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Days of End (a journey of man)chapter 1 & 2 |
| Written by r.e.potter | |
| Sunday, 22 June 2008 | |
As he stepped from his vehicle; he lifted his protective visor and gazed outwards with awe at the shear beauty his eyes feasted upon. The scenery was disturbing in nature, but beautiful nonetheless. Rolling hills of greenery stretched out as far as he could see, and the sky was bluer then he had ever known before. He listen for the sound of birds, he heard none. He listened for anything that might stir or rumble in the still of the day, he heard nothing. He took in a deep breath of air; it seemed fresher and cleaner then what he had left behind... but it was of no surprise. Obviously, it was a world that had been undisturbed by man for many years. Reflecting on this moment, he thought how no man had ever seen what his eyes were looking upon, and no man ever would; that is, if he didn't return with the information that was required of this mission.
Turning his eyes to the ground, he bent down and picked up a handful of dirt and studied it, shifting through it with his finger, wondering if any life was living there within. Gazing back up at the new world, he began wondering if anything was living at all in this unfamiliar place he had once called home... it didn't matter, what mattered only was why this was, and how it became? Tossing the dirt aside and wiping his hands clean of it, he continued looking outwards upon the landscape that stretched before him. Landscapes that once housed magnificent skyscrapers and paved highways now bore enormous size trees and an abundance of overgrown greenery of unattained plant life. But this was not his mission to gaze upon the fury of nature; his mission was more complicated, and much more important.
Cupping his hand around his mouth, he hollered out a loud "hello," half hoping to hear a return gesture echo back at him; or the scurrying of fluttering birds scared from the sound, but instead, he heard nothing. He then glanced inside the time vessel that had carried him to this point and gave his co-pilot a half hearted smiled as he began to speak.
"Well, at least we know now for sure that the days of man will indeed end one day... no ifs ands or buts, I guess our government was right after all. Now we just need to find out how and when it all happened," he said while reaching inside the time craft for his recording device. An instrument needed to document their excursion in case they didn't return back home safely with the craft, as had happened before with others in the past of lesser journeys. But before he began speaking in to it, he glanced backwards towards the towering trees that stood behind him one last time; perhaps for a bit of reassurance that what he was actually seeing was real, he concurred to himself with a shaking of his head that it was all to real, he then clicked on the recorder and spoke.
"This is Commander Adamson Godfrey; pilot of LifeForce 3, the year registering on our trac meter...twenty thousand AD. As predicted, all signs of life have disappeared from this time slot, and we can only assume at this time gazing outwards at the un-kept abundance of nature...the entire world. All building structures have crumbled and vanished with no forms of life present anywhere, human or animal. Everything manmade that once stood this ground has disintegrated into nothing. Nature has overtaken everything, as again, was predicted would happen if man ever ceased to exist from this planet. At this time there is nothing to indicate what caused our departure, or candidly may I say; our extinction. Commander Winslow, co-pilot of LifeForce 3 and I, will now proceed to move backwards in time from this point to hopefully gather information on mans days of end. This is Commander Adamson Godfrey of LifeForce 3 signing out."
The mission at hand was to discover how mans extinction from this world would come about, and prepare and even prevent it from happening if possible, simple as that. With the discovery of time travel from the United States Technical Institute of Physics in the year two thousand and thirty nine; fifteen years prior, it was an idea the Government had decided to secretly carry out and use to perhaps gain the upper advantage on other nations if this calamity were to ever occur. Even though there were no readily threats at the present time to even consider that mans extinction could even be plausible; mans egotistical nature had to know for sure. They had to know when or if man would ultimately destroy himself, or perhaps even be destroyed by the wrath of a forgotten God, and now, in their possession, they had the tool that could give them just that information.
As Commander Godfrey continued to look about, he knew there were no answers to the questions of how and when this fury of nature came about, or even what caused mans disappearance from this destination of time they were in. He would have to travel backwards now for those answers; the answers his government would want to know. He also knew that what ever happened to man must have happened a long time ago for the steel structures that once stood on this ground to have migrated to mere dirt. He was eager to find those answers, and he was just as eager to embark on his next long; but short journey through time. Strapping himself back into the time craft, he set all parameters to the next destination drop zone...ten thousand AD. As the doors came to a sealed lock, the two pilots braced themselves for their continued historic journey, and as prisms of light started dancing around the capsule displaying a remarkable light show, the two pilots also braced themselves for what came next... darkness. ********************** Chapter two The essence of time travel
Darkness It was a phenomenon even the top physicist in the world could not quite understand, though many had their opinion. When moving forward through time; there was light, but when moving backwards...only darkness. It was believed that the reasoning for this was a simply one, simply stated; light cannot travel backwards. Examples given were that when you turn on a light switch in your home, the light travels outwards and fills the room, but when you turn that same light switch off, the light doesn't retract back to the source from which it came, it simply becomes null and void. Hundreds of lectures and debates offered many theories to the cause of the darkness, but ultimately in the end, it was just accepted that light cannot retract, and thus the reasoning for the phenomenon when moving backwards through time.
Energy Twenty-Five years would be the farthest any man or women had ever traveled, or even dared. Energy was needed to fuel the craft, and earlier designed models weren't capable to maintain its source long enough for journeys of that length. But engineers were hard at work, and newer technology was now capable to maintain a high enough energy output level for designed crafts such as Life Force 1 to journey outwards and clock in at twenty years, while its sister model; Life Force 2 had clocked in at a respectable twenty five years. But that was as far as man could safely travel, and with the cost to harness the energy needed for greater lengths, it simply wasn't feasible to continue, and so, for six years the program of time exploration was at a stand still.
Black holes It was the essence of time travel; and the essence of fear. With the discovery of Proton Laser Fusion (PLF), it was now possible to travel countless years simply by using measured laser pulsing devices. Engineers and top Physicists had finally developed a way to bombard generated protons and antiprotons together with such a force; that it created temperatures and energy density levels not seen since the big bang, thus creating a miniature black hole. It was the break through the program was hoping for, but more importantly, needed. But there was also a danger with it. Although relatively understood, black holes had still an unknown origin about them, and many questions needed answers before man could embark on journeys of great lengths. How did it work? Could we even bring back a team once they've traveled forward? In simulated laboratories, tests were underway to find those answers.
Using the technology of Proton Laser Fusion (PLF) it was possible to create high levels of energy gamma rays. The gamma rays would then in turn produce magnetospheric neutrons, and when bombarded with the protons and antiprotons, a gas would form in the Hadron Collider creating the black hole. But a new problem now arose, how to use it for mans benefit? With the development of the Quasi Periodic Oscillator (QPO) it was now possible to have the gas spiral inward instead of outward; heating up to very high temperatures and thus creating the charged energy needed for the propulsion of travel. The radiation generated by this spiriling mass was easily controlled with instruments and proper attire. It was a timely break through. Still, the program had no way to measure its fury of power, but as the days went on, they would learn. As test were performed; they discovered how objects such as clocks would be drawn inward, and when this happened, time slowed. But as the objects neared the threshold of Event Horizon, prisms of highly concentrated quasar lights form around that object causing time to speed up as it was pulled into the turning gas and out of site. They discovered by reversing the rotation of the gas with the oscillator, the objects that had once disappeared, now reappeared.
Still a problem presented itself. With Lifeforce 1 and 2, Solar Energy was used to propel the craft forward and then back again. Energy that was produce from the crafts instruments, and as long as there was a sun, that energy was readily available. They needed to find a way for the next generation of time capsules to create its own mini black hole for a return trip greater then just a few minutes. The program of exploration was again; at a standstill, but within a year, they would have a way to remedy that dilemma. Using the sophistication of Quantum Physics; Particle accelerators were now introduced, and with many countless nights of head banging, they had finally found a way. They had found a way to create the particles using the same principles of quasar dynamics, and now also, they had found a way to have them stored and continually charged while on board the designed craft as it made its journey to the unknown. With a craft now capable of producing its own black hole, they were set to test it out. After countless attempts of successful missions of unmanned journeys, they were now ready for their first test subject... a living Beagle named Max.
Strapped with a designed watch that could accurately calculate calendar days, max was on his way. He was the first living body to travel faster then the speed of light, and hopefully back again. In a scaled down model of Lifeforce 1, instruments were set for two hundred years out and then back again. They were anxiously ready. As the mini black hole was set to motion, the spiralation of the formed gases began its rotation around the capsule, and just as fast as the prisms of concentrated light had appeared and formed around Max, he was gone.
Success The dawn of ultimate time travel had arrived, and after many successful missions of up to one thousand years, Max was all set to be retired. But not until one more journey of the largest leap forward in mankind history would take place, a journey of ten thousand years out. Strapped in again; Max was off, but unlike his previous successful missions, this time there was failure. Max had returned, but only this time there wouldn't be congratulations upon his arrival home, this time their wouldn't be after hours parties to celebrate the victory... this time, he was dead. Frozen to death was labeled the cause. They had concurred; as were warned, that the farther you travel out the more density the hole becomes, and as the hole becomes more massive, more energy is absorbed and temperatures fall beyond the level that which we can withstand. Another setback. Better thermal suits would be needed for living embodiments as well as a newly crafted shell on the capsules exterior for expanded journeys. The team was anxious to begin work to conquer their latest setback. But first... a hero's burial for dear Max.
As the months passed; smaller animal driven test models proved successful with journeys of over two, three and even five thousand years out, and now, with Life Force 3 straight from the production line and a government growing exceedingly impatient and threatening discontinuation of its funding to the program if a manned mission didn't happen soon, they were pressured to test its worth on living man. The two pilots chosen were Adamson Godfrey, a Commander with more then two thousand years of combined clocked missions, and Evelyn Winslow, a Lieutenant with the Air Exploration Agency (AEA), who had over three thousand clocked years. It was the dream team of time travel, and though the two had never worked with each other; they were the right choice to make for a mission of this magnitude. Though the words were never uttered by an Agency of failed incompetence, Commander Godfrey and Lieutenant Winslow were their only choice.
After weeks of briefings on the secret mission at hand, and the discussions of probabilities the two Astronauts might encounter, they were ready, ready to face the unknown and even ready to die by doing so. As the last check off of the time capsule was completed by maintenance engineers, the moment of history had finally arrived, and in a crowded but secluded room deep in the basement of the Pentagon, they were ready. Commander Godfrey set the parameters of the Lifeforce 3 time craft for its historic journey to the year twenty thousand AD. An unthinkable journey, and a journey never before entertained by animal or man, and a mission that was aptly named... God-speed.
And as the light show began around the capsule; the two astronauts were gone.
To be continued... Copyright 2008 r.e.potter |
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