Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.
Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
So - I found a time machine at lunch today.
And the great thing is that everyone at work agreed that
if someone was going to find a time machine at lunch, it really should be
me, which was certainly one of the more pleasantly empowering moments in my career
as a science fiction geek.
To explain...
When weather and schedule permit, I go for walks at lunch with my colleague Bill, who I've mentioned here previously. Today it looked a bit cloudy, but with blue skies to the west, so we decided that it would probably be fine by the time we finished our loop from the office up through Gastown to Canada Place and back along the waterfront.
As we entered Portside Park on our way back, I saw a Ziploc™ bag on the ground beside the path, with an unusual round object in it, about the size of a baseball. I glanced down and said to Bill, "Ha - that looked like the time machine from
Continuum."
Bill, who I am sure found this to be a somewhat odd (and not necessarily comprehensible) statement, made a sort of polite noncommittal sound of acknowledgement. We walked on a bit further, and I said, "You know, that looked a LOT like the time machine from
Continuum. Hang on, I'm just going to trot back and grab that bag."
Bill, patient man that he is, waited for me to run back to the park entrance and grab the bag and its enigmatic contents. We completed our walk, me with my prize held gingerly between finger and thumb* and returned to our office, at which point I opened the bag to find one (1)
Continuum time machine - or, to be accurate, one quantum sphere from the year 2077 - and the following somewhat crumpled note:
For those of you who, like poor Bill, have been reading this with a moderate lack of comprehension,
Continuum is a time-travel science fiction series that's just started its third season on
Showcase. I've mentioned it here a couple of times in the past - first for its
innovative use of Vancouver to represent the city of Vancouver, and second for
its less innovative use of Herbert George as a pseudonym in a time travel series. To be honest, I didn't watch the second season at all, although I did quite by accident end up watching the premiere of the third season on Sunday afternoon, just in time to prime my peripheral vision for time machine recognition.
It appears to be legitimate. I did a search for the Todd Ireland whose e-mail appears on the note, and it shows him as the Social Media Content Creator and Script Coordinator for
Continuum Season 3, and the sphere itself really couldn't be anything else.
So, as instructed, I returned to the park for a selfie which I will shortly be e-mailing to Mr. Ireland. Sadly, I also have to ask if Mr. Ireland is going to break my heart by requesting that I return the sphere to the park, so that other people can experience the unique thrill of finding a time machine at lunch.
- Sid
* Just for the record, my workplace is close enough to the Downtown East
Side that picking up mysterious plastic bags is at best ill-advised and at worst downright foolish.
