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This is a very philosophical article, asking the question: What is time? I always wonder about time, and this article is based on some of the thoughts that I wanted to share with others.
Meng-Yang Chen
1. HIDDEN
Eric peered into the wide vastness outside his minute capsule, hurtling towards the moon at hundreds of miles per second. He was bothered by something, yet he had no clue to what it was. A shimmer of light suddenly appeared and died. Eric looked outside again, trying to catch a glimpse of its source. Perhaps he was being paranoid... He tried to go back to sleep.
Just outside of a small town called Centerville, an old man called George Jacobson owned a comic book shop. He was a lonely old hermit mostly shunned by the community but his was the only shop in the business for miles around, so he made a fairly good living.
George Jacobson's son, Thomas, had always worried about him working alone in his shop and sleeping in the back room at night, so Thomas always made his son Kyle help him in the summer and on weekends. It was a hot summer day and Kyle was working for his grandfather.
George sat behind the counter of his shop. He checked his watch and gaped in horror at the time.
"Oh, no... KYLE!" he called. He received no answer. George yelled louder. "BOY! GET OVER HERE!"
The rumple-haired boy slipped out of the back room. He guiltily hid something behind his back.
"Have you been playing with the merchandise again?" barked the old man.
"Uh... no..." said Kyle sheepishly.
George raised an eyebrow but didn't question him further. "I'm late to an appointment. Mind the store while I'm gone."
"Okay! What do I do if a customer comes in?"
"You take their money," said George, as if Kyle were slow for not realizing that. "Goodbye."
He pushed open the door to the comic book shop and walked outside and across the parking lot. The bell on the door stopped jingling as Kyle stared past the posters in the window towards the departing car. As soon as the rusty blue jalopy has pulled out onto the road, Kyle jumped up onto the counter and sat on it, kicking his legs contentedly as he read through a new comic.
Outside, a large, red-painted robot stepped into view of the window. It walked towards the shop, each mechanical footfall sounding like the beating of a great bass drum.
Kyle didn't even look up until the bell rang. He stared wide-eyed at the shiny, smooth skin of the android that marched up to him. The boy nearly fell backwards off the counter as it spoke.
By Milcho, Section Short Stories Posted on Wed Nov 03, 2004 at 11:09:49 AM PST
"Come on, George, so many people have tried this, and failed. What makes you think you succeeded?" asked Roger with a smile.
"Look, I have spent my whole life experimenting with time. I even showed you how you can prove the general theory of relativity using my axioms. They've got to be correct! I am telling you, this machine can control time."
"So, are you going to test it?"
"Sure, come on in my lab, and we'll run it. It's very simple." George started explaining while they walked towards his lab "We, my friend, are standing on the front of a time wave. The wave is not alone, however. There are an infinite number of waves one next to the other. They all have the same properties, except that this time wave is the only one that contains our universe. By jumping from wave to wave, we can accelerate, or slow down time effectively."
"But how do you jump from wave to wave? I mean so many experiments were conducted, and none have achieved anything. How come none of them triggered the jumping from wave to wave?"
"I'll tell you why. They were not looking in the right place. They were trying to control the matter in our space so that it moved through time at a different speed. I, however, used a different approach. I open a hole between the two wave fronts, that is, ours and the one before, and transfer energy into ours. The vacuum from the time front before us, as well as the overflow of energy in our front, push the only material thing from our time wave into the time front before us, and that material thing happens to be our universe. When this process is repeated continuously, I achieve an effect of standing in one point by jumping from front to front."
"If you ask me," said Roger "that's a little farfetched. No offence, but it is a little hard to believe you achieved that."
"Look, there is no need to believe me. You'll see it for yourself" said George as he opened the door to his lab. A conical object was standing in the center. " Here we go. The machine will only move keep us still for a few minutes, and will then release us back in a time wave. It will also record the time spent jumping from time front to time front" He adjusted the settings a bit.
"Are you going to run it now?" asked Roger alarmed.
"Why not?" said George, and closed a contact that seemed to be the power source of the machine.
A moment later the machine disappeared, with all the equipment and plans of the machine. George was gone as well. Roger looked around very puzzled. He spotted a yellow sticky note on the floor. It said:
"DON'T EVER ATTMEPT THIS CRAZY FEEDBACK LOOP AGAIN! WE DON'T HAVE ANOTHER MILLENIUM TO START UP TIME AGAIN YOU KNOW! Signed: thet imeru lers"
Panic kept creeping in. It was easy for it to find a place. Naked in the cold sterile room and surrounded by the research team, she felt just like the experiment that she was. Shivering, she gathered her thoughts to play with. Like so many toys, some were new, some old, some broken. When this was finished, would she still have the thoughts she was accustomed to? Would she still be herself?
Doctor Hamming looked at the chip encased in the gelatinous compound. To the naked eye, it seemed motionless. But its multiple dentrical adapters were writhing tentacles in search of prey. Already, the subject's blood was draining, replaced with a nano-vasculoid fluid. Over 500 trillion nanobots had been carefully crafted to augment the subject organic physiology and the technical improvements.
He nodded to the other doctor on the team. Doctor Skota picked up the specially designed hypodermic needle and captured the chip in it. Just as she had practiced, she stabbed it in the young woman's head and then brutally yanked it out. There was nothing left to do but wait.
The subject screamed. Madness. Darkness.
Then the young woman woke, comfortless, from great travail. Her conciousness had been torn apart. New neural pathways had been knitted, while others were obliterated. Each dying connection had cried out in its death throes, "cellular death." Her life flashed before her eyes as every cell in her mind relinquished its secrets to the chip. The chip had directed the reworking of her grey matter. It tore down. It rebuilt. All her mind was now fully integrated. The nano-cells pulsed through her body,repairing years of damage,removing years of accumulated toxins. They saturated her.
Reborn.
The first of the bio-digital species.
By Milcho, Section Short Stories Posted on Tue Oct 19, 2004 at 07:41:49 AM PST
That's it!
Murphy, Williams J. - Known to few as a brilliant, perhaps slightly insane, scientist, for he had some crazy theories. Although unknown to the world, his name contributed to the expression `Murphy's laws', for, as his wife claims, he worked mainly on a theory of luck. Born in 1734, his date of death is unknown, as he vanished in 1756 without any clue, together, with all his work.
Fred Herton was sitting at his desk, carefully considering the formulas on the sheet of paper in front of him. Something is missing, he thought, or otherwise I've wasted my time. He was tired from working all day, so he spent only two hours trying to fix the formulas, and then he went to bed at eleven o'clock, as usual. He could hardly sleep because his brain was going over and over the formulas, trying to figure them out. Finally, after he took a pill, he managed to get some hours of sleep.
At eight sharp his alarm clock buzzed. He dragged himself up, and went in the bathroom to take a shower. After the shower he found himself scribbling equations on the foggy mirror. Unable to achieve anything, he went to work, taking the precious paper with him. He worked on an overcrowded floor, so no matter how much or little work he did, nobody noticed. Today, as every day for the past month or so, he started staring at the paper again.
"Give it up Fred" said his co-worker from the next cubicle as he past by. "Staring at the paper won't solve anything."
"We'll see." mumbled Fred without lifting his eyes from the paper.
"What is he working on?" asked another worker who happened to pass by.
"Some theory of the universal increment of total unhappiness, right Fred?"
"Yes," said Fred "better known as Murphy's laws"
"Ha" chuckled the second worker and walked away. Fred's friend from the next cubicle was still standing in front of Fred's cubicle, facing his back to Fred, as he was talking to some woman.
At an instant Fred's eyes started shining. That's it! he thought to himself. He jumped up, and shouted "That..."
Fred's friend from the next cubicle turned around.
"Molly," he asked the woman "did you hear something" Molly shook her head "Hey," said Fred's friend looking into the empty cubicle behind him "where did Fred go?"
" ...`s it!" Fred shouted at the mountain. Wait, he thought, I can't see any mountains from my cubicle! But, then again, this green field isn't my cubicle, is it?
"Hello" came a clear young male voice from behind him "I'm Williams Murphy. I see you solved the equation too. About time too, I was getting lonely here.".
By Milcho, Section Short Stories Posted on Thu Oct 07, 2004 at 04:55:06 PM PST
Jonathan awoke in his bed, opening his eyes little at first, and then fully grasping reality. Outside was still dark, but he didn't know what time it was. He began thinking about himself.
Why am I here? Now that's a stupid question. What is my purpose here? Again. Why cannot I come up with a sensible question? Again! - his speed of thinking was rapidly increasing - Then what must I know? At this rate I will be late... NO! Concentrate. This is important. What was that dream? One drop...in the ocean...I hate philosophy! But why? There must be a reason. - the deep meaning of the `must' hit him - I just must know what I must know. But...a paradox? Why... why... - he noticed a small movement in the corner of his room. He turned that way. - Yes. Who said that? Or...who thought that? Me. Me? No, I did. - there was something wrong - where...here and now. But, why? Again, Jonathan, you are asking the wrong question. Then... Yes, keep thinking. You are almost there. There? No, Jonathan, stick to the right questions. But I do not know them. You do. You must think. I am but...those coincidences... Yes, that is the way. Those moments...what is generating them? Yes, keep thinking! The illusion...the mind has...the mind! Incredible! Yes, it is! Then all this? Yes, Jonathan, wake up. Leave the illusion. Leave that world behind. I will! One last question. Ask. This...this is all an illusion? As you said, Jonathan, it is all an illusion. Let that world disappear in the nothingness of illusion. I Will! I can! That is it! The Truth! - Jonathan woke up, and greeted the minds around him. And the world of illusion disappeared in the nothingness.
Wide doors swung open and the Judiciate led the Android Captain into the main arena of the Capital building.
"The City and the State have evolved a large degree of autonomy. It is an autonomy we wish to continue. Our State has developed laws and practices that have more adequately fitted our society and our needs." The Judiciate smiled as he explained himself to the Captain, looking intently at the Captain's unrevealing facial expressions for signs of comprehension and approval. "The crime - even the trial itself - is tailored to our region. Our population problems are widely known and we must develop strategies to combat these problems. We have found our devices to be more than satisfactory." The Judiciate proudly held his hand, palm facing up, toward the arena where the trial was to begin. The Captain stepped forward and looked into the darkness. He could make out nothing.
"I do hope you enjoy the proceedings," the Judiciate said. "It is a remarkable machine. The trial itself has been around for a significant time, though undocumented. The instabilities of the region and the local government, did not allow us to record much of the work of the past Judiciates. It is the very reason I have requested your presence, Android. It would be a shame for this miraculous contraption to be forgotten in history."
The Judiciate sat down, his dark robe moving silently. In front of him a display materialized. He looked at the Captain who was facing forward in the seat next to him. The Judiciate hoped he would lean over in curiosity. When he did not, the Judiciate nudged him and said: "See this, Android? It is the interface for the trial." With unusual mirth, he began showing the Captain the controls.
"In ya go" Grunted the Guard, as he shoved Guarin into the Prison cell
You will let me out; you don't want to lock me in here. Locking someone in a prison cell is an Evil thing to do, you don't want to do evil, you want to take me to the front gate and let me go. Guarin projected his thought at the guard.
