History Shattered

“Logic will get you from A to Z: imagination will get you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein

The group’s normally civil tone had turned argumentative after forty-five minutes of spirited debate. Jasmine was adamant in her position.

“Look, I don’t care what you think. Those comments were as lucid as any you’re ever gonna hear. Yeah, I know Tyler has a high fever and sounds like shit and has been subjected to an energy anomaly that none of us can explain, and I don’t dispute any of those issues, but he’s not talking gibberish. He’s not just convinced about The Black Death and H2N2…, he’s convincing me about ‘em.”

“Jasmine, calm down! There isn’t a right or wrong answer here…”

“That’s where you’re wrong! There is a right answer here, but you’re ignoring it. I tell you, he time travelled. That anomaly is a wormhole, and Tyler time travelled, and he changed history. I know we don’t have anything to prove it yet, but I’m telling you that’s what happened.”

“You seemed pretty skeptical about it yesterday.”

“I’m a scientist. I’m trained to be a skeptic. But I’ve also talked to him more than anybody else has since we regained contact with him post-anomaly. He’s not delusional. I’m sure of it. I don’t know what else he could’ve done so far to let us know what happened to him.”

“That’s the rub, isn’t it? We need something that resembles proof, not just a great story from Tyler. In the end, it really doesn’t matter whether he sounds believable or delusional. We need to be able to substantiate what’s happened.”

“So where do we go from here?”

“For starters, we need to have Tyler give us a history lesson…, and when I say a history lesson, I mean we need to hear from him what his version of history is and compare it to ours. Listen to what we’re saying here. We’re looking at a scenario where the entire course of human history for the past almost seven hundred years may be different than what we all think it is. Think about that. Let that settle in for a few moments. Think of all the implications across all the different spectrums. This isn’t trivial in any way. We’re all scientists. Let’s do what we do and work the problem.”

“OK, it’s about time to talk with Tyler again anyway. Let’s go see if the world we think we’re living in is really the product of a particle collision anomaly that happened yesterday morning.”

~~~~o~~~~

Tyler’s condition was worsening. His fever had climbed to over 103 degrees and he was shaking. The battle between the disease and the antibiotics was still tipping in favor of the disease…, or diseases. If the plague had progressed far enough while he was still trapped in fourteenth century Crimea, then it was quite possible the antibiotics had been administered too late. Monica was reluctant to resume the questioning, but the wormhole team was insistent. They convinced her it was what Tyler would want done if he knew why they were asking him such a strange series of questions. Monica decided on a compromise strategy. They would ask Tyler to throw out key moments moving forward in history from The Black Death to the present. Whenever something didn’t seem to align with their version of historical events, they might pause to explore the topic in greater detail. Everyone seemed to be amenable to the compromise approach.

Tyler’s voice was sounding raw as he started the proceeding off with a one word topic. “Renaissance.”

Jasmine jumped to respond. “That sounds French. What was it? Anybody?”

The team sitting around the console in Station 3 all shook their heads. Colonel James had momentarily exited the room to instruct his soldiers to resume recording the dialogue to follow. He reentered to see the puzzled expressions.

“Tyler, can you give us a little more on that one?”

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me? Even a bunch of science nerds like you guys should know all about the Renaissance. It was an age of renewed enlightenment in Europe post-plague. It was an intellectual and economic rebirth. Some of the greatest advances in philosophy, science, art and industry are byproducts of the Renaissance.”

Monica got on the mike. “Tyler, I need you to assume that what we’re doing here is at least partially an assessment of how coherent you are after your little adventure there in 28. Beyond that, just for the sake of the scientific process, go ahead and assume that we’re attempting to see if your version of history aligns with ours. As such, we’re gonna try not to prejudice anything you’re telling us, so for the sake of this discussion, just assume we’re all history idiots. For some of us, that won’t really be much of a stretch.”

“Hey, I wasn’t a history major either, but I get what you’re trying to do. I have a request, though. Once I tell you my version, I wanna hear yours. That’s only fair.”

The group exchanged glances. It was possible Tyler might never leave Station 28 alive. This was tantamount to a potential last request. There was a unanimous nodding of heads.

“It’s a deal. Keep going.”

“OK, let’s stick to big stuff. How about the American Revolution?”

“Which was…?”

“Shit, are you guys gonna play dumb about everything? After colonists had been settling in North America for about a hundred and fifty years…, that’s approximate…, I remember Jamestown was 1607 and Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims were 1620 and the American Revolution was 1776, so I’m rounding a bit, but the colonists rebelled against English rule and the Revolutionary War was fought. There was the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.”

“Can you give us something from one of those documents?”

“The Bill of Rights is like the first ten amendments to the US Constitution. It starts like “We the people…,’ No, wait…, I’m thinking of the preamble to the Constitution. It goes like ‘We the people, in order to make a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of these United States of America. We hold certain truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed with certain unalienable rights. Principal among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have the right to bear arms…’. It goes on from there with freedom of religion and a bunch of other stuff, OK? I may be getting the preamble and the Bill of Rights and maybe even the Declaration of Independence all mixed together. I didn’t know there was gonna be a test today, or I woulda studied. Well, that’s not true. I probably wouldn’t study even if I knew there was gonna be a test. I’ve always hated tests.”

“I hate ‘em, too, but that’s great, Tyler.” Jasmine was looking around the room, her arms spread wide in a gesture which asked her fellow team members what more they might need to hear to be convinced.

“OK, then let’s fast forward to the Civil War. That’s like 1860-ish between the North which was called the Union and the South which was called the Confederacy. It was over slavery among other things. One of our most famous Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, delivered a famous speech called the Gettysburg Address. Would you like to hear a little of that?”

“Sure…”

“OK, here goes…, ‘Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the principle that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war…’, and that’s all I know.”

Monica spoke into her headset. “Tyler, you mentioned slavery. Can you elaborate on that a bit?”

“I can some. Slavery was popular mostly in the south. It was part of the economic structure of the largely agricultural economy. Slaves were blacks who had typically been brought to this country from Africa by slavers and were sold to the plantation owners. The abolitionists, mostly in the north, were opposed to slavery and eventually it turned into the Civil War. The North won, and I think it was the 16th Amendment to the constitution which formally abolished slavery.”

“Tyler, so we’re clear, you’re saying that the slaves were black and the people who controlled the slaves were white.”

“Yeah, of course.”

Everyone in the room exchanged glances. “What about the twentieth century?”

“OK…, let’s see. 1917 was a pretty big year. That was when the Communist Revolution occurred in Russia. I guess it was actually the Bolshevik Revolution against the Czar, but it led to like seventy years of Communist rule in Russia. That was the same year the United States entered World War I, which was fought almost exclusively in Europe. I think the war started a few years earlier than that…, like 1914 or something. I may have that wrong, but I think it was a lot like World War II, where it was Germany with a few allies against everybody else. WWI ended in like 1919 and The League of Nations, which was kind of a precursor to the United Nations, was formed.”

“So this World War One was fought mainly in Europe.”

“Well, Europe was pretty much the center of the universe in terms of political, economic or any other kind of power. The US was still pretty isolationist then. In a way, I guess that was our coming out party on the world stage.”

“And World War Two? When was that?”

“It was like the early to mid-1940s. That was pretty much Germany, Italy and Japan against the rest of the world. Hitler’s Nazi Germany was all about Aryan supremacy and purity. There was the Holocaust, where like six million Jews were killed in an attempt at ethnic cleansing. We entered the war when the Japs…, er…, sorry, Jasmine…, I didn’t mean to offend you, but when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Again, we were on the sidelines for the first part of the war. I guess, we were trying to get our act together after the Great Depression. Guys…, I wasn’t really a history major.”

“You’re doing awesome, Tyler. How are you holding up?”

“I’m pretty tired. How about you guys talking for a little while and me just listening? If you hear snoring, you’ll have confirmation that I’m not exactly a history buff.”

“Tyler, I think we need to dialogue amongst ourselves for a bit, but I promise we’ll keep our end of the deal when we talk again. Why don’t you try to rest for now?”

“Roger that. I’m setting the over-under on me falling back asleep at a minute-and-a-half. Goodnight again, guys!”

“We’ll talk again soon. It’s time for you to take another dose of your meds, and you need to drink some more water. Then you can sleep.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

~~~~o~~~~

If Jasmine was previously convinced, her attitude could now best be described as adamant. “I don’t know what else Tyler could possibly offer you guys that could be more convincing than what you’ve already heard.”

“It sounds legit, but it could all still be just some fantastical story, Jasmine.”

“Are you kidding me? Shit, he’s quoting from the text of historical documents, for God’s sake!”

“I’m not saying he doesn’t sound convincing or believable. And I’m not suggesting he’s making anything up. I believe that he believes everything he’s telling us. But that doesn’t mean it’s true. It could still be part of some elaborate delusion.”

“Trevor, don’t be a butthead. You’re really gonna sit there and try to tell me that in the past day Tyler has had some elaborate delusion which includes the text from historical documents and details about major military conflicts and the reasons behind them that we’ve never heard about. Is that what you’re trying to sell?”

“The alternative is to accept that we created a wormhole, and that Tyler time travelled. I guess I’m not ready to go there yet.”

“And the plague? How do you explain that? Are you suggesting it’s all psychosomatic? His fever and cramping and nausea and diarrhea and painful lymph nodes are all products of an overactive imagination? Isn’t it easier to accept that he contracted it in fourteenth century Crimea than to suggest it’s all in his head?”

“Jasmine, you need to back off. Don’t turn this into a personal attack on me just because I’m voicing the questions that all of us have. Well, all of us except you, apparently. Your strident attitude isn’t helping your argument.”

Monica decided it was time to intervene in her colleagues’ dialogue before it ended in a personal conflict between the two scientists.

“OK…, timeout. Let’s take a step back, folks. Debate is fine, but let’s focus on the issues.”

Jasmine refused to back off. She stood and pointed a finger at Monica.

“Monica, you know Tyler better than any of us. Yeah, maybe he’s a goofball and a bit of a practical joker, but he’s more sane than most of us. Does he sound delusional to you?”

“No…, I can’t say as he does. But I also need to recuse myself on this one. I’m way too close to this emotionally to be the voice of objectivity. I’ll stick to playing referee for now.”

“OK, I can respect that. But can we all at least agree that what Tyler’s telling us is exactly the kind of report we would expect to be hearing from someone we sent back in time?”

“Maybe it would be if that someone had made a material change to the past during his visit. If someone had effectively been merely an observer, then it would seem far more reasonable to assume there’d be virtually no change in the historical record. As it stands right now, it sounds like Tyler’s version of history is more different to our actual history than it is the same.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Jasmine, let me speak. You asked the question, and I’m trying to answer you. Let’s look at what Tyler’s suggesting. He talks about a period of economic and cultural advancement called the Renaissance, and says it occurred in Europe. We all know that the Black Death effectively knocked Europe off the map for almost four hundred years. Everything he talks about seems to hinge on the notion that Europe was left more intact than actual history tells us. He references this country forging its independence from British rule. He references slavery with the slaves being black instead of white, when we know the reverse is true. He references the Communist Revolution in Russia, and that’s the one thing in his version of history that seems to line up pretty well, but he talks about there being something he called World War One as occurring simultaneously. Again, he said that conflict and another World War occurred largely in Europe. It’s like his version of European history is completely out of alignment with everything we’ve all been taught. The way I look at this, we’ve got two alternative scenarios that we need to decide between, and neither of them is particularly easy to accept.”

Jasmine had calmed down a little as Trevor was speaking. She looked at him and softened her voice a little from her earlier tone.

“Keep going, Trevor. What are your two scenarios?”

“The first would be that Tyler is having a serious delusion involving European history. How or why he’s having such a delusion is a mystery, just like trying to figure out what the anomaly actually represents is a mystery. They would seem to be inexorably connected. It’s certainly possible that the anomaly is responsible for the deterioration in Tyler’s physical condition, and let’s not forget that he has the flu, too, which involves a high fever, and that could be contributing to any delusional episodes. The alternative is that Jasmine’s theory is right. The anomaly is actually a wormhole, and Tyler actually travelled back in time. If that theory is true, then it explains Tyler’s apparent plague symptoms. He was somehow exposed to it, which would certainly be plausible given that moment in history. But beyond that, it also means that he did something…, and I don’t know any other way to say this, but he effectively wiped Europe off the map. That would explain why the history Tyler is spouting has a heavy European flavor, and our history is largely devoid of it. If that’s what we’re dealing with, ladies and gentlemen, then we’ve messed with the fabric of time, and I have no idea what we do about that.”

Even Jasmine was silent in response to Trevor’s remarks for a few moments. Finally, she spoke.

“Trevor, I’m sorry I jumped down your throat. You’ve obviously invested a great deal more thought in this than I was giving you credit for. I don’t think I can really argue with your dual theory supposition. I just acknowledge I’m leaning toward the time travel side. So…, if we are all willing to subscribe to your “dueling theories” theory, then the only way to reach an intelligent conclusion regarding which theory is the correct one is to either discredit Tyler’s account of what’s happened to him and label it as a delusional episode, or find some proof that what he’s labelling as history is actually the real course of events prior to his accidental visit to the past yesterday. Since we don’t have the ability to prove he’s somehow contracted a fourteenth century strain of the bubonic plague without gaining access to Station 28, we’re gonna need to see if there’s any other evidential proof that he can offer us. Does that sound logical to everybody?”

Trevor, in a conciliatory act, nodded his head. “It does to me, Jasmine.”

There was consensus amongst the team. Jasmine looked around.

“Then it sounds to me like we need to have another conversation with Tyler, and it might be time for us to level with him about what we’re thinking here.”

Colonel James took the opportunity to speak. “Folks, why don’t you all take a break and get some lunch? My guys have been monitoring Tyler’s mike, and he’s asleep right now. You’ve already woken him up once today, and if he’s as sick as it sounds like he is, and if he’s as important to figuring out what the hell’s going on as it sounds like he is, then you may want to let him sleep just a little bit. Another forty-five minutes of sleep may do him a world of good, and I doubt it’ll have much of an impact on your theories.”

“Colonel, are you sure he’s asleep and hasn’t lapsed into a coma?”

“Well, I’ll tell you he’s snoring. I have no idea if people in comas do that or not, but if he’s in a coma, it wouldn’t matter much anyway, would it?”

“I guess not. OK, everybody, get something to eat or whatever else you want to do. Let’s reconvene at 11:45 in Station 3.”

~~~~o~~~~

The wormhole team was a few minutes late in gathering in Station 3’s control room. The sound of Tyler’s snoring was serenading them over the speakers. As the team trickled in, a few of them were making jokes about Tyler’s snoring, failing to realize that someone had opened the comm line into Station 28. The abrupt cessation of the snoring, followed immediately by the disgruntled voice of the sick scientist, alerted them to their misstep.

“You buttheads are lucky I’m sick as a dog and trapped in here. Otherwise I’d be kicking a few asses right about now. Geez…, a guy can’t even catch a little shuteye. But since you’ve succeeded in waking me up, let’s get this party started back up. Give me just a minute to take care of a coupla personal issues, and I’ll be right with you. I’m gonna mute my mike so you don’t have to hear any unpleasantries, but I’m wearing the headset so you guys can tell me what’s next on the agenda.”

Jasmine spoke. She tried very hard to present the information she wished for Tyler to hear in as factual a way as possible, without coloring it with any of her own biases.

“Tyler, we’re operating on what amounts to two competing theories as of now. The first one suggests that you are operating on the basis of a delusional episode, and that you’ve essentially imagined the history you’ve shared with us and the time travel scenario as well. The combination of your illness and the unknown effect of the anomaly on you could account for what you currently perceive to be the truth.

The second theory is the opposite side of that coin. The energy anomaly really is a wormhole that transported you back to Crimea. Whatever you did while in Caffa has had a significant impact on human history. I don’t know another way to say it other than to say that it suggests an almost inconceivable shift in the course of human events. The historical recitation you offered up earlier this morning could hardly be further from the history all of us are familiar with.

Now, here’s the rub. We’re scientists, so were total skeptics by nature. We need something beyond your fascinating stories to consider as proof that what you’re telling us is factual. Have you got anything to show you were in Caffa yesterday?”

“Not really. I didn’t see any place to buy postcards. All I’ve got in here are the pictures I took on my phone before the test yesterday morning. I don’t guess they’ll prove much.”

“Can you send them to the PD mail server as attachments anyway?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that now.”

They listened as Tyler pressed buttons on his phone. Jasmine logged onto the mail server and opened the first image, which was a group shot of several of the scientists. Monica was the first to speak.

“Holy shit…, this picture looks like it was taken twenty-five years ago. Jasmine…, is that you?”

She pointed to a young woman on the right side of the picture.

“Yeah, that’s me about thirty years and forty pounds ago. What in the fuck’s goin’ on?”