TMP Technical Information
Jay Shaffstall
Copyright (c) 1990
Jason Roe looked around the lab at the Tempus Fugit design team. He'd asked them together for a brief pep talk before the weekend. Next week they'd be involved in some of the most important work of the century; he figured they needed a reminder of just how much they'd already accomplished.
"Thank you all for sticking around a little longer today. Most of you have been on the project from the beginning, but those of you that haven't may not fully appreciate the amount of effort that has gone into the Time Belt." He gestured toward the locked cabinet where the only two prototypes of the time belt were kept. He suddenly wished he had a glass of water handy.
"Temporal theory itself was largely created in this lab, and made possible the temporal beacon that proved time travel possible. To create the belt itself, advances far beyond the limits of current science had to be made. The power source had to be independent and rechargable. There are no outlets in the Roman Empire." He paused, but they looked at him as if this were obvious. He'd have to upgrade the quality of the jokes for this audience.
"Unification theory was pushed to new limits simply to provide a power source for this device. Now, the belt will be able to recharge itself using the gravitic potential in any time period." Roe hoped that the scientists understood what that meant.
"The power involved in time travel is enormous, and required extensive advances in room temperature superconductors. You can now wear a miniature supernova around your waist and not feel any heat." Roe had always wondered about the term miniature supernova. Didn't the star have to be a certain mass, or something?
"Computer technology had to be improved to handle the space time coordinate system, also created by this group. The relative motion of the stars and galaxies had to be boiled down to simple equations for use by the belt." Roe had seen these 'simple' equations once. By comparison, _War and Peace_ was a short sketch.
"In short, while we are merely beginning our work on time travel and its effects, this team has done more to advance human science in the past three years, than everyone in the past decade put together. Once this information is declassified, the world will become a paradise indeed. You can all be proud of yourselves."
Equipment:
Temporal Beacon. This was the first working temporal device created. The original pair of beacons were created before many of the later advances, and thus are rather bulky. Each is about four feet on a side, and must be hooked directly to a dedicated main power line to function. Given that, however, they can send a radio signal to any point in time in a decade radius. The main limitation on range here is the lack of adequate power. Note--the beacon apparently does not work *every* time. A low percentage of signals beamed into the future have not been subsequently received. There is a minimum range of half a second.
Temporal Transporter. So named because of an appearance similar to the transporter in Star Trek, but on a miniature scale. This device is also about four feet square, but most of it is a chamber to hold the object to be transmitted through time. This is also hooked to a dedicated power line, and has a maximum range of approximately twenty five years. It has a minimum range of three hours. There appears to be some sort of a parabolic curve to the energy requirements, rising to near infinity the closer you attempt to get to the time that you're transmitting from. Optimum range, where energy consumption is the lowest, is one year. Beyond that, energy consumption rises once again.
Time Belt. While it has a bit too much electronics on it to be fashionable, the time belt was designed to be conealable underneath an overcoat. The belt has an onboard computer that would put IBM to shame, dedicated to the incredible number crunching neccessary for computing space time coordinates. The belt can also proved external power by way of a four foot superconducting cable. There is a means to save one set of coordinates to use as a home base. These coordinate are fixed, updated only when you are spending time in that time period. The hope is that this will allow a time traveller to make it back to his own time and place if a change in the past causes a new timeline to split from the original. The home setting may allow them to jump the timelines and get to where they belong. All theory, of course, but it may even work. The bels also has a chronometer indicating the current time and space coordinates. Unfortunately, it requires knowledge of temporal theory to interpet the coordinates. Ranges have been estimated as a minimum of one day, and a maximum of two centuries. Optimum is probably right around one decade.
Period equipment. While no actual travel into the past has taken place, the project has laid in a supply of period clothing covering the major fashions for the past two centuries. Also available are period weapons and money. Any of this equipment must be checked out with the security guard.
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