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In 1986, Cetacean biologist Gillian
Taylor lost two recently freed humpback whaling ships to whalers in the
Pacific Ocean. Afterwards, she met a geneticist who was working on a
“super gene” and other areas of Eugenics in a bid to improve humanity. Unfortunately the two of them, who both
despised each others views, yet loved each others minds, were killed in
a car wreck in 1987. The geneticist’s work
was lost and genetic engineering of human beings remains a far distant
possibility. Instead of an explosion of
genetically engineered ‘super men’, the planet Earth saw an explosion of
communication with the Internet and World Wide Web. It
was this revolution which would provide Earth a way to get through the
troubled 21st Century and unite to explore outer space. What if Taylor had disappeared? What
if the geneticist had somehow been able to produce a ‘super race’ of
cloned human beings? Many believe that
alternate time lines exist. Some believe that in another alternate
universe with an alternate Earth, Taylor did disappear and Earth
suffered horrible Eugenics Wars. The thing
about alternate Universes is that they bleed into each other. We now know that alternate universes can meld
back into one another and not just diverge. We
know that artifacts from one universe can appear in another, most often
in the form of legends, stories and other entertainments. But
this is the story of one man’s universe. The only universe he knows? Not exactly. You
see, Standard Five, of Earth, was part of a secret exploration into
alternate realities. That is how we know
that in some realities Taylor was not there to prevent the Eugenics
wars, however accidentally. But the
exploration into Alternate Universes gave rise to Standard’s Order,
also known as Directive One: “No one at any time should proceed into
alternate universes for any reason.” Five
realized that going into alternate universes and going backwards in
time were part and parcel of the same thing. Messing
in alternate universes not only was immoral but dangerous to your own
reality. Space-time-reality continuum must
be allowed to continue naturally as much as possible or the strain
might rend it and the existence of all universes be threatened.
Standard Primus Five became Chief
of Temporal Investigations in 2983. He was 37 years old. He was unusual
for a Space Patrol Star Chief because of the fact that he was from
Earth. The Exploration of space was led
mostly by the new colonies, especially the outer ones. Terrans were
generally traditional, maybe going for a space cruise or limited
extra-solar expeditions, but rarely joining the unkempt, impolite,
brash, loud Martians or Ganymesions. It
was the strange presence of this Terran Centauri Base that puzzled
Morgan Dorzal.
Morgan sat on the train, eyeing the
man across the aisle from him. There was something odd about him. Terran most probably. He
had the stiff posture and steady gaze of a stodgy old fashioned Terran.
But he wore standard issue Space Patrol shades, even if he did rest
them gently on his lap as he read, as if they were a pair of ancient
spectacles. The man’s attire was odd too. He wore a fairly non-descript collared shirt
and dark pants with old fashioned shoes. He
wasn’t necessarily out of style but he certainly wasn’t in fashion
either. The man sat reading with the air
of a scholar studying ancient texts, but he was reading a recent pulp
novel about space travel in the 2300's.
Morgan decided to try to strike up
a conversation.
“Interesting book you’re reading
there,” he said.
“Yes it is,” said the man abruptly
but politely.
“I read a lot of that
Spaceploration stuff myself. I’m Morgan
Dorzal, I work on Centauri’s Information Systems.”
“My name is Standard Five,” said
the strange man in the crisp accent of a Terran.
“Pleasure to meet you Mr. Five,”
said Morgan hoping for some sort of response.
“The pleasure is all mine,” said
Five, “I’m sorry but I’m afraid I’m not much of a conversationalist
right now. I have many things on my mind
which I’m trying to incubate by reading this book. You
say you work for Information. What level?”
“I’m in X level actually, but
that’s all I can tell you,” said Morgan.
“Well since you are in X level I
can tell you that I am Agent Five, chief of Temporal Investigations,”
said Five.
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