[ WP ] What if ghosts are , in reality , glimpses of time travelers ?

**September 26, 1983** 
 
 Lieutenant Colonel Petrov sat at his duty station, rubbing his tired eyes. As an officer of the Soviet Air Defense Forces, he was used to long watches. He might have thought he was dreaming when the air around him shimmered, and the visitor appeared before him. She was dressed in what appeared to be casual attire of a fashion Petrov was unfamiliar with. Her long black hair was bound behind her head in a pony tail. She was beautiful. 
 
 `` Who are you?'' he began. `` How did you get in here?'' 
 
 `` Who I am is unimportant.'' replied the visitor. `` What I have come to ask you is of the utmost importance, however.'' 
 
 `` Are you a ghost?'' he asked in wonder. 
 
 `` I am a traveler.'' she smiled. `` That is all you need to know. I have come to you today because I want you to pause and ask yourself a very simple question.'' 
 
 `` What is the question?'' he asked. 
 
 `` Do you believe that *anyone* truly wants our world to end?'' she asked him evenly. 
 
 Petrov thought about this in regards to his work. Why would this vision appear to him? Was something about to happen? He again rubbed his eyes and looked for his wondrous visitor. She was gone. 
 
 The alarm sounded. The computers had detected an American first strike. Nuclear missiles were now heading towards the Soviet Union. It was now required that they launch in retaliation for this atrocity, mutually assured destruction was guaranteed. It was truly the end of the world. 
 
 *Or was it? * 
 
 `` Not on my watch.'' Petrov said aloud.
