Alfred loves his time machine more than his wife, but when she pushes him into it and he meets Zopheeta and others from an unspecified future time, he gets almost as confused as I was while reading this story.
Too late. Emmeline’s little pale wreath slithered down the curve of a hoop and knocked a switch and two spirals as it did so. Again the Machine quivered. But this time something delecate near the circlet—another spiraled wire—was flicked to a new position. The Machine jarred. Al reached toward the three switches but only had time to pull one.

Variants

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  1. “Green Sunrise” by Doris Pitkin Buck, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1961.
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Doris Pitkin Buck