You land in the first week of January 1973. Gas is 39 cents, the market is about to lose half its value, and you are the only person alive who knows how all of it turns out.
The Retrograde Field Manual: 1973 is standard issue for the licensed retrograde traveler - a complete residency guide to the fifty-three years between your insertion date and July 2026, written by a Service that has done this before and has the files to prove it.
Inside Volume 14:
How to pass in 1973. What to wear, how to speak (purge awesome; deploy terrific), what everyone knows in January, why your teeth are suspiciously good, and where to eat before the automat closes forever.
The year-by-year timetable. What to buy: Berkshire Hathaway at $40, Apple at the December 1980 offering, bitcoin while it costs less than a sandwich. What to avoid: specific mornings, specific flights, specific exchanges. And what to see while it can still be seen - Secretariat's Belmont, Springsteen at the Bottom Line, the night the Wall came down.
The Six Rules. You are a resident, not an author. Your feet are your own. Profit quietly and imperfectly. You will hate at least one of the rules. Comply anyway.
This manual is issued to licensed retrograde travelers only. It is printed on period-appropriate stock with period-appropriate inks. If questioned, it is a work of speculative fiction purchased at a used bookstore. Do not annotate it in ink. Do not lose it. Do not lend it.
The information herein was accurate as of the compilation date (July 2036). Events are described as they occurred on the Prime Line. Your presence introduces variance. Small variance is survivable. Large variance is not covered by this manual, your policy, or anyone's good intentions.Volume 14 of the Prime Line Series. If questioned, it is a work of speculative fiction purchased at a used bookstore.