Aaron could hardly contain his excitement at the thought that he might of just been recruited for a part in a time travel movie. He hadn't been in showbiz for too long, but long enough to know just how crazy some of these veteran actors could be once they really got into character. That guy almost seemed to actually consider himself a real time traveler from 2022!
"Pretty convincing act," thought Aaron out loud to himself. "He's gotta be a big star for sure. And to think he chose ME to give this to! It sure is a well-made prop. It must be from a higher budget production than I've ever seen. I might never have to work again after this!"
Aaron tried to remember everything the so-called "Dr. Locksteed" had told him about the alleged device so that he would be ready to use it during filming.
"Let's see, so this red button takes the time traveler to the present, eh? And Dr. Locksteed supposedly came here from a hundred years in the future to give this to my character in the present day? So that means I'm supposed to press this to go back to his time for some sort of futuristic adventure!"
Aaron struck his best silent-move pose right there in the alleyway and melodramatically pressed the red button. Instantly, he had to cover his eyes because he was blinded by a bright light. The outdoor breeze was gone and was replaced with the hum of some sort of ventilation system.
"I'm inside? How?!"
Aaron took his hands from his face now that his eyes were adjusting to electric lights he suddenly found himself surrounded by. Looking around, he saw lots of cabinets with lights blinking on them. It looked like really fancy electric equipment that a humble rural actor like himself couldn't even begin to fathom. There were glowing rectangles all over the room, with shiny pictures and text almost like movie screens. One of the screens had a text box that said: "TEMPORAL RETRIEVAL COMPLETE. WELCOME BACK, DR. LOCKSTEED!"
Seeing that, Aaron thought, "I'm already on the set from Locksteed's time travel movie? But how? Who brought me here?"
He looked down at his device and was starting to have second thoughts. If pressing that red button could actually remove him from where he was in the alley, it must be some really advanced technology. Was it even a movie prop after all?
One of the screens seemed to be showing a newsreel of some kind. The first thing Aaron noticed was that it was in color. The second thing he noticed was it looked like two people behind a desk in front of an urban landscape. The third thing he noticed was that he could actually here them talking:
"Welcome back to the Channel 10 news crew's New Year's extravaganza! It's now eight minutes after midnight here on the first morning of 2022, for those of you who are just tuning in, and now we're going to Carlos Mujeres over on Alton Heights Boulevard who has been interviewing people about their resolutions. What have you heard from the locals, Carlos?"
Aaron's jaw dropped. He nearly dropped the device. Not only was one of the reporters a professional-looking black woman, but she had actually just aid that the year was 2022. At first he thought he'd misheard: surely she said 1922, right? But no. The screen showed clips from Carlos's interviews, and sure enough, he kept asking people what their plans were for 2022. Some of them made mention of a global pandemic, which was unnerving to Aaron who had barely survived the Spanish flu before leaving Kansas for his ill-fated acting career. Even more shocking was that one of the people Carlos interviewed was Dr. Raymond Locksteed himself!
"My resolution is to spend 2022 in 1922," said Dr. Locksteed's voice from the camera. "I invented a time machine and no one believes it's real, so I'm just going to live my life in the past. Fewer things to worry about in that era, if you ask me."
The reporter seemed to laugh off the scientist's resolution as a joke but agreed that the 1920's were a simpler time. But as Aaron looked back down to the time travel device he held in his hands, he realized it was real. He had been instantly transported from a Los Angeles alley in 1922 to a highly advanced laboratory in 2022, and he had no other explanation for how that could be the case. He gulped and tried to figure out what he should do next.