pre-civil-war-america

The chapter introduces Benjamin Steward, a time traveler from the 26th century who is on a mission to record a speech by Abraham Lincoln in 1856. Steward faces the danger of violating a temporal law that forbids returning twice to the same time and place, risking his destruction due to a time machine error. The narrative sets up a suspenseful scenario where Steward's survival and return to his own time are uncertain.