Chapter 4: Q and A
Phil was led to an interrogation room and sat down at a table with a strange machine attached to the end. The machine was a box with flashing lights and a large funnel-like object like something you would see on an old fashioned gramophone. Phil eyed the machine warily as the time cop cuffed his wrist to a bar on the side of the table.
"If you are wondering what that is it is a Lie Detector 3000. If you speak a lie a bell will sound," the man said.
The time cop then sat on the opposite side of the table and looked down at a note pad before speaking.
"Mr. Diffy you were caught using an illegal time machine to go to the past with the intent of changing the future," the man started.
"I wasn't trying to change the future!" Phil said.
DING!!
"That sound tells me that you were Mr. Diffy," the man said with a smirk.
"I was just trying to protect my girlfriend. She was in danger!" Phil said.
"Your girlfriend? Are you referring to Ms. Teslow?" the man asked with a smugness that made Phil want to strangle him.
"Of course I'm referring to Ms. Teslow!" Phil said angrily.
"According to our records Phillip Diffy, in the year 2125, marries one Alyson Martin. They go on to have two kids together and all that jazz. However, there is no mention of any Keely Teslow past the year 2006. This is your future Mr. Diffy! Any attempt to change that would be seen as a threat to National Security!" the man said.
"A what?? How is saving Keely a threat to National Security?" Phil asked.
"One minor change to the past can affect more than you think! We've been doing damage control for years now because of the two and a half years your family spent in the past! This is why we invented the Giggle! To help preserve the time-line as it is meant to be!!" the man said as his face began to turn red with anger.
"Hold on!! Speaking of the Giggle! Keely and I both saw her future and she was supposed to be a successful News Reporter! That was changed! How is that not a threat to National Security?" Phil asked as his own face began to redden.
"That was an altered future based off your presence in the past. Once you finally came home the future was reset back to what it was meant to be. Keely Teslow disappeared in the year 2006...never to be heard from again!" the man yelled.
"Hey show a little respect!! That's the woman I love you are talking about!" Phil yelled in return.
The time cop bit his lip and looked ready to leap across the table at Phil, but finally he calmed down and said through clenched teeth, "I am sorry for your loss! However, as I said before, you are fated to marry Alyson Martin next April. This will go off without a hitch as you have done enough damage as it is! Even if you have to hold your wedding in a jail cell!!"
"I don't even know this Alyson Martin. Why would I marry her in less than a year's time?" Phil thought to himself.
"Fated? So what you are telling me is that our lives are predetermined for us and we have no say in it?" Phil asked.
"We must preserve the time-line. You don't realize the consequences of changing the past! The invention of Time Travel has become a plague on this world. If we were to let it get out of control people could very well unravel the very fabric of the space time continuum!" the man said.
"So it could destroy the entire universe?" Phil asked.
"Yes! Granted that is a worst case scenario," the man said and seemed to calm down after discovering that Phil understood the situation.
Phil couldn't help but smile to himself as he remembered watching the Back to the Future movies with Keely. He remembered telling her how inaccurate they were, but he did enjoy the entertainment value. All the talk about fate made him remember another movie that he and Keely watched together. "No fate but what we make," Phil thought to himself. That was the phrase from the Terminator movies and Phil still believed that it was a true statement.
"What are you smiling about Diffy!? Does the destruction of the universe make you happy?" the man asked incredulously.
"No sir...I was just remembering some of the times I had with Keely," Phil said.
"I realize Diffy that you are just a product of your upbringing. Your Father is the one I'm really after. You will be punished for your crime, but your punishment should not be as severe as his will be! Now Mr. Diffy I have a question for you that I want a straight answer on. You know the machine will tell me if you are lying! Tell me is it true that your Father purposely kept the time machine broken for two and a half years so that you could stay in the past?" the man asked and Phil was caught off guard.
How had this man known that? Phil knew if he answered falsely the machine would ding and he would be in trouble, but if he answered truthfully it would feed this man's paranoia about his family.
"Yes, but only because he knew that we loved it there and he didn't really want to leave! He wasn't trying to change the future or anything like that!" Phil said finally.
"You loved it there? With all the primitive contraptions and wars!? Was it because of the girl? Were you really that infatuated with a 21st Century American girl? The women from your own time are far superior!" the man said to him with disdain.
"I told you before to have some respect for the de...," Phil began but he could not bring himself to say the word 'dead'.
The man merely smirked at Phil as he looked ready to attack. Phil sat back down in his chair and breathed deeply.
"I believe that is enough questions for today. Your official hearing will be held in two days time. I would work on your temper before then Mr. Diffy," the man said as he stood up and exited the room.
To be continued...