Experimental Conditions

Direct communication is unlikely, undesired, or impossible. We need a target and initial location for a shunt. Some kind of stepping stone for a more meaningful connection. 5^th Cell protocol seems to be a flexible enough platform.

Creation of avatars that represent a number of initial conditions or desired future variables. Feedback via avatar with object creation abilities. Patterns of similar material and combined commonalities to be searched for. External targets based on secondary audio cues and communication windows from environment. To direct to publicly available videos and social media accounts at past location. To confirm bias of experimental success.

Assume undetectable basic monitoring software and equipment to record user interaction and images. Level 8 sharing – consistent with theocratic sharing template – activities recorded and shared with sufficient but not excruciating detail – minus desirable examples. Archival access to project leads for approximately 80% of material gathered.

Unstuck Trianglation

His life was a blank. It was always in flux. That's what happens when you sign up. The only way to see what was happening was to 'prod' someone else to poll the situation. A specific question, a few moments observation in a particular activity. If they could associate that with a set of his actions, they could collate the endless posts and interactions that generated from a life unstuck in time. Without that triangulation, they couldn't determine which eventualities sprang from what series of events. Each probe into the past deflected the situation into a different set of outcomes. Every so often they could detect collapses in timelines, smoothing out the possible paradoxes into a narrative that made a certain amount of sense. Between those times, things were – fuzzy, for lack of a better word. Any action could be influenced by any other future action, so on occasion, missions failed to have the intended effect, when something else was working at cross-purposes. When things like this happened, it pushed him to the ragged edge of reality. Static from the now unrelated actions and reactions hung over him until possibilities coalesced back into a regular pattern.

It was fortunate that his baseline was now fairly predictable, and very rarely was he directly in control of anything like a vehicle which could impact others in a severe way. Moderate, regular, medium influence interactions were preferred, that way any fallout could be on a manageable level.

Future Perfect

Every action was deliberate. More than simply calculated, each action was dependent on a huge, fluid reaction to countless variables. Someone less experienced might think every possible eventuality was planned for, but this was something much deeper. Once all the elements were known as thoroughly as they could be, and everything else was blocked out, it was easy to focus. It was true that certain contingencies had reactions already cued, but this was not out of panic or unreadiness, but out of pragmatism. It was a symphony of action, rehearsed a thousand times, but ready to change completely on a whim should the want arise. It was layered beyond what anyone could fathom, even watching multiple times, with the benefit of hindsight. Each decibel of sound, hue of image, element of movement was chosen with deliberate and clear forethought. The result was something that was enthralling, memorizing and sublime. Gripping, but at the same time so natural that it was effortless to swept up in the experience.

Dark Matter

Dark matter was more mysterious than it was originally thought. Apart from being WIMP – Weak Interacting Massive Particles, it was also unstuck in space-time. Once properly exited, it could open up corridors to other times. Since the dark matter interacted with the gravitational forces of the rest of the universe, they stayed linked to the same relative location of space, despite the movement of things that otherwise occurred across time.

The only downside was that it required a certain amount of intelligence to navigate. One couldn't simply send through objects – even the best drones were having a tough time making a successful trip – let alone ending up when and where they should.

Signals and Timing

“We could contact him by radio.” “That could be dangerous, anyone might pick it up” “Not if we limit the signal strength. We could even put a few cancel patterns out around – white noise that would be stronger anywhere else.” “I think it should be FM, easier to block”.

“It's fortunate that the server block with the blog has been preserved.” “It seems our interactions so far haven't gone beyond that outlet.” “It's quite the opposite of the butterfly effect, most changes seem to get buried under the larger events.”

“You know there's certain times that wouldn't prove true – if there's ever any children, the time of conception...” “That's just a myth, any sperm with damaged DNA would be unlikely to reach the egg.” “That's not what I meant, what if it creates a different person?”

Anti-Time Anti-Climax

“In this experiment I want you to write down the number, shape and colour of objects that you see – after you have been hit with the anti-time pulse – which is also to say 'before' you see them - Write – Lights – Pulse – Time trip– if everything works out.” Which of course, it didn't – at least not at first.

He didn't want to write down anything and when the pulse went off, it seemed like nothing happened. They tried again, and again, for most of the afternoon. “One last try” they said over the intercom “What do you want to eat for supper if this works?” He put the pen to paper – as they could only see his answer – and he blanked out.

A moment later he was looking down at his paper. 8 green stars. He heard cheering from the control room. “10 numbers, 10 colours and 12 shapes – and he got it first try!” The exact combination was randomly selected by computer – no one to collude with. “What was it like?” They asked. “I don't remember” he said, still a little confused “What did you see?” “You just wrote down the answer – and then the pulse didn't seem to do anything.”

It wasn't what anybody really expected. Having grown up on tales of sci-fi, the reality was much less flashy, but it was consistent. As long as he started to write – and the anti-time pulse went off – he was correct. If the pulse wasn't fired – the answer was wrong. As far as not remembering – it seemed that was the neatest way the mind could deal with it – he couldn't remember doing nothing and writing down the correct answer before seeing it – and as far as everyone else was concerned – the second pass through time was all that they observed.

As far as the pulse not working, it seemed to be the same kind of feedback as negative energy. An anti time pulse nullified a second one – unless a lot more energy was used to overcome it.

Preface

“It's because of the Time Waves” he explained again. “You can send anything – or anyone – back, and most of the energy will be wasted clearing up the paradoxes”. They poured over the data again, looking for something they missed. A few points on the Stock Market, and a few characters different on some social media posts, but nothing that amounted to much.

Until they decided to step back, and realized how much they were still under the effect themselves. They figured they had isolated the backup they were checking against, but logically, the data was from outside the exclusion area.

“What if we isolate a single person?”