Time Virus

Chapter 7

Chapter 7
Date: December 21th, 2012
Location: San Diego, California

Allison sat quietly on the beach in San Diego. She could feel the peace wash over her as she watched the sun slowly dipping towards the sea. Reflections on life filed past her consciousness as acceptance that the end was now here somehow brought her peace.

The world had been a roller coaster of emotions and events over the last decade. When the Time Virus had first been identified, mankind didn’t quite know how to react. The world was going to end so what were we to do in the meantime?

The world had progressed predictably through the Seven Stages of Grief. There was global “shock and denial” at first. Stage Three, “anger and bargaining” had brought about the most pain and suffering. Man’s inhumanity to man was seemingly without bounds.

The last few weeks had seen Stage Seven take over. “Acceptance and hope,” began to see the world emerge from the far side of fear. It became a world of peace and love. Mankind used his final breaths to forgive himself.

Allison soaked in the surprisingly euphoric feeling of being free from fear. The last rays of sun kissed her a final good-bye. She was ready to go.

A commotion broke out a hundred yards down the beach. Crowds were gathering around their cars in the parking lots. Allison could hear radios being turned on and turned up. Someone ran by her shouting, “Turn on your radios and televisions! The Tachyon Cube is transmitting a message! Get to a radio!”

Confused, Allison rose to her feet and hurried back to her car.

Date: Infinity
Location: Null Space

“Magnus, if I can choose what I want to experience, then can I choose to return to Earth?”

“Jason, there is an infinity of Earth experiences for you to return to. However, I know what you are really asking. You want to know if you can go back to the reality that you just left. The answer to that is no.”

For the first time, Jason became angry. “What do you mean no!? Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do? Is this all a game to you? If I can choose from infinity, then I choose to go back to earth; to be with my wife again. I choose to be by her side when the world comes to an end.”

Magnus smiled that disarming smile he had used so often to sooth Jason and help him with comprehension. “Jason, you could choose to return, but you don’t. You see, we have met before, countless time, in this very setting, having this very conversation; and you never choose to return home.”

“How can that be? What else would I choose?”

“Jason, you left behind a world in a self-created death spiral. That is neither a good thing nor a bad thing; it is simply what the world is experiencing for the moment. Now it is time to change the course of events so that other experiences can emerge. Instead of a world of fear, hate and greed, it is time to chart a course to love, hope and giving.”

Jason could feel the familiarity of the words. He knew he had been here before.

“What role could I possibly play in making that change? The world is too big a place for one man to have a significant role.”

“What about Jesus or Hitler or Einstein? Didn’t all of these individuals change the path of man? You are no different.”

Jason’s nano-bots were beginning to ramp up. They worked with his mind to begin trying to understand what was being said. There was something here, just out of reach. They could almost, but not quite see what Magnus was saying.

Magnus provided the final push, “Think about it Jason. You are here, outside the boundaries of the physical universe. You jumped outside of the reality where the speed of light contains your universes. You exist here, but you are not alone. There is something else that exists beyond the boundary of light speed. This something else is here for you to use. You know what I am talking about, don’t you Jason.”

Jason stood up in that instant. He did know. Tachyons!

It all fell into place. He had been sent out to find the source of the Time Virus. His mission was to follow the tachyon trace back to wherever it originated from and destroy whatever he found.

That mission had just changed.

He was not the one to destroy the tachyons, he was the one that created the Time Virus to begin with.

With nothing more than his thoughts, Jason reached out to the infinite possibilities available to him. He chose the reality that had him returning to prehistoric earth to place a tachyon transceiver in a place where it would not easily be found. He then selected a reality where he could initiate a tachyon trace that carried the Time Virus. He beamed it towards his home world knowing the death and destruction it would bring. He also knew that mankind would rise like the Phoenix from ashes to become different from what he once was.

Date: December 21th, 2012
Location: Third Rock From the Sun

Around the world, every means of communication was taken over by The Cube.

The message was simple.

“People of Earth, the end of days is at hand. The end of your existence is only moments away. I have halted the progression of the Time Virus at the brink to give you one last chance. Take this chance to become something different. You have followed the path of self destruction long enough and it is time to move on. Take this opportunity to heal the earth; to heal yourselves. Join together in Peace and Unity or perish as conflicted individuals. This is your only warning.”

Date: December 21st, 2121
Location: Earth

Around the world, the story of The Cube was repeated, as it was on every anniversary. Children were told of the world and how it used to be. The green forests of today made it hard to remember what it used to be like. The ideas of war, greed and suffering were so far outside of the population’s experience that they could only trust that what they read of history was true.

As for Jason, he rejoined his own reality, already in progress . ..


word count 1066
total count 6608


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