Finding Time 04

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Revelations.
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Part 4 of the 6 part series

Updated 09/22/2022
Created 06/24/2014
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The alarm woke us and after I'd hit the snooze button we spent the minutes cuddling up and then, when she rolled to face me, kissing and hugging till the alarm's insistent beeping called a halt.

We showered, dressed and ate a lazy breakfast. Sally decided that she'd prefer to go work in the lab and let me sort out things with the PR lady. It was a cold rainy day outside so I dropped her off at the department before making my way back to the Admin block.

"Good morning professor," the receptionist greeted me brightly. "Carol's in the small conference room, second door on the right."

"Thanks," I replied with a nod, as I walked on past her.

I gave the door a knock and walked on in. Carol stood and held her hand out to me.

"Hi, I'm Carol Lampard. Won't you take a seat?"

She looked to be in her thirties, nicely tanned, her glossy black hair looking straight cut just under her ears. She was dressed in a dark blue business suit with a pale blue blouse and matching four-inch stilettoes.

I gave her well-manicured hand a brief shake and took the seat next to her.

"How may I help you?" she asked, as she resumed her seat.

I put the globe on the table before I replied, "I take it you haven't yet heard of my discovery? In the simplest terms I've discovered a Time Tunnel, something that lets you view history as it happened."

I could see from the slightly quizzical look she gave me that she hadn't understood. "What it means is the device will let you view any event in history that you tune it to. You want chariot races at the Coliseum or the Indy 500, it's all there."

"What, you mean like looking at a screen?"

"Yes, I can give you a demonstration if you want."

"Oh, I'll take your word, but it would be nice to see history being made if I could," she replied, her brow furrowed in thought.

"We can arrange that for later," I said smiling at her. "Right now, I want to find out if I'll be stepping on anyone's toes."

"I don't get you?"

"Can I do this myself? Make the announcement about what I've discovered or should I let the university make it?" I asked.

"Well, we can call a press conference for you, but I'll have to check with Andy, our manager, to get it officially sanctioned," she replied.

"Would he be busy now?" I asked.

"I don't know," she answered, glancing to the phone on the table.

"Could I talk to him do you think?"

"I- um, I'll see if he's free," she answered, reaching for the phone.

"Thanks," I replied.

"Oh hi Ann, could you put me through to Andy?" she asked.

...

"Thanks."

I heard the faint purr of the ring as she waited.

"Andy, hi, this is Carol. I've got Professor Lutner with me and he wants to know if we've got any plans regarding his discovery of the Time Tunnels?"

... The voice wasn't distinct enough to hear.

"Yes, Professor Steven Lutner," she confirmed, glancing at her tablet.

... His reply this time was quite short.

"Yes, we're on our way," she replied before replacing the handset. Looking up at me she said, "He'd like to see you."

"Oh," I said, a little surprised by the turn of events.

She stood, pushing her tablet into her bag as she turned and led the way. I held the door as we exited then widened my stride to catch her.

"I usually only deal with press relations," she confessed to me. "Write the press releases and do interviews with the reporters."

"That's the kind of support I'll need. My discovery is going to change the world and make me very unpopular in certain circles. I've opened a new Pandora's Box," I replied.

"How?" she asked.

"I'm going to cost you your privacy, that's the biggest problem. You can use it to spy on people as well. Anyone can watch you undress for bed or take a shower," I replied.

She stopped in her tracks. "Huh?"

"I'm afraid so, you, me and everyone in the world could use one to peek into anyone's bedroom," I explained.

"That won't be allowed surely," she said anxiously.

"It's the other side of the penny; if the government gets to control it, then I see an even darker future for us. It has to be in the hands of the people to keep the government in check," I answered, my calm voice belying the importance of the words.

"But we can't let people go around spying on people," she protested.

"No, I agree. But there's no way to prevent its misuse, it's going to be easy enough to build your own, if you can afford it."

"Oh, that's creepy, only the rich pervs-."

"Who'll have all the most beautiful women in the history of the world to drool over," I cut in.

"That's not the way most people will see it, it'll make everyone paranoid," she replied.

"I hope to circumvent that by putting tunnels in public places, libraries, civic buildings. In a generation they'll be ubiquitous, crime won't exist, capitalism will be tamed and politicians honest," I said confidently, taking her elbow and turning to walk on.

"All of them are good selling points, but privacy is going to be a big sticking point," she replied, walking on with me.

"Well, being a Peeping Tom will still be against the law. The police can use their Tunnels to check up on anybody who's suspected of misusing one, they won't have many real crimes to solve," I answered.

"I can't imagine a world like that, paranoia making people honest. Everyone mentally looking over their shoulder no matter where they are or what they're thinking of doing," she declared with a little shake of the head.

"The kids will soon adapt," I replied. "It's the rich and famous who are going to suffer through the change, for those of us who live normal honest boring lives, what are we doing to make us worth watching is the best message I can think of."

"Huh, tell them they're lives are worthless, they're too boring to be spied on?" she retorted, amused.

"Well I'm sure you could dress it up better than that. Or better still, bury it in the small print," I replied dryly.

We stopped at the end door and Carol knocked.

"Come," a voice called.

She opened the door and ushered me through, then followed. The whole of the back wall was glass, to our right was a desk and chairs and to our left stood Andy in a small group of easy chairs.

"Professor," he greeted me. "Come and sit here. I've been talking to your Head of Department about your little discovery. You're setting the worlds of History and Astronomy alight."

Carol hesitated and I put my hand in the small of her back and urged her forward as I took a step. I guided her in first and took the seat opposite Andy.

"Tea, Coffee?" he asked, as he sat.

"No thanks," I replied.

"Now, we think it should be used primarily as a research tool-," he started.

"I beg to differ," I interrupted. "I think the people have a right to free access. There's no other way to handle it if we're going to preserve human rights."

"Undoubtedly you've thought through the consequences of that?" he asked.

"Yes, I was discussing them with Carol just now. This has the potential to make society fair and just. No more war, no more crime, total oversight of our elected and appointed officials and the taming of capitalism. Against that is the loss of privacy, everybody knows everybody else's business. In a funny way I can see that turning into a bonus for future generations if it banishes prudery," I replied.

"The people can't take a culture shock like this; it'll cause all kinds of chaos. There could even be riots or revolution," he argued.

"Yes," I replied bluntly. "It's going to cause a massive social upheaval; I wish it could be avoided, but we need to get it out there before the powers that be try to suppress it. The loss of privacy is the lesser evil when compared to the loss of our freedom under some totalitarian government. I'd prefer to die as a martyr rather than a slave."

"You can't destroy civilisation because you think it's the right thing to do," he argued back. "The big picture-"

"The big picture is, this is a turning point in history. For better or worse the discovery has been made, the secret's out there. The spooks already have a working prototype of their own -"

"How did they get hold of it?" he asked alarmed.

"God only knows, they've probably got moles here. I've been expecting them to try to take over. That's why I'd like to get the news out there as soon as practical."

"That puts a different complexion on things, I thought we still had it contained in the scientific community," he replied somewhat subdued.

"Well, they've got a working model at GCHQ, I've seen it. At the moment, they're using it to track terrorists and good luck to them on that, but it's the ideal instrument to surveil the population for dissidence. Unless the public has oversight, it's a recipe for dictatorship."

"We know, Reg was really annoyed that you'd brought George in on it, it was hard keeping a damper on his enthusiasm. If we could have kept it as a physics phenomenon... But that's water under the bridge now, we're going to have to find a plan B," he said, his brows furrowed.

"Mass publicity and mass production," I said emphatically. "License the technology as widely as possible and start installing them in public places. I was going to emphasize the benefits in the elimination of crime and war-"

"That's one option, I hope there are others," he replied.

"No one's asking me, but I'd suggest building a couple of dozen models and give them to respected journalists and broadcasters. Programs like News Night, Brass Tacks, Horizon," Carol chimed in.

"That's a bit parochial, it would need world coverage, The Times of India, Der Spiegel, The Australian, the New York Times...," Andy countered.

"Wait up, I don't think the newspapers are independent enough, the pressure they'd face would be enormous. I'd like to see independent institutions have them, the World Court, the International Tribunal at The Hague," I said.

"How difficult are they to manufacture?" Andy queried.

"Not very, I used a 3D printer for the plastic parts and wound the coils myself, the CAD people designed and manufactured the plug in board and the students wrote the programs," I replied.

"So we could make more here on campus," he replied reflectively.

"Yes, I have four more cores built, if the CAD department can make more PCI cards the rest of the stuff is off the shelf. If you want to build more than that then we'd have to order more magnets, thankfully I used common ones so there should be no trouble with supply."

"I think I need to talk this over with Professor King, bring him up to speed and see where we go from here," Andy said, sitting forward in his chair.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Carol, leaning forward.

"I'd like her to start crafting a press release, call it contingency planning. I'd like to launch with a couple of demo devices. Today's Friday, if we order the parts for the four cores I've got we could have them assembled by the end of next week." I put in.

"Yes, but Carol, not a word to anybody yet," he replied, then looking back at me. "Go ahead and order what you need for the four, and while you're at it order enough magnets for a hundred more machines."

"Willingly, I'll also order more plastic for the printer."

"Yes," he replied a little absentmindedly as he got up.

I glanced over to see Carol rising as I stood. I let her go first and followed on with Andy bringing up the rear. I was intending to go back to the lab and start spending money but Carol stopped me as we got back to reception.

"Professor," she asked. "Could we go over the pros and cons again?"

"Yes of course," I replied.

"My office is down here," she said, indicating the opposite corridor.

We spent ten minutes running through what I saw as the benefits, countering the privacy question with the fact that even if the government controlled it, their privacy would be lost anyway.

Leaving her to make a start, I made my way back to the lab. I was looking forward to meeting up with Sally and seeing what she was up to. On the way into the building, the receptionist called me over.

"Professor."

"Yes," I answered, stopping and turning to her.

"Professor Ribble from the English department would like a word with you, she's phoned twice already this morning," she informed me.

"Has she left a number?"

"No, if you'll give me a minute I'll look it up for you."

"Thanks," I replied, walking over to her.

She scribbled it on a Post It note and passed it to me. "Here you go."

"Thanks," I said, nodding as I took it and stuffed it in my shirt pocket. "I'll be in my lab if anyone else wants me."

"Okay," she replied.

I wondered what she wanted as I walked to the lift, probably time on the Tunnel for some pet project. Sally was glued to the screen when I walked in.

"Hi," I called as I flicked the door shut.

"Oh hi," she answered, glancing around. "Come and look at this."

"What?" I asked walking over.

"The particles in the top layers of ice," she said excitedly.

"Oh, you mean like meteorites," I asked.

"Yes, there are plenty of those there but I think there are clusters of organic molecules as well. You see the faint spots of pink and yellow?"

"What! Life?" I asked excitedly.

"No, just the building blocks. It could mean there's life in the ocean below though. I'd like to see what they look like under a microscope."

"We'd have to find an exposed bit for that, how numerous are the ones you found?"

"Someone else can sort that out, I want to get my sonar equipment and re-explore the depths," she replied, turning fully to me.

How's that going?" I asked.

"I talked to my Professor earlier; they should be on the way in a week," she replied happily.

"Good, it'll be nice to get a proper view," I remarked. "Maybe you'll get your name in the history book, too."

"Oh," she said with a chuckle. "I'll never be as famous as you."

"Oh I don't know," I replied reflectively. "At least you won't have people cursing your name."

"Or end up behind bars if it all goes wrong," she came back.

"Hmm. Well, I'll let you carry on; I've got some work to do. I have to order enough magnets to make a hundred more cores.

"A hundred!" she repeated.

"Yep, apparently Professor King has been talking to Andy, the guy in charge over in the PR department. They had the idea that we should keep the full implications secret. He didn't like it when I told him we'd already had a visit from GCHQ. He said he wanted to consider what options are open, but I think he'll come around to my way of thinking."

"So, they want to make a hundred as well?"

"Well that's what he told me to order, I presume they'll want me to get a hundred cards made as well, oh and for the four extra cores I've got," I replied, lifting up the globe I was still carrying.

"You want me to talk to Emily?"

"No, I'll make it an official order through channels. I'll need to sort out the robot arms as well. I've got enough to keep me busy the rest of the morning."

"Well, I was thinking of asking you to fit the sonar for me," she said, looking at me hopefully.

"Yes if you want. I'll just make a phone call while you shut it down," I replied.

Turning, I walked to the desk and carefully put the core down as I sat. Pulling the note from my pocket, I dialled the number.

"Hello," a sweetly modulated voice answered.

"Professor Ribble, this is Professor Lutner. You phoned earlier."

"Oh yes," she replied a little more excitedly. "I've heard that you've invented a time viewer."

"Yes sort of."

"Could I book time on it? I want to do some research on Shakespeare, it should only take a couple of hours," she asked.

"Well, we're still only at the prototype stage...," I replied.

"That doesn't matter, I'm looking for his missing quarto," she cut in.

"Do you have an exact time and place to search?" I asked, starting to take a dislike to her.

"Yes, April 1596, using the Gregorian calendar," she responded.

"It'll take you more than a couple of hours to search through a month, we'll be making more in the coming weeks, and I'll put you down for a loan of one when that happens."

"Oh, I was hoping to get some time now for a paper I'm writing," she replied.

"If you had specific co-ordinates I could spare you an hour or two, I can offer you some video we made of one of his plays," I suggested.

"Oh which one?" she asked excited again.

"I don't know, it's only a short clip and I didn't understand the language. I could burn you a disc..."

"I'm ready," Sally called.

"... And send it over," I answered, turning to look over at a beaming Sally.

"No, I'll get some-. No! I'll come over," she said.

"Fine, give me half an hour because I'm resetting the system," I cautioned.

"Thank you, thank you" she effused. "Will you have it running then?"

"Yes, but we're mounting a sonar array so there'll be nothing much to see."

"Oh," she said sounding disappointed.

"Okay then, I'll expect you over. See you soon."

"Yes" she replied.

I hung the phone up and crossed over to the cupboard to get the tools and sonar unit. Sally came to join me as I sat next to the arm, watching studiously as I swapped them over.

"That was easy enough," she remarked.

"It is, as long as you don't disturb the alignment, you'd have to fully recalibrate then," I replied, picking up the camera as I stood.

"I'll try it myself next time," she said, as she turned back to the computer.

While she rebooted I set the camera up to record the sonar display. After that, I left it to her and returned to my desk to start dealing with my own work. Serendipitously, I opened a drawer, saw the blank DVDs, and interrupted Sally to make the copy for Professor Ribble.

The knock was a timid one. "Come in," I said, raising my voice.

A young student poked his head around the door. "Professor Lutner?"

"Yes," I answered.

"Professor Ribble sends her regards and to tell you something came up. She sent me to collect the disc," he stated.

"That's okay." Turning to Sally, "Sal, is it done yet?"

"Yes," she answered, holding up the disc on one of her fingers.

"Thanks," he said as he walked across to retrieve it.

"You're welcome," I replied before turning my attention back to my laptop.

"Thanks again," he repeated as he crossed back in front of me on his way out.

I gave a nod as I glanced up then turned to return Sally's smile.

"Are you ready for a break?" Were the next words spoken, when Sally turned to me an hour later.

"Yes" I replied looking over at her. "I'm just emptying my inbox."

I stood as she walked over. "Just a coffee or something to eat?"

"Oh, let's walk over to the Union and get a snack," she replied, waiting for me to walk around my desk.

"Fine," I replied, offering her my hand.

She had to let go when I locked the door but linked arms when we walked away. It had turned into a blustery day with the dark clouds threatening rain so instead of walking, I steered us toward my car.

"You need a haircut," she observed, as we climbed into the car. "You don't want to look like a mad scientist when you address the press conference."

"Oh, a quick brush over and it looks alright," I replied, starting the car.

"It would look much nicer if it was styled," she argued.

"Mm, maybe," I answered, turning my attention to driving.

She sat quietly as I drove over then teased me further as the wind tousled my hair.

"Wait," she said, tugging on my arm.

"Huh?"

She rummaged through her bag and pulled out her hairbrush. "Bend down," she ordered.

I leaned forward and let her give my hair a quick brush, straightening when I thought she done enough.

"There, that's better," she said brightly.

"Ah ha," I acknowledged as she put the brush away.