A Beginner's Guide to Temporal Physics

Time Corps Briefing Document. Version 1.6
Copyright © 1997, 2000 Chris Halliday
All Rights Reserved

Section 3: Parachronal Physics

Welcome troops. This who have made it this far may well be wondering if things could possibly get any more complex. They can. Up until now, the majority of your training has been concerned primarily with the idea of time travel within a single history and a single universe, but the Time Corps has a far wider theatre of operations than this. During this briefing, we’ll outline some of the basic concepts underlying the field of parachronal physics.
 

The Omniverse

There is not one infinite multiverse, there is instead an infinite number of infinite multiverses; an Omniverse.

Just as each multiverse is a linked and closed system composed of planes, dimensions and universes, so the Omniverse is composed of multiverses, formed from collapsing probability waves and defined by shells of hard chronoplasm. The multiverses (usually referred to as parallels) exist in the parachronal void known as phase space, separated by degrees of probability valency and orbiting each other in complex patterns analogous to the motion of subatomic particles. Each parallel obeys a set of physical and causal laws that define its behaviour, referred to as its reality profile. While most parallels share the same set of laws, there are those that differ, sometimes radically. These are the 'strange' parallels, and include among them realities where magic functions to the detriment of technology, where metahuman abilities are a routine consequence of radiation exposure, where local matter is malleable to thought, or even where the fabric of space itself has become organised and sentient.

An Ops Agent Speaks:

Don’t even try to imagine the size of our field of operations. It’s as big as a very big thing, and then some. It helps me to visualise the parallels as stars and planets, orbiting and influencing each other in a variety of ways. It works for me, if I try real hard to ignore the fact that each ‘planet’ and each ‘star’ contains the history, from birth to death, of an entire universe.
 

The Echo Effect

As well as sharing a common reality profile, the vast majority of parallels tend to share similar histories, though there are differences between them.

Generally, particularly important or pivotal historical events seem to occur at roughly the same time in most parallels. For example; the majority of parallel earths inhabited by sapients (human or not) appear to have suffered a world-wide conflict during the middle years of the twentieth century CE, and most of these parallels have experienced their first use of nuclear or equivalent weaponry at this point. The reason for this similarity is thought to be a form of residual transparallel resonance referred to as the Echo Effect, where tiny resonance waves (called ripples) radiate outwards from any given parallel as a natural by-product of its existence. These ripples then impact upon other parallels, and their cumulative effect is to create a form of 'history by consensus', which may manifest in the force we know as temporal inertia. However, as with any complex pattern of wave and counter-wave, zones of stability exist, ensuring that this 'consensual history' does not apply to all parallels. Parallels existing in these zones of stability are known to have a much reduced level of temporal inertia, and are thus highly prone to temporal disruption.

We’ve dealt with the problems caused by the transparallel resonance effect in previous sections. The echo effect is its up side. Because of the way it creates a similar shared history between parallels, the echo effect ensures that what we know about one parallel has a good chance of being true for another parallel in the same vicinity, cutting down on the volume of research we need. Remember though that parallels share similar histories, not the same history.
 

Bonded Parallels

While most parallels are separate and self-contained multiverses, there are many whose existence is linked to or entirely dependent upon the occurrence of certain events in another parallel.

When this occurs, the parallels are said to be bonded. The best example of this largely unexplained phenomenon is the large number of parallels where what is fiction to us appears to be the established history. While it is almost certainly the case that many authors and artists are latent chronopsis, sensitive to the events of other parallels, it still does not explain the disappearance of certain bonded parallels when the fiction which appears to be derived from them is 'erased' as the result of a temporal disruption.

Bonded parallels are linked by contact points, areas of high temporal stress where the history of one parallel has a direct and measurable effect on the other. These contact points have no special qualities, except that the observed incidence of timeslip in these areas is considerably higher than other locations of equal temporal stress. When timeslip does occur at a contact point it almost inevitably results in translocation to the other parallel in the bond.

The existence of bonded parallels makes it essential that when a visit to a parallel is complete, the departing travellers must take steps to completely erase their presence from the parallel’s timeline. It’s not enough to remove the evidence. The travellers must never have visited the parallel if it is to be safe. There are an easy dozen reasons why it’s got to be this way, but the biggest is the phenomena of bonded parallels. If the travellers don’t tidy up, the parallel remains bonded to their home parallel, because events on one were directly influenced by events on another. If the traveller’s history is later altered (wiped out by a timequake, for instance), their actions on the other parallel could be affected, with drastic effects on its history. If the travellers clean up, this can’t happen.
 

Parallel Identification

Each parallel has an ID number, containing the co-ordinates of its position in the n-dimensional void of phase space.

The location of a parallel in phase space defines that parallel’s reality profile, so that there are regions of the Omniverse populated by parallels of an essentially similar nature. Parallels in phase space appear to behave much like subatomic particles, with small clusters of ‘echo’ parallels orbiting around a central or ‘Prime’ parallel. Prime parallels may be distinguished from echoes by their relatively high natural temporal inertia, and a powerful echo effect, which causes them to influence to a great degree the causal flow of the surrounding parallels. Prime parallels are of special tactical importance, since any temporal disruption there will affect the local echoes.

Apart from a number, each parallel is also classified depending on its type. There are a large number of classification codes, but the main codes are as follows;
 

T-	= Parallel in which time travel is prevented by the laws of physics.
T+	= Parallel which has developed its own time travel technology.
T++	= Parallel which has developed its own variant of the Time Corps. Travel to these parallels is forbidden without express permission of the Hour Council, as unauthorised intrusion may be seen as a hostile act, alienating potential allies.
M	= Parallel in which "magic" exists. Parallels with high magic are M+, those with low magic are M-.
A	= Parallel in which the laws of nature prevent life as it is commonly understood from existing. Oddly, many parallels have what appear to be natural gateways to these multiverses on a number of inhabited worlds.
S	= Parallel in which behaves in a manner similar to the norm, but different enough to be labelled Strange. These parallels include the metahuman parallels, also known as the ‘superworlds’. Travel to the S parallels is forbidden without express permission from the Hour Council.
F	= Parallel in which what we consider to be fiction is the dominant history. Also known as the Mythic Parallels.

A parallel’s official designation comprises of both its co-ordinates and classification, as follows;

The example above is a Mythic Parallel, with slightly distorted natural laws, a high level of magic and no time travel possible. It is also of some tactical significance, as it is a prime parallel with 12 orbiting echoes.

Time Corps personnel often find the official designation a little lengthy for daily use, and have therefore devised unofficial code names for each group of parallels, derived from the core events in the causal flow of that group’s prime parallel. In this system the prime parallel is distinguished by the use of the suffix ‘prime’, and the echoes by a number suffix, indicating their position relative to the prime in terms of probability valency. Examples of this system are Reich 9, Camelot 7, Apocalypse 12 and of course Zero Prime, the parallel about which the Citadel orbits.

An Ops Agent Speaks:

Always, always check the full designation of a parallel before clocking out. Not only will it let you know the ‘location’ of your destination (difficult concept when you’re dealing with pantemporal hypergeometry), but with some experience it’ll give you an idea of some of the ‘ground rules’ you’ll be working under.

On my second or third mission in 1st Division, we clocked out t o check a possible Scarab penetration in a backwater S parallel a ways out from the main clusters. Our commander, Arturo Kazan, was a gung-ho maniac whose personal philosophy was that planning was for wimps. He had a flawless mission history, which gave the powers that be cause to overlook his "eccentric" way of doing things. Consequently, we never got time to check out the full designation. Maybe if we had, Arturo would have made it back. Y’see, the reality profile of this parallel was twisted in a way that exposure to hard radiation nearly always resulted in superpowers, and insanity. Maybe if Arturo had known he would have been a little more careful. He was a cyborg, an ex-merc from the 24th Century, and had a nuclear pacemaker. When the pacemaker’s casing got cracked by an AP round, all hell broke loose.

Arturo’s doing fine, I hear. Apparently he can fly, is very strong, can fire microwaves out of his eyes, will probably live forever, and currently has about forty-seven personalities, none above the mental age of six. Now if you'll excuse me, Lois is in trouble. Again.
 

Alternate Realities

Each and every time a probability waveform collapses into one state or another as the result of anything from a conscious decision to a quantum level observation, an Alternate Reality is created.

These realities branch out from their parallel's core timeline, sharing its history to the point where they diverge. While these alternate realities are as 'real' as the core timeline, they are unstable, generally having a physical existence of something less than one picosecond before undergoing Chaotic Regression (discussed below). However, it is possible for an alternate reality created at or near an area of high temporal stress to attain a degree of stability and prolong its existence by diverting the energy of temporal inertia. When this occurs, any successful temporal disruption at the stress point will result in the alternate reality 'trading places' with the core timeline; in effect becoming the core timeline, while the original core faces a slow degradation into chaos.

The process known as chaotic regression is the ultimate fate of all alternate realities, where the collapsed probability structures that make up that reality recombine into uncollapsed waveforms. This has the result of degrading the fabric of the alternate reality into unformed chaoplasm; the raw material of probability. The degradation affects all aspects of the alternate reality, so that it's physical and causal laws may warp unpredictably as the regression progresses. The regression effect begins at the alternate reality's boundary and moves inward, with the spatial location of the divergence at the epicentre; the final point to be devoured by the encroaching chaos.

Chaotic regression is normally almost instantaneous, but this is not true in alternate realities which have achieved some form of stability, generally through deliberate causal manipulation to increase the probability of the alternate becoming ‘real’. In these cases the inevitable regression can take hours, days, months or even years.

While it is possible to travel into an alternate reality through the point of divergence, it's not recommended, as travel of this sort increases the degree of temporal stress at the divergence point and leaves the traveller vulnerable to chaotic regression.

An Ops Agent Speaks:

If anyone reading this thinks this might be fun to see first hand (and there’s always one), don’t. When I was new to all this and was still pretty cocky, I got too caught up in the thrill of the chase and clocked out after a bad guy too close to a stress point. Try and imagine clocking in to a world that is literally dissolving into a kind of primal sludge with the consistency of warm oatmeal; where people and objects randomly evaporate into their base constituents without warning and where the next law of physics that fails may be the one that is keeping you alive. That is the nightmare of chaotic regression. The universe literally shrinks away to nothing, the boundary a devouring, roaring wall of unreality. Matter and energy convulse and scream deafeningly as their existence is unbound, and you, alone in the centre of the maelstrom, can feel the unmade billions howling for your death.

Not funny.

The Retrieval Team yanked me out about three seconds before the regression effect swallowed me whole. Pretty close, which is why I’ve got mimeplas legs and can do a fifty metre standing jump.

That experience is why I’m still with the Corps, why I stick my existence on the line day after day, and why I’m not so cocky anymore. Because regression is happening all the time, to universe after universe. And if the wrong person pushes the wrong event at the wrong time, it could happen to us.