The Traveller.

London, 2011. The landing was easy, done with the experience of one who'd perfo
rmed it so many times he could probably do it in his sleep. No, he'd better not
say that out loud. Somewhere in another reality there probably WAS an alternat
e version of him checking reality anomalies which required landing whilst asleep
.
He fired up the computer. Fantastic, this reality had Wi-Fi and an Internet. W
ell that would make his job that much easier and quicker. Brilliant, it even ha
d a Wikipedia. At least it was better than that last place, heck they hadn't ev
en had a space program so no satellites, no GPS and sadly no Internet.
He'd had to do all his research in libraries, eventually locating the anomaly -
Werner Von Braun had died as a baby so no rocket research. He'd been glad to le
ave there but London had looked so different without any Blitzkrieg, it looked o
ld was what it looked.
"Anyway" he thought, "back to here". Dickens had lived, Kennedy had been assassi
nated, Von Braun here too as well as the many other names he knew to check from
his previous trips. Minutes of looking became hours which became days then weeks
.
After 8 months he finally hit the jackpot under music. Somehow that guy was sti
ll alive in 2011! There he was, the required anomaly, large as life when he sho
uld have been long dead.
Alternate Earth catalogue #7854893473 anomaly listed as one Elvis Presley, still
alive and still performing when the traveller knew full well he had died in 197
7. Reading further it appeared this Elvis wasn't just ONE anomaly, he was sever
al.
The third line of his Wikipedia entry read 'Born in Newport, Wales, Presley move
d to Cardiff, Wales with his family at the age of 13' and then the realisation s
truck the traveller. This was not the superstar he had known from his own world
.
Reading about Elvis he discovered that 'Jesse Garon Presley took the name of his
twin brother Elvis for his stage name as a tribute to his memory after he was k
illed in a car crash in January of 1940'. Wow, no original Elvis and his brother
had lived to replace him!
For another week he left the computer program logging the various anomalies conc
erning the 'New Elvis' as the traveller now thought of him, his appearance at Li
ve Aid which relaunched his career to an entirely new generation and his massive
donations to many charitable organizations.
The traveller skimmed through the data, amending where necessary before a partic
ular entry caught his eye. 'Presley miraculously survived being killed in the S
eptember 11th bombings at the World Trade Centre. It appeared he had been booke
d to play a short corporate gig in the Windows on the World restaurant located i
n the North Tower.
Despite calling the venue to make them aware he was suffering from severe stomac
h flu Elvis promised he would perform that day. Elvis had arranged for a car to
take him from his hotel to the World Trade Centre but the car had engine proble
ms which was later discovered to be an oil leak. This incident left Presley str
anded over 2 miles from his destination.'
With this final anomaly logged and appended all that remained was for the travel
ler to advise Elvis of his presence here and the delivery of the correct time li
ne. After his performance at the Welsh Assembly the traveller approached Presle
y and presented his credentials. "I've been expecting you for quite some time"
Elvis said to the traveller which threw him off balance. Presley reached into h
is jacket pulling out his wallet.
"Research Anomaly Division, Interception Branch" said Presley flashing him a bad
ge the traveller instantly recognised from his training. Elvis passed him a sma
ll data device which the traveller took and inserted into his log. It informed
him that in his own reality the ability to travel between parallel Universes sho
uld not have been discovered for another 200 years and that all current field ag
ents were being recalled prior to amendment.
The traveller in turn gave Elvis his own data cube he had been compiling. Presl
ey didn't appear to be surprised by the information. "They told me when I was h
ired to wait for you. I was the meta anomaly.
They said I should have died at birth, should have been born in America. It was
why I took my brothers name, I knew eventually you would spot the many inaccura
cies. It just made it easier for me to make incursions that would lead you to m
e."
The traveller returned to his vehicle and logged the data cube Presley had given
him. As he was preparing to jump to his own reality his screen flashed one fin
al message from Elvis. "Thank you very much. Elvis has left this reality". Th
e traveller jumped for the final time saddened that he would never remember this
meeting as it would never have happened.
During the jump the traveller recorded his final voice log "Final jump back to r
eality. Apparently we shouldn't have discovered parallel Universes yet so we ar
e all being recalled home prior to Amendment. I wonder what my new life will tu
rn out to be. Agent Bruce Springsteen, final entry".
The End.