Stranger Things 1986: The Time Traveler

By Corwin Black

Chapter 3: One Week

/The Chapter 'Dead Man's Party' has been pushed back to Chapter 4

Updated 10/25/17

IN THIS CHAPTER: The Fantastic Five Discuss the Ramifications of Time Travel

Sept. 6th 1986. 10:00 Hawkings Indiana Time

The last of the Triple Crown races had been run. The kids had used the bookie Mueller and now they had over ten million dollars to their names. Mueller had, for a considerable fee, placed the money in Swiss bank accounts that the kids could access and get money from; which was insanely cool. What they couldn't figure out was why Sergeant Kilroy had made such a big deal about not spending money that hadn't been printed yet when clearly they were in 1986 and the original money given to them was printed in, or before 1976.

They also had another dilemma. Time travel was real. There was no way that Sergeant Kilroy could have picked all three of the triple crown winners without that knowledge.

They were in Castle Byers. Lucas started, "Doesn't it strike you as really stupid/weird that he just gives us all this money and takes off?" Mike & Elle had to agree.

Dustin had to agree as well, "You know, that's really got to have an effect on the space time continuum. You know because we weren't supposed to become millionaires; right?

Will had a valuable insight, "Perhaps that was the whole idea."

"What do you mean?" asked Mike.

Will continued, "Well whenever things get crazy at my house, especially when my dad's there; the person who starts all the 'crazy' is usually trying to distract everybody from another, much bigger problem."

Elle spoke, "I think that Will might be right."

Lucas was coming around to the idea, "Could it be that simple?"

Dustin threw his opinion in, "Why not?"

Mike was the practical one, "Either way we should ask Mr. Clarke."

Elle liked this idea, "We should get a list of questions to ask him. So we are prepared."

"Killer!" exclaimed Lucas, in approval of Elle's idea.

"Cowabunga." agreed Dustin.

"Very sharp indeed." added will.

The five of them put together what was a very impressive list of questions about time travel. However, they quickly realized that they needed some help with this stuff.

The five kids were all ready to have the AV & Science club meeting with Mr. Clark.

"Mr. Clarke we have some question?" said Elle.

Mr. Clarke was both excited and a little nervous. These kids were asking some pretty difficult questions lately. "Go ahead Eleanor." said Mr. Clarke

Elle paused then began, "Ok, let's talk about time travel."

"Theoretically," clarified Dustin.

"What is the most dangerous part of time travel?" asked Elle.

"Wow, right to business." said Mr. Clarke, "Well besides the obvious, like erasing yourself from existence, I suppose that the most dangerous possibility is the 'butterfly effect'." All the kids looked intently and listened.

"The 'butterfly effect' assumes that all actions in the universe are connected somehow. So lets say you go back in time a couple of thousand years and accidentally kill a butterfly. The 'butterfly effect' theory states that this could result in a massive change in the timeline.' Stated Mr. Clarke.

"How bad?" asked Lucas.

"Well, the change may not actually be a bad one." stated Mr. Clarke.

"Well, if it did go bad, how bad could the 'butterfly effect' be?" pressed Will.

Mr. Clarke thought, "Well I suppose it could be super bad, like the Nazi's winning the war, or perhaps the Cuban missile Crisis resulting in nuclear war."

Dustin asked a question quite concerned, "Could spending money that hasn't been printed yet be a 'butterfly effect'?" asked Dustin. All of the kids held their breath. Mr. Clarke noticed.

"Wow, that's a great question Dustin." Mr. Clarke considered carefully; these really were his favorite kids. "Well I'd have to say yes. That could be bad; but I know no idea how bad." he said honestly.

The kids looked grim. Mr. Clarke Noticed. The kids thought about that. Then they huddled a few feet away from Mr. Clarke; who found the 'huddle' cute as it could possibly me.

"Okay," said Mike, this question belonged to him, "What about knowledge of the future. How bad could that be?"

"Like what?" asked Mr. Clarke genuinely curious.

"Like placing bets on horse races, like the triple crown, when a time traveler told you who is going to win. Could that cause a 'butterfly effect'."

Mr. Clarke spoke, "Absolutely, it could cause a huge one." Mr. Clarke leaned into the kids for his follow-up comment, "However, if a time traveler did that he'd either be insane, or he is intentionally creating havoc in the timeline, or he knows from experience that the 'butterfly effect' doesn't actually happen."

Elle had the next question, "Can past events actually be changed?" asked Elle.

"Ah." said Mr. Clarke. "You're talking about causality." It was not a question.

The kids all nodded.

"Well, no-one really knows." Mr. Clarke had a look on his face like déjà vu. "You know kids, I attended a guest lecture while studding physics at the University of Arizona. A Marine Corp physicist was their speaking. Sergeant Kilroy was his name-"

Dustin cut off Mr. Clarke, "Kilroy was there!" he exclaimed.

"Shut up Dustin." said Lucas.

Mr. Clarke spoke before the conversation got out of hand, "Now kids, it wasn't the legendary Kilroy who was scribbled like graffiti all over the place during world war 2." The kids had no idea what Mr. Clarke was talking about. It was obvious. Mr. Clark finished his thought, "Sergeant Kilroy knew the theories of paradox and time travel better than anyone I had ever seen. He didn't seem to concerted with the 'butter fly' effect though. "

Mr. Clarke continued, "Kilroy did have an interesting theory that I must admit was very unpopular with the professors at the university. Only the department head of the physics department liked it. Kilroy's theory was that time travel is not governed by laws like physics are. He said that the laws of physics are governed my time travel. He went on to say that time travel itself was governed by the human soul." Mr. Clarke thought to himself, "I got to admit at the time I laughed at him, just like everybody else did. He just stared back at the crowd and smiled like he knew something we didn't. He went on to say that the only thing that humans have that is eternal is our soul. That was the rational for why he thought that time travel was governed by the soul, not by mathematics or physics."

The kids knew that this was the same Kilroy that they had met. They also knew wondered if Kilroy had probably gone back into the past just to give that guest lecture for the sole reason of this conversation, today.

"Have you thought more about that theory?" asked Elle.

"I have." said Mr. Clarke, "The more I think about it the more it makes sense, at least on some level."

STAY TUNED FOR MORE!

Thax

Corwin Black