Contingency
Page 28
Chapter 29
“Time is normally like a flat surface, the smooth surface of a sheet of fabric. Time flows over it uncontested, and passes by every point on its surface with the same speed and without delay. There are many points on the surface. Some lie along the same line horizontally. They are all the points that exist in the universe at one time, they are the coexisting elements in the same moment in time.
“A vertical line is one element streaming through time. It is a part of the universe, an infinitely small fraction of existence as it travels and changes through time. We then see the fabric for what it is: an infinitely complex interaction of elements and their progress through time. Some elements can be together in this point in time, but then they can separate in the future and meet with other elements. They are in constant change, and in constant motion. All moves forward, and every single event that has occurred in the past, down to the very smallest action, determines the state of the universe exactly as it is today.
“The device changes all this. It corrupts and destroys this perfect system. It allows you to seize the cloth and bend it and tear it at your whim. You can crumple up a point on its surface, uniting an element from its future and past into one point. You can collapse several elements from different places and times into one point. You can purge out a point on the surface, eradicating whatever was there, completely breaking the flow of time in that point. That element then no longer is there to exist later on in time, so other elements take up its place in space. You can fold up an entire line of the cloth, bending a large part of the galaxy to your will. You can move back and forth, making and smoothing out the folds the device creates.
“The machine is not perfect, however, and the more stress its actions cause on the continuum the less it can sustain that ‘fold.’ The machine would able to isolate the repercussions caused by a very minor notch in the surface such as the presence of a shirt, a year ahead of its time, almost indefinitely. However, the ripples and effects produced by a fleet of ships moving a few years forward are substantially larger. Those ships are causing much more change to the natural outcome of events. By making contact with people or modifying existing objects—which they undoubtedly are, that being the entire purpose of their voyage—they are furthermore causing change to the surface of time.
“The machine must account for these changes and revert all of them, except for the ones being directly caused by power of will by the visitors. It uses unimaginable power to calculate and simulate the part of the universe it has modified. As you can imagine, that requires tremendous force. The larger the users’ area of impact, the larger the machine must run its simulation. Thus it can trace all the elements of time and keep them stable while its users are in that time. The longer the simulation drags on, however, the further those elements disturbed by the users develop. A simple choice that is made is at first just that, a simple choice, but over time, as it affects other elements and other choices, the impact by that initially small element grows exponentially. It influences and disturbs more and more, and the machine must use more power of calculation and compensation to deal with it. This results in an exponential system of growth in temporal disturbances. If it is small to begin with, the base is small, and it will be longer before the disturbance reaches critical levels. If the base disturbance is large, then it will progress to dangerous levels quickly.
“The machine has no way to contact a user in another time. If the users wish not to change the essence of history, they must beware of their actions and return to their time safely. The disturbances caused by a voyage can be roughly calculated before the travel, using estimates, so the users may have a rough idea of how much time they have.
“If the voyage goes well, then the machine will have made sure that no side effects have occurred and that, if the user intended to change something, such as the outcome of a leadership position, only that one element will be changed but all else will be fit together to happen in the same way. Such a large change, however, is immensely difficult to keep isolated, and it is most likely the second outcome will occur. That is when the machine has been stressed past its limits and the user is stranded in the world they have created.
“Any actions they have taken play out exactly as they would, and the damage to the galaxy can be large enough to rewrite all of history. Through one’s actions, the machine might even come to not exist, in which case the user would be the single element surviving from his parallel version of time. Elements might be completely erased; time might destroy the user in its path back to its natural state. There is little information I can give on that matter. The time machine would be a device to change existence, unchallenged by anything.”
The android had explained the device to all of the Skyrrnian expedition. They would be the experts on time travel in the new Skyrrnian Empire. The first collective of high operatives had just been formed. They were the leaders, the experts, and the pioneers. They would lead the Skyrrnian people in their new-found glory. They worked diligently at all their tasks, for a new day would rise, and they would stand on the mountaintops with the suns at their backs and proclaim the golden age of their people.
The ship had been outfitted, and the Skyrrnian people left a small detachment to stay behind and watch the rest of the relics they had not taken. The ships left Acar with the android and replete with the precious technology of the Kher’Somaaw.
Captain Khrrn had contacted a Rekked dealer to supply him with five large transport ships, in the shortest time possible. The Rekkeds had hastily accepted, knowing the high price they would receive for their work and for the time frame. Khrrn now sent a message to a contact on the Skyrrnian homeworld to have the payment transferred to the Rekkeds. The contact first responded hesitantly, staggered by the price that would bleed out their already miserly reserves, but at Khrrn’s insistence the payment was made.
The Skyrrnian fleet now flew towards Rekked space to pick up the ships they needed in order to properly transport the rest of their relics and devices back to their homeworld. They had said nothing of their discovery to anyone, neither to the Rekkeds nor to the Skyrrnian homeworld.
They would soon return to take all they needed and to disband their camp on Acar. They would then fly all their cargo to their homeworld, where they would set about the construction of their new empire.