Nexus of Time

by Mark Riverstone

  "Ok, the smaller ships could not move in fifth-dimensional space. Then how did they move across time, Walter?"

  "The same way something moves in time here. It exists. Objects move in time even if they are still. So how far back in time the Roswell ship traveled depends on how long the ship was in the fifth-dimensional rift, or how long the malfunctioning electromagnetic field was unifying with gravity. Once the rift collapses, the ship returns to our dimension at whatever point in time the ship was at in the fifth dimension."

  Mr. Nix scratches his head, "but that is fifth-dimensional time, not our time."

  "That's if you consider every dimension independent of every other dimension. I like to believe that each dimension is a part of every other dimension. That time, the same time, is connecting all dimensions, running through them, tying them together. I believe the three-dimensional matter in our universe is a partial representation of four-dimensional matter in the fifth dimension, as is our time."

  Mr. Nix smiles, understanding what Walter is explaining, "Now this makes sense to me, though a little mind boggling. The only thing I'm not clear about is what determines whether one of these ships inside the dimensional rift goes back in time or forward."

  "I haven't quite figured that out. I'm still trying to come to terms with the matter paradox."

  "What is the matter paradox?"

  "The same matter cannot exist in two different locations in two different forms at the same time. Before you are born, the matter that composes your body exists in the ground, in plants, as part of your parents, until it comes together to form your being. Like Tomas Seventeen. When Tomas appeared in the past, the matter composing his body already existed elsewhere on this planet, and therefor the matter that composes the Tomas preserved in the lab since the nineteen forties could not be the same matter that composed Tomas who was training with you, got in the accident, and disappeared just a day ago. The same matter could not exist in both manifestations of Tomas at the same time. So, the question is 'what matter is the Tomas in the lab made of, and how?' If I can figure that out, I could better understand what is happening inside these rifts, and what matter returns to our dimension."

  Mr. Nix adds, "I too am unresolved about something."

  "What's that?"

  "Nothing we are discussing is beyond the science and knowledge of the Greys. They modulated the electromagnetic fields of the cloaking devices to not create rifts under normal operation. But they must realize unification can conjure these rifts. Why aren't the Greys using time travel?"

  "Who is to say they aren't?"

  "Because we are here right now discussing this. We just destroyed one of their colonies, along with a third to a fifth of their entire population, sent their ships into the past which caused Roswell, which gave us their technology and their intent to invade and do us harm. All of which works against their plan to revitalize their species and re-inhabit the Earth."

  "Do past failures lead to success or past successes cause future failures? Can you be sure that everything you mentioned doesn't do the opposite and lead to events that revitalize their species and allow them to take over the Earth?"

  "...that is...possible. But you agree with me, right, that time travel is more likely to mess things up than make them better?"

  "I previously had no reason to say otherwise. Nix, in the past you were adamant about preventing time travel, and you helped bury and end any research pertaining to time travel."

  "I still am. There is no way to predict the outcome of changing the past. Just as likely to make things worse than make them better."

  "And I didn't agree, however, I didn't want you to think I opposed you by telling you how hard I continued working, trying to solve time travel. And I was concerned you might 'permanently' cease my ability to research."

  "You thought I'd kill you?"

  "You had killed others who continued to research it."

  "Because they were continuing practical research, trying to rebuild the electromagnetic devices that caused the rifts. You work is theoretical, and your knowledge of Grey tech irreplaceable."

  "It wasn't worth the risk telling you. Besides, I trusted your reasoning and believed you knew what you were doing. You were doing what you thought best to protect us. I had no reason to express differently until these latest events."

  "What had changed?"

  "I never had evidence to the contrary until the last few hours. Your argument in the past to prevent time travel at any cost made sense then, but with everything that has come to light, to oppose time travel is to oppose everything that you and I are."

  "What do you mean? I oppose it because it could mess up history, make it worse!"

  "Seventeen's going back in time caused Roswell; the crash at Roswell and the Grey tech found has been my life's dedication. Nix, your entire service with the Committee is dedicated to figuring out what the Greys are up to, based on the message given at the Roswell crash, which was a message from Tomas Seventeen. Tomas was a man you recruited, trained, and sent into a Grey colony where he ended up going back in time. The core of both our existences in this current timeline are the result of Tomas' time travel. Without it, no Roswell, no message, no mission, I'm not here researching Grey artifacts, and you are not here looking at footage of a craft being transported back in time. How can we oppose time travel, when both our existence in this timeline, our lives and careers, exist because of time travel?"

  "I never considered that," says Mr. Nix, taken aback by this realization.

  "Think it over. You might change your mind. If you continue to believe that time travel is more likely to make things worse than better, and we are the result of time travel, how will you be able to believe that anything you do from here on out can make things better? That can only happen if you believe that time travel can benefit us. Frankly, I see you as the reason this timeline exists."

  Mr. Nix is overwhelmed by this, "That can't be. The Philadelphia experiment started this."

  "No, it didn't. It was our first exposure to rifts, but it didn't cause any of this. The last timeline before this one, there was no crash in Roswell. I had to be off doing something else, since there were no Roswell artifacts. The Committee focused on Greys long before Roswell, so that is the same, but somewhere along that timeline the Committee captured Grey human hybrid spawns. You were a Committee agent, and must have come up with the same plan to change human agents into hybrid spies to infiltrate Greys, found Dr. Black to perform the conversions, created Tomas Seventeen, and sent him on a mission that resulted in the crash at Roswell, solidifying a loop that will play out in every successive timeline. You caused Roswell, Nix, and created this timeline. Your obsession with the Roswell message of imminent invasion derives from a dimensional link that a future 'you' trains an agent who gets sent back in time to deliver the message. See the irony? You killed people to prevent time travel, and yet you caused time travel."

  Mr. Nix stammers bewildered, "I don't know how to process this. What you are saying can't be true, yet, hearing your explanation, it is true. I can't even put into words what I feel right now."

  "What you feel doesn't matter. The realization that Tomas was the one sending us a message from Roswell, learning the Grey invasion of Earth is imminent, and discovering the Greys uncovered a way to breed their asexual species again came from the time loop. We must now act on that information to save humanity."

  A still moment while Mr. Nix stares off into space. Walter touches Mr. Nix's shoulder to reassure him.

  "Shake it off, Nix."

  "I'm trying."

  "Regardless of the cause, this is our timeline. A timeline with problems that need solutions. The 'you' in another timeline solved problems that got us here. What are we going to do to build on that?"

  "You are right, Walter. If true, we are in a timeline that differs from the last. We acquired the Roswell ship and artifacts that weren't in the last timeline. How can we use them to our advantage? Is there anything from the Roswell cr
ash we can use to help us locate the rest of the Grey colonies on Earth, or use to fight back against their dominance?"

  "Dark Projects removed the Grey navigation console long ago to see if they could extract information and decipher its controls, but were unsuccessful. The ship hull was traded to the Barge for their research on the human hybrids, which you used to create the skin spawn spies, including Tomas."

  "So, what Grey tech do we have that could help us?"

  "The Zeus Box. We had one here and still have three others in the bunkers where we house the other Grey ships recovered. Reverse engineering it would be groundbreaking but we couldn't identify or fabricate the material comprising it. And without that information, the Zeus Boxes are too dangerous and unpredictable to incorporate into any of our technology or build a system around. That was proven when Black Ops damaged the Zeus Box we had here, which forced us to hand it over to the Barge for storage and containment."

  "Oh yeah. I forgot the Black Ops did that. I swear, for every time they saved our asses, they screwed us over," burns Mr. Nix. "Black ops did that unauthorized core extraction for a materials sample because they wanted Grey tech so bad and thought they could figure it out on their own."

  Walter adds, "Once that cuboid started leaking, we had no way to contain the leaking superfluid. It passed through solid material as if it was porous. The Barge, their tech being even more advanced than ours, had the only way to contain it. Their pressurized storage tank was constructed of a special material and the pressure inside kept the fluid away from the container walls, causing it to coagulate in the center. That allowed them to transport it back to the Barge."

  "Damn, I wish the Barge was ours. Remind me when we finish here to contact one of the other Grey artifact bunkers and see if we can get a hold of their Zeus Box. Maybe it is time to create something with a Zeus Box despite the dangers. I haven't heard from Captain Nemolopolus in a while, have you?" asks Mr. Nix.

  "Yeah."

  "Why?"

  "He shows up here every two or three years. We also play a few games of chess a year by electronic messaging."

  "I don't remember you ever losing at chess."

  "That's why he keeps playing me. He's gotten to the point he'll win a few games. I'll still best him nine out of ten. I figure he'll stop contacting me when he wins more than loses."

  "We could use his tech," longs Mr. Nix.

  "You know how he works. Ever since he broke from the government and became his own private entity, he'll work with every and any country, government or person who has something he wants. And these days, there is very little he needs."

  Mr. Nix thinks, "Well, the work Dr. Black has done transplanting skin spawn flesh and organs to humans would appeal to him. I need to figure out what he has that will help the Committee take on the Greys. I wish there was a way to get him involved in the fight now."

  "I'm sure a point will come where the Barge will see no other choice than join. But nations will crumble before Nemolopolus gets involved. Until then, Nemo is loyal only to Nemo, and his goal is to discover science without ethical, moral, political, or financial restrictions. That's why his tech is light years ahead of anyone else. Nothing stops his people from uncovering what is possible."

  "Since Nemo's help is out of the question, forget the Barge for the moment. What about the implant chips from the skin spawns used to identify and track them? Since the Greys can use them to locate skin spawns among us on Earth, is there a way we can use the chips in reverse to locate where Greys are?"

  Walter presses something on the table and speaks out loud. "Burt, could you bring the hybrid tracking micro-transmitter chips and the amplified frequency analyzer to the conference room?" Walter then continues to speak with Nix. "I made the frequency analyzer years and years ago. You use the portable version in the field to track skin spawns for capture. The one Burt is bringing I modified. I started working on this when I got word you were planning on sending a hybrid agent into the field, figuring it might be useful if we could make it work in reverse."

  "We use the remote version when we are trying to pick up skin spawns. That device is invaluable."

  "Glad to hear it. It works on a signal comprising multiple frequencies that shifts among thousands of potential frequencies. However, each one of these chips has an exact frequency in that range. The Greys set the specific frequency of each chip, so they can focus on specific frequencies allowing them to project and detect signals over a longer range."

  Burt comes into the conference room carrying the chip case in one arm and pushing a covered device on a wheeled cart with the other.

  "Thank you, Burt. Please join us and take a seat."

  Burt says, "Dr. Black has a question regarding the Grey hand sample."

  "In a minute, Burt. Help me with this demonstration for Mr. Nix, then I'll address any of Dr. Black's needs." Walter then turns to Mr. Nix and says, "These are crystal powered micro transmitters and not just chips. When the Greys want to track one of these micro transmitters, they send out a signal at the matching frequency. When the micro transmitter receives the frequency, it echoes it back. We can find the Greys if we use one of these micro-transmitters, search for a signal specific to its frequency, and see where a matching signal frequency emanates.

  "Now the pitfall is the Greys must transmit that specific frequency at the time we are detecting for it. Which means it's necessary for them to be searching for the exact chip we are using to detecting a signal. That is why I never turned this device over to you. I can show you how it works with one of these old micro-transmitter chips from Roswell, but don't expect any results. It could be useful if you abduct a skin spawn, immediately extract the chip from the skin spawn's flesh, then use that spawn's micro-transmitter chip to locate the Greys trying to find the spawn. Although, that is dangerous because if you are using the chip to detect them, their signal could detect the chip and your location at the same time. Understand?"

  Mr. Nix nods. Burt takes out one vial from the case and removes the chip from the vial, then places the chip on a circular electro-pad connected to the frequency analyzer, and turns on the device.

  Walter explains, "Once the device initializes, the device will scan the micro transmitter with a full range of frequencies until it finds the exact one the chip responds to by becoming visible on the spectrometer."

  The machine activates and begins spooling through frequencies on the spectrometer until it finds the right one. "There, it found the frequency. Now, I activate the tracker and it will scan the area for fifty miles to see if that specific signal is emanating from anything. If so, it will appear on the location graph here, and display the latitude and longitude of the signal. But expect nothing to show."

  "Is there any way we can change this to make it work to a specific signal we set, and not just a specific one to this chip, I mean micro transmitter?"

  "Nix, these are the Greys, not the Russians or Chinese. The whole reason the Greys setup this frequency system is to locate a specific skin spawn anywhere and yet remain undetectable to human technology. Unless we focus on one exact frequency, a micro transmitter responds to that frequency, and the Greys transmit that frequency to the micro transmitter, there is no way to detect the source or even be aware the frequency is being used."

  On the location graph appears a blip at the edge.

  "What is that?" asks Mr. Nix.

  "It...it's a signal," responds Walter in disbelief.

  "Isn't this place shielded from the signal like the Colorado facility?"

  "No. You are working with recent captures there. This bunker shields from human sensors. We never needed to shield it from micro transmitter detection, the logic being the Greys are no longer looking for chips lost in the forties. It wasn't until today we realized, from the Greys perspective, these micro-transmitters only disappeared within the last day."

  Mr. Nix says ominously, "I have a bad feeling."

  The blip moves closer to the center.

  "The Grey sh
ips disappeared in New Mexico; we're in California. Why are they looking here?" asks Walter.

  "California is between the deep-sea base the ships launched from and the New Mexico air space they disappeared in. It's logical this location could be in their search zone. Especially since they can't find their craft. If they think we recovered the ships before them, they might search the entire U.S.," expresses Mr. Nix urgently. "Check the surface cameras."

  Walter taps a panel. On the table monitor, a rotation of surveillance shots showing an empty dirt corridor, the inside of a barn with hay and horses, the exterior of a barn's sides, empty grass fields, the interiors of a farmhouse with four armed soldiers inside, and the lifeless exteriors of that farmhouse. Nothing in sight of any views.

  "Looks like we are still alone," says Walter calming.

  Mr. Nix jumps into command mode, "Burt, come with me to the lift. Walter, turn that off and get the chip back in its case, then send an alert signal to the guards in the farmhouse. I'm going topside and see if I can spot anything in the sky along the horizon. Dissolution protocols are in place?"

  "Always."

  "Good. We may need to evacuate. We'll be back. Wait here, Walter."

  Mr. Nix steps out of the conference room and heads to the elevator at the end of the main corridor with Burt in tow.

  "What are we going topside for?" asks Burt.

  "To be sure. Is Dr. Black accessible?"

  "I left her in the lab checking specimen samples. The lab is near the evacuation exit, so if we evac, we can get her on the way out."

  "That's good. She adapts quickly in emergencies. She'll be ready if we need to move."