History Shattered

“Technologies that may be developed in centuries or millennium include: warp drive, traveling faster than the speed of light, parallel universes; are there other parallel universes and parallel realities? Time travel that we mentioned and going to the stars.” Michio Kaku

In keeping with his standing policy that meetings shouldn’t last longer than twenty minutes or so, Colonel James pulled the plug on this initial meeting between members of his senior staff and their scientific guests after the reports on Station 28’s repairs and contamination status had been delivered. Monica knew he was attempting to end the meeting while the dialogue between his officers and their scientific guests was still cordial. She recognized what he was trying to do was instill a sense of teamwork and cooperation, but she wasn’t sure she appreciated him circumventing deeper discussions, especially the one regarding containment. She had to remind herself of her newfound appreciation for the military’s role in the PD efforts, and she also needed to recognize that she and her colleagues were invitees to what could’ve been a strictly military gathering.

It hadn’t helped that it was Major Beau Hailey who had brought up the topic of containment. It was impossible for Monica to prevent her bias against the man from creeping into her reactions to the discussion topic. Both Jasmine and Pat felt similarly. They, however, were more in agreement with Mike’s decision to end the meeting quickly. Both her fellow scientists felt like there needed to be significant additional data collected about the seemingly advancing historical shifts before truly well-informed opinions could be constructed. Any discussions before then would be premature, they believed. Monica recognized she might need to take a couple of steps back. This wasn’t really her turf, and she needed to make sure she and her team kept a seat at this particular table for any major decision making that might be on the horizon.

Monica intentionally avoided Mike for the remainder of the evening. She didn’t wish to chance losing her temper and making a remark she’d later regret. She knew in her heart that he was being thoughtful and weighing his varied responsibilities, but she was too stressed and far too emotionally compromised to trust that she’d be able to prevent some kind of response if the wrong button was pushed. As military men went, Mike was fairly easygoing, but he was still military through and through. It was simply easier and safer to practice avoidance for the evening. She didn’t view it as the flight portion of a fight or flight type response. Monica was more than willing to fight, if necessary, but picking the right time and place for any skirmish seemed like a more intelligent option. She was counting on enough answers being revealed by the morning that much of what might be contentious debate material this evening would likely be rendered moot by tomorrow.

Monica checked in with Jasmine and her History Team one more time before turning in for the evening. Ben Franklin was still missing from the pages of history. The Renaissance appeared to have reached its conclusion, but an apparent byproduct of the increase in European population and exploration was the development of a regional conflict involving Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and England. At stake were territorial claims in the New World as well as shipping rights and trade routes. This multinational conflict appeared to be contested in both hemispheres. This particular conflict was noteworthy in that no such conflict had appeared in current history and this war did not resemble Tyler’s description of the American Revolutionary War, which had involved primarily the Americans and British with a small French involvement. This was the first major departure from one of the prior historical records beyond the fluctuating population numbers, which, after reaching in excess of nine billion earlier in the evening, were now back down to only 8.4 billion. Tyler’s scientific roll call had now also helped Chandler track down two prominent inventors, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. Tyler had actually supplied them with the birth year of both those scientists, 1847. Time was clearly changing and the shifts were also clearly advancing. Beyond those two general parameters framing the current dilemma, everything else seemed to still be producing more questions than it offered answers.

~~~~o~~~~

Monica woke up after a long night of sleep. She had purposely turned her phone to the vibrate setting, knowing how desperately she needed to get some rest. This seemed like the best chance for her to catch a bit of shuteye. The repair and decontamination efforts on 28 were nearing completion. History was advancing, and it seemed likely that tomorrow would bring additional answers. Tonight would be the night to catch up. If someone needed her badly enough, they would come bang on her door, and either no one had done so or she was so tired that she had failed to hear the noise. If that was the case, it just proved to her how desperately she needed more sleep.

She climbed slowly out of bed, relieved to note that the kink in her neck appeared to have vanished during the night. That seemed to confirm the wisdom of her sleep decision. She wandered into her bathroom, turned the light on and took a seat on the toilet. Interestingly, she noted that she had not first checked to see if the seat was up or down. Apparently she was adjusting too rapidly to Tyler being gone because she was functioning in that half-waking, half-sleeping state where she simply moved instinctually. After conducting her business on the commode, she reached into the drawer and squirted some toothpaste onto her toothbrush. She began brushing and only then did she take a first glance into the mirror above the sink. She shrieked as loudly as she could with a mouth full of toothpaste, and the toothbrush fell from her hand, clanking loudly into the sink. The image staring back at her in the mirror appeared at least ten years younger than the one which had greeted her just before bedtime the previous evening. No amount of sleep could account for that change. The realization was a fleeting one, almost as if she was still asleep and then suddenly jerked awake. She reached down into the sink and retrieved her toothbrush from the porcelain surface. Her glance returned to the mirror, and the image staring back at her now, in a wide awake state, appeared totally normal…, but she still somehow was aware that something had changed.

Immediately she realized history must have continued to change during the overnight hours, and that it had apparently reached the present day…, whatever the present day now was. She didn’t know how or why she realized it, because her more youthful appearance already seemed completely normal now that she was fully awake, but something inside her screamed of change…, but what? That was a question she couldn’t yet answer except to know that she was convinced it could no longer be 2043 A.D. Either that or she was still asleep and dreaming. She spat out her toothpaste and went back into the bedroom to grab her phone. She quickly accessed the calendar function, but it only told her the day and month, not the year. It was no longer July. The month had changed to October, but she still had no idea what year it was. She next went to her computer and turned it on, waiting for it to come to life. She was frustrated at having to key in her password, and stared at the bottom right hand corner of the screen impatiently. Finally, what she expected to see was confirmed. The year was now 2031. Almost twelve years had vanished during the night.

Monica rushed back into her bathroom and attempted to brush her teeth for a second time. She followed that with a quick shower and opted to pull her hair back in a ponytail because it was the most expeditious way she could deal with it. She headed straight for the conference room where she expected to find the History Team. Jasmine looked up as she saw the director enter the room.

“You haven’t been answering your phone.”

“No…, I’m sorry. What exactly have I missed?”

“Well, the short answer is about twelve years. The long answer is about another two hundred years of changes to history, but since we’re still playing catch-up ourselves, I’ll let ya slide on that one.”

“Gee, thanks. Where is everybody?”

“I sent Chandler to bed. She was pulling an all-nighter. Chris isn’t here anymore.”

“Whaddaya mean? Who’s Chris, and where is he?”

“Chris is…, correction, was Chandler’s husband. I don’t know if he doesn’t exist or what, but in 2043, he and Chandler had only been married for six years and had only known each other for eight. They didn’t know each other in 2031. Chandler’s been asleep for the past coupla hours. She doesn’t know yet.”

“What? How’s that possible? I mean, how can you know but not her?”

“It’s happened since she’s been asleep. I know because I checked our personnel records. I’ve also been taking exhaustive notes so I’d be prepared in case exactly this scenario occurred. Ashley’s still here, but our team has lost Mario, too. Pat’s still here, and just so you’ll know, we have both a Colonel and Lieutenant James working on the military side right now. I think we may have both father and son in the facility.”

“You’ve gotta be shittin’ me.”

“Hey, I’ve had a little over an hour to digest all of this, and it’s still freakin’ me out. If we hadn’t known to be looking for all these changes and documented everything prior to the reset, I’m guessing we might not realize anything was different. Thank God Tyler made us save a copy of everything to thumb drives and hard drives inside 28. I don’t know how or why it’s happening, but it’s like 28, maybe because that’s where the wormhole was or maybe because of the lead lining or who knows why, but it seems to be kind of like a time cocoon. That might explain why all of the supplies in there are circa 2018 and all of the work we’ve been doing on the alternate history records are intact in there from 2043. What I’ve picked up from the little I’ve seen around here this morning seems to be telling us that everything else and everyone around here, including you…, appear to be the 2031 versions of themselves. There are gonna be some freaked out people around here today.”

“Yeah…, I’ll be one of ‘em. It probably makes sense for us to try to help everyone acclimate to what’s happened. I’d like you to put together a couple of presentations that we can share with the team. First, throw one together as quickly as you can this morning that succinctly explains what has happened to all of us and to PD overnight. I want us to try and get past this quickly. Second, I want you to scrape together a thumbnail of how history has changed again this time. I want to be able to assess the impact of this historical shift. Can you do that?”

“Yeah, I can.”

“I’d like the first presentation to be ready by nine this morning. The sooner, the better.”

“How about nine-thirty? I’ll probably need all that time.”

“OK…, can you have the second presentation ready by five this afternoon?”

“If you’re giving me 9:30, I’ll give you five.”

“Deal…, thanks! I think I’ll go find the James boys. See ya at 9:30.”

Jasmine was already seated at the table on stage when Monica entered the meeting room at 9:27. The Director was flanked by Colonel James, the father, and Lieutenant James, the son. One of the peculiarities of the morphing of time and of human history was that all three of them seemed completely comfortable with the new present day scenario and the fact that they were all interacting completely naturally together. Monica took a quick glance in Jasmine’s direction, and Jasmine offered her a ‘thumbs-up’ in return, letting her know she was ready to make a presentation to all their colleagues. Jasmine realized that Monica had failed to comment on the change in her age and appearance, which further demonstrated how the resetting of time somehow impacted everyone’s sense of the current version of present time in addition to their understanding of history. She wondered how simple or difficult it would be for her to bring all her colleagues up to speed on what had occurred overnight as well as selling them all once again on the notion that their facility had triggered not one, but two separate time travel events, each of which had fundamentally altered the current reality. Even thinking such thoughts seemed surreal. That such events had actually happened twice was almost too bizarre to vocalize. Such awareness was not the most comforting of thoughts as she was just moments away from being required to do just that.

Monica stood and took the microphone as the gathering of scientists and military officers grew quiet. She was now looking out at a group that were all her colleagues, but which was once again different. Some of the audience members were younger versions of the colleagues she had been interacting with yesterday. Some were different scientists. Still others were older versions of the scientists that had been present when Tyler’s original accidental time travel wormhole had been created in 2018. At some point, and that point was a little different for each of them, the rational mind would struggle to digest the seeming impossibility that these contrasting time threads would force upon them. The theoretical was suddenly and inexplicably overtaking and obliterating the real.

“Good morning, everyone…, today is a day like none any of you have ever before experienced. Jasmine is about to address all of you. I’ve asked her to put together a quick presentation to bring all of you up to speed on what has transpired overnight. I assure you all that everything she is about to share with you is real…, or in some cases either was real or would’ve been real. The reason I’ve called for this meeting is because I do not want to waste days debating theories or dealing with doubters questioning what’s happening. The sooner we can all get our arms around this…, the sooner we come to acceptance, the sooner we can move on from here and figure out what’s next. I want all of you to hold your questions until Jasmine completes her presentation. Thanks in advance for your cooperation. Jasmine…, if you please….”

“Thanks, Director. Good morning, everyone. I’m not attempting to go for shock value here, but the best way to convince you of what’s going on is to begin offering you substantive evidence right off the bat, so if everyone will focus on the screen, we’ll get started.”

The first image which flashed on the screen was one of the images Tyler had snapped from the pre-collision hours of the morning of the 2018 particle collision. It was followed by several additional images from that morning.

“The year was 2018, and you are indeed looking at images taken at PD before our first full power particle collision. Now I already know some of you are thinking PD was still under construction in 2018, and while in some ways you’re correct in making such an assumption, today you aren’t. Please direct your attention to the screen again.”

The 2018 images were replaced with a similar series taken immediately prior to the 2043 particle collision. She left each image on the screen for a few seconds before pulling up the next.

“This time, the year was 2043, just under twelve years from now. The images are from a second particle collision here at PD. One of the most interesting facts about these two particle collisions occurring approximately a quarter century apart here at PD is that they both actually occurred within five days of one another and they both also happened within the past seven days. I’ll give all of you a few moments to let those last couple of statements sink in while I show you another couple of images.”

The next image was a group photo featuring the elder Colonel James from 2018’s particle collision morning. Jasmine advanced to a close-up of a younger version of Colonel James on the stage. She next went to one of the 2043 slides featuring an older version of Lieutenant James, now with the rank of Colonel. She showed similar older and younger versions of Monica, Pat and finally, herself.

“All of these were taken in conjunction with those two particle collisions. Seven days ago in present time, PD was operational in 2018. Two days ago, again in the present, PD was operational in 2043. Today we find ourselves in 2031. All of this is possible because we have, as a byproduct of the energy produced by those particle collisions, created two wormholes which have allowed one of our scientists to time travel, and in the process of time travelling, changes have occurred in human history which has triggered what I’ll describe as three separate present reality scenarios. Now, while I once again give you a few moments to digest that notion, I’ll direct your attention once again to the screen.”

The image changed again, and the group was looking at a picture of Tyler taken inside Station 28 before the second particle collision.

“This is Tyler. This is a picture taken of him in 2043. He is thirty-four years old in this photo. Here’s another photo of him taken standing next to Monica in 2018. He also happens to be thirty-four years old in this photo. Tyler had the misfortune of being inside Station 28 when the 2018 particle collision sent massive twin waves of energy into his station, creating a wormhole…, yes, you all heard me correctly, a wormhole which transported him back in time and space to Crimea in 1346 A.D. As far as we have the ability to ascertain such information, this was the only occurrence of either the creation of a wormhole or time travel in history, and again, let me stress to all of you that this singularity occurred a week ago. Unfortunately, Tyler inadvertently and severely impacted history. He did so in such a way that when he returned to the present, and in this instance, I’ll define the present as being a few hours after the particle collision inside Station 28, it had shifted to 2043.

Without swamping you with details, the decision was made to make a second intentional attempt at time travel to send Tyler back once again to try to repair the damage he had done to history. That attempt took place not quite two days ago, but also twelve years from now as you saw in some of the photos. Unfortunately, while it appears that the second wormhole allowed Tyler to travel to the past, this time it closed before he could return. Once again, I’ll let you digest this data while I share two short videos Tyler sent to us from the other end of the wormhole. What you’re about to see will include images of Tyler, the actual wormhole, and what we have every reason to believe is the countryside near Caffa, Crimea in the winter of 1346-47 A.D.”

Jasmine turned to face the screen as the first of Tyler’s wormhole videos began to play. Once the first one had finished, Jasmine set up the second one by letting everyone know it was taken the following morning in fourteenth century Crimea but only about ninety minutes later as time was measured at the PD end of the wormhole. When Tyler made his dual professions of love to Monica, she could feel many of the eyes in the room momentarily focusing on her. She simply continued to stare at the image on the screen.

“We’ve been monitoring the rewriting of history which has been occurring for a little more than a day now. The best way I can describe the process is to use the description of time as a river, and the changes have kept flowing downstream until they finally reached present time in the early pre-dawn hours this morning. It is our intention to finish preparing a second presentation for all of you, and to have it ready for a five o’clock meeting this afternoon. In it, we’ll attempt to share what are now three different versions of human history covering the period from 1346 A.D. until present time. I will suggest to all of you to be ready for three quite different versions of history, because they will be. Finally, I guess I’d like to say that I understand and appreciate how unbelievable what I’m telling you seems, but it’s all true.”

Monica stood and walked over to take the microphone from Jasmine. “Thank you, Jasmine. I know how difficult it must’ve been to pull that presentation together in just a coupla hours. That was outstanding work. I know I speak for everyone in saying we’re all going to be eagerly awaiting your second presentation this afternoon. I also know I speak for everyone in stating that we will all leave you and your team alone between now and then, so that you can focus on preparing that second presentation for everyone’s benefit. Now…, since I know there aren’t any questions, I’ll ask everyone to do their jobs and be on time for the five o’clock meeting. We are in the midst of frightening, exciting and unprecedented times. We’re making history…, apparently both literally and figuratively. Everyone really needs to be on top of your games right now. OK, you’re dismissed. I’ll see everyone back here at five.”