User:DoctorWho42/Absolutely Inflexible

"Absolutely Inflexible" is a short story by American author Robert Silverberg. It was first published in the July 1956 issue of Fantastic Universe.

Publication history
"Absolutely Inflexible" was first published in the July 1956 issue of American magazine Fantastic Universe. It was republished in the June 1958 issue of the British magazine New Worlds. It was included in The Cube Root of Uncertainty (1970), Needle in a Timestack (1966), and Voyagers in Time (1967).

Plot summary
The time-jumper looks cramped in his spacesuit. Mahler tells him they send them to the Moon. Since 2776, he sent four thousand there. The time-jumper notes none have been set free. He jumped from the past to the future. The time-jumper asks Mahler if he could live on Earth in a spacesuit. Mahler explains he has to be absolutely inflexible. There have been two centuries on Earth free of disease so they lost their immunity. The guards take him away. At first, Mahler was ready to resign. Eight years hardened him. Condrin, his predecessor, was on the Moon. He headed it a year before letting a time-jumper go. Mahler arrived after. Dr. Fournet enters his office. He holds a two-way time-rig. Time travel had worked one-way. Mahler takes it from him. Fournet points out the extra dial. The guards bring in the time-jumper. He said it was improbable for them to meet. Mahler asks about the time-rig. Its destination: 2360. Mahler asks if he built it. The time-jumper did not but cannot disclose how he got it. Mahler tells him he'll be sent to the Moon. The time-jumper says it's because he's contaminated. Mahler thinks a technician must have tipped him off. The guards lead him away. He looks at the time-rig. There were two dials. Mahler touches one. There was an electric crackle. His desk fades. Grotesque buildings tower above. Mahler is in a city street. Stunted people hurry past. He time-traveled backwards. An ugly man in brown uniform asks him for identification. Mahler runs. He goes down a side street as the crowd chases him. Mahler steps in a door and closes it. A machine salesman approaches him. Mahler fumbles with the little dial. He arrives at twenty-eighth century Appalachia. He hears a mechanical tracer followed by two guards. They're here to apprehend him. The guards ignore him and unpack a spacesuit. Mahler tells them he's not a time-jumper. A guard forces the spacesuit on. Mahler tells the medic to hurry up. He asks about Mahler's time-rig. Mahler affirms it is a two-way time-rig. The medic tells Mahler it is time to see the Chief but it is no use arguing. Two guards take him to his office. Mahler realises his past self is behind the desk. He cannot win but wonders where the two-way time-rig came from. Mahler tells Mahler he never thought he'd find him here.

Reception
In 1971, SF Commentary's Barry Gillam critiqued "an ordinary time paradox story whose twist can be seen coming a mile away." In 1972, Vector's John Bowles compared it to "Translation Error" "isn't a lot better: a time-loop story with a 'surprise ending which you can see coming at least ten pages beforehand (and it's only a 16-page story)." Bowles also connected it to "Mugwump Four" "almost exactly the same story."