The Unsinkable James Cameron

The year is 2012, a crowd of spectators and members of the press are gathered at Port Apra on the island of Guam. They are here to greet Hollywood director James Cameron following his history making descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

A young Dutch scientist works his way to the front of the crowd. Having made great strides in the development of the Hadron Collider, this scientist is confident the famous director will be interested in his recent discovery, perhaps even be inspired to make a film about it.

Cameron makes his way through the crowd, waving and shaking hands until the men are face to face. He quickly introduces himself and offers his business card. The scientist is both star struck and eager to meet the man who ignited his passion for time travel with ‘The Terminator.’ Cameron, for his part, is amused by the young man’s enthusiasm. He pockets the business card with the intention of throwing it away.

“We are making history. Just as you have today,” he shouts. “Join us!”

Cameron just nods and smiles, then takes off in the car that is waiting for him. But the young man’s words begin to have an effect on Cameron's ego. Not to be outdone, the director files to Geneva to attend the lecture mentioned on the card just so see what all the fuss is about.

The lecture hall is much smaller than one would imagine due to the sensitive nature of new scientific discoveries in a discipline that remains largely ungoverned. Cameron arrives late, wondering if this is a hoax or the real deal.

He stands in the back of the auditorium to avoid being recognized, which proves unnecessary as everyone in the room is captivated by the speaker on stage, hanging on his every word. Cameron recognizes him as the young man who had accosted him a few weeks earlier.

His name is Simon Van Der Meer and he is explaining to the audience his time travel hypothesis, making claims that it is not only possible, but the first voyage will be taking place this very evening. He will demonstrate using the collider. A curtain is drawn in dramatic fashion and the scientist climbs onto a small platform inside the collider. The machine is turned on. It reverberates with a loud pinging sound, like the plucking of an enormous tightly stretched rubber band. In less than a second Van der Meer is gone.

The audience gasps as he reappears. Van der Meer has already traveled into the past to demonstrate the effectiveness of the device. The audience is suddenly aware of Van Der Meer’s first time travel endeavor as it has become yesterday’s news. Shock and confusion suddenly give way to uproarious applause.

Van der Meer waves his hands to quiet the crowd. He steps up to the podium. “For my next voyage, I will travel back to April, 1912. I will book a ticket as a passenger on board the RMS Titanic, alert the ship’s captain of the presence and location of the iceberg, and prevent the ship from sinking.”

“I plan to leave next week. I must first get my affairs in order, as this is a dangerous mission.”

He pauses, choked up by the thought of leaving his family behind. “If this works. If I can change the course of history, there is no telling how many tragedies might be prevented. I will enlist an army of time travelers to right history’s wrongs. We will create a utopia.”

The audience has scrambled to their feet. They have been dazzled, swept up in the drama and spectacle. Everyone is cheering and praising this heroic man. Everyone except for James Cameron.

He skulks back to his car to ponder the significance of this moment. Van der Meer is clearly allowing his ambition to interfere with his judgment. Hasn’t he considered the implications of altering history? No man should have that kind of power. What about the Grandfather Paradox? The Butterfly Effect? This is a man of science. He should be aware of the potential consequences.

There is one consequence that James Cameron simply will not accept. That is, if Van der Meer were to save the Titanic, his 1997 oscar winning masterpiece would be erased! Now he must follow Van der Meere into the past and sink the Titanic! Thanks to his theoretical knowledge of time travel, having practically invented the genre, he’d have no problem navigating the past. Not to mention his years of research into every aspect of that fateful night will prove invaluable to ensure the boat will sink.

The original plan was to go back to April 1912 just days before Van der Meere’s arrival, to stop him from boarding the ship altogether. But that proves impossible, as Van der Meere seems to have thought of all contingencies. He easily slips through every trap Cameron has set for him. There is no way to stop Van der Meere from boarding the boat short of murdering him. There has to be another way. He’ll have to think outside the box…er the boat.

Now it is the morning of April 16th, 1912. Van der Meere stands on the deck of the ship watching the sunrise, relaxed, confident in having succeeded in his mission. He is about to return to his quarters to get some sleep when out of the corner of his eye appears an iceberg. It is moving at an alarming clip, much faster than the others. It is large, jagged, and intimidating. Upon further inspection, he realizes it is not a true iceberg, but some sort of vehicle made to look like an iceberg and there is James Cameron at the helm.

“I’m king of the world,” he shouts, as he accelerates to ramming speed.