Flashforward. Part 23

Me, too, thought Theo, but what he said was, "Sorry we weren't able to help." thought Theo, but what he said was, "Sorry we weren't able to help."

"I understand," said Lloyd, "that the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory picked up an influx of neutrinos just before we did our original experiment on April 21. Were those neutrinos due to sunspots?"

"No, the sun was quiet that day; what we detected was an extrasolar burst."

"Extrasolar? You mean from outside the solar system?"

"That's right."

"What was the source?"

"You remember Supernova 1987A?" asked Wendy.

Theo shook his head.

Lloyd, grinning, said, "That was the sound of Theo shaking his head."

"I could hear the rattling," said Wendy. "Well, look: in 1987, the biggest supernova in three hundred and eighty-three years was detected. A type-B3 blue supergiant star called Sanduleak -69202 blew up in the Large Magellanic Cloud."

"The Large Magellanic Cloud!" said Lloyd. "That's a h.e.l.l of a long way away."

"A hundred and sixty-six thousand light-years, to be precise," said Wendy's voice. "Meaning, of course, that Sanduleak really blew up back in the Pleistocene, but we didn't see the explosion until twenty-two years ago. But neutrinos travel unimpeded almost forever. And, during the explosion in 1987, we detected a burst of neutrinos that lasted about ten seconds."

"Okay," said Lloyd.

"And," continued Wendy, "Sanduleak was a very strange star; you normally expect a red supergiant, not a blue one, to go supernova. Regardless, though, after exploding as a supernova, what normally happens is that the remnants of the star collapse either into a neutron star or a black hole. Well, if Sanduleak had collapsed into a black hole, we never should have detected the neutrinos; they shouldn't have been able to escape. But at twenty solar ma.s.ses, Sanduleak was, we thought, too small to form a black hole, at least according to the then-accepted theory."

"Uh-huh," said Lloyd.

"Well," said Wendy, "back in 1993, Hans Bethe and Gerry Brown came up with a theory involving kaon condensates that would allow a smaller-ma.s.sed star to collapse into a black hole; kaons don't obey Pauli's exclusion principle." The exclusion principle said that two particles of a given type could not simultaneously occupy the same energy state.

"For a star to collapse into a neutron star," continued Wendy, "all the electrons must combine with protons to form neutrons, but since electrons do do adhere to the exclusion principle, as you try to push them together they instead just keep occupying higher and higher energy levels, providing resistance to the continued collapse-that's part of the reason why you need to start with a sufficiently ma.s.sive star to make a black hole. But if the electrons were converted to kaons, they could all occupy the lowest energy level, putting up much less resistance, and making the collapse of a smaller star into a black hole theoretically possible. Well, Gerry and Hans said, look, suppose that's what happened at Sanduleak-suppose its electrons became kaons. Then it could have collapsed into a black hole. And how long would it take for the conversion of electrons into kaons? They mapped it out at ten seconds-meaning that neutrinos could escape for the first ten seconds of the supernova event but, after that, they'd be swallowed up by the newly formed black hole. And, of course, ten seconds is how long the neutrino burst lasted back in 1987." adhere to the exclusion principle, as you try to push them together they instead just keep occupying higher and higher energy levels, providing resistance to the continued collapse-that's part of the reason why you need to start with a sufficiently ma.s.sive star to make a black hole. But if the electrons were converted to kaons, they could all occupy the lowest energy level, putting up much less resistance, and making the collapse of a smaller star into a black hole theoretically possible. Well, Gerry and Hans said, look, suppose that's what happened at Sanduleak-suppose its electrons became kaons. Then it could have collapsed into a black hole. And how long would it take for the conversion of electrons into kaons? They mapped it out at ten seconds-meaning that neutrinos could escape for the first ten seconds of the supernova event but, after that, they'd be swallowed up by the newly formed black hole. And, of course, ten seconds is how long the neutrino burst lasted back in 1987."

"Fascinating," said Lloyd. "But what's this got to do with the burst that happened when we were running our experiment the first time?"

"Well, the object that forms out of a kaon condensate isn't really a black hole," said Wendy's voice. "Rather, it's an inherently unstable parasingularity. We call them 'brown holes' now, after Gerry Brown. It in fact should rebound at some point, with the kaons spontaneously reconverting to electrons. When that happens, the Pauli exclusion principle should kick in, causing a ma.s.sive pressure against degeneracy, forcing the whole thing to almost instantaneously expand again. At that point, neutrinos should again be able to escape-at least until the process reverses, and the electrons turn back into kaons again. Sanduleak was due to rebound at some point, and, as it happens, fifty-three seconds before your original time-displacement event, our neutrino detector registered a burst coming from Sanduleak; of course, the detector-or its recording equipment-stopped working as soon as the time-displacement began, so I don't know how long the second burst lasted, but in theory it should have lasted longer than the first-maybe as long as two or three minutes." Her voice grew wistful. "In fact, I originally thought that the Sanduleak rebound burst was what caused the time displacement in the first place. I was all ready to book a ticket to Stockholm when you guys stepped forward and said it was your collider that did it."

"Well, maybe it was was the burst," said Lloyd. "Maybe that's why we weren't able to replicate the effect." the burst," said Lloyd. "Maybe that's why we weren't able to replicate the effect."

"No, no," said Wendy, "it wasn't the rebound burst, at least not on its own; remember, the burst began fifty-three seconds before before the time displacement, and the displacement coincided precisely with the start of the your collisions. Still, maybe the coincidence of the burst continuing to impact the Earth at the same time you were doing your experiment caused whatever bizarre conditions created the time displacement. And without such a burst when you tried to replicate your experiment, nothing happened." the time displacement, and the displacement coincided precisely with the start of the your collisions. Still, maybe the coincidence of the burst continuing to impact the Earth at the same time you were doing your experiment caused whatever bizarre conditions created the time displacement. And without such a burst when you tried to replicate your experiment, nothing happened."

"So," said Lloyd, "we basically created conditions here on Earth that hadn't existed since a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, and simultaneously we were hit by a whack of neutrinos spewing out of a rebounding brown hole."

"That's about the size of it," said Wendy's voice. "As you can imagine, the chances of that ever happening are incredibly remote-which is probably just as well."

"Will Sanduleak rebound again?" asked Lloyd. "Can we expect another neutrino burst?"

"Probably," said Wendy. "In theory, it will rebound several more times, sort of oscillating between being a brown hole and a neutron star until stability is reached and it settles down as a permanent, but non-rotating, neutron star."

"When will the next rebound occur?"

"I have no idea."

"But if we wait for the next burst," said Lloyd, "and then do our experiment again at precisely that moment, maybe we could replicate the time-displacement effect."

"It'll never happen," said Wendy's voice.

"Why not?" asked Theo.

"Think about it, boys. You needed weeks to prepare for this attempt at replicating the experiment; everyone had to be safe before it began, after all. But neutrinos are almost ma.s.sless. They travel through s.p.a.ce at virtually the speed of light. There's no way to know in advance that they're going to arrive, and since the first rebound burst lasted no more than three minutes-it was over by the time my detector started recording again-you'd never have any advance warning that a burst was going to occur, and once the burst started, you'd have only three minutes or less to crank up your accelerator."

"d.a.m.n," said Theo. "G.o.d d.a.m.n."

"Sorry I don't have better news," said Wendy. "Look, I've got a meeting in five minutes-I should get going."

"Okay," said Theo. "Bye."

"Bye."

Theo clicked off the speaker phone and looked at Lloyd. "Irreproducible," he said. "The world's not going to like that." He moved over to a chair and sat down.

"d.a.m.n," said Lloyd.

"You're telling me," said Theo. "You know, now that we know the future isn't fixed, I'm not that worried, I guess, about the murder, but, still, I would have liked to have seen something, something, you know. Anything. I feel-Christ, I feel left out, you know? Like everyone else on the planet saw the mothership, and I was off taking a whiz." you know. Anything. I feel-Christ, I feel left out, you know? Like everyone else on the planet saw the mothership, and I was off taking a whiz."

27.

The LHC was now doing daily 1150-TeV lead-nuclei collisions. Some were long-planned experiments, now back on track; others were parts of the ongoing attempts to find a proper theoretical basis for the temporal displacement. Theo took a break from going over computer logs from ALICE and CMS to check his email. "Additional n.o.bel winners announced," said the subject line of the first message.

Of course, n.o.bels aren't just given in physics. Five other prizes are awarded each year, with the announcements staggered over a period of several days: chemistry, physiology or medicine, economics, literature, and the promotion of world peace. The only one Theo really cared about was the physics prize-although he had a mild curiosity about the chemistry award, too. He clicked on the message header to see what it said.

It wasn't the chemistry n.o.bel-rather, it was the literature one. He was about to click the message into oblivion when the laureate's name caught his eye.

Anatoly Korolov. A Russian novelist.

Of course, after that man Cheung in Toronto had recounted his vision to Theo, mentioning someone called Korolov, Theo had researched the name. It had turned out to be frustratingly common, and remarkably undistinguished. No one by that name seemed to be particularly famous or significant.

But now someone named Korolov had won a n.o.bel. Theo immediately logged onto Britannica Online; Britannica Online; CERN had an unlimited-use account with them. The entry on Anatoly Korolov was brief: CERN had an unlimited-use account with them. The entry on Anatoly Korolov was brief:

Korolov, Anatoly Sergeyevich. Russian novelist and polemicist, born 11 July 1965, in Moscow, then part of the USSR-

Theo frowned. b.l.o.o.d.y guy was a year younger than Lloyd, for G.o.d's sakes. Of course no one had to replicate the experimental results outlined in a novel. Theo continued reading:

Korolov's first novel Pered voskhodom solntsa Pered voskhodom solntsa ("Before Sunrise"), published in 1992, told of the early days after the collapse of the Soviet Union; his protagonist, young Sergei Dolonov, a disillusioned Communist Party supporter, goes through a series of serio-comic coming-of-age rituals, fighting to make sense of the changes in his country, ultimately becoming a successful businessperson in Moscow. Korolov's other novels include ("Before Sunrise"), published in 1992, told of the early days after the collapse of the Soviet Union; his protagonist, young Sergei Dolonov, a disillusioned Communist Party supporter, goes through a series of serio-comic coming-of-age rituals, fighting to make sense of the changes in his country, ultimately becoming a successful businessperson in Moscow. Korolov's other novels include Na kulichkakh Na kulichkakh ("At the World's End"), 1995; ("At the World's End"), 1995; Obyknovennaya istoriya Obyknovennaya istoriya ("A Common Story"), 1999; and ("A Common Story"), 1999; and Moskvityanin Moskvityanin ("The Muscovite"), 2006. Of these, only ("The Muscovite"), 2006. Of these, only Na kulichkakh Na kulichkakh has been published in English. has been published in English.

He'd doubtless get a bigger write-up in the next edition, thought Theo. He wondered if Dim had read this fellow during his studies of European literature.

Could this be the Korolov Cheung's vision had referred to? If so, what possible connection did he have to Theo? Or to Cheung, for that matter, whose interests seemed commercial rather than literary?

Michiko and Lloyd were walking down the streets of St. Genis, holding hands, enjoying the warm evening breeze. After a few hundred meters pa.s.sed with nothing but silence between them, Michiko stopped walking. "I think I know what went wrong."

Lloyd looked at her, his face a question.

"Think about what happened," she said. "You designed an experiment that should have produced the Higgs boson. The first time you ran it, though, it didn't. And why not?"

"The neutrino influx from Sanduleak," said Lloyd.

"Oh? That might indeed have been part of what caused the time displacement-but how could it have possibly upset the boson production?"

Lloyd shrugged. "Well, it-it . . . hmm, that is is a good question." a good question."

Michiko shook her head. They began walking again. "It couldn't have an effect. I don't doubt that there was an influx of neutrinos at the time the experiment was originally conducted, but it shouldn't have disrupted the production of the Higgs bosons. The bosons should should have been produced." have been produced."

"But they weren't."

"Exactly," said Michiko. "But there was no one to observe them. For almost three whole minutes there wasn't a single conscious mind on Earth-no one, anywhere, to actually observe the creation of the Higgs boson. Not only that, there was no one available to observe anything. anything. That's why all the videotapes seem to be blank. They That's why all the videotapes seem to be blank. They look look blank-like they've got nothing but electronic snow on them. But suppose that's not snow-suppose instead that the cameras accurately recorded what they saw: an unresolved world. The whole enchilada, the entire planet Earth, unresolved. Without qualified observers-with blank-like they've got nothing but electronic snow on them. But suppose that's not snow-suppose instead that the cameras accurately recorded what they saw: an unresolved world. The whole enchilada, the entire planet Earth, unresolved. Without qualified observers-with everyone's everyone's consciousness elsewhere-there was no way to resolve the quantum mechanics of what was going on. No way to choose between all the possible realities. Those tapes show uncollapsed wave fronts, a kind of staticky limbo-the superposition of all possible states." consciousness elsewhere-there was no way to resolve the quantum mechanics of what was going on. No way to choose between all the possible realities. Those tapes show uncollapsed wave fronts, a kind of staticky limbo-the superposition of all possible states."

"I doubt that wave front superposition would look like snow."

"Well, maybe it's not an actual picture; but, regardless of whether it is or isn't, it's clear that all information about that three-minute span was censored, somehow; the physics of what was happening prevented any recording of data during that period. Without any conscious beings anywhere, reality breaks down."

Lloyd frowned. Could he have been that wrong? Cramer's transactional interpretation accounted for everything in quantum mechanics without recourse to qualified observers . . . but maybe such observers did did have a role to play. "Perhaps," he said. "But-no, no, that can't be right. If everything was unresolved, then how did the accidents occur? A plane crashing-that have a role to play. "Perhaps," he said. "But-no, no, that can't be right. If everything was unresolved, then how did the accidents occur? A plane crashing-that is is a resolution, one possibility made concrete." a resolution, one possibility made concrete."

"Of course," said Michiko. "It's not that three minutes pa.s.sed during which planes and trains and cars and a.s.sembly lines operated without human intervention. Rather, three minutes pa.s.sed during which nothing was resolved-all the possibilities existed, stacked into shimmering whiteness. But at the end of those three minutes, consciousness returned, and the world collapsed again into a single state. And, unfortunately but inevitably, it took the single state that made the most sense, given that there had been three minutes of no consciousness: it resolved itself into the world in which planes and cars had crashed. But the crashes didn't occur during those three minutes; they never occurred at all. We simply went in one jump from the way things were before to the way they were after."

"That's . . . that's crazy," said Lloyd. "It's wishful thinking."

They were pa.s.sing a pub. Loud music, with French lyrics, spilled through the heavy closed door. "No, it's not. It's quantum physics. And the result is the same: those people are just as dead, or just as maimed, as if the accidents had actually taken place. I'm not suggesting there's any way around that-as much as I wish there were.

Lloyd squeezed Michiko's hand, and they continued walking, up the road, into the future.

BOOK III.

TWENTY-ONE YEARS LATER.

AUTUMN 2030.

Lost time is never found again.

-John H. Aughey

28.

Time pa.s.ses; things change.

In 2017, a team of physicists and brain researchers mostly based at Stanford devised a full theoretical model for the time displacement. The quantum-mechanical model of the human mind, proposed by Roger Penrose thirty years earlier, had turned out to be generally true even if Penrose had gotten many of the details wrong; it was perhaps not surprising, then, that sufficiently powerful quantum physics experiments could have an effect on perception.

Still, the neutrinos were a key part of it, too. It had been known since the 1960s that Earth's sun was, for some reason, disgorging only half as many neutrinos as it should-the famous "solar-neutrino problem."

The sun is heated by hydrogen fusion: four hydrogen nuclei-each a single proton-come together to form a helium nucleus, consisting of two protons and two neutrons. In the process of converting two of the original hydrogen-provided protons into neutrons, two electron neutrinos should be ejected . . . but, somehow one out of every two electron neutrinos that should reach Earth disappears before it does so, almost as if they were somehow being censored, almost as if the universe knew that the quantum-mechanical processes underlying consciousness were unstable if too many neutrinos were present.

The discovery in 1998 that neutrinos had a trifling ma.s.s had made credible a long-standing possible solution to the solar-neutrino problem: if neutrinos have ma.s.s, theory suggested that they could perhaps change types as they traveled, making it only appear, to primitive detectors, that they had disappeared. But the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, which was capable of detecting all types of neutrinos, still showed a marked shortfall between what should be produced and what was reaching Earth.

The strong anthropic principle said the universe needed to give rise to life, and the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics said it requires qualified observers; given what was now known about the interaction of neutrinos and consciousness, the solar-neutrino problem seemed to be evidence that the universe was indeed taking pains to foster the existence of such observers.

Of course, occasional extrasolar neutrino bursts happened, but under normal circ.u.mstances they could be tolerated. But when the circ.u.mstances were not not normal-when a neutrino onslaught was combined with conditions that hadn't existed since just after the big bang-time displacement occurred. normal-when a neutrino onslaught was combined with conditions that hadn't existed since just after the big bang-time displacement occurred.

In 2018, the European s.p.a.ce Agency launched the Ca.s.sandra Ca.s.sandra probe toward Sanduleak -69202. Of course, it would take millions of years to reach Sanduleak, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that now, in 2030, probe toward Sanduleak -69202. Of course, it would take millions of years to reach Sanduleak, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that now, in 2030, Ca.s.sandra Ca.s.sandra was 2.5 trillion kilometers from Earth-and 2.5 trillion kilometers closer to the remnant of Supernova 1987A-a distance that light, and neutrinos, would take three months to travel. was 2.5 trillion kilometers from Earth-and 2.5 trillion kilometers closer to the remnant of Supernova 1987A-a distance that light, and neutrinos, would take three months to travel.

Aboard Ca.s.sandra Ca.s.sandra were two instruments. One was a light detector, aimed directly at Sanduleak; the other was a recent invention-a tachyon emitter-aimed back at Earth. were two instruments. One was a light detector, aimed directly at Sanduleak; the other was a recent invention-a tachyon emitter-aimed back at Earth. Ca.s.sandra Ca.s.sandra couldn't detect neutrinos directly, but if Sanduleak oscillated out of brown-hole status, it would give off light as well as neutrinos, and the light would be easy to see. couldn't detect neutrinos directly, but if Sanduleak oscillated out of brown-hole status, it would give off light as well as neutrinos, and the light would be easy to see.

In July 2030, light from Sanduleak was detected by Ca.s.sandra. Ca.s.sandra. The probe immediately launched an ultra-low-energy (and therefore ultra-high-speed) tachyon burst toward Earth. Forty-three hours later, the tachyons arrived there, setting off alarms. The probe immediately launched an ultra-low-energy (and therefore ultra-high-speed) tachyon burst toward Earth. Forty-three hours later, the tachyons arrived there, setting off alarms.

Suddenly, twenty-one years after the first time-displacement event, the people of Earth were given three months' notice that if they wanted to try for another glimpse of the future, they could indeed do so with a reasonable chance of success. Of course, the next attempt would have to be made at the exact moment the Sanduleak neutrinos would start pa.s.sing through Earth-and it couldn't be a coincidence that that would be 19h21 Greenwich Mean Time on Wednesday, October 23, 2030-the precise beginning of the two-minute span the last set of visions had portrayed.

The UN debated the matter with surprising speed. Some had thought that because the present had turned out to be different from what the first set of visions portrayed, people might decide that new visions would be irrelevant. But, in reality, the general response was quite the opposite-almost everybody wanted another peek at tomorrow. The Ebenezer Effect still was powerful. And, of course, there was now a whole generation of young people who had been born after 2009. They felt left out, and were demanding a chance to have what their parents had already experienced: a glimpse of their prospective futures.