A Nonlinear Narrative - SOT2023

1. The Prestigious University

A physics class is talking at a prestigious university in 2054. A young professor, Dr. Nathan Holdenfield is explaining to his class the problems of the celluloid cinema cult classic, Back To The Future.

"I like using this movie because backwards time travel is impossible. We can go forward through high velocity dilation, but we can never reverse the clock of the universe. I know this because if time travel were ever discovered, at any point in our assumed linear future, they would have come back to the era of technological emergence by now. Even if it's 125,000 years in the future, had they figured it out then, they would have screwed something up here by now."

A student near the back yells, "What about the Mandela effect?"

The class chuckles, another says, "The theology department's across campus".

"Why would we have memory of the alternate? Mandela effect assumes a deterministic X- Y timeline shift, I doubt we would have a nagging memory of things being different. It would change instantaneously and we wouldn't even notice. We just become the person in that timeline. Like nothing happened.

A student responds, "I disagree, the timeline shift wouldnt change the physical synapses that retain memory, theoretically. It wouldn't just shift."

"Your thinking is rooted in a deterministic frame, Sandra," another student responded.

"I agree, I don't think we would notice, and the next time you make that point I will say it again," continued the agitated and dissenting student.

"And now you know why I like this topic. It creates a good debate. Let's discuss all these paradoxes that could occur the rest of class, and then pick it up next", responded the professor.

It was 3:00 PM soon after and class was dismissed at the prestigious university.

2. The Ice Base

At a facility somewhere undisclosed, a scientist that doesn't exist is speaking.

"In 2016 on an ice sheet in Antarctica a balloon name ANITA made a startling discovery about the extra noise in their data. They discovered there were high-energy particles shooting out from the ice. They tried to explain it away, a low energy neutrino can pass through the earth, but these particle suspected as higher energy tau neutrinos, forced a crazy conclusion. This particle is too large to go through earth in that state, so it must be either changing its state, or flowing in reverse.

Others said structures within the ice were reflecting back and it was in their heads. We disagreed and studied it.

We have run with it since that point.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the South Pole. The facility you are now in, and were prevented from knowing its exact location, lies underneath the ice sheet somewhere in Anartica. Consider your blackout lifted.

Using a high energy fusion reaction we can create and harness Tau Neutrinos. The neutrinos are directed into this mobius tube where they collect. The mobius tube is humorously a capacitor for temporal flux. These particles create a field that flows in reverse, is dominated by antimatter, but moves within the same frame as our own. Once the desired critical point is reached, energy is released, and the resulting burst transports the pod to a predetermined distance into the past.

We have a time machine."

Someone in the crowd chirped, "Fitting it actually requires a flux capacitor. Sounds like something a hack science fiction writer would write."

The group laughed, and the scientist continued.

"Though selective, minimal testing using small animals we have learned the fears of the butterfly flapping its wings were overblown. Mice, reptiles, and birds, sending any of them back, never altered present events.

We then moved on to human missions. Since that point, we have been all over our past with discretion and have yet to change anything in the present. We are still here. We are still conducting our research.

We have learned much about indeterminism and the statistical way our world operates."

The scientist continued on wowing the new arrivals to the project. Still awed at the time travel facility in Antarctica.

3. The Humid Community College

The day after next was warm at the community college campus. Warm for fall with a sticky humidity in the air. The young teacher, Nathaniel Hallenfeld, decided to continue the discussion from the previous class, expanding on his thoughts on time travel.

"Lets assume you can go back. What if concurrently to our talk right now, a team of scientists at a secret base is using some time portal to go back into the past? If they changed some deterministic thing related to our ancestors, would we cease to exist? The Grandfather Paradox. This is why I like using the ancient cult classic The Butterfly Effect. We would change our world, but would we even notice it? What if someone just stopped existing? Like a person in our class. Would anyone notice them missing?"

The student from a few days before reiterated her point, "I still disagree, the timeline shift couldnt change the physical synapses that retain memory, you couldn't just swap in a new set of memories and not notice. I remember making this point a few days ago. My memory couldn't be swapped to a scenario where I'm in a completely different situation without memory of the transition or previous situation."

No one said anything, but the teacher was smiling. "Have you heard of the many worlds interpretation? Theoretically, we are constantly making choices that split our trajectory into tangent universes where we made that decision. Every decision into a new universe. Infinite and contained within a single plane of possible outcomes within string theory. If that's true, we do nothing but split our universes endlessly. An endless juxtaposition between two universal states to draw reference to. It's happening at every moment. Yet, we don't notice a thing. Even with the insane number of universes created."

After some more lively nerd discussion, the teacher said, "Sorry to cut the theoretical fun short, but we have to do actual work on scalar fields today."

The class groaned and got back to work at the humid community college campus.

4. The Desert Facility

At the experiment, a Colonel is talking to a Captain after a recent reactor scare.

"This is why we house this experiment in Nevada. The radiation is out of the way, and things that could go wrong are confined within a mountain. They suggested building it in Antarctica, but treaties and other uninformed countries were cause for concern.

This is awesome, though. There is almost no time travel paradox. We can even interact and establish identities in the past without creating paradox. Of course, we keep people away from any possible grandfather killings, but you have to really meddle in your own past to looper your existence.

We have been going strong, doing our thing, and as far as we can tell, we haven't changed a thing."

The End.

a reply to: Degradation33

A novel and fun way to introduce the daughter universe theory.

I had fun reading it... thank you.

a reply to: Lumenari

Thank you. Had fun writing it. Multiverse/time travel stories are always fun.

Almost stole Rick and Morty's parallel universe portal gun, but felt a weird time pod device never properly explained was the way to go. In this universe anyway.

a reply to: Degradation33


Well done, put me in mind of some of P K D's stories

a reply to: Degradation33

This is awesome, though. Even with that 1% chance of epic fail. This might be my favorite time travel tale yet.
I'm a Mozart in Mirrorshades guy, so cheers, D33.

a reply to: SprocketUK

a reply to: BeNotAfraid

Thank you both.

I am partial to the Twilight Zone formula for short stories. Craziness and a twist revealed at the end.

I hear the closing monologue along the lines of:

Ordinary people. People carrying on their normal lives thinking the life they experience is a linear first hand account. Their conception of space and time uncorrupted, even as they meddle with its very temporal fabric. The saying "No harm, no foul" takes on new meaning when you are able view the third person perspective that can only be seen in The Twilight Zone.

a reply to: Degradation33

Fascinating story, Degradation33! I love it when science fiction meets science fact or theory. It makes me wonder just how far ahead this kind of research really is compared to what is established science.

a reply to: Degradation33

Dude! Bonus material! nice
I totally read that with Rod Serling's voice, and the sudden orchestra.

a reply to: Encia22

Ha thanks.

"Science fact" on a sci-fi level. Like "reversing the polarity". The best I could do was hijack a news study and copout with "magical neutrinos" in a mobious flux capacitor.

On a conspiracy note I know this country has things they don't disclose. On a dark night (3 hours before dawn) in Arizona I was skywatching looking for satallites. I saw an orbital formation flying, or at very lowest stratospheric. First there were two, then a third caught up, and then a fourth. Going about the speed of, and with the luminosity of a brighter satellite. But in a distinctive offset V formation.

I'm sure The Space Force has some folks that knows what those are... and so will I, if I live long enough.

I swear at one point that's why I initially came to this site.

a reply to: Degradation33

Amazing deep thinking!!!

a reply to: JJproductions

Thank you.

I think this is my horse with the best odds in this race.

a reply to: Degradation33



She is a good horse. Named Ninny!

a reply to: JJproductions

Thank you for naming the horse that is this story.

I'm now going to respond to your post primarily for selfish reasons. I'm falling behind the top 2 stories, and by responding it puts it back on the front page, which can increase its odds of gaining ground.