The generators spring into action as I activate my masterpiece. Sparks fly and electricity cackle as its mechanical soul awakens. After some piqued activity, the machine regulates itself until I can only hear the deep thrumming of the many instruments at work. Everything was in motion.

The time machine had taken me most of my adult life to finish. Thirty years in isolation for this one event. My heart is frozen as the magnitude of the event sets in. History was about to made. Or destroyed. At least it will never be the same again.

The nature of the machine is that it can only send matter back to itself. Now all I need to do is activate the final device.

With a searing ray of light, the core is activated and in the split second afterwards a single pea comes through. Measurements indicate that it is from ten seconds in the future. Ten seconds later, I drop the pea back in. With a bang, the machine breaks down.

I don’t care though, I have the proof I need.

But where’d that pea come from?