The Cleopatra Crisis - Simon Hawke, ebook
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//-->A CHRONOLOGICALTHE TIME WARSHISTORYOFApril 1. 2425:Dr. Wolfgang Mensinger invents thechronoplate at the age of 115, discovering timetravel. Later he would construct a small-scaleworking prototype for use in laboratoryexperiments specially designed to avoid anypossible creation of a temporal paradox. He ishailed as the "Fatherof Temporal Physics."July 14 . 2 430 :Mens ing er pub lis h es " The re is No Future," inwhich he redefines relativity, proving that thereis no such thing asthefuture. but an infinitenumber of potential future scenarios which areabsolute relative only to their present. He alsoannounces the discovery of "non-specific time"or temporal limbo, later known as "the deadzone "October 21. 2440:Wolfgang Mensinger dies. His son, Albrecht.perfects the chronoplate and carries on the work.but loses control of the discovery to politicalinterests.June 15. 2460:Formation of the international Committee forTemporal Intelligence, with Albrecht Mensingeras director. Specially trained and conditioned"agents" of the committee begin to travel backthrough time in order to conduct research andfield test the chronoplate apparatus. Many becomelost in transition, trapped in the limbo ofnonspecific time known as "the dead zone." Thosewho return from successful temporal voyages oftenbring back startling information necessitating therevision of historical records.March 22. 2461:The ConsortiAffair—Cardinal Lodovico Consorti isexcommunicated from the Roman Catholic Churchfor proposing that agents travel back through timeto obtain empirical evidence that Christ arosefollowing His crucifixion. The Consorti Affairsparks extensive international negotiations amidsta volatile climate of public opinion concerningthe proper uses for the new technology. Temporalexcursions are severely curtailed. Concurrently,espionage operatives of several nationsinfiltrate the Committee for TemporalIntelligence.May 1, 2461:Dr. Albrecht Mensinger appears before a specialinternational conference in Geneva, composed ofpolitical leaders and members of the scientificcommunity. He attempts to alleviate fears aboutthe possible misuses of time travel. He furtherrefuses to cooperate with any attempts atmilitarizing his father's discovery.February 3, 2485:The research facilities of the Committee forTemporal Intelligence are seized by troops of theTransAtlantic Treaty Organization.January 25, 2492:The Council of Nations meets in Buenos Aires,capital of the United Socialist States of SouthAmerica, to discuss increasing internationaltensions and economic instability. A proposalfor "anendto war in our time" is put forth bythe chairman of the Nippon Cong l o m e r a t eE m p i r e . D r . A l b r e c h t Mensinger, appearingbefore the body as nominal director of theCommittee for Temporal Intelligence, arguespassionately against using temporal technology toresolve international conflicts, but cannotpresent proof that the past can be affected bytemporal voyagers. Prevailing scientific testimonyreinforces the conventional wisdom that the past isan immutable absolute.December 24, 2492:Formation of the Referee Corps. brought intobeing by the Council of Nations as anextranational arbitrating hotly with sole controlover temporal technology and authority to stagetemporal conflicts as "limited warfare" toresolve international disputes.April 21, 2493:On the recommendation of the Referee Corps, asubordinate body named the Observer Corps isformed, taking over most of the functions of theCommittee for Temporal Intelligence, which isredesignated as the Temporal Intelligence Agency.Under the aegis of the Council of Nations and theReferee Corps, the TIA absorbs the intelligenceagencies of the world's governments and is madesolely answerable to the Referee Corps. Dr.Mensinger resigns his post to found the TemporalPreservation League, a group dedicated to theabolition of temporal conflict.June, 2497 - March, 2502: Referee Corps presides over initial temporalconfrontation campaigns. accepting "grievances"from disputing nations, selecting historicalconflicts of the past as "staging grounds" andsupervising the infiltration of modern troopsinto the so-called "cannon fodder" ranks ofancient warring armies. Initial numbers oftemporal combatants are kept small, withinfiltration facilitated by cosmetic surgery andimplant conditioning of soldiers. The results arecalculated based upon successful return rate anda complicated "point spread." Soldiers aremonitored via cerebral implants, enablingSearch & Retrieve teams to follow theirmovements and monitor mortality rate. The mediadubs temporal conflicts the "Time Wars."2500-2510:E x t r e m e l y r a p i d g r o w t h o f m a s s i v e s u p portindustry catering to the exacting art and scienceof temporal conflict. Rapid improvements ininternational economic climate follows, withsignificant growth in productivity and rapiddecline in unemployment and inflation rate.There is a gradual escalation of the Time Warswith the majority of the world's armed servicesconverting to temporal duty status.Growth of the Temporal Preservation League as apeace movement with an intensive lobby effort andmass demons t r a t i o n s a g a i n s t t h e T i m e W a r s .Mensinger cautions against an imbalance intemporal continuity due to the increasingactivity of the Time Wars.September 2. 2514:Mensinger publishes his "Theories of TemporalRelativity," incorporating his solution to theGrandfather Paradox and calling once again for acease-fire in the Time Wars. The result is anupheaval in the scientific community and ahastily reconvened Council of Nations to discusshis findings, leading to the Temporal StrategicArms Limitations Talks of 2515.March 15. 2515:T-SALT held in New York City Mensinger appearsbefore the representatives at the sessions andpetitions for an end to the Time Wars. A cease-fire resolution is framed, but tabled due tolack of agreement among the members of theCouncil of Nations. Mensinger leaves the T-SALTa broken man.November 18, 2516:Dr. Albrecht Mensinger experiences total nervouscollapse shortly after being awarded the BenfordPrize.December 25, 2516:Dr. Albrecht Mensinger commits suicide. Violentdemonstrations by members of the TemporalPreservation League.January 1. 2517:Militant members of the Temporal PreservationLeague hand together to form the Timekeepers, aterrorist offshoot of the League, dedicated tothe complete destruction of the war machine. Theyannounce their presence to the world byassassinating three members of the Referee Corpsand bombing the Council of Nations meeting inBuenos Aires, killing several heads of state andinjuring many others.September 17, 2613:Formation of the First Division of the U.S. ArmyTemporal Corps as a crack commando unitfollowing the successful com ple tio n of a"tem por al ad justment" involving the firstserious threat of a timestream split. The FirstDivision, assigned exclusively to deal withthreats to temporal continuity, is designated as"the Time Commandos.”October 10. 2615:Temporal physicist Dr. Robert Darknessdisappears without a trace shortly after turningover to the army his new invention. the "warpgrenade," a combination time machine andnuclear device. E s t a b l i s h i n g a s e c r e tresearchi n stallationsomewhere offEarth,Darkness experiments with temporal translocationbased on the transmutation principle. Heexperiments upon himself and succeeds intranslating his own body into tachyons. but anerror in his c a l c u l a t i o ns c au s e s a ni r r e v er s i bl e change in his sub-atomic structure,rendering it unstable. Darkness becomes "the manwho is faster than light."November 3, 2620:Thechronoplate is superceded by the te m p or a lt r a n s po n d er . Du b be d t h e "warp disc." thetemporal transponder was developed from workbegun by Dr. Darkness and it drew on powertapped by Einstein-Rosen Generators (developedby B ell La bor at orie s i n 2 545 ) bridging toneutron stars.March 15, 2625:The Temporal Crisis:The discovery of an alternateuniverse following an unsuccessful invasion bytroops of the Special Operations Group.counterparts of the Time Commanders. Whether asa result of chronophysical instability cau sed bycloc kin g tr eme ndo us amounts of energy throughEinstein-Rosen Bridges or the cumulative effectof temporal disruptions, an alternate universecomes into congruence with our own, causing aninstability in the timeflow of both universesand resulting in a "confluence effect," whereinthe timestreams of both universes ripple andoccasionally intersect, creating "confluencepoints" where a crossover from one universe toanother becomes possible.Massive amounts of energy clocked throughEinstein-Rosen Bridges has resulted in
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