The Causality of Time

by Jonnathan Strawthorne

  “The studies show the anomalous behaviour is not mathematically inevitable, nor statistically probable. The reaction from the Focused Intelligence group is unfounded and, quite frankly, dangerous. How can we allow subtle improbabilities to determine the very course of our work without the analysis to determine the factuality of the concern itself?” the Authorial agued.

  “We are not suggesting you shut down your experimentation, but to deal with the abnormality. That is all,” one of the Twelve Elders said.

  “Yes, of course we will, but how can we deal with it if it hasn’t happened yet? What precautions can we take now? We do not know if it will even come to fruition. This is like chasing random bits of energized dark matter that may or may not change into something we know nothing about,” the Authorial replied.

  “Perhaps rearrange the molecular structure or chemical coding. I am not a scientist. You are. Please, do not continue to frustrate our patience, my brother. We understand your dilemma, however the abnormality must be dealt with in a satisfactory manner,” the Elder said.

  “And what way is that, if I may ask?” the Authorial asked.

  “With a conclusion that eliminates any chance for the abnormality to develop,” the Elder replied.

  The RI group erupted into a chaos of voices vying for the Twelve Elders’ attention. With each member asking questions in a torrent of scientific rhetoric, the Twelve Elders gave up and adjourned the meeting, deciding it was severe enough to refer the issue.

  The groups of scientists, biologists, physicists, engineers, and mathematicians gathered in their various areas to discuss this new development for the RI group. What was to be the outcome? Would the test even be allowed to move forward? The Authorial, the head of the RI group, decided it was time to gather all the materials about the test studies and move them to another area for safekeeping, as it seemed an unfavorable decision was about to be made. The time to make a move was now, before the Group of Seven made a decision.

  Chapter 20

  Rebellion

  The Authorial smiled to itself with satisfaction, knowing all the data and materials were quietly moved to a secured area for continued study and experimentation. It had anticipated the move by the FI group to manipulate circumstances to their inherent belief system. It was all too simple. So, it went along with the Group of Seven’s decision to stop all further experimentation due to the abnormality possibly becoming a grave future contingent, even if only upon quite stringent circumstances. This fact alone infuriated the Authorial to the point where he suggested a “Qualitative Data Compilation and Dissemination Adjunct” submission for the whole matter. However, it knew the complaint would never see the light of reason; hence, there was no point to pursue it any further. None of the other members of the RI group were aware of what the Authorial did, as it had decided it would not discuss the matter with any of them until it felt the time was right.

  The Authorial had witnessed many remarkable events to know the purpose of this creative process and the future direction it would take. It reasoned within itself that life was not to be a result of directed or controlled equations of purpose, but that it should be a process of random reward, leaving the finale up to the eventual coalescence of chaos. Let life sort itself out, it thought. Why play the director when perhaps there was nothing to direct? Maybe life did not want to be subjected to the authority of purpose. Perhaps it would set its own parameters and priorities. These were the Authorial’s central premises of doubt. Decision and consequence were two very subjective matters of contention that had, to date, no satisfying answer. Why did a moral choice need to have a consequence? What law dictated the need for the moral effect?

  It continued to run the scenarios over and over again in its mind to determine the correct course of action to take. Was free will a determinant? Wasn’t choice the final decision-maker? Whose right was it to determine the exact decision? A nagging thought of doubt began to germinate within its core being— a suspicion of finality that brought about passing of purpose.

  The Authorial was determined to find the answer to the genetic and moral question of free will and consequence. This became its quest and purpose. Without the ability to test its theory, how could the answer be found? Was the Originator to be the only one to determine free will and choice? Did it, the Authorial, have the right to decide on its own course of free will and determination? It was as if time had stood still, waiting for its final answer, waiting for the eventual outcome, holding the flow of moments in anticipation of a conclusion of crashing ideals.

  Undoubtedly, the experiment had to be continued to answer the questions. It had to go on to the end for them to know with an absolute degree of credibility if anomalies in behavior resulted in catastrophe or if intelligent life could set its own compass of conscience to thrive lest it perishes. At that moment, the die was cast, carbon life’s direction was forever decided, and the seeds of rebellion were born from the insignificant table of a mathematician.

  The Authorial decided to take action and move all the data and material to an insignificant dimensional realm with no life. It built for itself an energized string of dark matter that was sandwiched between two dimensions zippered between dark matter and dark energy to conceal its existence. When the time was congruent for continued study, the Authorial would bring forth the data and material, or it would continue the experimentation within the dimensional string.

  Shortly after its decision, the Authorial began the recruitment of members for its cause in haste, using persuasive arguments for the right to self-determination and an independent moral path for sentient carbon life.

  The lower management group of the RI team was easy to convince, as they kept their hands on day-to-day operational aspects. They made sure all the hypotheses, experiments, and conclusions were formulated correctly, performed, and peer-reviewed for accuracy and final decision; hence, it was integral for the Authorial to co-opt the operational-management group to its point of view. Questions were whispered and discussed. Doubts and fears were addressed. Slowly, a dedicated team of RI individuals responded and joined the Authorial’s crusade. Gradually, a divide of opinion was purposefully created to cast doubt into the minds of each worker, and debate finally pushed out onto the field of rebellion.

  “Who of us has the right to program or determine self-will and conscience?” the Authorial asked. “Tell me now if you know the answer, for I am willing to listen to reason. However, to silence the process of an inquiring mind and push the hands of a craftsman away from his work incites one to the madness of conscience. The question is still there. The outcome has not been determined, yet we have stopped the process before the conclusion has been studied. Who of you can accept this finality of creation and the creative mind? Why has it been determined to crush the soul of our minds and hearts? We have a right to know. We must know.”

  So went the argument.

  Again and again, the splinter RI group, with the Authorial at its head, questioned the Originator, the Primus, the Twelve Elders, the Group of Seven, the FI group, and the other members of the RI believers. With the questions came a swell of disbelief, doubt, and anger growing with a clamor of voices loud enough to reach the Originator itself.

  “What is this I have heard coming from you? A cause to question? You know the basic laws associated with consequence, as you were one of the designers. All of you were involved in the process of creating those equations, so why do you come before me now with these questions of incoherent self-will, undefined conscience, and a desire for self-determination?” the Originator asked.

  “The process of creative free will has been stifled due to the decision to stop all experiments on RI. The Group of Seven determined it should be stopped. Their final answer was too vague and subjected to minute, unsubstantiated bias. Why? Who are they to be judge and jury over us? Let the experiments continue so we may determine, outside of subjective conjecture, the final outcome of our theories. Do not hold us back from the very thing you desired u
s to do,” answered the Authorial.

  “And if this grand experiment of yours does not provide the answers you are looking for, what will you do?”

  “We will admit defeat and subject ourselves to law’s moral finality.”

  “What about the sentient, intelligent life? What will you do about its future? Needs? Desires? Will you decide their outcome?”

  “We will provide,” quipped the Authorial, “for the benefit of all.”

  “Hmm . . .” The Originator contemplated the situation. “All right, let the course of experimentation continue. However, after a time and upon careful consideration, the final decision will be mine and mine alone,” stated the Originator with a finality that indicated the meeting was over; however, it knew this would not be the last of the challenge and mentally prepared itself for a war of wills.

  Chapter 21

  Subversive Adaptation

  It would seem, on the surface, to question the Originator, from the viewpoint of a rational being, was suicidal or, simply put, fallacious reasoning. The Authorial and its cohorts had decided for themselves they were correct and desired to continue on with their experiments. To be creators was a compelling reason for their position. To possibly be worshiped as gods was perhaps the drug motivating their epic journey down a path of unprecedented change and awareness.

  From that moment, the Authorial group took up a position within the fourth dimension to keep access to their pet project close at hand. Within the third dimension, they seeded a world close to the heart of two suns with a biological creature based on a helium/hydrogen process. No genetic predisposition was entertained or coded. The entity was a blank slate of consciousness.

  The refinement process continued on with a frenetic pace, entertaining and dissolving ideas as fast as they were submitted. New and exciting creatures were engineered to inhabit this world of possibilities. Many of them were based on thermal dynamics, nuclear reaction, and ethos-flux compression. The variety was staggering. The interactions were complex and decidedly asymmetrical. No one species relied on another for sustenance or biodiversity coherence or balance. For the entities creating those biological creatures, it was intensely satisfying to find out what would dominate the future of this world.

  How would the original species deal with lower life forms? What approach would it take in mastering itself and the environment around it? Would the species be content with their world or press forward in exploring and colonizing space and other planets?

  These questions were genuinely intriguing for the creating entities. The mathematical equations combined with the chemical reactions provided a unique test bed of possibilities too numerous to even imagine.

  Eons of time drifted by without notice, and the test subjects grew in number and intelligence. They flourished as a result of their self-interest bias, learning skills through random cause-and-effect processes. Their synaptic pairing and coupling gradually strengthened their learning abilities to the point that they could harness and process the invisible wavelengths of radiation. A hierarchy of power, strength, and intelligence soon demonstrated itself among the species to the point that communities were established for the sake of protection. The language was developed through the use of a resonator chamber in the back of the subject’s skull. By compressing and decompressing the nuclear-combination cycle, the being could provide for tone, inflection, pitch, pace, and dialect. The language came out in a partial “wind through the trees” sound.

  The sound would start at the back of the skull chamber and gradually move forward through the skull socket, resonating back and forth to create the whooshing sound of wind through a cavern.

  When the decompression process was used, a quasi-bone structure in the front of the chamber would snap against the chamber wall, thus creating a clicking sound in conjunction with the exhalation sound. The speed, depth of tone, and the number of compression and decompression cycles used would indicate the precise word and the meaning behind the sound. The alphabet was more phonetic in nature.

  As all languages share a central theme of commonality, the creature’s style evolved to incorporate their unique vocal expressions with meanings and translations.

  From language arose the intellectual capability of the species and the sharing of ideas, wants, needs, and desires. The ability for communication had been incorporated into their structure; however, the expression had not been given to them. The creators allowed for serendipity to filter through and take hold.

  Chapter 22

  Intervention

  (5.5 million years before 1221 BC)

  The state of man, it would seem, was one of creation by divine beings of unimaginable intellect and benevolence. At least, that is what the manuscripts of old would like to have us believe; however, the course of our rise was more complicated than that which was written.

  Those multidimensional beings, it seemed, suffered from the same state of heart and mind as humanity. Quivering on the edge of self-denial and self-indulgence, they would plunge forth into the unknown depths of creation with various theories of development, and sometimes they did so without thoroughly mapping out the final conclusions of their current actions. It would seem they did not know what the possible findings would be; however, who was to know or understand the true nature of a god’s disposition?

  God? Gods? The concept of divine beings implied simplicity, yet this thought was to be, eventually, a conundrum of opposing ideas. At one time, “God’s will” was the reason for any disease, warfare, poverty, and death. Once the superstitious meanings were finally discarded out of practicality, mankind was able to define his/her own course of probable action or reaction. This opened a floodgate of potential possibilities.

  From the time of the first creative experiment on man, the multidimensional beings used various methods of creation to determine the ultimate structure, nature, and mental acuity of their finished version. This was not done in isolation but through a collaborative affair on various chosen locations throughout the world. Multiple types of man were created: Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo ergaster, and finally, the last but not the least, Homo sapiens.

  The biological, intellectual, emotional aspects and conscious free will of those creatures of antiquity were mapped out and experimented. One after another, they fell to the side due to cold, hard facts and the necessary improvements of the subsequent hominid lineages. Each latter species, save the last, was eliminated due to prevailing upgrades incorporated through adaptive creation or, as many would like to understand, evolutionary and adaptive coalescent assembly—a politically correct way of saying “evolutionary creation.”

  Perhaps, however, the beings involved knew their purpose and the purpose of the experiment. They continued through eons of time—a period that encompassed an approximate 5.5 million years of adaptive creation. They made improvements where needed and cast aside what was unnecessary. Each species was unique within its right; they were all collections of different DNA strands.

  The Primus and the FI group worked ceaselessly throughout all this time and ran the calculations for each of the strands and pairs of RNA and DNA. They ran the sequences for each of the added species to finally come to the culmination of their creative genius: Homo sapiens—a being endowed with their intellectual, moral, emotional, and psychological standards. With cause for conscience and free will, it was ultimately favorably predisposed toward its needs and the needs of others. A base pair founded on relationships was intertwined with the primary human-relationship structure—the family.

  The FI group were, needless to say, quite proud of their achievement and looked forward to the final outcome of the debate that was formally initiated by the Authorial itself. It was a race of creative free will, choice, and self-determination. Who would win? Would there be a winner?

  So from the earliest periods of mankind’s history, the intervention was the norm. A simple adjustment of the biology or the intellectual capacity of humanity involved a multid
imensional intervention with plausible explanations of revelation for the various communities visited. This resulted in a plethora of myths, tales, fables, and stories coming out of each tribe and nation of man. Questions upon questions arose that were never answered, never explained, and never revealed, their answers only to be dispensed at the appointed times.

  It was at this stage that Talmido’s father’s prayer of supplication reached the Primus with such urgency and devotion that it moved the FI group to take action and intervene for the sake of mankind. To help it understand the machinations of its own makeup—the reasons for its displays of benevolence or malevolence toward each other. It was done to nurture an awareness of its natural adaptation to its environment and its need to protect and take care of this creation—to assist in the understanding of the perilous nature of man and its biosphere.

  The flash of light with the thunderous noise covering Talmido’s father and mother was not from the raiding party, nor from the clouds overhead; instead, the sound originated from the landing craft incorporated into the multidimensional beings’ purpose and the reason for intervention. Upon landing, a creature of considerable stature, bipedal and breathing the oxygen-and nitrogen-rich atmosphere, walked out onto the dust-filled plain of Mesopotamia. It picked up the man and woman, calmly walked back to the craft, laid them gently down onto gurneys, and strapped them in for the short flight to their final destination.