Americus, a despondent time traveler, comes to the 1st century Roman Empire (726 AUC) to introduce clocks, steam engines and other marvels.

The original publication of this story is followed by a Shane Tourtellotte article, “Tips for the Budget Time-Traveler,” about the economics of trading through time.
He argued to the scribes that they were naturals for typesetting jobs: literate, intelligent, good at fine work and at avoiding mistakes.
translate “Most of us </i>thought<i> we knew. There were many congenial mealtime arguments about which overarching theory of time travel was the true one. I had my ideas, but they dismissed them. I wasn’t one of them; I didn’t understand.” He ounded a fist into his thigh, a startling burst of violence. “But their theories were such violations of common sense!”

Variants

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  1. “The Man from Downstream” by Shane Tourtellotte, in Analog, December 2010.
  2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Shane Tourtellotte