An author, frustrated by the wasted talent of Simon Cross, builds a time machine to bring the wasted Cross back to meet the promising young Cross.
You do not build a time machine unless you know where you are going.

Variants

(1)
  1. “Quid pro Quo” by Ray Bradbury, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, October 2000.
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Ray Bradbury