Flight From Tomorrow

"Flight From Tomorrow" by H. Beam Piper is a science fiction story about a dictator named Hradzka who tries to escape his downfall by traveling through time, but his plan goes wrong when his time machine breaks, leaving him stuck in the distant past. Now in the First Century of the Atomic Era, he pretends to be a deaf-mute to hide among the primitive people and protect his time-traveling identity. However, he unknowingly brings deadly germs with him, causing a terrible disease to spread. As Hradzka attempts to regain control, he wants to dominate this new world, but people start putting two and two together -- beginning to suspect him as the source of their plague problems. The story is about what happens when someone seeks total power and the dangers of messing with something as powerful as time.