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Grandpa? [MultiFormat]
eBook by Edward M. Lerner
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eBook Category: Science Fiction/Humor
eBook Description: Do the laws of physics protect the universe against reality-altering time travelers and paradoxes? Or is that responsibility left to individual physicists? [Publisher Note: This story was made into a short film titled "The Grandfather Paradox", and took the Best Film Award at the May 2006 Balticon SF convention. The film was also a semi-finalist at the February 2006 Science Fiction Short Film Festival.]
eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Analog, 2001
Fictionwise Release Date: July 2002
This eBook is also available in the following bundle(s):
Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [32 KB], eReader (PDB) [17 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [3 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [3 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [57 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [72 KB], hiebook (KML) [39 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [31 KB], iSilo (PDB) [2 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [3 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [31 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [8 KB]
Words: 734
Reading time: 2-2 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED
 
"...treats the hoary sf cliche of time travel and the old 'If you went back in time and killed your grandfather before he could reproduce, then who was it who had travelled backward to kill him?' causality paradox. Edward M. Lerner's imaginative twist on this is well done, as a young university professor must thwart murder attempts by his yet-to-be-born grandson from the future."--Rich Horton, Tangent Online (Learn more about Tangent Online, the Internet's leading SF&F short fiction review website)
The lecture hall was pleasantly warm. Behind professor Thaddeus Fitch, busily writing on the chalkboard, pencils scratched earnestly in spiral noteBooks, fluorescent lights hummed, feet shuffled. A Beach Boys tune wafted in through open windows from the quad.
"And so," he continued, "travel backwards in time would violate causality, and hence appears to be impossible." He turned to face the class. "The problem is most commonly illustrated with the 'Grandfather Paradox.'
"Imagine that I had the technology with which to visit my grandfather in his youth. Once there, what is to stop me from killing him before he'd had the opportunity to reproduce? But if I did succeed, who was it who had traveled backward..."
A collective gasp interrupted his lecture. As Thaddeus realized that the students were all staring at his chest, he glanced downward to see a red dot glowing on his white shirt. The professor next noticed, in the back row of the hall, a young man who seemed to be aiming some sort of pistol at him. The would-be sniper's hand seemed to shake in unison with the wobbling of the red spot.
The young man was not enrolled in the Introduction to Physics class, yet he looked somehow familiar to Thaddeus. Perhaps it was the angle at which he cocked his head, or the shock of bright red hair, or the piercing green eyes. In a rush of presque vu, Thaddeus recognized a version of himself.
The modernistic handgun with its (laser?) sight, the anachronistic clothes, the look of fanaticism ... it suddenly all clicked. "My grandson, I presume."
His visitor nodded.
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