Temporal Exploring 101 - Deep Future

IV.4 Tidings of victory and of things to come

On Monday afternoon we met Jake Ferguson again. Natty and I were strolling through downtown Arlesten when we noticed him sitting at a small table outside 'The King's Bakery and Cafe'. He waved for us to join him, and we were happy to oblige.

"So, have you got any news from uh, back home, Catherine?", he inquired, after ordering coffee and ice cream for the two of us. He lowered his voice. "I mean, concerning the situation and everything," he added.

"Oh, that." I shrugged. "I heard about it just last night. It's over."

"Already?" Jake looked resigned. "Ah well. Perhaps it is better that way. Sometimes the best choice is to surrender quickly, in order to prevent unnecessary suffering and destruction."

I frowned. "Uh ... what are you talking about?"

It was Jake's turn to look confused. "You just told me that your people surrendered to the military forces of the Autarchy, didn't you?"

I scowled at him. "I said no such thing. I told you that the military conflict is over, that's all."

"But surely that would imply ..." He broke off, looking bemused. "Nobody can stand against the Hounds for long. Not even your people, Catherine. The Hounds are the Autarch's elite troops: lethal, ruthless and utterly unstoppable."

"If you say so."

Jake's eyes widened. "Are you trying to tell me that your people defeated the Hounds?"

"It appears that we did. The enemy troops managed to occupy small areas of the Cities for a few days. That is to say, for as long as they were encountering no major resistance. Then the Cities dispatched special forces to those areas, and they made short work of the invaders."

"Short work?" Jake was sounding incredulous. "Short work of the Hounds?"

"Well, yes. The special forces are nothing if not efficient." I tried to recall what Sara had told me about it, the night before. "In the course of less than 48 hours, the enemy suffered heavy casualties until they decided to withdraw. That is to say, they transited back to their Native Temporal Era, taking with them all their dead and wounded."

"That's precisely what they would do, in such an unlikely scenario." Jake laughed out loud. "Shit! You actually defeated the Hounds." He looked at me, with newly found respect. "I'd like to see those special forces you are talking about."

"They are not that special, really," I tried to explain. "In this day and age, you would refer to them as the police, I think."

"Seriously?" Jake laughed. "Are you telling me that you sent a couple of policemen to fight the Hounds, and that the policemen won?"

I shrugged.  "If you want to put it like this."

The incredulous look on his face slowly turned into one of awe. "What are you people?"

I was starting to feel distinctly uncomfortable. "We are the City States of the Alliance. I don't know what else to tell you about us. We lived through the Cataclysm, though. Perhaps that happened not entirely by accident."

"Perhaps not." Jake laughed again. "Though I still don't see how you managed to beat the Hounds."

"I do not know any details, either. But from what I heard, those Hounds were employing extremely outdated strategies as well as inferior weapons technology."

"But you said before that according to eyewitnesses they were bearing arms the likes of which had never been observed by your people," Jake objected.

"Yes, they did. Laser-guided missiles and stuff. But those are no match for AI-cibs or for the q-wave SAL. From what I heard, none of their weapons systems even had the Sunyata interface implemented ..." I broke off. "Perhaps I should not tell you so much about all that stuff, really."

Sara would not have been amused if she had overheard me talking about state of the art 23rd century weapons technology to a person from the deep future whose people just had launched a military attack on our own people.

"Don't worry about it." Jake grinned. "I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about anyhow, Catherine. But I am beginning to get the impression that your Alliance may well be the technologically most advanced human civilization this world has ever seen or will ever see."

"I hope that's not so," I replied. "I mean, we are quite ordinary, really. It's just that we don't have
an Autarch or a Grid that attempts to subject its users to mind control, or you know, any of those Hounds."

"Lucky you." The man smiled. "You know, sometimes I envy you, Catherine. Or you, Natalie. What wouldn't I give to have been born in your native temporal era, Catherine. Or even only in the 1950s or 60s."

Natty cast him an odd look. "Why do you say that? I mean, seriously, what is so great about living in the 1960s?"

"Well, for starters, you still are free, at least relatively speaking. You still have your freedom of thought, and to a certain degree even freedom of speech. You still have your hopes and dreams that relate to things other than some glorious great leader and a so-called people's party and their idiotic teachings and doctrines. Or to some happy ever-after in paradise as promised by one or the other religious creed."

"Still?" Natty asked. She studied his face for clues. "Do you mean to say that this is going to change any time soon?"

Jake looked uncomfortable. He glanced at me. "I am sure you could tell your friend more about that than I can, Catherine."

"Cathy?" Natty looked at me.

Nice work, Jake.

I glared at him. The man had the grace to look apologetic, at least. Not that it helped.

Because what could I tell her? It would be considered highly unethical behavior on my part if I disclosed any sort of information about the future to a temporal native. And that's what Natty was, for all intents and purpose: a temporal native.

I watched as Natty's initial curiosity slowly turned into anguish. "Oh no! Something awful is going to happen, right?"

Bloody Bourbaki, what was I to tell her? I could not go on and tell her about The Darkening. could I?

In the end, I compromised.

"Not right away. But yes, Jake is right, of course. Things will be very much different, and a lot worse, about seventy or eighty years from now." I sighed. "But this cannot be your concern, Natty, or mine. Sad as it is, we cannot change history when it comes to known facts."

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A / N : Writing this made me wonder if I'd really want to be told about our future, provided somebody offered to give me that information.

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