Nexus of Time

by Mark Riverstone

  "My God," says Walter, stunned by what he sees. "The first line is a correction to one of my equations for the receiver field generation, and the second is an equation to decipher the crystal molecular arrangement when recovering transmitted data. The last two are dates."

  "We deduced that the 'R 09-27' is the date which the receiver must be completed and activated, and 'T 10-15' is the date which the transmitter sends this very message, which we need to repeat in our future."

  "But the 27th is tomorrow. I need to work these equations into the blueprints I sent you. How are we going to get this done by tomorrow?"

  "Relax, Walter. We figured the same thing you did, replaced the equations, and got to work right away. If you will follow me..."

  Captain Nemolopolus opens the door next to the observation window and gestures for Walter and Dr. Black to enter a large room filled with scientists wearing crystal blue uniform with silver stripes going over the shoulders, along the arms and down the legs. Dr. Black stops, taken aback at the familiar sight of the uniforms. One she has seen in dreams.

  "Those uniforms..." says Dr. Black, not finishing her sentence.

  "Oh yes, I should mention you both will wear uniforms. In peacetime conditions, we let people wear whatever they want, but since we engaged with the Greys, we are in a constant state of alert here. Therefore, everyone wears a specific color uniform to identify their position in a crisis. Our security force, which wears black, has a foremost duty to protect the scientists and medical doctors, which as you see wear the crystal blue uniform with silver. My primary ship crew needed for Barge operations is in royal blue. Engineering wears a light gray. And the general duty crew you will see in emerald green. It will help you identify who to ask based on your need. You'll find your uniforms in your cabin quarters. Someone will take you to your cabins when we finish with your tour."

  The scientific personnel in the room work hurriedly on a device that replicates the receiver from Walter's blueprint drawings. On a mounting stand is a deep paraboloid of alloy resembling half of an oval, the inside lined with crystal plates. An exotic electromagnetic coil encircles the inner opening of the paraboloid. The mounting stand looks very solid, and it supports a thick cable that runs from the paraboloid, along the stand, coils on the floor, and plugs into a large wall socket.

  Captain Nemolopolus strolls with Walter and Dr. Black around the device, "It took every available person here, even our medical doctors chipped in, but we built it according to your specs with the corrected equation. Your engravings from the future told us we needed the receiver mounted and activated on the Arctic Sea floor by tomorrow to get the first transmission, so we completed it today. We are getting ready to run a test, make sure the 'tesseract coils', as you call them on the blueprint, can handle full power and form a rift bubble, what my scientists dubbed an Einstein-Rosen bubble. If it works, divers and drones will lay a foundation for the tower on the sea floor a half-hour after we reach the location, which should be another fifty minutes. We estimate to mount the receiver head ten hours after that. Then we connect the receiver control cable to the Barge and it will be ready to receive its first transmission tomorrow."

  Walter smiles, "Nemo, your ability to make things happen is only second to God."

  Dr. Black gawks, "How did you build this so fast? It would take us months to make this in a Committee lab, and weeks to get approval for tests and run them."

  "My people are the best and most advanced in the world. The only thing that slows us is solving science itself. And with minds as innovative as Walter's and yours, even science can't hold us back. I give everyone here the green light to do what they need to complete their research. Dr. Black, you will find the only thing restricting you is yourself."

  A scientist calls out, "All system check! Personnel, please clear safety area for the test! Everyone beyond the caution mark, and goggles on. Supervisor on deck, please."

  Everyone steps back until they are behind a painted circle on the ground, including the captain, Walter, and Dr. Black. A technician hands a pair of goggles to Walter, Dr. Black, and Captain Nemolopolus.

  Sandy steps out from the horde of scientists and in front of everyone. She raises her purple alloy hand to silence the murmur and speaks in a loud voice.

  "Thank you, everyone, for your hard work and effort. That gentleman is Professor Tomb, whose invention and blueprints you worked tirelessly to complete. Let us hope we created a device worthy of his expectations, for he will tell us if we didn't."

  Sandy chuckles along with the rest of the room.

  "Without further delay, power connected and ample?" calls out Sandy.

  A voice calls out, "Check!"

  "Emergency cutoff manned?" calls out Sandy.

  Another voice calls out, "Check!"

  Sandy steps behind the safety line next to Captain Nemolopolus, "Let's make time our slave! Initiate receiver coils now!"

  Coils circling the inner edge of the half sphere mounted on the stands surge, glow, then become blurry. The edge of the paraboloid shell stress vibrates from the gravity and electro-magneticity increasing around the opening. Empty air in the cusp wavers, then a perceivable reflective bubble the size of the opening forms. Its reflection mirrors an upside-down backward view of what faces the adjacent side.

  "Time?" calls out Sandy.

  "Thirty seconds."

  "Call sixty seconds," orders Sandy.

  Walter says with awe and pride, "It's working. It is working!"

  "I never expected less, Walter," replies Nemolopolus.

  "Sixty seconds."

  "Rift is stable, people," announces Sandy as applause erupts from around the room.

  Sandy picks up a tennis ball from a table and approaches Walter. She holds the ball out to him, "Would you do the honors?"

  "What?" asks Walter.

  "Toss the ball into the rift, to test and make sure something can pass in and out of the rift. The rift isn't going anywhere in time."

  "Actually, the rift is. In the thesis I wrote regarding the rift, which was included in the data I sent your team, the rift must be stationary, otherwise matter going into it will end up in the past or future," explains Walter.

  "It is stationary," replies Sandy.

  "Only from our perspective. The Barge is moving. Because the Barge is moving, so is the rift. Which means tossing a tennis ball into the rift will sent it back or ahead in time. I am assuming this test is to ensure the rift works as we expect and not destroying what we sent into it, which means we need the tennis ball to come back to the present, correct?"

  "Right," affirms Sandy.

  "For the tennis ball to reappear in the present, the rift has to be still," states Walter

  "The data packets you propose sending back in time will be propelled by lasers into a still rift, allowing them to traverse time in the fifth dimension, as I understood, and that normal means of propulsion, and I include tossing a ball as normal, do not possess the propulsion to traverse time," replies Sandy.

  Walter explains, "That is partly correct, Sandy. Going into the rift sends an object into folded time, however, if the object is stationary and the rift is moving at the speed and direction of the rotating Earth, the object can reappear in the present. But putting the rift in motion will move the rift within the fifth dimension, causing the object to traverse time folds, like the Grey craft sent into the past. The rifts surrounding those craft were moving the speed of their flight, so the length of time the rift was open combined with the rift motion sent them traversing decades of folded time.

  "The lasers from the transmitter will possess the ability to traverse time folds, so sending lasers into a motionless rift will allow the data sent to go back in time. That rift there is moving at the speed of the Barge, so even if the tossed tennis ball lacks the propulsion to traverse fifth-dimensional time folds, the motion of the rift will pass it across time folds, and that ball will end up in a past or future, even if mere hours or minutes. At our current velocity, that woul
d cause the tennis ball to materialize out in the ocean. Thus, your test to ensure things can pass into and exit the rift will fail, because we will not be sure if the ball went elsewhere in time, or disintegrated in the rift."

  Sandy nods, "Your explanation makes sense, Walter. Captain, we must bring the Barge to a full stop."

  Captain calls out, "Notify control room. Full stop. And respond when achieved."

  Everyone in the room rocks in one direction as the Barge rapidly decelerates.

  After a minute of waiting, a voice calls out, "Captain, control room says we are at a full stop."

  Captain Nemolopolus turns to Walter, "Walter, you may proceed."

  Walter smiles holding out the tennis ball, "Time to touch the rift. You do the honors, Sandy."

  With her mechanical hand, Sandy tosses it at the bubble. The moment the ball touches the bubble, it stops as if frozen in the air for a millisecond. Then the bubble appears to become the ball, the entire bubble reflecting the ball. The ball reflection fades and disappears.

  Captain Nemolopolus turns to Sandy and Walter, "Are you both satisfied this is a successful test?"

  They nod.

  "Very good. Attention," announces Captain Nemolopolus, "After we shut this off, you have twelve hours to disassemble this device into components, get it loaded on the mini sub, and mount it on the ocean floor. Understood?"

  "Yes, Captain!"

  "Good. Deactivate the receiver!"

  The reflective bubble flattens and disappears. The tennis ball then materializes and continues on the motion path thrown as if it never hit the bubble. When it hits the ground, the ball bounces to a stop.

  Dr. Black asks, "Can I see that ball, Sandy?"

  While the rest of the scientists move around, Sandy picks up the ball with her mechanical hand, and brings it over to Dr. Black and Walter. Sandy squeezes the ball, checking its resiliency. She hands it to Dr. Black, who bounces it against the floor, and catches it on the rebound.

  "Good. Looks unaffected," says Walter.

  "Everyone, stop! Turn it back on!" yells Dr. Black, "If that is ok, Captain?"

  "How come?" asks the captain, both curious and taken aback by Dr. Black's request.

  Dr. Black responds, "I need to test something. I will also need a round fruit: an apple, orange, or tomato. This will only take a minute."

  "Ok." Captain Nemolopolus raises his voice, "You heard the doctor. Get set for one more test, on the doctor's call. And someone retrieve an apple from the kitchen."

  "Thank you," says Dr. Black.

  Dr. Black grabs a pair of gloves from the nearby table, puts them on, and picks up the tennis ball. They wait while everyone resets the equipment for a second test.

  "What are you thinking, Dr. Black?" asks Walter.

  Dr. Black explains, "The tennis ball should be normal, that is, as it was when it entered. Because it did not pass through the rift, but merely resided within the fifth dimension before returning into our time and dimension. According to your theories, Walter, on the matter paradox of time, this ball is still composed of its original matter. A matter transformation, or reconstitution, only happens when it goes back or forward in time."

  "What are you looking for in this test, Dr. Black?" asks Captain Nemolopolus.

  Dr. Black explains, "From what I studied in Walter's recent documentation on quantum matter creation from particles, data information coming out a rift defines how the matter will recompose, the information defining the object's existence. On the Grey ship that crashed in Roswell with Tomas, there was a Grey whose hands became intermeshed with a metal console, becoming one material that was both organic and inorganic. The working theory is since the metal console and the Grey alien were both nothing but data at the point of meshing, the data became meshed and was one collection of information consisting of both hand and console. So, when quantum matter creation composed what exited the rift in the past, the matter reconstituted the organic hand and inorganic console as one unified object, coexisting intermeshed because the two objects' data intermeshed into the data of one object."

  Walter injects, "You deduced this from the core extraction you rescued from the Grey Valley Bunker?"

  "That is correct," answers Dr. Black. "What I found is that not only do the two different matter types coexist, but the matter takes on an additional quality that is not native to either form of matter when separated. Not only do both the organic molecules and inorganic molecules continue to be organic and inorganic, but also unify and align, the molecules working as a single molecule, similar to a supersolid. But that sample was transported to the past, reconstituted from new matter using combined data. I want to see if data from two different matter forms combining in a rift but not traveling through time will still unite into one object as it does when created from spontaneous matter creation in the past."

  "That's a damn complicated theory," says Captain Nemolopolus.

  "Yes, but this test is the only chance I can prove if overlapping matter inside a rift causes its basic core and essence to change, or if that change only happens when matter is reconstituted in another time."

  "Dr. Black, I've never considered this. I'm fascinated to see the results of your experiment," says Walter. "If overlapping matter in a rift can change the state of matter, or create a new state of matter, like a supersolid, these rifts might be applicable in more ways than just sending information into the past to ourselves."

  "What does Dr. Black intend with the tennis ball and fruit?" asks Sandy.

  "Ask her," says Walter.

  "To see if the tennis ball and apple will combine and align if overlapped in a rift, or if the earlier hand-wrist sample was an anomaly."

  An assistant comes over to Dr. Black and hands her an apple.

  "Captain, we are ready for another test!" calls out one a scientist.

  "Thank you. Sandy, proceed," orders the captain.

  "Power connected and ample?" calls out Sandy

  A voice calls out, "Check!"

  "Emergency cutoff manned?" calls Sandy.

  Another voice calls out, "Check!"

  "Initiate receiver coils now!" orders Sandy.

  The receiver powers on and the reflective bubble again appears on the inner edge of the half sphere.

  "Dr. Black, please proceed," says Sandy.

  Dr. Black tosses the tennis ball into the bubble. It again stops on the surface, then the reflective surface becomes a huge tennis ball reflection. She then tosses in the apple. The apple stops at the surface of the rift, dissipates, and the entire surface reflects the apple, then disappears.

  "Shut it down!" calls out Sandy.

  The bubble flattens, then disappears. The tennis ball flies out as if thrown, except its surface has reddish apple skin beneath the fuzzy tennis ball filaments, and a stem coming out the top. When it hits the ground, the round ball-apple slightly elongates, does a rebound bounce, then reshapes into a sphere. Sandy picks it up with her mechanical hand and squeezes, the ball-apple surface molding from her fingers. Startled, Sandy drops the ball which retakes a round shape before hitting the ground. Striking the floor, the ball-apple elongates again, reshaping into a sphere after rebounding.

  "Fascinating," says Walter.

  "Is that an apple or a tennis ball?" asks Captain Nemolopolus.

  "Knife or hatchet, please, someone?" says Dr. Black.

  A technician hands Dr. Black a large knife. Dr. Black kneels on the ground next to the ball-apple, raises the knife and strikes with the power of a meat butcher, cutting the ball-apple in half. As it splits, the two sides wobble on their curved surfaces, exposing an apple core sliced down the middle. Encircling the apple edge is the rubber two-and-a-half millimeter thick tennis ball wall and the green fuzzy hairs protruding from it.

  "It is both apple and ball," says Captain Nemolopolus.

  Dr. Black gently picks up the two halves, aligns the core and stem and touches the flat surfaces together, holding them that way for a moment. Then letting go, she drops the
ball-apple. It hits the floor, elongates on impact, then does a slow rebound. The ball-apple is whole again. Dr. Black picks the ball-apple up and searches its surface, but finds no cut or seam.

  "It's whole again? How did you do that," asks Sandy.

  "I didn't do anything. When the rift combines the data, it aligns and unifies the molecules into a singular behavior, which allows the object to become whole again if most or all the matter is still there. However, if I kept the two halves apart, it would remain halved, missing too much matter to become whole. Captain Nemolopolus, could this be transported to whatever lab you'll be having me work out of? I want to study and do further tests on it," requests Dr. Black.

  "Consider it done," responds the captain.

  Sandy calls out, "Ok! Shut it off, disassemble and load it up. Let's go! Someone, take this apple-ball thing and transport it to the bio lab for Dr. Black. Thank you."

  Captain Nemolopolus turns to Dr. Black and Walter, "Walter, I want you to stay here and supervise everything: inspect the devices as they disassemble it, and review the installation plans. Make sure nothing is overlooked."

  "My pleasure."

  "Dr. Black, I want to show you what you'll be working on before someone takes you to your cabin quarters. This is the main reason we needed your help and professional skills right away. If you will accompany me?"

  "Nemo, I need a quick word alone with Dr. Black before I leave her to you," states Walter.

  "Absolutely. You can use the adjoining observation room if you need privacy. I'll be outside in the passageway, Dr. Black, whenever you are ready to continue."

  Captain Nemolopolus heads out while Walter leads Dr. Black into the observation room. Once inside and alone, Walter turns and looks Dr. Black deep in her eyes with a very serious expression.

  "What is it Walter? Is something wrong?" asks Dr. Black.

  "I'm not sure. Is something wrong?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Dr. Black, your brilliance has always impressed me, sometimes surprised me, but never as much as hearing you talk proficiently on my work and the states of matter in there. When did you become so knowledgeable in physics, molecular alignment, information theory and the states of matter? Either you knew this material all along and been playing dumb when you claimed to know very little on these subjects, or...I am not sure what the 'or' would be, but there has to be an 'or'."