[ WP ] Paradox Control : A time traveller tries to prevent paradoxes occuring whilst fixing time . They fail , causing more paradoxes to fix . Time is starting to go weird , like it is wounded .

I am the man who slips between times. 
 
 It's been a long, long time. Too long. I ca n't remember which world is mine anymore. I recall snapshots, facts. Cuban Missile Crisis. Resolved. Or was it? In this timeline? That's right, Kennedy. Kennedy lives. Kennedy fucks up big time and triggers thermonuclear war. Must kill Kennedy. Get that squared away. I buy a rifle. I take another life. November 1961. What does it matter anymore? I'm a master in subterfuge. I was trained to handle situations like these. 
 
 I was *trained! * Yes, that's right. 33rd century? I struggle to recall. I'm... I am... A Temporal Investigator. A `` time agent'' as they called us. I work for... Who? Someone who fixes time. Someone who tries to fix time. My memories have been scrambled by hundreds of quantum jumps. Not only is there the burden of storing a library of notes about every single timeline I create ( my hypercomputer was stolen long ago, and I fear the people of North Sentinel Island now worship it as a deity ) but the device is... Imperfect. It was only new when I joined the... When I decided to become a time agent. Not an exact science, as they said - more akin to the first biplanes or the Space Shuttle than safe, modern tech.... 
 
 The Space Shuttle. NASA. Von Braun! That's right. Giving those maps of the Reich's facilities to the RAF meant that he was bombed. Dead in 1942. That wo n't do. I jump forward a decade, noting that my device is now inaccurate by a whole month. When I started, it was capable of landing me to the nearest second. What happened? Think, think... Back on Sirius A 4. Notes! I find a quiet spot in the park and open my suitcase, grasping at folders. *Great Figures... * No... *Agency? * Yes, it must be in there. I flip through the pages and find everything I have on the device. Of course! This is the second device I've had. I ordered a replacement when the first one began to deteriorate, becoming inaccurate by days. Well, that did n't help. And to make matters worse, the device I have now seems incapable of travelling beyond the year 1984. Troubling. I'm stuck in a backwards world. The First Cold War is still on. Between whom? I find another notebook, full of barely legible script. `` 20^^th Century'' it reads. I flip to the newest page. The notes read `` assassination of Ribbentrop proved ineffective. barbarossa successful. USSR falls. cold war between reich and USA - no data beyond 1999, ~~possbil~~ predict Reich collapse within 20 years.'' 
 
 When was the last time I had travelled beyond 1990? Days, months, years mean nothing to me. The writing is in blue ink, and is very difficult to read. Must have been recently, I lost control of my writing hand a few tens of jumps ago. Why ca n't I remember? Why ca n't I remember! I just want to see my wife again. Of course! My wife! Will she even recognise me, or has the genetic damage gone too far? The machines are not perfect. Every jump leads to... Some disorganisation of the constituent atoms, as they told us. Which means genetic breakdown, loss of memories, insanity... It's a risky business. Well. Hopefully they will have ways of fixing me when I get back to the 33^^rd century. *If* I get back to the 33^^rd century. But first I have to fix what I've broken. As far as I've been able to work out, my device is somehow polarised to work best in the time stream it was designed for - *my* time stream. And, well, killing Hitler did n't turn out so well, despite what everyone says. Ever since, I've been trying to fix things. Of course, I ca n't stop myself from killing Hitler - that would cause a huge paradox. So I've been trying to steer the events of the war so that Germany loses - but it's tricky. Too far one way, and reality is changed even more. And every change that I make seems to move me *further* from my own timeline, not closer, so my range of movement in time decreases. That's right! I remember now! 
 
 I set up the device again, hidden away behind a bush, and prepare the jump. I paw at my face with the right hand - the one in which I retain some motor controls - and feel blisters, and damaged skin. But that's far from the worst effects. I broke my own rule of not mixing with the people of the time stream to seek treatment for what I suspected was a brain tumour, and I was right. 6 months, they said. My augmented immune system is fighting it, hard. It must have been years since I got the diagnosis. But it's still there, and only a matter of time. 
 
 So. Who to target? I read through hastily scrawn notes. A list of Nazi commanders, some names crossed out. I choose one with the label `` Barbarossa'' and plot a course for his location in time. 
 
 The machine gives a dissatisfied beep, and the readout tells me what I have been dreading for decades. *Unable to plot course. Range reduced: 2 years. Maximum range: 1959 - 1963. * 
 
 I'm trapped. 
 
 I scream.
