I finally got my parts! A friend dropped by with an ultra diode and a few caps. Now with the right parts I had the Compensator running, so I dialed up and went home.

I hadn’t seen the Family for fifty years or so, and had to resort to an obscure website for information, but I was glad to be back in the 23rd century. I made my report to the Time Pigs, always trying to fuck up your time line, but I made it through intact.

Next to find the wife. After running the data, I found her place and went to say hello. Big mistake. It turns out fifty years was too long, so she divorced me in absentia, declared me dead and took my assets! I honestly expected it, and had some scratch hidden drawing interest, so I wasn’t worried, but jeez! At least send me a tight beam with the paperwork.

I had a few side girls in the 23C. But nothing like Tangent, a 21C gal like never before.  Pretty, vivacious and strong — I knew I had to return. The Time Pigs had other ideas: why was I going back? How was I going to screw up the timeline this time? Yeah, I did it once, but I learned my lesson! I got a provisional license, which means nothing other than Go!

Next was the hard part: where? A small town in Michigan, USA. When? Late summer 2021. From there it’s trying to find her and see if she remembers me, otherwise I start over. Even that isn’t a bad thing: if the timeline isn’t affected, the results are the same, and I will find her.

“Is it really you?” There she was, Tangent. She looked like she had seen a ghost.

“Yeah, it’s me! How are ya!” I tried to act casual, but as usual my awkwardness set in.

“Great, where have you been?”

“Oh. I took a few days off,” I replied.

“Days? I haven’t seen you for a year, to this day! Where have you been?”

Crap! Do I break the rules and tell her? Or just fake it? Screw it, she was why I came back.

“Tangent, I have something to tell you, it’s kind of odd.” I hate this part of time relationships.

“Okey dokey, I’m just glad to see you again.”

“OK, I am a time traveler from the 23C. And I came back to find you.”

Looking puzzled, she replied, “Whatever you say, I’m just glad you are here.”

So T, wanna go play some Big Golf? You know where I’m going with this.

“Lemme guess, you’re going to take me through time and play the best shots in the universe, right?”

“Dammit! It was supposed to be a surprise. Wanna go?”

“How could I miss this?” So we were set for a game.

Europa to Mars, we hit par. Mars to Mercury, I birdied and her disc burnt up in the Sun, bad shot. Then the big shot, Venus to Neptune, and a moving target, she hit 110km from the basket. I shanked around Io and lost my disc to the Big World and took double Bogie. She parred. We took a few days off for some maintenance sex and texting, then we played the back nine.

We played the par 5 from 23C Earth to 21C Mars and we both birdied, then had to take cover while the Vogons rolled through, but there was still enough system for the last three holes.

After we finished dinner and drinks at my estate, we spoke of the game and how she beat me by two strokes. After dinner I popped the question, “You know how I feel about you and want the best for you, so how about a sponsorship?”

“But, I thought…”

“You thought wrong, kid. You play great, and with resources you can dominate the system, so play for me, OK?”

So it was settled, we returned to Mars and and parted again. My people would see that she had what she needed. I think I shall make another trip to the void. I was told to head to L5 and look for the elusive green flash, and so I shall.