Noah_A_S
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Sounds like it was ripped straight from the online pages of Anomalies forums. Awesome.
Interlude 1
A Stop on the Way Home
View attachment 18036
John Titor was a time traveler from the year 2036. He came from a world devastated by nuclear war, Waco-type events, and civil war—a post-apocalyptic future. A dying world…
To save what remained of the United States of America in 2036, the military sent John back to the year 1975 to retrieve an IBM 5100 computer. This device will be used in 2036 to recompile and update Unix systems that are still in use in that era and beyond.
Many older systems are vulnerable to the dreaded 2038 Unix Bug. These systems track time using a signed 32-bit integer variable, that will overflow on January 19th, 2038, at 3:14:07 UTC. This overflow will be misinterpreted as a negative date, causing crashes and malfunctions. This Unix Epochalypse is a reminder of the importance of keeping software future-proof.
Unpublished and yet unknown features of the IBM 5100 will make a fix possible. This ancient personal computer system is the key to saving the future from this disastrous event.
It will effectively bridge the gap between the future and the past, so to speak. As a fascinating symbol of how the past's wisdom can contribute to solving future challenges.
- - -
John was indeed successful in retrieving the antique computer.
On his way back to 2036, he chose to stop by in the year 2000, for reasons unknown. He arrived in 2000 at the wheel of his 1967 Corvette, the C204 Time Displacement Unit still hot by his side, and the IBM 5100 in the trunk. As we imagine, he had all kinds of time travel gadgets and military survival gear in his car, in case of emergency.
Here he was. And now he was.
As his messages appeared online before our eyes, we found out later that John visited our era to warn us of coming calamities. He hoped that his interventions would eventually preserve our world from doom and destruction.
We followed intently, as he posted on the TTI BBS of old. Little did we know his messages would follow us over the decades.
Despite our passion and loyalty to him, we didn’t know much about him.
What was he doing when he wasn’t online? Did he have a job? Did he have a place to stay? A place to sleep? What was his time here, in 2000, like?
Imagine finding yourself in a place you do not know. Now imagine a place AND a time you do not know! This is the challenge John was facing in 2000.
Did he sleep in his car? Possibly, especially early on. It seems reasonable to believe that no one was expecting him here, in 2000, and that he wasn’t given a precise plan or strategy to find his marks in this era.
Did he have money? He probably had some change left from his adventure in 1975, but how much and for how long? Did they give him enough money and enough resources, to survive and to be safe? Enough to face most situations?
We know that he most likely didn't know anyone, so he was probably on his own.
We can assume he must have visited dinners and homeless shelters. Libraries, grocery stores. Perhaps he slept in a motel.
It's hard to know for sure what his occupations were when he wasn't online. Did he have a job? Did he need one?
If he had been working, it likely wouldn't have been a job requiring specific training or experience. Examples might include restaurants or retail stores. It was probably just a temporary position to hold him over for now.
