Merritt and everyone else sat in the common area of the apartments as a man named Paul Charm set out to explain the whole of the time-traveling that had utterly changed the lives of him and his friends. Merritt had taken notes from earlier.
• Time flows like waves propagating through a canal (see diagram).
• There is a primary line of time called the Archline.
• Any point in the canal is called an Instant.
• Any 2 Instants that are 8 years apart are linked. (Corresponding Instants.)
• Groups of Time-Travelers in an Instant are called Moments.
• Instants that are “off-line” from the Archline lag behind.
• There are duplicate versions of some people in some Corresponding Instants.
• Duplicate Time-Travelers in Corresponding Instants have merged memories.
Before Paul went on, Kent spoke up. “So, under the right circumstances, I can remember what Kent from 1881 did last week?”
Paul smiled. “What did he do?”
Kent shook his head. “Wow… Very much sitting around Merritt’s house…”
Just then Merritt remembered the same events from his point of view. “Oh… wow… It’s so cold…”
Paul smiled. “Now, let’s talk about what’s next, shall we?”
He looked around the room and went on. “There are 4 linked moments… 3 on the Archline and 1 that is off-line. They are all important… And, for some reason, only 5 duplicates instantiated in 1984, but the missions can go on.”
Then Tia spoke up. “Okay… just for the record… Why am I here? I’m not a duplicate.”
Paul smiled. “Ah, well… I’m getting to that. The missions… Now, you can just forget the idea of shifting. With the memories merged, you will just focus into one instant. Members of all 3 Archline Moments will collectively focus into one Instant. These, we’ll call a Focus, not a shift.”
Merritt realized something. “Then the people in the other Instants will veg out…”
Paul nodded. “Tia, Liza, Eric, Tom, Will… Caleb, too… And anyone not in the Focus will need to pitch in and keep the kettle going while the others… veg out.”
Merritt had a good idea he knew what the “veg out” experience was like. He guessed it was what happened to Hannah, Kent, Emmah, and him earlier when they sat around in a daze.
Paul confirmed his guess. “When the Focus occurs, those linked to, but not in it, will be aware, just not really active. Whereas it takes some time for the memories to merge, they won’t know what’s happening in the Focus in real time. So… there’s that…”
Liza then spoke up. “So… suppose Merritt and Hannah are in a Focus… Mr. Robertson, Devon, and I might have to cover for them at the office while they are distracted, right?”
“Exactly. Not just in a Focus, though. There’s something else…” Paul looked around and no one said anything, so he continued. “Now, for the 5 of you with duplicates in 1984… 4 of you will be taking part in a different kind of mission. This is called Translocation. It’s far more complicated than a Focus… It involves that off-line Moment in 1984.”
Tia laughed a little. “Oh… So a Translocation is more complicated than just… time-travel… I see.”
Eric laughed too. “Good point.”
Merritt agreed. “Okay… tell us about this more complicated thing.”
“Translocation,” Paul said, “involves actually moving bodies—not just consciousness—though time. And the destinations are not limited to Instants that line up on the 8-year marks. Those 8-year-apart Corresponding Instants are easier to access, but other years can be reached.”
Emma shook her head. “You are going to shift our bodies through time?”
“And space…” Hannah added. “Don’t forget that!”
Paul shook his head. “No, not your bodies… Your minds will link to the Translocation and run things… you will… eh hm… ‘veg out’ like with a Focus, so everyone will have to support you in the same way. But your bodies won’t be going anywhere.”
Merritt offered up a guess. “So, the off-line Moment supplies the bodies and our consciousness links in…”
Paul nodded. “Exactly! And after all the memories sync up, you’ll remember what you did! Now I need to bop off to 1984 and explain things to that lot.”
He looked at Tom. “I’ll be back before the Dinner Show. Worry not!”
No comments:
Post a Comment