My Troubles With Time Read Online Free PDF Page A

I saw in the distance breakers crashing against a sandy shore. I was even more grateful when the lateral movements eased and I found I could steer the time machine to follow the coastline. My elation vanished, however, when I realized that I was flying north along the West Coast of Africa.
    The machine’s clock indicated that it was August l869. What little I knew about conditions in Africa in 1869 left me very dubious that I would be able to obtain there the items I might need to repair the time machine. Even Cairo, which I thought might be the most advanced city on the continent, would be unlikely to have sufficiently sophisticated repair facilities. The small emergency kit I carried with me was enough to handle minor repairs, but anything major would require me to purchase or make needed parts.
    Descending to within several hundred feet of the ground to reduce the use of power, I steered the machine northward along the coast at a slow speed. To my relief, I realized that I was passing over the Straits of Gibraltar and that Spain was now beneath me.
    My first thought was to alight at Madrid and attempt to repair the damage there. As I weighed this possibility, the shuddering ceased and the time machine became more responsive to my controls. I looked at my power gauge and found that power consumption had returned to normal.
    Under the changed circumstances, I decided to fly past Madrid and attempt to reach Paris. In l869, The Second Empire under Napoleon III was enjoying its last months as the center of European culture and civilization. The French capital was one of the largest and most sophisticated cities in the world. If I could not purchase or make whatever I might need to repair the time machine there, I would be unlikely in l869 to obtain it anywhere else.
    I crossed the Pyrenees without difficulty and headed northward across France toward Paris. To my surprise the countryside was not as beautiful as I had expected. At length in the distance, I saw the spires of Paris.
    It took me a few seconds to notice that something was wrong. Paris seemed to be surrounded by large numbers of troops. No sooner had I become aware of this when I and heard explosions around me and realized that the time machine was under fire from artillery pieces on the ground.
    I ducked instinctively, although the artillery shells exploded some distance from the rapidly moving time machine. I could not understand why Paris was surrounded by troops and why they were firing at me. My first thought was that somehow I had blundered into the middle of military maneuvers.
    Then I looked at the time machine’s clock and realized what had happened. Instead of August l869, the clock indicated that it was November l870. Apparently, a sudden burst of current from the batteries had propelled the machine more than a year further toward the present. France was in the middle of the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon III had abdicated, and Paris was cut off and besieged by an invading German army.
    Clearly, the besieged city was no place for me to repair the time machine. I recalled from my history books that during the siege, conditions had become so desperate that the population had been forced to kill and eat the animals at the Paris zoo.
    A look at the battery gauge told me that my options were severely limited by the amount of power remaining in my batteries. If I used any power to move the time machine from l870 Paris to a different time or locale, the batteries would be too weak to power my return home. My only practical alternative was to land immediately and hope that I could repair any damage to my vehicle with the emergency repair kit I carried with me.
    The success of the German artillery in directing its gunfire uncomfortably close made me realize I had no time to waste. My first step was to steer the time machine to an altitude too low for the artillery to fire without risking injury to the German troops from shrapnel.
    I put the vehicle into a steep