Time Is Money
Nate visits Pholeba, planet populated by rainbow-furred opossum-like creatures. Needing a place to temporarily stash their contraband, a group of bandits hide several pieces of jewelry and antique tools on Nate’s ship. The police find the items and arrest Nate. While out on bail and under investigation, he launches his own investigation. As it turns out these are no ordinary thieves. They are time travelers. They are being investigated in the present for theft and in the past for counterfeiting. They take advantage of inflation by bringing large sums of currency into the past (but not before the serial numbers have been issued) and using it to buy new items they can then sell in the future as antiques. They get richer with every iteration. This wreaks havoc with the economy as well as causality. Inflation is skyrocketing and nobody knows why.
Nate covertly gathers enough evidence to clear himself, but the police are disinclined to believe in time travel. “I’ll prove it to you,” Nate says. He takes three officers on a ride in his ship to an hour ago, just long enough to get back to the station and watch themselves leave with Nate. Reuniting with the other officers, they watch their younger selves on surveillance cameras at the spaceport.
“So this is why we were never able to prove that they were stealing the artifacts; they weren’t. Technically, they’ve committed no crimes,” the first officer, Phogoo, says.
“It’s the perfect get-rich-quick scheme,” the second officer, Boodoo, says.
“It’s still very reckless. There are reasons that stuff like this is illegal in most parts of the galaxy,” Nate says.
Charges against Nate are dropped and he agrees to help thwart the time travelers off the books. Artifacts are confiscated in the past and replaced with fakes before the time travelers can buy them. While the real artifacts are dug up elsewhere, the time travelers are framed with forgery and arrested. Nate then takes possession of the time machine and dismantles it.
Nate covertly gathers enough evidence to clear himself, but the police are disinclined to believe in time travel. “I’ll prove it to you,” Nate says. He takes three officers on a ride in his ship to an hour ago, just long enough to get back to the station and watch themselves leave with Nate. Reuniting with the other officers, they watch their younger selves on surveillance cameras at the spaceport.
“So this is why we were never able to prove that they were stealing the artifacts; they weren’t. Technically, they’ve committed no crimes,” the first officer, Phogoo, says.
“It’s the perfect get-rich-quick scheme,” the second officer, Boodoo, says.
“It’s still very reckless. There are reasons that stuff like this is illegal in most parts of the galaxy,” Nate says.
Charges against Nate are dropped and he agrees to help thwart the time travelers off the books. Artifacts are confiscated in the past and replaced with fakes before the time travelers can buy them. While the real artifacts are dug up elsewhere, the time travelers are framed with forgery and arrested. Nate then takes possession of the time machine and dismantles it.