Copyright crap: The author of this thingy retains full copyright of the material, while hereby granting full permission for it to be reprinted in any format whatsoever, with the provisos that his name be forever attached to it, the text of the document be forever unaltered, and if anyone manages to figure out how to make big bucks off of it, the above mentioned author wants a cut. Oh, yes, and lest I forget, this notice must remain attached to the main text. I. Marc Carlson IMC@VAX2.UTULSA.EDU 6 January 1993 *************************************************************************** Time and Time Travel In classical Newtonian physics, there is a strict separation of space and time, while in Einsteinian physics, space and time are aspects of each other. There is an image of time as an unalterable straight line. However, Moriarty shows that time and space are inseparable, two of the six nodes within the dynamic structure of the universe. Time isn't linear, it just looks that way. Rather the old analogy of the `time stream' is more true than we thought. Time has ripples and eddies, currents and deep, slow spaces. There are places where time may flow back upstream, or whorl about uselessly. Time is fluid and mutable, within limits, but only during an observer's relative present. As discussed earlier, traveling through subspace is not true multi-dimensional travel, as opposed to superspace travel. It involves warping space on a local level until it bends, making a bubble of real space that bulges into subspace, or else by making a `wormhole' through subspace from one place to another. The hyperspace vehicle, in either case, then moves across from its first location to its destination by passing through the intervening sub-space instead of through normal space. Subspace travel then can be much faster than travel through normal space, as it is not limited to the speed of light. An object in subspace is effectively invisible and intangible to someone in normal space, although there are ways to detect such an object. The object does, however, retain a `location,' or pseudolocus, in normal space. It is always `touching' just one position in normal space, and remains part of that location's timeline. As far as the time stream is concerned, a subspace bubble is forced to ride the waves and currents down the time stream, just like any other object. Beyond the levels of space is another lattice that touches each and every other location in the universe. Just as subspace, or hyperspace, reaches out from real space to True Limbo, does Hypertime, or the Temporal Vortex reach out from real time to True Limbo. No physical object can move beyond real time and into Hypertime, although bubbles, or tau fields, like subspace bubbles, can be created. Traveling through Hypertime is, like subspace travel, not true multi-dimensional travel. It involves warping time on a local level until it bends, making a bubble of real time that bulges into Hypertime, or else by making a `wormhole' through hypertime from one place to another. The temporal vehicle, in either case, then moves across from its first location to its destination by passing through the intervening hypertime instead of through normal time. Most Time machines (spells, etc.) are platforms that travel through Hypertime by generating a tau field bubble about them. When generating a tau field, everything within the area of the bubble goes within it. [A curious note, passage through a tau field destroys most normal diseases, parasites, etc.] An object in hypertime is effectively invisible and intangible to someone in normal space. The object does, however, retain a `location,' or pseudolocus, in normal space-time. It is always `touching' just one position in the normal time stream, and remains part of that location's space-time. As far as the time stream is concerned, a hypertime bubble is forced to ride the waves and currents down the time stream, just like any other object, aging normally. The manifestation of an emerging tau field in the past generates a EMP-like field in the Vril, the longer the trip back though time, the greater the pulse. An object that creates a subspace bubble, sometimes called dimensionally transcendent, i.e. an object that is larger inside than outside, such as bags of holding, will not operate properly during time travel, as the dimensional bubble won't translate through Hypertime. [`Bags of holding' that are `unlimited' in size actually access a different universe entirely and therefore will work after time travel. A curious thought, the `slingshot effect' that the Enterprise uses to travel through time must somehow transfers the warp bubble in subspace to a tau field bubble in hypertime, but don't ask me how.] Otherwise, only creations of pure mathematics, i.e., the multi-dimensional mathematics of reality, have no such restrictions, and can actually enter hypertime, and exit at any point in time or space. A TARDIS is such a creation, and therefore can move freely through Hypertime, moving through time and space at will. [A TARDIM, on the other hand, is a similar mathematical construct existing in the depths of True Limbo.] A TARDIS is connected to the three dimensional world through its temporal pseudolocus, or real world interface. As this interface is merely a manifestation of the mathematics of reality, this interface can be dematerialized, although the pseudolocus remains intact. The pseudolocus can then move through time and space until it reaches it desired location. The machine then can materialize a new, physical interface. The contents of the TARDIS are protected from the absolute non-existence in Hypertime by a mathematical `nesting' procedure that maintains their mathematical existence. There are creatures that exist within hypertime, moving across the time stream as physically based entities move across real space. An example of these are the so-called Hounds of Tindalos, who send appendages into real space to feed. Laws 1st Law of Time There is a finite amount of "Time Energy" in the Universe. 2nd Law of Time "Time" is an energetic system that tends toward dissipation. 3rd Law of Time This system may be transferred from one state to another. 4th Law of Time Change belongs to a temporal energetic system's 'present.' Basic rules of time travel 1. No translation, whether in time or space will be successful, if such a translation would cause one object to be transferred into another. a. Physical matter won't mesh (i.e., one thing won't appear inside another) 2. No object can be introduced into a space time continuum where it exists in the same form. a. A person (#2) who is a second older than himself in the past (#1) is a different person than his self in the past. b. Magical items, on the other hand, are temporally unique & cannot exist in a time where they already exist, as long as they are transported through Hypertime. However, because of their separation from the space-time continuum, magical item `duplicates' can exist, as long as they are brought in through travel through True Limbo. 3. An object that is translated to a point prior to its existence that is allowed to remain there until a point after it came into existence is removed from the space time axis. 4. No tau field generating machine can be translated into its absolute future. a. There exists a temporal "Absolute Present" beyond which nothing can pass. b. Permanent time gates are a special case of a `dual present' and are very touchy. 5. Changing history is an exceptionally time-consuming process, and is generally a bad idea. a. The flow pattern of time tends towards the `past' of least resistance. Even if you make a change in history, unless it is a major change, other events will unfold so as to make the change unimportant. Therefore, the past is unchangeable and the future is unreachable. Only in the single solution of the 'present' where possibility and existence meet can change occur. What this means is that History can be changed, but only somewhat. Free Will exists, but only to an extent. Divergences that are significant can only occur at `Nexus Points of Significance.' These nexus points, are the places where timelines bifurcate. Where there are non-significant divergences, or changes that are forgotten, or vanish, the bifurcated timelines re-merge fairly quickly. b. Paradoxes exist, and are often self-correcting, assuming there is time for the correction to take place. I.e. If you go back in time and kill your grandfather, a number of things will occur: a) A timeline will diverge wherein something happened to keep you from doing so, probably the divergence will occur before you can follow through with you plan, and shunting you over to b). b) You will kill your grandfather, and someone else will fill into that place, making the "you" from timeline B a slightly different person from the "you" from timeline A. You being from timeline A, will remember your original grandfather, and not this new one. c. Because Time Travel is an unnatural act, Improbable discontinuities can lead to Causality Loops. I.e., if you go back to try and stop yourself from killing your grandfather, could lead to a chaotic fibrillation in time, that could, at the very least, negate your existence throughout the time stream. Once a causality loop has begun, there is no way to stop it, and it is possible to unravel the time stream altogether. Note that the entire `Back to the Future' trilogy is one long temptation to create a causality loop.