A Time Story

Chapter 2 (part A)

"The Time Station travels a plane beyond space and time. It is the only spacecraft able to traverse the 4th dimension, and thus it is separate from all time in the universe. Dimensions are directions in space. The 3 we often experience are forwards-and-backwards, up-and-down, left-and-right. These are the 3 dimensions. But the 4th dimension is a direction we cannot travel. Since we are 3-dimensional beings, we are confined to our 3 directions. We cannot even point to the direction of the 4th, let alone be directly aware of its existence. It's similar to how a 2D circle or square cannot know of the existence of the 3rd dimension, no matter how obvious it may seem to us. But in both cases, a hidden dimension acts on us all. This can be illustrated if we draw several images of the circle and square and play them as a reel. When it starts, they are born. And when it stops, they die.

"Even though we travel through time, time must function on this station, otherwise you would remain still for all eternity. The station avoids this by creating an artificial 4th dimension. Here, time still moves forward, but certain aspects of time are shut off. This is why nothing on the Time Station decays from age or rust. Instead of a finite reel, you can imagine a circular reel, that plays forever without end."

"Ahh, my head hurts," said Rylan. She was still getting used to having a voice. Sometimes she had trouble telling the difference between talking and thinking to herself.

"Do you need clarification, Ms. Rylan?" asked the teacherbot, who was really just a helpbot in a teacher's role.

"No... no, I'm okay thank you," Rylan smiled nervously. She knew better than to ask questions. The explanations often confused her more.

The teacher continued to lecture the rest of the class.

"Since the early stages of humanity, people dreamed of traveling through time. However, it would not be possible until the near end of the universe. It was a feat considered impossible even by the greatest minds of the time. Most efforts focused on extending the life in the universe or to shelter life on dying worlds. Only the masters of the Time Station considered time travel as a possible outcome. Their genius—"

Rylan, no longer able to pay attention, decided to bury her head in her desk instead. This was nothing like Neuro-Retention! There, she just had to hear a few words for thoughts to come to her. Nothing came to her now. Guess there was not enough room to put these thoughts in her tiny head. She didn't understand why she was taught in a classroom either. Wouldn't it be easier to learn on her omnisphere? At least then she could learn at her own pace. To entertain herself, Rylan drifted back to her first phase alive, back to when she learned about her omnisphere in the first place.

The wait behind the elevator felt like the longest moment in her life. All she wanted to do was find the girl-like-her. It felt so unfair that after she finally found her name and voice, the girl-like-her was gone. Rylan didn't even know her voice... let alone her name. For all Rylan knew she could have been any number of girls who walked the concourse and asking them one-by-one didn't seem like the best way to find out. Most of them didn't look too friendly, especially the ones that gave her weird stares. Rylan didn't understand why they looked at her like that. All she wanted to do was say 'hello'.

Every clone was assigned an apartment after birth and Rylan was no exception. Once a helpbot arrived to escort her, she asked it frequent questions about the girl-like-her. Sadly, a "girl-like-me" did not appear in its database. Rylan wasn't sure what to expect when they reached her apartment door. It was white like the other doors along the wall, except with her ID, C-109, glowing in orange on the front. The helpbot opened the door in an interesting way. It extended its claw and administered an electric pulse on the touchpad beside the door. When the door hissed open, Rylan was hesitant to go inside. But after the helpbot consoled her and convinced her to take her first step, Rylan's eyes widened in awe.