Journey Through Loop-Time

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

I had no desire to be an astronaut. I was one of 8 college students working towards our Phd in Physics. Our mentor, Dr. Myron Greygood was a true inspiration. Always there for us and incredibly helpful in the field of physics as well as how to approach life.

Dr. Greygood was a fit man that appeared to be in his late 50’s but had wisdom far beyond his years. His memory was extraordinary, and the detail of his stories were compelling. Doctor “G”, as we called him, had been married several times – we were told – and his latest wife had died of cancer a few years ago. Dr. G was our mentor and a friend to all his students.

As was very fashionable at that time, Dr. G and his students were studying Black Holes, more specifically the intense bending of space-time near the event horizon of blackholes. All was as routine as it could be, writing papers and using the latest data from LIGOS and telescopic data to produce the ever present need to publish or perish. All was right with the world – until 2:28 PM on March the 9th!

Our research lab was non-descript with multiple computers of different ages, whiteboards, the ever-present coffee maker. Our door was never closed since ungraduated students were always coming to see Dr. G for help with their studies. I was reviewing some data that was produced by my newest and completely wrong model of space-time tendrils bends around a Planck Scale Energy Field when several men appeared at our door. Two men in dark blue business suits that were wrinkled and had obviously been worn for more than a day. Three men in Air Force Duty uniforms, crisp and clean and one middle aged but very fit woman in some type of uniform that I did not recognize. They all had very serious expressions on there faces, except for the woman – she appeared to be somewhat giddy, like she knew a secret and could not wait to all someone. One guy in the suit asked where Dr. Greygood and his lab assistant Dan Michaels was. The clock over the doorway read 2:28 PM. Oh, by the way that’s me: Daniel Faraday Michaels, 26, 5’ 11”, 178 lbs. and just an average Physics Grad Student at a small University in the Midwest.

My friend and tennis, paintball and drinking buddy, David Beachcroft told them Dr. Greygood was down the hall, and I was “over there”. They two Air Force uniforms went down the hall to look for Dr. G and the woman walked over to me, as she approached I was able to see her insignia that read United States Space Force. Her name tag read Conrad. She stood less than 2 feet away from me and looked me up and down like I was a zoo specimen. “So, you are Faraday”. “Excuse me?”. “You are Dan Faraday Michaels”, with a broad smile on her face. “Yes, that is me – have we met?”. Major Conrad’s response was; “No”. BTW how is your cat, Sherman?” Why was she asking about a cat that had died when I was 5 years old. I just stared, wondering what the hell is going on.

When I could get my now very dry mouth to work again, I said; “I thought you said we never met.” “We haven’t’. Just then I heard Dr G coming down the hall. He looked concerned but his nervous laughter gave away a sense of disbelief. I could hear him say; “Tell me again you discovered – WHAT!!??”. Just then Major Conrad spoke up; “This is not the place to discuss this. Will you two gentlemen join us in your conference room?” I thought; “conference room?”. All 7 of us went down the hall to a room that has been used as a storage closet for about 30 hears. We crowded into the room with the Air Force men moving boxes and old equipment around to make room for us.

“Alright, Major, the flyboy twins said you needed to speak to my Grad Student and me.”

Major Conrad pulled a very odd looking tablet computer from her briefcase and after going through multiple security protocols she pulled up an image that actually made my gut turn…. How is that possible!!??