[ WP ] You thought that being in the Time Police would involve more Hitler and other Fate-of-the-World situations , but mostly it 's just preventing people from winning bets or cheating the stock market .

Most first time Time travelers will eventually ask `` why not kill Hitler?'' or `` How do I use this to save aunt Sally?''. That's the key though, it's never the first jaunt through Time. No, the first trip is usually an accident and the second a test to a `` safe'' Time. 
 
 The accidental trips are n't actually illegal. You probably stepped on a crack in Space Time or built a microwave that works as an atom scrambler and also plays Beethoven's 5th in C. That's your free pass, stay calm and quiet and the flow of Time will eventually push you pack to your starting point. 
 
 The second trip, the test? that one sets off alarm bells at HQ. We bust our asses to catch the guys who are at the early stages of Time travel, because if we miss one they might go on to do something stupid, like killing the leader of the German Free Nation before his rise to power. Hans Adenauer never led Germany in the second world war, never firebombed London. Never surrendered in 1943 after overextending in the invasion of England. His son Martel never became human rights activist. Never raised billions of dollars to help pull 3/4 of the world out of poverty. 
 
 No instead a burn scared man slipped through Time from 1968 to 1910 and killed a group of children. One of those children would have traveled to London in 1932 where he'd have a one night stand with an English lass. All this means that the damn fool managed to paradox lock himself. 
 
 This is why we chase the simple stuff as hard as we do. and why winning a lottery or making a killing in the stock market is such a big deal.
