With Zin cooperative, Daniel wasn’t going to let the opportunity for more specific questions slip by. “Okay, let’s say we jumped thirty years into the future. What would we see?”
Zin held a finger in the air. “Well, I’ve never done it myself. It’s tricky business, and I neglected to mention a key detail.”
There’s always a catch.
He returned to his drawing and pointed to two black circles bracketing the green wave. “You’re familiar with a standing wave?” Zin glanced around at his audience. “It’s simply a wave that has been constricted by a fixed point on the ends. What humans call nodes. The wave moves from one end to the other, is reflected by the node and causes an interference going in the opposite direction. At certain frequencies, a standing wave is the result, a wave that doesn’t move at all.”
“You can see the same thing when two kids wiggle a jump rope or a slinky between them,” Mathieu offered.
“Or a guitar string,” Zin said. “The fastenings at either end of the guitar force the string to vibrate at a particular frequency. That’s a standing wave.”
A narrow smile crept across the android’s lips. “Standing waves can be created in time, too. Pin the time wave to the background fabric with two nodes and you’ll force the wave to oscillate in place. Now you have an anchor point and a destination. You could flow empros, then compress forward, and step out into a frozen world of the future, very much like Mathieu’s demonstration.”
“The space hasn’t changed?”
“No, just the time. Space and time are independent.”
Daniel exchanged a glance with Griffith. It seemed the science provided exactly the answer they needed. Daniel didn’t doubt what Zin was saying. He’d just witnessed the remarkable capability firsthand. But he still had more questions.
“So how do you get back?”
“Once you’ve set an anchor point, just decompress, return to forward time and you’ll be right back where you started.”
“That suggests there’s no backward time travel,” Mathieu said.
“Correct,” Zin said. “I wish I could visit your Dr. Einstein. I’d love to meet him, but you can’t set an anchor point in the past. Only from today forward.”
Zin’s answer made sense, and not only because most scientists had already ruled out travel to the past as being logically flawed. It also answered the question of why there were no time travelers from the future. If travel to the past was impossible, no one from the future could accomplish it either.
Becton hadn’t broken the rule. He really wasn’t from the future, as the FBI had already determined. If he had jumped to the future, he must have returned to his own anchor point.
The possibilities for repeating Becton’s achievement were beginning to line up, but if Daniel did as the FBI asked, his personal safety was on the line. “You mentioned tricky business.”
“Time compression is not without its dangers,” Zin replied. “For example, compression of a time dimension is independent of flow. While that seems simple, the implications are not. As I said, the normal procedure is to flow empros, then compress forward. But once compressed, you wouldn’t want to flow forward into the future. That’s a one-way trip. You’d be stranded. Any attempt to decompress would result in a devastating effect that humans might call snapback.”
“Which means?” Mathieu asked.
Zin paused in thought. “Imagine compressing time like tightening a string on your guitar. Flowing forward is like plucking that string. You’ll hear a high-frequency sound, but the wire might also snap. Flowing forward while time is compressed is almost certain to result in snapback once you return to your anchor point.”
Griffith perked up. “What exactly would snapback look like for a human?”
Zin thought for a moment. “Extensive damage to the atomic structure in your body, especially to the atoms in motion, for example, the liquids flowing through your body.”
Griffith hummed. “Bleeding from the ears and nose?” He was clearly paying attention.
“Yes, hemorrhage could be a possible symptom, though the damage would be to the internal circulation system.”
Griffith glanced at Daniel. His point was made. Hemorrhage fit the description for Elliott Becton’s death. Zin had even pointed to one of the belt’s components, declaring it to be lacking any safety controls.
“Please understand, there are good reasons why the science of time is not included in An Sath. The ways in which it can be misused are varied. For anyone willing to manipulate time, death by snapback is probably the least of your dangers.”
“And the worst?” Griffith asked.
Zin hesitated. “It depends on the species and their tendency for self-destruction. The Litian-nolos, who inhabit multiple planets in what you call the Beehive star cluster, regularly jump forward as a method to guide their decision making. But they are careful to isolate the gain in knowledge among specific individuals they call Time Mentors. So far, it seems to be working for them.”
Zin let his head drop, shaking it back and forth. “I wish I could say the same for the poor Sandzvallons of Gamma Carinae, who also were manipulators of time. Such a tragedy. A robust forward-thinking species. They had so much potential.”
12 Italy
Agent Griffith pulled the vibrating phone from his pocket. It was a text message, one that he had expected might be coming any minute.
Sunday, October 8, 2023
FBI National Security Branch
Elizabeth Yarborough, Assistant Director
Griffith:
Event 2, train derailment near Potenza Italy occurred at 10:19 AM local, as predicted. Tel Aviv still seeking suspect for event 3.
I have advised POTUS and staff concerning Operation Tourniquet. Proceed to London immediately. If Rice is uncooperative or attempts to delay, the Chicago office is standing by to arrest Ms. Pasquier on your authorization.
Good news, in an odd way. The train derailment sealed the deal. Full cooperation from Daniel Rice was now almost certain.
But if not, one of the subjects of last year’s Fermilab investigation, Nala Pasquier, had been charged with multiple counts of disclosing classified material. The felony charges had been dropped on the recommendation of Daniel Rice, but they could easily be reinstated.
It wasn’t Griffith’s preferred way to conduct FBI business, but he’d use it if required. This mission was going forward regardless of how many questions Daniel Rice raised.
13 Confirmation
Elliott Becton had probably been humanity’s first time traveler. Or a time voyeur, given Zin’s description of forward compression. Flow empros, compress forward time and you could observe the future, if only briefly and incompletely. Then return to your starting point, along with whatever salacious bits of new information you might have picked up. You might even be able to carry a coin back with you.
Becton had probably accomplished all of this. At least, before it had killed him.
The ideas were mind-boggling, but the evidence lined up and it wasn’t just Zin’s confirmation. Daniel had witnessed flowing empros. It made him nervous. If the future was just as easily accessed, then new risks surfaced, and death was not the worst of them. There were several questions that still needed answers.
Daniel took the marking pen from Zin. “Extraordinary, Zin. And some of it makes sense, but not all.” He drew a horizontal line on the white board. “Let’s talk about the most obvious of time paradoxes.”
Chloe and Mathieu leaned against the lab’s workbench. Griffith still held the blue rubber ball in his hand. Maybe he hoped the complex science would become clearer with a prop.
Daniel marked two points on the line, A and B, and tapped the marker on the board. “We’re at point A—the anchor point, as you called it. There’s a future point B, and if we use this quantum time technology to compress forward time just right, we could get a glimpse of what’s happening at time B. Maybe we see a woman walking down the street wearing her favorite design
er dress. Maybe we see a city in ruins.”
He drew an arc from B backward to A. “Then we decompress and return to the anchor point.” He held up a finger and turned to his audience. “With new information about the future. Information that allows us to alter the future in both small and large ways. Maybe we locate that woman in today’s world, take her favorite dress and burn it. Then, how did we see her wearing it? Maybe we find a way to stop the city from being destroyed. Then, how was it ever in ruins? In ways small or large, we have altered the future, and our prior glimpse is no longer valid.”
He set the marker down and opened both hands. “Is the future unalterable? Or was our glimpse merely of things that might be? As I recall, Ebenezer Scrooge had this same question.”
“It’s the block universe question,” Mathieu answered. “Does space-time exist as a single unchangeable block? Every event, for eternity, existing all at once. For years, physicists thought they had the answer. The passage of time, along with our free will to affect change, is just an illusion. We’re on page eighty-seven of a novel, and nothing we do will change the ending.”
Daniel nodded. “So? What’s the answer? Is the future invariable or fluid?”
Mathieu shrugged. “We don’t know. Quantum physics threw a wrench into the block universe theory. Subatomic particles don’t behave as if their future is already written. Tests confirm that these particles are ruled by probabilities, not cause and effect. Most quantum physicists now agree that uncertainty is a natural part of our universe.”
Griffith spoke up from the back of the room. “Remember our mission, Dr. Rice. If we thought the future couldn’t be changed, we wouldn’t be here.”
Chloe glanced at Mathieu, her eyebrows lifted in a silent question. The CERN scientists had been told everything about the belt, but nothing about the mission. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure things out. Mathieu shrugged.
Daniel wasn’t going to hide their reason for coming to Geneva, even if the details of the mission remained unclear to Mathieu and Chloe. “How could the FBI be in possession of an explicit message from the future? A future that we may then change? Am I the only one who sees the paradox of that?”
“Charles Dickens was right,” Chloe said. “The future… it’s, uh… une ombre.”
“A shadow,” Mathieu translated. “Perhaps the future is a quantum probability, allowing for alternate paths.”
Daniel stared at Zin, who stood quietly to one side. The curious but unschooled humans could guess all day long. Other civilizations were apparently far ahead in their examination of time.
Zin responded without any prompting. “Honestly, I can’t say for sure. Even the Litian-nolos still encounter uncertainties, and they’ve been making temporal adjustments for many years. No plan is perfect. Probabilities come into play.”
“Which is one of Core’s functions, right?” Daniel had heard this speech before. Core was a gatekeeper for a collection of civilizations, and it functioned to protect these civilizations from outsiders or from each other. Calculating the probability of failure or success seemed to be a Core pastime. Six months ago, the alien intelligence had even selected Marie Kendrick as one of the pawns in its game of chance.
“Temporal probability analysis,” Zin answered. “Yes, it’s mainly to confine any impacts of time manipulation. Core monitors, analyzes and infrequently steps in to make corrections.”
“And if we were to jump forward to glimpse our own future, would Core prevent us from taking action?”
“Most likely not,” Zin said. “For better or worse, the decisions you make are your own. Of course, if your actions became dangerous to others, then Core might step in.”
“And this is how that other civilization ended?”
“The Sandzvallons of Gamma Carinae?”
“Yes. Did they make a critical mistake?”
“Disastrous, I’m afraid.” Zin’s open mouth and downcast eyes gave the appearance of nausea, if an android could be sick. “They lost everything.”
“Then our next step is obvious,” Daniel said, looking at Griffith. “Starting with the story of the Sandzvallons, we’ll need to understand the ways in which we could fail before we attempt even the smallest manipulation.”
Griffith shook his head. “If only we had that luxury.” He motioned to Daniel to follow and walked out of the lab.
Daniel held up a hand. “Uh, excuse me for a minute while I clear this up. There’s a lot going on, and my country can be a little pigheaded at times.”
********************
Alone with Daniel in the hallway, Griffith’s lined face was close enough that Daniel could see the stubble of every whisker on his chin. No longer an unwilling student of quantum science, the man had resumed his role as a senior FBI agent.
He spoke in a gruff whisper. “The train derailment in Italy just happened. Two confirmed predictions.”
“Wow.” The FBI had expected the prediction to come true, and some part of Daniel had too. But now that it had happened, the surreal nature of the mission was settling in. A nuclear war could be on the horizon.
“I have new orders. You and I need to take this belt to London.”
“Why London?”
“The president will be there. Along with the British prime minister. They’re expecting us, and they’ll need a final briefing from you. From what we’ve just learned, I believe they will authorize use of the belt.”
“For me to jump to 2053?”
“Yes.”
“What if I decline?”
Griffith shook his head. “Don’t even go there.”
“Zin just laid out the risks, and they’re high. How do we even know the nuclear threat is real?”
“It’s real. The Navy and Air Force confirmed an unauthorized access into a secured system to retrieve predefined launch codes. Of course, they reset all the codes, but it shows that someone has compromised the system.”
Daniel took a deep breath. “Any leads?”
“They’re working on it. In the meantime, you need to follow the instructions you gave to yourself.”
Daniel paused in thought. He wasn’t fighting the idea from any selfish perspective. “Look, Agent Griffith…”
“Just Griffith. I don’t use a first name, and if I did, it wouldn’t be Agent. We’re in this together. Let’s start acting like it.”
“Okay, Griffith. Look, it’s not my personal safety I’m worried about. This plan to jump ahead thirty years might be the wrong thing to do. Even a glimpse of the future could alter our present in ways we didn’t anticipate. Time might be like an ecosystem. You take away one thing, even something as bad as nuclear war, and something else falls apart, maybe making things worse.”
“Seems to me the people in the future have already figured this out.”
“Okay. So, if they’ve figured it out, why didn’t they—or me, if that’s who it was in the video—just explain the details of how to stop the nuclear launch? Why do I need to go to the future to find out? What’s all the intrigue?”
“We can’t know the answer to that. Maybe it’s complicated and they need to explain things. Or maybe they have some tips on how to safeguard this new future that we all want. But the message was clear. To prevent the nuclear launch, you need to go to Atlanta in 2053, and I think we both know this belt will take you there. When we get to London, you’ll need to tell the president that you’re ready to do this. Explain the risks if you want, but the president will make the final decision.”
Daniel shook his head. “I hear you, but politicians can’t make the right decision if they don’t have all the scientific facts. We need a basic test of the belt, maybe several tests. I’ll need some more time with Zin, and probably a trip to speak with Core.”
Griffith shook his head. “We don’t have that time. The train derailment in Italy happened less than an hour ago. The Israel bombing is next. The launch may be right on its heels.”
“But how many Italian trains derail each year? It might b
e…” Daniel hung his head. “No, never mind.” There was time for skeptical analysis in any decision, but denial wasn’t the same thing as skeptical thinking. Confirmation of two precise predictions was strong evidence.
Daniel looked up. “Okay, I’ll grant you that the message is real. But what about the belt? Zin seems to think it will work, but we haven’t tested it.”
“We’ve got the experts right here.”
There were lots of ways to test. Some could be done quickly, but they’d need to get past the login on the belt’s controller. “Fine. We’ve got experts. So, let’s go figure it out. If we succeed, then I’ll go with you to London, but when we get there, I might have some choice words for the president about the wisdom of this mission.”
Griffith put a hand on his shoulder and patted gently. “Good plan.”
********************
The login password turned out to be a trivial barrier. Zin had simply touched the tiny probe at his fingertip to the controller’s chip and extracted ASCII codes held in firmware. They translated to HGWells1895, a reference to the classic nineteenth-century novel The Time Machine.
Mathieu typed it in, and the system sprang to life. He scrolled through a list of what he said were probably Linux macros:
tcs_flow_empros
tcs_initialize_anchor
tcs_set_node
tcs_compress_forward
tcs_decompress_forward
tcs_flow_forward
…
Chloe beamed as the commands scrolled across the small screen. “Too easy! Flow empros. Let’s try it.”
Daniel couldn’t blame Chloe and Mathieu for their enthusiasm. The belt represented what they hadn’t yet accomplished in their own lab—time compression, the key to accessing the future. Scientists pushing boundaries often leaped at an opportunity to validate theory. It was simply human nature.
The Quantum Series Box Set Page 69