By Fotini Daliani
Awake. Where am I? What is that sound? Seems like droplets falling on metal. Tick tock, tick tock. Is that the time? Where am I? Am I me? Of course it’s you! And who are you, may I ask? I am you, a future version of you to be exact! Please tell me where are we? Don’t you want to know, when are we? But we forgot something, what about time[1]? What about it? Stop! Ok, concentrate where are you? It feels like being still but flying at the same time. Congratulations! You have managed to travel tens of thousands of light-years beyond the solar system. You are now standing in the depths of a great interstellar travel. You are the first to actually understand the vanity of the human race. Space in its entirety is spreading before you. It’s bleak and simultaneously bright. The stars are glowing so bright that my eyes are starting to hurt. I close them for a brief second and I see small sparkles. Out there, drifting and hovering silent in the void. You have witnessed some of the most phantasmagorical events anyone could wish to experience. From birth to tomb. So, there is time. You can’t really see it or successfully measure it and yet you can feel it. Don’t be so dramatic. Facts; just tell me the facts. Of course you can’t see time, you are not a fifth dimensional being, you’re just moving in time and space and only forwards. Entropy, that’s the key word. You experience time not as it is but as the events and that follow. What happens then, if we reverse entropy? Does time moves backwards or just my perception of time? Does my perception shapes time around me? So if time perception differs between us, and it is only based on our consciousness how we can be sure that time even exists, how we can be sure that I am me and not you? What makes us, us? Are we born or do we grow into it? The way it works is that the perception comes first and then the understanding. So the understanding doesn’t change the perception, it just assists you to put that perception into a wider context. Now take a step back and breathe. Prepare! What for? You shall see…
And for our last trick, we present you the inky blackness of this black hole[2]… Do you dare take a leap of faith beyond the event horizon? And here we go…
The black holes are giant singularities, but you’re unable to look beyond its event horizon, due to the distortion around it, not even light can escape its infinite density. Do you even hear yourself? A scholar even in the last minute. And who says, this is the last minute? Where are we going? Are we really moving right now? Remember it’s always the ramifications of time… We have just surpassed the event horizon and we are heading towards it. That’s the final threshold. There is no escape from this. There are moments left, yet moments worthy of a lifetime. You see there is always time. Time for you and me namely for you and you. Time can’t escape the black hole and you can’t escape time. Even now, as we speak you are older than two seconds ago. You perceive time in a quite different level than everyone. That makes you extremely unique, truly one of a kind.
As you travel, on your own- Who are you talking to? No one, I am just trying to calm down, saying out loud my thoughts. And then it occurred to me, was I alone the whole time? Nah, it can’t be. She introduced herself as me, I thought I was you, I thought I was your ramification of time and you were my echo in the future. Don’t worry, you are not on your own, someone from your future will always be by your side. Focus; remember only moments to spare…
As gravity increases, you’re still moving. Due to time distortion and dilation you feel like speeding up. Everything is getting heavier, and you are squeezed and stretched. You think that you can see everything, at least from waist up. The density has just devoured everything, even light has moved to higher frequencies. Emptiness, but ground seems so near, you are about to land somewhere.
Wait, what is that? I though, I saw something, or someone. Don’t pay attention, it’s just us. No, but I can see it, clear as the day. I told you. It is us! It is a remainder of our past selves, debris of time. It’s mainly you, before you make up your mind, whether to jump in and follow me or not. As you made your decision, a branch in time was made. No! We have to warn them, not to surpass the threshold. But you can’t get out, and they can’t hear “posterities”. They are fading, why is that? They are becoming you; they gradually accumulated and lapsed into you. And the others, the other pair of us? What do you mean? Do I always make the same decision, to follow you here? I wasn’t sure whether to come or not. Is there any version of me that obeys its instinct, and chooses to leave? Of course there is, but you can’t see it, at least not from your point of view, or mine. You can only see the moment of your decision and its consequences.
Are we there yet? The silence is simply earsplitting. Are you still there? Who is talking now? You’re gradually collapsing into me; the future is catching you up. Hurry. Blink and you miss it. Lights are flashing everywhere, but I thought light was long gone… Lights like fireworks. I close my eyes, and as I open them this “fair of lights” is still going, getting brighter and brighter by every second. And then it explodes… A colorful parade is bursting; my brain tries to keep up; the spectacle is breathtaking. I know there are a few heartbeats left. The circle is now complete; every version of me has just embraced this moment while they become a part of the infinite. I am finally me. Loud noise; a sudden blast and then…
Awake. Where am I? What is that sound? Seems like droplets falling on metal. Tick tock, tick, and tock. Is that the time? Where am I? Am I me? Of course it’s you! And who are you, may I ask? I am you; a future version of you to be exact! Well… Are you ready to begin our journey?
[1] https://www.wired.com/2010/02/what-is-time/
[2] There are many kinds of black holes: some big ones, some small ones, some with electric charges, some without, and some with rapid rotations and others more sedentary. https://www.space.com/42953-black-hole-spins-at-half-light-speed.html For the sake of our imaginary trip we will take one simple form of a black hole, a giant black hole with no electric charge and no spin.
