Chapter 4

The next day, I was working on the experiments I wanted to perform, when Bruce came up to see me. I didn’t notice him, until he spoke.

“TJ, I think we have a problem.”

“What problem?” I asked, looking up at him.

“I don’t think we can change the past.”

“Do you think fate will do something, to prevent us from being successful in our experiments, because she doesn’t like time travel?”

“Either that, or we won’t be able to affect our own past.”

“Have you seen the preliminary math I worked out, that describes altering events in the past?”

“Yes, I did. That’s what has got me concerned. I don’t think this Vortex will actually reach across space and time. I think it’s reaching to a universe that happens to coincide with ours, at the point of creation. That point is in a universe of a different position, and time, relative to our own.”

“There’s an easy way to check your theory.”

“Really? How.”

“It’s the third ‘kitty’ experiment.”

“You, and your kitty’s. What happened to you as child, that made you hate cats, so much?”

“Oh, I don’t hate cats. It was Sandy’s idea to use them anyway. They are very reliable, and easy to obtain. We have to try live creatures, before we try people.”

“Yes I understand, but what ‘kitty experiments’ are you planning?”

“The first ‘kitty experiment’ is to try to locate, with the Vortex, the room I have the cats stashed in, just a few hours after I put them in there. The second ‘kitty experiment’, is to roll in the probe to watch them. The third ‘kitty experiment’, is to have the probe kill one kitty.”

“How does that solve the problem?”

“Easy. We go check, to see if any of the kitty’s are dead.”

As I said this, you could see the light bulb click on, inside his head.

“If one is dead, and the probe is sitting in the room, then we know that we can affect our past. If the kitty’s are all alive, and the probe isn’t there, then we know that we just killed someone else’s cat.”

“Very good, Bruce. Now the fourth ‘kitty experiment’ is to take one cat from the room, and send him through, to meet himself.”

“But what if that causes some kind of temporal anomaly, and the universe explodes.”

“It would be real ‘cat’astrophic wouldn’t it,” I said, grinning at him.

“Please, no more ‘Pun’ishment,” he begged.

“You got it, karate boy,” I bantered back. “If ‘kitty experiment three’ shows it’s not our universe, but an alternate, we need to discover if something can make it blow up. We don’t want to send a team through, and then have them killed, when that universe goes ‘pop’, unexpectedly.”

“I am Shiva, Destroyer of Universes,” he said mockingly, in a deep baritone.

“Let’s not worry about rehashing the Manhattan Project. If it is a separate universe, then we can have the freedom to blow it all to hell, as much as we want.”

“What gives us that right?” he asked.

I took a pad of paper, and drew out a diagram.

“This long straight line, is our universe. Everything that has happened, and will happen, exists on this line. If we create a Vortex, then I think what it makes is a new universe. With everything up to the point of the Vortex, being identical to our own, but veering off into a new future.”

I marked branches, off of the primary line, labeling them with important events.

“We have the right, because we created the alteration. If you make something, it belongs to you,” I said.

“How do you know you made it, what if it’s always been there. Plus, how do we know if this is the original universe, and not an alternate branch?”

“I don’t,” I told him. “But I would guess that we are. It makes sleeping soundly, much easier.”

“Is there a way to tell if you are the original, or the branch?”

“There may be. I’ll have to think about it,” I told him. “Once we can study an actual Vortex, then we may be able to create a detector of some kind.”

“I want to be assured no one’s going to blow this universe, just to see if they can do it from theirs.”

“That would suck,” I said agreeing with him.

“Makes the idea of doing it to someone else, a little less pleasant,” he said, thoughtfully.

I had a sudden inspiration.

“If we can move the opposing end of the Vortex, from our universe; then we can probably move, and control, the Vortex on the opposing end, of anyone trying to send something here. We may be able to move it, or even close it, from our end.”

I started working on the math, and the energy involved in controlling a foreign Vortex. Just as I was losing any hint of the outside world, from sheer concentration, I got a hard punch, on the shoulder.

“Hey, that hurt!” I said.

“You have got to toughen up, boss. I’ve got to get your experimentation list over to the General, before our daily briefing,” Sandy said, moodily.

“It’s in that yellow folder, over there,” I said, waving in the direction of my desk. “How long ‘till the briefing begins?”

“You’ve got twenty minutes. The General will probably be upset that this took so long.”

“I’m sure it won’t matter. I’m going to change, shower, and get ready for the briefing. I’ll meet you there, ok?”

“Sure, boss. But remember, you have twenty minutes.”

I headed for my room. I got there, stripped, and jumped into the shower (After setting my timer for fifteen minutes, I didn’t want be late for this briefing.) As the hot water cascaded over me, I thought about the future, and the aliens. It had occurred to me, that anything traveling by solar sail (such as the incoming ship) would be moving very slowly. That meant that they would either have been traveling a very long time, or from relatively nearby; or most likely, both.

“Why do aliens cross interstellar divides?” I asked myself. No punch line I could think of made me rest any easier. The idea of aliens without faster than light technology was comforting. They had used a solar sail, which could mean that their world lacked the technology to create giant space engines. That set me off thinking of how I would go about traveling to the stars.

My alarm rang, and I hopped out of the shower, refreshed. Quickly drying, and dressing, I headed for the briefing room. As I opened my door, alarms began blaring. Seeing people rushing toward the briefing room I followed. As I turned around a corner, there was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

It stood twenty feet high, and was a perfect circle. It rippled in shimmering blues, purples, and brilliant reds. The Vortex. My Vortex. It seemed slightly transparent, and I could feel a breeze coming from it. The alarms cut off suddenly, and in the silence, the thirty or forty people standing there, gazed, without making a sound.

There was a rustling of voices, as we could see a dark shape move toward us, through the Vortex. Emerging from the Vortex, was a sleek black version of our prototype probe. It was just beautiful. It had rolled right through the Vortex, and came to a stop. It beeped loudly three times, and a camera swung up from the side.

“General McCabe, please respond.” Came a voice from the Vortex Probe.

General McCabe, looking rather astounded, stepped forward.

“General McCabe, here. Who am I speaking to?”

“Please lead me to a secure location.”

“Have the probe follow me,” said General McCabe.

He turned around, and marched to the conference room, where the daily briefing had been scheduled. After the probe followed him in, and he ordered everyone out, he shut the doors.

I ran up to the door, and tried to open it.

“God damn, him. He locked the door. I want to hear what’s going on.” I said.

A military officer came up and pushed me away from the door.

“Stay back,” he said. “I don’t want to have to get rough.”

“TJ, look at the Vortex,” said Sandy.

I turned around.

The Vortex curled up into a small bright blue ball, and moved down the hallway.

“Quickly, follow it, see where it goes,” I shouted, running after it.

Sandy, Bruce, and few other people followed me, as I chased the closed Vortex down the hallway. It passed with ease through shut doors, and moved through the base at a leisurely pace. I chased it as fast as I could move. After a minute of hard running, it finally stopped. As the rest of the group, and I, caught up to it; it slid through a wall, and into our sealed Vortex creation chamber.

I ran to a window overlooking the Vortex room, and watched in awe, as it again unfolded itself. Like a flower, it stretched oval, and opened up. Again I just stood there, and watched the semi transparent energy field flicker with electricity, and color. It seemed as if you could peer into it.

Again there was an image of something moving through the Vortex, like a shadow. A large vehicle, supported by six stubby wheels, rolled into the Vortex room. Shaped like a square boat, with a fully open top, it was packed with supplies, and equipment.

A large sign written across the front in spray paint said, “Only open with General McCabe.”

“Damn, can’t even unwrap the presents,” I said to Bruce.

He turned and looked at me.

“TJ, this means it works, doesn’t it.”

“Yes, Bruce, there really is a Santa Claus. Isn’t it the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?” I asked him.

The Vortex then closed, shrinking into a tiny bright blue ball about the size of two fists. I just stared, unable to pull away from the object I had desired for so long. It seemed to brighten for a moment, then shrunk down to a bright red pinprick.

“It’s down to minimal size. They’re probably trying to save electricity,” Bruce said.

Sandy looked at me, her eyes shining in triumph.

“Boss, we did it. It might not have been the two of us, but we did it.”

“We sure did, Sandy, we sure did,” I told her. “If it’s closed down to tiny, then nothing’s coming through, for a while.”

“Let’s go back, and check on the General. He may be finished, and ready for us, now.”

As Sandy said this, the Generals voice came over the intercom.

“Attention. Attention. This is General McCabe. All radios are to be turned off, immediately. All radio transmissions are to stop, immediately. I have ordered the base sealed. All people, not on duty, are to report to their Department heads, for instructions. Major General Copper, all senior staff, and Vortex project team leaders, are to report to the conference room immediately. Security teams alpha, and beta, are to secure the conference room, now!”

I turned, and looked at my two friends.

“Let’s go, guys,” I told them. “We don’t want to be the last ones there.”

I took off running, again, for the conference room. I didn’t run quite as fast as I had, chasing the Vortex, but it didn’t matter. I was moving through a dream world. Nothing could go wrong now, I thought to myself.

Entering the conference room (after showing our ID’s to the guards outside), we sat at the large table. General McCabe looked rather pale, and it made me worry.

As everyone took their seats, a hush fell over the room. The doors were closed, as the last person entered. General McCabe had a look, that I almost can’t describe. It seemed to take the life out me, and the room.

“The probe sent here was an automated machine. It played a prerecorded message that I’m now going to play for you,” said the General, pressing a button on a tablet screen in front of him.

The display, on a large TV screen that was connected to the probe, woke to life.

“General McCabe, I am General Dixon. The video you are about to see is shocking. The alien presence that was discovered, just a few weeks ago, is hostile.” Said General Dixon, his face appeared on the screen.

He continued, “I repeat, they are hostile. This message is coming to you from one year, and four days, into your potential future. In six months time, earth will be bombarded by neutron bombs, of incredible power. It has been estimated that nearly half a million of these neutron bombs have detonated on earth. The only known life remaining, is deep in the ocean, and in deep underground facilities.”

I gasped as he said this. So did most of those around me, and I could hear someone beginning to cry. The message continued without pause.

“These bombs are launched in approximately three months time, after launch they go ballistic, and are unstoppable. After the first wave of bombs, the ship used high energy weapons to clear earth orbit of any man made object. This included the International Space Station, and shuttle Discovery.

“The ship now uses those weapons, to target any radio signal coming from earth. We are using a prerecorded message to prevent possible detection via transmitting of a live signal. We ask that you do not attempt to send any radio signal, through the Vortex, for the same reason.

“Using the Vortex machine, we have been able to trace the route of the incoming spacecraft. Traveling about one year behind it, in space; is what appears to be a colony ship, filled with aliens, in suspended animation. There are approximately fifteen million of them.”

“Our Vortex has gone unnoticed, and undetected, by the aliens. It has been in your universe, that we have made these observations, and we are prepared to strike at them for you. Unfortunately we do not have weapons, powerful enough, to destroy the ship.

“We have a plan. We have closed the Vortex, and moved it to your nearly complete Vortex room. When your equipment has been installed, and modified according to the instructions we have sent you, you will be able reopen it. We don’t have power enough to move the Vortex so we need you to power it and control it from your end.

“Once open, we need you to send through two thermonuclear weapons, in the one hundred megaton range. After arming them, together we will move the Vortex to each incoming spaceship, and place one weapon onboard. They will then detonate, destroying the incoming invasion. Then we move the Vortex back to your Vortex room so that you can do the same for us.

“We have also sent you information on everything that has happened in the past year, as well as notes from the scientists, involved. We know that this information will be invaluable to you. Much of the information is in the automated probe. The rest is in a cargo mover we have sent through to your Vortex room. We have included all the technological advances made by the flurry of research, funded by the government, to combat this threat.