1 Chapter 1

1: Temporal Equations

The cadets were smartly dressed in their black uniforms, fresh-faced and eager for the class to begin. This was their first day back after the summer break, the start of second year. First year at the Academy had been background and introductory. Now they were ready for the real thing

Seated behind the long, curving desks that rose in three tiers in the lecture hall, there were only fourteen cadets in all. This made the hall look rather empty.

When a door at the front of the hall opened and a man entered, the cadets rose to their feet and stood at attention. The man was tall and slim, and wore a dark gray uniform that had the same simple cut as those of the cadets. He climbed the podium, walked to the lectern and ran his eyes over the cadets.

“Please be seated,” he said.

The class sat, while the lecturer activated the display screen on the lectern. He touched the display, and a large screen above and behind him displayed the words, Temporal Mechanics: Time Fields, at which a frisson of excitement went through the cadets.

Carl Obermeier, a sandy-haired cadet seated in the second tier, looked at the larger, dark-haired cadet seated next to him. This cadet, one Tom Remy, grinned back at him, eyebrows raised.

The screen at the front of the room changed, displaying the six fundamental equations of space-time dynamics, a synthesis of the Einstein theory of general relativity and the Maxwell equations of electromagnetism. Carl was familiar with these equations, which described how the two long-range forces of the universe interacted in the four dimensions of space and time. They did not include the two short-range forces that were important in atomic-level mechanics—the Strong and Weak forces—since those forces diminished at the distances of the macro world realm, and could therefore be eliminated in the equations by means of a mathematical procedure termed renormalization

That, of course, was an approximation, and it struck Carl again that even with this simplification, how complex the equations listed on the screen were. Nevertheless, these equations were where the very nature of space and time was structured, and how each dimension could be manipulated—all presented of course in the language of physics: mathematics.

All of the cadets were familiar, if not comfortable with these equations by now; they had studied a number of terms in each equation during their first year at the Academy. Each term had required many hours of study in addition to the lectures. Now, seeing the full equations again, Carl was reminded how little they had actually explored of the seventy-two terms that comprised the equations, each term representing a significant aspect of the nature of space-time and the long-range forces that interacted with it.

The lecturer had been silent while Carl, and all the other cadets, re-familiarized themselves with this daunting mathematical behemoth. He was watching them, and smiling grimly.

He touched the lectern display again, and two additional equations appeared, surrounded by a red box, below the original six.

“And these,” he said, “are the Bose power equations, which you will at least have heard of.”

The response was an intense silence, as the cadets stared at them; they were even more complex than the others. The red box, indicating that the Bose power equations were classified, gave the equations an added aura of importance.

“As you probably know, the Bose power equations represent the operators we use to distort the fields of space-time, and therefore control the temporal dynamics by which we can engineer—that is, manipulate—the time fields. They represent the single greatest discovery of the past two hundred years—and, unfortunately, have been at the heart of the strife in society today—sometimes called the Time War.”

The lecturer paused again, allowing this information to be digested. The Academy, where recruits like these cadets were trained, had been founded by the government in order to wage the Time War.

Finally, the lecturer cleared his throat.

“We can,” he said, “extract from this set of eight equations the basis of the power coupling—in the following way.”

And now the lecturer began to direct the mathematical transformations via the lectern display, which manipulated the equations on the screen behind him. He did this with slow deliberation, commenting on how each step was accomplished, what each step represented. After several minutes the silence between his comments began to be disturbed by sounds of frustration from various members of the class, and at last the lecturer paused.

“This isn’t easy, I know. Some of you won’t be able to follow it, but some of you will. Those of you who don’t will have to study these elements on your own—because, I assure you, they are important.” He paused to scan the class, then looked back down at the display on the lectern. “I continue.”

The alterations and manipulations of the displayed equations continued for another ten minutes. Carl was one of the few who could follow them, though it took some effort. What helped was the excitement he felt as each new configuration either promised or actually showed directly some effect that he had studied.