Time Virus

Chapter 3

Date: Launch plus 10 years (Earth Time)

Location: Deep Space onboard Earth Needleship Schrödinger

Neo-Jason mentally tapped the virtual coolant regulator as his brain activity pushed his internal temperature into the red. He was finding it harder and harder to pace himself. His mind was performing calculations at a rate far beyond any expectation and yet, there was still so much to do. One after another, the probability waves collapsed around him but it seemed the more he was able to eliminate, the more there were waiting in the wings.

Three days had elapsed since the termination of the fusion burn. At the ship’s current relativistic speed, that meant that the home world of earth had aged more than a thousand years. By now, mankind would have long ago succumbed to what had come to be known as the Time Virus. The world left behind was now a beautiful garden planet devoid of all animal life save a few radiation resistant cockroaches. The alien invasion, if it could be called that, would begin soon.

Was it really an invasion to move in when no one was home?

It first appeared as a slight opening in the space between equations. Neo-Jason sent part of his mind out to investigate. Soon there was no doubt. There was an end in sight. In moments, he had cleared away all of the remaining probability curves, those that predicted he would fail in his quest to jump through the impenetrable boundary of light speed. Floating quietly in the virtuality, neo-Jason found himself the center of a universe where the stars had been replaced with equations, each describing a probability for achieving his goal.

With nothing to guide him, he reached out and chose one at random. Instantaneously, Earth Needleship Schrödinger blinked out of mankind’s oldest cage. The known universe and its impenetrable boundary of light speed and just had its first Earth-born escapee.


Date: Launch minus 30 months
Location: Quintana Roo, Mexico

Doctor Kirby sat near the campfire watching the coffee boil. It was cool up here in the Andes; the sunrise beautiful against the forested background. Allison arrived a week earlier in search of something called “You’ll know it when you find it.” There were hundreds of teams like hers, climbing through the ruins of an ancient civilization looking for the same thing.

The military was certain the Mayans had something to do with the Time Virus. The coincidence with the Mayan calendars prediction of a new world order beginning on December 21st, 2012 matching perfectly with the predicted end of mankind was too significant to ignore.

The cause of the Time Virus was quickly narrowed down to a single culprit. While nothing could theoretically accelerate past the speed of light, there were theoretical particles that came into existence already traveling faster than light.

Tachyons.

They had to be carrying the virus. The Time Virus would only work if its source could travel backwards in time. To do that, the contaminant had to be traveling faster than light. Tachyons were the only peg to hang one’s hat on. Nothing else fit.

The World Time Virus Convention of 2009 had resulted in a global effort to find a way to detect Tachyons. This was quite a tall order since the existence of the particles themselves was only theoretical. The hunt began anyway. The world had no other choice short of sitting back and waiting for the end of the world to come to them.

The hope was that if Tachyons could be detected, then they could be tracked back to their source. Everyone silently knew that finding the source and saving the world were only vaguely related. Up against technology that made man appear insect-like, what could anyone hope to do?

Allison reflected on how lucky it was for her to have such a clear view of the rising sun. All around her was deep forest, but right here, for a hundred yards in every direction, the ground was barren. Not being a biologist, she just assumed that it must be something in the soil.

After her morning coffee, she took a stroll around the camp perimeter. There the forest was lush with large leafed plants along with a wide variety of gaily colored flowers. On an impulse, she went back to the camp and retrieved one of her small shovels. With care, she unearthed a beautiful bright pink lily and transplanted it into a paper cup on the camp dining table. Standing back, she admired her handiwork. It took a woman’s touch to bring color to the drab brown-canvassed camp site. She had no idea that she’d just played a key role in discovering the world’s first tachyon detector.

Date: Meaningless
Location: Meaningless

“Was it good?” the young girl asked as she lifted her head from Jason’s lap.

Jason looked around, stunned. Where was he? There was something familiar about this but … not quite real.

“Jason. Are you alright?” She asked as a concerned look crossed her face.

His brain went into high gear as he tried to comprehend where he was. He stood up and walked across the room to where a large mirror showed a young version of him, standing nude with his hands at his side.

He turned slowly back to the girl and said, “I remember you. You’re Cindy Stevens. I haven’t seen you for thirty years. Where are we? What is this place?”

The scene changed in an instant and Jason found himself standing in the middle of a large field, surrounded by screaming bloody men with swords. His body went into autopilot as he came under attack. Sidestepping a clumsy thrust, he spun hard. His sword lifted the top of an opponent’s head clean off. His balance was perfect as he ducked under a spear and sent a thrust up under another’s armor. It was as if he were watching himself perform. Jason had no idea where he was. But there was one thing about which he had no doubt.

He had been here before.

Word count for chapter 3 is 1007
Running total is 2,990


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