Adonis! You old dog! Spying on mortals again, are we?
Ah, Kronos! Come, have a look. I’ve been observing this peculiar species. They’ve just assassinated their leader, and they…
Wait! Wait! Wait! What am I looking at? Where in creation is this?
Oh, sorry, I forgot how spatially oriented you are.
Well, you can’t expect me to just plop into the middle of something like this with no idea where in the cosmos I’m looking!
Ok, take a deep breath. If you’d quit your babbling long enough…
What?
I said… Look, right here old man. The wide view of the multiverse.
Finally!! Now, which dimensional plane?
I’m drawing into this one, just here.
Ah. That’s better.
And deeper, to this galaxy…
Um hm…
Near the inner rim of this spiral arm, to this star system.
Yes Yes.
And this planet. Mostly water…
I got eyes!
Well, figuratively speaking, I suppose.
Hmmpf. OK? What’s so fascinating about this planet?
A curious form of sentient life has developed there. They’re amus-ing to watch. Look, I’ll rewind into their operative past just a bit…
Um, yes, I, see what you mean, the… Whoa! You see that? I thought you said they’re intelligent!
No, I said sentient. I’ve seen them approach intelligence a number of times, but they always manage to make a hash of things. The incident I was studying just now is a good example. Watch, I’ll fast forward a few centuries from their functional present.
Hm. Well, yes, I’ll grant you, they have set themselves upon quite a dismal path. Two centuries of escalating violence, class and religious wars, then, look, global famine, and a dark age lasting nearly a thousand years. One could almost pity them.
Indeed… I’m thinking of… Stepping in.
Adonis! The fate these mortals chose for themselves may be pathetic, but I hardly think The Committee will approve Intervention!
What if I can prove the existence of a Critical Singular?
Ah… A what?
A rare occurrence. It seems unfair, doesn’t it? The destiny of the species channels through one poor soul, and he doesn’t even know it. Then, before he makes whatever contributions he would have made, he is erased by an inept, graceless maladroit. The worst part is it’s downhill from there. No matter what choices they make after the assassination, the dark age will follow, and…
Now see here, chap! My sympathy to their plight notwithstanding, there simply is no way for you to know that. Being timeless, we can see their future, their actual future, the result of bad choices they will actually make. Hundreds, or thousands of decision points lie between the assassination and their eventual downfall. If they can’t make a few good decisions here and there, are they worth saving?
What I am saying, Kronos, is after the assassination, all choices available to them lead to doom.
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I say again, there is no way for you to know that. Ah… Is there?
Um, I take it you’ve not read the techie bulletins.
What! That bunch in the basement? A lot of bio-dimensional hocus pocus if you ask me! “Tune your focus this,” “Expand your vision that.” Their motto should be “Let’s take something simple and make it complicated.” Why, for two coppers I’d… er… well… Bulletins, you say? What, um, to which, of their ravings, in particular, are you referring, Adonis?
Virtual Realms, VR, they call it…
Oh, please, Adonis, enlighten me. What is a virtual realm?
A method, nothing more. The techies have only discovered things we always could have done, if only we’d known. Once I mastered VR, I staked out a Realm in deep space and evoked within its bounds a full-sized replica of the system I’m studying.
Wonderful! Now you have two identical systems. So what?
The new system exists metaphysically, old man. I can change any element, or group of elements, at will, and then watch the results.
We seem to be drifting off point. How does this VR prove this species will be doomed after this one assassination?
Isn’t it obvious? I’ve created a test system. I can initiate thousands, or millions, of variables, then observe the results of each alternate reality for a few hundred or even a few thousand of their years.
Ok, genius, how long will that take?
Well, we are eternal. We don’t exist in dimensional time.
Bah! I keep forgetting that.
So, while my test runs would take eons as seen by mortals…
Yes yes. It’d be just the blink of an eye to us.
Exactly, Kronos. Except we don’t have eyes.
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Hm. So, you can demonstrate that after the assassination of one mortal, this Singular, all possible futures lead the species to doom?
Precisely!
Ok. But do you think you can convince The Committee that your little test system is accurate? That the “All Roads Lead to Doom”
result is valid? They’d have to believe your test system is an accurate and faithful representation of the original.
Yes, I think I can make a convincing case. Especially since I can also prove the flip side. Preventing the assassination bodes well for the species. If the CS lives beyond that point in their time line, all choices available to them lead to some level of prosperity. Many even lead to a golden age.
Really, Adonis? I must say, you’ve piqued my interest. How did you remove the assassin in your test runs?
A vapor pulse did the trick.
Um. You vaporized him?
Quite.
Something else. In test runs, how soon after the prevented assassination did the CS begin making contributions that save the species?
Heavens, I hadn’t paid much attention, but, almost immediately, now that you mention it. Within a few weeks in most runs. Why?
Adonis, listen closely. How likely is it this species is so inept that it should, of its own doing, knock-off the one champion who could save it? And the timing, immediately before his first significant actions. What are the odds that occurs naturally?
What are you…? If it doesn’t occur naturally, that means someone interfered. How could? It would have to be someone like…
Keep going. Someone like?
… Like… Us?
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Bingo!
No! Why would an immortal go to such lengths to ensure the doom of one simple, isolated culture?
Well Adonis, we don’t all hale from the noblest of beginnings, do we? Who’s to say what dark motivations might drive some of us?
And, what makes you think there is only one such incident?
I don’t like where this is going.
It’s going to its logical conclusions, old man. We’ve stumbled upon one incident of negative-impact tampering with mortals. If we searched in earnest, would we find more?
We, Kronos? Dare I deduce, from your use of the pronoun ‘we,’
that you now wish to be considered for membership to this exclusive and righteous undertaking?
OK OK. I’m in. But now it becomes critical our actions are undetected, both in preventing the assassination, and in discovering if there is a villain amongst us. We can’t even involve The Committee, for fear our villain is one of them.
I’m liking this less and less, Kronos. And, if I may be so bold, you seem to be liking it more and more?
Feels great too, by Jove! It’s been far too long since last I bloodied my knuckles. Didn’t know how bored I’ve become with eternal life.
First, we search for more tampering. Your basement boys can help us. Choose one you can trust to stay mum. His algorithm should search for a CS in worlds on the verge of success, and the search must be undetectable. Next, we’ll try to prevent the assassination.
I say old man, you seem to have a knack for this. I couldn’t have chosen a better partner.
Yes, well, I… Wait! Chosen? What? This was a set up?
Well, I—
5
You! You manipulated me? Well PLAYED, old chap! I didn’t suspect a thing! Now, you mentioned the functional present of this species. Do I correctly assume the assassination is in their future, at a point beyond their functional present?
Of course, Kronos. As you know, we can peer into their past and future, but we cannot rewind time for them.
Good. Now, are we agreed that our work must not be detectable?
Agreed. We must use indirect and devious methods.
Extremely indirect. We can’t just vaporize the shooter.
Well put, Kronos. Let’s see, we could direct someone to shoot the shooter, an enforcement type perhaps?
No. The aura of our imprint could be detected far too easily. Instead, we should find another to imprint with an imperative.
I see. One mortal has an imperative to be in place at the proper time, and the means to direct another mortal, an enforcement type.
What are they called there, the enforcers?
Let’s see… well, soldiers, or policemen. So, we imprint someone to direct a policeman. But, giving someone the means to direct another, that could still be detectable, no?
Not if we act early. We can imprint the essence of the mortal before its melding with the physical being, before birth. By the time it matures our imperative will have become one with the physical self, and traces of our action will have faded away.
My word Kronos! Have you done this before?
Humph. How many of their years, as they measure time, between their functional present and the assassination?
Well, let me see. Hm, about twenty-five of their years.
How many of their years represent physical maturity?
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Varies a bit, between eighteen and twenty of their years.
Excellent. We shall choose a mortal who will mature at the proper time. One from the lowest station of life, whom we can redirect without upsetting any events important to the species. A throwaway mortal, far removed from our prime. See here, what land mass is on the other side of that world from our Singular?
That would be here. They call it Asia. It appears the female of the species occupies the lowest station in much of that region.
So, we’ll choose a female from this mountainous region in Asia, imprint the imperative giving her the means to direct any other mortal needed to facilitate accomplishment of our directive. She completes her mission and leaves before the action starts. If someone should poke around, there shouldn’t be anything to find. Just a ran-dom factor policeman, a lucky shot.
What an excellent plan! One thing though. Won’t it be difficult to bestow the ability, the means to direct another, in sufficient strength and duration to match the task, and no more?
Yes yes, we’ll have to aim for a bit of overkill. Can’t be avoided.
How about this? We’ll implant the gift as a non-conscious ability.
Our mortal will go through life unaware she is structuring her activities in a manner that will place her in the correct spot at the correct time, and unaware of the directives emanating from her visceral self. If she notices how helpful folks seem to be from time to time, she’ll have to assume it’s her dazzling personality, eh?
What about the Singular, Kronos?
He doesn’t need to know anything, but, I suppose, it’s only fair he’s aware there was an attempt on his life. Maybe even a little peek at what things would have been like without him, eh?
Indeed, only fair. Welcome aboard, Kronos.
So it would seem, Adonis.
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