The Men Who Murdered Mohammed

by Alfred Bester

Release: October 1958
Format: Short Story
Genre: Science Fiction
Audience: Adults
Content: Definite Time Travel
Original Language: English

When Professor Henry Hassel discovers his wife in the arms of another man, he does what any mad scientist would do: build a time machine to go back and kill his wife’s grandfather. He has no trouble changing the past, but any effect on the present seems rather harder to achieve.

“While I was backing up, I inadvertently trampled and killed a small Pleistocene insect.”

“Aha!” said Hassel.

“I was terrified by the indicent. I had visions of returning to my world to find it completely changed as a result of this single death. Imagine my surprise when I returned to my world to find that nothing had changed!”

DEBUT

“The Men Who Murdered Mohammed,” Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 1958.

VARIANTS

1 English variant

TAGS(SPOILERS!)

Groupings

TIME TRAVEL ITINERARY: We haven’t yet mapped out the time travel itinerary.