A Time Story

Chapter 1 (part B)

[Continued from Chapter 1- part A]

A screen appeared above Lady Aylin that curved along the wall. It showed a line that was wide at the middle and narrow at each end.

"This is the universe, a plane that holds all of existence. From this perspective, it looks unchanging and eternal... but the same cannot be said for its many forms."

The screen zoomed to the leftmost end of the line. It was dark for a moment, then there was a huge explosion. Bright swirling lights exploded in an amalgamation of rainbow colors. Many even jumped off the screen, becoming their own 3D projections. A cluster of swirls flew all the way to the girl's row. She tried to touch them, but her hand merely passed through. The lights expanded farther as Lady Aylin continued her speech.

"Thisis what happens when we add time. What's eternal is sacrificed to allow changeand growth. Words such as before, after, past, present, and future would not bepossible without time. In fact, no idea would ever be possible, because inorder to think, breathe, or move across the room, change must occur to alterwhat is currently not the case. These lights are galaxies home to life on ascale that is incomprehensible. It is more life than you will see inquintillions of your lifetimes, no matter how long they may be. And what yousee now is only a specific frame in time. Life throughout the universe is muchmore—far more! Even if we only count sentient life, or just the human race, we are a microcosm that is so small, nothing I express would be sufficient."

Just thinking about it made the girl's head dizzy. Luckily, ideas on life and space suddenly awakened for her. She wondered how so much life could exist on tiny swirls, no matter how pretty they may be.

"We are humanity, a group of lifeforms once condemned to a deadly game of survival. Yet nature gifted us intelligence, which proved to be a powerful instrument in time. We conceived ideas, created tools, and built upon them unlike any other lifeform. We left the boundaries of our planet, explored the depths of the universe, and our technology became so advanced, earlier civilizations would consider us to be gods. In some ways, we are."

There were still too many concepts the girl didn't understand. She decided to focus on the galaxies instead. Many were labeled with videos popping in and our sporadically. One video showed hairy people with clubs. Another showed a rocket launching into space. A third showed an advanced civilization living under a purple sky. A fourth showed city lights from the dark side of a moon. The galaxies expanded farther than ever before, filling the room with wonderous light.

"With our technology, we achieved feats thought to be impossible. It was once believed we would be lucky enough to colonize our own galaxy, but in time we colonized every galaxy in the known universe. It was once believed we would always die from growing too old, but in time we invented ways to lengthen our lives forever. The growth time gave us was truly remarkable, but sadly it came with a price."

The galaxies became consumed by black dots which the videos showed to be black holes. One galaxy went out and the rest followed.

"Just as time gives growth, it also brings destruction. The increased entropy of the universe could not sustain itself forever, and this led to the death of all things. Stars died one by one, black holes consumed planets, and life died in the googolplexes to the vacuum of space. Despite our advanced technology, we could not stop this process. The best we could do was delay the inevitable. Only by transcending time were we able to save ourselves."

The lights disappeared until none remained. The screen minimized to the white line seen before.

"We are the last of humanity. We were saved by this facility known as the Time Station, a unique spacecraft that allows us to travel through time as freely as you can move across the room. In our new frontier, we are free from death, but the same cannot be said for the rest of life. Alas we could not take them with us, as this station can only hold less than an atom of life in the universe. Fortunately, not all hope is lost. The Time Station allows us to travel to the past and alter events to change the future. As never before we have the power to change our own destiny, and ensure we do not suffer inevitable destruction."