This is installment #11 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 have some answers. We also have more questions.
I have safely returned from 2275 Earth which is still covered in its smoky shimmery haze. We lost two more ships.
It all started well. We had spaced ourselves somewhat equidistant around Earth outside the shroud. Ship Two, (Ship One being the volunteer ship we lost), pierced the veil, hovered in its assigned location in Earth's atmosphere and reported looking down upon a lush green thriving tropical rainforest. According to protocol Ship Two took readings that resulted in cautious optimism. Then Ship Three went in according to plan, and other than a cryptic, garbled, fading burst of three-second static, all contact was immediately lost. Our communications team has since interpreted their final four words as “that makes no sense.” After some deliberation, I sent Ship Four in also according to the plan and this time there was not even a burst of static. They were gone. We still had contact with Two. I changed the plan and, still outside the shroud, navigated my ship, (Ship Five), to a point directly above Two and entered Earth's atmosphere. We established visual contact and confirmed an apparent habitable planet. We took readings, duplicating Two's efforts, and confirmed atmosphere compatibility from 30,000 feet to the planet's surface. Our excitement was tempered by the apparent loss of two ships. Perhaps the theoretical Reality Divergence Corollary to the (also theoretical) Law of Calendar Time Equivalency has some merit.
It was interesting that from inside Earth's atmosphere, the Earth-Cloak (visually impenetrable from the other side outside Earth's atmosphere), could not be seen and apparently had no impact on the Sun's rays or on the atmosphere or planet. We took readings going through the covering that were essentially no different than the readings above and below the haze. This is interesting but not surprising. Our scientists had theorized it might be a visual-only phenomena; perhaps an unsettled manifestation of the TimePlace Orbital WavePlane (normally not seen except at cusp speed) working to reconcile the differing realities struggling for stability below. And it is this line of thinking that led to the Reality Divergence Corollary to the Law of Calendar Time Equivalency. I am adding context for that moment, but in that moment our job was to gather information. So in that moment we were not thinking of laws or corollaries; in that moment we began to explore. Maintaining altitude we traveled east and had been doing so for a relatively short period when we came to a vertical wall of the same shimmery smoky haze that encircled the entire planet. Moving to varying altitudes this wall appeared continuous and intact from the planet's surface to the Earth-Cloak. Traveling short distances north and south, the cloak-wall maintained integrity. We sent unmanned drones into the wall, but just as with those that had previously tried to enter Earth's atmosphere they were repelled, (apparently unable to make it all the way through the haze), and came back to us with no new information. (For some reason, so far, nothing manned or unmanned smaller than a warship has been able to penetrate the veil. The manned small-craft explorers we have sent lose navigational capability upon entering the buffer and soon find themselves exiting near their entry point.) We watched the wall for a period of time to detect movement, but (perhaps due to its amorphous character?) we detected no steady longitudinal movement. By this time, we were somewhat fearful of nightfall so we traveled back to approximately our original entry point, located a suitable landing spot, and as I prepared Ship Five for landing I sent Ship Two west to explore, as we had done together moving east.
Ship Five landed. At first, just as from above, all appeared as we expected according to our maps and visuals from this location pre-2060. From inside the ship we detected no human life in the vicinity which for this geography was not unexpected, and not knowing the extent of harm (because it is unlikely the 2060 event was completely negated) from which the planet might still be recovering, there was a reasonable (and in fact encouraging) amount of plant and wild life. We again confirmed readings and a small group of us (25) exited the ship. Following protocol we positioned ourselves two miles from the ship and I alone transitioned from helmeted air to Earth air. One individual at a time repeated the process until five of us were helmetless. We then de-helmeted in groups of five, leaving one group breathing manufactured air. After a few minutes, (it struck me first and was not experienced by the helmeted group), vertigo brought me to my knees. It affected some more than others. Four had to reattach their helmets to regain their ability to move about. We checked our equipment and again checked atmosphere readings but nothing had changed; all appeared normal. We took other measurements and eventually found the culprit: a web of entangled sound waves at two different frequencies, (one very high frequency and one very low frequency), obviously artificially generated. Though the sound waves remained constant and the vertigo never improved, after a time the remaining sixteen of us breathing Earth air were able to adapt and (to an extent) manage the affliction. Those of us able, intentionally remained helmet-free to further assess the impact. We broke into four groups hoping to find the source of the sound transmissions but also to safely gather plant and wild life for further study, as was the plan. We all felt a sense of urgency knowing darkness was not far off.
The remainder of our time on Earth was uneventful with one exception. As we came back together and began the trek back to the ship, the sky suddenly darkened, (though there had been no clouds), and there was a series of bright flashes each accompanied by a loud report like the crack of a lightning bolt. Some of us remember as many as 10 rapid strobes, some counted as few as six. Those of us sans helmets were immediately rendered helpless and after the attack found ourselves writhing on the ground. Those in helmets did not experience the severe vertigo we did, but were nonetheless temporarily incapacitated and remained disoriented for several minutes after. I say attack because it certainly felt purposeful. Then as suddenly the sky cleared. Regardless, we all donned our helmets and with an even greater sense of urgency made our way back to the ship.
Upon arrival at Ship Five, as we were preparing for takeoff, I contacted Ship Two for a verbal report. The ship’s leader reported an uneventful gathering of observations and information and could shed no new light on our experiences except to say it did indeed look from above like a heavy, dark bank of thunderclouds that preternaturally instantaneously formed and as quickly dissipated.
We left Earth’s surface and established visual contact with Ship Two. I ordered them to exit Earth's atmosphere and wait for us outside the shroud. I wanted to see darkness from above. Somehow unsurprisingly, once night had completely fallen, the strong strobing light show began again. It covered the Earth below us and was not a mere 6 or 8 or 10 strobes but was constant for as far as we could see. Of course we were above the interlaced extreme frequencies, but those of us who had been helmetless when it attacked below, still suffered some vertigo and disorientation watching it from above. We watched it for a time and again began feeling a sense of urgency to get away from this strange new habitat. We exited Earth’s atmosphere and, as Ship Two before us, did not realize we were traversing the Earth-Cloak until we were in it. It was indeed visual-only and only from within or above.
Since returning, studying all the information, our scientists and thinkers theorize pockets of (we believe) two differing realities representing the ongoing divergence. We have many questions. Which reality, (the habitable Earth we visited or the Earth that “makes no sense” and took three of our ships), are we more likely to find upon our return? (In our hopeful Human way we have dubbed habitable Earth as the Primary Reality and unknown Earth as the Secondary Reality.) When we return to the rainforest will we again encounter the Primary Reality? Or will it have been somehow overcome by the Secondary Reality? Do these pockets move according to the caprice of wind or weather or an unknown reason, keeping Earth uninhabitable or at best randomly dangerous? Or do these pockets move according to a schedule like day and night or orbital position, allowing for colonization but forcing a nomadic, hunter / gatherer lifestyle? Or do these pockets remain locked in place, allowing for settlements and civilization. And do our theories and corollaries tell us that as calendar time marches on, the pockets of habitability will grow larger and/or new pockets will form? Or are we missing something in our theories? In 215 years will all of Earth once again be habitable? Or if the divergence continues beyond 2490, is there some reverse flow or wave phenomena that will perpetuate a random or (somehow) scheduled state of flux until the possibility tracks reverge? Is calendar time equivalency wishful thinking? And what of the sound web? Is this Toby's way to exert control? And if Toby is there, can 2275 Tim communicate with him? Or is 2275 Tim already communicating with him? And where is Toby? Is he in the Primary Reality only? And since he has stayed in calendar time since pre-2060, is his reality the planet's only reality for him? And for other humans and/or nano-humans who also remained in calendar time? Is Toby even aware of a Secondary Reality? Or the possibility of a Secondary Reality? Or the Earth-Cloak? Or the cloak-wall?
With limited resources and an uncertain amount of calendar time, there is much work ahead of us and many questions to answer. The rate of breakdown in the habitability of our home planet appears to be increasing, much like the experience of pre-2060 Earth. Now that we have seen the potential of a habitable Earth here in 2275, our focus is entirely on this endeavor. Whatever is happening as a result of 1y22 is a matter for Toby, the earthbound humans, and our fellow extraterrestrial future humans still in that calendar time. We see some results. They have given us hope and this is WhereWhen we must remain; (at least for this moment).