"The Reisender Projekt" - April 10, 2025
A look into the future yields confusing results...
Every Thursday, Silver Gecko Publishing highlights one of my stories, either a work of short fiction, a novel, or an audiobook. This week’s selection is the short story “The Reisender Projekt,” from the anthology THE GHOST READERS AND OTHER STORIES, available on Kindle, and in paperback.
This story is a bit of a lark, and it’s also quite short. So, as a special treat, I’m presenting it here for you to enjoy in its entirety.
If you like what you read, please think about purchasing one of my books in Kindle, paperback, or audiobook. And, of course, please forward this newsletter along to anyone who might enjoy a read.
I wrote “The Reisender Projekt” soon after graduating from college and seeing a great disdain in my generation for actually learning things. Too many people saw college as just the next step after high school, and it has shown in how foolish my generation can be about critical thinking and conspiracy theory rabbit holes.
Sigh… we might be the end result now.
Here’s some thoughts I had on the story, pulled from the Notes from THE GHOST READERS AND OTHER STORIES…
Even though I am not employed as a teacher, I hold a degree in secondary education. As a former student as well as someone who was trained to be a teacher, I can certainly understand the disdain that some students have subjects they are forced to take. However, I have never been able to understand the active rebellion against learning in which some students engage, especially while attending an institution of higher education.
Even when I attended college, I marveled at the large number of students who simply didn’t care about their education. As the years drew on through the 1990s and into the 2000s, and college has become an ever-costlier extension of high school for many people, I have grown quite frustrated at people wasting away in these educational institutions with no other goal but to get drunk, get laid, and have a good time.
Don’t get me wrong. I like to have a few drinks now and then, and sex is certainly an entertaining extracurricular activity. However, if you’re going to be spending the money to go to college (either with your parents footing the bill or borrowing against your own future with skyrocketing student loans), you should take some pride in actually earning something.
In retrospect, “The Reisender Projekt,” feels like a time-travelling World War II story crossed with Jay Leno’s “Jay-walking” segment, resulted from seeing this arrogant entitlement that many American university students seem to have with feeling they deserve a degree just by attending college rather than actually getting an education.
Alright, enough pontificating. Check out this story…
-Kevin Carr
Click here to buy my books on Amazon.
Click here to buy my audiobooks on Audible.
Click here to follow me on TikTok.
Illustration by geralt (@geralt) from Pixabay
The Reisender Projekt by Kevin Carr
“There’s a problem with the Reisender Projekt,” Doctor Helmut Krieg told Oberst Zimmer in punctuated German.
“What sort of problem?” the man in the black uniform asked.
“The specimens. I believe they’re tainted.”
“Tainted?” Zimmer replied and leaned forward. Light from the lamp struck the iron cross on his lapel.
“But I... I can’t be sure.” Krieg stammered.
Zimmer snorted and shook his head. “This is unacceptable. We have a presentation to the Führer tomorrow. I need to be able to demonstrate to him that the Reisender Projekt is worthy of the Fatherland’s money.”
“I know,” Krieg stammered, nervously wringing his hands. “We have spent an awful lot of money on this. I assure you. The science is sound.”
“If the science is sound, then what is happening?”
“I think the travel is damaging their brains.”
The Nazi shook his head and began to pace. “How can we fix it?”
“I’m not sure if we can,” the doctor replied. “I’ve explained the science to you before. The device can only transmit living tissue. Any inanimate object is left behind. And we can’t send something ahead in time. Only pick something – or rather someone – out of the future and bring it here.”
“And it’s scrambling their brains? How so?”
“Here,” Krieg said, handing Zimmer a report. Zimmer took the papers and skimmed through them. The data detailed five subjects, taken from the most prestigious institutions of learning in the United States of America. The scientists involved in the Reisender Projekt agreed that regardless of who won the war, American universities would remain and survive damage.
As Zimmer read the responses to the questions Krieg had posed the subjects, he grew more and more infuriated.
“Is Mexico even in this war?” Zimmer growled. “How could they even think about winning?”
“Yes,” Krieg said. “Do you see what I mean? One of the subjects even said that Abraham Lincoln was their president at this time.”
Zimmer’s eyes grew wide. “One subject says the war begins in 1971. Another says that Italy and America are allies! This is complete nonsense.”
“I know.”
“I need to see one of the subjects,” Zimmer grunted as he threw the report to the floor. “The Führer will obviously disband the Reisender Projekt if it offers no results!”
“As you wish,” Krieg said, escorting Zimmer down a hall and into a cell block. Krieg pointed to the fourth cell.
“This is the last subject we brought through,” he told the Nazi. Zimmer peered through the bars to see a young man huddled on a bench.
“You!” Zimmer yelled at him in English. The young man looked up. Zimmer continued: “Answer this question. Who won the second world war?”
“I...” the student stammered, “I already told the other guy. I think it was France.”
Zimmer clenched his fists. “Did anyone develop atomics?”
“You mean nukes?” the student asked. “Yeah. I think those were used back in World War I against China.”
“When did the second world war end?”
The boy shifted in his seat. “I... I’m really not good with dates, sir. I’m just a communications major.”
THE END