Dallas, Texas; November 22, 1963:

A feeling of excitement fills the air at the Texas Schoolbook Depository this cool Friday morning; President John F. Kennedy's motorcade is scheduled to pass directly in front of the depository in less than an hour. As if on cue, the sun has just broken through some dark clouds that had threatened rain, and it seems that a beautiful day lies ahead.

It is exactly 11:45 A.M., and a tall, slim man with graying hair and wearing a bright red jacket walks through the main entrance of the depository. He walks over to a group of book-handlers discussing the President's visit and calmly asks where he can find Mr. Lee Harvey Oswald. One of the men, Buell Frazier, who had given Oswald a ride to work this morning, points over to the lunchroom where Lee can be seen dropping a coin in the Dr. Pepper machine.

The stranger turns and walks into the lunchroom and approaches Oswald. Oswald, always one to keep to himself, turns from the stranger and starts to leave the room.

Without a word, or a moment's hesitation, the stranger in the red jacket pulls a small crowbar from his belt and brings it down on Oswald's head with a loud crunch. Oswald drops to the floor like a rag doll, a pool of blood forming around his head. Then, as if to be sure of what he has done, the assailant smashes the heavy metal bar down onto Oswald's shattered skull a second and third time.

From the time the stranger entered the building to the thump of Oswald's body hitting the floor, not thirty seconds passes. But the execution, and that's what it was, was witnessed by at least six employees. However, each of those men was too stunned by the horrific sight to even think of moving to stop the attack - that is until a woman's scream fills the building. Then, their trance-like state shattered, the men rush to the entrance of the lunchroom to prevent the killer from escaping.

There is another scream, then shouting. "Call the cops."

"Grab that nut."

"Get an ambulance."

But no one in the group in front of the lunchroom is anxious to take on a homicidal maniac with a steel bar. However, the man in the red jacket seems strangely tranquil.

He slowly bends down, wipes the blood off the crowbar with Oswald's own shirt, and then gently sets the murder weapon on the lunch table. He walks to a corner of the room and stands there calmly, almost as if he is waiting for a bus.

Within minutes, a police car shows up, followed seconds later by an ambulance. Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit takes the killer into custody without a struggle.

Oswald's lifeless body is rushed to Parkland Hospital where he is declared dead on arrival.

The President's motorcade passes through Dealy Plaza without incident.

Dallas Police Headquarters, 12:30 P.M.

Detectives Elmer Boyd and Richard Simms (Homicide/Robbery) are standing outside the small interrogation room on the third floor. Inside the room, the suspect from the Schoolbook Depository is securely handcuffed and shackled to a chair. Captain John Fritz, the Homicide Chief, is explaining the case to them.

"Here's what we've got from Officer Tippit's initial report, mainly from the victim's co-workers. This psycho walked into the schoolbook depository over on Dealy Plaza just before noon, took a crowbar and buried it in the skull of this guy named, uh... let me see, Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald.

"No question that we've got the right man, a half-dozen witnesses saw the whole thing. This guy did it, and then just waited around to be picked up - like he hadn't a care in the world.

"The victim was an ex-marine married to a woman living over in Irving with a friend. Apparently, he and his wife didn�t get on that well; he was living in a room on Beckly Street, although he did visit her on weekends. Also, he had two small girls; what a shame.

"He kept pretty much to himself and didn�t seem to have any friends, or enemies for that matter. Nobody at the depository recalls seeing the killer before or can connect him with Oswald, but then Oswald had only worked there a few weeks.

"We got what we need for a conviction, witnesses and the murder weapon, but a motive and a confession would be nice. Try to find a connection between these two men - there's got to be a connection."

The Interrogation:

In accordance with departmental policy, the suspect is informed that he has the right to have an attorney present during questioning. The suspect waives this right.

It's agreed that Simms would play the 'good cop,' and Boyd the 'bad cop.'

The suspect had no identification in his possession when taken into custody, so the first item on the agenda is to establish who he is.

"What's your name?" Simms asks in as friendly manner as he can muster.

"Winston Smith," he answers.

"Your address?"

"None."

"Social Security Number?"

"I don't have one."

"Got a library card or any kind of identification?"

"No."

"Well, where are you staying?"

"Nowhere, I just arrived in town."

"From where?"

No answer.

Boyd, 'the bad cop,' cuts in. "Listen, you son of a bitch, you just smashed in the skull of some poor guy who never did you, or anybody else, any harm in his whole life. Also, you left a widow and two small girls without a father. Now go on being a smart-ass with us, and you just might find yourself falling down those back stairs; it happens every once in a while around here, no matter how careful we try to be!"

"Just keep in mind that we got a busload of witnesses that saw you smash that guy's head in, and we got your fingerprints on the crowbar, and you have his blood on your shirt. The way I see it, the noose is already around your neck, so do yourself a favor and don't piss me off."

"Easy Elmer, this guy has been through a lot, and I'm sure he's really upset and probably not thinking too clearly, so give him a chance to get himself together, OK? But what my partner says is true, you're in pretty serious trouble, so why don't you do yourself a favor by telling us exactly what got you into this situation? You seem like an intelligent man; you must have had a reason for what you did."

"I don't think there's much point in saying anything; you wouldn't believe my story anyway," the suspect says.

"Try us, we just want to help you get this thing settled; I'm sure you had a reason for what you did, didn't you? Had you met the victim before this morning?"

No answer.

"Look, we're going to find all this out sooner or later, so just save us all a lot of trouble and tell us exactly what led up to this. How about a cup of coffee?"

"Coffee? Real coffee?"

"Well, Boyd made it, so it�s almost real."

"Yes, I would like some coffee, thank you."

"Cream or sugar?"

"Yes, cream and sugar. I haven�t had real coffee in twenty years."

"OK, go on, you were going to tell us why you killed Oswald."

"What?"

"Why kill Oswald?" Simms asks.

The suspect takes a swallow of his coffee and seems totally relaxed and reconciled to the situation.

"Oswald was going to kill your President."

"What?"

"Oswald was going to kill President Kennedy as he passed through Dealy Plaza."

"And how did you come to know this?"

"I just knew."

"How did you know?"

"I'm a historian," he says matter-of-factly.

"What's that got to do with it?"

"I know from my study of history all the details of the assassination of President Kennedy and its effects on the course of world events."

"Oh, I get it," Boyd says. "You're claiming to be from the future, and you think that this story will get you off with a bullshit insanity defense."

"The first part of what you said is true, and I guess it doesn't matter what I say or do now. So, do you want to hear my story or not?"

"Yeah, go ahead, we're listening."

"After the death of your thirty-fifth president, America underwent a shift in its attitude. It wasn't something anybody could put their finger on at the time, but the effects were significant, if subtle, over the years ahead.

"It took time, but slowly that sense of trust, fair play, and optimism that had distinguished Americans trickled away to be replaced by greed, suspicion and fear. As you would put it, everything went downhill.

"And the more America lost faith in itself, the more it sought to reform the world. And the more it sought to shape the world around it, the more enemies it made abroad, while the decline at home accelerated."

"OK, this story is getting good, but how does it end?"

"It ends with a catastrophic American military defeat in East Asia, the collapse of the greatest economy in the world, and the fragmentation of a once great nation into hundreds of feuding political, racial, religious, national, and economic factions. It ends with the death of what was once called the 'American Dream.'"

"I bet that made the rest of the world happy," Boyd says.

"For a short while, then the rest of the world realized how interdependent the globe had become. The catastrophe that destroyed your society created a worldwide ripple effect that, in a few months, devolved the entire world into chaos.

"When I left what you call the future, there were just a few isolated pockets of high civilization left in the world. I, and a few others, decided that something had to be done. We gathered the few remaining technicians into a team that built The Device - a machine that would enable someone to travel backwards in time and change the course of history."

"And that someone was you? You were the one chosen to save the world, right?" Boyd asks.

"Of course," Smith replies. "Who else? I was the one that isolated the fulcrum of history; the one point in the past that if changed would create a 'butterfly effect' that would replace the crippled world of the future with something better."

"So, you think you succeeded?" Boyd asks.

"Yes," Smith replies.

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm still here; it's obvious, isn't it?"

"No, it's not obvious."

"Do you know why I didn't try to escape after the killing? Because after I completed the mission, I was to be instantly drawn back home by The Device to the year 2078 A.D. When I wasn't withdrawn from the scene after the killing, I knew that the future had changed and that The Device and my associates no longer existed in the new future.

"They no longer existed because, with Oswald's death, the future that they were planning to extract me back to ceased to exist. Their future was replaced by an alternative reality. Our plan was a success!"

Then Simms asks an obvious question, "Well, if your future doesn't exist, how come you're still here? Shouldn't you have never existed - just like your friends in the future?"

"No," Smith replies. "I was out of the temporal loop when the changes occurred and therefore unaffected. Obvious, isn't it?"

At that moment, a light crackle of electricity fills the interrogation room, and the suspect, Winston Smith, is drawn into the future.

Reykjavik, Department of Iceland; 2099 A.D.

"Well, what do we have here?"

"Winston Smith, time hacker. Pulled him back from 136 years ago."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, he caused the death of a man named Lee Harvey Oswald in a city known as Dallas."

"Let's get started."

"How do you do, Mr. Smith? I'm Dr. Brian Williams, and this is my associate Dr. Sarah Goodwill."

"You're doctors?"

"Of course, you've just been pulled through 136 years in less than a second, you're lucky to be alive."

"Thanks, I think."

"No need for thanks, it's part of our job to examine those in need of assistance. How did you manage to slip that far back into the past? Don't you know that it's very dangerous, traveling in time? Another few minutes and a temporal vortex would have crushed you."

"What's the year?"

"2099, of course."

"I'm not about to be punished for violating any laws or regulations, or whims of some local authority, am I?"

"No, Mr. Smith, the global authorities don't 'punish' anyone; just tell us what happened, so we can better judge what help you may need."

"OK, here's the whole story..."

The Diagnosis

"What do you think, Sarah?"

"I believe him."

"Me too," says Dr. Williams. "After all, our scan did indicate that he was definitely from our time period."

"But, Dr. Williams, I do find it somewhat far-fetched that one man could cause the drastic changes in the time-flow that he claims; it goes against all the best scientific predictions our scientists have made."

"True, but the fact that he even desires change makes him dangerous. Tell him that you're escorting him to his new living quarters, and then guide him into a disposal unit and see that his body is totally reduced to ash."

"Of course, but what if what he said is true; what if we actually are a product of his tampering with the time-flow?"

"All the more reason to get rid of him. Would you like to give him a chance to change things again? To change everything into a world where you and I do not even exist?"

"I see your point, Dr. Williams."

"Besides, nothing ever happens up here, and this case could be the big break that puts a gold star on my sleeve - and a transfer off this iceberg to the Capitol! Also, keep in mind, that when I do end up in the Capitol, I will need a loyal assistant to watch my back, and that's you."

"Thank you, sir!"