Escape Pod Flash: Get Me to the Job on Time
By Ian Randal Strock
Read by Elie Hirschman
“Maybe it’s what you’d do with the knowledge that determines whether or not you’ll discover the secret of time travel.”
“What?” I asked the old man.
“I know for a fact that time travel is possible. I knew the man who discovered it. And you’ll never guess what he used his discovery for.”
Well, I didn’t believe that old man any more than you believe me, but we’d been waiting in that airport for four hours, so I humored him.
“All right, I’ll bite,” I said. “What did he use time travel for?”
“Wally didn’t need to see the pyramids getting built, or sail with Columbus, or even watch JFK’s assassination. What Wally wanted to do, more than anything, was get to work on time.”
An introduction like that demands a story, so I sat down and let him tell me.
I’m generally not too into the shorts, but this is perfect for a short.
This gets me thinking: we haven’t had a good, half-hour long anthology show for years and its about time we did! Creating such a show would only require a small budget so there’s no loss on the money front, and with stories like this and others lying around just screaming to be dramatised there’s no shortage of good adaptable material, so where are the takers? Come on, lets terrify a new generation!
I kind of liked this. I think if I had a time machine, I’d probably find some really trivial use for it too. Like when you forget about something good that was on TV, and TiVo didn’t record it for you, no problem, just go back in time and watch the show.
[...] Fiction: Listen to “Get Me to the Job on Time” by Ian Randal Strock at Escape [...]
Enjoyed it. Short,fast, well writen.
Absolutely lovely. Great twist(ish) ending – the whole story had a wonderful feeling to it that I can’t quite put my finger on!
I just listened to the thing today and I was absolutely astounded.
I listened to this on the subway this morning riding to work. While trying to make it in by 9AM. Which I am never able to do.
Now, if only I could have a time machine…
Whoever said it was a machine?
This is the first flash in this site I’ve understood and appreciated so far. Great story.
I want to hear more about the author of this story.
I could not get the ending so much. Why did they land 2 hours earlier?