Calculating the Future

Tag Area: Time-Related Situation
Short Story

The Crystal Trench

A young wife’s husband disappears down a crevice in the Alps. The tale has but mild genre content, if that, and little to no time phenomena, but nevertheless, the characters are memorable, and the tenor foreshadows time travel stories yet to come. Combine that with a small time phenomenon, a masterful ending, and the result is an entry in your favorite time travel database. —Michael Main
Yes. They had only been married a couple of months.
Black-and-white drawing of a man looking through a small refractor telescope at tall trees and mountains.
  • Eloi Honorable Mention
  • Mainstream
  • Time Phenomena
Short Story

Hindsight

Years ago, engineer Bill Webster abandoned Earth for the employ of the piratical Astrarch far beyond the orbit of Mars; now the Astrarch is aiming the final blow at a defeated Earth, and Bill wonders whether the gun sights he invented can spot—and change!—events in the past. —Michael Main
The tracer fields are following all the world lines that intersected at the battle, back across the months and years. The analyzers will isolate the smallest—hence most easily altered—essential factor.
Pen-and-ink drawing of a man standing at a futuristic control panel, looking at a wall-sized hatched screen displaying a flying ship.
  • Science Fiction
  • War
  • Definite Time Travel
Short Story

What You Need

Reporter Tim Carmichael visits Peter Talley, a shopkeeper on Park Avenue who provides things that his select clientele will need in the future.

I don’t always include prescience stories in my list, but like Heinlein’s “Life-Line,” this one is an exception, both because of the origin of Peter Talley’s prescience and because it was made into episodes of Tales of Tomorrow (the TV show) and [work-142 | The Twilight Zone]]. —Michael Main
By turning a calibrated dial, I check the possible futures
Pen-and-ink drawing of a man in a top hat and suit, sitting in a car and closely examining an egg.
  • Eloi Gold Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Time Phenomena
Comic Book

Journey into Mystery #16

The Question!

Computer genius and jealous husband Paul Jessup builds a mechanical brain that can answer any question about the future.  —Michael Main
The brain can foretell events for approximately 24 hours in the future!
No image currently available.
  • Weird Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Time Phenomena
Novel

The End of Eternity

Andrew Harlan, Technician in the everwhen of Eternity, falls in love and starts a chain of events that could lead to the end of everything. —Michael Main
He had boarded the kettle in the 575th Century, the base of operations assigned to him two years earlier. At the time the 575th had been the farthest upwhen he had ever traveled. Now he was moving upwhen to the 2456th Century.
A black-and-white drawing of an elderly man standing at an electronic control board with a futuristic sphere in the background.
  • Eloi Gold Medal
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

Sex and Death 101

  • written and directed by Daniel Waters
  • (Seattle International Film Festival, 15 June 2007)
Roderick Blac doesn’t realize what he’s in for when he receives a list of all the women he’s had—or will have—sex with. Alas, the list is calculated by an oracle known as “the machine,” so there is no real time travel. —Michael Main
Lose the list: Burn it, bury it, whatever you need to do. If you let the list into your life, it will infect every fiber of your being.
Winona Ryder (as Death Nell) gives a calculating glance over her shoulder while Simon Baker (as Roderick Blank) studies a printed list.
  • Science Fiction
  • Time Phenomena
TV Episode

The Thundermans (s04e04)

Max to the Future

Superhero teens Phoebe and Max are applying as a team to the Z-Force. She has many special skills, but Max seems to have only one—creating gadgets—even though many have backfired. He creates a new one, the CrimeCaster. —Tandy Ringoringo
It predicts future crimes so we can catch criminals in the act.
Kira Kosarin (as Phoebe) looks on disbelievingly at Jack Griffo (as Max) grinning evilly at a transparent cube that displays a picture of his own head.
  • Superhero
  • Comedy
  • Audience: Children
  • Time Phenomena