The Chronicles of Tanis: Chapter Three.
Our greatest minds all tell us reality is an illusion. What will we all think when our "reality" is augmented by nanotechnology? When our minds directly and wirelessly connect to invisible machines (nanites)that do our bidding by pure thought, I imagine it will be even more difficult to understand the world of matter and atoms around us as "real".
-ayoungblood
3
The rip of skin and blood stuck to the floor hurt worse than the pain in Tanis' neck from the strain of his awkward position. Nanotechnology quickly asserted the appropriate adjustments to his muscles and applied a soft painkiller. Groggily supporting himself with his hands on the containment field, he moaned. Reta, he thought.
He turned himself, bracing his back against the containment field, facing the Time Ghost; still observing him motionless.
The sight of the Time Ghost frightened Tanis for a moment. “Still here?” he asked.
The Time Ghost did not reply. The jail cell changed into a more comfortable setting: a hip-high table appeared with two wide inviting chairs on opposite sides. On the table there was a tall glass of water for Tanis and one of a clear liquid containing sparkling balls of light that bounced sporadically off the surface of the glass for the Time Ghost.
The walls simulated the scenery of the fields and nature now established outside the cell walls with the addition of a few trees, the occasional sound from chirping birds and a soft sense of a calm wind. The roof mirrored that of a blue sky and an illuminating sun which gave the sensation of warmth. The floor morphed into soft green grass. Tanis took the hint and sat himself in the chair across from the Time Ghost. He sipped his water.
“What do you want from me?”
“My name is Narlend. I wish to know about what you have seen during your traveling, Tanis,” said Narlend with a slight hint of static interference in his voice.
“I've seen a lot. How do you know me?”
“I have been following the deviations and disturbances in time you have been creating.”
“How could you have been following me?” Tanis asked, doubtful.
“You are unaware of the beacon system?” Narlend said.
“No idea what you're talking about.”
“Your manual calibrations to the Time gate you stole has made it difficult for us to follow you, but when we found you, we disconnected your COM connection with the beacon.”
“You did that?”
“It was necessary to get you to return through the automated systems of the time gate.”
“So—what do you want?” Tanis asked again.
“Where do you come from?”
“I don't remember.”
“What year were you born?”
“I don't remember,” said Tanis. He truly did not remember what exact point of origin he was born in, but he did remember where he came from. Just not when, exactly.
Tanis felt a slight itching sensation in his brain and upon raising his hand to scratch his head, he realized Narlend was trying to peer into his mind, “No sense in trying to get into my thoughts with nano-tech. I'm fairly adjusted to my subconscious mind,” as the attempt to read his mind failed.
“My apologies,” said Narlend. “Why are you traveling?”
“I'd rather not say,” Tanis replied strictly.
“I cannot help you if you refuse to cooperate with me.”
“There is only one thing you can do to help me.”
“I promise you will not be executed.”
“That's not enough,” Tanis replied. “I need a working COM system, a time gate and a means of calibrating accurately.”
“If I do this, you must do something for me, too. I know you have encountered the greatest threat to mankind—beings that define the definition of evil.”
“I've seen them,” Tanis said, raising his hand over his mouth and supporting his body on the table with his elbow. A body language signal he quickly changed and put his hands on the table flat.
There was a moment of silence. Tanis waited for Narlend and Narlend for Tanis.
“As you may or may not know, time travel is limited; it has regulations,” Narlend said.
“I know,” Tanis said.
“I want to remove these regulations.”
“Please do,” Tanis said.
“During your travels, the deviations you made, though small, proved something that I have suspected for hundreds of years: that time travel is not purely mechanical. The minds of conscious life forms hold time in place, along with the mechanics of the universe. The perception of time is what locks a point of origin in its place in space time,” Narlend said, pausing to let Tanis’ mind grip his words, “If—let's say, point of origin 07, that has no knowledge of time travel, becomes aware of it by point of origin 01 and is allowed access to time gates and allowed to freely travel any point in time, point of origin 07 and 01 would combine, become one, in time.”
Tanis was perplexed, “And thus you destroy and interrupt the future, causing chaos. You, for instance, will not be born, time travel might not be invented and your entire plan will fail before it starts, ultimately stopping you from even starting.”
“Not true. From your traveling and partly due to your complex consciousness, I was able to decipher a specific aspect of the nature of time. You see as coincidence would have it, time zones are as represented. They are zones; truly cut off from the rest of time like strict borders. They exist entirely in their own little section of space. Essentially, time travel is merely a means of sneaking past these borders.”
“So, the changes of a time zone will not affect the zones before or after it?” Tanis asked, intrigue, "but that goes against everything we know. I understand time and space is pixelated, essentially separated by what is called the plank length."
“Correct. Referring to the old method of time calculation, each time zone exists of and within itself for eleven cycles around the sun. Before and beyond that lay two separate sections of time and space. That which changes within one time zone, will not affect the next. We can call it a cycle length of time space.”
Tanis thought for a moment, trying to visualize the countless amounts of time zones co-existing back to back. “I think you are mistaken. For example, if what you say is true, how does one person migrate from one time zone to the next?” Tanis asked, “Obviously, generations span several time zones.”
“According to the calculations given by A.I., the forces of the Universe interact with the galaxy and the sun. They apply an unseen force upon the sun, causing it to switch magnetic field directions, which opens the possibility for one time zone to melt into another. It is in accordance with the conscious substance of higher life forms, believing and to some extent, knowing, that the linear nature of time is moving forward, thus allowing the migration from one time zone section to the next for the remainder of that year,” Narlend explained.
“So your goal is to assimilate time zones into the section of point of origin 01?” Tanis asked, sipping his water, keeping his eyes on Narlend as he started to understand the applications of his plan.
“Let's call it collective time.”
“Not sure I like your plan, actually,” Tanis said shaking his head. “Sounds chaotic—and crowded.”
“Chaos has been a part of human nature since the beginning of time, Tanis. We believe a collective time, an Earth-Time, without time zones and points of origin, will allow for an evolutionary aspect of our species to arise.”
“What aspect?”
“We are not sure, yet. But we have ideas.”
“Why is it that you wish to take control of the past, why not leave it be and move forward?”
“It is in definition what humanity is. We are different from other life forms in one aspect—we can manipulate our environment. Time is a part of our environment. So it is only natural that we manipulate it. Every major evolutionary change in the human species started with the manipulation of environment. We do not evolve in nature, we evolve after we create, innovate and discover. Other life forms on the planet are subject to their environment; if the environment changes, they evolve to better adapt themselves within it.”
“What are you hoping to accomplish by assimilating time zones?”
“We are hoping to evolve. For thousands of years now, civilization has stagnated. Apart from the evolution of wisdom—as you see proof of from my appearance—nothing has happened. Nothing has changed. We have been waiting for the singularity, when we should have been creating it.”
“And the big question remains to be answered. How could we possibly merge the time zone belonging to those evil beings? It's true. I've seen them in action. There is no reasoning with something like them. They are not human. They are pure destruction. Pure evil. And they can travel through time as well,” Tanis said.
For the first time, Narlend expressed himself visually. He looked scared. “Are you sure they can travel time?”
“Yes.”
“We will come up with a solution. For the time being we must focus on the tasks at hand.”
“Fine. As long as you deal with it,” Tanis said, failing to disguise that he was holding something back. “It's difficult to argue with your reasoning, but that does not mean I agree,” Tanis said, leaning back in his chair crossing his arms, “What do you need me to do anyway?”
“We must convince the jury of representatives to agree. I am unable to do this. The only time they convene is during a trial. And you are the 3rd to be on trial since its creation. I have tried to break time law myself, but for some reason I failed each time and a beacon stopped me from traveling. I even tried traveling to places without beacons and again—some mystical force stopped me. You, Tanis, are the only one who has traveled without beacons interfering. Thus as explanation would have it; only you can convince the jury and only you are able to travel freely in time without the enforced restrictions of beacons.”
“Why?” Tanis asked.
“I do not know. You are an anomaly of time. A displaced soul.”
Tanis thought for a moment; he thought the Time Ghost was insane, but he did find himself believing one thing; Narlend could get him out of 01 and give him the means to start traveling again. “I will do it. But I want the COM systems and gate calibration software. Now,” Tanis demanded.
“You will get it, once you convince the jury of representatives.”
“Right and how am I supposed to do that? They'll probably execute me.”
“Master Garlen is a member of the jury of representatives. He will help you convince them.”
“How many representatives are there?”
“There are only three. So you have only to convince the other two, with the help of Master Garlen. It is possible.”
“I don't like my odds.”
The scenery changed abruptly. The white empty cell room reappeared and Narlend had shifted out from the room. The wide chair disappeared from under Tanis and he fell to the floor. “You don't even want to shake on it?” Tanis called out to Narlend. Not expecting a reply.
“Shake on what?” a guard asked as he walked into the cell, holding blue-cuffs.
“Nothing,” Tanis said, holding his hands out.