A Collision In Time

The Kaleidoscope has been shaken. The Pieces are in flux. Soon, They will SETTLE again. Before They do, let us RE-ORDER this world around us!!!

– Tony Blair

September 12, 2027, Boston, USA

Dov entered the crowded hotel room and stepped gingerly around the assortment of wiring and batteries. She grinned and grabbed a bran muffin and a tea from the credenza. “Uriel, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” His frowning algorithm engaged, sensing an unusual tone in her voice.

“You look very modern, Uriel.”

Uriel wore an outfit similar to what he had worn yesterday: a hooded sweatshirt bearing the MIT logo with fitted navy slacks.

“That is what you wanted to tell me?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry, no. But you do look very Boston. Could you please check the time-wave disturbance and see if there are any changes since last night?”

“Nothing has changed or an alert would have occurred. Ariel and I are monitoring it, but you know that.”

“I was just curious, since we’re within the critical window for the disturbance.”

“So what do you actually want to tell me?” Uriel asked, one eyebrow raised..

Dov cleared her throat, stalling.

“You can tell me, Dov. Did something happen last night? What is causing you to be anxious?”

Dov finished her bite of muffin. “Yes, I suppose.”

“What does yes, I suppose mean?”

Dov approached the hotel window and peered out. “Cara and I are becoming closer and chatting about time travel and I wanted to reassure myself that I didn’t trigger any other time-wave anomalies, even mild perturbations. I am concerned that I might be crossing lines.”

“Oh, I see,” said Uriel. “Yes, I understand your inquiry now.”

Dov jumped in. “But the disturbance didn’t flare up, so in effect, the time-wave gave its blessings.”

“Dov,” Ariel said as he entered the room, “you be careful. You are playing loose with mathematics.”

“She’s a grown-up, Ariel, remember.” Uriel smiled in support of Dov, then shook his finger. “Ariel does make an astute observation.”

Dov nodded and headed into the bedroom, smiling. She grabbed her phone and video-dialed Cara.

Cara answered immediately. Her image appeared on Dov’s phone, cradling a coffee in one hand. She’d clearly just gotten out of bed. “Hey Dov, how are you?”

“Wonderful. Good morning. How are you?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest. I just got a strange call from Nick, my supervisor. He wants me to come in early this afternoon and meet a man who’s offering to pay a substantial amount of money to do research. He wants to meet me in person.”

“That sounds like a great opportunity.” Dov’s voice didn’t sound convincing to herself.

“Maybe, but I wanted a relaxing morning.” Cara chewed on her lip, displeased. “I wanted to see you. I have some more questions.”

“When is your meeting?”

“At 12:30. Why do you ask?”

Dov sensed anticipation in Cara’s tone and decided to be bold. “Then you have a couple of hours before you leave?”

“Yup. Do you want to come over for coffee or tea?”

“That would be fantastic. You don’t mind the interruption?”

“Of course not. There’s coffee ready. Looking forward to it. See you soon.” Cara hung up.

Dov moved to the bedroom to get ready. She caught herself in the mirror as she entered the room. What am I doing? she thought. I am going for breakfast with Cara Zitkala-Sa. I don’t belong in her company.

* * *

It was her first day of teaching as a newly minded associate professor. A young man approached her after the first lesson. He seemed nervous.

“May I ask you a question?” He was barely able to articulate his thoughts.

“Of course you may. What is your name?”

“Thanks, it’s Jorge.”

“Well, Jorge, so nice to meet you. So what can I help you with?”

“I guess it’s not a question so much as…” He paused. “Sorry; I am nervous. I’ve never been around…someone who is…” He didn’t finish.

“I am no different from anyone, Jorge. I have experience and a few more years of study, that’s all. Really, I am no different than any other person.”

Jorge nodded but remained quiet.

“Listen, Jorge, the mathematics is straightforward. You just need to learn the basic rules and everything else will fall into place. My job is to ensure you are successful. Come by during my office hours and I would be happy to point out some of the issues that I struggled with earlier; those rules. We can do this together.”

“Thank you, Professor Sabastien.” He turned to leave.

“Now, before you go, do you have a question?”

“You just answered it, Professor. I will see you soon.”

Cara watched Jorge leave the classroom theater.

* * *

A chime sounded as Dov finished dressing. She lay on the bed to review the message and frowned as she read it: a reminder to herself that September 12 was the reported date of the second time-wave disturbance. Was this the best time to be starting new friendships? Despite pleasant distractions, she had to remain vigilant. On the other hand, the circumstances this morning differed considerably from those in Sarajevo, where the evidence defined dangerous events at critical points. So far, other than that strange man at the church, everything seemed normal. Or was she deceiving herself with her fascination with Cara?

The thought of the man at the church further jolted Dov into reality. “Ariel, what happened with the guy who asked me to take a picture of him at the church?” she yelled through the closed bathroom door. “Anything interesting?”

“I never did find him, regrettably. I’ve placed many more nanocams about the city and the nano-drone remains searching.”

“Do you think he is the same man as in Sarajevo?”

“Well, the match is strong, but the algorithm’s confidence didn’t achieve 95 percent, so the evidence is uncertain. However, I am concerned.”

Uriel switched to his London accent. “It can’t be a coincidence that his appearance correlates to the time-wave disturbances.”

“Just what I was thinking, Uriel,” said Dov, “and I’m no Sherlock Holmes.”

Dov exited the bathroom and blinked to show off her new turquoise eyes. She wore a white yoga outfit with matching white sneakers. “I’ll be back around lunchtime,” she said before either could comment on her twenty-first century fashion. “I’m going for a run.”

Dov left the hotel and jogged toward Cara’s apartment. Despite Uriel’s assurances, a closer friendship with Cara was risky. Especially with the knowledge that Cara played a central role in the upcoming anomaly. Nonetheless, as a long-time admirer of Cara, she wished to understand and learn what motivated and drove Cara. She made no progress on her thoughts as she ran up the street to Cara’s apartment.

Dov rang the bell and the door opened immediately. Cara smiled. “Please come in; can I get you a cup of coffee?”

“That would be a treat, yes please,” Dov said as she entered.

“Cream, sugar?”

“I’ll have it as you do, thanks.”

“Perfect. Come, let’s sit at the kitchen table and visit.”

Dov helped herself to a seat as Cara prepared the coffee. On the table lay scraps of paper with formulas, diagrams, and written notes. Cara had definitely digested their earlier conversations. She noticed some obvious errors but was not surprised at how quickly Cara’s mind had captured the essence of their discussions.

“ Now, you said you had some questions?” Dov asked.

“I do, and I’m sorry, but they are physics-related. Boring maybe, but—”

“I understand,” Dov interrupted. “Physics is my life too, and few understand that, so please carry on. This will be a lot of fun.”

Cara poured Dov another cup of coffee. “So rather than thinking of quantum possibilities that exist within infinite universes, they manifest in a dimension of time? So no multiverse?”

“Exactly. All possibilities exist in this single universe, each wrapped up in a time dimension that displays wave-like behaviors. The trick is to figure out how to ride those waves.”

Cara nodded. “I suppose, but how can the waves be accessed? I am not even sure my question makes sense—”

Cara’s phone buzzed and she read the incoming text message. “Shit, my meeting. Damn, Nick is going to be pissed.” She texted rapidly: Sure that would be great. See you right away, maybe 5 minutes late :-)

“I’ll be more like fifteen minutes late, but I’m sure the mysterious investor won’t mind.” She glanced at Dov. “Thank you, Dov. I enjoyed myself. You are incredibly smart and patient.”

“The irony of teaching you your work is not lost on me.”

“We make a good team, you and I.”

Dov finished the last of her coffee. “I hope so. I loved this conversation. Listen, I know you have an important meeting, so don’t worry about me; I can walk back to the hotel.”

“Of course not. Quick, get ready and come with me. The day is gorgeous, so you can explore the campus during my meeting and afterwards I’d like to visit with you some more. I can show you a great wine bar nearby.”

“Well, if you don’t mind. I need to catch up with Ariel and Uriel, but I will contact them when we arrive on campus, during your meeting.”

Cara remembered, “Oh yeah, it’s a critical day today, isn’t it—the anomaly. And I assume it still involves me?”

Dov nodded. “So the data says.”

“I look forward to you explaining how that all works, but not now. Nick is going to be so angry at me if I don’t rush.”

They hurriedly packed up while Cara called a taxi.

It was a short ride across the bridge. The taxi dropped them off on Memorial Drive, near the physics building, a quick three minute walk to Cara’s office. They started to dash across the field toward a side entrance when Cara’s phone pinged again.

She stopped to read. “Looks like the investor guy is also late.” She texted: Sorry 4 being late, I am 2 mins away :-)

Cara leaned in and embraced Dov. “Thank you for this morning. I better run now. I’ll call you once the meeting is done. I can’t imagine it will last more than an hour.” Cara pointed at a park bench next to the river. “Shall we meet at that bench?”

Dov didn’t notice the bench, however. A tall man exited the physics building, distracting her. “Wait a minute, Cara. Hang on…sorry to interrupt.” Dov held up her finger. “Give me a minute. Don’t move.” She initiated her subvocal interfaces. “Uriel, Ariel, do you see what I do? I think it’s the same man from Trinity Church. He’s just leaving that building.” Dov directed her eyes toward him. “Are you processing this? Is that him?” Dov’s instinctive alarms rang inside her head. Something was wrong. Dov turned to get Cara’s attention. “I have a bad feeling about —”

A flash of light radiated outward before they heard the explosive roar. A shock wave hit them like a block of solid air, ramming against their bodies and sending them flying into the air, then crashing onto the ground like thrown rag dolls. A wave of searing heat flowed over them. Dov lay motionless on the ground, stunned. Car alarms blared. Glass, brick, and cement fragments rained down amidst billowing dust. A cloud of smoke rose into the sky from the flames.

Dov stirred and opened her eyes. The reality of the situation slapped her, almost as hard as the physical explosion. Her head throbbed with pain and a dull ringing. She hurt everywhere.

“Dov. Dov?” Uriel subvocalized. “Are you injured?”

Dov groaned. “No…I don’t… I’m not so sure.” She started to regain her faculties and comprehension. Cara. She forced herself to sit upright. Cara lay on the lawn meters away from her. “Cara?”

A red stain formed on Dov’s white leggings, on her right calf. “I’m bleeding…my lower right leg,” she subvocalized to Uriel as she pushed to her feet and limped toward Cara. “Run diagnostics on the damage to my leg.” She touched Cara on her shoulder. “Cara?” Dov said loudly to be heard over the noise of alarms. “Cara?”

Cara moaned, then opened her eyes. “What the fuck?”

“Oh, thank god,” said Dov. She leaned in and focused on Cara’s eyes. She subvocalized, “What do you see?”

Ariel responded. “Her vitals are stable, though she will soon feel a powerful headache. You endured a high magnitude shockwave. Dov, tell me what you see.”

Dov ignored the question and focused on Cara.

Cara sat up with Dov’s assistance and rubbed her temples. “Oh my god, Dov.” She touched Dov’s growing bloodstain on her leggings. “You’re bleeding.” She turned toward the source of the explosion.

A wing in the physics building had all but disintegrated in dust, black smoke, and flames. They watched a person jump from a third-floor window, land on the ground, and roll. Bystanders rushed to help but were pushed back by the searing heat. Cara slowly stood upright, watching in disbelief. “Oh my god, Nick.” She reached for her phone but it wasn’t in her pocket. “My phone—help me find my phone. Can you call it, Dov?”

Dov retrieved hers, fortunately still in her pocket. “My phone’s not working, Cara; there is no network.”

“I need my phone… Fuck, my head is killing me.” Cara looked panicky.

Uriel subvocalized, “We diagnosed your biomarkers, Dov. Other than stress, your vitals are strong, though you will experience difficulty for a while until your inner ear corrects its pressure dynamic. You have a lacerated calf, but it’s superficial.”

“How is your head, Cara?” Dov said.

“Like shit, to be honest, but I think I’m okay. Ask your friends if they can find out about Nick. His cell number is listed in the MIT directory under the name Joah.”

Cara walked closer to the wasted physics building. “What the hell happened?” She coughed as the dust and smaller pieces of debris fell about them.

Dov reached for Cara and stopped her from moving forward. “Cara, the building is dangerous.”

“I need to find Nick.”

“We are looking, I promise, but let’s move away from here.”

Reluctantly, Cara followed Dov toward the park bench next to the river, still in sight of the destruction.

Firefighters and paramedics rushed into the emergency zone. Water poured from fire hoses to douse the fires. Dov put her arm around Cara, who remained passive; she was clearly in a daze.

“Uriel, any luck?” subvocalized Dov.

“We’ve launched a drone to survey,” Ariel instead replied, “but unfortunately the damage is extensive. Tell Cara we found Nick’s number and have called a few times but we are unable to connect.”

“I will in a few minutes. I am not sure she would even hear me right now. I appreciate your help, Ariel.”

More emergency vehicles arrived. Wounded students, professors, and staff, their expressions stunned and horrified, streamed out of the surrounding structures, many damaged. Police and security personnel established a perimeter as helicopters buzzed overhead. Car and building alarms continued to wail. The sensory overload was enough to overwhelm, let alone the chilling realization of the level of blast damage and loss of life.

“There is a discussion that the areas surrounding the campus will be on lockdown, if not the entire city,” Ariel subvocalized. “You two should try to get out of there. Can you walk?”

“We must go now,” Dov said softly to Cara. “Boston will be in lockdown soon.”

“Did you know the man?” Cara said and turned to Dov. “You knew the guy who did this, didn’t you? You saw him, that’s why you stopped me.”

“Maybe,” Dov said.

“Is this related to the time-wave disturbances? The time anomalies?” Tears rolled down Cara’s cheeks.

Dov turned toward Cara, unable to speak.

“You’d better leave now if you can walk out,” Ariel said.

“Yeah, we can walk, Ariel,” Dov subvocalized. “We’ll be there soon.”

They walked away, arm in arm, Dov limping slightly.

“There are no initial casualty figures yet, but reports estimating a number of missing men and women are being mentioned on social media…some of the brightest men and women in America, if not the world work at MIT…fortunately the explosion occurred at the end of the building…” Cara and Dov walked by the sights and sounds from a television in the lobby of the hotel. Another newscaster spoke in an alarmed voice, “Boston remains on high alert, Logan Airport is now closed and airspace is restricted to emergency and national defense use only.”

The closing door of the hotel elevator provided relief.

A somber mood permeated the hotel room. The silence provided a few moments to absorb, process, and for Cara especially, to grieve. Dov sat beside Cara on the sofa, each sipping a small bottle of whiskey from the bar fridge. Across from them, Ariel and Uriel worked vigorously to understand the impact of the attack on the time-waves.

Dov broke the silence. “Was it the man from the Trinity Church? The same man from Sarajevo?”

“Yes, we are certain of that now,” said Ariel. “When you add the physical match to the probability of him being involved with two time-wave disturbances, there is no doubt. The algorithms are confident in that.”

“There is an enemy in our midst, it appears,” stated Dov. “He is the one triggering the disturbances.”

“There is still an unanswered question,” Ariel said. “Why here and why Sarajevo?” He digested the data flowing across his holograph.

Cara spoke up, not addressing anyone in particular. “I can’t believe any of this. This is a nightmare.” She lay down.

“I am sorry, Cara.” Dov stretched out and gave Cara another hug. “This is a lot to take in.”

Cara shook her head. “Nick had a family… The sheer cruelty—” She took a deep breath. “I am used to dealing with loss and grief. Suicide and death were common in my community. Resilience is hardwired into my DNA, so I’ll be okay, but fuck…”

Dov absorbed Cara’s regret and despair. Her worst fear after seeing the anomaly report had materialized. Dov didn’t know how to react and assist the woman beside her. She struggled to find the right combination of words to support her new friend. Should she offer words of wisdom? Not that she had any. Dov silently scolded herself, not sure how to react.

Ariel’s movements interrupted Dov’s thoughts. He engaged furiously with the holographic information, his hands dancing like those of the conductor of an orchestra as he reviewed data, swept it away, then magnified new datasets. Beside him, Uriel followed the flows of information, processing and performing checks against the calculations.

“I’m sorry, we are slow,” said Ariel. “Twenty-first century processing is limiting.”

“What are they doing, Dov?” Cara asked.

The focus on Ariel offered Dov a comfortable opportunity to speak. “They are checking to see if the time-wave disturbance was triggered. The anomaly. We will find out soon. Then figure out our next steps.”

“You will need to teach me all this, Dov.”

“I promise. That is the least I can do. After all, you were the inspiration—or you will be.”

Cara smirked sardonically. “Maybe four hours ago I would have agreed. I had a plan. Now what am I to do?”

“This looks interesting,” Ariel said.

“Very,” agreed Uriel.

“Well, what?” Dov asked.

Ariel continued. “The disturbance never triggered. The algorithms show simple time-wave fluctuations and all within the chaotic limits. Ripples, not waves. Logically, either the disturbance is still to come, or it failed to materialize. I think, given what happened, it’s the latter.”

“Meaning the tall man from Sarajevo failed?” pressed Dov.

“I think I get it,” Cara whispered, realization dawning. “It was about me, wasn’t it? I am still alive.” She raised her voice. “He failed and subsequently the disturbance failed because here I am. It was the investor. His plan involved me being together with Nick but I showed up late. Had I not been, I would be dead now.”

Uriel looked at Cara. “She’s right. The investor must be the same man from Trinity Church whom Dov saw running before the explosion.”

“It’s logical,” Dov said.

Cara clasped Dov’s hands. “If this explanation is true, you saved my life, Dov. If you hadn’t come over this morning, I would have been on time, as I almost always am. You distracted me, then saved me.”

Cara moved to the window with a view of the MIT campus and looked outside. Dov followed her. They stood transfixed. Black smoke crawled into the sky as helicopters buzzed overhead. The streets surrounding MIT had emptied. An tense, eerie stillness had settled over the city. The fact that the blast had occurred one day after the 9/11 anniversary put the region and the entire nation on edge.

Cara whispered, “It’s a catastrophe. A wound in the physics building that will take years to heal. I feel punched in my stomach. I feel sick.” Tears flowing from her eyes, Cara pressed into Dov and squeezed her hands. “What are we going to do?”

Uriel answered in a gentle tone, “If we determine we prevented the anomaly here, then we have to proceed to the next time-wave disturbance, Cara. It’s about 150 years from now, in Western Canada. The event should happen in about six days, in real-time.”

Cara took a deep breath. “How?”

Dov questioned, “Like the science of it?”

“Precisely. Tell me the physics. I could use a distraction. How does time travel work?”

“Really, are you in the mood?”

“Pour me a drink, Dov. I need a change of topic, like I said.”

Dov refilled Cara’s glass from a small bottle of vodka. She gestured to bring up a holographic image filled with mathematics and sat down beside Cara. “Are you sure?”

Cara nodded.

“Well, this is your legacy, Cara,” Dov began. “Okay, remember this morning, I showed you how space-time is wrapped up in the many dimensions characterized by vibrational frequencies? String Theory 2.0, as you described it.” Cara nodded. “This is the new part—all one needs to understand is the relative change between coordinates of space and time to solve the time-wave equation, even in Einstein’s general model.

“We calculate the difference in energy required to move between coordinates. Then with the exact amount of energy understood, we reprogram the time-wave frequency in a unit of space. Our algorithms convert electrical or other types of energy into virtual energy to configure the time-wave vectors. When we do that, everything within that closed space is shifted in time and space.”

“I don’t know how you possibly figured out how to reprogram space-time vibrations.”

“To be fair, Cara, it took hundreds of years and a lot of help from AI to get there. Now you can’t tell anyone, Cara.” Dov gave Ariel a guilty glance.

“Let me come with you,” Cara said solemnly. “This would be a great way to prevent me from spilling your secrets—not that I could begin to replicate the science, on the other hand.”

Dov shook her head. “I don’t know, Cara. We didn’t calculate that scenario.” She hesitated. “No, you can’t come. I am so sorry. I hate this.”

Cara persisted. “I’ve lost everything. There is nothing left for me here.”

“Time travel is so delicate,” Dov murmured.

“Did your calculations also take into consideration the destruction at MIT?” Cara pressed. “Or the investor? Look, I lost everything. Three days ago I had a boyfriend, I had a research supervisor, a university, and friends and colleagues, all down there in that mess.” Cara pointed toward the campus. “It’s gone and honestly, all I possess are my ideas. Nothing is binding me to Boston.”

She focused on Dov. “Besides, won’t I be safer around you? When things are safe, bring me back here.”

“Theoretically,” said Uriel, “it may work. Also, you do make a valid point in that we are better able to control events when we are together.”

Dov looked over at Uriel. “I think you need to run the scenario first.”

Cara didn’t wait for him to respond. “Then I am coming. Are you comfortable with that, Dov?”

“Yes, very much, but…” Dov looked over at Uriel.

He nodded. “I will run the scenario; it won’t take long.”

“So what do I need to do, and when do we go?” Cara asked before anyone changed their mind.

“Tonight,” replied Ariel. “We go tonight. I engaged the algorithm to run the scenario, but I’m optimistic.”

“Welcome to the team.” Dov grinned and squeezed Cara’s hand.

Dov and Cara returned to Cara’s apartment to pack. Uriel insisted on accompanying them, since the Sarajevo man remained unaccounted for. Cara packed a small duffel bag with clothing and personal items and a backpack with notebooks full of her equations and rough notes, her tablet, and a battery pack—“Though I am under no illusion that I will be able to access the cloud. I did make offline backups, just in case.”

“You didn’t consider this just in case scenario,” joked Uriel.

“No, this wasn’t on my bingo card,” said Cara. “I’m trying not to think about it.”

“Bingo card?” queried Dov.

“I’ll explain one day.”

Cara locked the door behind her and touched the front door. “Goodbye, apartment. I will see you soon. Please take care of yourself.” She left without looking back.

They returned to the hotel with boxes of takeout from Hsin Hsin—Kung Pao Chicken, Hunan Spicy Beef, and an extra helping of Vegetable Delight. By the time they arrived at the hotel room, Ariel had prepared, packed, and impeccably cleaned. Equipment sat bundled in the center of the room, readied for travel. They sat to enjoy the takeout.

“This is amazing,” Dov said between bites of Kung Pao Chicken. She struggled to imitate Cara in her use of chopsticks. The chopstick battle brought a giggle from Cara, then Dov, their mirth escalating to loud laughter.

“Ariel?” Dov said, regaining her composure. “When do we leave? Did you find a source of energy?”

“As soon as you wish. The process was not difficult. I hacked into the national grid and will redirect it via the hotel power systems and through our room so that it flows into our transformers. The surrounding grid may experience a temporary blackout, but it will give us the power we need to travel.”

“Cara, you ready?” asked Dov.

Cara took a last bite of broccoli. “I am ready when you are. May I borrow your phone? I want to call my—”

“We have to go immediately,” interrupted Uriel, alarmed. “The Sarajevo man is in the lobby.”

“Fuck, what?” Cara exclaimed.

“Quickly,” Uriel prompted. “Ariel, power up, let’s begin.”

Ariel flew into action. Dov and Cara ran to grab their packed bags and they grouped together in the center of the room, surrounded by their equipment.

“He’s in the elevator.”

“Get ready,” Ariel urged as he joined the group. “Here we go, in five one hundred, four one hundred, three one hundred…”

“Two, one,” said Dov and Cara in unison.

A surge of energy swept through the room, and the Westin lit up like a Christmas tree.

Later, blamed on the yet-to-be-found MIT 9/12 terrorists, the power outage impacted energy across the entire northeastern United States and even into parts of Canada.