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Date Posted: 21:49:44 05/07/09 Thu
Author: Grumpy
Author Host/IP: 67-61-232-104.cpe.cableone.net / 67.61.232.104
Subject: The whole shebang, Part 2, and writer's block.
In reply to: Grumpy 's message, "The whole shebang, Part 1, and writer's block." on 21:47:31 05/07/09 Thu

“Why? People grow up every day. Welcome to the club, boy. Nothing like a little responsibility to make your innards try to get out. You’re doing fine. Now get back to work.”
Paco glared at the retreating back, heaved a sigh of self-pity and attempted to extricate himself from the duct tape that had cleverly escaped his notice and enwrapped his thumbs and fingers while his attention was elsewhere.
While so engaged, the time machine made its reappearance in the same fashion as in its original arrival, causing Paco to lose the little ground he had gained in his hand to hand combat with the duct tape and filling his eyes and nostrils with mud and sand for good measure. Swearing heartily, Paco redoubled his efforts and at last managed to free himself in time to greet their returning guest. “Welcome back, sir. I’ve got a few questions for you, if you don’t mind.”
“No, not at all. What’s on your mind?”
“Well”, Paco said, “I assume that when you are travelling in temporal mode, external physical phenomena are irrelevant to the machine. That is, wind, rain, gravity and the like don’t affect anything about it?”
“Yes, as far as I’ve been able to determine, the outside world doesn’t really exist in temporal mode. The universe only affects the machine when dropping back into time.”
“That’s a relief” said Paco. “We won’t have to worry about structural strength for our airlock, then. My next question is about navigation. I assume that in temporal mode, you can program not only time but space coordinates? That we can travel temporally to both a desired time and location? And did you manage to check the range and endurance of the machine?”
“Yes, navigation through space-time is no problem. The moon is well within range, and endurance doesn’t seem to be a problem. Every stop in a particle field of any nature at all seems to refuel the engine, however it works. Can we possibly enlist a top-notch physicist to help deal with and perhaps explain how this thing works? Trial and error is fine as far as it goes, but I’m not too comfortable with the possibility of making an unrecoverable error.”
Paco, gingerly carrying his plastic and duct tape contraption to the vessel, replies, “Give me a hand getting this thing mounted around the hatch. That’s all good, and we should be able to get a physicist without too much publicity, given the state of communications. We’ll have to talk to Glass Eye, though. I’m sure he knows more physicists than either of us, and knows which ones can be both useful and trustworthy.”
“Change of subject, here. About this time travel business. I believe that the past is immutable, but that future events are not? The universe would be very messy otherwise.”
Crowley smiled. “Sharp of you to arrive at that conclusion so quickly. Yes, that seems to be the way it works. We can’t go back and eliminate mistakes – I tried it. But if we peek at the future and see something has gone wrong, we can track down the point at which it went awry and try a different course. Sometimes it involves some pretty unpleasant actions, but we just have to try to do as little harm as possible.”
*********************************************************************
Glass Eye (privately he thought of himself as Albertus) sat in his favorite chair, tilted back against the hut’s wall at a comfortable angle, wistfully recalling the days, so long gone, of his youth and his youthful dreams, likewise long gone. He recalled lost loves that seemed but moments in duration, friendships and enemies gained and lost, moments of wonder and despair and his awakening to a difference between himself and his compatriots. He lived, they died. Thinking back, he could recall the beginnings of exercises of his mind and body that no one else seemed to perform or understand when, on rare occasions, he attempted to discuss them. He recalled the excitement of finding the few, the very few, who led lives similar to his own, the long discussions of how and why they were different, finding from among them those who, like him, felt an obligation to use their lives and abilities to work for the betterment of mankind. He laughed softly, bitterly, in remembrance of their first fumbling efforts to establish communities that were organized to improve the lot of their members and the abject failures because of men’s cupidity, sloth and venality.
Slowly the understanding had grown that before their hopes could be realized a new kind of society must replace all societies in all places around the globe. The knowledge that only a broad consensus, a willing acceptance of responsibility and a full understanding of the full spectrum of problems besetting mankind would make such a society possible led inevitably to the conclusion that universal education and freedom from the draining struggle for mere existence would be needed as a precondition for such a society. For the past century and a half, the major focus has been on creating schools and teaching methods that will yield acceptable results within a reasonable time frame. A few successes have been achieved in method, but widespread application is proving more difficult, and governments are reluctant to invest the necessary resources to achieve universal education for all persons who are educable.
The problems seem overwhelming at times, but Glass Eye and his friends continue the struggle, content in the knowledge that haste and worry will accomplish nothing.

Chapter Two; A Gathering Gaggle
“Okay, Professor. Looks like you’re all set to go. The navigation data is loaded, the air supply and medical equipment is ready, you’ve got your space suit. Anything else you can think of?”
“No, I don’t think so. I agree that we should return the astronauts to here rather than someplace civilized, though. We don’t need the publicity or panic right now. See you when I get back.”
Paco watches as the time machine disappears above the clouds, then turns to find Glass Eye at his elbow. “Think they’re still alive up there? No environmental control, no air circulation – “
“We’ll know pretty soon. The Professor will use temporal flight to make the trips if they’re in bad shape. I hope he doesn’t have to, though. I’m hoping the effects of his machine will die down with the passage of time. It’s more than this tired old head can figure out how to reverse.”
“Well, if nothing else good comes of it, you should be able to make good progress on your education program. It’s going to create an obvious need for people capable of recreating the integrated circuit industry from scratch. I figure it’ll take at least three stages of technological redevelopment to get to where we can start over again. But being able to look at the inoperative equipment and how it’s put together should simplify the task somewhat. Could be that having to rebuild it will lead to better, faster, easier to use stuff.”
Glass Eye peers at the boy and commences a slow shuffling dance while he cackles, snuffles and snorts with laughter. “Oh, we’re going to have fun with you - yes we are! Way ahead of the predictions and right on the money too. Guess I’d better get a few of the guys together to fill you in on what’s coming down behind the scenes right now. We’re kicking rocks down a few different roads while the situation shakes itself out a little. One benefit of the breakdown in mass communications is that whoever has a bullhorn can carry a lot of clout, and we think we will have one of the biggest bullhorns around. A lot of our members are antiques, like me, and some of them just happen to have some antique communications equipment. I think Washington and other capitols are in for a surprise.”
“Meanwhile, what do you have planned for Crowley after we get the astronauts back on the ground? Ask him to go back to his time and stay there, but keep the machine here? Or keep him here until we know how it created the problem?”
Glass Eye grunted. “The less we fool with that damned thing the better I’ll like it, but we have to know how it works. That doesn’t fall within any of the courses of study I’ve had, so we’ll have to import a science guru to study it. Crowley’s here; he might as well stay until we can send him home without doing any more damage.”
The time machine reappeared with its usual histrionics, and a small parade of zombie-like creatures shambled down the ramp and thumped onto the dust of the yard with quiet groans of relief. Crowley popped his head out; “Be right back with the rest.”
One of the figures on the ground groaned “I didn’t think we had a chance. It’s goooood to be back. Even if it’s not Houston.”
Paco answered “Find a shade and make yourselves comfortable. You’ll be here until we can arrange transportation. Glass Eye here will brief you on the drill.”
The astronauts grope their way to their feet and head for the porch, the only shade in sight. Glass Eye speaks quietly to them for a few minutes, eliciting nods of understanding and acquiescence from the group. The time machine returns and discharges another group, which joins the gathering on the porch.
Crowley strolls over to Paco with a smile and says, “Well, what now? I hope you get someone here pretty soon to take over this damned contraption. It’s been fun, but I’d like to get home as soon as I brief somebody on what I know.”
Paco snorts. “I can’t tell you for sure. Glass Eye is supposed to be arranging for someone to come and take over for you, but he hasn’t said anything about when, so you may as well make yourself comfortable, if you can. I’m going to find a quiet spot and try to catch up myself. This is getting kind of heavy.”
With that he turned and walked around the corner of the hut to the garden and took up his usual post beside the forlorn shrub that passed for a tree next to the (still dry) well. Groaning, he held his head and whispered, “Too fast, too fast. No time to grow up, no Trixie, no buds my age to hang with… too fast.” His mind seemed to be rattling around like a bingo ball in the cage waiting to be called. A dizzy spiral of questions kept cycling through his thoughts. What part of his life had fitted him for his seemingly predestined role in rescuing the world from its troubles? What had triggered his sudden accession of knowledge of the past and his grasp of the problems waiting to be overcome – by him, no less, albeit with the help of an apparently formidable brain trust? Still in his teens, and humanity’s future riding on his shoulders? Too much, too soon, too fast. ”They’ll probably want me to solve the electronics problem, too,” he thought glumly. “Well, first things first, I guess. Get the excess population out from underfoot, get Glass Eye’s committee on hand, get Crowley to brief the committee and figure out if it’s okay to send him back home, and then we can worry about uplifting the masses.”
Glass Eye strolled around the corner of the shack and joined Paco by the tree. “Here’s where we are, and what we want to try. A guy named Singhnam Remanajameen is going to drop by in a little while to take a look at the machine and try to figure out what sort of field it’s generating. Levi Rasmussen, Boromar Eckstrom and Sovayali Angestrin will be here to tackle the communications issues and decide on the most effective means of persuading people to support a renewed effort on universal education. We can’t afford to let governments get adjusted to the idea of near-monopolies in communications. This is no time for dictatorial governments to assume power.”
Paco regarded him thoughtfully. “You know, old man, you’ve changed a lot since this all started. You speak in sensible sentences, act like you know what day it is, and even manage flashes of logic. I think you’ve been pulling my leg.”
“Nah. We just don’t have time to fool around right now. I’ll revert to normal when we can afford it.”
Chapter 3. Shades of Paine
“Okay, I’ve gone over it from stem to stern, so to speak, and I don’t know how it does the time thing, or what the power source is, but I think I’ve got a little bit of a handle on how it moves. There are very minute differences in field strengths of any type of field, particularly electromagnetic fields, and it translates those differences selectively to provide a push-pull in the desired direction. The net result is to equalize the field strengths at a very fine granularity, and this collapse of granularity results in an equal increase in field differentials all around it. The destruction of the potential difference results in a backlash, so to speak, that has the same effect as a massive EMP, and that’s what has disrupted everything. The damage isn’t repairable, of course, but when we manage to replace them, things will be just fine until the time machine is moved again. Spatial or temporal movement; it doesn’t matter, the effect’s the same. So for the time being, it doesn’t matter where or how often we use it, it won’t cause any further damage.”
Paco sighed in relief. “Then if you think you can handle it, would you mind running Mr. Crowley home? He feels out of place here, and he can’t contribute anything more right now. I’m going to talk to Glass Eye and the other guys; we’ve got to decide what our priorities are now.”
Paco walked into the hut and rapped on the tabletop. “Glass Eye! Boroman! Levi! Sovayali! Singhnam’s taking Crowley home, so let’s get to work. First order of business; do we emphasize education for its own sake as our number one priority, or do we work to recover civilization as quickly as possible? Sovayali; what’s the argument for education first?”
“All the arguments boil down to education being the foundation for progress in any other endeavor.” She shrugged. “I can expand on that for hours, but that’s the essence.”
“Okay. We’ll leave it there for a minute. Boroman, do you have a different take on it?”
Boroman, a tall skinny Slav, rubbed his forehead, and said, “Yah, classroom facilities are a little Spartan right now, wouldn’t you say? Student and teacher sitting on a log is not the best way to teach physics and engineering skills and those are things we’ll need most to reestablish the communications necessary to reach a broad enough audience to move society in any direction. But once we have the necessary tools, yes, education is the most important thing we can do, both to change society and to rebuild our electronics infrastructure.”
“Good point. Levi, anything to add?”
Levi, a balding Israeli of Glass Eye’s vintage, sat back with his fingers interlaced in his lap. “Oy veh. Where to start? Civilization is undoubtedly on the brink of disappearing, mass starvation is incipient, distribution of food, medicine and other necessities is limited to animal power for all intents and purposes, dictatorships are springing up as we speak, there are probably hundreds of small wars being fought for possession of foodstocks and the like, and I don’t know of a thing we can do to change any of that in time to do any good. Still, I think we should do what we can to alleviate suffering. Perhaps our most effective contribution may be using our more prominent friends as spokesmen to affirm that something is being done to restore things to as near normal as possible – we have many fine philosophers, statesmen and psychologists to formulate an effective message. Surely all the fine minds we have can help organize the logistics of the problems to some degree.”
“Okay, you’re in charge of that and there’s no time like the present to get started. Glass Eye, have we overlooked anything? Anything?”
“We have a great gift in the time machine if we can figure out how to use it most effectively. It can provide what amounts to real-time communications and instant transportation on a limited basis, and could be even more effective if Singhnam can find a way to automate its operations. That could be very important for distributing critical supplies such as medications. We’ve lost the facilities needed to manufacture medicines and to store them, but I can’t think of any reason we can’t get them from warehouses where they were stored before environmental controls failed. We can take students to the past to observe design, manufacturing and research operations in practice. They’ll probably be limited in what they can do – we’ll have to see. Feel free to suggest uses for it as they occur to you.”

End. Full stop.

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