[ WP ] Time travel has been invented , but is only used to document undocumented history .

`` - and so, if my theories are correct, we need n't worry about any such grandfather paradoxes and effecting history and all that crap.'' 
 
 Carlos blinked, and snapped out of his reverie. He found it easy to get distracted, staring down over the balcony, and across the shimmering machines that lay below. 
 
 `` Wha- I mean, pardon?'' 
 
 Gerrav was an older scientist, and a little eccentric, but he was the creator of the entire program, and Carlos often felt he deserved some respect, even if the rest of the scientific community had long since laughed him out and forgotten about him. 
 
 `` The theory, Carlos! In twenty minutes the capsules shall depart into history, and return almost instantly. We'll have thousands of years of missed history right at our finger tips! We'll be famous, celebrities, Nobel prizes..'' 
 
 He was, of course, still talking about time travel. These days it seemed he rarely stopped talking about time travel, all `` paradox'' this and `` causality'' that. 
 
 The idea was pretty simple, although Carlos, while not stupid, still had trouble understanding the specifics; dispatch a bunch of time capsules with willing pilots into the past, have them document all the periods that our historical records skipped over, and return. From the point of view of a non-traveller, their departure and return would be almost instantaneous. 
 
 Gerrav had said that this would neatly avoid any of the nasty causality de-stabilising events; since we knew nothing about those time periods in the present, we do n't know how they are meant to turn out, and so the time capsules should have no noticeable effect on the event in progress. 
 
 The older scientist paused. 
 
 `` Have you listened to anything I've said?'' Gerrav sniffed, `` I still do n't like this dingy fortress you made us build. I suppose faith is n't something you young people practice.'' 
 
 `` I've listened to plenty, and I have plenty faith in you, and your work. But, just in case, we have the Time Shelter, and while I'm sure nothing will go wrong, you should n't let your hubris get in the way of safety.'' 
 
 Carlos had come up with the idea of the Time Shelter all by himself. Equipped with a slightly altered Time Engine, it was the only failsafe the project really had. 
 If anything was altered in the past, the Time Shelter alone would remain static and unchanged. It had taken a bit of persuasive talk, and a bit of persuasive money, to convince the city council to allow its construction in an unused commercial lot. 
 
 `` It's not going to work anyway. You know that holding something fixed in time is impossible. But, if it makes you feel better, good for you. I'd rather be outside, sat on the grass, watching the capsules vanish in the sun.'' 
 
 `` Yeah, and if something goes even slightly wrong, you can vanish with the rest of humanity.'' He could n't help grinning slightly. Gerrav was odd, but not unpleasant, and his words held no malice. 
 
 With that, a subtle alarm went off, and the rows of shimmering capsules, without any audible sound or visual effect, blinked out of existence. 
 
 Carlos eyed the empty bays cautiously, and even Gerrav was silent. 
 
 Seconds stretched into minutes. The capseules did not return. 
 
 `` Bullshit.'' Gerrav spoke first. `` This ca n't be a problem with the pods. I ran hundreds of tests.'' His voice was quiet. Perhaps a little angry, perhaps a little disturbed. 
 
 Carlos did not reply, because his gaze had this time been captured by the picturesque view out the window. 
 
 For as far as the eye could see, the bustling cityscape had been replaced by golden desert.
