This is installment #9 of a sci-fi serial. Installment #1 was posted 1/23/21; appropriately a numerically-ordered palindrome. Follow the links forward from the last sentence and backward from the first sentence of each post.
We are still here but our access and connection to Earth, from 2022 to at least 2070, has been severed. At the moment of disconnect, we lost the central cusp ship link of the communication chain to topple trajectory; those ships on this side remained with us, and we assume those ships on the other side remained in Earth SpaceTimePlace. All this said, we believe we have reason to hope, because if 2060 decimation had been replicated, we believe the possibility tracks would have reverged allowing us to land on Earth after 2060. Of course it could also mean that the devastation / destruction was much worse and/or an unknown (such as a renegade possibility track) occurred. We tend to hope partially because though we were unable to land on our planet in our one effort to 2060 (indicating a divergence likely created by a preponderant sequential around our initial colonization), the possibility tracks here obviously reverged at some point in the last 200 years or we would also be unable to travel back and forth on our planet (from 2022 to 2275) as we have. At the time of the 2022 Earth disconnect, we also temporarily lost connection with those present-day 2275 ships hovering over Earth, waiting and watching for a miracle of instantaneous habitability. Once those communications were restored, we learned that Earth was now completely covered with a visually impenetrable smoky, shimmery haze. We have sent one volunteer landing party, but once visual contact was lost, all contact was lost and there has been no contact since.
Here in 2275, we have utilized the kill switch affecting The Intelligence, greatly reducing its capability. We have done this because (unbeknownst to Toby) we have received the reports as dictated by both Toby and our Scribe from the governing warship. We have been fortunate Toby and the conglomerate have not intercepted the old fashioned radio transmissions sent by our observer; transmissions picked up by a dedicated receiver placed (before this mission left in 2275) in 2022 on our planet. We believe there is a greater chance for Toby to intercept incoming messages from us than the targeted outgoing packets, so we have not responded to let our scribe / observer know we have received his communications. He is being judicious.
Yes; before this mission left in 2275 we considered placing more of a permanent outpost on our planet in 2022, as a waystation in case it became necessary. But because of The Law of Preponderant Sequentials (our uncertainty of the entanglement it might create), and because this planet has never been environmentally welcoming to Humans and was less so in 2022 and is again on a trajectory of unlivability for us here in the future, our travel to our own planet's past is for this purpose (radio transmissions from 2022 Earth) only, and knowledge of this communication link was given only to the observer on the governing warship and otherwise known only to the Council of Six here in 2275.
As for the explorer fleet sent back from 2022 and due here in a few months? We intend to intercept and isolate in order to control the narrative. In this moment we intend to present them as ships that had been lost to topple trajectory. We cannot reestablish a 2022 communication chain due to divergence and though we could instruct our observer to send trusted military to an earlier time or to our planet in 2022 for the purpose of communication and planning, we fear Toby's reach; and even if successful we fear the potential fallout from a resulting entanglement. (We have taken to simply calling the conglomerate, Toby). Because we (believe we) have control of The Intelligence, to this moment we have allowed a playing out of circumstance, but now with the imminent potential of AI dominion on the planet we hope to recolonize, we are considering our options:
- Continue to let circumstance play out to its apparent inevitability, then negotiate with Toby.
- Gradually wake up The Intelligence here and negotiate.
- Direct communication with 2022 to determine if kill switch is appropriate (now that we know Toby can increase our odds of habitable survival), and to help determine fate of earthbound Humans.
- Annihilate all of our own warships, (we have that capability), before they have a chance to land, to possibly circumvent more consequential divergence, and try again coming back to an earlier time, (2020? 2016? 1980? 1960? Or a random time even earlier that we have not mapped?), hoping our planet will sustain us for the amount of calendar time this reloading will take.
The uncertainty surrounding #4 above is still not knowing if 2275 habitability on Earth, (assuming 2060 decimation is averted), will be instantaneous to us or if some law of calendar time equivalency may apply. Our scientists and thinkers are strongly encouraging us to definitively determine what is beneath the shroud of shimmery smoke surrounding Earth right now. They believe this will answer many questions and move us toward a more likely resolution. They believe it is possible we may find Earth habitable; or not. We have theorized all along that if or when we were able to go back to pre-2060 and avoid the catastrophic circumstance of 2060, a long term (hundreds or perhaps thousands of calendar years) Earth divergence would be created, necessitating current calendar time travel to shuttle our civilization to Earth, and a majority of our thinkers and scientists in this 2275 moment believe the haze that has appeared over Earth is a sign of this divergence, but what we do not know is if the Earth below the haze is a predominant or secondary reality; if perhaps some law of calendar time equivalency may apply preventing us from landing on a habitable Earth, forcing us onto the uninhabitable planet we know Earth was before our 2022 incursion. This unproven theory of calendar time equivalency would mean we must wait 215 years to be able to land on a habitable Earth, or according to one minority-held corollary might mean that some landings (depending on random circumstance?) may successfully reach the habitable track and some may find themselves on the unlivable Earth. We simply don’t know. We do know that the effort spent on 2275 Earth may not answer questions and may preclude some options for pre-2060 Earth as circumstance evolves in 2022. And if we do direct our efforts to pre-2060, with limited possibility tracks and The Law of Preponderant Sequentials, we must be decisive with any plan that has a likelihood or even a possibility of creating further divergence. Our options for physical intervention are truly limited for current 2022 circumstance, and even communication must be carefully considered. As Extraterrestrial Future Humans we began this endeavor in an effort to endrun and outrun earthbound Humans. If we further entangle and complicate, I am afraid we will not be able to outrun ourselves. As One of the Six I am in favor of expending our effort toward understanding 2275 Earth and allowing 2022 circumstance to play out; I am in favor of this also because our resources are limited and I don’t believe we can do both fronts justice. And I believe we will ultimately be able to negotiate with Toby.
Our way is to discuss until we have a clear either/or choice. The decision we have come to now is all-in 2275 or all-in pre-2060. One other believes as I do. Two believe our efforts should be focused on pre-2060 Earth. Two have not committed. Previous protocol in a split Council was to present the two choices to two randomly chosen members of the Citizen Council of 100 and to The Intelligence and allow each to vote thus breaking the tie. Having activated the kill switch, this may be problematic. Will we choose a third Citizen Leader? Will we consider waking The Intelligence knowing once that is done it may be difficult to undo? (Our vote to activate the kill switch was a very tenuous 4 to 2.) First we must vote on the 2275 / pre-2060 debate. Then based on preliminary discussion, if we are evenly split, we will vote on whether to wake The Intelligence. And if split on that vote I believe we will choose three Citizen Leaders to decide that matter, then progress accordingly. We feel the urgency. The uncertainty is palpable. The fate of our species, earthbound and extraterrestrial, past and future, hangs in this balance.