Laws of Time

by Jeff Yee

  “Yes, I suppose so. It wouldn’t hurt to require a license and make sure that travelers were of age, trained appropriately and were vetted to make sure that there was no malicious intent.”

  Senator Cordeiros interrupted with the next question, raising his voice to be overheard against Senator’s Churchill’s softer voice. “How do we define malicious intent? How can you check for bad intentions? And more importantly, what is the possible damage that could be done?”

  Irritated by the Senator’s tone, Sean sarcastically replied, “What’s the background check to become a senator? I suggest using the same process.”

  Cordeiros resented Sean’s reply but withheld a direct response. “Trevor, your turn.”

  The next senator asked a question. “Thank you for joining us Mr. Harrison. I’m Trevor Peterson. I’d like to ask you a few questions about the grandfather paradox.”

  “Okay…”

  “First, can you describe this paradox? What is the grandfather paradox?”

  Sean wondered how he could answer the question without ruining his chances for time travel, but he knew that he had to answer the question honestly under oath. “Let’s suppose that a man can travel backwards in time – to a point where he meets his biological grandfather. Now suppose that he kills his grandfather. Here’s the paradox. If he kills his grandfather, he would not be conceived at a future point in time. His parents would not be born at a later time and thus he could not be born himself. But if he was not ever conceived in the first place, then he could not have traveled back in time to kill his grandfather. Thus, it negates itself. So is it possible to have happened in the first place?”

  As puzzling as the grandfather paradox sounded, Sean’s explanation made sense. Senator Peterson asked a follow on question. “Have you conducted studies that lead you to believe that this is a possible scenario?”

  “No, we have not conducted an experiment that would allow time to be altered by going backwards in time. I cannot say what would happen.”

  “Let me ask the question another way. In your expert opinion, what do you think would happen if a man went back in time and killed his grandfather? Would he cease to exist?”

  Suddenly, the room felt hot. Sean felt a bead of sweat beginning to form on his brow. He was answering the questions honestly, but he feared that his answers would be turned against him and that he would never be able to time travel.

  “No, I do not believe that man would cease to exist,” Sean answered truthfully. “But bizarrely he is never born either. Imagine a thirty-year-old man that travels sixty years into the past before his parents are born. Then, he kills his grandfather. That man is still alive a minute after he kills his grandfather. I do not believe he disappears…”

  “Please continue,” asked the senator who originally asked the question. “Please explain to us why he does not disappear.”

  “The man sees time from his frame of reference. His body matter was transported back in time. He is still a thirty-year-old man, but living in the past. In fact, if he continued to age and live another sixty years, he would be back to his original starting point when he began his time travels, although he would be ninety years old when he arrived back at the starting point. Also the world that he lives in would be quite different from the world that he left behind. His parents would not have been born. And he would not have been born. Yet, there he is as a ninety-year-old living in the same year that he used as the starting point to begin his travels backwards in time. Depending on the factors influenced by his missing lineage, it could be a very different world.”

  “And the future that he affected? Is it permanent?”

  “Yes, he has changed the events in time. Life as he knew it is forever changed. For everyone else, they don’t know the difference. That is why it is from that man’s frame of reference.”

  “What if he had a previous family that he wanted to see? One from before he traveled backwards in time. I assume they are gone, correct? Is there no option for that man to ever see his family again?”

  Sean had to think hard about the possibilities before answering. “Well, I suppose that man could travel back in time a second time, and catch himself before he kills his grandfather. But his grandfather must survive.”

  Cordeiros saw it as an opportunity to go on the attack. He exclaimed, “Isn’t it dangerous for time travel into the past? If one man can affect the world, shouldn’t we prevent it from happening?”

  “There are so many advantages of traveling back into our history,” Sean challenged the uncontainable senator. “Imagine walking with the dinosaurs. Witnessing the birth of Christ. Signing the Declaration of Independence. Not that we have the capability to go back in time that far, but you get the idea. This is an amazing technology that…”

  “It only takes one bad apple!” said Senator Cordeiros cutting off Sean from completing his thought. “One bad move from someone in the past and we could all disappear today. Right now. From this room.”

  “I never said that we would disappear. If someone went back in time and killed my grandfather, I think I would still be standing here today. From my frame of reference, I am sitting here at this desk at this point in time. That hasn’t changed because someone else has gone back in time and changed previous events.”

  Senator Peterson wanted clarification on an earlier question. “Mr. Harrison, for the record, do you think that time travel into the past should be allowed?”

  “Yes! Absolutely!”

  “Thank you. Those are all of the questions that I have for you today.”

  After being given a cue, the senator to Sean’s far left asked the last of the questions in the first round of discussions. “Mr. Harrison, you are a man of science and it does not surprise me that you would not advocate laws preventing or restricting time travel. So let me ask you for your opinion on what you believe is best. If you were to regulate this technology, what laws would you put in place?”

  “Tough question,” Sean answered. “The laws that I have in mind are related specifically to the technology that we have developed. As you may be aware, our solution for time travel requires a machine that physically occupies a space, and requires power at both ends, from the beginning of the time transport to the end of the transport. Let’s say a man is in the middle of being transported one year. Then, six months into it, someone pulls the plug on the time machine. Destroys it. What happens to the man? As far as I’m concerned, he’s dead. He’s in an unrecoverable state and will never return. Thus, this scenario should be treated like murder. That is one law that I can think of.”

  It took a few moments for Christine Schumacher to ask a follow on question. The new laws required for time travel were considerably greater than the committee had originally considered. She pondered her next question and then asked, “Mr. Harrison, what if it is not intentional when the plug is pulled? What if the space that occupies the machine is destroyed?”

  “Same result. The man will still never come back.”

  “Yes, but from our perspective we need to understand the laws. For example, if someone sets fire to the Tace Technologies building and destroys a time machine, is it murder, manslaughter or none of the above?”

  Sean shrugged. “Don’t know.”

  “What if it’s fifty years from now and you sell the Tace building. Is the new owner required to continue to maintain the time machine?”

  “Yes. Perhaps you declare any location conducting an active time transport a historical building which must be preserved.”

  Senator Cordeiros had been quiet too long and found another opportunity to attack the father of time travel. “There are billions of people on this planet! Are you saying that if everyone wanted to time travel that we would have to preserve space under conservation laws for billions of time machines? That would take a considerable amount of precious land from our planet.”

  “Yes, it would if everyone were traveling at the same time. But I doubt that would happen. It’s more likely that we would
have a collection of these machines in a handful of locations and people would rotate through them.”

  “Wouldn’t you agree that the best locations might be facilities controlled by the government?” Cordeiros argued, trying to deliver his point that time travel should be managed by the public sector.

  “I can understand the perceived safety in the use of government facilities, but it doesn’t solve your suggested problem of inefficient land use,” Sean answered, annoyed again at the senator. He had to stay firm and convincing to avoid government control of his technology. “Maybe we locate time travel facilities in remote areas where we don’t tie up our valuable land resources. Remote parts of Alaska? Under water? In space? I don’t know, but perhaps somewhere else.”

  Cordeiros wanted the final say in the matter. “All of which are even more difficult for us to manage and maintain. At least initially, my recommendation will be to manage time travel from secure government facilities. This is the best way to protect our citizens and to protect the world from unauthorized use. Mr. Harrison, this concludes our first session. We will have further questions for you, but we will first get the opinions from other subject matter experts in this area. You may wish to remain in Washington, as I cannot say if it will be days or weeks until we need you again. Thank you for your time.”

  Clamor filled the room as the first interview came abruptly to an end. Sean was absolutely furious. Not only did he not have a chance to object to Cordeiros’ closing statement, but he was also being asked to stay for more hearings without a definitive timeframe. Frustrated, he stormed immediately out of the room, avoiding further discussions with the committee and evading questions from the audience. Who is this senator and what does he want? He could be a major threat to the science of time travel!

  Chapter 25

  The sweet smell of Remy Martin cognac filled the office as Senator Cordeiros opened a bottle that he’d saved for special occassions, pouring a glass for himself and one for his aide David Kim. After a long day of senate hearings, he relaxed in his chambers with his confidant.

  Cordeiros circulated the cognac in his glass, took a sniff, and sipped the drink slowly. Glancing around, he asked David, “Where’s Tom?”

  “Should be joining us soon. He’s printing for tomorrow’s session.”

  Tom Fitzsimons had a knack for timely entrances. He arrived, arms stacked with paperwork, at the moment his name was called.

  “I’m here,” said Tom. “And I have everything ready for tomorrow.”

  “Great, Tom,” replied Cordeiros. “Leave them on the table. How ‘bout a drink?”

  “Of course!”

  Another glass of the aged spirit was poured for the second of the two men that Cordeiros trusted most. Although Cordeiros was closer to David Kim, Tom was the most senior member of his staff, serving with the senator since his first term in office. In closed chambers, Cordeiros knew that he could trust his two aides with his life.

  David sat back and took in his cognac. “We had a great start today, didn’t we?”

  “We’ve got them right where we want them,” Cordeiros said as he handed Tom his drink and returned to his desk. He opened the top drawer of his desk, but he could not find what he was looking for. “Damn, no cigars. One of you order some more of the good stuff when you get a chance.” Instead of a smoke, he grabbed his glass, sat in his chair, raised his legs and positioned his feet on top of his desk – right foot over left.

  Tom picked up where David left off. “Tomorrow should be good too. Desi Thomas, the sci-fi writer is lined up for tomorrow along with a popular physicist.”

  Cordeiros lectured his staff like a teacher instructing students. “To get through this process with the results that we expect to achieve, we need to know where we are going. So where are we going?”

  David and Tom looked at each other, each waiting for the other to answer.

  “It’s a rhetorical question,” said the senator, realizing that he was not clear. “I know where we’re going, but we need to make sure that we’re all on the same page. This road ends at the White House. Why? Because Sean Harrison has given us the technology to get there.”

  “What do you mean?” asked David, slightly puzzled.

  “You heard him today. You can learn from the future and then change the past. This knowledge is tremendous. It’s enough to get me elected as Commander in Chief. And where I go, you go.”

  David asked his boss, “Do you really think that the ability to travel to the future gives you the edge to become President?”

  Cordeiros was offended by the question. “Yes! I’m halfway there even without the technology but I’m smart enough to realize when I need some help to make sure that it’ll happen. If I don’t get elected the first time, I’ll learn from my mistakes and try it over. But the beauty of it is – I won’t have to wait four years for the next election. I can redo the same election, again and again, with a little help from time travel.”

  Tom stirred his cognac with his finger, mesmerized by the counter-clockwise motion in the glass as he thought about the possibilities. He looked at David, who was already smiling. David understood the complex scenarios. Although Tom still didn’t quite understand how time travel guaranteed him a position in the executive branch, he raised his glass and pretended that he did. “To the White House!”

  Three glasses collided in a toast. “To the White House!”

  Cordeiros finished the last of his cognac and with a slight buzz said, “It goes without saying that these discussions stay in this room.”

  “Understood,” said David.

  Tom nodded.

  The senator continued, “We need to be a step ahead. The testimonies in the hearings will show the dangers and justify our reasons to assume control of time travel. I will work to ensure that this happens. In the meantime, I need the two of you to start planning for the next phase.”

  David jumped on the opportunity to help and responded without hesitation. “What do you want us to do?”

  “Our first time travel mission needs to be represented by trusted ambassadors. I would like to suggest a team of three, one of which will be me. When the time is right, I will volunteer myself for the role.”

  “And the other two?” asked Tom.

  “This is where I need your help. As ambassadors traveling to the future, we not only represent our country, we represent our current time period. This team needs to be carefully considered. First requirement, we should restrict it to Americans only. It’s too dangerous to consider other countries. Second, we need to represent different branches of the government.”

  David needed clarification. “So it will be a team of elected officials?”

  “No, not necessarily. Consider the military in your decision. They could be a powerful ally. And, of course, consider the current White House staff.”

  “Including the President?”

  “Hell no!” Cordeiros exclaimed. “We don’t want him to go. And it’s too dangerous for a president to risk anyway. Someone on his staff.”

  David scribbled notes into his electronic tablet. “Okay, got it. Legislative branch, executive branch and perhaps a military commander. Anything else?”

  “Yes, my third requirement. They need to be people that I can trust. Vet them until we know that the entire team is on the same page. I don’t want to jeopardize the mission. And have a list of possible recommendations ready for me before the end of the hearings.”

  David replied in the affirmative. “Will do.”

  “Where do you intend to travel to?” Tom asked. Although he would have loved to time travel himself, he understood that the initial team would need to be high-profile officials. “I mean how far into the future will this ambassador team travel? The ambassadors will eventually want to know.”

  Cordeiros replied, “I don’t know. A decade? Two? Make that one of your tasks as well. I want a list of the people and the proposed time frame. And one more thing. Do not mention any of this to the potential candidates.
I will speak to them personally. Just create the list for me.”

  The two loyal, power-hungry aides excitedly agreed to the plan. It was premature to celebrate, but they sat and enjoyed a drink with their boss who had masterfully crafted the strategy. Everything was going according to schedule. They had already created the special committee with their boss at the helm and the committee hearings were feeding the public’s hysteria around the risks of time travel, working to their advantage. As they sipped their cognac, they were confident that the next phase would also be executed flawlessly. They understood the rest of their mission. Time was in their grasp and the White House was in their future.

  Chapter 26

  Stacey Harrison took the elevator to the third floor and following her daughter’s instructions, took the first right out of the elevator and then turned right a second time at the first opportunity. There at the end of the corridor, in dark blue letters etched into double glass doors, read the name of the company she was looking for.

  New Age Media PR.

  She announced herself at the reception. “I’m Stacey Harrison, here to see my daughter Alyssa.”

  “Okay, please have a seat,” said the receptionist pointing to four dark red chairs positioned around a glass table covered with technology magazines.

  Stacey looked around the office. Glass office doors. Bright yellow walls. A large conference room with seating for twenty, complete with a bar for entertaining. A mix of accessories in reds and purples, highlighting the interior of the fashionable, hip public relations firm. The atmosphere was trendy and typical of her daughter’s style.

  “Hi Mom, how are you?” Alyssa said as she embraced her mother with an affectionate hug.

  “Good, honey. How are you?”

  “Fine. Thanks. Right this way to my office. Can I get you anything to drink?”

  Stacey declined the offer and followed her daughter to her office. She smiled proudly when she saw the engraving on her daughter’s office door.