Time War

The commander-in-chief rehearsed the speech once more. It was mostly a reassessment of what everyone already knew and the decision that had been on the table for a while: resources had ended, and the solution lay in the past.

Shortly after the announcement, bombs would be sent back. Hopefully, that would decimate most of the population, and soon after they would follow, leaving the present and rewriting history.

Many were critics of the operation, especially claiming that the past could never be changed, but the fact was that no one was claiming that it could; the government stated that the absence of historical records showed that they had been successful. At the same time, others insisted that if there were no records of a particular period of time, that didn’t mean they would or had been successful as if they were if they were, the records should exist.

Some also feared that part of the current population would rebel, and with that in mind, the council had decided that the bombs would be sent during the speech, not after.

When the moment came, heavy security measures were in place at the launching facilities.

The time machines were heavily guarded and all the compounds had their orders.

The commander-in-chief walked to the pulpit, a modern kind of throne that was a monument to how civilization had always managed to come together through hard times.

At the compounds, the teams initiated the process.

Everyone was eager for the decision. The population was divided.

The commander grabbed his notes.

The time machines started moving.

The visioning systems started broadcasting and everybody stood silent for the speech.

The first bombs were dispatched; to different locations, on different dates.

The commander opened his mouth…

And the explosion, transmitted for all to see, killed him instantly.

When the first bombs came, no one knew what to do; it was impossible to fight an enemy that wasn’t there, and it took time, and cost lives, to understand what was going on: the bombs were being sent back in time.

When they did understand, however, they came up with a plan.

Bombs were made in compounds that would later be dismantled, and they would make certain that no records of them remained.

History was rewritten to make sure that the enemy had misinformation.

Several monuments, including a throne that no one could ignore, were built. At their core, bombs, ready to go off centuries later.

The time war had begun.