Factor, Unknown
- by Sam Merwin, Jr.
- Short Story
- Science Fiction
- Adults
- Definite Time Travel
- English
- “Factor, Unknown” by Sam Merwin, Jr., Other Worlds Science Stories, June 1952.
In order to save the world, wealthy young Houghton travels back fifty years to set straight his great-uncle’s world-threatening mistakes, but it’s Alison—Houghton’s fiery tempered cousin-once-removed—who has a more genuine interest in saving the future than her father does.
—Michael Main
“This is most extraordinary,” he said in an unexpectedly high-pitched voice, regarding Houghton benignly from the tall white fortress of his collar. “You say that you have come back through time to instruct me how to arrange my affairs so that they will not be instrumental in destroying the world some fifty years hence.”
Tags
(6)
- Time Periods
- Circa AD 1900 to 1929: AD 1901
- Circa AD 1950 to 1959: AD 1952
- Time Travel Methods
- Time Ships: “My vessel—ship if you will—is back there in the clearing.”
- Themes
- Fix History!: “You saythat you have come back through time to instruct me how to arrange my affairs so that they will not be instrumental in destroying the world some fifty years hence.”
- Meeting or Viewing Ancestors or Descendants: not a direct ancestor, but a great uncle and a cousin (once removed)
- Groupings
Variants
(1)
- “Factor, Unknown” by Sam Merwin, Jr., Other Worlds Science Stories, June 1952.
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