Here's the thing-can you come in?

Carl took a long pull of the joint and slowly exhaled the smoke billowing across the room. He had that thoughtful look that he sometimes had, of contemplating some puzzle. 'So the old man grilled the client and told him to get out of town, and then the whole town went after you?' Ben nodded,'Yeah basically. I've never seen anything like it before. I've run into problems sure but nothing that bad. I've been in there before plenty of times and never had any problems.' Ben took another toke and passed it back to Carl. 'But they know you there, they've gotten used to you. Each time you go back there are variations, usually subtle, but sometimes something more.' Carl had explained to him when he first created the technology that it wasn't exactly time travel. The world was authentic in that everything in it would be identical to the time, but it wasn't exactly in the space-time continuum. Carl called them 'static world's', parallel universes that were simply on a tape loop. The same year,over and over. After the year was over the year would reset and begin anew. With each visit to the static worlds different variation would occur. Some subtle like the color of a woman's dress, some more extreme. 'I can probably find a way to reset it, but it's hard to say what will happen. Most likely it will be fine but be prepared to make a quick exit. Carl passed the joint back to Ben and Ben finished it. Carl was the kind of person who could do calculus baked out of his mind. He loved puzzles, deciphering codes, in some ways Ben thought that he had developed the technology to go back only to solve that puzzle. Once he had created it he seldom used it, save for a few times. Carl loved the challenge, working on something most thought impossible. 'This guy's already paid me the money, and now he's threatening a lawsuit.' Carl laughed. 'Who would believe him? I had a bad experience going back in time? 'Still we need more customers, its been slow lately.' Carl was silent for a moment. 'It should be back to normal the next time you go back. I know you use the technology alot and I don't mind but you need to be more careful. The variations will continue each time.' 'I know.' Ben said. 'It magic, going back there. It's better than sex, a good movie, food, anything. Like stepping into an old painting.' The room was dark even though it was midday, and a waft of smoke hung in the air. Carl had never been one for interacting with people, which was why he had Ben be the face of the company. He could never endure having to make conversation with random strangers, plus going back had always seemed creepy to him. The furthest had had gone with the 1930's and when he had seen a little boy on the street playing hoops with his friends and realized that that boy was unquestionably dead it had hit him-all of them, they are all dead. He was visiting the land of the dead. After that he never went back. Even if they were alternate universes, it was too much. 'I know, and I can understand. But don't go too far back, because at a certain point the variations become out of my control.' Ben rose, 'Well I'm going to talk to his guy again. Do you think it will work this time?' Carl took a second to respond. He had clicked a few icons on his computer which may or may not have had anything to do with what they were talking about, and Ben marveled at this enigmatic person he had known for so long. Despite having known him for most of his life he had no idea what made him tick. 'Most likely.' Ben nodded, realized that that was probably the most concise answer he would get. 'Well I'm going to see if I can talk to this guy.' Jim felt cold. The whole experience had been so..creepy. It was the only word he would use to describe it, wrong, something off. As if he was dabbling with something that simply should not be dabbled with. That was meant to be left where it belonged, in the past. Sitting in his dark apartment with a bottle of bourbon by his side he took a long swig. He remembered the look of the old man at the store, of the mob advancing toward him. Toward me, Jim thought, they seemed to all be honed in on me. And something about the world was off, the sky was too blue, the sun was too bright, everything was exaggerated somehow, overblown. He might have guessed that maybe Ben had simply built a set and paid actors to do everything but it was too real. And then they had turned against them. The angry mob. Perhaps the most terrifying thing in the world. Carl had remembered in college reading about the New York draft riots of 1863, of the mob taking control of the City for several days. He had seen that same thing in that mob gathering back there. Maybe this whole thing had been a mistake. A loud knock on the door woke Jim from his revelry. 'Who is it?' Jim barked. 'It's Ben!' he heard in reply. Jim rose slowly and headed to the door. 'What do you want? 'Only to explain, and I can give you some of your money back.' 'Only some?' Jim asked. 'We were almost killed.' 'You were almost killed.' Ben said as he walked into Jim's apartment. 'They know me there. Let's just say there were some kinks but we've got them ironed out.' Ben reached into his pocket and pulled out 6 hundred dollar bills placing them on the counter. 'Here's half.' 'Just half?' Jim asked as he picked up the bills. 'I still took you to an alternate world.' 'So it's not exactly like going back in time?' 'It's called a static world. A tape loop, the same year, over and over. But it's still authentic, and nothing done in those worlds can effect what happens today.' Jim nodded, he had had a strong feeling that something was wrong. 'Still I'm not interested. It was a mistake.' Jim rose and took another swig of his whiskey. 'I know you want to see it.' Ben answered. 'You've wanted your whole career to see it. Everything. The entire body of your work, real, in the flesh. No reenactor's, no Hollywood bullshit, just history, real in the flesh.' Jim paused a moment. Remembering the time when he was 10 and he was passed an old house that had one of those placards on it about its history. How it had been there for a couple hundreds of years, served as headquarters to a general or two, how he had become fascinated about its history. Had wanted to see its history, to witness it firsthand. 'Ok. I'll give it a shot again. But no trouble.' 'Absolutely. You want to go time hopping?' 'Time hopping?' Jim asked. 'It's like barhopping but through time. You got to one bar have a drink and then go back maybe 50 years and hit another one. First though we go back to where we started.' Jim nodded. 1992 seemed slightly brighter this time around. 'This is just a test run.' Ben said as they walked down the main street. 'To make sure the calibrations were correct. Everything seemed nice. The sun was shining, the bird's were chirping and everything seemed perfect. Too perfect in fact. Jim was noticing that now everyone seemed overly friendly. 'Hey guys!' the girls with the perm said as they passed. The man in the suspenders gave them a hearty, ' 'Good morning!' 'This is kind of creepy.' Jim remarked. Ben couldn't agree more. It was all exaggerated, wrong somehow. 'It's ok, we won't be here for long.' The citgo station was still there but the sign moved slightly, payphone was further to the end of the parking lot. Subtle variations, Ben thought. Ben led the way into the store, Jim followed. 'Howdy folks?' the old man at the register said with a beaming grin. 'Hi.' Jim muttered. He grabbed his coke, gum, and paper and headed to the register. 'Will that be all?' the clerk asked. 'No I'm all set.' Jim replied and handed him another 5. The clerk gave him the change, 'You folks have a nice day.' He said as they left. 'I think something is off about this place again.' 'It's always going to be off, like I said. Variations. Ready to see the 50's? 'Ok.' Jim said.