Button in the Fabric of Time by William Wayne Dicksion

I’d love to take this keri
for a real spin. However, I’m going to have to learn to temper my
recklessness a bit. “Thank you for preventing me from doing
something foolish, Jan-3. Please tell me when I’m going beyond the
bounds.”
    She took my arm and softly replied, “I like
some of the ways you go beyond the bounds.”
    Wondering what she meant, but afraid to ask,
I steered the keri in the direction of the family farm, trying to
recognize some of the major landmarks. Since I had flown over this
part of the U.S. in my light plane, I was familiar with the
terrain.
    There was excitement in Jan-3’s eyes as she
said, “This is wonderful. I’ve never flown over the countryside
like this before. I’m eager to see your farm.” Then, with a look of
concern she whispered, “I hope you realize that your family won’t
be there. They’ve been dead for hundreds of years.”
    Her comment shocked me back to reality. In
the excitement of discovery, I had forgotten the real reason I was
here. I murmured quietly, “I wonder if I’ll be able to find their
graves.” Again I became aware of the many changes; Land in the
twenty-first century had been arid was now a lush gardens. The
ground that had been barren then was now producing fruit, nuts,
vegetables, and grains in abundance. Mountains that had been dry in
the twenty first century were green now. Streams and lakes filled
the valleys. The accomplishments of the people of the thirty first
century were beyond my wildest imaginings.
    I pointed to the landmarks that I knew, and
told Jan-3 stories of the hardship the earliest settlers had
endured to cross this seemingly godless land. I pointed to Death
Valley and told her the origin of its name.
    She was fascinated. “These are the stories I
had hoped you would tell me. I’ve read about them in history books,
but it isn’t the same as hearing it from someone who knows. I’m
sorry if the telling brings you sadness. I wonder—and you must
wonder also—what happened to the brave people who faced those
dangers so that we might have this wonderful life. It saddens me
that they cannot see the results of their having suffered so
much.”
    “I think that in time they will,” I said.
“This was certainly no paradise in their time. It took people of
your time to make it a paradise, and it will take future
generations to make the resurrection mentioned in the Christian
Bible a possibility. I think that when knowledge advances enough,
something like a resurrection will become a reality.”
    Her interest piqued, Jan-3 asked, “How do you
think that might come about?”
    I realized that an explanation was way over
my head, and also realized that should I fail to explain, Jan-3
would think that she was in the company of a funny-bunny. Since
there was no way to avoid her question, I thought, I’ll give it
a try.
    “In my house, I have a photograph of my
great-grandparents. The camera captured a brief moment in their
lives. By looking at that photograph, I can see what they looked
like on their wedding day. My great-grandparents grew old and died,
but in that photograph, they stayed young. In that brief moment,
they attained a form of immortality.
    “Later, machines were developed that allowed
the pictures to be shown in series, making the subjects appear to
move. Then someone invented a way to add color, and then sound to
the moving pictures. The descendants of the people in the pictures
could now hear the voices, watch the movements, see the
expressions, and experience the emotions of their
great-grandparents. Humankind took one more step toward
immortality.
    “We know that time is a dimension, and that
humans can travel in time,” I continued. “Perhaps someday, someone
will invent a camera-like device that will enable the operator to
travel back in time and capture a brief moment in the life of a
person who has lived and died. That person could be brought forward
to this time, go through your purifier, and attain a form