Button in the Fabric of Time by William Wayne Dicksion

When I came here from
the twenty-first century, I brought everything I was carrying with
me.”
    “Would you volunteer to do a trial run to the
moon and then return?” Roc-2 asked.
    Jan-3 stepped forward with a worried look,
placed a restraining hand on my forearm and said to Roc-2, “Don’t
you think that’s asking too much?”
    Before Roc-2 could answer, I replied, “It’s a
little scary, all right, but no scarier than transporting into the
future with no knowledge of what I might find at this end. As a
bold, or perhaps foolish, man might say, ‘I’ll give it a go.’” I
then squeezed Jan-3’s hand to reassure her. She nodded, but her
face showed concern.
    Roc-2 said to Jan-3, “I wonder if by
acquiring knowledge, we have deprived ourselves of some of our
courage.” Turning to his men, he said, “Get the space suit. Gus is
the man we need for this experiment.”
    In only minutes, they had me ready. “What
shall I bring back, to prove that I’ve been there?”
    “We have communication with the moon,” Roc-2
answered, “so they’ll tell us when you arrive.”
    “If the button works the same in space as it
has here on earth, I’ll be there at the same instant that I depart,
so you’d better let them know that I’m coming.”
    I stood holding the button, and said, “Tell
me when you’re ready.”
    “They’re expecting you, and they’ll let us
know when you get there,” Roc-2 answered.
    I started to explain that I’d be back before
they got confirmation that I had arrived, but I decided it would be
better to simply demonstrate. I winked at Jan-3 and said, “I’ll be
right back,” and disappeared.
    When I arrived on the moon, the people
cheered. One of them sent a message telling Roc-2 and his research
crew that I was with them on the moon. I received an overwhelming
welcome from the moon people, who were used to new and innovative
things, but it was clear that this event was exceptional. My guides
took me on a tour of their facility. I learned that all the
buildings were pressurized to simulate Earth conditions. I removed
my pressure suit and enjoyed the astonishingly beautiful view of
planet Earth. Two men took me in a solar-powered vehicle for a tour
of the moon surface and showed me how, by growing plants, the moon
people had created an atmosphere to generate oxygen. Small villages
had grown up to support experimental mining, and to provide living
quarters for the personnel that staffed the way station for
traveling among the planets. The tour guides explained that the view of the Earth was better from the moon, but it
was better to live on Mars, because Mars has natural gravity
and frozen water, making it easier to simulate Earth’s
conditions.
    I explained why I had to get back to Earth
and asked for a moon rock to bring back with me. One of the men
handed me a unique moonstone. I bade them good-bye, rubbed the
button, and reappeared in the lab at the same instant I had
left.
    Roc-2 looked puzzled and asked, “Why haven’t
you made the journey?”
    I handed him the moon rock. At this same
instant, Jan-3 and the lab crew got the information from the moon
station that I had arrived. Everyone’s faces showed their
astonishment.
    “This explains the presence of the space
aliens, but it doesn’t answer the question of how the button
works.” Turning to his assistants, Roc-2 said, “Men, open the
device, but do it with extreme care. It doesn’t belong to us—it
belongs to our honored guest and associate.”
    “I, too, would like to see what’s inside that
thing. May I watch?” I asked.
    “You are part of this research crew,” Roc-2
answered. “I knew you would be interested.”
    The lab technicians placed the button in a
vacuum and heated it. They worked with arms extended into the
vacuum, and when the heat was sufficient, the button opened easily.
The joining of the seams was so perfect that they were invisible
even with great magnification. Inside the button were what