Time Payment

"Time Payment" by Sylvia Jacobs is a thought-provoking story exploring how time travel can change a person. To dodge the cops, Slick Tennant, a gangster, kidnaps Dr. Richard Porter and his son, Dickie. He forces Dr. Porter to use his special time machine, called a Metachronoscope, to jump twenty years into the future. Slick thinks he can escape his old life, but arriving far into the future changes him in ways he didn't expect. He starts to feel real emotions and even connects with Dickie. Though he was a criminal, he might be finding a way to become a better person, which shows how even someone with a bad past can still change before they die.