Located approximately 50 miles northeast of Denver, at the confluence of the South Platte and Cache la Poudre rivers, Greeley was recently named one of the happiest places to live in the U.S . Living in Greeley is pretty sweet — literally because for decades, it had been the agricultural center of the sugar beet industry, and in the height of its production in the 1920s, the city manufactured an impressive one-quarter of all sugar sold and consumed in the United States.
The American Center for Advanced Scientific and Technological Research was located in Auburn, which was just 5 miles southeast of Greeley, and on this day in August, it was forecast to be hot, with temperatures touching 30° Centigrade.
Nathan had arranged to meet Fish in the center of Greeley at the Java Heaven coffee house on the corner of 7th Street and 16th Avenue. Formerly Known as The Corner Cafe. This was the infamous spot where Laura Richards lost her life 15 years ago as the unintentional victim of a senseless drive-by shooting. This was actually the first time Nathan had ever visited the spot, and he felt a chill run down his spine as he turned the corner to enter the very chic and stylish coffee house.
It was a super trendy place with an open-concept coffee bar. Whitewashed exposed brick walls and hung flower boxes brimming with greenery brought the outdoors inside at The Java Heaven coffee house. While, in one area, a black leather sofa and round cocktail tables of richly grained wood created a cozy spot to linger. Nathan breathed in the aroma and fragrance of freshly ground coffee that dominated the surroundings. He ordered a simple but pricey cappuccino and sat at one of the plush tables to wait for Fish.
He didn’t have long to wait, as Fish was rarely late, and he soon joined him at the table. A non-coffee drinker himself, Fish ordered a glass of still water, which was delivered to the table in a 250 ml glass bottle with the words “Eldorado Natural Spring Water” written on the label. A glass with ice and lemon accompanied the diminutive bottle. Nathan paid quickly before Fish could see how much he was being charged. He thought the cappuccino was moderately priced by comparison.
Fish had arranged to meet Nathan to chat, but was still quite adamant that he would not allow Nathan to experiment with his research machine.
“This used to be called The Corner Cafe,” Nathan told his friend.
“It’s very pleasant if you like coffee” replied Fish. Nathan knew Fish wasn’t one for small talk
“This was where Carys’s Mother was shot and killed 16 years ago”
“Is that why we’re here?”
“In a way, yes. I wanted to walk the route she took that morning. She worked in a building just down the road, and she walked here on the morning she died. I think it’s less than 3 minutes away”
“So that would be August 8th yes? 16 years ago yesterday”
“That’s right, yesterday was the 16th anniversary of her death”
“And so you want to travel back to that day and stop her from coming here, is that right? So instead of dying, she lives” Fish could often be very naive and ingenious, but he was no patsy.
“Yes I do. Look, at least hear me out and allow me to try and explain why” implored Nathan. Fish heaved a heavy sigh and gave his friend a look that went beyond exasperation.
“You really haven’t thought this through Nathan.” Fish paused to collect his thoughts, “Let’s put aside the risks involved in actually doing this for a moment and focus on the actual act. What do you think will happen if you did manage to go back 16 years, stop Laura Richards from being killed, and then you successfully managed to get back to 2023?”
“I know, I know what you are going to say, but surely fate and destiny come into play. I believe that some things are pre-ordained or written in the stars, for want of a better explanation. Carys and I were meant to be together. I think it would be inevitable whatever moment in our lives we met. But to enable Carys to have the one thing she needed and wanted more than anything. Something so precious and of immeasurable value. A life with her Mum. I can’t ignore that Fish. She was the most important person to Carys, and it just isn’t fair that she was taken away from her when she was just 10 years old. Surely if there is an opportunity to right that wrong, then we should at least try.”
“Whatever the consequences or repercussions?”
“I think I could deal with the consequences. I believe that I could cope with whatever repercussions this change to events affected. Fate and Destiny Fish. They would be our benefactors”
“Can I say something that I sometimes hear you say”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“sure, go ahead”
“What a load of shit” Nathan was dumbstruck, Fish never used foul language, even mild foul language. This was a first. “This is a presupposition that you assume will come true. You just can’t do that. Fate and Destiny are hogwash and twaddle. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to speak honestly here and point out what the true ramifications might be”
“Well you should say what you think at least” replied Nathan with undisguised sarcasm which was completely lost on Fish anyway
“Let’s say Laura Richards lived and carried on with her life with her 10-year-old daughter Carys in 2007. What about if a few months later, as she was driving home from a shopping trip with Carys, a drunk driver hit their car head-on and killed them both outright? How does fate and destiny help you to meet Carys then?”
“Oh come on Fish that’s not very likely, is it? you’re just being difficult”
“Ok, let’s say it’s 2008 and Laura Richards meets a businessman from London, and they fall in love. They get married and move to London with her 11-year-old daughter. How are you going to meet Carys then? She lives 4600 miles away in a different country”
“Fish you’re being absurd, you’re deliberately trying to find complications and obstacles that don’t exist”
“But how do you know they won’t exist. 16 years is a long time, and so many things could happen between 2007 and now. It isn’t as absurd as you think. You have to be aware that any small change in the past can have huge ramifications for the future. Haven’t you heard of the Butterfly effect?”
“Yes it’s where small changes in the past can make bigger changes in the future”
“But you misunderstand, Nathan. You think of it as the idea of a small thing that has a big impact, with the implication that, like a lever, it can be manipulated to a desired end. This misses the point completely. The reality is that small things in a complex system may have no effect or a massive one, and it is virtually impossible to know which will turn out to be the case. You change things in 2007, and we have no control over what the ramifications may be 16 years later.”
“But surely saving the life of a woman who would only bring positive changes to a world couldn’t possibly have a negative effect on the future” Fish looked disconsolate
“Benjamin Franklin offered a poetic perspective in his variation of a proverb that’s been around since the 13th century, long before anyone had even thought of the term butterfly effect: he said
“For want of a nail the shoe was lost,
For want of a shoe the horse was lost,
For want of a horse the rider was lost,
For want of a rider the battle was lost,
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost,
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”
So you see, the loss of one insignificant horseshoe nail could be inconsequential, or it could indirectly cause the loss of a war.
Nathan finished his cappuccino in silence, pondering the implications of what Fish had just said
“What would happen if you went back a second time? I mean, what would happen to all the changes that you had affected from your first trip?”
“So you mean, what if the impact of your excursion to 2007 transformed the future in an unthinkable way, so much so that it would be better to leave it as it was?”
“Yes, in the unlikely event that Carys and her mother die in a road traffic accident, or I unwittingly started world war 3” Fish contemplated this for a minute or so.
“Traveling to the past is traveling on a closed time-like curve. The beginning of the curve starts at the moment we send you there, and the end of the curve is 585 seconds thereafter.” Nathan promptly interrupted
“What I mean to say is, if I went back a second time would I meet myself? I mean, would I meet the me that was there the first time around?”
“The logical problem of you meeting yourself in the past is that such an incident is automatically eternal since it cannot possibly happen a “first” time. Why? Because if you succeed in meeting yourself in the past it means that in the future you already know that you traveled to the past and met yourself, simply because you remember it. If in that future you don´t remember having met yourself in the past it necessarily means that you never did”
“Sorry, you lost me completely” Fish searched for the right way to explain.
“If you were to go back to the same point at the same time as before you would automatically supersede the same you that was there before. Imagine a recording on a tape that you record over. The second recording would automatically replace the original, You wouldn’t be able to hear both recordings, both voices. The initial recording would cease to exist. the only recording would be the second one”
“So it would be like a reset. A completely new start”
“Absolutely. Whatever you did from that moment which is the beginning of the time curve and for the next 585 seconds which would be the end of the time curve would be what affected the future. It would be a brand new configuration, a restart, supplanting everything you did during your first visit to 2007.” Nathan was delighted with this knowledge because it changed everything
“So if I went back a second time I could just let things happen as they did originally in 2007, change absolutely nothing and things would revert back to how they are now?”
“Yes, just as long as you categorically did nothing. You didn’t try to communicate with anyone and stayed completely stationary in that spot for the entire 585 seconds, then you would return to the world you left initially. " Nathan felt elated
“So we could do this. Whatever the repercussions, whatever the consequences, we have a contingency plan. We would always have the option of erasing the alternate future and leaving things as they were?”
“Yes, but it’s not the best approach. It would be like having a vasectomy, thinking that if you change your mind you could have it reversed. It’s the last resort option only”
“Agreed. We would keep it only as a last resort option, in the event of some catastrophic development that we couldn’t have foreseen” Fish said nothing which to Nathan didn’t immediately indicate no. It was a small triumph, but there was still work to do.