‘Are you seriously suggesting to me that the Olyix invasion was a good thing for us?’
‘It depends on your perspective. For those who fled Earth and the settled worlds in their exodus habitats, it was a catastrophic time when their lives were disrupted forever. Subsequently they spent the rest of their days fleeing in dread across the galaxy – an era of such profound experience it has shaped the psychology of every generation world since, producing a tainted legacy, with yourself and the squads as the ultimate outcome. But now the era of the exodus flights is over, one way or another. Some of the exodus, whom we should honour for their incredible commitment, strove to provide future generations with a chance at freedom. Some – billions more – fell to subsequent Olyix capture along the expansion wavefront. Were you to consider this whole epoch from the perspective of a low-income, low-satisfaction Earth resident in 2204, then if FinalStrike is ultimately successful, their view would be very different to yours. Imagine: there was a frightening disconnect in their life, and then they wake up thousands of years later in what equates to a billionaire’s paradise where they can do or be anything. Now ask yourself: does the human race have a net gain from you changing the timeline to one where the Olyix invasion does not happen? And in doing so, becoming unborn yourself, along with everybody born from the day the Salvation of Life arrived at Sol onwards? Others will be born instead, of course, but all those lives will not only no longer exist, they never will have existed.’
‘Fuck the Saints,’ Yirella exclaimed.
‘That is a true paradox,’ Immanueel said in a sympathetic voice.
‘But you think causality precludes a classic-theory reset of the timeline, and that by eliminating the possibility of the God at the End of Time, all I’ll be doing is preventing this current cycle from repeating?’
‘It is a complete unknown. And will probably remain so. The observer – you – cannot observe what will happen to themselves within a paradox. And all time travel is a paradox of one kind or another.’
‘I really need to think about this.’
‘Of course. And there is a third option. Some of our more – shall we say – unconventional theorists posit that temporal loops can only be triggered by an extrinsic factor.’
‘Extrinsic?’
‘The trigger originates from outside this universe.’
‘You mean, when a time machine creates a new branch?’
‘No. Completely outside spacetime, no matter if our existence is within a universe or multiverse.’
‘Fuck the Saints!’
‘It is a theory that permits any and every causality violation you may want to consider.’
‘Are you seriously saying the God at the End of Time doesn’t come from this reality?’
‘It is a theory – unprovable until tested. If correct, it would mean destroying the message’s origin world in the present is impossible, for that origin world is not even a part of our reality.’
‘So what do I do?’ she asked, despairing.
‘Nothing. If it is an extrinsic factor, nothing we do will have any effect. If we live in a multiverse where any attempt to modify our timeline simply creates a new different timeline, nothing in our past will change. And if we do live in a pre-ordained simultaneous totality-existence universe, your decision, whatever it is, will make no difference, because it has already been made and taken effect; there is no such thing as change. In each case, all you can do is simply enjoy the life you currently experience.’
‘Saints, I’m not enjoying this experience, trust me.’
‘Yes. And yet from what Ainsley has told us, and what I myself have observed, you have and enjoy Dellian, do you not?’
She didn’t trust herself to answer. Instead she nodded ruefully. ‘Some kind of time travel is possible. The message proves that, right? I don’t think worrying about the possibility of resetting myself out of existence is a reason for inaction. After all, I have lived here and now; that cannot be taken away. It’s only the universe that will forget me, not me myself. So if I consider the enormity of what’s in play . . . I think that the god’s decision to send the message to the Olyix was the original decision, and our actions are determined by it. In that I have no choice. Therefore –’ She took a breath. ‘I want us to bring the tachyon detector to the enclave. If we can work out where the Olyix were when the message was received, that’s when we make the ultimate decision: Do we go after the God at the End of Time?’
‘Your first decision – and the one we were fully expecting you to make. Very well, genesis human, we will bring the tachyon detector with us.’
The
Avenging Heretic
Year Four
When he thought back to what the Avenging Heretic’s bridge used to be like during S-Day, all Alik could remember was basically a blank room with a big holographic projection in the middle. Now, it was the kind of chamber that belonged in a drama series – which he guessed was where a lot of it had been bootlegged from. The chief suspect was Callum, with Kandara as his accomplice – though she just laughed when he asked her. The alterations had been slow to materialize. One day the shape of the chairs had changed. They were bigger and bulkier, something that belonged in early twenty-first-century war vehicles, but they were comfier, so no one said anything. Consoles increased in increments throughout the second year, their surfaces becoming army-green metal, acquiring black trim, which then developed glowing blue edging as the overall light was reduced. Control functions became more intuitive. The tactical display graphics grew into
