A Different Day

This week’s prompt from https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/author/sadje19/

Charlotte stood, hands in her pockets, deciding what she should do next.

A mirror, but no ordinary mirror. It was said to be a window to another universe, a different time line. Maybe she could go back to 1912, when the Titanic sank, or to the start of the second world war, or the third. Not that she wanted to go back then; there were still places it was dangerous to go in because of radiation. Although since the invention of anti-particles, things were getting better.

She wondered, not for the first time, was the government the same? What was it like in the computer age? When they first started with AI intelligence, did they know what tragedy could occur? The downgrading of all things electronic, even the robots, stopped anything more happening.

A purple haze of sky, and the atmosphere changed over time – if she were to travel back, she would have to take medication. Her lungs were used to breathing nitrogen. Oxygen depleted in her time line many years ago. Tranquil, their DNA changed.

Partly to do with alien technology, mixing species, until earth became clean again.

No, she didn’t want to go through, but then, curiosity. It would only be one trip, perhaps to see one day of normality. A walk through nature, life only seen in her school books.

She took a step, as the haze swamped over her, she swallowed.