Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
6
Well, it would appear we are, (or were when we started typing), in a hurry to get to the next installment in our Serial Six, ‘the Whitechapel Interlude’. (If you’re new to this story, you owe it to yourself to click on the title and get yourself current. For reasons soon to be obvious, there’s no time to waste.)
Prompt word:
POWERFUL
[Oxford University, London 2183 AD]
“Time travel is impossible,” Dean Augustus Hapwell, the center square in a grid of video feeds comprising Oxford University’s Science and Technology Council, spoke with the uncomplicated confidence of a child or a learned-man maintaining a greater Truth, his cold stare found the upper edge of his glasses as comfortable as the parapet to the medieval sentry atop a castle wall.
“I assure you, Professor Egmont, while this institution has produced more than it’s share of world-class writers of fiction, were it not for your body of work in physics, this proposal would constitute an insult to your fellow academics gathered here today; your own studies on temporal manipulation have established, and I quote, “The inherent limitations are grounded in the amount of energy needed to power a functioning time machine and would be irrevocably in conflict with the Schwarzschild ratio…”
“I prefer the term, ‘Time Mechanism’ given that what I seek to build will not be, strictly speaking, a physical device, yet having a certain amount of physical parts and engines, it will manifest in a form those limited in intellect or imagination would refer to as a ‘machine’,” one square of the grid glowed white as Professor Roger Egmont spoke, his words evenly distributed among the virtual attendees, his eyes never straying from the man who stood in his way.
“Physics is not a product of the imagination, it is insight into natural phenomena subjected to rigorous trial and error and testing to take it from idea to reality, not a magic spell; where would we all be if Newton decided the Laws of Motion were at the whim of Cthulhu,” murmurs of assent were mixed with chuckles that sounded like the final scrum in a rugby match between two very un-matched teams.
“I do not cite Lovecraft as my authority, rather I seek a point much further in the past,” with an archaic flourish, the former chairman of the Department of Advanced Physics rose, stood behind his chair, transforming it into a lectern and began to speak, his tone a strikingly powerful amalgam of desperation and superiority, and concluded.
“A 20th Century author famously wrote, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’, I have uncovered a connection, the converse of this author’s insight, that there is a pathway, if you will, that will provide me access to power that dwarfs all known sources; since you choose to remain bound by the ivy that covers these hallowed walls, I bid my farewell.”
About clarkscottroger
Fabulous Six, Clark! Teetering on the edge of the aforementioned ratio, I almost fell into a black hole; fortunately recovered my footing much better informed. ;) And to quote a fellow Clark(e) in the finale: clever. Can’t wait to see where this one goes!
Thanks, Chris. (Thinking I was needing to fill in some of the backstory… seeing how the hunt for the time traveler is intensifying in this story, it (the narrative) is starting to approaching a level of cross-over with the other serial (the Case of the Missing Fig Leaf).
Fortunate, the quote. Talk about ready-made for it’s purpose here!
Fabulous six indeed
Thanks, Paul
Sneaking in some magic (plus top Ozzy tune) there. Didn’t know that quote till Chris pointed it out in the comment above, obviously it was the Clark of Kent, erm, I mean the Clarke of Arthur C. :)
“Where would we all be if Newton decided the Laws of Motion were at the whim of Cthulhu,”
👍👍 good one.
Speaking of Chris, I was (in my Reply to her Comment) that the quote was perfect not only to crank-up the volume at the end of the Episode, but also to provide the ‘well, pick your preferred frame of reference (as Phyllis mentions in her Comment)…
the Ozzy… well, it’s Ozzy.
That was very nice, especially giving the reader the option to choose religion, magic, or man made science.
Nice academic put down, “you choose to remain bound by the ivy that covers these hallowed walls”
Thanks, Frank.
The concept of time travel is fascinating.
As do I… there is so much potential to almost everything that happens in such a story
The best thing about time travel is the licence it gives writers to exercise their imagination!
totally.
(‘course with license come the potential to get all tangled up and such…. for a premise that is, by definition, open-ended, coherency become even more important than ever. (In this case, I totally have little hope for this control, seeing how the story (which I’m learning about as much as I’m making up) is starting to suggest an interaction with my other serial story (the Case of the Missing Fig Leaf).
sorry, I’ve been remiss, I don’t believe I’ve extended my invitation to do a ‘walk-on’ in this serial story (or the other serial story)… it can be fun*
* hell, the whole thing, the Whitechapel Interlude, sprang from a walk on that I did a number of years ago with another Six Sentence Story writer, Len.
Totally enjoyable Six, through and through and I’m delighted to see our time traveler in his “original” place along the timeline :D
If one is not open to possibility then why even work in the field of physics?!
Never not fun to learn backstory… and, it furthers the entanglement between the two serial stories… ayiiee
Well now, not being particularly – for ‘particularly’ read ;’at all’ versed in physics, I learned a thing or two in this story and can’t wait to drop the ‘Schwarzschild ratio’ into a conversation sometime soon! I really enjoyed the put-down at the end. A very enjoyable and clever six that really gets the reader thinking… And wondering.
Thank you, j.
as we all know, the fun is in the research (no, not sure what lead me on the trail of the Schwarzschild ratio, lol) but it seems to fit… you know, like when decorating a room, sometimes that random lamp in the flea market grabs your attention and then somehow turns out to not only fit (into whatever room we’re talking about) but somehow adds something that you see as ‘Of course!’