Added to chapter one of Journal of a Time Traveler – a science fiction and fantasy book about time travel. The Living Universe books series.
“Afraid? Do you want to run away and stop travelling? Or not? Not just yet? Would you still blame the bait? Or finally you will decide alone?” For the first time there was something wicked in her voice. “Why you don’t simply try to feel this new world? To open your mind and melt into the local field? You haven’t had a real taste of it yet. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be worth it,” she continued, softly this time, like trying hypnosis. “You’re unlikely to learn anything about it now, that time will come later, but maybe about yourself … It is the mind of the seeker that must first be educated, and the body follows. But you must have the will.” The hazy sun had already dropped below the horizon and the
land had melted into an inky wilderness by the time she had finished her scolding. The wind suddenly left off and there was complete silence. I was paralyzed with fear; I moved back instinctively, about to run. It only lasted a mere second before we were back on Earth, in my garden’s domestic assurance. She said nothing about it, and I did not pay attention to “that time will come later”.
“Then I can only go on those planets having life blocks identical with Earth’s.” I came back to my original question trying to suppress my, still present, fear.
“Not necessarily; on your first mission there will be two different amino acids.” She continued as if nothing had happened.
“What if something goes wrong and I die?” A terrible mass of thoughts and feelings was seething within me from that word. I did not want to have that fate, to become only a dream in The Field.
“Fate is sometimes inscrutable even for our technology and time riding, but we have all your data and can make a copy of you any time.”
“That result will no longer be me.”
“Why not? It is the same you with the same body and all your life experiences, and even better, it will be a very healthy you.”
“That’s a copy not me, not the same cells that made me be me.” I said, with concentrated fury, that she again wanted to mock me.
“Cells come and go; you are changing them all the time. Instead of waiting for months you change all of them in a second and you will have only perfect healthy ones, like a new-born.”
“That’s exactly it. It will be a new one, not the old me.” What is so hard to understand? I was shouting inside.
“For me that is more of a semantic issue; your DNA will not be changed, and your personality and memories will still be the same. Look!” Several DNA holograms appeared in the air surrounded by a metallic blue field moving in waves, and forming intricate patterns around the helixes. Short flashes connected the helixes from time to time with protuberances forming from the field’s waves. “See, they are the same, there is no difference between them and this is what really matters. Here is stored everything about you, DNA and your own mind version as it appears in The Field. You can even see how you are interacting with The Field. In time you will learn how to do this in a conscious way.”
End of paragraph from chapter one of Journal of a Time Traveler – a science fiction and fantasy fiction book about time travel. The Living Universe books series.