The Time Machine

First test of Space-time Manipulation Device “Time Machine” with Human Subject

 

Abstract: This paper documents the initial test of the Space-time Manipulation Device carrying a payload of a willing human subject. Using methods detailed in this paper, the SMD is sent 1 year into the future, remains for 10 minutes, and is returned 10.0037 seconds after departure. Due to success of previous unmanned tests and new project parameters, a voluntary human test subject henceforth known as S7 was carried on the machine as a payload.

Orbital calculations were successful and well within error. Some concern is given to return time, being outside error predictions by 1.8%. Ongoing medical examinations of S7 are being carried out. The subject was returned unharmed, fully conscious, and completely and utterly unresponsive.

Introduction: For the past 25 years, a machine capable of travelling along the temporal dimension has been developed without public knowledge. By distorting space-time (See Pg. 48) the device can physically disappear from a point in space and reappear at the same point at a different time. The methods used to achieve this are discussed later in this paper.

Previous tests of the SMD have met with varying results. Initial tests ranged from minor incidents to catastrophes, the worst being test 4 wherein the appearance position of the SMD was miscalculated leading to the death of Dr [REDACTED]. Unmanned tests continued with increasingly accurate timing and positioning of the device. The last major problem occurred on □□/□□/□□ when SMD#136 failed to return. Its location remains unknown.

As the project was not made public, adherence to animal testing laws was not necessarily strict. As of SMD#223 the procedure was deemed stable enough to allow a living subject to travel a distance with the device. It is believed that increased military interest in the project was a major factor in the addition of an organic component. MoD official [REDACTED] oversaw all transport of living subjects.

S1, a small rodent, was placed in the machine and sent one year ahead. When the device returned, S1 was not present. An investigation concluded that this was due to insufficient restraints on the animal. After the harness was refitted, subjects 2 and 3 both returned dead form the trip. Subjects 4 and 5 returned alive, but seemingly unconscious, and died before reaching medical attention. S6, a dog, returned alive and was shown to be healthy upon medical examination. However, it was completely unresponsive, lying still with its eyes open. Shallow, rapid breathing could be seen, but S6 died before a brain scan could be performed. No cause was forthcoming. The subsequent autopsy could only conclude “It seems to have simply given up”.
S7 put himself forward for the experiment. As of □□/□□/□□ growing pressure was on to pull the plug on the project. If the SMD was not safe, then it was of limited use and would be broken into smaller projects. Financial concerns were a part of this. We had less than a year to prove that time travel was survivable for human beings, there was no time for extensive animal testing any more. S7, one of the senior leaders of the SMD program, volunteered as a subject, and the whole team was thrown into uproar. A few, like myself, were excited for the prospect and saw it as the only option, however there were many voices raised against the idea. After much debate, medical examinations, and final tests of the machine, it was determined that the S7 test could take place. SMD#414 was used for the experiment (specs Pg. 120). The test was the standard year-hop, stay for 10 minutes and then return. All parameters were strictly determined (Pg. 133) and the errors were acceptable (Pg. 227). The test was given the green light.

S7 was nervous as he was strapped into the machine. The SMD underwent extensive redesign since human transportation became a consideration. A carbon-fibre chair was used with restraints for arms, neck, head, chest, and legs (See fig 8). These were to prevent injury. As the countdown to departure began, S7 started becoming more agitated, turning into full on distress. He began to ask for the test to be postponed, for the straps to be loosened, to be allowed an extra few minutes preparation. We muted the speakers from the room. The straps were very well designed (fig 9) and managed to hold S7, as his verbal objections had become physical, pulling this way and that, trying to come free of the machine. It was hopeless. Seconds before departure he began shouting and thrashing wildly, but the speakers were still muted and we didn’t hear it. Then the device vanished.
10.0037 seconds later, the machine returned. S7 was in place, completely still. He stared straight ahead, every muscle locked, straining outwards. His breathing was rapid and shallow, and he wasn’t blinking. The medical team rushed in and released the straps, but S7 seemed not to notice. He just continued staring. No stimuli could coax a response from him: shouting his name, shaking him, even moderate amounts of pain caused any kind of a reaction. He simply sat, rigid as steel, eyes wide. The readouts showed an aggravated heart rate and critically high blood pressure. It was assumed that S7 was in some kind of coma.

Until the brain scan.

As soon as the EEG started, it was clear that S7 was not comatose. The amygdala, the most ancient and primal part of the brain responsible for fear and anger, was furious with activity. The frontal cortex was all but silent, but the deepest part of the brain glowed brightly. All of the team knew what this meant. S7 was alive. S7 was conscious. And, inside his own head, S7 was screaming. An animal, wordless scream of unimaginable terror. [FROM THIS POINT ON THE PAPER IS REDACTED. THE AUTHOR IS CLEARLY EMOTIONAL AND THE STANDARD OF WRITING HAS FALLEN FROM THE EXPECTED SCIENTIFIC LEVEL. PLEASE FIND A REVISED COPY OF THIS PAPER. THE CONCLUSION OF THE PAPER REMAINS AS EVIDENCE FOR AN ONGOING STUDY OF THE AUTHOR.]

Conclusion: I must know what happened to S7. The SMD is safe, I know that it is. I’ve worked here for [REDACTED] years, I have seen countless devices appear form the past. Nothing happens, the procedure is safe. What could be so bad that it could do that to a person? I have to find out. The thought of that man keeps me up at night. The clenched jaw, the straining joints, those horrible eyes. S7 panicked, that is all that’s wrong. He panicked and now he is how he is. I won’t panic. I will volunteer. I must, how else could I call myself a scientist? I won’t let the project be shut down. I will be the new subject, and I will see the future.

***

Medical Report on the Continuing Condition of Subject 8

 

Abstract: S8 continues to show no improvement. EEG’s show high levels of activity in the brain stem and amygdala. S8 remains in a conscious, vegetative state, showing no response to stimuli. Lactic acid build up in his permanently tensed muscles is beginning to lead to severe damage. Euthanasia is being considered.

***

Why do I not die? Why must I endure this? The others walk around me, but they do not walk. They stand, as still as rock. They do not move. They mock me.

But they do move, I know that they do. I see it, the slow crawl, over the millennia. Moving moving, but standing so still. The distortions of time, I know it is so. I know.

We dared to test the universe. We were arrogant, we bent time, and now I must suffer the consequences.

Alone.

But not alone, for they stand around me. Even now they crowd me, as they have for countless years. I know their faces, I have counted ever hair on their heads a million times over. It is their eyes that mock me. WHY DO YOU NOT MOVE?!

Madness is not far off, if it is not already here. It must be, for I am forgetting how to think.

I have forgotten so much.

What will I be when I forget all language? When I forget who I am? Even forget my name.

Well then, all the will be left, is to scream.

But I will hold my sanity, for I must.

I must.

WHY DO YOU MOCK ME? WHY DO YOU NOT MOVE? WHY DO I NOT DIE?!

Credit To – Jonteon