George O. Smith

“ You claim that you're a time-travelling historian? Then tell me, why are you here on Mary Celeste?"
"Captain Briggs," I said, "the Time Machine was invented in Nineteen Eighty-Seven. Within twenty years every historical event had been painstakingly researched and authentically written—re-written—by time-travelling historians who viewed the event as partaking eye-witnesses. By my time, fame and fortune awaits any man who has the luck and dogged determination to scour historic time to locate some event that has not been recounted faithfully to the last niggling little detail. ”

“ The seats were filling rapidly; ushers were escorting the spectators efficiently, vendors were selling refreshments and programs. A thrumming sound came from overhead and I looked up to watch the materialization of jetcopters and personnel carriers and even a poised spacecraft hanging in a dome above our heads. ”

“ No survivors have ever turned up, no explanation can be given. Researchers in the "Mystery of Mary Celeste" suggest that the storm, the leaking alcohol, combined to frighten Captain Briggs with a threat of fire or explosion and that they all took off in the ship's yawl, which floundered.
We will not know the truth until someone invents the Time Machine. ”