"The Machine Disintegrated Under Me, Blasted into Virtual Nothingness"

"The Adventure of the Global Traveler or: The Global Consequences of How the Reichenbach Falls into the 
Wells of Iniquitie."
By Anne Lear.
Illustrations by Freff (born 1954; HERE).
First appearance: Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (IASFM), September-October 1978.

Reprints page (HERE).

Short story (10 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE; 2 illos) and Google (HERE; no illos).

     ". . . I found it necessary in the spring of 1891 to abandon a thriving business in London."

Well, of course! It had to be him . . .

Resources:
- FictionMags credits Anne Lear with only two stories, this one and the novelette "Mermaid's Knell," IASFM, May 1979.

- According to Wikipedia (HERE):

  "The Third Murderer is a character in William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth (1606). He appears in one scene (3.3; HERE), joining the First and Second Murderers to assassinate Banquo and Fleance, at the orders of Macbeth. The Third Murderer is not present when Macbeth speaks to the First and Second Murderers, and is not expected by his partners. Although the Third Murderer is a small role, the identity of the character has been the subject of scholarly debate, and various productions have equated him with other characters."

- Roundheads and Cavaliers played huge roles in the English Civil War of 1641-52; see Wikipedia (HERE and HERE).

~ ~ ~

. . . but we're not finished with time travel just yet . . .

"Retroflex."
By F. M. Busby (1921-2005).
First appearance: Vertex, October 1974.

Collected in Getting Home (1987).

Short short short story (1 page; no illos).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).

     "He was inside a shimmering, transparent bubble . . ."

An unconventional epitaph, but appropriate: "They didn't do their homework."

Resources:
- Francis Marion Busby, Jr. was a published SFF author from 1957 on; see Wikipedia (HERE), the SFE (HERE), and the ISFDb (HERE).
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