{"id":2806,"date":"2025-08-24T13:18:43","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T20:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2806"},"modified":"2025-08-24T13:18:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T20:18:43","slug":"signal-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/24\/signal-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Signal Box"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Center your story around someone who has (or is given) the ability to time travel.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing about human progress that hasn\u2019t changed in thousands of years is that things are only impossible until someone does it the first time. So many things thought impossible have been overcome by ingenuity and perseverance that the remaining impossibilities should, perhaps, be re-classified as impossible for now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans have been to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the Mariana Trench and the lowest point on earth. In the same spirit, humans have been atop Everest, above the clouds, outside the atmosphere entirely, and as far as the moon. One boundary after another has been broken by engineering, turned into a new frontier to explore, such that those remaining are simply a matter of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time itself was one of those unbroken boundaries, at least until the evening Kelsey answered the door to find herself standing outside her apartment. She knew it was her, even though the crow\u2019s feet around the eyes and grey hairs at the temples would still be years off. \u201cHi, Kelsey, I\u2019m you, but I go by Kay now,\u201d the visitor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow?\u201d she managed to stammer out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith this,\u201d Kay said, holding out a device the size of a toaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat the hell am I supposed to \u2026 I mean, what do you expect?\u201d Kelsey rubbed her face. \u201cYou\u2019re me, so, why would I deliver that to my younger self? Are you going to give me investment advice, too?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is what got me here.\u201d Kay looked directly into her younger self\u2019s eyes. \u201cIf you could travel back and meet your past self, what would you want to do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey stepped back, allowing her older self in, and shut the door behind her. They sat facing each other at the small kitchen table. \u201cI don\u2019t know. Maybe go back and do some things differently.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just it. You can\u2019t<\/em> go back and get a redo. All you can do is go back and give your younger self some advice.\u201d She leaned her chin on her hand, an elbow propped on the table. \u201cIt\u2019s like one of those guys that tries to throw a switch for a train, to get it on the right track.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why you\u2019re here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kay nodded. She put the device on the table and showed her inner arm to her younger self. A scar ran from the elbow to the wrist, jagged, puckered in spots like tissue was missing beneath it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat did you \u2026 I \u2026,\u201d Kelsey couldn\u2019t finish the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot self-inflicted, although it was supposed to look like it was.\u201d There was a deep, fearful sadness in Kay\u2019s eyes that was far more intense than Kelsey had ever seen in her own reflection. \u201cAndrew Perlmutter, except I first knew him as just AP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBad news, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kay nodded. \u201cI met him about a month from now. We started out friends, then business partners, then he tried to take over the business. When I filed a lawsuit, he came over with a bottle of whiskey, saying he wanted to talk it out. Instead, he spiked my drink and tried to stage my suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t work, though,\u201d Kelsey said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of this.\u201d Kay put her hand on the device. \u201cI don\u2019t know who the woman holding this was, just that she showed up, called 911, and then left. She visited me in the hospital and left this, asking me to take care of it. As soon as she handed it to me, she just sort of, faded out of my reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWait, why did the time machine stay if she didn\u2019t. I mean, thinking this through\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kay jumped in, \u201c\u2014she accomplished what she had traveled back in time for, meaning she had no reason to travel back in time in the first place\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2014and the machine had no reason to be there, either,\u201d Kelsey finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCareful, I\u2019ve gone nearly insane trying to figure this all out.\u201d Kay pushed the device across the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey eyed the device, keeping her hands away from it. \u201cWhat do you expect me to do with this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith that, I\u2019m not sure. Take care of it, I guess. With AP, though\u2026.\u201d Kay shook her head. \u201cHe was the friendliest, most outgoing, most generous person I\u2019d ever met. Right up until he wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, I got that loud and clear. Stay far away from anyone named Andrew Perlmutter or that goes by AP.\u201d Kelsey slumped. \u201cIf you accomplished what you set out to, shouldn\u2019t you be disappearing or something?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProbably.\u201d Kay shrugged. \u201cI don\u2019t know how this works. I was hoping I would go back far enough to tell young me to go to the Bitcoin Talk Forum in mid 2009. Someone sold over five thousand Bitcoin for a little over five dollars via PayPal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s your investment advice? Go back to 2009 and buy Bitcoin?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, you know, it\u2019s not much different to telling you to put a thousand into \u2026 wait, hand me your phone so I can put it in your notes.\u201d Kay took the offered phone and typed in a company name before handing it back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never heard of such a company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook them up. They go public later this year, or maybe next year. Either way, their stock starts out cheap, until they nearly drive Nvidia out of the AI chip market.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you \u2026 I, invest in the first place?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t hear of them until they were already sky-high.\u201d Kay looked at the device again. \u201cSeriously, though, take care of that thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow does it work?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know. I was thinking about what I was doing back in 2009 and touched it and ended up here. I wouldn\u2019t have known the importance of the date if it weren\u2019t for the fresh dent in the back of the Subie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey\u2019s eyes opened wide in shock. \u201cWhat dent?!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe neighbor\u2019s kid backed into her with his pickup. He left a note with his information.\u201d Kay smirked. \u201cThe dent was still there when I met AP. He recommended his friend\u2019s shop for the repair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you went there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kay shook her head. \u201cNo, his friend\u2019s shop wanted to charge three times as much. But it was his way to make an introduction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey pursed her lips. \u201cCity Auto Body?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll take it there tomorrow. See if I can\u2019t get it fixed before the party.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat should\u2026.\u201d Kay\u2019s voice disappeared along with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey looked at the device sitting on the table. It looked like a prop toaster with no bread slots, no buttons, and a finish that looked like dull metal. She opened her phone and looked at the notes app. The name of the company was still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She stared at the box, wondering what she could or should do with it. Yeah, having a few thousand bitcoin would be nice. She could retire right away. But didn\u2019t Kay, her older self, say that\u2019s where she was trying to go in the first place? And where does the device stop? When does it cease to exist? When it has fulfilled its own purpose \u2014 whatever that may be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She wondered if undoing every bad thing that happened to her would change who she was. There were things she could\u2019ve handled better, sure, but Kay said that all she could do was talk to her younger self, not be<\/em> her younger self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was while she was thinking about it that she found herself in the hallway of her college dorm, right outside her room. Down the hall, she saw Stan, the guy with the weird name that OD\u2019ed . He leaned against the wall across from her door and slumped to the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey knew the night. This was the night he died outside her door. Still not 2009, although it was close. September 2010. She knelt next to Stan with the weird name. He looked close to dead, but she saw him take a shallow breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She pulled his phone out of his pocket and tried to turn it on, but it had no charge. Her own phone was still sitting on her table in the apartment, and she doubted it would work in 2010 anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She pounded on her room door. Kelsey had been asleep while it happened and had woken to sirens of the ambulance showing up too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her younger self opened the door, bleary-eyed. \u201cWhat?\u201d She blinked twice. \u201cAm I dreaming?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo. I\u2019m you from the future, but right now, you need to call 911! Stan\u2019s OD\u2019ing in the hall right now!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Younger Kelsey grabbed the phone from the nightstand and made the call. Meanwhile, Kelsey knelt back near Stan and rubbed his chest, trying to keep him at least a little awake. \u201cKeep breathing, Stan, keep breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She heard the ambulance outside the dorm. Her younger self knelt down next to them. Kelsey looked at her younger self. \u201cKeep him breathing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah. How did you \u2026 I \u2026?\u201d her younger self asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey felt the irresistible call to pass the box on. She handed it to her younger self. \u201cThis. Take care of it. I have to leave before someone else sees me.\u201d She thought of something she wanted to say before leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, Bitcoin was cheap as hell in 2009, and it\u2019s worth a whole hell of a lot more in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey realized she\u2019d just said that to her empty condo and wondered why. The thought of Bitcoin, though, made her log in to her financial records. That, in turn, led her to think of Stanwick. He\u2019d been so grateful for her calling an ambulance, and so horrified by his OD, that he\u2019d handed over his Bitcoin wallet as a reward, and to keep him from spending his last six-thousand Bitcoins on more dope. At the time it was worth a little over a thousand dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019d held on to it all through their last year of college, and had tried, repeatedly to give it back. Stan hung on for the rest of the year, barely graduating, then went to rehab, never to be heard from again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Bitcoin topped one-hundred-thousand dollars, she\u2019d hired a financial planner and a private investigator. The financial planner\u2019s efforts left her where she was now, with a nine-figure account, two-thousand bitcoin still in her wallet, and an envelope with investment account paperwork for Stan. His account was worth more than hers at this point. The PI, though, had given up when, after three years, she was unable to locate Stanwick. Kelsey hoped he was doing well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey had a momentary memory of a metal box. It might have been a dream she\u2019d had once, but she could remember the feel of it in her hands. She shook her head to clear it, then picked up her phone and opened her notes app to make a reminder to herself to go back to the rehab Stanwick had gone to after college and try to trace him from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She found a note with the name of a company she\u2019d never heard of or seen before. How it got there was a mystery, but she left it. Ever since the unexplained pounding on her door that had awoken her all those years ago and led to saving Stanwick\u2019s life, she paid attention to such mysteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kelsey typed the name of the company into a search engine and began to read about a ballsy startup doing the impossible: building their own AI computing chips. Something told her that she should buy in as soon as they went public. Not if<\/em>, she just knew it was a when.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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