Open Writing

United Space Federation H.Q.
Florida, Earth
July, 2515

“I suppose you’re wondering why I asked you here today,” Professor Arnold Katzmeyer smiled as he delivered the hackneyed line, as did all of the other people present.

They were in a small conference room in the bowels of Federation HQ in Florida that had been allocated for their use as a briefing room while they were there. In addition to Arnold was his wife, Doctor Julia Katzmeyer; also present were General Calvin T. Ferguson and his wife, Doctor Karen Purdy Ferguson; former Air Force General and now Federation Admiral Joseph McCulloch; and Commander Dennis Crafter, of the Royal Navy, who was one of the original aquanauts and whom Arnold had insisted accompany them. They had traveled to Florida independently; now, they were together for the first time in nearly 10 years.

Cal responded to Arnold’s rhetorical query, “Yes, as a matter of fact, Arnie, we are curious. You were vague on the phone as usual, giving us just enough to whet our appetites. Now how about telling us what this is all about?”

“Yes, Arnold,” Joe McCulloch agreed. “I reckon it’s about time you put us in the picture.”

Crafter agreed, his lilting Liverpool accent still strong, “Right, Professor. I think we’re all sort of champing at the bit.”

“Okay, but I haven’t had the full story very long myself.” He turned indicating a large screen behind him, displaying a simplified diagram of their galaxy. On it were highlighted several points they knew well: the solar system; planets man had visited, or intended to visit; and the great cluster of stars at the center of the galaxy that no ship could approach, due to the gravitational forces of the black hole there. That force pulled stars apart, what it could do to a ship didn’t invite contemplation.

“The United Space Federation is planning another mission,” Arnold said. “It will be a scientific discovery mission, and will have no military connection.”

Puzzled, the others looked at each other. “Sounds familiar,” Cal said. “What ship are they sending, Hermes Mark Two?”

This drew a smile from Karen, and Arnold replied, also smiling, “As a matter of fact, that’s exactly right, Cal.”

Cal’s smile vanished. “Whoa, hold on there old hoss. I was joking.”

Arnold continued to smile. “Well, the Federation isn’t joking, Cal. They’ve constructed another ship, very similar to the original Hermes, but with some major differences in the power plant.”

“What kind of differences?” Cal asked.

“Plenty of time for that, Cal, if you decide you want in.” Arnold smiled again.

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

“You’d better hear about it first,” Arnold said.

Karen looked at the professor’s wife, who’d said nothing so far. “What about you, Julia? Has he roped you in on this, too?”

Julia smiled. “You know me, Karen. Whither he goest, etc.”

“Don’t let her fool you, Karen. She’s been in on this from the beginning,” Arnold said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

Cal looked from one to the other. “Now you’ve got me really curious. What’s the story, Arnold?”

Arnold’s mood turned serious. “Two words, Cal. Quantum Theory.”

Cal looked blankly at Arnold, then at the others, then back at Arnold. “Sorry, Arnie. I don’t understand.”

Arnold smiled. “Don’t feel bad, Cal. Hardly anyone does, including me.”

“Arnold, it might be a good idea if you just tell us what this is all about. In plain English, please,” Cal said.

“All right,” Arnold nodded. “Perfectly blunt, I’m talking about parallel worlds. Alternate universes.”

Arnold looked around at the silent group, then went on. “When I said hardly anyone understands Quantum Theory, I wasn’t exaggerating. Many things are encompassed in the theory, but the part we are concerned about right now is alternate universes, the idea that they exist side by side with our own, essentially occupying the same space, and separated by insignificant events. The idea that every time someone makes a decision, another universe is created, identical to the one before except for the consequences of that decision.

“For example, in this universe we inhabit, I have just taken a pen out of my pocket,” he did so, “but, according to Quantum theory, there exists a universe where I did not do that. Everything else, every tiny detail about the two universes is identical, except for that one thing.

“On the surface, it sounds simple, but the truth is that virtually no one understands it completely. No one, that is, who is living on this planet, this world, in this time.”

He paused to let his words sink in, then continued, “Quantum Theory was first postulated early in the last century, by the German physicist, Max Planck. I’m no expert; it’s not even my field, but I believe it has to do with the emission and absorption of matter, which can only happen in very small sub-atomic units called quanta. Many of the great scientists had a hand in its formulation; Planck, Einstein, the New Zealander, Rutherford.

“It’s bound up with things like thermodynamics, wave theory, chaos theory and such, and I can’t really explain any of that to you; as I said, physics isn’t my field. Not even the people who first suggested its existence completely comprehended its implications. Not even the great Stephen Hawking, who understood time and space like almost no other, had completely grasped its meaning.

“There was only one other who might have been able to accurately understand what it was all about, and perhaps even divine its uses and applications…” he looked pointedly at Cal and Karen “…someone you both knew very well.”

Cal looked at his wife, who said, “You’re talking about Jonathan, aren’t you, Arnold.”

Katzmeyer nodded. “Yes I am. Professor Jonathan Edge, possible the greatest genius of modern times, comparable to people like Einstein, Hawking, Newton, even da Vinci himself. We will need him to complete the mission.”

This caused the others in the room to glance at each other, just to make sure they had all heard the same thing.

Finally, Joe McCulloch said, “Arnold, I wasn’t on the last mission, but I’ve heard all about it from Cal and Karen. Professor Edge opted to remain in the past, in biblical Israel.”

Arnold nodded. “Correct, Admiral. Nonetheless, we must have him.”

Cal shook his head. “I’m confused, Arnie. Maybe you’d better tell this from the beginning.”

Arnold nodded again, and sat on the edge of the desk at the front of the room. “A short time ago, one of our vessels on an exploratory mission to the supergiant star Rigel, in the constellation Orion, discovered a planet which, while capable of supporting life, seems to be uninhabited. They found some ruins, evidence of a past civilization; on further exploration, they discovered an apparatus whose implications they did not understand. However, after some analysis, they determined it to be some kind of transportation device.

“It resembled a portal, a kind of doorway. They tried to discover its workings, but nothing they did could activate it. Our best minds were sent to the planet, and they finally concluded it was indeed some kind of portal, and that its science involved quantum mechanics. But such was its complexity, none of them was able to discern its import.

“That remains the case to this day. Reluctantly, the Federation has come to the conclusion that we need Professor Edge. So we’re going to get him.” He looked around the room.

Cal broke the bewildered silence. “Arnold, he’s been dead for two and a half thousand years!”

Arnold smiled and nodded.

“Don’t just nod and smile, Arnold. How the hell can we get him?”

“One more word, Cal. Lightspeed.”

Cal stared at the professor, beginning to understand. “Arnold, are you suggesting what I think you are?”

Arnold nodded happily. “It’s the new drive that makes it possible, Cal. According to the report you filed when you returned from the original mission, you were unable to return to our time using this method because you didn’t know how long to spend just below the speed of light in order to send your craft into the future. Correct?”

“Well, not quite, Arnold. By the time we found out how to do it, the Hermes was resting in about 50,000 feet of water on the 10th planet, undoubtedly mashed flat by the pressure.”

Arnold waved this aside. “At any rate, you were defeated by an inability to calibrate, and found out too late. Right?”

“Okay.”

“Well, during the past few hundred years, ships have been experimenting with this, working out a system of calibration. Now, we believe we’ve cracked it.”

Dennis spoke up for the first time. “I’m not a physicist either, Arnold, but I understand that Rigel is a bloody long way away. How can we go that far?”

Arnold smiled. “Not a problem. It’s just a matter of how long you stay just ahead of the lightspeed barrier. Even somewhere like Rigel, which is 900 light years from here, by the way, is easily reachable.” He paused to let this amazing fact sink in, then said, “We also know how long to spend just below lightspeed, and how fast that will accelerate time relative to the vessel concerned.”

Cal said, “Are you telling us they’ve discovered how to time travel?”

“Exactly.”

“Wow.” Cal looked at the others, then back at Arnold. “What about travel in the other direction?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean going back. Does it work both ways?”

“Oh, I see what you mean. Yes, it does. That’s the best part. We can move both forward and back in time. For some reason, we can’t actually go into the future. For example, we could go back to biblical Israel, then come back to a time between then and now, but we can’t go to a time in our future. Nor can we travel from here into the future.”

Joe spoke up. “Why not?”

“Well, it has something to do with the future not having been written yet, so to speak, while the past, has been and is immutable.”

“But Arnold,” Karen said. “If we can’t change the past, how can we bring Jonathan back? Surely that would violate that rule.”

Arnold shrugged. “According to the time physicists, apparently not. It seems that because Professor Edge was from this time, and not a part of the past, we can bring him back here. But we couldn’t, for example, bring Jesus back here, because he belongs to the past, and there he must stay. We can’t do it.”

“Can’t, or must not, Arnold?” asked Cal.

Arnold shrugged. “Again, I don’t know. Probably a bit of both. The Federation has been quite clear on this, although I understand it has been tried. Which, I assume, is how they discovered it can’t be done. Whatever, there must be no meddling with the past, and all trips must be Federation-approved.”

“So that’s it? We go back, get Jonathan, and come back to our time again?”

Arnold nodded. “That’s it. Well, and then go on to Rigel and see what Jonathan can make of the device.”

“Anything you’re not telling us?”

“No, nothing.” Arnold looked at them innocently.

Cal looked the others. “Well, I can’t speak for anyone else, but I would love to see Jonathan again, even if he doesn’t want to come back. I’m in.”

“Me, too,” said Karen.

“And me,” said Joe.

They all looked at Crafter, who said, “What? You think I’m going to be the odd man out? Not bloody likely. Count me in and all.”

Arnold stood and rubbing his hands together. “Excellent, it’s unanimous.” He moved to the screen, raised it, exposing an old-fashioned whiteboard. “Now, I have some more planning to do, so I suggest the rest of you sort out your accommodations, then we can get some supper. There’s a fairly adequate dining room here at the center, so why don’t we meet there in an hour or so, about 7:30?
They left to find their rooms. Arnold watched them go, then turned to find Dennis Crafter still sitting in his chair, his sardonic gaze fixed on his old friend.

Arnold sighed. “All right, Dennis, what is it? You’ve been giving me the evil eye for the entire briefing. What’s on your mind?”

“Why didn’t you tell them, Arnold? Why didn’t you say what else they found on that planet?”

“No need to sound so accusatory. I plan to tell them. When the time is right.”

Crafter snorted.

“Anyway, it might be nothing,” Arnold said.

“Nothing.” Crafter loaded the word with cynicism.

Arnold nodded. “Yes, nothing. The team that found the ruins housing the artifact found no sign of recent habitation. Any signs they did find they estimated were tens of centuries old. Whatever happened in that place, it happened a long time ago. There’s nothing there, Dennis.”

Crafter just looked at Arnold.

“Dennis, do you really think I’d put any of those people in danger if I thought there was any? Do you?”

Crafter sighed, then relaxed. “No, I suppose not. But you still should have told them.”

Arnold nodded. “Yes, you’re right, I should have. And I will, as soon as we’re under way. I don’t want anything to interfere with that, Dennis. Time enough when the mission is at least begun.”

Crafter looked as though he was going to argue the point some more, then said, “Well, see you at dinner, Arnie.” At the door he turned around and said, “I just hope nothing happens to make us regret that decision.” Then he went out and closed the door behind him.

Arnold watched him go, and said quietly, “You and me both, old friend. You and me both.”