Time and Technicalities (Timewalkers Book 1)

by RP Halliway

  Silas laughed at her excitement. “We are in the Bible belt. Did you not expect one?”

  “I have no idea. I haven’t been in a hotel for so long.” Evie flipped open the cover. “What was the verse? Hebrews something.” She turned to the proper book and started skimming through Hebrews. “Here it is,” she announced a few minutes later, “Hebrews 9:27, I had to start from the beginning because I didn’t remember.”

  “Which one was that?” He looked over her shoulder.

  “The one that talks about dying, and then being judged. Remember when Jessica and Paul were talking about reincarnation. And they said how the verse could mean two different things.”

  Silas shook his head. “Maybe if you read it again?” All the verses sounded the same in his memory.

  “’And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:’” Evie read. “The verse before says ‘For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.’ Followed by 9:27: ‘And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:’ which is followed by ‘So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.’”

  “I’m lost,” he said, not making any sense of any of the three verses she read.

  “Me too, honestly. I remember hearing that Hebrews is one of the more challenging books of the Bible to understand.”

  “No argument from me.”

  “I guess what I was hoping to find was a bit more clarity on the reincarnation question,” she said. “But put together, these verses actually seem to have many different topics crammed in, and in such a way that nothing is very clear.”

  “Walk me through your thinking.”

  She sat up straight against the wall. “Jessica said reincarnation is not justified in the Bible, mainly by the verses that talk about dying and go to hell, or this one—dying once and then being judged. And I can agree with all of that. I want to believe the Bible is true, so that seems to be the starting point. But Timmy blows my mind.”

  “Exactly. He had the memories of an old man, true and actual memories that only the old man would know. I can’t believe Timmy is a hoax.”

  “I agree,” she said. “I don’t think it would be easy, or maybe even possible, to set up a hoax such as Timmy, especially given that there are other little kids that have memories like he does. That’s what really makes me suspect that second lives might be real.”

  “Maybe not second lives,” Silas said. “But at least connections to different lives. How would you explain the reincarnation thing? That’s how far behind I am in all this.”

  “If the Bible part is put aside for now, the multiverse is a collection of spawn points. And each ‘life,’ if you want to call it that, spawns in a new universe. You are still you, but just in a different game.”

  “Okay. And the universes are in contact with each other?”

  “Maybe. I’m not sure on the whole ‘probability’ part, or hills or whatever yet, but it sounds like there are universes that attract each other. Like all the universes where we win World War II are together.”

  “And all the ones where Hitler wins are together, but apart from now?”

  “Exactly. Like those could be way over there,” She waved her arms in the direction of the mountains on the horizon. “And all the ones close to now are all in this hotel.”

  “And the universes where the dinosaurs win World War II?”

  “Those could be on the bottom of the ocean. Almost impossible to get to, but they probably exist, according to Roger’s theory.”

  “That kinda helps,” he said. “Thanks.”

  She felt her face warm. “My pleasure. It’s actually kind of fun to talk about this with you.”

  “Well—” Silas started, but was interrupted by his phone ringing. He swiped across the screen. “Hello?”

  “Silas. Roger here. I just got done chatting with old man Postice. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with you calling him.”

  “That’s great, Roger. Thanks for making that contact.”

  Silas ended the call and looked at Evie.

  “Should we call now?” she asked him, sensing his question.

  “I don’t see why not. Maybe our questions can be answered quickly.” He felt his hands shaking slightly as he dialed the number, then looked nervously at Evie as the phone rang.

  “Hello?” a gruff voice answered.

  Silas looked to Evie and motioned for her to talk first.

  “Hello, Mr. Postice?” she said into the phone.

  “Who is this?” the gruff voice replied. “Why are you calling?”

  “Hi, Mr. Postice, My name is Evie, and I am calling to ask . . .” She trailed off, giving a lost look to Silas, not sure what to say.

  “Hi, Mr. Postice, My name is Silas, and Professor Roger called you about us,” he picked up the awkward conversation.

  “Oh, yes. We just talked about you,” his voice didn’t sound inviting.

  “Yes,” Evie said. She shrugged to Silas, not knowing what to ask next.

  “Fine. Come up,” Postice said.

  “Come up?” Silas asked.

  “You are in Virginia, correct? That seems to be what Borlun said.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Then come up. Boston. Pine Lake. See you tomorrow.” The voice sounded demanding and still cold.

  “Tomorrow?”

  “Tomorrow. Can you hear me? Seems like the connection is poor. Call me when you get to Massachusetts.”

  “Okay . . .” Silas replied hesitantly, not sure of what else to say.

  “Tomorrow,” Postice said again loudly and slowly, making sure his words came through on the seemingly shaky connection “Massachusetts.”

  “We’ll see you then,” Evie said. And the call ended abruptly.

  “What was that?” Silas asked, half shocked, half joking.

  “An old man telling us he wants company?” She gave him an uncomfortable laugh with a half smile.

  “I hope so. He doesn’t sound friendly at all. I don’t know what we would be able to learn from people with that kind of bedside manner.” Silas wondered what the old man must have seemed like in a convention.

  Evie grabbed her phone and pulled up the GPS. “Ten hour drive,” she said, showing the map route. “We should start early.”

  “Easy for you to say. I don’t like this East Coast traffic.”

  Evie shrugged. “Me either. But with active GPS routing, it should take us around all of the heavy traffic.”

  “You hope. I haven’t really had good luck with getting traffic updates en route.”

  “I thought guys liked a driving challenge?” she joked, poking him in the arm.

  “Challenge is one thing,” he said, then broke in a small grin. “People are another. I probably won’t like the traffic one bit.”

  She got off the bed with the phone and swinging her arms down and then toward the door, seemingly to usher Silas back to his own room. “Well then we should get a lot of sleep to rest up for the trip.” She pointed both arms toward the door again with a big smile.

  “We should,” he said, giving her a quick look, but not moving from the chair for a few moments.

  Evie’s phone rang, causing them both to jump in surprise. “Oh, hi, Chris!” She covered the phone microphone. “This is going to be a long call,” she whispered to Silas. “Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight,” he said quietly, standing up and walking out the door.

  As he heard the door close behind him, he heard her say “Chris!”

  Chapter 15

  His loud phone alarm alerted Silas that it was time to get up. It had taken him a while to fall aslee
p due to all the information he’d tried to cram in his brain that day.

  ‘you up?’ he texted Evie, after getting ready and packing his bags.

  “yes,” she replied right away.

  ‘ready to head out?’

  “just about.”

  ‘I’ll meet you outside your room.’

  “Have everything?” he asked as they set their bags down in the hallway a couple minutes later. He’d taken care of the food while she finished packing.

  Evie took stock of the few bags and the empty room. “Yep. All set.”

  “Good. Me too. I packed all of the food into some bags with some ice. That should last until lunch.”

  They grabbed their bags and headed toward the elevator.

  “We can call Roger and let him know our plans on the road,” she said. “It probably isn’t very nice to wake him up this early.”

  “I would believe that he doesn’t ever sleep.” Silas said, as they stood at the front desk and dropped off the keys. “How could he with all that information running around his brain at all times?”

  The pair checked out and he made a mental note of the total bill compared to his budget. Everything seemed to still be in the workable range, which gave a somewhat comforting feeling. He didn’t want any surprises along the way. He looked at Evie and wondered if she could afford the financial hit from the flight reschedule.

  After filling the car, he entered the Pine Lake destination into his phone. They had a long journey ahead of them, much of it with heavy traffic.

  ***

  The morning travels progressed as planned, and all of the major traffic snarls were avoided by following the green roads provided by updates.

  Just before ten AM, Silas’ phone rang.

  “Hello?” Evie answered.

  “You must be Evie! This is Silas’ friend, Noel.”

  “Hi Noel!” Silas said. “What’s up?”

  “I spent a lot of time thinking about what we talked about last night, dude. Have you asked your favorite question yet?”

  “Talked about?” Evie asked, looking at Silas. “Favorite question?”

  Silas felt his face grow hot as he looked at Evie’s smirk. He shook his head. “Busted. My favorite question is ‘don’t you wish everyone talked like in the movies?’”

  Evie covered her mouth with her hand and let out a muffled laugh. “You know that is all fake, right? Movies, and books too, are edited and rewritten many times just to make sure the words sound perfect. That isn’t real life at all.”

  Silas smiled at Evie’s answer. “That’s all true.”

  “Everything is made to sound so sanitized and with quick comebacks that it becomes almost unbelievable on one level, while at the same time every movie concocts totally outrageous scenarios that could be prevented with a simple thirty second conversation.” Evie said, shaking her head at the Silas and the phone.

  “Sounds like a keeper answer!” Noel said, with a hearty laugh in the background.

  Silas looked intently at the road, avoiding Evie’s gaze, which he imagined still smirked at him. “What did you think about last night?”

  “All this multiverse stuff,” Noel said. “It really got my walnut cooking. It’s a very deep dive into all aspects of philosophy. I don’t think I slept at all last night.”

  “I know you have ideas to share,” Silas said, smiling at Evie.

  “So many it’s hard to find a good starting point!” Noel said, a small laugh echoing over the car noise. “The multiverse isn’t a new idea by any means. It’s been tied to the idea of time travel for centuries, although not directly linked in all of the stories. Most stories start with the premise that everything is all one timeline. But—and everybody has a big but—it also seems very likely that time travel within the same ‘universe’ would be impossible, based on several theories.”

  “Such as?” Evie asked.

  “The Bible passages dealing with time and predestination to start with. Predestination and changing the past seem contradictory in every sense. And then the bacteria and virus loading for both the traveler and the local populations. And finally, the fact that horrible evils seem to still be a very large part of our history. All of these seem to conclude that time travel hasn’t happened so far.”

  “But that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible,” Evie said.

  “Very true,” Noel said. “But do you think that if someone had that power, there wouldn’t be a little bit less evil in the world by now?”

  “That is one theory,” Silas said, “and another theory is that time travel did happen, and corrected an even worse evil.”

  “Absolutely. That’s why it’s brain busting to think too deeply about things. Thoughts are such a double edged sword.”

  “Thoughts?” Evie asked, tilting her head toward Silas.

  “Yeah, thoughts,” Noel said. “Thoughts essentially create good and evil. Without thoughts there would be just living. It’s deep, I know, but imagine having no inventions or technology at all, and no thought to improve technology or anything. Just living day by day. And whatever happens just happens—no rhyme or reason for any actions by anyone. Just satisfying the immediate needs. Just like —almost like nature.

  “Nature isn’t good or evil by definition. Like ants just go back and forth every day collecting food for now and the future. No evil intent there. The ants react to different situations, but those reactions are just for survival. Nothing with evil intent.”

  “What about wasps?” Silas asked. “They’re a little meaner than ants.”

  “Dude, you know it,” Noel said. “Wasps are assholes for sure, but I don’t think they’d be called evil. Most of nature doesn’t have the ‘intent’ needed to be called good and evil.”

  “Good and evil?” Evie asked.

  “Yeah. Good and evil are two sides of the same coin. Can’t have one without the other. Both need to exist if one exists.”

  “I can do good without needing evil to exist,” Evie said.

  “Could you?” Noel said. “Paul writes in the Bible that he wouldn’t know sin without the Law being present. If good existed without evil, wouldn’t that just be ‘normal’ then?”

  “An interesting point,” Silas said. “It takes two opposites to identify either of them.”

  “Right. Just like weighing with a scale, bud,” Noel said. “You need two sides. And ‘intent’ is the driving force toward good and evil. That little push to do something outside of just surviving. And intent needs thought to plan the cause and effect relationship.”

  What he was trying to say was starting to make sense in Evie’s mind.

  “Without the cause and effect of thought, most actions reduce to survival rather than being described as good and evil.”

  “Animals do some crazy things we could consider evil,” Silas said.

  “ And sure, there probably are some exceptions. Of course the more intelligent the animal, the more likely an action could be considered evil.”

  “Like killer whales playing with their food?” Evie said.

  “Is that evil?” Noel said. “The playing could be just a way to make it easier to eat and digest the food, much like cooking does for humans.”

  “I never thought of that. It just seems cruel when predators kill their prey.” Evie had never liked to watch those nature documentaries about stuff like that.

  “They have no tools or technology. They’re just acting for survival the best way they know how,” Noel said. “And human thought is what created the empathy for the prey animals in the first place. Without thought and technology, how would humans still be feeding themselves?”

  Evie and Silas spent a few seconds thinking about that statement. After the few seconds of silence, Noel went on.

  “Humans tend to be weak compared to other animals, and not suited for survival hunting
one on one, or even in packs. Also having to compete for gathering would also be very difficult without tools and thought. The biggest strength humans have is the brain—allowing for tools and technology, and speech, cooperation and recording history, which eventually creates thought.”

  “And thus good and evil?” Silas asked.

  “That’s a good question, dude, if not THE question,” Noel said. “What makes us? Who are we? These are the philosophical questions for all ages. The first person looking up at the stars, with that spark of thought, probably wondered if we were part of something beyond ourselves.”

  “The multiverse? And anything outside of it?” Evie asked.

  Noel paused then said, “It seems there is enough evidence to suggest—but not prove—that something external to our conscious brain and body exists. And with the multiverse theory, it would make sense.”

  “What kind of evidence?” Silas asked.

  “Demonic possession is a good start. Many may be hoaxes, but some show signs of superhuman abilities—such as strength, speech, movement, and so on. Bible stories of strength and superhuman abilities add to the list, if you accept those.”

  “People possessed by demons in the Bible?” Silas asked.

  “There are a few stories,” Evie said, “I don’t remember what they were though.”

  “Mary Magdalene is one,” Noel said, “And a man possessed by seven devils. And then there was the man on the island that broke the chains they tried to tie him up with. He had a legion of demons in him, and Jesus cast them into the swine, which then ran over the cliff into the sea.”

  “I didn’t know any of that,” Silas said.

  “Most people don’t,” Noel said. “And then there’s prophecy. Prophecy could be considered as evidence. Biblical prophecies, but also non-spiritual visions over the ages. All of the true visions would be supernatural and point to something beyond the natural human consciousness as a source.”

  “You’re on board with this time theory then?” Silas asked.

  “I’m still digesting the time part,” Noel said. “Time does seem to be a human construct and based on change. I don’t know if I fully understand the ‘everybody is alive’ part though.”