
Agent X braced himself as the other agent came at him with a butterfly knife in hand. The speed and force of the attack surprised X, but not to the point where he felt helpless. All his training prepared him for any and every type of situation. If a person was coming at him with heavy artillery, he would be ready. He wouldn't back down, and he caught all the attacks that the other agent was throwing towards him. Even if he was at a near death situation, as long as he finished the mission and ensured that the timeline was going to be the same, there was a failsafe initiative built into the machine's programming and system that would send him back to the present.
The other agent was able to get a few jabs into Agent X, as he braced the pain. He felt the searing tension in his body as he felt the sharp blade diving into him. He pushed away and got the other agent in a choke hold. The other agent furiously whisked his weapon at X, as it caught him here and there. After a few minutes, X was able to subdue his foe, whilst slowly bleeding away. The ensuing mayhem was caught in the vision of the locals, who feared for their safety and had not dared to go anywhere near the fight that was ensuing. As X looked at his time, he proceeded to go the bunker. It was now his time, to make time happen the way that it needed to.
As he entered the bunker, he saw that the guards looked at him in a strange way. They charged at him, but with the amount of strength and expertise that X had, he also broke them down and threw them to the side. He knew at this point, nothing was going to stand in his way. He was going to get what he wanted. This time, time will stay the same. History will be repeated. He entered the area where the dictator was. He saw him, the horrible human being that he was. Agent X looked around and saw that there was a gun left on the table. The dictator locked their eyes on X, fuming. I won't let them live, X said to himself. He remembered all the attrocities that this man had committed. The ugly and disgusting history they had created. This man didn't deserve to live. In fact, they didn't deserve any sort of remorse. They deserved hell.
X looked at the time he had, looked at the dictator, and proceeded to right history. As he fired away, he began to see the light around him change. As he ensured the dictator had died, he rushed through the wormhole, this time, with light moving forward towards the end of the tunnel. As he arrived back in the present, he looked around as his mission leader and team congratulated for his job well done. "Mission complete," the leader said. As they wheeled off X to the medical lab to get patched up, he looked on as other agents were being sent off to other historical events. No matter what happens, and who tries, history will be right and will stay the same. With this agency, they will ensure that.
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Comments (1)
Hope springs eternal with time travel. Great story. One dictator is all dictators.