Una Persson, temporal adventuress (
una_persson) wrote in
the_last_resort2015-02-27 08:38 am
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Entry tags:
Time travel and lousy life choices
Who: Una Persson and OPEN (with threads for Niko and Niles)
What: Life in Blackstaff
Where: Various places; see threadstarters, or feel free to start your own
When: In the week or so after the witch den expeditions and Una's punitive assignment
Warnings: TBD
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"Not at all. I quite agree. Perhaps the curse of intelligence is the capacity to look at oneself and see everything that is vile. The mythical knowledge of good and evil that we got in the garden of Eden leads inevitably to the better parts of our nature wanting to smite ourselves right out of existence because evil is so intractably prevalent."
By the end of his words, his gaze was intense, lit up like either a madman or a preacher. His hands were fists, held close to his chest.
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"You make it sound so deliberate," she said. She tilted her head, looking thoughtful. "Personally I'm inclined to think that it's far less a matter of good versus evil as it is ignorance and short-sightedness, with a healthy dose of Freudian death-drive and xenophobia to round things out." She shook her head. "Mind you, I'm an optimist. I continue to believe that somewhere, there is a world where intelligence and tolerance prevail, by design rather than accident." The corner of her mouth twisted a little, as if if to acknowledge her own folly.
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"The universe...or multiverse, is a much vaster place than a thought just a few days ago. So perhaps it's not a vain hope that somewhere out there such a place exists."
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"When I was seven, I knew that aliens weren't real, the same way I knew that Santa Claus was't real. Then, when I was eight, there were aliens on the telly. Not on the science fiction shows but on the news, carrying out negotiations with the world governments and asking for refuge.
"And then when I was fifteen, the alien ambassador was assassinated, negotiations when to shtako, and the whole world fell apart. Votan terraforming tech cut across the planet, rendering whole swathes of the Earth unrecognizable. Earth might as well be an alien planet in a different universe now. So I may have never left the planet before, but this isn't my first new world. And the idea that universe might drop something unexpected, like a multiversal time travel, on a person's doorstep is one I've had a lifetime to get used to."
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"When you put it that way, it makes so much sense," she said with a smile. "You'll do well, I think. And I'm not just saying that to confirm my own good judgement in pulling you out of that godforsaken place. Have you thought of any particular questions in the meantime?"
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"Are there any critical rules I need to know? You know, things like 'Don't go back in time and kill your grandfather' or anything like that. Is there an actual danger of making myself not exist or was that something that writers made up? Do I have to worry about stepping on a butterfly in ancient Rome, which, through some miraculous sequence of events causes Nazis to rule the world in the 20th century?"
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"It's extremely unlikely, however, that you'll blot yourself out." She smirked a little. "They try to send people to time-streams of sufficient degrees of difference to avoid that. As for creating alternate histories—" She frowned slightly, looking uncomfortable for the first time. "There's an argument that such things would come to pass regardless of our interference or lack thereof, that the creation of new branches of Time is simply the way the multiverse works. But there are as many theories as there are agents. To keep it simple—don't kill anyone and don't try to influence events while you're there. In other words, regardless of temptation or opportunity, don't go trying to assassinate Hitler."
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"Are you asking hypothetically, or have you got a particular scenario in mind?" she asked. There was, she felt, very little point in being indirect, particularly when messing about with temporal matters. "Collecting an individual at the moment of death can be done—but not every agent is qualified or trained to handle that sort of case. Even I'm not. Yet."
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Since Una was being direct, he opted to do her the courtesy of giving her the same. And it surely wasn't a shameful thing to want to save the life of someone important to him.
"So when someone says, hey, time travel is possible, you can't help but wonder..."
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It was the answer she expected. She nodded and leaned forward, her expression and posture sympathetic, her tone kind.
"I understand. I won't give you false hope—it's not something that's done every day. And as I said, not every agent has the skills for it, and if it's something you want—it would be some time, possibly never, before you could manage it. Nor is it guaranteed that someone with the training could find him. I don't blame you for wondering, it's only natural. But you must know that it's very, very difficult."
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"But it's possible. And that's all I need to know. I can be very patient. Even if it takes years, or longer, I can wait."
He'd been following Connor Lang since Niles was fifteen years old. Even if it took another twenty five years to save him, it would be worth it. Anything for the opportunity for him to tell Connor "It'll be all right." And then Connor will love him. And Amanda will love him, too, for saving Connor.
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Had she quite known the extent of Niles's madness, she might not have even granted him that much of a glimmer. Hope can be a fine thing, but sometimes it can be positively dangerous.
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He appreciated someone who, presented with a question on something that was very difficult and, perhaps, shouldn't be done (at least not without a great deal of thought and preparation and skill before hand) nevertheless didn't opt to take the easy way out and say that it couldn't be done.
"So, on a somewhat more lighthearted subject, tell me about the most exciting place you've ever travelled."
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He put a finger to his lips as he thought about the era she mentioned.
"Old empires falling, new empires rising. Boundaries redrawn. Yes, I can see how that would be very interesting to witness. But what's this about the End of Time? I didn't think time had an end."
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"Technically, no, Time doesn't end. But worlds do, and universes. They call it the End of Time because—well, it's the end of their Time, a little last burst of creativity right before the heat death of the universe—of that one universe. There aren't that many people left on Earth then, and those who are left draw on the power of the Earth's cities to fuel their creations—they live for art and sensation. You might call them decadent and I suppose they are, but I rather like them."
with the right journal this time
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