Picture Bride

A skeptical narrator describes his brother's invention of a time-contact device that allows him to see and converse with a woman who will be born centuries hence. The brother becomes infatuated over brief daily encounters, while the narrator watches with increasing unease. During one session a violent electrical failure rips through the laboratory, leaving damaged equipment and the brother's clothing but no person; the screen briefly shows the woman's frightened face and, for an instant, the brother as well. The narrator is left to infer that the brother may have been carried forward in time, and the tentative, impossible relationship remains unresolved.