Chapter 31

Future Interlude IX: Love By The Stonewall

Aina time: 8:40 PM day 288 of 1473 H.E. (77 days after memory integration, First leap- day of 1473, two days before the Festival of the High Sun and day zero of 1474)

Mayoni and Ekela walked through the quiet orchards well north of the old deserted museum-village, holding hands and enjoying the lush beauty and sweet smells of the fruit trees around them. The sun was very low on the horizon and would set in twenty minutes, and the native Aina chuckle-birds were just starting to chirp it up. The location of the Hopewell nation was in the middle latitudes, 46.8 degrees, and with the planet's tilt of 34.5 degrees the sun would rise just 5 hours and 38 minutes after sunset, at 3:00 AM. The temperature was very pleasant, in the mid-70's F, with a modest breeze blowing through the trees.

Ekela adjusted his backpack and smiled at Mayoni, giving her a quick kiss.

Mayoni smiled and kissed him back. "This certainly feels different! Back in 1410, unmarried couples would have been chaperoned on a trip like this!"

Ekela smiled and then laughed. "Think of our ages! We both turned eighteen Earth years months ago! Back in 1410, we both would have married at the last Red Bird Festival."

"True..." They walked quietly for a while. "I think I like the new way better," Mayoni said at last. "We have all the benefits of the marriage class, but there's no ticking clock."

"Huh? Clocks tick?"

"What? Oh! It's just an expression from old Earth. They used to have mechanical clocks, non-electronic. Yeah, they used to tick."

"Ah..." They walked another short while in silence. "I saw the morning's science holocast before we left. It was devoted to your measurement results..."

"Yeah, 2.1243 gigaseconds, plus or minus 100,000 seconds. The universe ends on day 254 of 1537, give or take a day."

"What's that in Earth time, old Earth time?"

"Huh? You mean before the Earth-loop reset?"

"Yeah."

"Ekela, that's not the right way to think about it."

"Oh, I know. What would it be anyway?"

"Assuming we were still linked to Earth's old timeline, the date would be February 16, 2112."

Ekela was silent for a moment. "I thought so! That was one of the dates on the old Path opening schedule, wasn't it?"

Mayoni nodded. "You're very observant. Several staff members noticed that too. Nobody knows what to make of it."

"And today's date?"

Mayoni was silent for a second as her mind did the calculation. "April 12, 2062."

They continued their walk. A few silent minutes drifted by. "So another fifty Earth years... It will be a full life for us."

Mayoni sighed. "Yes, I agree, and even for the children being born now. We must seize the moment! I think the reset has reminded everybody how precious time... how precious life is..." Mayoni slipped her arm around Ekela, and they continued their walk holding each other by their waists. "I wouldn't be surprised though, if the birthrates drop off in another few decades..."

"Yeah... It'll be sad, not to see the young children around near the end, a sad echo of Earth's plague years..."

"Yeah..." Mayoni shivered and hugged Ekela.

He kissed her and hugged her back. "Mayoni, would I be a geek if I asked you a shop question on our date?"

Mayoni laughed. "Heck no! What's on your mind?"

"The time-loop reset mathematics. I've been working with the new formalism you and Kalea published."

Mayoni smiled. "Uh huh. And?"

"I don't get it! It implies that time-loop reset must occur simultaneously across the entire spacetime continuum. The entanglements of the photons demand it. And all the clocks on the photons are already stopped. They travel at the speed of light, therefore there's no perceived movement in time from the photon's perspective."

"Quite correct. You figured this out all by yourself?! Ekela, I am so proud of you!"

"I'm not proud of me! What am I missing? How can Earth and Aina reset the time loop at different times if the entire spacetime continuum resets at once?!"

Mayoni laughed. "My aunt, and she was my aunt back then, had the same problem, in the winter of 1434. Kalea called it her one equals zero proof. It drove her nuts." Mayoni giggled at the memory of Kalea shouting curses down the empty science hall. She was about to tell Ekela, but then remembered her promise to keep quiet about Kalea's outburst.

Ekela had a deep frown on his face. "You have a way out of the paradox?"

"Oh yeah. Can you guess what it is, oh noble one?"

Ekela was silent for a long moment, and then his face burst with astonishment. "Earth and Aina! They're not just on different timelines. They're on different spacelines too. Two totally different spacetime continuums!"

"Bravo Ekela! Brilliant!"

He gave her a quick kiss. "I have a great teacher!"

Mayoni smiled. "Kalea and I have a proof we haven't published yet, that time-loops must involve at least two spacetime continuums. You can never reach Earth from here without the slip bubble. We're a billion light-years away, but we're also on a different membrane of the multiverse. Just think of the anti-matter galaxy we've observed here. I don't think they exist in Earth's continuum. Neutrino evolution is different there."