Paradox Metaphor Chapter 29 -- Survivor’s Tales

About an hour after he’d left his message, Downes got a call from Wilson. He was surprised, because he’d thought the secretary’s promise was a blow off. Wilson sounded surprisingly strong for someone who was approaching seventy years of age, and it was clear that he was agitated.

"Walter Downes, please" came his voice through the receiver.

"This is he", said Downes.

"This is Doug Wilson of Wilson Engineered Products. I understand you called my office earlier today and threatened Winter Camp somehow. I wonder just which branch of the government you’re with and who your supervisor might be".

"Hold on sir, slow down for a minute. It’s true I said there might not be a Winter Camp 50, but it’s none of my doing. It’s your friend Jeff Rand. He’s created a paradox and we’re not sure it will be recoverable."

"A paradox," answered Wilson, "how would he do that?"

"You know he works for Forestry, in the archeobiology division, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, sometime two days ago, he seems to have gone off the deep end. He seems to have gone to Winter Camp I, then to somewhere in the future, then to your Winter Camp XXII. In the process, he managed to create a paradox event that’s just about off our scales for this sort of thing. It’s not just Winter Camp that’s in danger, it’s our entire future and our past."

"Well, it seems to me that anything Jeff did is going to help Camp, not hurt it. Things might be different, but I’m sure there will still be a Winter Camp".

"It’s not that easy Mr. Wilson. With a .97 Event Horizon, it’s possible that he will affect the past of our world too. Rivers and mountains may change their course from what we know, national boundaries could change, hell, for all we know, Southern California is about to slip into the sea."

"Paradox huh," said Wilson, "okay, suppose I believe you. How can I help change things so they work out in the same context."

"That’s the part we don’t know yet. We hope that if we can stop Rand then we can stop the paradox event before it gets too far gone. We have about fourteen hours left. We also have the 1998 version of Rand."

"Hmm," said Wilson, "Let me make a few phone calls and I’ll get back to you, will you be at this number?"

"All day," said Downes.

The design and content of this page Copyright (C) 1997-2000 by Steve Donohue for the Winter Camp Future Society
If you believe we are using copyrighted material, please contact the webmaster
All rights reserved