He didn’t need much in the way of incentive to travel into the future.
He’d been working on the machine in his basement for several years. The state that mankind had allowed the planet to fall into was encouragement enough to maintain the long hours he spent developing the technology. As a scientist, he considered it only a matter of time before time travel was possible. Up above, the atmosphere was deteriorating at an alarming rate. Pollution seemed to be prevalent across all continents and the planet was definitely warming. He felt he was giving himself the chance to be part of a brighter future. When the time came, he decided that going forward a hundred years should provide him with what he was seeking.
He climbed into his capsule and carefully set the required digital status on the tiny dashboard. When he was satisfied with the settings, he activated the machine. When the buzzing finally stopped, he climbed out. He was no longer in his old basement, but in what seemed to be a platform that was part of an underground transit system. People began milling around, obviously fascinated with the sudden appearance of his capsule. He clicked the central locking device and doing his best to avoid dozens of questions, made his way up to the surface. When he emerged onto the street, it was a very bright, beautiful day. There could be no doubt that he had achieved his goal.
He could see he was in the same city, but there were so many changes he was disorientated. He needed to contact people in the science community to discuss what he had done. He began questioning people. Finally, a man was able to tell him where he could find the city’s science institute. The head of what was called the future development program, an elderly professor, had to be encouraged to return to the capsule before he was willing to take the time traveller seriously. After a great deal of discussion, they returned to the institute. It was while making their way back that the professor made the traveller aware for the first time that a great dome covered the city.
Back in his office, the professor explained that the number of Earth’s inhabitants had been drastically reduced owing to the atmosphere being unbreathable and the temperature outside of the dome so high that almost all life forms were unsustainable. He went on to explain that he had a team of the world’s top scientists working on their own machine.
When the traveller asked how far into the future he proposed to go, the professor pointed out that their work was very difficult, because they were trying to go back!