continued, extending his right hand which I tentatively shook. “My name is Aaron Conner Matthews and this is my cousin, Jacob Douglas Ash. We got your message.”
They were both grinning broadly now and Jacob added, “I take it you are a little stunned to meet us.”
“Well, I guess…I mean…,” I started to reply, when a third man who I didn’t notice before stepped forward. The third man was nearly as tall as the other two and was perhaps in his fifties; and he was dressed like he was going to a wedding, with blue gray suit and matching bow tie.
“Momentary disconcertment at meeting your future multi-millennial descendants is perfectly normal,” the third man said. “Let me introduce myself, I am Professor Albert Phineas III. I am with the Galactic Timeline Integrity Agency, GTIA. And I also teach Middle Earth History and Religious studies at Cambridge. I am here today as the GTIA’s representative to ensure that this visit doesn’t pollute the time stream.”
Pulling out what looked like an iPad from his jacket, he continued. “Not very likely, granted, but you know, agency regulations. It will just be a second.” He held up the device like a camera phone and there was a flash. He looked down at the results and said, “Excellent.” He then handed the device to me, “Sign here please.” Looking down at the iPad I read:
Mr. James Peter Matthews:
The estimated impact of this visit on your projected future results is 0.0000000000012% from the previously observed mean. However this is only an estimate based on a standard tri-timeline scan. While these estimates have proven to be 100% reliable over the previous 125 years and 1,458,645,675 time trips, no estimate can be deemed to be 100% reliable as long as the universal constants remain unknown.
Signing below indicates that you understand that there is a risk, though extremely small, that this visit may alter your future, either positively or negatively, from the previously observed mean. Designated Galactic Time Integrity Agency (GTIA) representative, Professor Albert Phineas III will oversee this time disturbance.
Signee also acknowledges that no future historical facts from this date, 02/10/2011 – 06/01/2375 will be disclosed.
Sign here.
“It is just a standard galactic release form,” Professor Phineas said. “You can just use your finger to sign.”
“I need to sign a release form?”
“Yes, unfortunately we still have lawyers in the future,” the Professor replied with a laugh. Anytime we plan an interactive time disturbance, we scan the complete timeline prior to the trip to document every single event from that moment forward. We then run in-sync model scans with all the variables, planned and random, to analyze the impact of the visit. We then compare the results, anything less than .01% means that there is no noticeable impact on the time stream, and anything less than .0000001% means that there is no noticeable impact on the targeted individual or their descendants. So as you see, this visit in no way impacts your future or the future of your descendants.”
“Why is the cutoff 06/01/2375?” I couldn’t help, but ask.
“That is the date that mankind switches from a currency to an actions based commerce society,” the Professor replied. “It is an extremely fascinating time in man’s history.”
“Actions based commerce society?”
“Yes,” the Professor replied, going into full lecture mode. “You are living in what we in the future call the Currency Age. You buy possessions, based on government established currency. You can grow that currency by investing it, loaning it, gambling it, or even inheriting it – a totally barbaric practice. To think that you actually have thousands of people in your time living in luxury off the great deeds of their parents, grandparents and beyond – ridiculous. On 06/01/2375, currency is abandoned and mankind moves to actions based commerce. It was originally promoted as Deeds to Dollars.”
“Deeds to Dollars?”
“Yes,” the Professor happily continued. “At that point forward, currency is determined by an individual’s contributions to society and is not transferable to anyone. So children of great parents, need to perform their own great deeds if they want to live in luxury.”
“Uh-hum, Professor,” one of my two multi-millennial offspring (as the Professor had called them), Aaron broke-in.
“Oh right,” the Professor replied, looking a little sheepish. “I get carried away sometimes. It’s just such a fascinating subject…anyway after 06/01/2375, knowledge of future occurrences can no longer benefit your descendants financially. Any other questions?”
No, I was good. So I signed.
“OK then,” the Professor continued. “Let us move this conversation to a more appropriate venue.” And with that he motioned for me to follow them into the Library. The Professor and my two multi-millennial offspring, Aaron and Jacob, led me up to the fifth floor, the archives (which was almost always empty) and into a conference room.
Closing the door the Professor produced a cone shaped cylinder. The Professor pressed a button on the cylinder and a green light appeared on the top of the cone. The Professor motioned for me to sit in one of the chairs. “This is a time cylinder,” the Professor began. “It enables us to travel both backwards and forwards in time.” And with that he placed the device on my head – more precisely it hovered about an inch above my head. The professor then pushed a button on his iPad and there was a flash – and I was now officially a time traveler.
Journal Entry: 06/03/4013
The library conference room had vanished, and I was now standing on the front porch of a house.
At least I thought it was a house. There were subtle differences which took my mind a few minutes to process. You know, it was kind of like when you walk into your room and there is something missing, like say your Green Day poster. You know something is off, but it takes your mind a couple minutes to figure out what’s missing. That’s just how this felt. The house and porch looked normal enough, just like your typical colonial house, but as I looked around at the other houses, in what I had to assume was a neighborhood, I noticed what was missing. No driveways, no roads, no garages. There were sidewalks and what appeared to be bike paths, and I wondered if this was really some sort of compound; or if the world really did run out of fossil fuels, so mankind was left riding their bikes everywhere.
The Professor, Aaron, and Jacob were in the process of getting up from a bench on the porch, each of them removing a time cylinder from atop their heads. When I glanced above my head, my time cylinder was no longer there.
“Welcome to Springfield, Missouri, 06/03/4013,” the Professor said, and motioned to my missing time cylinder. “The time cylinders,” the Professor continued. “Project an image of yourself, either forwards or backwards in time. The physical and dimensional concepts involved are more than your 21st century brain, no offense intended, can really comprehend. But in essence, your mind is here in the future, while your physical body is still back in the library conference room. What appears to be your body is actually a Physical Energy Construct, PEC for short. It allows you to physically interact with the environment here, just like we were able to physically interact with you back in your own time.”
“Uh-hum, Professor,” Aaron interjected again, giving the Professor a slightly exasperated look.
“Oh sorry,” the Professor replied, looking abashed. “My excitement has carried me away again.” Gesturing to a bench and a couple chairs on the porch, he said, “Let’s sit and Aaron can begin.”
“OK,” Aaron said after we were seated, motioning to a plaque that was sitting on a whicker table. As Aaron motioned, the plaque gently rose off the table and floated over into his hands. Aaron then handed the plaque to me. It was my letter, neatly framed on what appeared to be black velvet.
In my excitement at actually meeting people from the future, I had totally forgotten why I had requested the meeting in the first place. And in all honesty, now that I was here in the future, I had a million other questions besides
how can I prove that God’s a myth. The first was how had Aaron made the letter float across the room? So I asked, and for a few minutes they humored my curiosity – their answers blew my mind.
For example, the reason why there were no roads is that traveling by car was now obsolete. Using technology similar to the time transporters, people could instantly transport from one location to another. You could even transport between planets, at least within our own solar system. Oh yes, by the year 4013, mankind had achieved inter-galactic travel, and had visited a little over a third of the Milky Way galaxy. I was surprised to learn that we hadn’t actually met aliens yet – at least not intelligent life. Apparently mankind had now colonized over three dozen Class M worlds (planets, like earth, that can support life); and while they all had life, likes plants, animals, insects and etc., none of it was intelligent.
The most mind blowing revelation of all was that mankind, in the 3120’s, had evolved to the point that people no longer had to consume food for energy. That’s right, mankind was now solar powered, drawing energy directly from the Sun and people could do this even when it was cloudy. In addition, as Aaron had demonstrated, powers like telekinesis and flying were now common place. Children were usually able to fly by age two.