Timecaster
Supersymmetry
Book 2
J.A. Konrath
writing as
Joe Kimball
Forecast the Past
Contents
Dedication
Synopsis | From the Author | Ecopunk | Epigraph | Glossary
PART 1: SUPERPARTNERS
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10
PART 2: DARK EARTH MATTERS
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8
PART 3: TERMS OF ENTANGLEMENT
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26 | Chapter 27 | Chapter 28
PART 4: ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
About J.A. Konrath | Ebooks by J.A. Konrath
Copy
right
This novel is for Blake Crouch, who is one of the best friends and best writers in the multiverse.
If you aren’t Blake Crouch, you aren’t allowed to read this n
ovel.
Chicago 2064.
A libertarian utopia of biofuels, legalized drugs, and casual sex. There hasn’t been any violent crime in years.
Until now…
Talon Avalon is a Timecaster; a cop who is able to look back in time and view crimes that have already happened. But that was before he was framed by an alternate version of himself from another dimension. Now he’s being hunted in this world, and countless parallel worlds, as the biggest mass-murderer in history.
While trying to save his kidnapped wife and clear his name, Talon must fight to prevent a series of mishaps that could destroy the multiverse, along with the very fabric of spacetime. He only has a few hours to save an infinity of humanity. All it will take is guts, his fists, some high tech weaponry, and enough strength and savvy to survive genetically mutated monsters, homicidal robots, a zombie apocalypse, and a plethora of erotic encounters.
Time is NOT on his side.
Timecaster Supersymmetry by Joe Kimball
Mankind
Can Rewind
From the Author
A good portion of the science and theoretical physics in this book are real. I made all the other shit up. It also contains graphic sex, violence, and bad language. If that sort of thing bothers you, read another fucking book.
The Story So Far…
Any explanation of prior events in the Timecaster multiverse would be lengthy and convoluted. I suggest reading the first book in the series before starting this one. If you’re too cheap to buy it, borrow it from the library, or do a bit torrent search.
A Brief History of the Multiverse
The multiverse is infinite, and infinity is an open system.
At the same time, the multiverse is entropic. This is in direct contradiction to many hypotheses of modern science, which posit that the multiverse is an isolated system, and only isolated systems can be entropic.
But let’s be honest. Scientists are a snooty, self-important bunch who get things wrong all the time.s of Lake MichiganE">
Enter Mu.
Mu is a Japanese prefix indicating non-existence.
It is also, quite coincidentally and ironically, the letter M in the Greek alphabet.
Mu was known by the ancient Greeks as μπανανα, a powerful god worshipped for hundreds of years until the Romans took over and rewrote all the history books, changing Mu from Zeus to Deus, which became Jupiter, which morphed into Yahweh and so on, up through the recently debunked modern religions.
Is Mu the creator of everything? Is Mu dark energy? Is Mu the sentient negentropic equilibrium to the multiverse’s entropy? Does Mu exist everywhere at once, or is Mu a quantum embodiment of non-existence?
Only one thing is certain…
Mu can be a real asshole.
Ecopunk – (e’ko-puhngk)
A sub-genre of science fiction set in a green, utopian future with a libertarian government. The opposite of nihilistic, authoritarian sci-fi, where no one smiles because everyone is so fucking oppressed.
A narrative typified by high-tech gadgetry, over-the-top action, copious amounts of sex, gratuitous and often rude humor, and theoretical physics, taking place in a society that emphasizes personal freedom and respect for the environment.
A
Joe Kimball story where people get kicked in the groin a lot.
“One always has enough time, if one will apply it well.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Tough times never last. But tough people do.”
—Robert Schuller
“Given time I’ll get it, let me go around, let me go around, let me go around again.”
—The Rainmakers
“Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like bananas.”
—Groucho Marx
Glossary
In the future, tech and acronyms rule the day…
AFAIK – As far as I know.
AVCL – All Vision Contact Lens. Allows user to see in a variety of conditions.,” Mu saidE">
BHV – Bleeding heart volunteer.
Biofuel – Fuel made from animal and plant lipids and starches, along with the methane released when composting.
Bogu – Kendo armor, consisting of a dô (chestplate), kote (belt), tare (gloves) and men (helmet).
Bot – Robot.
BRB – Be right back.
CAA – Court Appointed Attorney.
Carbon nanotube – The strongest substance known to man, created in molecular strings by factory labs.
Chickula – A delicious but deadly bovinsect.
Chip – A microchip implanted in the wrist of all people at birth; it serves as identification, a universal key, and a debit card.
CPD – Chicago Peace Department, aka the cops.
Credits – In a cashless society, a credit is the digital representation of a US dollar, existing solely as data.
CWII – The second US Civil War of 2034.
Dissy – One of the Disenfranchised. Someone who rejects the modern way of living and exists off the grid without paying taxes.
DT – Digital Tablet, a pocket computer.
Duckets – Old-fashioned paper money, used by dissys.
EPF – Electronic Perimeter Fence, used to keep suspects in a designated area.
FNP – A Forget-Me-Not pill. When placed under the tongue, it allows you to vividly recall memories.
FOS – Full of shit.
Frog legs – Artificial, flexible spring stilts, used as leg extenders in powerbocking to run faster and jump higher.
Fuct – Screwed.
Genipet – A genetically altered pet.
Ghillie Suit – A camouflage outfit with foliage stitched into it.
GPS – Global Positioning Satellite.
Hang up – A vocal command to disconnect a headphone call; also synonymous with good bye.
Headphone – An ear/brain implant allowing phone calls without phones.
Hobo – The act and equipment used to jump onto a moving train.,” Grandma said. sK
Intranet – Three hundred petabytes of stored information—every bit of knowledge and media from the history of mankind—that exists preinstalled on every DT.
IRT – In Real Time.
Kermit – A pedestrian who powerbocks, using frog leg extensions on their f
eet.
LEO – Low earth orbit.
LLVV – Sorry. You have to read the book to get this definition.
Mu – Could be the supreme being. Could be something else.
Nife – A carbon nanotube knife, only a few nanometers thick.
Pet the bunny – Slang for tuning into space-time using a TEV.
P&P Bars – Clubs that sell pot and pills.
PB&T – Peanut butter and tabby.
Pr0n – Pornography. But you knew that already.
Roids – Steroids. Those who use roids are known as roiders.
Salmonster – A very bad-ass fish.
Shinai – A sword used in the Japanese martial art Kendo.
SLP – State Licensed Prostitute. AKA “social workers.”
SMF – Sick mother fucker.
Space elevator – A woven rope of carbon nanotubes, tethered to the earth on one end and a low-earth orbit satellite on the other, which allows for inexpensive travel into space.
Tachyon – A subatomic particle that can travel faster than the speed of light.
Tesla Field – A generated electromagnetic field surrounding the earth that supplies cordless electric power.
TEV – Tachyon Emission Visualizer. A timecaster’s viewfinder into the past.
TG – Transgender.
Timecaster – A peace officer who uses TEVs to record past events and solve crimes.
Trafficipede – A ten meter long robotic centipede that issues speeding tickets. Possibly evil.
TTS – Tesla Taser Satellite.
UFSE – The universal search application for the intranet, aka uffsee and Use the Fucking Search Engine.
USAC – The United States of America and Canada.+ TTck
Utopeon – A tax-paying citizen.
Van Damme – Slang term for a timecaster.
VP – Virtual Prosecutor.
WTF
– What the heck.
WYSIWYW – What You See Is What You Want.
PART 1
SUPERPARTNERS
Chapter 1
Milwaukee 2064
Four hours after Book #1
Michio Sata blinked his new eyes twice and initiated the magnification mode, which allowed him to zoom in on the circuitry of his modified tachyon emission visualizer without the need for a microscope. He quickly spotted the problem with the prototype—a burned out capacitor—and pinched out the defective part with a pair of soldering tweezers.
“You said you were gonna give me a hundred duckets.”
Sata stared up at the dissy, but he hadn’t blinked his vision back to normal and was rewarded with an unpleasant close-up of the pores of his nose, which resembled the pitted skin of a strawberry. This man—homeless, jobless, one of the disenfranchised living in Milwaukee’s dissytown slum—had enough blackheads to grease the chain of a biofuel scooter.
“In a moment,” Sata said. “I’m almost finished here.”
The man scratched himself in an unattractive place. Sata made him stand in the corner of his lab; the dissy had an apparent aversion to bathing. Still, the smell wafting over made Sata’s new Peeper 3000s water. Either that or the lubrication nanomotors in his tear ducts were malfunctioning.
“Can I have another sandwich?”
Sata sighed. It was a waste of food, but if feeding him shut him up for a minute there was no real harm. Besides, the dissy wasn’t ever going to get the hundred duckets, so he might as well get something for volunteering.
“Go ahead,” Sata told him. “But don’t touch anything.”
“How am I supposed to make a sandwich without touching anything?”
“Don’t touch anything other than the food and utensils required to make the sandwich.”
“How should I open the refrigerator? With my mouth?”
Sata definitely didn’t want that. The man had a questionable sore on his lower lip, and something hanging from his beard that looked a lot like a rat toe.+
Tthere waset
“Just try to keep it clean,” he said.
“Clean is my middle name,” said the dissy.
As the man left the room, Sata caught sight of the stains on his torn pants and added, “Don’t sit on anything either.”
Sata rubbed his temples. His head hurt. Possibly from the back-alley operation to install his new eyes, less than three hours ago. Possibly from the exhausting, and very disappointing, day he’d had. It had begun with so much promise and potential, and now he was back to square one.
No matter. The prototype would be fully functional soon, and he’d make good on his threat to destroy the earth. And after that, a nice dinner. Possibly Italian.
Or perhaps it made more sense to grab a bite to eat before annihilating the planet. Then he’d have more options.
Sata stood up and walked to his medicine cabinet, taking bottles of aspirin, morphine, and a vial of anabolic steroids, a brand called Juiced. The pills went into his mouth. The roids went into a syringe, and he gave each of his twenty-two inch biceps a squirt of several ccs.
“You got any ham?” the dissy called from the kitchen.
Sata winced at the interruption, accidentally poking his arm with the needle an extra time. “I only have what’s in there.”
“What’d you say?”
Louder this time, Sata repeated, “Only what’s there.”
“What flavor is this bologna?”
Sata sighed. “What does it say on the package?”
“Turkey and sweet potatoes.”
“Then it’s turkey and sweet potato flavor.”
“Oh. What flavor is the bread?”
Sata couldn’t wait to send this guy to a parallel universe. “It’s bread flavor.”
He waited for another inane question. When one didn’t come, Sata returned to the TEV. He replaced the capacitor, then put the prism shell back onto the device. Unlike a normal TEV, which allowed a timecaster to view past events in spacetime, this prototype did more. Much more. After losing his other TEV earlier today while falling out of a space elevator, he’d been working non-stop to get this test-version running perfectly. He just needed a few seconds of silence so he could tune in to—
“Is this mayonnaise organic?” the dissy called.
Sata rolled his new eyes. It felt weird doing so, like they were a bit too big for their sockets.
“Does it matter if it’s organic?” he answered, his patience gone. “You’re eighty pounds overweight, missing five teeth, and live in an appliance box next to a dumpster.” Rick Schieve.”
ed to ?” Harry askedet
“Hey, now. No need to be rude.”
Sata stood up, gripping his aluminum shinai. He raised it up over his head and tried to maintain patience until the dissy returned with his sandwich.
The dissy did return, but he was eating from a tub of synthetic chocolate ice cream.
“Sandwich was too much trouble,” he told Sata.
Sata clubbed him over the head with the Kendo sword. The man fell over, unconscious.
Satisfied he’d no longer be interrupted, Sata turned his attention to the TEV. He’d invented the device years ago, and in doing so had changed mankind forever. When used by a peace officer, it could tune in to the fabric of spacetime and record events that occurred in a specific location up to fourteen days previously. Once mankind was able to rewind, violent crime all but disappeared. Legal recreational drugs, plus the knowledge that you couldn’t get away with anything, also lead to a significant reduction in crimes of passion.
After millennia of fighting and conflict, the world was finally a pleasant and safe place to live.
This bored the shit out of Sata. With further brilliant revelations, he learned to tune into spacetime in parallel universes, and then to search these universes and create wormholes to travel back and forth through them.
Infinity tended to make everything a bit less important, when viewed in context. Knowing there were an infinite number of earths, with an infinite number of people on them,
meant annihilating a few billion human beings on this planet was really no big deal. In fact, it was the perfect stress reliever.
Closing his new eyes, Sata let his mind stretch. He sensed spacetime around him, and synced his brainwaves with the TEV, reaching the octeract point on the eighth dimension, leaving this membrane and searching the limitless other branes for one in particular. Normally an impossible task, but made simple thanks to a unique search engine—a tweak of UFSE—built into the device.
Sata mentally rattled off the Boolean search terms, found the specific earth where the Chicxulub asteroid never hit the planet 65 million years ago, and opened up a wormhole.
Then he adjusted the focal length of the lens and aimed the device at the unconscious dissy, who, along with the dropped carton of ice cream and a small section of the floor, promptly imploded in a brief flash of light. At least, that’s what it looked like. Technically, it wasn’t an implosion so much as a spaghettification down to a molecular level, preceded by a reforming of matter in the parallel world several nanoseconds sooner. Since tachyons travelled faster than light speed, anyone going through the wormhole actually arrived before they left. This troubled Sata’s sense of logic, but quanta played by its own rules, and logic didn’t apply.
Satisfied the device worked, Sata searched for another earth. Before destroying this world, he had to find his apprentice, Talon Avalon, and feed the bastard his own teeth. Talon was chasing an alternate Talon, who had escaped to his alternate world with the first Talon’s wife. Sata had used Alter-Talon to frame the first Talon, but it all got screwed up andIt’s too late.”atIt’s too late.”G became incredibly convoluted, much like a bad sci-fi novel.
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