Presidential Time Sheriffs

Disclaimer: Time travel is a science fiction concept and/or speculation. The existence of time travel cannot be verified. The author loves playing with scenarios based on logic which may include errors to figure out the types of situations that should be avoided in the future. Feel free to have an open mind and explore possibilities.

A science fiction novel by Jean Paul Booyens, excerpted from The Wild West of Time Travel needs a Sheriff.

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BOOK DESCRIPTION

Votes, votes and more votes. The new president of the USA in the year 2025 seeks votes above all. Power games between the USA and the Communist Empire dominate the world stage, and a coup in the Communist Empire brings warhawks to power. All is set for the perfect storm of nuclear war. The time sheriffs, alerted to a nuclear war danger zone in the early 21st century, do their best to convince the President of the year 2025 to start their organization so that they are in a position to shut down nuclear war. But how do you explain to a 21st century crowd the full scale of the danger of nuclear war that faces them and the opportunity for escape from it that time sheriffs present? With telepathic charades? With voices? With dreams? How do you make it look legit? And how will a President who loves votes above all have the courage to be the weirdest president of them all and start time sheriffs?

PROLOGUE

November 3, 2024

“And it’s a brown blitz! Independent Thomas Humphreys has beaten out Democrat Jane Pennington and Republican Harry Rausch for the 2024 United States presidential election! No independent has ever done it since George Washington became the first President of the United States. Cornering 40% of the vote against 25% for Jane Pennington and 26% for Harry Rausch, Thomas Humphreys will now assume the mantle of the President of the United States!” an announcer speaks.

I come out onto the stage, thrilled by my victory. I can see myself on the screens. I quickly admire my wonderful dark brown haircut. I wave to everybody. I come up to the microphone and speak, “The United States of America is a great nation, and I am here to make it an even more impressive nation! The spectre of communism is rising over the world and the United States of America has to rise to meet the threat!”

People cheer in the crowds, waving brown signs with my name.

“I will bring the jobs back to the United States! And I will mend the rifts between all the various groups in the United States of America! I will get the United States back on the path to environmentalism and also move towards a healthy economy that allows for fossil fuels to be used the right way! The United States of America will be a respected nation and I am here to ensure that that will happen!”

People chant in the crowds, “Thomas Humphreys! Thomas! Thomas! Thomas Humphreys!”

“As your new president, I will mend ties with the European Union and forge new alliances to meet the Great Red Tide approaching us from the East! With the might of the US military, air force, navy and space force, the Communist Empire will never again attempt to challenge us!”

People roar in delight.

I wave to my supporters, and walk off the stage.

January 20, 2025

I am at a meeting with the former U.S. president Jay Brandt. He speaks, “I understand that for continuity, you have agreed to take on my intelligence chief as your intelligence chief. You have also agreed to take on my spiritual advisor as your spiritual advisor. I cannot emphasize how effective Intelligence Chief Fred Thurlow has been in taking care of intelligence. I would like to say that you have made an excellent choice. My spiritual advisor, Pastor Barrie Grey is also extremely insightful, and has made many wise observations about my policies that have helped me avoid disaster. I would like to say that both come highly recommended. I have invited them to meet with you, now that we have had our discussions on the issues that you will be inheriting from my presidency.”

He nods at a secret service agent standing guard at the door, who quickly dodges out and brings in Intelligence Chief Fred Thurlow and Pastor Barrie Grey.

Former U.S. President Jay Brandt tells me, “I shall see myself out, and take the helicopter ride to my new residence. I believe that the United States will be greatly advantaged by your presidency.”

“Absolutely,” I smile, “It is a privilege to meet you.”

The Former U.S. President walks out the door.

I invite my two visitors to sit down. Intelligence Chief Fred Thurlow smiles, “It is an honor to serve as Intelligence Chief of two U.S. administrations. There are two major concerns that I want to share with you before we go any further. The first issue is that we cannot let the Communist Empire get ahead of us. The Communist Empire has proven to be extremely resourceful and is starting to pull out ahead of us in the global influence game. We have to do something. They appear to be attempting to pick a fight with Japan, which could suck all of us into nuclear war.”

“I understand. What is your other major concern?”

“My other major concern is that as U.S. President you need to know about some very interesting people whom may be guarding you without your knowledge. Now I will tell you this just this once, but after this I am denying any knowledge of them, as they really do not like being talked about. We call them time sheriffs. We intelligence folks have had a lot of run-ins with them, and we tend to come off as the losers in most of them. We like to stay in our space and let the time sheriffs stay in their space. That way there isn’t really a problem with them.”

“Time sheriffs are people from the future who make sure the stuff from the future does not mess with the past. They also clean up when the stuff from the future does get past their defenses. The other thing they are really tough on is that they really don’t like being confronted with near-extinction encounters. You want to be really careful what you do with nuclear weapons and other weapons of that nature around them, as they do have a mandate to intervene when the powers involved are being, shall we say, irresponsible with them. They can be extremely tough and difficult when provoked. Now I can see you don’t believe me, but I just felt it was my duty to inform you that they are on the scene right now.”

“The other thing to know is that they have telepathic technology and can read your mind. They are likely to communicate with thoughts, emotions, images and dreams if they ever, at all, talk. If you think they are Americans, let us just say that they are to us what we Americans are to the British. We Americans are repackaged versions of Britons and the time sheriffs are repackaged versions of Americans. The good news is that they appear to still subscribe to one person-one vote democracy though the U.S. Constitution has evolved with time.”

“You’re kidding me!” I respond.

Intelligence Chief Fred Thurlow smiles broadly, “Very well. As you don’t believe me, I will say I was kidding you.”

I laugh nervously.

Pastor Barrie Grey tells me, “Make sure you don’t get the idea of time sheriffs tangled with the idea of Jesus. They are two completely different entities. When Jesus speaks, it is always consistent with His nature and the Bible. Never just assume that a thought, emotion, image or dream is from Jesus.”

I kind of laugh at both of them, “The two of you are comedians, aren’t you?”

Intelligence Chief Fred Thurlow and Pastor Barrie Grey look at each other and then at me. Fred responds, “Did we say anything? I don’t think we said anything!”

Pastor Barrie Grey winks, “We will see ourselves out!”

I sit in the chair in the Oval Office, greatly disturbed.

CHAPTER 1 – PAUL REVERE HEARS OF A PROBLEM

Sleep – January 20, 2025

I am sleeping, exhausted after a long day of briefings.

Thoughts emerge unnoticed in my mind.

He really doesn’t know about us time sheriffs.

Yes, I know. Let us see where we are at. We have here a cute movie that helps us see whether we have managed to avert a nuclear war and get ourselves started. It is a bit of a progress indicator. We will assume that Paul Revere is this particular president and his job is to save the United States of America and start our organization.

Paul Revere Progress Indicator – January 20, 2025

Paul Revere walks by an old man as he patrols in front of an inn. Paul Revere looks like he has my face. The old man speaks, “I heard that there were going to be nuclear explosions in the United States. Old Peter told me that there was going to be one right here in Washington D.C.”

Paul Revere laughs, “There aren’t going to be nuclear explosions. Everybody’s going to be OK, Michael!”

Michael insists, “There are going to be nuclear explosions in the United States!’

Paul Revere looks at him, “Are you sure?”

Michael nods at him.

Paul Revere’s lip firms up, “There is no way that that is going to happen.”

Michael insists, “But it will!”

“No way!”

“Yes there will be a problem!”

Back and forth they argue for hours.

Finally Peter stamps his foot down, “I am telling you it will happen!”

Paul Revere’s face goes pale. He yells, “I got to save the United States of America!”

He jumps on a horse, and urges the horse to ride. But it is too late. A blinding explosion rises into the air from where the White House is located. A terrible mushroom cloud soars into the air, and a shock wave races towards Paul Revere. All Paul Revere can do is look and be turned into nothing.

Sleep – January 20, 2025

There are all kinds of groans. Are you fricking kidding me? a thought goes.

We are miles away from getting started! And we are cutting it really close to a danger zone for nuclear war!

So what we are we going to do?

I really don’t know.

But we have to shut down this danger zone! We could cease to exist if the United States and Communist Empire have a nuclear war. Our ancestors from the 21^st century could kill each other off and then we won’t have ancestors!

What does headquarters say?

We got to get ourselves started.

But didn’t people get the point when that guy wrote science fiction books about us and what we are and why we should exist?

Apparently not.

Are you fricking kidding me?

No. They didn’t.

Can we rope that guy in to try to get people to get us started?

He is supposed to be a science fiction author. He could look crazy if he is careless and makes it look like he thinks this stuff is real.

Are you fricking kidding me? What are we supposed to do? We have to get everybody out of a nuclear war and we cannot get started! What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to tell them to get us started? Do we have to wave our hands around and do the chicken dance?

Headquarters says to make it work. We could take a shot at getting this US President to take a stab at it.

Oh gosh! He is such a politician! He plays both sides whenever it suits him. He always does the popular thing. How are we supposed to get anything like time sheriffs with this US President?

They say they have movie directors, actors and actresses to make little movies that we can beam into the US President’s head. Basically we will give him movie dreams.

Do they have any ideas?

The one idea they had was to have a pretend leader from a far future human civilization somehow make contact with the US President in his head, and then ask him to create the time police. Do you think that will work?

Are you fricking kidding me? Don’t you have any other ideas?

The other idea that they have had is to have all the people from the past rise up from the dead and complain that the time sheriffs need to be created.

No fricking way! The President will think that he had too much to drink! Don’t we have any other ideas?

They say they are working on it.

Well. Sounds like we have a Top Secret video that we have to play here that even we cannot see! I understand we figured out what to put in the video later on in the process.

Can the US president pick us up?

No. Just the visualizations.

Excellent. So the goal here is to make points to the President so that he makes good decisions in the approaching nuclear war danger zone.

Point-Making Visualization – January 20, 2025

I can see myself looking at a board game that has a map of the world. I preside over the United States of America. I can see the President of the Communist Empire, Hu Chan, on the other side of the board game, brooding over the Communist Empire. The leaders of many other nations are huddled around the board game. Bustling cities fill every continent.

To the side of the board game, I see a sword in a stone. It reads, “The Sword of World Domination.”

On the stone it reads, “He who wields the Sword of World Domination will find that it will shatter in his hand and destroy him who wields it.”

The Communist Empire president is eyeing the sword too. My eye starts twitching as I watch him. His lip starts twitching as he watches me. All the other leaders of the world can see this happen. The Queen of England whispers in my ear, “Take it easy! Don’t frighten the Communist Empire!”

The German President tries to motion to me to back off. The Japanese Prime Minister shakes his head at the Communist Empire president. I lock my eyes with the Communist Empire president. His eyes meet mine, unafraid. My eyes narrow. And so do the Communist Empire president’s eyes. The tension rises in the room. It builds… and it builds… and it builds.

Suddenly, the Communist Empire president moves to grab for the sword. I move to grab the sword as well. On the board game nuclear missiles are shot into the air seeking targets on the board game map of the United States and the board game map of the Communist Empire. All the leaders of the world scream silently. Everything goes into slow motion. My hand grabs the sword at the same time the Communist Empire president grabs it. We wrestle hard knocking board game pieces everywhere. There are mushroom clouds everywhere in the Communist Empire and the United States. The Communist Empire president wrests the sword away from me. Red starts creeping everywhere from the Communist Empire. It crosses from Asia into Africa and Europe and into North and South America. The Communist Empire president wields the sword high.

But then the sword shatters into a million pieces. The Communist Empire president screams in pain. All the world leaders are scrambling. Blue starts meeting the red and driving it back into Communist Empire until finally the red is destroyed. The Communist Empire president is howling in agony as radiation burns appear all over his skin. To my horror, I can see radiation burns spreading over my body.

All the world leaders jump away from the two of us. The Communist Empire president and I fall to the ground, and we both die in inexpressible pain.

Then all is black.

Then I can see all the world leaders carrying two coffins, one draped in the United States flag and one draped in the Communist Empire flag.

A voice rings out, “Do not lightly invoke the spectre of nuclear war!”

Then suddenly, everything rewinds back to the moment the Communist Empire president and I were eyeing the Sword of World Domination. I stand, walk over to the Communist Empire president and shake his hand, “In the interests of keeping the future of our planet alive, we will not start nuclear war.”

The Communist Empire president, surprised, stands. A faint smile crosses his lips as he responds, “We will not start a nuclear war. We will work things out another way.”

Real Life – January 21, 2025

I wake, terrified. What is happening? Maybe just a dream? Am I supposed to be friendly to the Communist Empire president? But the Communist Empire are bullies! They need to be kept in their place.

I shake it off, and go about my morning duties. I know I will have a secret service briefing at 9am.

After breakfast, I meet with Intelligence Chief Fred Thurlow. He confides, “We have someone watching the Communist Empire president inside his presidential home. And we have concerns that something really bad freaked the Communist Empire president out last night. His henchmen reportedly could not extract anything from him as to what was the matter.’

Absent-mindedly, I say, “I guess he might have had a dream.”

“Well whatever it was rattled him really badly. We are not sure what may have happened but we will figure it out.”

Cheekily, I ask him, “Perhaps your time police friends know what is going on?”

Fred’s face is completely dead-pan, “Time police? Who are time police? I trust that you will not fall apart this early in your presidency.”

I want to laugh but something in his face tells me it is not a good idea to tease him on this matter. “Anything else?” I ask.

“The Communist Empire appear to be pushing their boundaries with India. They have marked additional territory in India as Communist Empire, and are starting to bully the Indians. We may have no choice but to stop them from their path of interfering with other nations.”

“I understand.”

“The other thing to know is that Japan is asking for additional weapons so that they can have a sufficient military deterrent against the Communist Empire threat.”

“How are our European allies disposed?”

“Many are disgusted with American overreach in their affairs, but many are starting to get legitimately concerned for the future of Europe with the rising Communist Empire threat. We may have to cement our alliances with NATO members so that we can frighten the Communist Empire.”

“What is happening here in the United States of America?”

“The environmental types want us to sign a new Antarctic agreement to protect Planet Earth from Big Oil. They are hoping that you will make a public endorsement of their movement in the process.”

“What do polls say about us signing the Antarctic agreement?”

“It says here that 55% of people support the Antarctic agreement.”

“Very well! I will get on my social media account and express my support for the Antarctic Agreement.”

Fred looks at me gravely, “We should clear your social media posts with the media relations department of the White House.”

But I am already on my phone, tapping away, “I, the President of the United States of America whole-heartedly support the signing of the Antarctic Agreement. This is a necessary movement for the future of the planet, so that our descendants still have a planet!”

Fred sighs, “Sir! Please take caution in how you approach social media!”

“I know what I am doing! There! Posted!”

I look at my phone to see how many Likes I am getting. With a satisfied smirk, I see my Likes go above 1,000 in five seconds flat.

Fred sits for five seconds, then says, “Please do not communicate any confidential information on your social media account.”

I barely hear him as I watch my phone. Suddenly I see a post below my post, “This president is a selfish jerk! He is going to kill our economy and take jobs away from the United States of America!”

I can see lots of Thumbs down appearing. Shocked, I quickly type, “I will make sure that Big Oil participates in making the United States of America the most powerful economy in the world. I will bring lots of jobs back to the United States of America!”

Now I see only Thumbs down indicators and no Likes.

Fred has his hand on his head, waiting for the damage to work itself out.

I say, “Oops!”

Fred speaks, “Like I said, could you please ensure our media relations department handles any social media posts going forward.”

I turn on the television and I hear a news commentator speaking, “President Humphreys made a bizarre post supporting the Antarctic Agreement and then seemed to retract and support Big Oil. This has led critics to call him President Flip-Flop.”

Fred is looking out the window in despair.

I am so angry at how things have turned out. Here I am investing in the country and they call me President Flip-Flop.

The news commentator speaks, “Many people say that President Humphreys is part of the deep state and opinion is divided. Is he part of the swamp or is he fresh blood to turn over the political system? The latest poll says that 35% of people believe he is part of the deep state and 25% believe that he is here to take out the swamp. The rest are undecided or did not want to respond.”

I sit there fuming. Fred speaks, “Mr. President, you will find that people will be very unfair to you in your position. Can I please ask you not to give anybody any ammunition to use against you? Can you please leave the social media posts to the media relations department? People will put words in your mouth and insinuate things about you that are completely false and misleading.”

I say, “I am the President! People should be respecting me! I only tried to reach out to everybody!”

Fred nods, “I understand completely. It is important for politicians to respect the interests of their constituencies. It is a fundamental part of our democracy. But sometimes people in our position have to make tough choices whether people like them or not. Sometimes a true President of the United States of America will have to make the tough, unpopular decisions that help everybody and invite curses from everybody. Sometimes you will just have to do the right thing and tell everybody who disagrees with you to work with you or get left behind. Obviously you have to build support, but people may not be seeing what you are seeing that needs to be done.”

I sigh, “I suppose you are right.”

Changing the subject, I ask, “What is the likelihood of us having a nuclear war with Communist Empire?”

Fred looks at some papers, “We are not sure at this point. But the Communist Empire keeps jostling its neighbours and the more jostling there is, the more likely something will happen. We are not sure what hit the Communist Empire president, but whatever it was, it was something that bugged him overnight. Our agents watching him said that they did not see anything happen in his room and they did not see anybody enter or leave the room. There was no paperwork or computer work that indicated a problem.”

“We definitely have eyes and ears in the Communist Empire presidential palace, don’t we?”

“We have become very good at getting past the Communist Empire defenses.”

“What is the status of the Communist Empire armed forces?”

“Their navy is now one third larger than ours, with a similar number of aircraft carriers. Their air force is now fully equipped with stealth fighters, bombers and drones. Their infantry and tanks are not quite as good as ours, but they are definitely catching up. If we get into a war with the Communist Empire, it could be a hard fought war.”

“Do we have any new and upcoming technology?”

“We have a few leads. One research team in California has put in a research paper discussing how it is possible to observe the same event in real-time but from two different points in time. It sounds a bit weird, but there could be potential to seeing the efforts of the Communist Empire army before we engage them. Basically we could observe the Communist Empire efforts from two different points in time with one slightly in the future and one in the present. Another research team from Washington has a research paper discussing how drones could use quantum technology to speed up time slightly so that they can reach their targets faster. We have another team that has thoughts about time radar that can map together radar maps from multiple points slightly in the future to observe the enemy. We seem to be starting to slowly crack the concept of time open.”

“Next you will be telling me about time police,” I chuckle.

Fred smiles tightly and avoids responding. He speaks, “I think that is it for the intelligence briefing, Mr. President. I hear the White House Media Relations department wants to ask you for a strategy as to how the Humphreys White House wants to manage its publicity.”

We stand up, shake hands and Fred walks out.

Lesley, head of the White House Media Relations department comes in, “Mr. President, I wanted to ask you if you had any plans for how to manage the publicity.”

“I want to know what the polls say on all key political issues. We need to target the most important voting bases and attempt to get their support.

Lesley nods, “Understood. Can I ask that you leave social media posts to my department? We need to have a strategy that appeals to the correct voting bases that is consistent across the whole Humphreys White House.”

“Okay, Lesley. I won’t do any social media posts.”

I think to myself, I need the support of the American people. I want support and I have to do what it takes to get it. Doing the right thing won’t get me anywhere.

I pick up a faint thought, And I suppose you believe that the ends justify the means?

Shocked, I try to probe to see where that thought came from.

That night, I struggle to sleep, embarrassed by my political mistake. Why does nobody like me? They voted for me, now they hate me! I tried to make a post that worked for everybody and now everybody is attacking me!

CHATER 2 – PAUL REVERE MANAGES TO RIDE A LITTLE DISTANCE

Sleep – March 12, 2025

I am so tired. I have been visiting with the British Prime Minister, and we have managed to iron out a new trade deal.

I fall asleep.

Thoughts pop up in my head, unnoticed by me.

Let us see if we got somewhere.

Paul Revere Progress Indicator – March 12, 2025

Paul Revere walks by an old man as he does his patrol in front of an inn. Paul Revere looks like he has my face. The old man speaks, “I heard that there were going to be nuclear explosions in the United States. Old Peter told me that there was going to be one right here in Washington D.C.”

Paul Revere laughs, “There aren’t going to be nuclear explosions. Everybody’s going to be OK, Michael!”

Michael insists, “There are going to be nuclear explosions in the United States!’

Paul Revere looks at him, “Are you sure?”

Michael nods at him.

Paul Revere’s lip firms up, “There is no way that that is going to happen.”

Michael insists, “But it will!”

“No way!”

“Yes there will be a problem!”

Back and forth they argue for a few hours.

Michael finally stamps his foot, “Old Peter is a man of some integrity around here.”

Paul Revere’s face goes pale as he realizes Peter is serious. He yells, “I got to save the United States of America!”

He jumps on a horse, and urges the horse to ride. He rides fast down the streets of the town, and into the fields. But it is too late. A blinding explosion rises into the air from where the White House is located. A terrible mushroom cloud soars into the air, and a shock wave races towards Paul Revere. All Paul Revere can do is look and be turned into nothing.

Sleep – March 12, 2025

There are groans everywhere.

We made some headway but not much. We really have to do something!

This U.S. President is a piece of work! He thinks the ends justify the means!

Well this is the President that presides over an important nuclear war danger zone. It is what it is.

So what do we do?

We are thinking about what to do.

I know that the sci-fi author who wrote about us wrote sci-fi books and most people think that sci-fi is just sci-fi, but seriously, can’t people take the hint! How are we supposed to get the idea of how it works out there? You don’t just waltz into the 21^st century and say here is some really cool 31^st century stuff and pretty please create time police. This stuff will blow the minds of people from the 21^st century! So we start with sci-fi and once people understand the concepts, we create time sheriffs! Simple!

Well. It isn’t working. People will say they don’t have time travel technology and that it isn’t possible to travel through time, therefore there is no need for time sheriffs.

Seriously! Einstein says that time can be manipulated. He is from the 20^th century for goodness’s sake! All the Americans have to do is get stuck into the research and start building the frameworks that allow for time sheriffs and time travel!

But they will say it is too much work.

Going to the moon was a lot of work, but they made it work. All they need to do is invest! Keep trying! Keep investigating the issue! It is possible! If mankind made it to the moon with the technology they had in the 1960’s, then mankind can build the frameworks to manage time travel and also create time sheriffs with what is available in the 21^st century!

We cannot give them the technology.

No way! That is illegal. But they CAN figure this out! They CAN discover time travel. And they CAN create time sheriffs. Yes the beginnings will be rudimentary and look almost silly but baby steps, people! BABY STEPS, PEOPLE! We also have to start connecting the later time sheriffs with the very first time sheriffs, who were started by the Americans! It started with the Americans! Time travel is so critical to manage that we simply have to lay down the law from almost the very beginning! So we start by getting the Americans to start the time sheriffs!

So how do we get the point across to people!

I don’t know! Just because it is sci-fi doesn’t mean people shouldn’t at least explore the possibilities. At least invest! If the Americans don’t invest in this area, the Communist Empire will jump miles ahead of them. We got to get them to INVEST! Seriously! These weird, crazy sci-fi ideas come from somewhere! INVEST before it is too late!

Relax!

I am so freaked out about people not getting the point.

Relax!

OK, I am relaxing…

What if people have problems with what this sci-fi author is saying? What will we do then?

Well, the ideas he is communicating are just supposed to be educated suggestions based on a high-level survey understanding of the situation and lots of deep moral wrestling with gnarly and difficult issues in this area. If people really have problems with something, they can always change them to something that suits their purposes better.

So how do we say that?

I don’t know! Can’t people please just get the point? It is OK to create time sheriffs! Nobody in the future will attack people from the past for trying to create time sheriffs. They just don’t like people getting paranoid and getting all conspiracy theory-like because they have half the facts.

We are approaching a nuclear war danger zone. We HAVE to do something!

Right! Do we have some suggestions on how to convince the U.S. President to get us started?

The movie director team had two suggestions. One was we could pretend that we are aliens and that we are coming in from Outer Space, and then we tell him, “What the hell is wrong with you? Why don’t you create time sheriffs?”

That is just weird. He’ll think he is crazy.

But we are aliens.

Sorry to correct you. We are the descendants of humans that emigrated to other planets. While that meets the definition of aliens, to call us aliens would be misleading.

Okay. The other idea we had was a little awkward.

You are blushing! Out with it!

Does the President like girls?

NO! NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT A GOOD IDEA!!! That is so inappropriate! How could you even consider that?

Well… they asked us to brainstorm the situation.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

Fine! The later versions of our team have sent a prepared video in to this point in time. Top secret so we cannot eavesdrop. We will have to figure out what we did later. Playing the video so the US President can see it.

Point-Making Visualization – March 12, 2025

I can hear my voice speaking, “As President of the United States, I say that we will fight the Communist Empire to the bitter end! We will destroy their cities and wipe out their economy! The American people will rise up and destroy the Communist threat.”

There is ominous music.

A voice rings out, “Mr. President, we are ready to launch our nuclear arsenal against the Communist Empire!”

There are drums playing.

“Sir, the Communist Empire have launched their entire nuclear arsenal!” someone yells.

There is shrill whining.

There is a huge nuclear explosion in the background. A shock wave emanates out from it. And ashes start falling from the sky. The camera zooms towards a woman hidden by a cloak. Her face and arms appear. Radiation burns start spreading everywhere on her face and her arms. She is shaking from the terror of what has happened.

A rewind button appears in the picture. Everything rewinds back to before the nuclear explosion.

I can hear my voice speaking, “As President of the United States, I say that we will make every effort to avoid nuclear war. We will work with our allies to create options that will make it very difficult for a nuclear weapon to be fired in anger. We will work to create organizations which can help moderate the situation such as time sheriffs.”

Drums start playing.

I can see the woman in the cloak. Her skin is smooth and she is smiling.

Real Life – March 13, 2025

I wake up, greatly frightened. What is happening here?

I go to the bathroom. I look in the mirror. I am so pale. Why do these dreams bother me so? Am I going off my mind? Am I supposed to do something? But these Communist Empire types, they are a threat to everybody, aren’t they?

There is a knock on the door, “Sir! Intelligence Chief Fred Thurlow is here for the intelligence briefing.”

I get dressed quickly, and join Fred in the Oval Office.

Fred looks worried.

“What is it, Fred?”

“Mr. President, the Communist Empire have stated that based on historical claims, the whole island of Japan is now Communist Empire territory. They are now actively playing war games in Japanese air space and naval space. We are allies with Japan, sir! Any failure to act could have dire ramifications for NATO and our allies.”

“What started this?” I ask.

“Apparently, they say that the Japanese invaded Communist Empire territory during World War 2, and that the Japanese have not made adequate reparations for the events of that war. The Japanese Prime Minister then made a motion to get Communist Empire kicked out of the United Nations, which has caused the Communist Empire to do this saber-rattling.”

“Why are they picking on the Japanese?”

“They say that the Japanese have not shown remorse for what happened during the Second World War. They say if the Germans had to show remorse for the Jewish genocide, why aren’t the Japanese showing remorse?”

“Isn’t this an attempt to consolidate their world domination?”

I suddenly get a vision of the sword of world domination and the terrifying words inscribed on the stone in which it was embedded.

“Probably. We are now in a major Cold War. It is now the United States and its allies vs. Communist Empire and its allies.”

“Is there anything else that is happening?”

“Communist Empire and Russia have made an alliance to protect each other from our efforts. The Russians contribute gas to the Communist Empire and the Communist Empire provide the Russians with financial resources to build a war machine.”

“Let’s keep watching the situation,” I say, “Anything happening at home?”

“Well the Washington Football Team are hoping that you can make an appearance at their stadium to cheer on their team as they play against the Seattle Seahawks.”

“What time is the game?”

“It starts at 3pm today.”

“Let us pay a visit.”

Throughout the day, I meet with various cabinet ministers and have a video conference with the head of the security and exchange commission. As I go through the day, I wonder what kind of publicity stunt I can do to get my approval ratings up. In between meetings, I scroll through news websites to see how popular I am. Apparently, people think my approval rating is 43%. How can I bring it up?

I also check the state of the economy. The Dow keeps going up and down and the job numbers are flat. And people are noticing. Am I going to be just another average President?

Finally the moment arrives to go to the stadium. I know that people have a problem with the past presidents of the United States of America. They seem to have found a problem with every single past president and destroyed his reputation. Maybe I could verbally attack the past presidents so that I can get a higher approval rating. That would be such a clever plan! I would be known as a president who cares about taking things forward!

I pick up a thought, Ewwwww!!!!! Wrong reason to do that!

Seriously! I am having thoughts in my head.

The secret service escorts me to the stadium. I am escorted into the players’ locker rooms. The football players look so huge. They all seem delighted and excited to see me. After a few formalities, someone yells, “Time to go on the field!”

The players run out. The secret service escorts me onto the field. I can see all the football players standing in rows. A podium has been prepared on the field. I walk to the podium and I speak, “Ladies and gentlemen, people of the United States of America, this great nation of ours! I want to say we have a fantastic country. We have moved forward from the mistakes of the past. We know better than our ancestors! The past Anglo-Saxon presidents of our country were slave owners, chauvinistic, myopic and were basically mostly white trash!”

To my horror, I hear a mixture of cheers and boos. That did not go quite according to plan.

The secret service escorts me off the field as the football players start the game. I sit down in the audience and watch the game. I feel so dirty, and I cannot figure out why. Was that even worth it?

I pick up a thought, Not a good idea to speak death or mediocrity over your own country and its past right before a nuclear war danger zone.

Nervously, I make a thought, Anybody there?

I pick up a lot of annoyed feelings.

CHAPTER 3 – PAUL REVERE MANAGES TO RIDE TO THE EDGE OF THE CITY

Sleep – March 15, 2025

Thoughts emerge as I am sleeping.

I feel so dirty working with this President. If there is anything we time sheriffs have learned, it is never to be snobs with people from other time zones or other parts of the world. We have learned that each time zone and part of the world is really evil in a few areas and really good in others, and a step forward in one area always involves a step backwards in another area. Yes, those earlier American presidents had wrong ideas about slavery but these 21^st century presidents are just as bad in other areas. For example, these 21^st century types think sleeping around and ruining families is OK, whereas the 19^th century types were much better with that sort of thing. It is so important to keep time zones in their context – always, always evaluate other time zones and other parts of the world according to the context that they live in. White trash? Bah! This president is even worse white trash than the earlier U.S. presidents. I have an idea… but let us start with the Paul Revere Progress Indicator.

Paul Revere Progress Indicator – March 15, 2025

Paul Revere laughs, “There aren’t going to be nuclear explosions. Everybody’s going to be OK, Michael!”

Michael insists, “There are going to be nuclear explosions in the United States!’

Paul Revere looks at him, “Are you sure?”

Michael nods at him.

Paul Revere’s lip firms up, “There is no way that that is going to happen.”

Michael insists, “But it will!”

“No way!”

“Yes there will be a problem!”

Back and forth they argue for two hours.

Another man intervenes, “My name’s Greg. Old Peter is a decent guy. I heard that he got his information from special sources from the other side.”

Paul looks at Greg, “Is this true?”

Greg nods.

Paul Revere’s face goes pale. He yells, “I got to save the United States of America!”

He jumps on a horse, and urges the horse to ride. He rides fast down the streets of the town, and into the fields. This time he gets even further. He rides and he rides, tearing up the earth with the hoofbeats of his horse. Is it too late? Is it too late?

The edges of Washington D.C. start emerging. He starts passing the first few houses.

But it is too late. A blinding explosion rises into the air from where the White House is located. A terrible mushroom cloud soars into the air, and a shock wave races towards Paul Revere. All Paul Revere can do is look and be turned into nothing.

Sleep – March 15, 2025

There are groans everywhere.

At least he made it into Washington D.C.

We are never going to be able to get this right! Not with this U.S. president! Not with this idiot!

Well! It is what it is!

What are we going to do?

I feel like having a drink or two to drown my sorrows.

We don’t drink on the job.

This President is depressing… so depressing. And he is what we have to start the time sheriffs. What are we going to do?

I know we need some character from whoever starts time sheriffs, but there is no reason why we cannot make it come out of those who are on the scene. We are after all telepaths.

I guess so.

We are approaching a nuclear war danger zone. We need to get started and we don’t have time to babysit this piece of white trash of a president.

Well. We waited too long to get ourselves started. Now we are approaching an emergency. We need to moderate this nuclear war danger zone so that we can make sure later time zones do in fact exist.

So do we do this? The thing with time travel is that you either do something or you don’t. Dithering and flip-flopping is extremely dangerous when dealing with time travel, as you can create a horrific logjam. Flip-flopping may be dangerous in a normal large scale project and can cost lives, but the danger is multiplied by a hundred times when dealing with time travel. You can have a sea of hurt people if you dither with time travel. Once you go in, it is critical to commit to a plan of action and follow through with it. Do we work with this president? Or do we not? We cannot do both.

Let us try working with him anyway.

They say they are sending in a Top Secret visualization. We apparently made it later on but we cannot see it until we actually make it.

I think I know what it will be about. It is kind of funny that the great great great great great great and so forth grandkids of this 21^st century generation are going to have to babysit this U.S. President. And he is the oldest one here right now, even though we are older than him right now.

Let us play it. MWAHAHAHA!!!!

Point-Making Visualization – March 15, 2025

I am sitting at a desk. I stand up and say, “The past Anglo-Saxon presidents are white trash.”

I find myself walking through the White House. I see George Washington on the left. He is looking at me, “White trash, huh?” he speaks, “You talking about me?”

Thomas Jefferson looks on from a wall on the right, “I may be white trash, but I am white trash that made a country. You are just nobody white trash!”

Dwight Eisenhower steps out of his picture and yells at me, “Soldier! Pull yourself together! You are the President of the United States! Is that how you talk?”

I straighten up nervously.

Franklin D. Roosevelt walks down the hallway shaking his head, “In this time of danger, are you going to call us white trash? Remember this saying forever! One generation with the struggle, one generation to make the nation great, one generation to keep it together and one generation to throw it all away! Are you part of the generation that will throw it all away?”

Ronald Reagan stands in front of me, “You want to play with the Communist Empire? You play with the Communist Empire and you could be dealing with a nuclear war! Do you want to play with this? Do you want to call us white trash when you could be getting the United States into something that could destroy its future?”

Abraham Lincoln joins the other former U.S. Presidents, “You want to be a great American President? Well then you better do the right thing! Not the easy thing! The right thing! The right thing for everybody! Even when it is unpopular! Do what a real American president will do!”

Barack Obama looks out of his picture and shakes his head, “That really wasn’t presidential.”

John F. Kennedy walks past me, “You know you got to lead a country. Why are you dividing the country? What if you have to do something like land a man on the moon?”

Suddenly, I find myself in a room with my father. My father has always been a strong believer in doing the right thing – so prim and proper and boring. I walk up to him, and I can see I am a child. I ask my father, “What should I do?”

He comes down to my level and holds my shoulder, “The right thing, my child! The right thing! Not the easy thing but the right thing – even when it is hard and it will make you unpopular!”

Everything rewinds.

I find myself at a desk. I tell myself, “I will do the right thing no matter what!”

George Washington yells out, “Yes! That is the spirit!”

Real Life – March 16, 2025

I wake, shocked to my core. I wonder why I am having such weird dreams. And the dreams are talking about nuclear war! What am I picking up?

I feel really guilty about calling the past U.S. presidents white trash. Why did I do that?

I turn on the television. A news presenter speaks, “President Humphreys’ approval ratings continue to fall as he did what appeared to be a bizarre publicity stunt to get additional votes.”

Seriously? Everybody hates me!

“Professor Higginson of the University of California is here to speak to us about what may be happening in the President’s circles. Professor Higginson, is President Humphreys the correct president for the United States of America?”

“Absolutely not! I have never been so disgusted in my life!”

I turn off the television. Seriously! Trying to get my approval ratings up is just not working. Maybe I should stick to my guns on some or other issue. How about I take a stand for freedom of speech? I really believe in it. Maybe people will like me a lot more! A lot of people like freedom of speech!

There is a knock at the door, “Mr. President. Fred will be meeting with you in an hour.”

“I understand,” I say.

I briskly get into presidential attire and see to my morning routines. I walk out of the presidential quarters towards the board room. I see Fred waiting there.

Fred looks a bit upset, “Mr. President! When you were campaigning for the presidency, you had an excellent marketing team. That is why you succeeded in getting the presidency. Can you please ask the White House Media Relations Arm to help you in future before you do any media relations?”

I nod, “What is the news on the situation around the Communist Empire?”

Fred shakes his head, “The Communist Empire President has been seriously rattled by something but we cannot figure it out. We have agents in his Presidential complex and we cannot see what is going on. Someone or something has royally freaked out the Communist Empire president and caused him to order his army to cease frightening the Communist Empire’s neighbours.”

I blink. What is going on?

Fred looks at the paperwork and puts it down, “We just cannot figure it out! It may be that the Japanese have some sort of leverage over the Communist Empire President. Or perhaps the British or Germans. I have asked our agents to find out.”

“Yes, I agree. That is very odd.”

“The other thing is we have to do a few drills with the nuclear missile codes. Please Mr. President, I hope you have your nuclear missile codes handy.”

I show him the codes, inwardly wondering what is going on with the dreams, hoping I won’t get into trouble with nuclear missile codes.

“Mr. President. Do you have anything you want us to look into?”

“I want to know what is bothering the Communist Empire President. This could be an important development. We need to look into it, Fred. Could you please also check if the Iranian president is having the same issue?”

Fred looks at me, “Why would that be related?”

“I am just wondering. I have a theory.”

Fred asks me, “What kind of theory?”

“It would be helpful to know if there is a pattern to this. Quick question? Can you tell me a bit more about these time sheriffs that you once talked about?”

Fred’s face is deadpan, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Fair enough,” I say, chuckling inside, “What is happening at home? Is there a sort of freedom of speech conference in the neighbourhood?”

“Yes, I think there is a freedom of speech in the George Washington Conference Centre today at 2pm.”

“I want to go there and speak there.”

“I will get the secret service to go with you. Mr. President, do you want to check with the White House Media Relations Department?”

“No thank you.”

At 2pm, I show up with the secret service at the George Washington Conference Centre. I can see lots of people of all kinds there. The secret service escorts me into the main conference room. The presenter is introducing the speakers. Upon seeing us, the presenter talks, “And we have here the President of the United States of America Thomas Humphreys.”

I come up to the microphone to speak, “I want to tell you that this is the Land of the Free and the Brave!”

Everybody cheers.

“America is the greatest nation in the world!”

Everybody cheers again.

“The United States Constitution is one of the most distinguished documents in the world and it allows for freedom of speech, one of our most inalienable rights. People need to be allowed to say whatever they want!”

Everybody cheers raucously.

Someone yells from the crowd, “I think you are an idiot, Mr. President! Just exercising my right to freedom of speech!”

Everybody laughs. I go red. I try to laugh but I am so humiliated. I say, “Good joke,” and I chuckle.

After finishing my speech, I walk off the stage with my secret service detail. The experience plays over and over in my head. I am pretty sure my approval ratings will go down after that. I should probably find something else I believe in and speak up for it. Maybe diversity. Yes! I will speak up for diversity.

I pick up a thought, Quit this popularity thing already.

I think to myself, Anybody there?

There is no response. I arrive at the White House and turn on the television. A news commentator is speaking, “President Thomas Humphreys’ approval ratings continue their headlong fall. In an attempt to speak up for freedom of speech, the President was humiliated by a Greg here who called the President an idiot. Greg, do you have anything to say about this?”

“Yes. I have a big problem with the freedom of speech crowd. They just say whatever they please without considering how they offend the belief systems of others. I felt that the President should never show up at a freedom of speech conference. It disgusts me to my very core. I think the President has a radical right wing agenda. I bet he has a copy of Mein Kampf somewhere.”

I turn off the television. Seriously?

I pick up a thought, Mr. President, we have a bigger problem than your approval ratings.

I look around myself. I don’t see anybody there. I look at my phone. I have to attend a G7 meeting in half an hour. I need to meet with the German Chancellor Gertruda Engel first.

I walk to the meeting room. I find the German Chancellor waiting there.

“Chancellor, I am President Thomas Humphreys. Let us discuss the matter of free trade between the United States of America and the European Union.”

The Chancellor responds, “I would be delighted to. It is the decision of the European Union to explore our options in this area and we would love to begin negotiations to create a North Atlantic Free Trade Zone. Is there a possibility you could accommodate our requests?”

I nod, “I would be happy to.”

A man comes in, “Mr. President. The rest of the leaders of the G7 are waiting outside.”

I stand up and walk outside to introduce myself to them. They all see Chancellor Gertruda and walk to her to talk to her, completely ignoring me. I hold out my hand to the Prime Minister of Great Britain but he does not see me.

Seething, I join the crowd. They all seem to like Chancellor Gertruda. I can see microphones outside with film crews. When all the leaders of the G7 stand up, they move towards the microphones. I think to myself, I need to say something about diversity. Maybe that will boost my approval ratings.

I hold the microphone and speak, “It is wonderful to have all the members of the G7 here in the Land of the Free and the Brave, in the greatest nation of the world. We will discuss complete and total economic equality between all people. Nobody will be left behind. Nobody will be discriminated against.”

The German Chancellor’s microphone is turned on. She mutters to herself, “Great! We have a Communist American President. What a total far left wacko!”

Everybody looks at her in shock, and she is evidently in shock too. I am going red.

That night I am filled with wrath and anger. Nothing is working!

I turn on the television. The news commentator speaks, “The President’s approval ratings continue to tumble. People are openly asking why they ever elected President Thomas Humphreys as the President of the United States of America. Larry, would you like to give us your opinion on this?”

“This President is a disgrace to our nation. We are not a nation of socialists and this idiot just spoke a bunch of communist nonsense. I bet he has a copy of the Communist Manifesto in his office somewhere.”

I turn off the television, Seriously!

Mr President, we have a bigger problem than your approval ratings.

I turn around. What was that?

I don’t see anybody there. I don’t think it is possible for anybody to read my thoughts.

CHAPTER 4 – PAUL REVERE MANAGES TO RIDE SOME DISTANCE INTO THE CITY

Sleep – May 9, 2025

I am fast asleep.

Thoughts buzz through my head, Let us see if we are any closer to where we have to be with this President and getting ourselves started.

Paul Revere Progress Indicator – May 9, 2025

Paul Revere laughs, “There aren’t going to be nuclear explosions. Everybody’s going to be OK, Michael!”

Michael insists, “There are going to be nuclear explosions in the United States!’

Paul Revere looks at him, “Are you sure?”

Michael nods at him.

Paul Revere’s lip firms up, “There is no way that that is going to happen.”

Michael insists, “But it will!”

“No way!”

“Yes there will be a problem!”

Back and forth they argue for one hour.

A woman walks over, “My name’s Sandra. Old Peter is a great guy, wouldn’t harm a fly. He is also pretty sharp. I know he has contacts on the other side.”

Paul looks at Sandra, “Contacts on the other side where?”

Sandra pauses, “The other side,” she waves her hand nervously, “Um… the other side. You know. He knows people on the Communist Empire side.”

Paul Revere’s face goes pale. He yells, “I got to save the United States of America!”

He jumps on a horse, and urges the horse to ride. He rides fast down the streets of the town, and into the fields. He rides and he rides, tearing up the earth with the hoofbeats of his horse. Is it too late? Is it too late?

The edges of Washington D.C. start emerging. He starts passing the first few houses. He gets even further than he did the last time. Galloping hard down the streets, he passes a woman drawing water. Then he passes a bunch of kids playing. Then he passes a blacksmith hammering away at a horseshoe.

Sleep – May 9, 2025

There are groans everywhere.

We aren’t really much closer. But we did make some progress.

How are we ever going to get ourselves started?

I really don’t know.

Seriously, can’t people just get the point and get us started. We may seem like the stuff of science fiction but if you think about it, we aren’t really that farfetched. For crying out loud, people have been able to reproduce thoughts in the minds of other people with mind interface technology even before the year 2020. It is documented! And the Theory of Relativity shows that there is something weird going on with time under the right kinds of situations. Are we really that farfetched? Come on! Why would we NOT have cops to manage time travel?

Well people have to experience us to have a concept of us I suppose.

Seriously, how do you think we do stuff without contaminating the timeline with lots of mistakes! We come across like spirits but we really are people!

It would be very confusing for a 21^st century person to deal with us.

I suppose you are right. But seriously, once people have a concept of what we are, they should just try to start us, even if we look like science fiction. Time sheriffs are a major asset to every nation that possesses a unit of them. Why would there be any harm in just trying to start us? It is not complicated. If we give people a concept of what we are, the next step is to pretty please start us.

Everybody thinks we are science fiction.

And what if we are very real? What will everybody do then? What if there is something weird from the future that nobody can deal with? The only reason people from the past live ordinary lives is because we keep the weird from the future in the future. If we don’t exist, we cannot keep the weird out. Can’t people at least try to start us? It is not complicated.

We agree.

What have the movie directors come up with?

The one idea was we could have a choir singing and a great rainbow descends from the sky. And there could be an unearthly voice that speaks, “Create the time police.”

No way! That is so weird! We cannot do that! We cannot pretend we are God or some or other deity. We could get into serious trouble if we do that.

The other idea was we could get someone to graffiti the words “Create the time police” all over the White House.

That is vandalism, and that is not a good way for us to make contact with the Americans to start the time sheriffs. Your ideas are pretty awful. You need to go back to the drawing board.

On it.

Seriously. This is getting very complicated. The very least an honorable American President should do is once he has a concept of what time sheriffs are, he should give the order to get them started! It really is not rocket science! Whether science fiction or reality, it needs to be done!

We got another Top Secret video from the future for the U.S. President.

We must have figured it out later on.

Point-Making Visualization – May 9, 2025

I see three Ku Klux Klan men robed in white march into a room. They see a wooden cross in the side of the room. One walks up to the cross, and sets it on fire. “Destroy the Christian faith!” he exclaims.

They start to move in a circle chanting, “Lynch the black man! Lynch the red man! Lynch the yellow man! Lynch the brown man! Lynch any white man who fights us!”

I can see people of various types on a ship flying the United States flag fighting one another, to be the last one on the ship. The blacks fight the whites. The liberals fight the conservatives. The have-nots fight the haves.

Throwing off their robes, the Ku Klux Klan members are unveiled as a hammer and sickle, a swastika and the symbol of division. They put the United States flag in the centre of the room. Moving in a circle once more, they chant, “One generation with the struggle! One generation to make the nation great! One generation to keep the nation alive! And one generation to THROW IT ALL AWAY!”

The fighting on the ship flying the United States flag is ugly. People are shooting guns and cannons at one another. Holes are appearing everywhere on the ship.

The Ku Klux Klan members keep moving in a circle, chanting the same words over and over again, “One generation with the struggle! One generation to make the nation great! One generation to keep the nation alive! And one generation to THROW IT ALL AWAY!”

Eventually, there is so much water in the ship that it sinks, and everybody drowns.

The Ku Klux Klan members stop chanting, and move into the shadows.

Everything rewinds.

The Ku Klux Klan members robed in white march into the room.

Police appear everywhere, “Police here! Put your hands behind your backs! You are under arrest for attempting to destroy the United States of America!”

The Ku Klux Klan members are handcuffed and taken away.

Nobody is fighting on the ship of the United States of America. It sails serenely through the waters, completely at peace.

Real Life – May 10, 2025

I wake up in a fright. What a horrible dream? And what is all of that rewinding all about? The ship of the United States? What is all of that about?

I meet Fred at breakfast. He looks very worried.

“What are you worried about now, Fred?”

“The Communist Empire president is being held in detention and members of his political party appear to have performed a coup d’état. They seem to think that the Communist Empire president is too nice to the neighbors of the Communist Empire. They appear to be of a more radical faction of the Communist party and appear to be aiming to further the Communist Empire’s dominance of the planet.”

“Do we have any suggestions for curtailing this threat?

“The Pentagon wants your permission to move three carrier groups into the western Pacific Ocean as a deterrent. They are also requesting that American troops be moved to Japan, Australia, the Philippines and India. In addition, we would like to set up missile defense systems around Communist Empire in order to shoot down their nuclear weapons should it get to that.”

“What kind of army does the Communist Empire have?”

“Their fleet is greater than ours, and they now have more aircraft carriers. They have a larger nuclear missile arsenal. They have also been outfitted with stealth fighters and stealth bombers. We also have concerns that they are thinking of unleashing disease warfare on the United States if it gets to that. They have perfected a number of laboratory-designed diseases that could do serious damage to our country. Their tanks are not quite as strong as ours, but they have many more tanks. Their infantry dwarfs the United States. The Communist Empire is a formidable threat.”

“If we were to engage in a war with them, would it lead to a nuclear war?”

“It is very likely, but I am pretty sure that our missile systems will be able to keep their nuclear missiles under control.”

I pick up a thought, Famous last words.

“Would we have the means to manage the damage that their laboratory built diseases could cause to our country?”

“We have managed to capture the blueprints of their laboratory-built diseases, and we are manufacturing vaccines that should help protect our people from them. We should be able to protect ourselves from everything that they have.”

I pick up a thought, Again. Famous last words.

“Are we able to keep their hacking teams under control?”

“We have managed to locate all of their hacking teams and have identified the origin of all of their computer system attacks. We should be able to take them out very quickly before they can get to us.”

I pick up a thought again, Tread lightly on this subject of a war with the Communist Empire.

I try to make a thought, Anybody there?

There is no response.

Fred seems to be perspiring, “We may be looking at a slow escalation of conflict with the Communist Empire. The problem we have is that if we do nothing, the Communist Empire gets more aggressive, and if we do push back, we could destabilize the situation. We may be negotiating treacherous waters in the next stage. The particular faction that has seized the Communist Empire is particularly aggressive, and many have strong designs on world dominance. In fact, we may be entering a nuclear war danger zone.”

“How can we keep the Communist Empire under control should they start jostling everybody again?”

“Like I said, we want to have an American military, air force and naval presence in the countries surrounding the Communist Empire. We also need to build our alliances. We need to get NATO behind us as well as Australia, Japan and India. We need to be taken seriously in order to do that. Could we please have our ambassadors start communicating with the countries surrounding the Communist Empire?”

“I can sign all of that off.”

“We also have a bunch of research teams attempting to get the United States a technological edge. Past presidents have also cut the Communist Empire off from access to our new technology which will help us manage the situation.”

“What is the Communist Empire attempting to do diplomatically?”

“They appear to be reaching to out to more former Soviet republics and several surrounding nations to build the Communist Empire. They are also spreading propaganda that the United States has been in many more wars than the Communist Empire, and therefore the United States is the most aggressive nation in the history of the modern world.”

“What is the plan for combating this propaganda?”

“We are trying to portray the Communist Empire as an aggressive nation bent upon world conquest. We have contacts in the various media organizations that appear to be willing to co-operate with us in this endeavor.”

“Can you send me the paperwork and I will sign all of the executive orders?”

“I will do that,” he quickly walks out.

Tread lightly on the topic of nuclear war with the Communist Empire, a thought comes.

Anybody there? I respond.

I look around to see if there is anybody around. But I don’t see anybody. I think about all of the promises I made on the campaign trail, to get the Communist Empire under control. Am I going to be the US president that presides over a nuclear war? What will that mean? Will that ruin the United States of America? What will the consequences be if we don’t keep the Communist Empire under control? What will happen if the conflict escalates too far?

I think back to the humiliating embarrassments have been dealt as I sought publicity. Why does nobody respect me? When I try to do things the way they like, why does it always goes to hell? Someone is always offended no matter what I do. So what is the point? Should I even bother trying to get votes? Maybe I should just do the right thing and to hell with the votes? There appear to be bigger problems coming than a popularity contest. What would it mean if the United States of America sank just because I wanted some votes instead of helping her navigate the treacherous waters of a potential nuclear war? Are we in a new Cold War? Should a Cold War be treated the same way like the past one with Russia? Are people more careless now? Do they think they can handle a nuclear war?

Fred returns with the paperwork, “Mr. President, can you please sign all of these forms? These will give us permission to do what was discussed.”

I tell him, “Let us try to avoid a nuclear war. It would not be pretty if that happened.”

Fred nods, “Absolutely.”

CHAPTER 5 – PAUL REVERE MANAGES TO RIDE TO THE EDGE OF THE PENTAGON

Sleep – May 14, 2025

I am fast asleep.

A thought goes, I think we are making progress. Let us see what the next video is like.

Paul Revere Progress Indicator – May 14, 2025

Paul Revere laughs, “There aren’t going to be nuclear explosions. Everybody’s going to be OK, Michael!”

Michael insists, “There are going to be nuclear explosions in the United States!’

Paul Revere looks at him, “Are you sure?”

Michael nods at him.

Paul Revere’s lip firms up, “There is no way that that is going to happen.”

Michael insists, “But it will!”

“No way!”

“Yes there will be a problem!”

Back and forth they argue for half an hour.

A man walks over, “My name’s Henry. Old Peter is with the U.S. Secret Service and has a lot of contacts in the Communist Empire. He is pretty solid and gives good information. I suggest you take him seriously.”

Paul Revere’s face goes pale. He yells, “I got to save the United States of America!”

The edges of Washington D.C. start emerging. He starts passing the first few houses. Galloping hard down the streets, he passes a woman drawing water. He passes a bunch of kids playing. He passes a blacksmith hammering a horseshoe. He gets even further than he did the previous time. The Pentagon rises in the distance. Paul Revere pushes hard to get to the Pentagon before the nuclear bomb goes off.

Sleep – May 14, 2025

There are groans everywhere.

At least we got to the Pentagon this time.

Yes. But we haven’t quite resolved the problem yet. We still need to get the President to get us started.

The President seems to be coming around to at least doing the right thing, after we orchestrated embarrassments for him each time he tried to get votes.

That was funny.

It is not funny. We have a serious problem here. We are approaching a nuclear war danger zone. We have to at least limit the damage somehow so we still have a planet.

We could ask the President to start the time sheriffs.

He still thinks he is picking up weird thoughts in his head. It would be very risky to ask him to create time sheriffs right now.

We tried giving him a sense that a nuclear war would be a very bad idea.

Well. That is why we have people who can do telepathy with the right technology here. We can arrange things without being detected.

People might find that creepy.

We do what we must. If we cease to exist as a species, then that will be the end of everything. We have to at least get time sheriffs started.

We would obviously have to get controls over time sheriffs as people with telepathic technology could do a lot of bad things.

Oh, absolutely. So we will create controls. But we still need to exist, and given that the Communist Empire and the United States are getting jingoistic, we may have to cause an intervention. It would be easier if the Americans had a unit of time sheriffs and we communicate the right things to them, or at least if they had a concept of what time sheriffs are.

A lot of Americans are paranoid about a deep state.

Well, we are all in the same boat when it comes to losing this planet. We got to make sure everybody survives the jingoism of the Communist Empire and the United States. Without this planet in this time zone, the human race has nothing. We will be dead. All of us.

The movie directors have some suggestions that may impress the U.S. President.

Let us hear them.

Movies from the late 20^th century and early 21^st century talk about a great robot war and people sent from the future to fight robots that come in from the future. So we could pretend that there is a great robot war in the future and the commander of the human resistance is calling the U.S. President from the future to tell him to start time sheriffs. And then we will have time sheriffs.

That sounds a tad ridiculous. The President will think he is hallucinating.

Well what do you want us to do?

I don’t know. Something!

Well the other idea was that we could have a White House staffer say absent-mindedly, ‘Start the time police’ at random points.

Is that all you can come up with? The poor White House staffer will probably be sent to a mental institution if you do that or lose his or her job. What will we do then? Everybody will say that that person had a hallucination and that time sheriffs are just make-believe. Seriously! We have all the technology in the world and we cannot make this work!

I really don’t know. This is proving to be very complicated. This is going to be weird however we introduce the issue. People should just get the point if science fiction books about us of this nature are published. They should just create us!

So how do they know to create us? They didn’t get the point when that sci-fi author wrote about us. What are we to do? We are facing a potential nuclear war danger zone and we don’t know how to get ourselves started. That is so ridiculous!

Well we need help from people from the 21^st century. Someone has to start it all.

So seriously, why can’t they get us started?

Well maybe they are scared of us.

We won’t complain if people try to get us started. We just hate conspiracy theories with a passion. We don’t want people with half the facts to talk smack about us. But we would sure love a hand with getting started.

Here is the next Top Secret visualization coming in from the future. We are playing it.

We’ll have to find out what it was when we make it later.

Point-Making Visualization – May 14, 2025

A schoolteacher is teaching a history lesson in school to a bunch of school kids. An American flag is flying outside. She speaks, “The Americans were so evil towards everybody else. They destroyed all nations in North America that they encountered. They should feel ashamed of all the bad things they did. They fought wars all over the planet. There is nothing good about Americans. We should all be ashamed of our history and apologize to everybody else. The human race in general has ruined the environment. Our species is a disgrace to this planet and should cease to exist.”

The camera focuses in on one kid. He seems to grow more mature. Then he is speaking with someone else, “I don’t think the Americans were great for this planet. I think we should just move out of the way and let everybody else do their thing. Well… maybe the human species should not even exist.”

Then he seems to grow more mature. Someone talks, “We have an opportunity to ensure that there will be no nuclear war that wipes America out but it will involve stepping out and taking risks. And it is a bit of a weird idea but it is possible.”

He just responds, “Why is America or even the human race worth helping? Why should I take a risk for America or mankind? I think the Americans are evil. I think the human species is evil. They should just die!”

Then he seems to grow older again. He is watching a television that is blaring. A news commentator speaks, “The United States of America is facing nuclear war. We need to stand together and work out solutions that work for everybody.”

He just shrugs his shoulders, “Meh! I don’t care! The United States does not inspire me! The human race does not inspire me! We should all just die! We are just a sick blot upon this planet! We deserve to die!”

A nuclear explosion rises into the air in the distance. A shock wave approaches and hits the house he is in. And he evaporates.

A rewind button appears and everything rewinds to the teacher in the schoolroom.

She teaches a history lesson in school to a bunch of school kids. She talks about the past, “The Americans have a lot of good in their history and a lot of bad. We had brave frontiers folk who endured tough seasons and many difficulties to create this wonderful land. We made some mistakes and we hurt some other nations, and we need to remember not to make those mistakes again. But in the end, our history of expanding frontiers made us strong, and enabled us to fight dangerous opponents in the 20^th century, defeating nations that were playing with genocide and other evil things. We need to remember that the difficulties that we have had as a nation have equipped us to do many things that other nations cannot. The human race has caused a lot of harm to the environment, but we are looking into technology that can preserve this planet. In fact, we could one day spread the life on this planet across the stars.”

The camera zooms in on one kid. He seems to grow more mature. Then he is speaking with someone else, “We should try to do something to protect the United States and the human race from the dangers that may take them out. Yes we have made mistakes, but we should at least try to make sure we have a future. Because everybody else has made mistakes too. And even if any other intelligent species exists, they would also have made just as terrible mistakes.”

He responds, “Let us hear it.”

“We have an idea to create a crowd of people called time sheriffs and if the idea takes, then later versions of the time sheriffs could protect us from near extinction threats.”

“Is this really possible?”

“Yes, it actually is. But it will involve taking risks and potentially looking like an idiot. But America could last a while longer at the very least.”

He pauses reflectively, “Let us take a look at it. I may look like an idiot, but it is an idea worth exploring.”

The clock on the wall moves forward 48 hours. Then the news commentator speaks, “This is a very happy day for all of us! Nuclear war has been averted. It doesn’t make sense but the confrontation has ended and we are not longer looking at the abyss of a nuclear winter. Peace has been made and both sides in the conflict have signed declarations that there will never be a nuclear war.”

Real Life – May 15, 2025

I wake up in a shock. Why this story about a school teacher? Why so many messages about time sheriffs? Who are they? Who does Fred Thurlow think they are? Aren’t they just the stuff of science fiction by a supposedly semi-lucid science fiction author? What is going on?

I turn on the television. There is a crowd of environmentalists raising fists. One radical person with a goatee yells, “The human race is a sick blot upon this planet. The Americans and every other nation should cease to exist and we should let nature take its course. We should all just die!”

The others talk to him, “Hey! Easy on this radical thinking!”

Another speaks, “Don’t listen to this nut bar! We should preserve the environment but we don’t have to cease to exist or ruin our civilization to do that.”

I blink. I change the channel. There is a history television show. A narrator speaks, “The Americans have been the most combative nation on the planet since the beginning of the 20^th century. They have ruined multiple nations in Asia, Europe, North America and the world in their trail of destruction.”

I change the channel. A news commentator speaks, “There are major concerns that there have been no efforts by our own media to portray our nation or our Founding Fathers in a positive light. Every documentary talks about what we did wrong, not what we did right. We are having problems that our kids are sensing a lack of leadership and positive American values to identify themselves with and are finding self-fulfillment in cultures that are politically our enemies. Some have even ended up hating their own country. It is unclear whether they will stand up for our country when the hour of need comes and take risks on its behalf.”

I change the channel. A news commentator talks, “President Thomas Humphreys’ approval ratings continue to tumble. People are openly saying that he may have been the worst President the United States of America has ever had. No values! No integrity!”

I switch off the television. Seriously? To hell with everybody! I will just do what I think is the right thing and if they have a problem with that, then they can just suck it up! I cannot keep anybody happy so what is the point? I will just do the right thing.

I get ready for the daily meeting with Fred Thurlow.

At the meeting, Fred is perspiring, “We have big problems. The Communist Empire has appointed a new leader and has been playing war games with India and Japan. They have redoubled their efforts to create islands in the Pacific from which to base their aircraft. Their missiles show signs of worrying technology that can get past our missile systems. They also appear to be able to hack our drones and use them against our forces. We have been attempting to get the support of NATO and America’s allies in the Pacific, but the various nations are getting nervous about annoying the Communist Empire. Thailand and Myanmar have joined the Communist Empire. Uzbekistan is already in negotiations with Communist Empire in regards to becoming a part of the Eastern Empire.”

“Do we have any suggestions as to what to do? Are there, for example, any pro-democracy forces in Communist Empire that we can count on?”

“We have managed to flip a few officials in the Communist Empire to supporting democracy in the Communist Empire, but they are scared of revealing their support for democracy in such a repressive state as the Communist Empire.”

“Can we also play war games to let them know that we are watching them?”

“Yes. We are buzzing their defences and hacking their state websites and leaving hacked websites to let them know that we are on them.”

“Do we have any technology that will help us have an edge over them?”

“We have a bunch of top secret projects that should help us turn the tide of the war should they declare war on us.”

“Can you tell me the nature of the new Communist Empire president?”

“The new guy is a bit of a hawk. He may get us into a war unexpectedly if we are careless. The problem with him is he has an attitude that there are many more Communist Empire types than Americans, so it is OK if many Communist Empire types die as long as all the Americans die.”

“Can we get pro-democracy guys in there to do a coup d’état?”

“We can try, but there needs to be a legitimate basis to have one. We would want the Communist Empire public to come in behind the pro-democracy guys if they do have a coup d’état.”

“How can we delegitimize the Communist Empire communist party?”

“We could try making them look irresponsible and inappropriate for the task of leading their country, and make the pro-democracy guys look better suited to the task.”

“How do we do that?”

“Let me get back to you on that.”

As the meeting ends, I reflect. Who were those guys the Fred was talking about at the beginning? Time sheriffs? I think about the book that that weird science fiction author wrote about time sheriffs. I try to remember what he said and wrote about them. Would creating something like time sheriffs deal with a problem like this? Perhaps they could talk from the future and stop a crisis like a nuclear war from occurring? But how would they do it? If they were from the future, they would obviously not want a nuclear war because there would be no planet for the human race. What a mystery?

CHAPTER 6 – PAUL REVERE MANAGES TO REACH THE MINUTEMEN

Sleep – May 16, 2025

I am sleeping peacefully.

A thought zips through, I think the U.S. President is getting to the point where he can be reached. Let’s see how the Paul Revere Progress Indicator goes.

Paul Revere Progress Indicator – May 16, 2025

Paul Revere laughs, “There aren’t going to be nuclear explosions. Everybody’s going to be OK, Michael!”

Michael insists, “There are going to be nuclear explosions in the United States!’

Paul Revere looks at him, “Are you sure?”

Michael nods at him.

Paul Revere’s lip firms up, “There is no way that that is going to happen.”

Michael insists, “But it will!”

“No way!”

“Yes there will be a problem!”

Back and forth they argue for quarter an hour.

A man walks over, “My name’s Graham. Old Peter and I are with the U.S. Secret Service. We have good information from contacts in the Communist Empire. I will show you a map to show you the enemy plans for nuclear strikes, but I have to hold onto it.”

Paul Revere looks at the drawing. His face goes pale. He yells, “I got to save the United States of America!”

The edges of Washington D.C. start emerging. He starts passing the first few houses. Galloping hard down the streets, he passes a woman at a well. He passes a man holding a sign, ‘Hurry!’ He passes a grocer with a cart that has, ‘Time is limited’ emblazoned on it. The Pentagon rises in the distance. Paul Revere pushes hard to get to the Pentagon before the nuclear bomb goes off.

Stopping at the gates of the Pentagon, he rushes inside. There are members of the public everywhere. He yells at them, “We have an emergency! We may have a coming nuclear strike on the United States. Arm yourselves and help me out!”

One minuteman looks at him, “Who the hell are you?”

Paul Revere announces, “Minutemen! We need to move fast.”

Sleep – May 16, 2025

There are groans everywhere.

We almost had it. We are getting there but we still have to do some work.

How are we going to make this work?

We just have to keep working at this. We have to keep working things like sweepers playing a game of curling. We sort of have to negotiate everything into position.

Well the President is thinking about starting us.

It is looking like we have a chance now. Once he starts us we may have some leverage to get the nuclear war danger zone under control and prevent war.

We were SO close.

I know! I know! Just gotta keep working at it.

I hope people don’t get cold feet trying to start us because they don’t know how time travel works.

Well that is why you have time sheriffs. We keep the bad people from traveling through time and we keep the timeline free from unnecessary contamination. But we do need to get started in the first place. The problem is that time travel is very possible and we have to keep the bad guys under control. People who would seek to use time travel to hurt the past. Because we are here, the past can live normal lives and just deal with problems from their particular time zones. You really don’t want to be a poor unfortunate from a past time zone who has to figure out how to negotiate all this fancy technology and all these weird realities about the future.

And of course we ensure that the future continues by preventing near-extinction encounters.

Yes. We do our best to do that. We want to be a functioning civilization and we have enemies in the deep future that are very dangerous that we need to be well-positioned to deal with.

So the point is there are a lot of benefits to time sheriffs. We keep the weird from the future in the future too and away from the past.

Do the movie directors have some ideas to convince the President to have us started?

The one idea was that we could pretend that the son of the President is talking to him from the future and is very worried. And he asks the President to start time sheriffs.

That is unethical. It wouldn’t be his son. That would be deceptive.

Got it. The other idea we had was that we could leave a mysterious note somewhere in his paperwork for him to find. It could say, ‘Start the time sheriffs.’ And then he will ask questions and think and think until he figures out he has to create time sheriffs.

That could get Fred into trouble, and then Fred will be mad at us. We also don’t want the President to think that time sheriffs are all a horrible prank. We should probably do it differently.

Darn it! None of our ideas are working!

Well we did have some ideas in the end because here is another Top Secret visualization coming in for the President. Let us play it.

Point-Making Visualization – May 17, 2025

I am reading a weird book. It is called The Wild West of Time Travel needs a Sheriff. It seems interesting but very detailed. I think to myself. It sounds like these guys called time sheriffs could be very important. But seriously, there are no such people as time sheriffs! And we all know that time travel is not possible!

I say, “Meh!” and I throw the book aside.

A rewind button appears and everything rewinds.

I look out the window, But what if time travel is possible? And where would all these weird and far-fetched ideas come from? Does this stuff sound like it came from nowhere? I see a rabbit being pulled out of a top hat, but is it actually a rabbit being pulled out of a top hat? Is it really like that? Maybe there is substance to this? Why wouldn’t the police for time travel say hi before time travel arrives?

It sounds like time sheriffs could be very important. Maybe I should at least explore the idea. What if the Communist Empire get ahead of the United States of America because the Americans did not at least try creating the time sheriffs, or coming up with the frameworks that lead to their creation? What would it cost to at least explore the options? It would be like putting a man on the moon and require a lot of thinking and technology but it is an idea worth pursuing. Would the time sheriffs of the future be grateful to the USA and give special strategic advantages in exchange for creating the time sheriffs?

Real Life – May 17, 2025

I wake up, groggy. What was that book? The time sheriff book? Oh yes! The one about starting the time sheriffs. Why would I create time sheriffs? Everybody knows that there is no such thing as time travel. But it is an interesting concept. Maybe I should explore the idea and ask the military or a similar entity to get them started. Isn’t it a little farfetched? Would it help me get votes? Not sure.

Seriously! To hell with the votes! Nobody wants to support me so I might as well just do the right thing. But aren’t time sheriffs going a bit too far? Do we even have the right technology? Or are they an idea to keep warm until time travel technology comes along? Should people be thinking about this stuff in anticipation of the arrival of time travel? What if the Communist Empire gets ahead of the Americans in this time travel – time sheriff game? It could spell the end of the United States of America.

Maybe we should have people looking at the subject matter trying to make it work until one day the door of time travel opens. Keep trying until it happens. But it is a little far-fetched indeed. Is it worth looking like an idiot if this is a lot of nonsense? But how do I know it is nonsense? What if the Communist Empire gets ahead of America in this whole business? When will time travel be discovered? 100 years from now? 500 years from now? 20 years from now? So many unknowns! Better to have somebody working on it just in case there is something to all of this.

A servant knocks on the door, “Mr. President! Fred has confirmed he will be meeting you at 11am today.”

At 11am, I am with Fred. Fred is extremely worried, “Mr. President, Ji Kwan, the new President of the Communist Empire has been having debates with his henchmen about a surprise nuclear attack on the United States of America, before we have a chance to react. They want to lay waste to us and then proceed on a mission of conquering the planet.”

“Isn’t that a bit extreme! Where are you getting this information from?”

“We have an agent in the Communist Empire Presidential Palace.”

“So what is the plan?”

“I would like to suggest that we consider a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the Communist Empire Presidential Palace if it turns out that that is what they want to do.”

“That is a bit extreme. How good is the agent we have?”

“He is considered one of the best in the field. He seems to be very concerned that Communist Empire will start a mission of destroying the United States.”

“Can we vet him? Are there any pressure points that the Communist Empire may have on this agent if they catch him?”

“He does not have a living family and he is loyal to our country.”

“Take it easy. I want really strong evidence before we precipitate a situation with the Communist Empire,” I say.

“I suppose you are right.”

“I was thinking about starting an organization of cops called time sheriffs. There was this science fiction book called The Wild West of Time Travel needs a Sheriff that described what they could do and I was wondering if we could start these guys. They appear to be a major asset when dealing with potential near-extinction encounters. Do you have any ideas?”

“Mr. President, the book The Wild West of Time Travel Needs a Sheriff is just a science fiction book. You shouldn’t make anything of it. I do not know if we even have the technology or the means to start anything like time sheriffs. We haven’t even discovered time travel yet so what is the point?”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, I am very sure. All we have is some ideas that may or may not work and we don’t have the means to verify all of this stuff. We could look very foolish if we dabble in this stuff”

I sit back, “Very well. Don’t precipitate a situation with the Communist Empire, whatever you do. Patch us into the agent’s radio and have him tell us real-time what is going on.”

“Gladly. I will have the CIA have him relay the information in.”

Later that day, Fred calls, “The CIA has set up the radio links.”

“Can you get other agents on the scene?”

“Certainly! Give me an hour to get it organized.”

An hour later, the call comes back, “Our agents are posted around the Communist Empire presidential palace.”

That night, I have a horrible feeling that something is very badly wrong.

CHAPTER 7 – PAUL REVERE AND THE MINUTEMEN ATTEMPT TO RIDE TO THE RESCUE

Sleep – May 17, 2025

After much tossing and turning, I finally go to sleep.

A thought comes through, The President almost decided to get us started, or at least the earliest versions of ourselves that the Americans started. We were really close. Let us see where we are at.

Paul Revere Progress Indicator – May 17, 2025

Paul Revere laughs, “There aren’t going to be nuclear explosions. Everybody’s going to be OK, Michael!”

Michael insists, “There are going to be nuclear explosions in the United States!’

Paul Revere looks at him, “Are you sure?”

Michael nods at him.

Paul Revere’s lip firms up, “There is no way that that is going to happen.”

Michael insists, “But it will!”

“No way!”

“Yes there will be a problem!”

Back and forth they argue for five minutes.

A man walks over, “My name’s Jerry. Old Peter and I are with the U.S. Secret Service. We have good information from contacts in the Communist Empire. I will show you a map to show you the enemy plans for nuclear strikes, and I will give it to you.”

Paul Revere looks at the drawing and grabs it. His face goes pale. He yells, “I got to save the United States of America!”

The edges of Washington D.C. start emerging. He starts passing the first few houses. Galloping hard down the streets, he passes a few kids mimicking riding fast. He passes people pointing the way to the Pentagon. He passes a store sign saying, ‘Hurry! Time is limited!’ The Pentagon rises in the distance. Paul Revere pushes hard to get to the Pentagon before the nuclear bomb goes off.

A minuteman grabs the map and shouts, “It’s legit!”

All the people start grabbing weapons.

Paul Revere announces, “Minutemen! We need to move fast.”

This time, they get even further. Paul Revere and the minutemen jump on their horses and start galloping towards the White House. The White House is soon in sight.

But it is too late. A blinding explosion rises into the air from where the White House is located. A terrible mushroom cloud soars into the air, and a shock wave races towards Paul Revere and the minutemen. All Paul Revere and the minutemen can do is look and be turned into nothing.

Sleep – May 17, 2025

OHHHHH!!!!! We were so close! We are getting there!

That was so… so… close.

We have to push the situation a little bit more. A little bit more convincing and we can get the President to take a stab at starting us.

His lieutenant doesn’t seem so sure about starting us.

The problem is that it takes a certain sort of vision to get things like time sheriffs started, and a lot of elbow grease and strategizing. People had a vision to put a man on the moon and finally they succeeded after a lot of hard work and they got a man on the moon. It takes vision and strategy to get this sort of thing to work. It may not be possible to discover time travel in the 21^st century but we can at least have people do the thinking homework. People thought through the Three Laws of Robotics when they read Isaac Asimov’s books and then they applied the principles to robotics. So we could get the people of the 21^st century to at least do the thinking homework so that when time travel technology comes, it doesn’t take as much effort to get everything organized.

So we are giving people thinking homework?

They may actually discover time travel and create time sheriffs in the 21^st century, but they need to do the homework first. If the homework is done, then it should be easier to figure out what to do to get time travel and time sheriffs.

So people need to discuss this sort of stuff so that they can get their heads around this subject.

Pretty much.

Do we know when time travel is discovered?

That is top secret at this point. Let us just say that it may be sooner or it may be later depending on whether the people have done their homework and on whether they are looking at the right type of science.

Let us try to get this president to explore the idea. Hopefully, we can try to stop a nuclear war by getting the US President to get us into position to stop it.

He will have to make the order to create time sheriffs before we can do anything like that. He has to actively believe that we might exist before we can talk directly to him. Believe me, when people first encounter us, they think they are talking to spirits. We are anything but spirits. Our technology makes us look like spirits, but the idea is that we avoid contaminating the timeline with futuristic viruses and things that are hard to explain.

The movie directors are here. They have some suggestions.

Sure. Let us hear them.

We could have the European Union send him a special memo saying, ‘Start the time sheriffs.’

That would be a bit weird. It might be hard to explain. Let us hear some other ideas.

The other idea was that we could pretend that the Communist Empire have time sheriffs and make the American president so paranoid that he tries to get us started as American time sheriffs.

That idea might work, but it would be difficult to implement. It would also be misleading and we probably could take a few hits over that.

They have brought in the Top Secret video in.

Excellent! Let us play it. We will find out what it was a bit later.

Point-Making Visualization – May 17, 2025

I say, “Meh!” and I throw the book aside.

A rewind button appears and everything rewinds.

What if the Americans could get ahead of the Communist Empire because they have invested in time sheriffs and time travel? What if it takes vision to create the things of the future – a vision to make new things happen – a vision of what could be? What if time sheriffs could be an insurance policy in case the worst of the worst happens and a nuclear war is likely? If they are the future, they will likely want to stop a nuclear war. What if we got special strategic advantages because we investigated this idea and the time sheriffs were grateful for the help?

Real Life – May 18, 2025

I startle awake. That book again. I really am dreaming about it now. But seriously! Time sheriffs! What a cool idea! Maybe we could have them deal with things like near-extinction encounters. If they were to help the future survive, why wouldn’t they try to stop a nuclear war.

My thinking shifts to the situation in the Communist Empire. I don’t feel comfortable with the situation.

I call Fred, “Fred! Can you please set us up in the war room to ensure that we are monitoring the situation around the Communist Empire?”

“Sure, Mr. President! I will have a look into it!”

“The other thing is I want you to get a team of scientists and various thinkers together to explore the possibilities of creating time sheriffs. The idea is far-fetched but we should at least explore our options. I am pretty sure it will be possible to identify some ideas for how we can take the idea further.”

“Mr. President! Are you sure about that? They may laugh you out of the room.”

“Let us just see where the discussion takes us. Maybe we can figure out what would be affected by time travel in our society. Maybe we could see if there is science that suggests that time travel is possible. Maybe we can start creating frameworks that would make it easier for time sheriffs to be introduced. How would we work out protocols of communication for time sheriffs?”

“Only if you are sure about it.”

“I am convinced of it. Let us just explore our options.”

An hour later, Fred calls, “I have assigned several staff members to collect noted scientists and think tanks to explore the implications of time sheriffs and time travel for our society. We could have them talk about the implications of time travel for the stock market, the political systems of the world and what would be involved. How to catch people who are doing acts of crime from the future. That sort of thing. Again, I believe we could be looking at a pre-emptive nuclear strike by the Communist Empire so I believe that is a more pressing matter.”

“I understand!” I say. I still cannot shake the gut instinct, but I ignore it, “Point our missiles at the Communist Empire and call the Cabinet to get them ready. We may have to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike!”

CHAPTER 8 – PAUL REVERE AND THE MINUTEMEN RESCUE THE WHITE HOUSE

Sleep – May 18, 2025

I am thinking about starting time sheriffs, but I have a horrible feeling in my stomach about Communist Empire. After much tossing and turning, I finally fall asleep.

Real Life – May 19, 2025

I wake up in a fright. Someone is yelling.

An agent shouts from outside the door, “Sir! They want you in the war room! We have a developing situation!”

I dress quickly and run towards the war room with several agents close behind me.

Fred looks up as I enter. Urgently, he speaks, “Our agent on the scene, Agent Dan is reporting that the Communist Empire war cabinet has assembled, and they are currently preparing the nuclear war codes to launch the missiles at us. Shortly afterwards, the Communist Empire navy, air force and army are to start attacking Japan and India in a bid to conquer the world. We have patched you into his radio.”

I speak, “Dan, I want you to tell me everything that is going on!”

A voice comes through, “Sir! President Ji Kwan is telling his cabinet that they have to launch the missiles now, before we can react. The idea is that the entire US armed forces will be immobilized, allowing the Communist Empire to invade India and Japan.”

I yell at the other people in my cabinet, “Get me our nuclear war codes! NOW!!!”

Men start running everywhere to their posts.

Dan mutters through the radio, “The Communist Empire president has his nuclear war codes armed and is waiting to press the button along with other members of his cabinet.”

I roar, “Tell everybody to wait at my command to inform the entire USA that we are under nuclear attack. Prepare a helicopter to get the cabinet to the nuclear bunker STAT!!!!!”

Dan mutters, “They are about to send the nuclear weapons now! Wait a minute! There is a Communist Empire girl in the room!”

“WHAT!!! A GIRL??? What is going on?”

“The Communist Empire are trying to bundle her out of the room, but they can’t get her! She appears to be a hologram of some kind! She is crying. She appears to be saying that if the Communist Empire start nuclear war, they will lose the war. She seems to be crying and saying that they will be skunks for centuries and that they have no idea how that feels. Sir! She is really crying. She says she is from the future. She is telling them again that they will be skunks and will have to spend centuries in the wilderness for the foolishness of starting a nuclear war. I don’t believe this, sir!”

I look at the others.

“Sir, she is really crying. They are trying to get her out of there but they cannot find her. Now in her place is a hologram of a Communist Empire man. He is saying that to protect the interests of the Communist Empire in the future, any attempt to start a nuclear war will cause the perpetrators to be terminated. The Communist Empire cabinet is ignoring him and trying to fire the nuclear war codes.”

“READY OUR NUCLEAR WAR CODES!!!! NOW!!! I want to fire those missiles as soon as they fire their missiles!” I yell.

One of the staff yells, “Our nuclear war codes are disabled! We cannot activate them to prepare them to launch!”

Dan whispers, “Sir! The Communist Empire missile codes seem to have been disabled. They seem to be all falling asleep. Let me check on them!”

I yell, “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!!!!”

I sit down, shaking from fright.

I pick up a thought, Mr. President! Thanks for starting the time sheriffs. We are very grateful for your assistance in starting our organization. We like to help those who help us. We have dealt with the Communist Empire warhawks for you and should get more reasonable types to lead the Communist Empire for you. So we have bailed you out of nuclear war. Please keep in mind that the same thing that happened to the Communist Empire could happen to you if you decide to launch a nuclear strike. Now, do yourself and your cabinet a favour and move your finger away from that nuclear war button.

I quickly withdraw my hand.

Very good, time sheriffs out!

Dan’s voice comes through, “Sir! They are all dead! I don’t know what happened!”

I shout, “Get out of there and mingle with those who are alive! NOW!!!!”

I look at the other people. Everybody is shaking from fright.

I breathe a sigh of relief, “Stand down, everybody! Try not to let anybody know we almost had a nuclear war. Everybody, let us get the time sheriffs started! NOW!!! We need their help with situations like this. We may have been bailed out of nuclear war. I want the best of the best on this! NOW!!! STAT!!!”

I see a lot of confused faces.

“Get the time sheriffs started, STAT!!! Train people to be time sheriffs!!! Figure out what we know about time travel! Figure out how we can make ourselves mentally tough! But figure something out, STAT!!!!”

I sigh, “I am going back to my quarters.”

I sort of tremble as I walk towards my room. I lie down. I am cold and shaky. I am awake for hours, before sleep catches up with me.

A thought zips through, Let us see where we are at.

Paul Revere Progress Indicator – May 18, 2025

Paul Revere laughs, “There aren’t going to be nuclear explosions. Everybody’s going to be OK, Michael!”

Michael insists, “There are going to be nuclear explosions in the United States!’

Michael nods at him.

Paul Revere’s lip firms up, “There is no way that that is going to happen.”

Michael insists, “But it will!”

“No way!”

“Yes there will be a problem!”

A man walks over, “My name’s Ken. Old Peter and I are with the U.S. Secret Service. We have good information from contacts in the Communist Empire. I will show you a map to show you the enemy plans for nuclear strikes, and I will give it to you. Don’t delay!”

Paul Revere looks at the drawing. His face goes pale. He yells, “I got to save the United States of America!”

The edges of Washington D.C. start emerging. He starts passing the first few houses. Galloping hard down the streets, he passes people pointing the direction. He passes a woman shouting, ‘HURRY!’ As he rides, a German Shepherd K-9 police dog joins him, sprinting hard towards the Pentagon. The Pentagon rises in the distance. Paul Revere pushes hard to get to the Pentagon before the nuclear bomb goes off.

A minute man looks at it and shouts, “It is legit!”

All the people start grabbing weapons.

Paul Revere announces, “Minutemen! We need to move fast.”

Paul Revere and the minutemen jump on their horses and start galloping towards the White House. The White House is soon in sight. They gallop furiously towards it. Arriving, they dash towards the President’s Office. They surprise a gang of thugs working with what appear to be nuclear war codes. The K-9 police dog fastens its jaws on the ringleader’s neck, taking him out. Shooting, they take down the other thugs. One minutemen grabs hold of the nuclear war codes as Paul Revere frees a captive man, revealing him to be Uncle Sam.

Uncle Sam speaks, “Congratulations, Paul Revere and the Minutemen. The United States of America is indebted to you. We could have been destroyed by a nuclear strike and you have saved us all from a radioactive future.”

Sleep – May 18, 2025

Thoughts zip through my head, Hurrah! We have likely mission success! We bailed the USA out of a nuclear war and got ourselves started!

EPILOGUE

Real Life – November 3, 2028

“Ladies and gentlemen, Brown Blitz President Thomas Humphreys has done it again! He has won the US Presidential elections and will have a second term as the President of the United States of America!”

I come up to the microphone, waving to everybody, “Ladies and gentlemen, as President of the United States, I pledge to continue my service to the United States of America, doing the right thing whenever possible. I will continue to support the former Communist Empire’s shift to a new democratically elected government. It is time for a new and better United States of America, walking into a bright and new future!”

I walk off the stage. Fred is there.

“Fred, how is the time sheriff effort going?”

“We have built some frameworks and we have a bunch of research projects that may yield clues to the secrets of time travel. We have made some progress. Time travel and time sheriffs should not be too far away.”

I nod and walk with him to the Presidential motorcade.

Somewhere in the Future

“Hurrah! We made it! We got the President to get us started!”

“That is such a good outcome! We have prevented nuclear war for another 50 years!”

“That is right! Never underestimate what time sheriffs can do when pushed to it!”

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Booyens, Jean Paul. Excerpted from The Wild West of Time Travel needs a Sheriff. Kindle Edition.

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