arrival . ota

[chaotica]

Hugh Cambridge is partway through an analysis of an artifact - an old one, part of an extended paper that he'd never finished - when the transition comes.

At first, he assumes the ship's entered some sort of anomaly, and he turns away from the viewport (the stars have shifted, how odd), his hand moving to his combadge. A quick touch, and he starts, "Cambridge to -"

This isn't Voyager. In fact, this is the Ten-Forward of a Galaxy Class starship, unless he misses his mark. Populated with a few handfuls of people, some out of uniform, some in uniform, but those in are wearing the style that was in use twenty years earlier. Cambridge's uniform has shoulders of a grey-purple, and the turtleneck inside is medical/science blue. His combadge is thinner and sleeker.

"- Oh, bugger," finishes Cambridge. It's an illusion or it's time travel - neither of those bodes well.

Comments

[chaotica]

A snort. "No," he says, decisively. "Five minutes ago I was in the Delta Quadrant, across the galaxy from this location."

[dictaphonic]

"Oh." Will's surprise is obvious. "You sounded so versed in discussing time travel that I suppose I made an assumption." But unfortunately, that location description leaves him none of the wiser. "I'm not familiar with the area. What's it like? And when were you there--i-if you don't mind me asking?"

He's gotten the definite impression that there's a time discrepancy for Cambridge, but he's curious about the specifics of how wide that gap might be. He wonders if he could be from some sort of far future--farther even than this ship. But as unfamiliar as he is with the area and its technology, it's hard for him to judge.

[chaotica]

"Rather a large area of space, and difficult to quantify individually, given that it has literally hundreds of sentient species."

The latter question he mulls over a little bit more.

"I'm afraid I shouldn't disclose," he says. "This appears to be in the relatively recent past, and the potential for timeline changes is great and potentially devastating."

[dictaphonic]

"Yes. Of course. Silly question, I suppose." It occurs to him that Cambridge might be deliberately avoiding being very informative, but he doesn't want to be rude enough to say so. Really, he's rude by accident often enough that he'd rather not do it on purpose if he can avoid it--particularly at a first meeting.

"Oh, I see." He nods, understanding that. "Yes, time is a bit complicated in that way. But I'm certain your care will avoid any paradoxes, um...you know, I don't think I caught your name?"

[chaotica]

Cambridge slides into the chair across from Will, since Will hasn't made a quick exit out of the conversation already. Tentative he may be, but it seems he tolerates Cambridge's abrasive presence well enough.

"Hugh Cambridge," he says. "It's not bloody paradoxes that I worry about. The timeline is riddled with the damn things. That's temporal studies 101."

[dictaphonic]

As much trouble as Will has with social interaction, he has learned to be quite resilient. Though in this case, perhaps the reason he has stayed in the conversation is more a mixture of curiosity about Cambridge added to the fact that he's used to being the one people make their excuses to and leave behind, rather than the other way around.

"Really?" He frowns. "I was under the impression they were more serious than that. And if it's changing the future that you're worried about, isn't any change essentially the cause of a sort of a paradox? Two parallel but, ah, conflicting realities, I mean. Not so much a case of the present conflicting with the future but of your past creating an altered version of itself that by its nature affects the future because it is your past. If...that makes sense."

He may not know time travel like the Doctor does, but he's at least read up on the subject--which in Will's case means he's memorised a ridiculous amount of information about the theories behind it.

[chaotica]

"Add ever-branching alternate realities to your baseline perception of physics, and it resolves itself." You can only travel back along one line; you can only travel forward along one line; but when you do travel back, you can choose to go up a different line than you did before. Simple.

[dictaphonic]

Will's brow furrows, though he dives eagerly into the conversation. It's not every day he has someone with which to discuss temporal theories, after all.

"To be honest, I don't think that's the case--not in my universe, at least. But is that how it functions here? I mean, is that a proven fact here? That you change only a future, not the future, and can continue to exist as you are regardless of any changes?" He pauses thoughtfully, thinking about his only brush with changing the past, when Dr Klein went back and rather accidentally met herself as a baby.

"I wonder how that would function if you were to meet yourself," he muses. "Would that also be safe because you--your other self--would be fundamentally altered from the you who had travelled back just because of your presence?"

[chaotica]

"It's the going theory," explains Cambridge. "There has been some travel between universes, as well, but it's difficult to locate and explore the exact points of divergence. And the travel itself is necessarily extraordinarily rare." He remembers something about too much foreign matter destabilizing the universe itself, but all of that's a bit fuzzy.

[dictaphonic]

Will nods as Cambridge speaks, taking all that in. "I must say, that's very intriguing!"

It begs the question of why people with time travel capabilities don't take constant advantage of the lack of paradoxical consequences, though. It seems to Will that, under these circumstances, one could just go back in time repeatedly until one landed upon an iteration that one liked.

"Is, um, time travel very common here?"

[chaotica]

A broad shrug. "Much of it's kept secret, I imagine." But it's possible. It does happen.

[dictaphonic]

"Yes...that would make sense." Will pauses. It seems unlikely that he'll get any more information about it from Cambridge--at least not for now, especially if Cambridge really is worried about sharing the future he's come from with the past. "Well, thank you. It's good to learn about this universe! But I, ah, suppose you'll still be wanting to go to the command center."