[WP] It's 2050, and a new franchise of stores open across the globe. Time machine travel agents.

"Well could you send me back!?"
Janice kept her eyes on the computer monitor as the the client complained.
"I'm sorry sir, but you signed a contract. It had a disclaimer stating that any property lost in time cannot be recovered. If you would like, just leave your ticket number with me and-"

"I can't leave the fucking ticket number because it was in my wallet!"
It was going to be a long day for Janice. A customer had traveled to the dark ages and lost his wallet somewhere in Italy.

Sometime after lunch, Janice noticed a Sticky note she had written some time previously: "Travel #812938"

"Hmm." She thought. Janice typed in the Travel Number and soon realized what the sticky note was for.
"deceased" She typed into the box.

All customers were to return one day after the date they had left (of course, they could spend as much time as they pleased in whatever plane of time they were at.). If not, the customer was reported as deceased. People don't always realize how dangerous the past and possibly future is, or sometimes they just never want to return. Whatever. They signed the waiver.

The next client walked into her office. He looked like a middle aged man, approaching his fifties, and perhaps on the plump side.
"Uh.. Good afternoon." He said.
"Good afternoon, sir. Please fill out this application before we begin processing. Please be honest about question 35a, we will run a lie detector." Janice said, handing him the forms.

The man filled out the form as requested. When he got to question 35a, he felt a little embarrassed.
"Um.. is this...really necessary?" He asked, pointing to the question with a pen.
"Yes sir. It is required as certain ones have the potential to severely harm the other universes and potentially our own."

The question asked: "What do you intend to do, in the time period that you have specified?"

The man sighed as he wrote his answer. After filling out the rest of the form he hands it back to Janice. She quickly scans through the application mostly looking at the time period desired, and stopping at 35a.

"I want to purchase a bride in Ancient Rome." Is what was written. Janice didn't flinch. She was used to this kind of thing. People had strange reasons to see Dinosaurs, Vlad the impaler, Mussolini, and it wasn't her job to question it.
"Just so we're clear, you cannot bring back any possessions other than the ones you departed with."

"...Okay."

Sometimes people don't return. Janice could often tell which ones. However, she had a job to do and didn't have time for pity.

The next client looked younger.

He was quirky, somewhat messy hair that was shoulder length. He gave off a mischievous aura.

"Does this really work?" he asked, while filling out the application.
"Yes it does." Janice replied in her usual monotone, typing away on the keyboard.
"I can't wait." The young man smiled.
"If I go back in time, can my actions change history?"
"No sir. Not in our Universe at least."

The way The Time travel machine worked was that it simply sent the users to a different Universe, that was on a different period of space-time. It was impossible to reverse time in our own, but it was possible to visit another that was simply at a different state of time.

"Well that's a shame. I'm going to change the world."
Janice had heard it all before. People with malicious intent will be denied access to the machine. She used to warn her clients so they wouldn't have to redo all the paperwork but at this point she just let IT handle it.

The young man quickly finished the application, and handed it to Janice.
He had a peculiar smirk on his face.
Our veteran time travel agent felt a little uncomfortable this time around. Janice took a look at the application. Everything seemed normal at first. He was 20, white, unemployed, lived with his parents. Perhaps he wanted to see what life was like in that time period? Or probably just wanted to see a band that no longer exists. No that can't be it. The interaction from earlier made it seemed like he wanted something more. Janice became more curious as to what he wrote.

After 12 minutes of reviewing his application she finally got to question 35a.

"I want to go back in time to invent dank memes."

/r/WritingPrompts Thread