A Sound Of Thunder

The future, not so far away. Neo-fascists are still battling it out with liberals. Time machines exist. Eckles, hunter extraordinaire, wants to go back in time on a safari to hunt a T-Rex. I mean, why not? They don't get any meaner than that, do they, and if a man wants to prove how macho he is, a T-Rex must look like the ultimate prize. The catch is, when you go back in time, you've got to be careful not to do anything that's likely affect the future. To avoid stepping on anything importantâthough it might not seem important in the grand scheme of thingsâthey use levitating walkways and try to kill only creatures that were about to die anyway. The T-Rex they're targeting was destined to be killed by a falling tree, shortly after. Problem is, Eckles panics when he faces the T-Rex (Don't blame the guy. Ever seen Jurassic Park? Those are big puppies!) and steps off the walkway. The other hunters kill the T-Rex, the tree falls on top of it, and they return to their presentâwhich is somewhat different to the way they remember it: linguistically, politically and in other subtle ways. Why? What happened? Nobody knows, though the squashed butterfly on Eckles's mud-covered boots (from when he stepped off the walkway) might just turn out to have something to do with it. Ooops! Why it's on the list: Solid Ray Bradbury tale. Predated the invention of the term "Butterfly Effect" by almost two decades. Go, Ray!