The Factory

Bob Ion is an innovative man. I should know; I’m Bob Ion, and here’s my story. I had just opened the first hovercar factory in the United States. I invited the king of Switzerland for a tour in hopes of starting a new division in his country. If I succeeded, I would earn a big promotion in the hovercar industry.

He would arrive soon. I was pretty nervous. I went to check the sky for that tech these people call airplanes. Then something called a limo drove up to my factory. His Highness came inside and said, “Mr. Ion, how nice to meet you; now let me see this unbelievable hovercar.”

I showed him my hovercar, the lifelike robot employees, and the airbus I was still working on.

“I say!” said the king. “How old are you?”

“Negative twenty-two next Thursday,” I replied. Oops, I thought, I almost gave myself away!

Just then one of my lifelike female robot employees came bursting through the door, its metallic head glowing red. The robot started pushing the king toward the trash compactor. Frightened, he immediately hopped into my airbus and drove away.

The robot’s head stopped glowing, and it said, “Sir, I had to protect you. You almost gave yourself away! You can’t let anyone know you are from the future!”

“Thank you,” I said. “I can see that these humans from the past are not ready for this technology. They are too greedy, for they have stolen my new airbus.”

No promotion for me, I thought. I packed my belongings, pressed a button in the control room, and my factory collapsed into a briefcase. Then I pressed a button on the robot’s head and traveled back to my time.

Once there, I told my colleagues no one should go back in time again. For now the humans had the hoverbus. But I discovered the secret recipe for cookies they had hidden from us before. These are called chocolate chips!

“Thank you for trying to reason with our past selves,” said the Hovercar CEO. “For this, I’m promoting you.”