>"OK, I give up. What are the three words?"<
"phobos, kerdos, and doxa,” said the Time Traveler.
“Fear, self-interest, and honor.”
"Fear, Self-interest, and honor" would not so disturb the author that he couldn't write about it for three months. Personally, I don't think that three words exist that could live up to the hype the author created, nor do I think the author even had any particular three words in mind when he wrote the ending to the story. He gets a lot more mileage out of this story by leaving it up to us to try to figure it out. The only things I can think of that might disturb the author that much and which doesn't already appear in the story is something more random...maybe along the lines of "America hated you" or "76 Suitcase Nukes" or "Avoid tap water"
Another problem in trying to determine the words is that they really ought to fit in with the rest of what the guy was saying, or at least not be too jarringly out of place as his final three words.