A Time Story

Chapter 3 (part A)

"Now does anyone know the difference between your two different ages?"

Several girls raised their hand. One girl shot her hand up like a rocket. The teacherbot decided to call on her.

"Yes Ms. Gesly."

"Well... cycle age... obviously," she answered with nervous glee, "is determined by the oscilla—"

Rylan couldn't stop herself from clenching her hair and smothering her head against her desk. Nothing stuck! None of it! The most she learned from Time Studies was the various expressions a helpbot could make: passive ^-^, serious o-o, annoyed -_-, surprised 0-0. Most helpbots wore the passive face, but the teacherbot was more expressive than most.

"Correct Ms. Gesly," the teacherbot smiled ^ᴗ^. "So as you may recall, time is a direction in space: an invisible force that constantly pulls us forward. We can only experience it because of our memories of the past and ability to predict the future. Since the dawn of the universe, intelligent lifeforms were able to recognize patterns that repeated themselves through time: such as night and day, winter and summer, and many others. Soon they made units of time based upon these patterns. The earliest of which was a planet's revolution around its axis and rotation around its star. But once a civilization existed on multiple planets, a more universal time system needed to be used. This is where Galactic Eras come from. These represent an evolutionary period in the cosmos, which involves—"

Rylan clenched her hair harder. Paying attention was agonizing enough without the helpbot's advanced vocabulary confusing her further. She still tried her hardest because she noticed girls who answered a lot of questions were often reassigned to other classes. Perhaps if she tried really, really hard she could be as smart as Gesly, and finally leave this boring slog.

"In the universe, your bodies go through a process of decay called aging. This is a cycle where your body grows, matures, and then grows weaker due to cellular degradation. Eventually this weakness becomes so great, that it leads to your eventual death. Even if you haven't gone on a mission, you've probably seen aspects of this kind of aging. Since your bodies were cloned at different physical ages, there's a likelihood that other newborns might look differently than you. Some might be taller, some shorter, some might be frail with loose skin. We call this your physical age, or p-age for short. This is measured by an ancient time unit called earth years, since your aging cycle matches closely to the humans of Earth Prime. Everyone in this class has a p-age of 15, evident by your same heights and body structures. But the range of maturity levels in this class might surprise you, as the time many of you have been born differs greatly. How you arrived at the same p-age depends on your mission experience. Some of you have been cloned at a p-age of 10 and your bodies had gradually aged due to your time on missions. Unlike p-age, the time you have been alive is measured by the cycles on the Time Station. We call this cycle age, or c-age for short."

Wait. Cycle age? Physical age? Where did she hear that before? Summoning her tablet, Rylan opened an application that listed her general information. It read: "ID: C-109, Name: Rylan, Serial-Number: G6-000429, Points: 234, Cycle age: 1 twelfth-cycle, Physical age: 15 years". Rylan always wondered why she had two different ages. She remembered in the cloning chamber, she stood in a line with the number 15 on the floor. That must mean she has a p-age of 15. Piecing it all together made Rylan feel so smart. It felt good to understand the teacher for a change!

"Humanity invented a cure for aging quite early in its development. But your unique physiology prevents clones from receiving the same treatment. Our Head Mistress and A-Class are working tirelessly for a cure. But in the meantime, your body is vulnerable to aging once you leave the safety of this station. It's perfect for those who have not yet reached their physical prime, but afterwards—"