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From: waltt@tekecs.UUCP (Walt Tucker)
Newsgroups: net.movies,net.books
Subject: Re: BACK TO THE FUTURE (actually book title request)
Message-ID: <5525@tekecs.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 18-Jul-85 14:30:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekecs.5525
Posted: Thu Jul 18 14:30:57 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jul-85 02:30:05 EDT
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Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
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Xref: linus net.movies:5358 net.books:1940

> > From: tw8023@pyuxii.UUCP (T Wheeler)
> > It was a short story in a collection
> > by Heinlen(I think).  The hero of the story left his time with
> > everything running smoothly and everyone happy.  When he returns,
> > everything is in a mess - war, pestilence, etc..  All because he
> > stepped on that butterfly.  
> 
> It could have been by Heinlein, but methinks it was actually by
> Bradbury.  At any rate, the time travellers return from their jaunt to
> the age of the dinosaurs , and one (the guide, I believe) notices that
> some words on a sign are spelled archaically.  He looks at the other
> time traveller, sees a butterfly stuck to the bottom of his shoe, and
> shoots him.  We're left with the sense that the oddly spelled sign is
> the tip of the iceberg, and that history might be a fragile thing.  I
> don't remember war *or* pestilence appearing explicitly.

Actually, the story does give you a little more information than that.

When the travelers leave, it is a time of national turmoil and right after 
a major national election.  The heads of the two parties attempting to
gain national power represent democracy and totalitarianism ideals 
(many parallels to pre WWII germany during late 1920s here).  

When the time travellers left, everyone was rejoicing because the democratic 
party had won over the "neo-nazi" totalitarian party, who was trying to gain
power.  When the time travellers return, the letters on the sign are oddly 
spelled .  Then someone asks about the election.  It seems the totalitarian 
party was elected over the other party, the head of the "neo-nazi" party 
had his former opposition put to death, and the county was now in a 
quasi-militaristic state.

                      -- Walt Tucker
                         Tektronix, Inc.
The "time safari" takes you back in time to kill a dinosaur.  This, of
course, costs large sums of money, and only dinosaurs that were going
to die in the next few minutes are actually killed.  The time travellers
must stay in a spec lets you