Harry slumped himself down behind his desk, the chair creaking as it caught his large frame. He sighed hard; this moment was a small eye in the hurricane of his life. His day as the CEO of Xpress Parcel was filled with the stress of maintaining a slim profit margin in the face of stiff competition, rising transportation prices, and that inter-web-thingy. His nights were filled with the stress of his Hag and the little monsters they called “children”.

The grey, rainy day didn’t help his mood.

A meeting had amazingly finished early, and now he had a few minutes to himself. He used it to check on his most prized possession, sealed in the wall safe behind his desk. It was still there, and it still warmed his heart to see it.

The infernal intercom buzzed.

“You’re 3 PM is here, sir,” said Audrey.

A three PM appointment? Harry cracked an eye open to look down at the large calendar covering his desk. Audrey had scratched a note in today’s afternoon. It read:

3 PM Knights of C. Award. Photo Op.

He vaguely remembered he was receiving an award. Knights of C - Knights of Columbus? His hand stabbed the response button.

“Send them in,” he grunted, and rose, starting to make himself presentable. He hated these meet and greet events, but the PR from could generate a couple of additional sales from the group’s members. Beside, if he moved quickly, maybe he could have a few more minutes to himself.

A man popped his hairless head into Harry’s office. A smile of small, white teeth flashed under gleaming bright blue eyes and a large sharp nose.

“Hello,” said the man and walked in. He was tall and gangly, and Harry noted the man’s unpleasant likeness to a bird.

“Hello,” said the man again, and stuck out a hand. Harry shook it and gave the warm, modest smile used on these occasions.

“Hello,” Harry said. “And let me first say how honored I am to meet you Mister …?”

The man perked up in pleasant surprise.

“Doctor, actually,” said the man. “Doctor Janov Perlota. And I am surprised you know about us.”

“Well,” said Harry, “the Knights of Columbus are an esteemed social organization …”

“Knights of Chronos, actually,” said Perlota.

Harry stopped his praise.

“Excuse me?” he asked.

Doctor Perlota smiled and nodded his head. Its rapid bobbing irritated Harry.

“I am from the Knights of Chronos,” Perlota said again. “A research and development in advanced physics and temporal mechanics.”

“Temporal … mechanics?” said Harry. He looked for something understandable he could latch on to. Perlota gave his hyper-enthusiastic head nod again and sat down quickly.

“Yes,” said Perlota. “And we’ve just had a major breakthrough that will be of great interest to you. One we hope will be mutual profitable.”

“So,” said Harry. “So … there is no award?”

“Award?” said Perlota. “Oh no, no. Though what I am here to discuss will no doubt generate its own awards!”

His laugh was as quick and jittery as his head-bob.

“Right,” said Harry. His hand strayed to the intercom.

Perlota’s face quickly lost its gaiety.

“Listen,” he said. “All I’m asking is five minutes of your time. What I will show you will give so much more time back, and I know that time is precious to you.”

Harry paused, curious.

“In fact,” continued Perlota, looking at his watch, “it should be arriving about now.”

“What should …” began Harry. He jumped as he intercom buzzed.

“Sir, there’s a parcel for you,” said Audrey.

“So?” replied Harry. “Open it and pass it on if its important, I’m …”

“That’s just it, sir,” said Audrey, her voice filled with hesitation. “The parcel came with a letter. It says I’m not allowed to open it and you have to receive it immediately. It’s signed by you.”

Harry looked up at Perlota. The doctor’s mirth had returned in full force, and he pumped his eyebrows three times. Harry thought for a second.
“Send it in,” he said.

Audrey walked in quietly, confused. She left the parcel and a letter on the desk between the two men and stepped back out with a worried glance.

Harry picked up the letter and looked it over. It was a typed sheet with a standard Xpress Parcel letterhead. Its contents were exactly as Audrey had described; instructions to her (or her substitute if she was not present today) to leave the parcel unopened and give it to him directly. The signature at the bottom was his, written in ink. Under it, also written in the same ink, also in his handwriting, was a date.

It was dated nearly 5 years from today.

Perlota jutted his chin at the box.

“Look at the post date,” he said.

Harry did. It too read a half-decade into the future.

Harry pushed away both the letter and parcel with a sigh, his fingers pinching his eyebrows.

“How much do you want?” he asked.

Perlota leaned forward with excitement.

“So you will fund our research?” said Perlota.

Harry snickered.

“Is that what you are calling this?” said Harry. “Research?”

“Well, yes … what would you call it?” he said.

“Blackmail,” snapped Harry.

“Pardon?” said Perlota. Harry was impressed. The horrified look on the Doctor’s face seemed genuine. But Harry knew the deal.

“Blackmail,” said Harry. “You’re blackmailing me.”

“What?” said Perlota. His voice whispered from shock. Harry’s confidence in his analysis of the situation began to waiver.

“Blackmail,” Harry said again. He waved towards the letter and parcel. “You have the capability to forge my signature and my company’s parcel tracking data. You can wreck havoc. To prevent this you are demanding money. Right?”

Perlota burst out laughing. His laugh also had that annoying fast-pulsing quality.

“Oh no no no,” said Perlota. “That’s not it at all. I mean, I am asking for money, but only as an investment into what these items truly represent.”

Harry stared in confusion. What was Perlota talking about?

“Here,” said Perlota. “First open the parcel.”

A beat passed before Harry slowly reached for it and began to open it. The box was small but had some weight to it. He tore at the tape holding down the box’s lid and raised it. His hand reached inside, pushing past foam chips, and grab onto something. He pulled it out. And was stunned.

“Now,” said Perlota, his voice quietly serious. “Would you say that what you hold in your hand is truly unique? That it can’t be forged?”

“Yes,” said Harry. Now his voice whispered.

In his hand was a old, worn down baseball, remarkable only for being completely covered by the signatures of the only two teams of Red Sox to have won World Series. His most prized possession.

He got out of his chair and, still staring at the ball, began to open the safe; he didn’t need to look at the lock to enter the proper numbers. The safe open and with his free hand he reached in.

And pulled out the baseball.

A solid minute passed as Harry registered the amazing situation. He had two copies of an irreproducible memento. One he knew had always been close at hand. The other arrived in a parcel marked as being sent five years from now; sent from the future.

He looked at Perlota.

“Explain this,” he said. It wasn’t an order. It was a plea.

“Like I said,” said Perlota. “The Knights of Chronus research in the field of temporal mechanics. To put it in a term more familiar to you, time travel.”
“Time travel” Harry repeated.

Perlota’s face brightened more (if that was even possible), as if Harry had latched onto an important concept.

“Exactly,” said Perlota.

“You have a time machine?” said Harry.

“Well,” hesitated Perlota. “Not exactly. Nothing like what most people think of. It’s more like a time hole.”

“A time hole?” said Harry.

“Yes, you’ve got it,” smiled Perlota, pleased. “A time hole. It’s actually a miniature black hole we created you see. We created it and stabilized it, permanently sitting in our laboratories. Now, you know black holes are singularities in space, right?”

“Singularity?” said Harry.

Perlota shook his head in disappointment. His new student had had his first failure.

“Black holes are singularities,” the doctor explained, “are actually not that large. Their properties of high gravity come from having all their massed compressed into a single point in space.”

Perlota stopped and looked at Harry for comprehension. Harry had followed along and gave a brief nod.

“Right,” continued Perlota. “Well, we also know that time and space are actually the same thing; space-time. So what’s a single point in space is also a single point in time. Okay?”

Harry gave another nod.

“Good,” said Perlota. He grew more animated. “Common knowledge says that anything sent into a black hole is lost. But last year, some of us in the scientific community actually suggested something else; that it was possible to send information into a blackhole in such a way that it could be retrieved. Think about that for a second.”

Harry couldn’t. He was barely following along.

“Anything can be encoded into information,” said Perlota. His hand smacked the table, making Harry give a slight jump. “Even matter like this table.” Perlota pointed to the baseballs. “Or like those balls.

“Now, if we can store things into black-holes we can retrieve them later. But here’s the amazing thing. Because a black hole exists as one-point in space and TIME, we can actually retrieve things from the black-hole BEFORE they are stored into it.”

Perlota triumphantly flung himself back into the chair.

“That’s what you hold in your hands there. We have successfully received parcels sent from the future.”

Harry stood in stunned silence. He began to see the money flow.

“My God,” said Harry. “This … this changes everything.”

“That’s right,” said Perlota. “You’re getting it. Your customers shipments reaching them not in days but in mere moments, being received before they are even sent. Or even before they realize they need it.”

Harry thought further.

“Why me?” he asked. “Why package delivery? I mean, this kind of technology, the military would be more interested. Sending troops to fight a war before its even fought.”

Perlota gave an uncomfortable shuffle.

“Ah well,” he said with embarrassment, “I have to admit there are some limits to the technology. Firstly, though black-holes are only points, there is a property of ’size’ to them. As I have said, we have only managed to generate and create a small one, which lends itself to small things like parcels.

“But also, our other problem is that we have only built the ‘receiving’ side of this technology.”

“What do you mean?” said Harry.

“We only have the capability to construct the part that extracts things from the hole,” said Perlota, admitting a failure. “Storing things so that they are not lost and can be retrieved is the harder part. We haven’t created the technology to do that yet, and in truth, we don’t have the resources to do that having drained them all to accomplish what we have today. And let’s just say that the military isn’t ready to invest in half-finished technology.”

“But the baseball!” said Harry, holding out the one that had come from the future. “If you don’t have the ability to send it, how did you receive it?”

“Simple,” said Perlota. “Like I said, we have the technology to receive items from the past. We only need funding to develop the other side of the system to send things. As you can see by the parcels, we will find that funding, and it will come from you!”

“Me?” said Harry.

“Yes,” said Perlota. “The letter and parcel are from your future self, who has invested into our research!”

“You’re … you’re right!” said Harry as everything clicked into place.

“Now,” said Perlota. “I would ask you if you are willing to invest, but we already know you will.”

“Yes, yes of course I will,” said Harry. “How much are we talking about?”

“In the area of a billion dollars,” said Perlota.

Harry exploded.

“A BILLION?” he cried. “I don’t even have access to that kind of money!”

Perlota was surprised.

“You … don’t?” he asked.

“God. man, no!” said Harry.

“But,” said Perlota. “We know you invest in the technology. So somehow you must …”

The intercom buzzed.

“Sir, another parcel with instructions has arrived,” said Audrey.

Harry looked at Perlota. The doctor shook his head; he was just as surprised.

“Send it in,” Harry instructed Audrey.

The secretary strode in with a larger box.

“Here it is,” she said, laying it down. She paused as she looked out his large bay window. “The rain is really coming down today.”

When she left, Harry and Perlota both stood up and opened it. It was packed with thousand-dollar notes.

“Dear God,” Harry said. He laughed. “I think I just sent myself a loan.”

“Yes,” said Perlota. “I can imagine that this technology will make us extremely wealthy. Still, there is not nearly enough in here.”

The intercom sounded again.

“Sir, another package,” said Audrey.

This time she brought a large flat envelope. They tore into it and found pages listing stock quotes. The quotes were for a month from now. They looked through them, the office silent but for the shuffling of paper, and the growing shriek of the wind outside.

“I think I understand,” said Harry. “I’m going to grow the money on the stock market. Brilliant actually!”

Perlota grunted uncomfortably.

“I’m not sure I approve of this,” he said.

“What does it matter if you approve,” said Harry. “It’s obviously what’s going to happen. You don’t really have a choice in the matter. It’s my money, my investment that you need. So I’m in control.”

“See here, I don’t like your …” began Perlota.

The intercom interrupted, though they could barely hear it over the roar of the rain outside.

“Sir, another letter,” said Audrey. “And sir, the weather is really getting bad, could I leave early?”

“Yes, yes, bring it in, then go,” said Harry sharply, glaring at Perlota.

Audrey was in and out in a flash, leaving a letter between them. Harry picked it up, opened it and began to read. His eyes grew wide as he finished it.

“What is it?” shouted Perlota. His temper had cooled, but shouting was necessary to be heard over the outside din. A rumble seemed to come from the office walls.

“It’s some kind of warrant!” said Harry. “For me!!!”

“What?” said Perlota.

“A ‘Commission of Temporal Fraud’ is calling for my arrest!” said Harry. He read parts of the letter. “It says ‘Manipulation of markets … Abuse of timeline … Loss of all resources … Lifetime imprisonment!!!’ Oh god. I can’t let this happen.”

“No!” said Perlota. “Wait, don’t …”

“I can’t invest!”

The window shattered as the storm outside hit a new level of intensity. The building itself was shaking. The two men struggled to the broken window and looked out.

“What’s going on?” screamed Harry.

Outside, people screamed, swept away by water or wind. He could see the other buildings around them breaking apart, falling. In the distance, dozens of funnels stabbed from the sky to the ground, and more were forming.

“You fool!” said Perlota. “You did this!!!”

“What?” said Harry.

“You did!” said Perlota. “By not investing, you stopped the time hole from fully working. But you only decided to not invest in it because it existed! Everything that happened in the last 10 minutes, cannot have happened, but it must! You created a paradox, and reality can’t handle it!!! It’s collapsing!!!”

A funnel formed right outside their window.

“I take it back!” screamed Harry. “I’ll invest! I’ll invest!!!”

“It’s too late,” cried Perlota. “You’re only making it worst!!!”

Then they and everything else were gone.