Mid 1978 – Eastern California

The trio had taken their time traveling to California from the Midwest. The old route 66 was still around, though chopped up along the old original road, but it was still fun to travel for at least two of the time jumping friends. Amanda had spent the summer after high school going down what was left of the then ancient road, she loved it and was fascinated by the remains of the once vibrant attractions.

For all intents and purposes, she shouldn’t be here at all. Ever since she stumbled upon the time travel abilities of her friends, she had begged to be taken back to see some of the bigger moments in geek history. At first Tommy tried to explain to her that she couldn’t go back before she was born, so for her the events she could witness were limited to the 1990s and later. However, James had asked him to at least look into it a bit.

He said he would for his old friend. He did make a second slave unit for his machine just so they could go back to various times with her. The first trip was almost her last. She had mentioned she would love to see the Wizard, the movie about the Nintendo World Championships where Mario 3 debuted. Tommy had thought nothing about it, he knew the date well, it was one of his favorite movies. When all of them were ready he punched in the date and they went back.

Once they arrived, James realized the date, as he had seen it with his friend. He yelled at Tommy, expecting the worst to happen. To everyone’s surprise, Amanda was fine. There was no regression, no pile of goo. It was as if all his testing had been wrong. It bothered Tommy after that, how could he have been wrong? He knew there was a lot going on with his invention and he understood very little of it, but in the end, he had done his due diligence and it had shown that no one or no living thing could go back before it had existed.

Then it occurred to him. Each of the units that James and Amanda used were slave units to his main one. He made so that all three were tethered to each other and the other two went where he went, though they had to be within a certain distance, or if he left they would be stranded in time. What this also meant, as it was also one of the only ways it could works, was that the tethered units also had his time signature. So, a person could go back to before they were born if the main machine was linked to an older user. In any case as long as Amanda didn’t use the main machine, she could go back with James and Tommy to points within their lifetimes.

It was a good discovery, but one that had almost given James a heart attack. His girlfriend was almost putty. In any case they used this new information to go on adventures together, well so far one. This being their second outing and all. It was fun now that they knew, but it was a scare nonetheless. So now they were in a convertible running through Eastern California heading for LA. The wind in their hair and no cares in the world.

Here they were with Todd Matherson, a tech millionaire and Silicon Valley founder. They could do what they wanted and go where they wanted. Where they were headed today though was unknown, at least to James and Amanda. They didn’t care though, they had just left a nice little café for lunch and were doing 90 plus through the deserts. The carefree attitude and jubilant mood came to a close when they all noticed the lights from the Chip behind them, a California Highway Patrolman on a motorcycle.

Tommy slowed down and pulled over. He looked to his passengers, “I always forget the speed limit it still 55 back now.”

“That might be true,” James said, “even in our time though it isn’t 90.”

Tommy shrugged as the officer approached to car. “License and registration please.”

“You aren’t even going to ask if I know why I am being pulled over?”

“I think you know why. It’s hot out here, so let’s just get this over with so we can both get the wind back in out faces. It’s more tolerable that way.”

“Yes officer.” Tommy handed over his documents. The officer went back to his bike to get on the radio.

“Oh my god, he didn’t say anything about us not having seatbelts on,” Amanda commented. James and Tommy just looked at her a moment, then they started to laugh. “What is so funny you guys? We can get into big trouble for that.” They laughed harder.

“I’m sorry, I forgot you have had to deal with that your whole life. There was a time before those laws were passed in the late 80s and early 90s,” James told her.

She thought a minute, then giggled once she got it. “You’re right, I forgot hold old you two are.”

James stopped at this. Realizing she was trying to save face, he just leaned over and kissed her. The officer was heading back at this time. He had a ticket already filled out. “Here you go Mr. Matherson, try to keep it under 80 out here. We are aware of the wide openness of it all but pushing 100 is frowned upon.”

“Will do officer.” He took the ticket and put it in the glove box.

“Are you the Matherson that is part of that new fangled computer stuff going on?”

“Yes I am, why do you ask?”

“Well, my brother is into all that. In fact he just got himself one of those Atari things. I have messed with it a bit. It’s real fun.”

“He’s not really in that part of it, “James started to say then Todd looked at him his an annoyed look. He stopped.

“My friend is not entirely right, I have a small stake in that company. But most of the day to day stuff is run by others.”

“Do you think it is all just a fad like a lot of people are saying?”

“Of course, I don’t, but then again, I am a part of the industry, so I wouldn’t say anything to the contrary. Why do you ask?”

“I just came into some money, my father passed….”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“Thank you, but anyway I was looking to invest. The Atari thing seems fun and like it could do well, do you think it might be worth getting in on that?”

“I would, but don’t sit too long. This is still a new industry and the first companies in new things don’t have an example to know how to do it right. They are the ones that are most likely to mess up. So if you do invest in them I would say don’t spend more than five years in it. Like if you were to go in today, maybe get out by Christmas of 82.”

“That is sound advice. Thank you for your time.”

“No problem, I don’t suppose that advice can get me out of a ticket?”

“Sorry sir, but I have a job to do.”

“Can’t blame a guy for trying.” Todd waved as the officer got on his bike and took off.

“Did you just make that guy a millionaire?” James asked.

“I don’t know, depends on how mush he puts in and if he gets out when I told him too.”

“What are you two talking about?” Amanda asked.

“Atari will be insanely successful until 1983, then it will crash and burn, but if one were to get in now and cash out say six months before they are sold for peanuts, they could be rich.”

“The game crash of 83?” Amanda asked.

“Yup,” Todd said as he put on his sunglasses and started the car. Within a few minutes they were back above 90.