by Florian Nagy
Chapter 27
The cube was alight with bright lines, encompassing its entire mass. They swirled around it, gathering in one central point. They converged onto that one spot on its center and then hovered there. The core of the cube formed a pulsating glow. Everyone stood huddled in a semicircle around the device. In awe, they watched the machine power up.
“The device is prepared,” the android announced.
The Skyrrnians all moved in closer to gaze at it. Its dark surface contrasted strongly with the bright glow of the lines that formed some sort of interface. They gleamed dimly, pleasant to look at yet pale. The android moved forward out of the crowd and inspected the device.
His appendages moved over the lower surface of the cube, changing position and moving back and forth. He quickly retracted his arms and then spoke to the crowd, “The device uses a more advanced language than I am programmed to understand. However, there are many similarities between its structure and the structure of the language that I do understand.”
Khrrn and a few other officers made themselves comfortable beside the cube and asked the android to extract as much of the information as he could from it. He worked for several minutes, his processors working to their maximum capacity. He analyzed the cube’s functions, its capabilities, its potential, and its shortcomings. He looked into its mode of operations and all of its details. He worked out its process and became as familiar as he could with its use.
He then reported his findings back in a simple manner. He withheld, however, critical information in order to make himself the only operator. The others might be able to crudely use the machine, but he was the only one who could truly understand its workings. It had myriads of setting and balances that altered the function and flow of time and even event elements within its passing.
After a few discussions among the Skyrrnian officers, a large portion of the assembly was dismissed to begin preparations for the device’s use. They would have had either to move the device or bring all their operations to the planet Acar. They opted to move it. With the android’s counsel, they formed a plan to extract the room and all of its components from the facility. Their largest ship would have to be heavily modified to accommodate this room. They would be able to transport it with all of its original casing and structure to wherever they would use it. Using crude methods, it would be possible to keep the room with the cube functioning as a single module and to patch it in only to the ship’s system. The android would oversee the extraction, and the Skyrrnians would transport it to the ship, clear out a large part of the ship’s interior, and then connect it to the ship.
The plans were detailed and precise, yet unbefitting the grand design of the cube. The android could not exactly determine what functions of the cube might be affected and compromised by the altering of the cube’s environment.
The next phase of their plan was to test the cube’s functionalities. With the help of the android, they attempted to send an inanimate object into the future. A moderate group of people were assembled for the first testing of the device. The rest of the people were assiduously working on the immense tasks ahead of them, none were idle.
The android configured the cube to accelerate a test pod’s speed through time. The team watched from behind a makeshift observation station. The cube focused its energy on the test pod and the pod gained speed and left their path through time. Even the first small acceleration made it leave the eyes of Skyrrnians. It advanced through time faster than they did. Even if it was only a few milliseconds ahead of the Skyrrnians, they would not see it because when they reached that point in time, the pod had already advanced that much and even a little more, causing the gap between the observers and the pod to grow ever larger. The pod’s speed increased, and then after a given amount of time began to decrease again, as the energy burst given from the cube wore itself off. It was set to fall back to the normal pace of time sixty seconds after its launch.
Exactly one minute after the cube had sent its pulse, the pod reappeared on the surface of a table beside it. The flat surface that stood dwarfed beside the cube and that had been completely devoid of content now carried the test pod. It was without effect or glamour, as if the eyes of watchers had been deceiving them and only now had revealed the truth. The pod simply was on the table.
The effect was breathtaking and anticlimactic at the same time, with the observers struck speechless, yet with minds already thinking ahead to the cube’s more complex uses. The team took shifts and ran a multitude of further small tests to gain information on the cube’s minor workings. Their results showed no anomalies, and the device seemed to work without incident.
Khrrn and a few officers had intently watched all the tests and were amazed at its potential. They advanced to the small assembly, which included the android, to discuss the cube’s further uses. Khrrn voiced his intentions, but as soon as the words were spoken the cube’s lights dimmed, and then immediately three figures appeared before the group. In front of the cube—where a moment before there had been only thin air— now stood captain Khrrn and two Skyrrnian officers. They looked around briefly and seemed struck by the familiarity of the atmosphere. The Khrrn that stood in the group gazed unwaveringly at the visitor, as if judging him. The android quickly realized what had occurred.
In awe, the Khrrn from the time machine moved to his counterpart. The other two Skyrrnians stood idly by as if fulfilling no useful purpose in the scheme. The Khrrn in the group stepped forward to engage his visitor.
“It’s quite a miracle how the machine works,” the visitor Khrrn murmured to his counterpart. “But in this final test I have stressed its capabilities to their limits. The machine is able to compensate for the dislocation of elements from their temporal positions. There are two of us in this point in time. There will continue to be two of us at this point as it moves normally through time. This ties together two points in time that are not able to meet naturally, causing a conflict of outcomes. The futures of both our points in time are in limbo, as your actions will change what I am. You come before me, and thus should singlehandedly determine what I am, yet…” the visitor paused, “here I am. I am directly influencing you. Your point in time is affected by mine, which is backwards from the way it’s supposed to be. You see what happens? It goes in circles; I influence you, who influence me, and so on.”
“It’s marvelous how the machine can smooth those two folds into one. It is capable— without incident—of merging similar elements from across different times into one position. However, immense damage would be caused to the outcomes of a myriad of events by this bending and folding of time. The device can smooth out only the folds around the focal point, this meeting, so to speak, for a time. The longer conflicting elements are in the same point, the larger their effect. It would not be wise to stress-test the device.”
“Our meeting is causing its disturbance as we speak, and I don’t even have to ask you to take any leap of faith. I have with me a storage device that will transfer all of our test data to your version of the android. I will, however, need to take the unit back, so that we change the flow of time as little as possible. I leave you only with knowledge.”
As he spoke the last words, the visitor Khrrn moved to the android and connected a thin rectangular device to him. After several seconds the android removed it and rolled backwards, processing all the information he had received. The device also contained a pre-made set of instructions for the cube. Khrrn, visibly practiced at handling the cube, entered the instructions from the device into the cube. The room stood silent for a moment, with the three anachronisms waiting idly by the side of the cube. As abruptly as they had come, they departed. The cube now stood alone once more.