The Argo Goes West

130, Martian Time Travel

"What is that big statue on that island?"

"That's the Statue of Liberty."

Dorothy and Giles were now above the skyscrapers of Manhattan. They were riding Pegasus on their way to Washington, D.C., where Mark Twain was waiting.

"Who is the model for the statue?" asked Giles.

"Either Athena or Artemis," replied Dorothy haphazardly (correctly Libertas, the Roman goddess). "By the way, Mr. Twain loves you. He said he wanted to write a novel about you."

"Huh."

"It's a great honor," Giles' tepid reply made Dorothy angry. "You may become popular among American children, like Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn. Maybe you can go on an adventure with them. "

In the meantime, Dorothy and Giles arrived over Princeton University.

Princeton University has produced many world-famous mathematicians and physicists. Besides alumni, it is also known that Andrew Wiles, who proved Fermat's Last Theorem, taught for example. Professor Horatio Aldiss, an Englishman like Wiles and who won the Fields Medal in 2034 for his book 'Hemisphere Unbound', had just finished solving a magazine crossword puzzle at home that day. Before moving on to the next problem, he turned on the TV for a change of pace. A door bell announced a visitor. When he looked at the interphone screen monitor, he saw the face of a black man with an afro.

"Who are you?" asked Professor Aldiss.

"My name is Joe Delany," said the man. "I met you once at an event at the National Academy of Sciences."

"You must be joking," Professor Aldiss chuckled. "He's on Mars now. A TV anchor is interviewing him."

"Thank you for watching my interview. In fact, I visited on purpose to coincide with the time of the live broadcast. "

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want you to think my story is ridiculous. You wouldn't believe me if I told you I was from Mars in the future, would you?"

"Are you saying you time traveled?"

"Exactly."

"If that's true, that's pretty cool."

"But we're still not completely in control," said Joe Delany. "I want to borrow your power to improve time travel. To save the earth from the apocalypse."

Dr. Heather Clover suggested that Einstein should be invited to Mars as well.

"No," said Dr. Judd Silverberg. "He's so stubborn that it's hard just to get him to accept quantum mechanics."

"Then what about Gauss?"

"We welcome Gauss. I'm sure he'll come up with innovative ideas that we wouldn't have thought of."

However, it was rejected. If that changes history, it would be a problem. No one believed in the Temporal Paradox (everyone thought time was non-linear), but they didn't want to take unnecessary risks. Invited people to Mars were limited to recent scientists and mathematicians. Some people wanted to bring their families with them, so only their partners and sons/daughters were allowed. It also applied to personnel on the base. Due to population growth, a new living module was added to the Mars base.