The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell

by Douglas Howell

  “Go on.”

  “We waited for the guards to return with the lookalike and the fake chest. When they return I gave the lookalike all the information that he needed should he get captured.”

  “Why was that important?”

  “Security reasons did not permit me, or the lookalike, to know the whereabouts of one another... or for the lookalike to know the nature of any of my trips aboard.”

  “So what happen when you left?”

  “My sister, along with those men, took me to a private spot and she told me that they come from the future. She said that they are here to take me and my chest with them, and I won’t be able to return. I then left with them without saying anything.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I realize what was going to happen to me if I went with those guards instead.”

  “Did Iakuoyr show you any proof that she came from the future?”

  “She didn’t have to.”

  “Why?”

  “She’s my sister... she’s my proof.”

  “What was the name of General Ydxx’od’omaa’s ship?”

  “It was a prototype so it didn’t have a name. Its serial number was RMX00-EL00.”

  “So what happen after you boarded the ship?”

  “For the crew of RMX they traveled throughout the time line performing their duties. As for me, I devoted my time to learning about the history, technology, and whatever else interested me at the time, of the Apollinarians. Beyond that, I was their scientist - solving problems, analyzing technology, and providing technical assistance when needed.”

  “What about your siblings? What did they do while the crew of RMX was traveling the time line?”

  “Sometimes Iakuoyr would leave the ship, but only when it was necessary. For my brothers, they left the ship more often. As for myself, I rarely left the ship.”

  “How come?”

  “Because I was the most famous scientist in my birth time period. And that qualified me to be the lead scientist. I was just too valuable to be lost. As the lead scientist I mean.”

  “Who created the time machine? And was he, or she on board?”

  “It was a man by the name of Nyunatu Ynuo’stole (new-na-too inn-o stole-lee).”

  “What happen to him?”

  “He committed suicide before General Ydxx’od’omaa left the time line to get Vaistll.”

  “Why did he commit suicide?”

  “Before he invented time travel he came up with the psychological impact that time travel has upon an individual. One was called ‘TEDS’ an acronym for ‘Temporal Empathy Disassociation Syndrome.’ Which is something that everybody on RMX, including my family and I suffered from. And the other one was called ‘Causality of Predetermination.’ Which is what Ydxx’od’omaa suffered from along with TEDS. Ynuo’stole committed suicide in small part because of the latter, in large part because he lost his entire family.”

  “What precisely is TEDS?”

  “TEDS is based in large part on the emotional experience of an individual. This experience must be taken into account when any individual is suddenly trust into any time period. The first sign of TEDS is either future shock, or past shock. The feeling that they want to go back to their original time period, because the time period that they are currently are in is too much of a shock to them. Or at least escape the current time period that they are in.

  Depending upon the individual’s capacity to readjust to the new time line will dictate the severity of TEDS. If they are unable to readjust to the new time line they will develop depression along with the feelings of alienation, isolation and withdrawn. Depending upon the individual they may develop the feelings of frustration and resentfulness at the time line. If that is the case than the following would apply: by feeling alienated from society they are unable to talk about their feelings, and therefore they are unwilling to seek help. Their feelings of alienation combine with, their inability to readjust, and they won’t talk about their feelings, creates frustration and resentfulness. This further cuts them off from society which reinforces their feelings of alienation. That in return fuels their frustration and their resentfulness at the time line. And thus, a vicious cycle is created. If they are incapable of escaping the vicious cycle, than there is a possibility that they may commit suicide.

  There are three different types of categories of people with TEDS, they are: Temporal negative-p, Temporal-p and Temporal positive-p. The p refers to the present, so negative-p refers to the past, p is the present, and positive-p is the future. People who are categorized as Temporal negative-p typically are stuck in their original time line and are unable to readjust to the new one. While people who are categorized as Temporal-p is able to readjust to some degree, but there are still difficulties. In other words, it is all touch-and-go with them. People who are categorized as Temporal positive-p are fully able to readjust to the new time line. If the people of the new time line treat them with respect and decency than their ability to readjust would be multitudinous improved.

  There are also three different types of TEDS which are: Mild, Major and Severe. A Mild form of TEDS is a minor form of depression and the feeling that they don’t belong in the new time line, or they wish that they could go back to their original time line. In the case of people with Temporal positive-p, more often than not, they typically have the minor form of depression and not the other two symptoms. People who suffer from the Major form of TEDS develop the feelings of alienation, but not necessary the feelings of frustration and/or resentfulness at the new time line. A person is considered to have the Severe form of TEDS when they enter into the vicious cycle.”

  “Can you please give an example of someone who is suffering from TEDS in laymen terms?”

  “To use the crew of RMX as an example: they reached into stars with such enthusiasm and pride as they were confronted with the knowledge that they are not alone. They wanted to learn more about their new neighbor who was quite closed about their history. As much as they tried, they could not get their new neighbor to change their minds and to become more open about their history. They started to become suspicious of their neighbor one day. For the more they learned, the more they didn’t like. But sometime afterward, their lives were shattered as they were invaded by an unknown force. Their war went badly for them as they stood upon the brink of their own destruction. But they couldn’t help but to wonder if their neighbor was responsible for it all.

  To analyze that more in detail, in the context of TEDS, we must first look at it in the emotional sense. The first part tells us that they are highly optimistic about their future. While the second part tells us that they received a rude awaking. The last part tells us that they endure extreme grief. This becomes what could be called society overall emotional state of mind. This will ultimately affect all individuals of that time period. Therefore, someone like you or I cannot begin to comprehend what they feel in the emotional sense of the word.

  Since I did not have that same type of an emotional state of mind, I was able to view their actions in an independent way. Yes I was shocked beyond words at what happened, but I couldn’t understand why they did some of the things that they did. Using weapons of mass destruction which achieved very little other than increasing the misery of the people, is one example. I couldn’t stand seeing what I was seeing, and knowing all that I knew. I wanted to leave that time period. I wanted to go to a time period that was not so dark. I wanted to go back to my original time period. I had TEDS.”

  “What invaded the planet?”

  “Before I get to that, I would like to explain what Causality of Predetermination is. It would help to explain why General Ydxx’od’omaa did what he did. If you don’t mind.”

  “Nah, go for it.”

  “Causality of Predetermination says that certain events that have occurred, is predetermined. If a time traveler were to travel backwards into time to alter an event, they only thing that they could do is to alter the cause, but not the effec
t. An example would be: a man loses his wife in a plane crash; he then travels back in time to prevent it. He succeeds in saving her life, but she shortly there afterward dies in a car crash. And thus, he can only alter the cause, but not the effect.”

  “So... let me get this straight... your saying that General Ydxx’od’omaa wanted to travel backwards into time to save the Apollinarian race?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wouldn’t that create some sort of a temporal paradox?”

  “No.”

  “How’s that? It seems like it would.”

  “What dimension do you humans believe that time exist in?”

  “I would not be able to answer that.”

  “I could sir.” Tech Specialist Torrio said standing up with his hand raised. Mad Dawg then lifted his hand to say, go for it.

  “We believe that it lies in the fourth dimension.” Torrio mentioned.

  “I see that you humans made the mistake that Ynuo’stole said that others have made.”

  “What mistake is that?”

  “How could the fourth dimension exist before the third?”

  “Simultaneous perhaps?”

  “What is you proof?”

  “There is none.”

  “Exactly. Are you humans aware of that energy equals mass times speed of light squared?”

  “Yes. It’s called Relativity.”

  “So you already know that when an object travels at or near the speed of light, time slows down for the object.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you humans believe that time and space is separate, or the same thing?”

  “Some people believe that it is separate, some people believe that it is the same.”

  “What about your scientists?”

  “I think that they believe that it is the same thing.”

  “Have they ever argue whether or not it is the same thing, or not?”

  “Not to my knowledge.”

  “I’m not going to say whether it is, or isn’t, since there are too many arguments both for, and against, that it is the same thing. So let me ask you this: what precisely is time?”

  “We don’t know. We only have theories.”

  “Relativity holds the key. When an object is traveling at a certain speed, time begins to slow down. But is time the same as mass and/or energy? The only way to know is to run a certain speed test. A scientist would need to use two atomic clocks and test them at many different types of speeds. Both atomic clocks would need to travel to the same destination, with one traveling slightly faster. If both clocks are in perfect synchronization, and one clock, especially at low speeds, is out of synch with the other one, than time and space must be the same. If a certain speed must be reached before both of the clocks are out of synch with one another, than time and space is separate. Has any human scientists ever conducted that type of an experiment before?”

  “Not to my knowledge.”

  “It is Relativity and the speed test of time that proves what time is. When the inertia of an object increases, and it needs more energy to go faster as a result, did the mass of the object really increased, or is it something else? To imply that it increased in mass is to assume that the mass was always there. Air resistance can explain it on a planet, but not in space. If an object weighs one pound, and it travels fast enough so that it could weigh a ton, did it always weigh a ton?”

  “No I guess not.”

  “Then where did it get that extra weight from if it didn’t come from itself?”

  “From its speed in the form of energy?”

  “Let’s suppose a space probe was traveling fast enough to where time has slow down, the space probe would continue on long after it has run out of fuel. Now let’s suppose it was traveling at the speed of light, and then the space probe has ran out of fuel, would it slow down, or continue on? There has got to be something that is acting as a mass, when it doesn’t come from the object traveling at the speed of light. Since energy equals mass and inertia is energy, than time must be energy. But how could that be? Simple. If you remove both potential and kinetic energy from an object, wouldn’t it be the same as if you were to stop time?”

  “Yes. Oh... I got it now.”

  “Clearly time is a different type of energy than that of the energy that mass is. Would you, or would you not, agree?”

  “Yeah I agree.”

  “Than you can see that time and space is two different things. Can you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So now we go back to what is the fourth dimension. If the fourth dimension is time, and the third dimension has both time and space in it, as well as a two dimensional object known as a shadow, than how could the fourth dimension be created before the third? Since time is of a different energy than that of space, and both of them are separate, than we must ask ourselves, ‘how could space exist before time’. Since it is impossible that space could be created before time, than we can deduce that the fourth dimension is not time. But something else is.”

  “So... which dimension is time then, if it is not the fourth?”

  “It’s the first.”

  “How’s that?”

  “As you know the third dimension is length, width and height. While the second dimension does not have height, and the first does not have width. And the zero-dimension would of course have no length to it. So we must first start out with the zero-dimension, along with the understanding of the dualism of the universe. You know, love-hate, up-down, good-evil, youth-old age, etc.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, how do we know that the zero-dimension exists? If you were to equate the zero-dimension to a dot, and then you were to expand that dot, it would look like a circle. Now let’s look at the circle. A circle is composed of an infinite number of lines and dots. Case in point: look at a triangle with only three lines and three dots to it. Now look at a square with four lines and four dots to it. Now look at a pentagon with five lines and five dots to it. And of course, look at a hexagon with six lines and six dots to it. And so on. What you would notice is that it keeps on looking more rounded.

  To say that there are four dimensions raises the possibility that there could be more of them. To say that there is only four dimension, without any proof, is not only unscientific, but it is also absurd. So when we look at the circle, the only thing that we are saying is that maybe, just maybe, there could be an infinite number of dimensions, and that they all somehow, in someway, go back to the beginning to the zero-dimension. So in that case it is all in the eye of the beholder.

  Now we use the dot to represent the zero-dimension because it is the only way we can understand it. That we are dealing with something that is infinite in size, and in depth. It has no beginning or no end to it. It is neither here nor there, but everywhere. So what is it then? It has to be some form of energy. A type of energy that creates other dimensions. This makes a lot more logical sense than to ignore how the dimension could have come into existence. What it all comes down to is the cause and effect of how each dimension came into existence. Do your scientists ever talk about that?”

  “No.”

  “It’s not surprising since Ynuo’stole said that nobody likes to talk about it. Especially scientists, since it suggests that the zero-dimension could be the gods.”

  “You mean god.”

  “Only if you believe that there is one god. The existence of the house is proof of its creator. Not the number of those who created it.”

  “Did Ynuo’stole mention how the zero-dimension could create the other dimensions?”

  “Yes. What is the opposite of something without direction?”

  “Direction?”

  “Exactly. But because of the dualism of the universe it would naturally be a direction with a bipolar opposite. If we were to put a dot on the right side of a dot, and then put another one on its left side, we have direction. We have a length. But in order to get that length we must ‘pull’ that dot to the infinite. Why? Because the dot is infinite.
A simple way to explain it would be: an infinite number of dots on the right, and an infinite number of dots on the left. And then, and only then, do we get length. After we have length we now have the first dimension. In order to go from the first to the second we must find the opposite to length, which should be width. And the opposite of width should be height, and so on. I know... so ask Ynuo’stole why that is.

  So how do we go from the first to the second dimension? Once again, we take length and pull it to the infinite. An infinite number of lines on the right side and an infinite number on the left, that is. Now we have a two dimensional object. The process repeats itself to the infinite since each time you must take that which is infinite, and then pull it to the infinite. Pull it along the lines of bipolar opposite directions that is. So do you understand all of that?”

  “Yeah I think I got it.”

  “According to Ynuo’stole we can now look at time and space. So why is time the first dimension? Because it has all the properties of what you would think time should be. The first dimension start at a point, and then it travels in a bipolar opposite direction. That point is infinite just like the directions. When we look at time itself, people always divide it up into smaller parts - a year become a month, a month becomes a week, a week becomes a day, and so on. You could theoretically do this to the infinite. And therefore there is no true present since the real present is any measurement of time that is divided by infinity. As for the past and future it would lie off to either side of what could be called the present. And thus, time has the exact same properties as the first dimension.”

  “So what exactly is the fourth dimension if it’s not time?”

  “Alternate realities.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Well... Ynuo’stole ran into problems in trying to explain that. But one of his arguments explains why the time line could be altered. And why those who alter it do not cease to exist. The only way that we could understand Ynuo’stole’s argument is in the following way: let’s suppose that alternate realities are a shadow, now superimpose one on top of another. Although they may appear to be the same, they are separate. Now, imagine that there is a line that connects both shadows. And this ‘line’ is time, the time stream to be more precise. If a person were to travel, along this time stream, from one shadow to the other, what would happen to them if they were to alter their past? The answer is simple: remove one of the shadows. What happen to the time stream? What happen to the other shadow? In both cases nothing happen, they continue on in existence.