The group pulled the trailer by hand until it had withdrawn from the portal entirely, then moved it far enough from the teleporter to allow room for their guests to enter. They waited patiently for the first of them to appear. As they’d expected, Zack was first to materialise, his counterpart from the present moved to greet himself.
“Hey there, me.” Future Zack said with a grin, holding out his hand to shake.
“Here goes," Zack said. “If we cause some kind of paradox and turn into goo, it’s been wonderful working with you guys.”
He grasped Zack’s hand and shook. No one became gelatinous, which, even though they scoffed, was a visible relief to them both. They looked at each other with a close scrutiny that would have made any other person feel uncomfortable. After a few moments, they were both surprised to find that even they felt awkward to be examined so closely, despite being one and the same, it wasn’t like looking in a mirror at all. They knew that they had the same mind, give or take a few years, and were the same physically, but each Zack felt like they were as much of a separate biological entity as any other human.
As the Zacks wrestled with the oddity, the rest of the group were getting the chance to meet their own doppelgangers.
“It’s so weird looking at my face when it’s not reversed, it almost feels like I’m not looking at myself," Beth observed. “I’m more attractive than I realised.”
“Thanks.” Older Beth said. “Though, you see a non-mirrored version of yourself on YouTube all the time.”
“But not up close and in person.”
“Fair enough," Older Beth said, surprised at her own eccentricity.
“Would anyone like any tea?” Isaac interjected.
“We’re all good, thanks, Isaac. Too busy for tea right now.” Simon said.
After the novelty had worn off, the future group decided it was time to say their goodbyes.
“Before anyone leaves, I need to reveal a secret to you all, both sets of us," Spencer said.
“Except me.” Her doppelganger said.
“Right," Spencer said. “Obviously.”
“Yeah, it’s been tough keeping it a secret all these years, but it never really came up, we rarely manipulated time, since we knew that our end product would be coming back here anyway.”
“What’s going on?” Simon asked. He wouldn’t be the only one to have Stan thoughts on his mind right now, but he knew he should be giving the most benefit of the doubt.
“We have news that we couldn’t reveal until after this meeting. I never really found the right time to tell you, but once I did, it was possible that hearing the news before we received the craft would change the future enough for it to not happen as arranged. I wasn’t positive, but I felt it was better to be safe than sorry.” She turned to James. “It’s crucial that the portal stays open through this, James, please don’t close it.”
“Okay," James said. “Let’s hear it.” He was still a little suspicious.
“Well,” Spencer began. “Last night, when I left my parents house and went to my storage unit for the return journey to HQ, I found a guest waiting at the portal.”
The group were piqued, hanging on Spencer’s every word.
“It was the diamond android prototype we’d been working on, it was sitting by the portal, and I had no idea how it got there. Then it spoke to me. In my voice. An alternate was piloting the android, and she told me a story about how she had changed the past and was now stuck in the new timeline.”
The group were pleased to hear that Spencer was not about to reveal Stan like tendencies, but they were still anxious to discover how the story would play out.
“So you were playing hero again?” Victor asked once the story was complete.
“No, I wasn’t, she was, but obviously, I’d have done the same thing. I wouldn’t have been able to sit back and let another happen, that state has already had its share.”
“Okay.” Older Simon said. “So that’s why you wanted the portal to stay open, we would have been stuck here if it hadn’t. We assumed as much already, that’s why the portal didn’t shut down right after we walked through. We know that alternate timelines remain in existence, it’s the only explanation for the cross-reality data transfers being possible. Proof of its continuation after a split is new to us, though, they’re not dead ends, they’re permanent parallel realities. Going back to an undeleted timeline does make things more complicated, but I’ve previously theorised this scenario, I’m sure the others have too, it’s not a total surprise."
There was nodding from his group as Older Simon continued.
“When we go back, we have to keep using the FTL for our search, even if it is fifty years into your future.” He paused. “I can live with that. Things could be worse in the future, SARA was a huge help in diverting the fall, but we’re about to make things a whole lot better.”
“Right.” Older Victor said. “If the fall is still possible in the far future, as we now have the ability to seek out new worlds, it’s as good as permanently averted.”
“You should take a photon box back with you.” Simon said “We’ll keep it’s partner here, then we can stay in touch. We could share information on planets we’ve found, it will cut the search time by half for both of us.”
“Great idea.” Older Victor said.
It required an extra subroutine in their teleportation software for entangled photons to be transported. When an entangled photon was taken through the portal, the photon would stay at the origin point, while a new photon was created to replace it at the destination. This was a limitation on how the teleportation hoops worked. When an object was broken down at one end, it’s fundamental particles would stay there in the form of osmium until they were required to build an object coming through in the opposite direction, so every trip created a brand new object made up of particles that weren’t a part of the original. The subroutine in the teleportation software created a virtual photon pairing simulation that ensured the photons stayed entangled while moving through the portals. This was crucial for sending androids or their entangled mobile phones through the portals.
“We should look at ways of contacting other lost timelines," Simon said. “While you’re here, it gives us an advantage, but any realities we’ve disconnected from will pose more of a challenge. I’m sure we can do it eventually, probably by piggybacking on the photon shadows, that’s easy, but we’d need to know where to look. We have time to figure it out, relatively speaking.”
“Sharing photon boxes should do the trick for future timeline splits.” Older Simon said. “We will have to be more careful in how we change the future. We don’t want to cause any unessential offshoots.”
“Agreed," Simon said. “Is your droid double still with us, Spencer?”
“I went through to check on her earlier this morning, she was still there, bored out of her mind since she can’t sleep while in the android.”
“Go get her then, poor thing," Simon said. “We’ll see what we can do about getting her back.”
“Great," Spencer rushed upstairs to comply. She returned within seconds, along with her robotic duplicate. “We presume that her Simon will eventually pull her back himself, he’s probably already starting to worry, but she’d prefer it sooner rather than later.”
“Yes, let’s get this done before we go any further," Simon said. “Duck down, Robot Spence.”
“Oh, thank you, so much. I thought you were going to be mad at me.” Robot Spencer said as she allowed Simon to access a port on the back of the android's head.
“Don’t worry, you’ve supplied some good information with your little excursion. I’ll read the stream that the android’s photon is sending back to your timeline and try to find a matching shadow stream. Once I have it, I should be able to piggyback a message through to my alternate self.”
“Such a relief.” Robot Spencer said, her posture relaxing.
Five minutes later, Simon had the shadow.
“Okay, if you
want to say your goodbyes, I’ll send myself a message, then it should be just seconds until he reacts and brings you back.”
“Bye everyone,” Robot Spencer said. “Thanks for the help.”
The eight members of the team and their duplicates all wished a fond farewell and Simon sent the message. Ten seconds later, the android returned to idle mode, and it’s power light dimmed.
“That was easier to solve than I expected," Spencer admitted.
“Yeah, it seems that Stan does have his uses. Alright, now that’s all cleared up, let’s get back to it," Victor said, then to Zack. “Sorry to keep you waiting for your new toy, bud.”
The group surrounded the box trailer ready for the unveiling, while their duplicates stood back to take in the show. The trailer was big enough to hold a large transit van, the sides were flexible and could be removed for a clear view of the craft.
“Want to do the honours, Zack?” James said.
“I’ve had the honours for everything since I got here.”
“But you’re the one who’s spent an entire career at NASA. Any of us would feel we’ve taken your dream away from you if we didn’t.” Sarah laughed. “Knock yourself out, we don’t mind.”
“I so made the right decision coming here," Zack said.
“That’s an understatement, I would have thought," James said. “I can’t imagine a better place in the world to be right now.”
“I can’t argue with that," Zack said. “Okay then, here goes.”
Chapter 53
Zack unhooked the soft siding from the trailer and peeked inside. Oh, my, he thought and continued to untie the remaining secured points, once he'd finished, he threw the fabric over the roof so everyone could see inside.
"It looks like a less glossy shuttlecraft," Simon said, referring to the small taxi spacecraft in Star Trek.
"Yes, it kind of has that look, but Star Trek had it right all along. The theory was there, it just wasn't practical at the time, but it inspired everyone at NASA. Though technically, NASA originally inspired the show." Older Zack said.
"It has nacelles and Bussard collectors," James said.
"Shuttlecraft weren't shaped like a rugby ball inside a pair of huge doughnuts, though," Simon said.
"Well, that's true also," Zack said. "The doughnuts are probably part of an Alcubierre drive."
“Exactly!” Older Zack said. “So, you all like?”
“I love," Zack said, exploring every inch of the craft.
“Great, now we know you approve, we should probably get back.” Older Victor said. “We’d stay a little longer and tell you stories about how much better the future will be for everyone, but we don’t want to spoil the surprise, you’ll get the memories after your write.”
“That seems a bit unnecessary," Jules said. “Now we know that you aren’t deleted.”
“Yeah, both of us having the same memories seems extraneous.” her future-self agreed. “Especially now we can remain in contact.”
“It may seem a little surplus to our needs, but it’s not right now,” Simon said. “We still need the future experience to help us with the new technologies. Until we can pick out individual skills from a backup, it’s just more convenient.”
“Okay, let’s grab that photon box and test it, then we can leave these guys to their writes.” Older James said.
“There are a couple of spares over here," his younger self gathered two boxes from a table near the personal portals and passed one to his double. “These two are paired.”
“Great.” Older Simon said. “Let’s put it to the test. Everyone from my time, back through the portal.” He ordered, playfully.
“I’ll take this one upstairs," Victor said while the future group filed through the portal.
Once at the quantum computer, Victor connected the box to a spare port then returned to the team.
“We’re going to have to daisy chain those things," he told them. “There’ll be a lot more of them attached to the computer, might want to create a Mark II box, something a little smaller.”
“Good idea," Sarah agreed. “Don’t want it getting too crowded back there, we won’t know what does what.”
“Do you want to check they have theirs plugged in Victor?” Simon said.
“Will do," Victor said and walked to the transit portal, which had yet to close. He poked his head through its surface for a moment, then pulled back out. “Yep.” He told Simon.
“Here goes then.” James started another session on his tablet’s video conferencing app and dialled through to the new box.
The call picked up, and the future group filled the screen.
“Well, I guess that works.” Older Victor said.
“It does," Simon concurred. “We can shut down the portal now, and we should hopefully stay connected.”
“Alright,” Older Simon disappeared from frame while he closed the portal link.
An aperture appeared at the centre of the hoop’s pool and grew towards the outer edge until the liquid effect had entirely receded.
“That’s off, and we can still see you.” Future Victor said. “I’d say that was a successful test.”
“I agree.” Older Simon said. “We’ll be getting back to our ship launch now then, signing off.”
“Bye," Simon said as the screen went blank.
“Well, that was unceremonious," Victor said.
Simon felt satisfied with the way that conversation had concluded, the others might have been offended by the abrupt nature of it’s ending, but he knew that his duplicate cared as little as he did. With shorthand communication and one hundred percent comprehension between himself and his twin, Simon felt that their productivity would receive a massive boost if they were to work together. A SARA produced clone might also be useful, but adding even one more individual to the population would make him a hypocrite. Maybe I could copy myself and then recycle the duplicate when we’re done, he thought. It wouldn’t be painful. I might even volunteer to be the one disintegrated if it’s a problem, though he knew it wouldn’t be. Some human niceties, like polite reciprocation, are hard to drop. Simon, like the others, had no emotional attachment to his body, not when he knew that his mind, the thing that made him who he was, was safely stored away on the computer a few feet above where he stood and acquiring a new body was an uncomplicated prospect.
"Well, I've seen enough, now I want to understand it," Victor said. "I'm going for my write."
"Shotgun!" Sarah yelled and followed her husband upstairs to the quartet of recliner chairs. They lifted their helmets from the rack behind the seats and selected positions beside each other. The recliners now had tablets attached via gooseneck brackets so they could choose their backup while seated. The couple did so and slipped into unconsciousness.
"Bagsy gets one of the last two," James said as the group came up the stairs.
Jules followed with “Bagsy the last.”
"What?" Zack said.
"It's sort of British for dibs," James replied.
"Well, you’re welcome to your bagsies," Zack said. "I don't mind going second this time, I can take another good look at the craft while I wait. Some of the wonder might be lost with the write."
"Well, they didn't actually give you a choice this time, anyway," Simon said with his usual tact.
"I think they were too excited to be courteous," Beth consoled.
"It's fine, honestly," Zack said. “They've allowed for me to have all the priorities so far, and I really am wanting to just sit and look at it for a bit. I might give it a hug or a kiss too."
They laughed. Zack then spent the next couple of hours inspecting every last inch of the craft. Just touching the chassis inspired more elation in him that he had ever felt before, the feel of the cold metal under his fingers made it real. He opened the entrance hatch and climbed inside the craft. The interior wasn't comfortable or even suitable for humans, it was very cramped, cold and hard, and not one part of the interior had any cushioning. It did have w
hat looked somewhat like a chair installed to the front of the craft, but way too small. By the shape of it, it seemed like the droid would fold itself into the foetal position and lock in, like a charging dock. There were no windows in the craft; all visuals would be provided by the cameras; Zack guessed that this strengthened the ship, the shell being in as few individual interlocking sections as possible. The hatch door on its side was entirely flush to the chassis when closed. There were a few led lights inside, but otherwise, there were no readouts or screens at all. As they had been told, everything in the craft was controlled by the android's processor. Despite the android dock being nothing like a human chair, he still gave it his best attempt to get in there, curling into the frame, feeling like he was sitting in a kindergartner’s chair. While in the dock, there wasn’t a lot to see other than bare metal and a few labelled panels. He sat there in substantial discomfort and thought of all the sights that the android would be able to observe through the external cameras, so many spectacular views that it would be unable to appreciate. Zack savoured his surroundings until his legs went numb, then crawled his way back to the door as best he could. Sitting on the floor of the craft with his legs dangling out of the hatch, he placed his hands against the cold metal beside the door-frame, until it was his turn to undergo a write. He closed the hatch and reluctantly left the craft to make his way to the chairs and began the procedure, switching from abstract wonder of their new technology to absolute knowledge within two hours.
Chapter 54
Simon was the last to wake from his write and join the others, who were discussing how the specifics of the launch. His old mind was reconciling with his more recent mind while he listened to their discussion. After Simon had received a somewhat complicated write, it would take a moment to sort the new information into the correct folders of the file explorer that was his mind, but he fully understood the basics of how the craft worked, and the complexities were falling into place. Each of their recent technologies had a role to play, the SARA would create fuel and recycle energy while teleportation would solve problems related to space-time differentials, entangled photons would resolve communication difficulties between the front and rear sides of the warp bubble.
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