by Steve Hertig
Chapter 5
10 Jul 2068
The afternoon sun's glare through the H15's windscreen was relentless as John tried to get a better look at the NGA headquarters. Only when they crossed into the shadow of Cheyenne Mountain and the small tunnel entrance came into view, did he understand the true uniqueness of the old complex. It was still the most secure and hardened site in the United States.
"Did you manage to get through your briefing on the base last night?" Jenny asked.
"I did my best, but it's a big place. I'm not sure the holo projector on the pad you gave me did it justice," John replied, stepping out of the vehicle and getting a good look at the mountain.
"Don't worry everybody gets lost a couple of times at first," she said already heading to the main gate.
Security processing was slow as their arrival coincided with that of several public tour buses. Taking advantage of the delay, Jenny explained, "The NGA accounts for less than 5 percent of the facility area and less than 10 percent of the personnel here. The rest of the complex supports the new international Moonbase, including security and intelligence gathering focused on defending the Moonbase's support launches and landings. And with cooperation with the Canadians and Mexicans, aerospace control and defense of North America from attack by missiles or space vehicles."
Clearing security, Jenny continued, "The NGA section is unique as it has living quarters for our physicists and other personnel. You'll be billeted there and the other personal effects you requested should arrive in the next day or two."
As he surveyed the inside of the Mountain, John said, "You mentioned there'd be a series of briefings."
"The schedule will be on your pad," Jenny explained, "and you're lucky as the briefings are starting the cycle over again. They can be entertaining as we try to keep technical openness and peer review integral to our work."
John cringed; he was all too familiar with over-heated peer reviews. Trying to find the calendar on his pad, he brushed over several icon choices with no luck. "Hey, where's the calendar again on this thing?"
"Try the mountain icon."
"Got it." Finding the day's schedule, John said, "Looks like the first one is at 1800 hours. Uh, six o'clock."
"Which one?" Jenny asked.
"Quantum entanglements and fractime geometries," John read.
Jenny frowned. "Not the best first briefing, but I suggest you go anyway. It's basic theory. Just ask questions, the whiz kids love it," she recommended. "Let's get you to your quarters. It's 1630 now. You can get a start on unpacking before the briefing. Tomorrow, you'll officially meet the team," she added.
"Sounds like a plan," John said wondering what fractime was.
Jenny was right; the quantum entanglement lecture was way out there. John was lost most of the time even though the presenter, Dr. Rodney Higgs, did his best to explain the complex subject.
John knew the basics of quantum wave and various string theories from high school and college physics, and he even found reading soft-science papers on the subject fascinating. So it was no surprise that his model of infinitesimal, fuzzy energy bubbles for all matter throughout the universe was overly simplistic. It seemed the core of their research related to the non-locality of matter where it constantly communicates with all the other fuzzy bubbles in the universe.
John recalled the classic experiments casting doubt on non-locality by Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen in the 1930s. Their work as well as recent experiments isolating a particle's wave-function collapse from the observations of the particles as seeming proof of non-locality.
After forty-five minutes, he raised his hand in the small auditorium.
"Yes?" Higgs responded.
"How exactly does fractal geometry apply to quantum entanglement?" he asked with frustration.
Higgs smiled. "You could look at the fractal geometry of space-time as an aspect of the symmetry of the quantum state produced by quantum entanglement. For over a hundred years, research into quantum theory and its applications pertained to energy or information transfer. Our research is focused on the fractal medium through which that information is transferred."
"Space? But isn't space nothingness?" John asked.
"To call space 'nothing' is incorrect. And apart from buzzing with virtual particles, space is inherently time, but it's also a medium where gravity and other quantum effects traverse through the Higgs field. Therefore, space has properties and it's these properties that dictate how transits occur."
"Transits?" John asked, wondering what, if any, relation Higgs had to the famous twentieth-century physicist who hypothesized the existence of the Higgs boson.
"Simply a multiverse exchange of information," Higgs explained. "However, let's get back to your first question," he said as he straightened his lab coat.
John took a deep breath. If he had understood Higgs correctly, then the idea of a multiverse, one of the biggest unproven conjectures in modern physics, was a reality.
"Experiments with quantum entanglements do conform to the theory of fractal space-time," Higgs said. "And like a classical Mandelbrot fractal, a head of broccoli or even the structures of galaxies, self-similar reiterations up and down scales occur repeatedly in nature. Sometimes we only see a few magnitudes like the trunk, branch and twig from a tree. We now know that each fractal space-time state also corresponds to a distinct gravity or photon state and consequently, individual fractal universes that each support their own discrete quantum entangled waveforms.
"We use oscillation as a metaphor where each universe has a discrete bandwidth or resonance as compared with all others. Shift this quantum resonance of space, and we can transition from one universe to another. Furthermore, there is still a residual signature of the original universe's resonance after a transit. Most of us at present accept this because of multiverse non-locality resulting from quantum entanglement during what we now term the Cosmic Perpetual Cycle or just CPC."
"So a transit is the function of the black rods?" John asked, looking at the pair of small cylinders on unipods next to Higgs and feeling the need for a simple answer.
"These are mockups," Higgs said. "And all data surrounding the manufacture and the detailed operation of temporal resonators or TRs are classified." After taking a deep breath, he said, "Let's take a break before we review the tactical details of transits. There's nothing new so if you've seen it already, you don't have to hang around."
Coffee was available, but John took a root beer to go with a couple of pizza slices and sat back down.
A man next to him had arrived during the presentation, and he took the break as an opportunity to introduce himself. "I'm Seth Croft," he said reaching over to shake John's hand. "I'm glad to see another dumb face arrive." He pointed to Higgs eating a slice of pizza and said, "That's what the whiz kids call us."
"Fairly accurate description I'd say," John said. "I'm new to Jenny Scott's group."
"Yeah, I know. I'm trying to reverse engineer the ray gun you found."
"I didn't find the ray gun; a post-doc of mine did."
"That's not what I heard," Seth replied.
John sighed. "You know much about quantum physics?"
"Are you kidding?" he said. This is my third show for fractured-logic theory but I haven't seen a real TR or tactical bit yet."
Just then, John noticed Jenny enter the auditorium. She sat opposite of Croft.
"How's your head?" she asked John.
"It's hurting, thanks," he replied.
"Hi Seth, how's the work with Mathews going?" she asked.
"Dutch and I are trying, but it's hard with only a partial three-dimensional model of the barrel," he replied.
Higgs finished his slice of pizza and was ready to start again. "I'll now summarize our current understanding and limitations of transits. Please feel free ask questions," he said to the handful of people left. "We have made transits to two other discreet fractal space states. We call them Minus and Minus-
2. By definition, we exist in Prime. As I said before, the theory infers there is also a Plus and beyond.
"Because all transits land where there is a similarity with the past in Prime- an apparent negative temporal disparity," Higgs said, "we somewhat arbitrarily define that universe as Minus. Furthermore, because of this direct, linear transit structure to our adjacent universe, we often use a chess metaphor to describe this aspect of transits.
Imagine Prime as a square of a chessboard. We transit across the board and into another universe as well as down the board and into a relative past, like a knight's move. And you'll often hear the term 'fractime' describing rows of chessboard squares."
"Is there any difference between Minus and Prime, I mean other than the temporal difference?" John asked.
Higgs sighed at what must have been a standard newbie question. "Our missions to Minus to date have focused solely on such comparison research," he said. "Theoretically Minus should be statistically very similar to Prime. However, observations have proven us wrong."
Jenny leaned over to John and whispered, "I'll fill you in later."
"The TIA," Higgs continued after glancing at John, "you know as 13-C, could be from Plus, and we are working on an experiment that may be able to detect its quantum resonance signature, assuming the artifact can be recovered."
"What makes you think 13-C could be from Plus?" John asked.
"Good question," Jenny whispered to him.
"There is a problem with that assumption," Higgs acknowledged eyeing Jenny. "Our current estimate puts the TIA's temporal origins between one hundred to three hundred years in the future, but our transits to Minus average only eleven years, with a standard deviation of two years. This doesn't fit our age estimate of the TIA, but it could be explained by poor assumptions on our part or Plus technology that would allow a bigger relative temporal transit.
"To date, the farthest transit was just under twenty years and the least was roughly seven years," Higgs said and then took a sip of coffee. "For reasons we don't fully understand, the differences in transits seem directly related to both the initial spatial location of the TRs and the quantum individuality of TRs themselves."
"So you don't know exactly how far the knight will move when you transit." John whispered to Jenny.
She nodded. "TRs will produce repeatable transits as long as the location is not changed, it's that first transit that's the leap," she explained.
Higgs continued, "Transitions from Minus to Minus-2 are only 10 percent successful, and that's why transits to Minus-2 are currently prohibited."
"Most people just don't come back," Seth whispered to John.
"We assume we would need to fabricate a set of TRs in Minus to transit safely to Minus-2, but that is currently prohibited by presidential order." Jenny said.
"So far," Higgs said, "transitions to and from Minus have been 100 percent successful with a proper return TR setup and the mission clocks in Minus and Prime match. However, another backup pair of Prime TRs is now standard mission protocol on all transits. Tests using them and relying solely on the residual transit signature produce some temporal uncertainty and mission clocks can become mismatched."
Higgs' pad altered him to a com.
Jenny whispered to John, "He's referring to a pair of TRs I lost back in '61. He won't let me forget it."
"Sorry about the interruption," Higgs said. "Nevertheless, transits with backup TRs always return after the Prime mission clock starts."
"And this occurs even if the TRs spatial locations change," Jenny said.
"That is an interesting special case," Higgs explained, "and provides empirical evidence that somehow the resonance signature you retain after transit, helps bring you back, at least close, to the right time in Prime.
"It should be obvious by now," he continued, "TRs have to be located in Prime where you want the transit to take place in Minus. For instance, you can't transit from our lab here to Minus Tahiti. You can only transit to and from the same geographic space. This is why we carefully plan and test transits. We had several fatalities early in the program transiting into anything other than atmosphere. Luckily, Earth positions on Minus and Prime are essentially the same, despite the universal quantum uncertainty we talked about earlier. And to take the chess metaphor farther," he added, "queen and rook moves are the subject of current research."
"Rook's move?" asked John.
"That would be a transit with a temporal shift within Prime only," Higgs replied. "And a queen's move would be a non-linear temporal shift with maybe even a spatial shift or translation and possibly farther than one fractime, and most of us believe a temporal shift into the future or past in Prime is theoretically possible; the math is beyond this briefing. Any other questions on fractime or transits?" Higgs asked.
John was trying to get his head around the chess metaphors when Seth leaned close. "How about a beer after this?" he asked.
"You read my mind," John replied and then he asked Higgs, "With the dissimilarity now existing between Prime and Minus, are they starting to think about fractime transits as you were about ten years ago?"
"TR technology is completely unknown in Minus as far as we know," Higgs said.
"That doesn't make sense." John said.
"Seems finding the TIA was a very improbable event in Prime," Jenny said.
"And there is no mention of the TIA on the Minus net," Higgs added.
"So, radical events in Prime could greatly alter its future history as compared to Minus?" John asked.
"Yes, certainly," Higgs replied.
"This is a cause for great care and planning for any transit mission," Jenny said. "We believe that Minus, and Plus if it exists, have the fundamental right to be independent and not to be manipulated by any other fractime. There's a presidential directive protecting these rights, but unfortunately, there are other growing considerations."
"Ms. Scott, would you like to wrap up with the corps mission statement and an overview of the current tactical situation?" Higgs asked.
Jenny walked around in front of the group, "We all take an oath to do no harm to another fractime. Nevertheless, this is getting harder and harder with the threats to Minus and Prime. There is a lot we don't understand, but we do believe there are terrorist groups in Prime working to build functioning TRs. This is a real, systemic threat to our civilization and those of adjacent fractimes."
It was obvious to John how dangerous this technology could be and his concerns were growing. "Talk about Pandora's box," he whispered to Seth.
"Let's hope Elpis is still in there somewhere," he whispered back.
Jenny continued, while pointing to the CMAFS plague hanging on the auditoriums back wall, "Our mission is to detect, deter, and defend. We will detect any threats to Prime. We will deter any unauthorized transits. And we will defend all fractime against hostile invasion."
"Dismissed," Higgs added.
The briefing was finally over.
"Time for that beer, John?" Seth asked with raised eyebrows.
"Past due," John replied.
John was thankful Seth knew the way to the Officers' Club and they lost no time getting seats at the bar; Jenny would meet them later.
"Can you imagine the chaos if terrorists from Plus started popping into Prime and blowing crap up," Seth said. "Everyone here is scared shitless of that," he said after taking a long drink of the Corona that the bartender just handed him.
"Understandable," John said. "Let's hope with Carl's discovery, we've got a chance to figure things out."
"Who?" Seth asked.
"Carl Watkins, he was the post doc I worked with at Michigan in '52. He found the TIA. Don't you read the net?"
"Don't bother too much except for technical stuff," he replied.
The corporal behind the bar was waiting for John's order and after a brief glace at the selection of beer engines in front of him, John smiled and then said, "Guinness thanks."
The corporal filled a pint gla
ss about three-quarters full and set it down to rest behind the bar before a ritual final pull.
"Hi guys," Jenny said arriving at the bar just as the corporal finished pouring her neat single malt.
"You were right about the briefing," John told her.
"I see you have found the standard prescription for those kinds of headaches," she said. "What did you think, Seth?"
"Kinda light on the tactics," he said with a sip from his half-full beer.
"I know. Sorry about that," she said. "We've tightened up a bit since the discovery of the other missing TIAs."
The corporal made the second pull, handed John's pint to him, and then placed a small jug of water next to Jenny's scotch.
"So, 13-C started this whole thing," John said, gently waving his beer around the bar, implying the NGA efforts under the mountain, "But how?" He could not believe he was somehow, even partially, responsible for such and massive scientific effort.
"Homeland Security ran the initial investigations," Jenny said. "We convinced the SecDef of the possible invasion threat, and he was able to convince the President. We eventually got funding. The NGA got the project because we mistakenly assumed there would be serious geospatial problems to overcome. We also knew security was paramount so project Chronos was moved under the Mountain."
"Chronos?" John said.
"Catchy huh?" Seth said with a smirk after downing the rest of his beer.
"That's the project's codename for the research group run by Higgs," Jenny said. "The upper echelons comprehend the time-travel aspect of transits, but most had to be dragged kicking and screaming into quantum and multiverse discussions. Some still refuse to come to terms with it."
"Understandable," Seth said with a raised eyebrow to John while wiggling his empty beer bottle at the corporal.
"The only evidence we had," Jenny said looking at John, "was the EM sweep and images that your XRD lab obtained. It took time without the actual TIA, but we prepared a good case for the SecDef. Luckily, we made several assumptions from the start that proved true, saving us years, if not decades, of work. The most fundamental assumption was that any apparatus had to have minimal power requirements."
"What made you think that?" John asked.
"Any transit device would have to run in the power technology realm of the early twentieth century. Of course, this assumes the owner of 13-C didn't take a massive power supply with them only to be vaporized in the Pelee eruption. A quantum track seemed like a good place to start. It was difficult at first until we realized we needed to focus on the Higgs field and not on matter, energy, or waveforms; whatever you want to call it. We also had brilliant physicists working on the project."
"I know quantum technology has seen a huge growth in applications in the past twenty years. Take pads, for example," John added.
"Yeah," Jenny said, "and that meant we had an excellent pool of physicists to help. A new generation weaned on the entire quantum weirdness and math involved. Moreover, this technology wave also got more physicists thinking about quantum reality, what's behind the waveforms and that's exactly what we needed. Fractal geometry has been applied to aspects and applications of quantum theory for decades, so it was nothing new when we started to realize space-time was indeed fractal; it solved some major problems."
"So how long did all this take?" John asked.
"We started extensive recruitment of research personnel in late '52," Jenny replied. "But it wasn't until '60 we had a major breakthrough, and the first experimental transit occurred. That's a tale that will be involved with much more alcohol," she said adding a dash of water to her single-malt. "Two years later we had the first working TRs. I can guess the manufacturing process was difficult, that was Higgs' baby, but I shouldn't really speculate."
"Amazing," John said, "and you said there are differences between Minus and Prime."
Seth tried unsuccessfully to stifle choking on the first sip of his second beer.
"The Captain has not been briefed?" he managed to ask.
Jenny sighed and took a long sip on her scotch. "It's somewhat similar, but there are a few noticeable differences. It seems in '63 a guy named Cochrane flew a converted missile FLT and during the fifties, there was World War III."
"Holy shit," John said setting his beer down.
"Welcome to the STS, John," she said while pressing a squadron badge onto his uniform's arm.
'Patronus Spati-Tempus' embossed the circular patch above an eagle clutching an hourglass in its talons while 'Spatial Tactic Squadron' adorned the patch below the hourglass.
"We have a work session with the team at 1300," she said, "in the NGA lab, room 1023. Think you can get there?"
"I've got a couple of hours to find it, shouldn't be a problem," he said sarcastically.
"Good luck then," Jenny said through a grin and left.
John found the NGA section with only a momentary bout of indecision as to which elevators to take down to the lab. John pushed the bio-scan activator on the door of lab 1023, and it opened instantly. Jenny, Robert, the image specialist from Offutt, and two others he did not recognize, were sitting around a small worktable.
"Captain Mackinac," Jenny said standing up along with the others, "let me introduce Dr. Katherine Webber and Mikael Cherkin. You already know Robert."
"Good to meet you, and please- it's John," he said shaking Dr. Webber's hand.
"Likewise and it's Kate," she said.
"Welcome," Mikael said with a firm handshake.
"Mikael is with Homeland Security and Kate's our Chronos physicist on loan," Jenny added.
"Good to see you again," Robert said.
"Yeah, small world," John replied with a smile just as an Air Force lieutenant entered the lab cautiously sipping a steaming mug of coffee.
"And just back from a well deserved leave," Jenny said, "this is our senior analyst also on loan from Higgs' Chronos team, Lieutenant Tye Brasca."
"Good to meet you," John said to the young woman.
"Shit," she said scolding her upper lip as their eyes met. "Sorry. I heard we now have a rock hound on the team," she said holding John's gaze.
"My apologies," she said to Jenny but still looking at John, "I have a staff meeting with Higgs," she added turning to leave.
"No problem," Jenny said. "We're just buttering up the captain around before we twist his arm," she added as the lab door shut behind the lieutenant.
"Let's get started," Jenny said and exchanging puzzled looks with Robert while sitting down at the lab's small conference table.
The others followed suit.
"John," Jenny said, "the STS has two missions. On the Chronos side, the most active and funded is research into TRs and Minus similarity. The TR work is mainly challenging the knight's move as the only possible transit mode, but also is trying to make that first transit more predictable. The other group is a counter-terrorist team working with Homeland Security, FBI and other national-security agencies. This group is making contingency plans to defend against an invasion as well as monitor and detect terrorist groups working on transit technology in Prime. This is where we come in."
"Just how widely known are the STS?" John asked.
"There is over two hundred staff, most are in the Mountain. Outside, there are the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a special senate committee and the President. So far, we haven't had a leak," Mikael said with pride.
"What about Minus? You haven't explained things to yourselves, so to speak?" John asked the team.
"There's a presidential directive not to reveal ourselves or transit technology to Minus. However, the Joint Chiefs are pressuring the President to rescind it. They want the combined resources to fight against the terrorist threat, but the President, with strong support from the Vice President, has ordered the elimination of the threat before there's a crisis," Mikael said.
"The Vice President is the principal proponent of the unilateral approach," Jenny added and then killed the remainder of her scotch.
John could see a deep concern in their faces. "Do we know if these people have made any transits?"
Kate spoke, "We don't have definitive proof, but our worst fear is that they will make an alliance with their counterparts in Minus if they do develop TR Tech."
"Or they figure out how to make a Rook's move," Mikael said.
"I guess after what I've seen so far, anything seems possible," John said grimly.
"We know the rules of a Knight's move," Jenny said, "but the paradoxes of a Rooks move within Prime are purely speculative. Theoretically, it would be catastrophic for our timeline."
Mikael and Kate nodded agreement.
Jenny continued, "We've been considering a mission to Martinique, and we need your input to the practicalities and risks. We've hit a brick wall on the EM data. Dutch and Seth need more facts to better determine the TIA's age and function."
"Not to mention understanding the TIA's manufacturing technology would be enlightening," Mikael said.
"What are you thinking?" John asked.
"I'm afraid it's pretty much a shot in the dark," Jenny said. "We just need more clues about where it came from or better yet another part of the TIA itself. We don't have any other ideas and there is another problem," she added.
Robert leaned over to John and whispered, "As always."
"In November 2056 the Lesser Antilles were hit by a 6.7 magnitude earthquake. The epicenter was only twenty kilometers southwest of Martinique. Unfortunately, for most of the islands, the quake occurred during the rainy season and resulted in widespread landslides and slips," Jenny explained.
"Most of the hills and mountains of the island arc are overly steep because of the high uplift rates over the subduction zone," John explained. "That coupled with instability of volcanic, clay-rich soils makes landslides a given even without a quake trigger deep in the Benioff zone," John added. He felt like he might be able to contribute a little after all.
Robert activated a holo display in the center of the worktable. "Here's Mount Piquet in 2054," he said while slowly rotating the three-dimensional image, "and there's the approximate location of the 13-C discovery in Prime." A small, yellow cube appeared more than halfway up on the heavily vegetated mountain."
"There's the track we took back in '52," John added, leaning forward to get a better looked at the image.
"And here is the same view taken after the quake," Robert continued, zooming in on the yellow cube. It was slowly spinning in space next to a large barren scar on the mountainside. Below it, at the base of the slope, was a jumble of boulders and soil extending almost halfway to the sea.
"That means Prime is out," Mikael said.
"Carl and I had the same problem with another large, post-quake landslide," John said sitting back in his chair. "So you're hoping to duplicate the find in Minus, assuming it even exists there. We would have to arrive in Minus before 2056. Even then, the chances are slim," he said shaking his head and considering the reality of trying to find the small conglomeratic rock containing the TIA again.
"Such a twelve-year transit has about a 45 percent chance of success," Kate said. "If we wait another year, the probability falls below 25 percent."
Jenny looked at the team assembled. "We'll have to risk it," she said. "And as far as we know of Minus history, the Caribbean didn't see much upheaval because of the war."
"We would need an army to comb the area where we found 13-C to have any real chance of finding it again," John said.
"We're limited to no more than three on a mission," Mikael said. More than three and we need approval from SecDef; we won't get it. There would have to be an invasion imminent to warrant that."
John shook his head in disbelief. "Then finding 13-C or any more fragments in Minus will be more than a long shot. You know that," John said looking across the table at the team.
"You wanna break our lucky streak?" Jenny asked.
"Hey, I'm up for a challenge," John quickly replied, trying to sound optimistic.
"John, you are on the transit team with Mikael and Dutch," Jenny said. "You'll fly to the forward ops center at Curaçao and since you're supposed to be tourists, you'll catch a commercial flight to Martinique. We've identified and tested a safe house not far from Mount Piquet that will be the transit location.
"Get your gear packed and make any last-minute requisitions ASAP. The standard operating procedure for missions is minimal contact, date-insensitive civilian dress, no technology from the past twenty years and no firearms. You'll have dated currency and false passports just in case."
"Just in case?" John said.
"Don't worry about it," Mikael said.
"Mission contingencies will be covered pre-transit," Jenny said to John after a quick glance at Mikael, "Report at 0600. Transit in Martinique will be at 0800. Do you have a subdural med tag?" she asked John.
"Yeah," he said. "I got one as a kid."
"Medical will remove it this afternoon," Jenny said, "but don't leave it too late and ask them for a radiation badge."