Unwilling Time Traveler

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Ayşe came to my door in the early hours of the morning. I looked at the outside door's camera view, and I saw that I wasn't wrong. Ayşe was waiting in front of the door like a lioness preparing to fall on her prey. Without getting out of bed, I opened both the outside door and the door of my flat using the remote control.

As soon as Ayşe entered my room, she opened the window and asked, “Did you found a way to live without oxygen?”. Before I get a chance to answer her question, "What time is it?” she asked me. It was three o'clock pm, and I was two hours late for my date with Ayşe.

As I prepared to babble something in my mouth, she posed new questions that were harder to answer: “Come on, you're late for an appointment, you can't even think about calling on the phone? And why aren't you answering my calls? Don't you think I'd be worried?”

I was supposed to give a waxed answer to these fancy questions, but I could only say, “I was asleep.”

“So, when you sleep, you're exempt from everything.”

That comment, which contained blame, deserved a refined response. I stood up from my bed and prepared to say a few compelling words.

“I've got a great surprise for you; get up, we're leaving,” she said, pulling me by the arm.

I couldn't get a clear idea about Ayşe because her inappropriate actions, such as tugging my arm, didn't change the fact that she was a sweet person. As if I wasn't the one who did not keep my promise two hours ago, I could object. Yeah, she was a friendly person. I learned that people like Ayşe are not common because my age is now quite advanced. We could be sleeping together if I didn't have doubts about our chemistry.

I got out of bed and crawled my feet into the bathroom, and washed my face with cold water. According to the AI-backed mirror, I had to see a psychiatrist immediately. I also had to reduce smoking, walk regularly, and pay attention to what I ate.

“What was the surprise?” I asked after returning from the bathroom.

“We will travel through time,” said Ayşe.

“We both know that's not possible.”

“Let's not waste time talking about this. Berk will tell you soon,” Ayşe said.

When I was changing my clothes, I tried to remember what I knew about time travel. Among the pieces of information that swarmed into my mind, the article about constructing a simulation system that made time travel possible came forward.

As I left my room, I said, “What kind of time travel is that?”

"Sci-fi writers should be open-minded," said Ayşe.

It was like my life was always moving towards a place I didn't know. I guess that's why no one was interested in my stories except a few people who liked antiquities. It wasn't right to expect people to read those jumbled stories when life was complicated enough.

“Where are we going? What will we do?”

“Two tickets for a trip to the past came out of the raffle,” said Ayşe.

I sincerely wished that what he said was right, and I wanted to believe her. It would be nice to give a fine strutting to the celebrities who share their travels into space with high-sounding phrases on their social media accounts and the rich who want to give themselves an eccentric air. I wasn't really in the mood to travel, but I never got into the spirit early for anything. We used to be poor when I was a child, and my situation didn't change much in the following years because the inertia of poverty had become an addiction. I had become a delusional and chatty man because it was free to think and talk, but what could all this have to do with time travel?

While the air-train was moving from the city's outskirts towards the center, hissing and curling like a big snake, Ayşe talked about the importance of enjoying life. By the way, I was wondering if I was the type that depends on others. During my whole life, I have been drifting around with someone.

I turned to Ayşe and asked, “Are you a lucky person?”

“I know the value of what I have,” she said.

I wasn't sure if I was giving her the value she deserved, which was a little bit about how much I cared about myself; I thought I cared about her at least more than I cared about myself unless it was a pink lie I made up to comfort myself.

The administration of the Retrospective Organization was on the thirtieth floor of a skyscraper. The bespectacled woman at the front desk took us straight to the conference room. While waiting for Berk in the conference room, Ayşe finally began to tell me where the time travel issue came from. She didn’t know if it was right to call our next trip time travel. Because she didn't understand how our experience would differ from a computer game. The organization provides an easy-to-use development environment for past-time designers. Designers who want to portray a specific time and place in history upload their information, documents, and images to the system. According to the uploaded data, the system was primarily responsible for revitalizing the historic site and the people. As the name suggests, the system can only be used to travel to the past. When she saw the internet announcement, she wanted to take her chance, and she had no hope that the tickets would come to us. I thought of a thousand questions, but I didn't ask any of them not to create the impression that I didn't trust her.

Berk, whom Ayşe called by his first name, was a short and stocky man. Frankly, he seemed like the kind of guy who came to where he was because of his father's money, and I suspected he had the qualifications for this kind of work. It was also a mystery how she and Ayşe became so intimate in such a short time. He began his remarks by congratulating us on winning the lottery to test the environment. We had to listen to him very carefully because there were risks to our journey.

The most important feature of the system was that time travelers also use their mental powers while creating the past environment. During the journey, our minds helped revive the situation in a way similar to dreams. As soon as we're connected to the system, we get into a trance; it's like we're hypnotized. It was enough to get on the virtual time capsule and start the journey back to get out of the trance state. Berk would be overseeing us throughout the process and will take us out of the time capsule in the event of a mishap.

For some reason, I suddenly felt a little tedium, and I wanted to go home. I wish I hadn't ditched Ayşe a few hours ago; then, I could have told her I wanted to go back. It would be extreme, even for me, to let her down a second time on the same day.

I guess that the device we're going into will interact with our brains and produce space-time. I could make a good story out of this adventure that I reluctantly took part in unless our brains burn during the journey. I felt vague indignation sprouting up in my mind. My anger, as is often the case, was not directed at the people but by myself. I didn't dare to refuse a trip that I didn't understand the dynamics of, but I wasn't comfortable with it at all.

It was too late to think about all this because we had sat in our seats in the time capsule, fastened our belts, and put virtual reality headgear on our heads. I suddenly felt a sense of panic and decided to step out of the time capsule. Ayşe's voice, asking where and when I wanted to go, was so enthusiastic that I immediately gave up my decision. "Wherever it is, you pick it.”

“Sinop countryside, April 1299,” Ayşe said without hesitation.

"Sit back and relax,” a soft, harmonious female voice said. The woman began counting backward from seven, during which the image ahead began to bend and twist. My body was starting to go numb; I closed my eyes because I was dizzy, but this action did not cause any change in the image in front of me.

A few seconds later, we found ourselves on a hill surrounded by greenery, under a huge sycamore tree. Under the tree, a man in his forties was napping with his mouth open. Next to him was a sword stick on the ground with letters written in the Arabic alphabet. Not only was there no trace of the time capsule in the vicinity, but Ayşe tried to wake the man by pulling him by the arm. What was that move now, not impropriety? And it is 21. What would we do if the man wakes up and saw his intruders in 21st-century clothes, took his flamboyant sword, and attacked us?

The black-bearded, crow-nosed man opened his eyes and began to look at us curiously.

“Hello uncle, we are strangers around here,” said Ayşe.

“Where did you come from, and where do you go?" he asked; I think he was scared too. I tried to put myself in the man's place and imagine what we looked like from his perspective. Besides the glasses in my eye and the white sneakers in my foot, Ayşe's blouse with the LED lights on it must have caused a complete shock to the man.

“My wife and I are travelers; we come from Constantinople, we are looking for an inn where we can stay,” I said, sitting next to the man. Ayşe came and approached me; her LED blouse was shining brightly.

“Have you read the writing on my sword?” the man inquired.

“We can't read those letters,” I said.

“They call me Master Ali Merdan. I'm the killer of 40 lives.”

It was evident that the man was eager to tell us the story about people he had slaughtered, trying not to show that I was afraid, “in what heaven did this happen?” I asked him.

Ali Merdan had begun to tell: "My father died when I was fourteen years old. My mother and I used to shepherd in the village for a living. My mother used to do household chores and take the villagers' livestock to graze. I had a disease of laziness; I couldn't find time to go to work from sleeping in the shadow of the willow. As time passed, my mother was pissed off. She said she wouldn't give me bread if I didn't work. And she told the people in the village, “not give this boy bread.” I explained to my mother that I was afraid of animals; she said Noah but not the Prophet. I secretly procured bread and halva from my friends, put them in my saddlebag, and left the village. I walked five minaret length long, and my legs got tired. I took the bread and halva out of my saddlebag and enjoyed it. When I ate the food, a sweet peace fell upon me, and I decided to lie down in the shadow of the plane ahead and take a nap. While I was sleeping with my mouth open, the flies attacked the pieces of halva in my mouth. When I woke up, I have seen that my surrounding was filled with dead flies. I killed some of them by locking them in my mouth while I slept. I stopped by a blacksmith on the way and made the sword you saw. I had it written ‘Master Ali Merdan, the killer of 40 lives’ on it. I put my sword in my waist, and I moved on. I met seven young men on the way. They were so imposing on their horses that I almost peed my pants. When the seven valiant saw my sword, they began to compliment me. It turns out they were all brothers, looking for a brave young man to marry their sisters. They took me to their village, and I married their sister. I found out later that they were in trouble with a gang of forty thugs. They gave me a horse and an armored soldier's outfit. I'd fight bandits better if I were wearing armor and riding on a horse. I told them I didn't like to ride, so I ran to my blossoming wife. I said, neither struggle nor horseback riding; I was even afraid of vermin. I told those thugs would knock me dead in a minute. May Allah is pleased with my wife; she got the armor on and rode away. They got into a hell of a fight with thugs on a mountainside. It turns out my wife was a daughter of Adam in the monster force. After ravaging the bandits, they galloped back to the village. So, my reputation has spread from village to village.”

"Fortune has smiled upon you, and a good wife makes the man a king,” I said, looking at Ayşe. Then I stood up, saying, “Let us ask permission to leave."

"The inn is forty arrow range from here. If you stay in the dark, you'll be eaten by wolves. Let us welcome you tonight,” said Ali Merdan.

I was beginning to wonder and worry about where the time capsule was. I felt like I wanted to wake up and go home. The light was uncanny, and the corners of the objects were sharp. It was hard to believe that we were in a virtual environment because I could see my surroundings clearly. I turned and looked at Ayşe out of the corner of my eye, and she didn't seem worried.

“I think you're right; it's best to spend the night here,” I said as I stood up. Ali Merdan in the front, we in the back, started to move towards the mansion located at the end of the hill.

“Can you see the time capsule?” I asked Ayşe.

“I guess it will come out later,” she said.

“What if it never comes out?”

“We just got here; take your time,” she said, like a mother trying to stall her child. Her comfort was incomprehensible; I had already missed civilization, home. Berk told us to get on the time capsule and start the device when we wanted to go back, who didn’t think the capsule would disappear.

The woman who greeted us at the mansion door asked, “Where did these foreigners come from?” as if we were not there.

“They are guests of God; they have come from far away, " said Ali Merdan.

The woman, whose name was Huma, was not satisfied with Ali Merdan's statement, but she turned to us and said, “Welcome.” I guess she didn't like to see me, but she was warm to Ayşe. She ordered the servants at the mansion to prepare food for us.

Imitating the house people on the floor table, I pulled the ground cloth into my lap and tried to spoon the tarhana soup with the wooden spoon they put in front of us. The soup was terrible, and the village bread they gave me was like stone. Fortunately, the stew came to the table later, and I was able to get some food.

After dinner, Huma said she would tell us the story of Ali Merdan. I was going to object by saying that we had already heard the story, and Ayşe made an eyebrow-and-eye sign and stopped me. I think there was a division of work between them to tell the story; without any warning Ali Merdan, Huma continued the story where her husband left off.

"His fame spread from ear to ear when Ali Merdan, with my help, eliminated the bandits who spewed blood into the surrounding villages. His glory has reached Principle Çandaroğlu Yaman. He sent a messenger and summoned the gentleman to his palace. The messengers brought with them a horse with a black mane. He said he believed it was bad luck to get his foot off the ground, and he went on foot to Principle Yaman’s Palace without riding the gift horse.”

“Let me tell you the rest,” Ali Merdan said after drinking the sherbet brought by the servants.

“Principle Yaman had a mansion used for hunting. A monster living in the forest surrounding the mansion gave trouble to everyone. Principle Yaman vowed to give his youngest daughter to the one who killed this monster. When I heard those words from the messengers, I was shot in the brain. What could I do against the monster that Principle Yaman's soldiers couldn't handle? Only bird’s milk was missing at the table set up for me. There was such a blessing that I couldn't say, ‘I can't do this job.’ Even I showed off by saying, ‘Don't worry, I'll bring it to the palace as I hold it from its ear.’ The next day they tried to put me on the horse again. I drew my sword from its sheath and waved, “I am used to doing my work on foot.” When I said so, they didn't take it any. Further, we went into the woods under the guidance of a few soldiers. The soldiers left me in the darkness of the forest and immediately disappeared. Looking around and figuring out what to do, I saw a grizzly bear behind the trees. The blessed animal was so well-fed that it could barely pass through the trees. Of course, I immediately climbed the first tree I saw. He stood on his feet, shaking the tree. In the first shake, I fell from the tree onto the back of the grizzly bear and held the animal firmly in both ears to restore my balance. The animal had an angry cry, a shout, that the ones that hear would piss their pants. He turned around to get rid of me and started running at full speed towards the palace. When the palace guards saw me on the bear's back, they attacked the animal with forked swords. They took care of the grizzly in a minute and put me down. At that moment, Principle Yaman brought his little girl, and he got us married. I would like to say my wife doesn’t want another wife, but I didn't dare.”

In this part of the narrative, Huma said, “Let me tell you the rest.” Taking advantage of the pause, I looked out the window to see if the time capsule had arrived. Ayşe was eating the dessert that had been placed in front of her while listening to the stories in great curiosity. I wondered why I was the only one worried. Shouldn't Ayşe be alarmed at the possibility of never seeing her family and friends again?

“When I saw a young girl riding a horse coming towards the village, I was in a mood like boiling water poured down my head. I said, Huma, you are not the kind of woman to share her husband. The daughter of Principle Yaman was beautiful. When I saw my brother looking at her with admiration, I had an idea.

I greeted the girl with a smile, helped her to settle while the servants prepared the wedding room on the top floor of the mansion. As soon as it got dark, Ali Merdan started to doze off. Taking advantage of the lack of stars and moons in the sky, I sent my brother to her room. It worked out nicely there. So, the girl was also willing, so it was her fate, so we married Leyla with my youngest brother. When Principle Yaman first heard about it, he blew it a little bit, but then he accepted the marriage.”

"What did Ali Merdan say?" Ayşe asked.

“He never objected,” Huma said. Ali Merdan had already fallen asleep at this time, so we could not ask him how he felt about it.

Knowing us as husband and wife, they set us up with a large room on the mansion's top floor. As I entered the room, I wondered if this was the room where Leyla stayed with Huma’s brother. There was only one bed in the place, as I predicted. I told Ayşe not to worry; I could sleep on the rug. "Don't worry, we'll sleep in a bed; I won't eat you,” she replied. ‘Fire and gunpowder do not stand side by side’ and ‘I trust you, but I can’t trust myself' kind of words passed through my mind, but I did not say them to her.

What I feared happened in the night, not one but two times. I was in a good mood when I was making love among the pillows, and duvets smelled of wool, but later I regretted this intimacy, which developed unplanned and unscheduled. I started to imagine myself, for some reason, hoeing in the field among the boys. The anchor's work gets longer and longer; the dust of the ground gets mixed into my sweat. Then I go back to the little hut where Ayşe, dressed in dirty clothes, has made bread. There's a sour smell out there that I don't know the source of. Ayşe criticizes me for not milking cows, cleaning the coop, and sticking the turds on the wall. I think she's right when the kids are crying.
“Don't be afraid; take it easy,” said Ayşe, who saw me contemplating.

To change the subject, I replied,” No, not that one, but the time capsule still hasn't arrived."

It was so dark and quiet that we soon fell asleep. I dreamt that the time capsule fell from the sky in the form of a kennel. I try to get into it, not caring that I left Ayşe behind, but I can't fit in it. Meanwhile, the dog that owns the cabin comes and bites my leg with an appetite. Now I will wake up and return to my era, but things don't develop that way. I go into the mansion and ask for help from Huma, and when she rubs my leg with ash, she looks at me with a lot of meaning, and I say no, not that much. I spent the night struggling with strange dreams like this, and I didn't dare to get out of bed because it was cold, dark, and quiet.

When we woke up, the sun had risen quite high, and Ayşe hurried out of bed and looked out the window to see if the capsule had arrived. Now it was clear that Ayşe was starting to think that we had been long enough in the past. I didn’t know if I should be happy or sad about it. We put on our clothes and went downstairs. There was no one in the house except the maid with the big tits, so we went outside and took a big tour around the house. We didn't see anything like a time capsule, so we returned home. We talked about whether it would be appropriate to get to the road without breakfast. We saw the horsemen coming towards us, shaking the ground. Now that they're galloping, they could be bringing us news about the capsule.

“The Byzantine spies are here,” the bald man in front of the horsemen's group said to those behind him. And he quickly descended from his horse, and after he had glanced at us from head to toe, he said, “You little bastards.”

I was pissed off, and I said, “Beware of your words, or it'll be bad.”

"Tie them up," said the bald man, who ignored my words.

“You can't tie anyone up in Ali Merdan's mansion, " Huma said. She was running out of the barn and heading home.

When the men heard Ali Merdan’s name, they paused until their commander said, "Is Ali Merdan or Principle Çandaroğlu Yaman great?” Huma and the cavalry of Çandaroğlu Principality thought differently about the answer to the question asked. As a result of this conflict, Huma attacked the horsemen with the sword of Ali Merdan. Meanwhile, from the mansion's top floor, a girl looked quite like Huma began raining arrows on the horsemen. When a soldier smelled of sweat slapped Ayşe and tried to tie her hands, I decided to kick the shit out of these ignorant men. With the electroshock device I removed from my coat pocket, I met the soldier who attacked Ayşe and the commander who approached me with electrical energy.

Meanwhile, mother and daughter's holy struggle with the horsemen continued. A man with his hands as big as cannonballs attacked me. I fended off the cavalry's attack with the second electroshock device I pulled out of my pocket, but in the meantime, I couldn't get away with a solid punch.

I don't know if it was because of the noise; the time capsule finally appeared before us. We got in it, closed the door, and we looked at the dozens of buttons in front of us. “Beam us up, Scotty,” Ayşe yelled in haste. I couldn't tell if she told me that because she was confused or if she was joking. A few seconds later, when we open our eyes and see that we have returned from time travel in one piece, it is impossible to describe the relief I experienced in words.

Berk appeared at the door of the room as we removed our seat belts, and I asked, “Are you sure you passed us all the information necessary for the trip?”

“So, what happened?” Berk replied.

I said, “The capsule never came."

“I had a coffee in the next room and came right away,” Berk said.

“Right away,” Ayşe repeated in an angry tone.

“Inside the system, time flows fast compared to outside, like in dreams,” Berk said.

I said, “Are you telling us this now?” adding to Ayşe's anger, Ayşe turned to me and said, “You got a black eye."

“The thing happened because the brain perceived what was happening as real,” Berk said.

"We're learning that now, bravo.”

“Do you regret it?” Berk asked.

I got up from my seat, looked Ayşe in the eye, and said, “I have absolutely no regrets.”

Image Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/mId2gG0a9GU



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