What would make you believe?

A tall young man comes to your door. He speaks with a heavy accent and
occasionally uses nonsense words. After a few pleasantries, he tells
you that he's from a parallel universe that is a near duplicate of our
own except that it's several centuries ahead.

His mission is to change our future. In his universe, a series of wars
and plagues reduced mankind at one point to less than a thousand
people. In some universes so closely parallel that there was no
detectable difference, everyone died.

He acknowledges that his merely popping in changes our 'history', but
it's their experience that the effect won't alter the fabric of
society enough to prevent the tragedy.

But there is something you can do. They have records from 'our' time
and know that tonight's lottery won't have a winner. He's checked the
numbers from six different games for the past two weeks (as displayed
on a poster at a gas station he passed on his way from the transfer
point to your home), and all 552 numbers agree with those on his list,
indicating high parallelism with their universe. Since the drawing is
within hours and at a considerable distance, it is highly unlikely
that his presence will affect the balls drawn.

By chance, you planned to go to the grocery store today anyway, and
can buy a lottery ticket there.


What, if anything, could he say to convince you to spend a dollar to
play 'his' numbers for a $65,000,000 lottery?


What he can't do:

He cannot show you any gadgets from the future to prove his story.
Since they have little personal data on those they will be contacting,
they cannot know if/when one of their contact personnel will be taken
captive and his belongings examined. It is their experience that any
introduction of their technology into an earlier society inevitably
leads to an imbalance in world power and hastens the onset of the wars
and plagues they suffered.

He cannot explain the theoretical/scientific/technological basis for
travel between universes. All he remembers from science class is that
it has something to do with flux gradients in a continuum and that
Merita of Freeshore came up with the equations for it. (They consider
such ignorance vital -- too many times their contact personnel have
been tortured for their knowledge or turned rogue and set up their own
dynasties.)

He cannot tell you anything about the near future. Contact personnel
are chosen from those who have never shown any interest in PRE (the
Pre-Rebirth Epoch) for much the same reasons. 

He cannot say how much further ahead his universe is. He's been told
he was being sent back "several centuries" but he thinks it must be
much more. 

He cannot say why you were selected, or even known about, or if the
person 'destined' to win next week's lottery was somehow important in
causing the wars and plagues, because contact personnel are not given
such information.

He cannot tell you crucial details about a lot of things in his daily
life. He graduated 246 in a class of 280. He was a furniture salesman
before applying to be a contact person, and he was only interested in
the job because it meant fewer hours and better pay.

He cannot allow you to witness him leaving. The transfer point is in a
small chamber in a cave, and once there, he may have to wait a few
minutes or a few hours before the transfer is activated. When it
happens, the effect will injure anyone close by and damage any
electronics. You could follow him into the cave, wait at a safe
distance in the main alley until its over, and look for other exits
afterwards, but doing so will make you too late to buy a ticket.
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