Excerpt from the ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA, 1035th deition, 5235 A.S: THE INCIDENT... would prove to cause great disturbance all across the Galaxy, it is believed that the cause of the incident was a young Second-Empire scientist by the name of THORDEN STILWELL....
Location: Second Empire Temporal Research Institute
Date: 3215 A.S.
"So how is the work with the new chronal chamber going?" Overseer Trent asked the young researcher, after the merging of the Mental and Physical sciences in roughly 1000 A.S. with the formation of the Second Empire research had been making quick strides forward, this new Chronal Chamber however was something completely unexpected; An entirely new view of the universe would be born if this machine would finally work... Time itself would be unravelled before the wondrous scientists of the Second Empire...
"It's almost finished." Thorden yawned, the two men where alone in the chronal chamber, it's complex instruments sending them information from all across the timestream. "I'd like to take a ride in it myself... Maybe visit Trantor at the height of it's glory?"
Trent scoffed: "Seldon did. Wasn't too impressed, and besides you know that we can't send living tissue back. It disintegrates."
"Yeah, yeah, I was only dreaming a bit..." Thorden continued. "Just think... In a few generations this conversation would have been wholly unneccessary!"
Trent nodded. Both men had been born with the knowledge that one day, some day, the Galaxia project would enter it's final stage, connecting every living human into a single supreme consciousness. The thought didn't bother them, even though they were not among the "connected", still only a few planets surrounding Gaia itself had entered that final stage, they had been born with the knowledge that their children might be and that their grandchildren would almost certainly be among them.
"So, you're ready to send the camera back to record the assassination of Cleon I?"
"Ready when you are." Thorden said.
"Execute Chronal Warp then." Trent said, and pushed the big red button.
It took a few moments for the warnings to begin, but once they did the effect was startling, the entire chamber started vibrating and a several dozens of sirens went of all at the same time.
"What is happening?!" Trent demanded.
"It looks like the timeline is unravelling sir..." Thorden said, his face turning ashen. "Most of history is starting to come apart at the seams, and the process is accelerating..."
"By Seldon's Ghost! What could have caused this? We'll have to report..." Trent went for the door but Stilwell stopped him.
"No! You can't do that! As long as we're within the chronal chamber we're in a timeline of our own... We're not affected by the changes, but if you break the sealing we'll loose any chance of ever fixing the timeline!"
Trent stopped in his tracks. "You're right." He admitted "But whas shall we do?"
"We'll have to find the cause first... Then fix it somehow... History isn't being unravelled all at once thank god, we might still be able to send something back to fix it..."
"So... What DID cause the disturbance? I'm sure a camera recording Cleon I's assassination wouldn't have caused this..."
"No... that seems unlikely... SELDON'S GHOST!"
"What?"
"It appears that another physical object was in the chronal chamber... the change in mass affected the destination... The object has been sent several thousands of years back before were we intended it to go, beyond the First Empire, even beyond the legendary Spacer Age..."
"Damnit! A single butterfly in the wrong place could irrevocably change history that far back... What was sent?"
"You're not going to like this."
"What WAS SENT?"
"You know that old book I had?
"Yes?"
"Well... It appears it was that book."
"Now that doesen't sound so bad... What book was it?"
"..."
"What book was it Thorden Stilwell?!"
"...Speaker Gendibal's Psychohistory for Dummies... Equipped with the automatic translation equipment..."
"WHAT!?"
Excerpt from the ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA, 1035th deition, 5235 A.S: BROTHER PAUL PASSENGO... most notably involved in the INCIDENT, before he came across PSYCHOHISTORY FOR DUMMIES he apparently lived a peaceful live at St. Angelus' monastery.. his discovery of the book from the future would irrevocably change his fate, and the fate of all of history...
Location: The Vatican
Date: November 1418
Paul Passengo was nervous, it was a great honour that he, a mere dominican brother (although he hoped he would not committ the sin of pride if he told himself he was a better mathematician than most) would be allowed an audience with the Pope... As the doors slammed shut behind him he immediately fell to his knees in front of the Holy Father.
"Rise, Brother Passengo. Know that we are all brothers in christ here." That voice could not be disobeyed. Paul rose to his feet.
"The report?" Martinus, the Holy Father, Successor of Peter and leader of the Christian Church asked him, HIM, to deliver his report.
"It is... disturbing..." Brother Paul wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. "The evidence cannot be doubted, it is all too clear, but how one could divine the Will of God in this manner.... That I do not know..."
"I know the technicalities." Martinus interrupted. "Give me the details, what does our future look like?"
"Not good, Holy Father.... Within 200 years the church will be splintered, divided between heretics and schismatics, France will experience religious wars, the heathen Turks will stand at the gates of Vienna, the Holy Church itself will be in dire peril..."
"But it will survive? Better times will come?"
"Yes... Sort of... In three hundred years a long and brutal war will ravage Germany, the heretics will stand victorious, four hundred years from now a war the likes of which has never been seen before will turn europe into ashes. Five hundred years from now your own holy Papal States will be reduced to little more than the Vatican itself, six hundred years from now another brutal war will rage across Europe... One which will turn men's hearts into iron and six million jews into ashes... new weapons of terrible power will be invented and men will lose faith in the Holy Church, turning instead to wicked men and theri devices, the stars will be explored and yet humanity will remain as sinful as ever..."
"And is there no way to avert this future?" Martinus asked. "To change what has been foretold?"
"Yes..." Brother Paul replied. "One of the fundamental axioms of this "Psychohistory" is that those affected must not know the predictions that are being made, for that would distort their actions."
Martinus sat to himself, thinking.
Finally he rose.
"Take this heretical book to the King of Castille. Show it to Juan II... Let him look at the future and try to change it if he can. It now rests in God's hands, not ours."
"Yes, holy father."
And with those words brother Paul Passengo left the Vatican, he quickly boarded a ship and within a few months he arrived at the court of Juan of Castille...
Location: Second Empire Temporal Research Institute
Date: 3215 A.S.
"So how is the work with the new chronal chamber going?" Overseer Trent asked the young researcher, after the merging of the Mental and Physical sciences in roughly 1000 A.S. with the formation of the Second Empire research had been making quick strides forward, this new Chronal Chamber however was something completely unexpected; An entirely new view of the universe would be born if this machine would finally work... Time itself would be unravelled before the wondrous scientists of the Second Empire...
"It's almost finished." Thorden yawned, the two men where alone in the chronal chamber, it's complex instruments sending them information from all across the timestream. "I'd like to take a ride in it myself... Maybe visit Trantor at the height of it's glory?"
Trent scoffed: "Seldon did. Wasn't too impressed, and besides you know that we can't send living tissue back. It disintegrates."
"Yeah, yeah, I was only dreaming a bit..." Thorden continued. "Just think... In a few generations this conversation would have been wholly unneccessary!"
Trent nodded. Both men had been born with the knowledge that one day, some day, the Galaxia project would enter it's final stage, connecting every living human into a single supreme consciousness. The thought didn't bother them, even though they were not among the "connected", still only a few planets surrounding Gaia itself had entered that final stage, they had been born with the knowledge that their children might be and that their grandchildren would almost certainly be among them.
"So, you're ready to send the camera back to record the assassination of Cleon I?"
"Ready when you are." Thorden said.
"Execute Chronal Warp then." Trent said, and pushed the big red button.
It took a few moments for the warnings to begin, but once they did the effect was startling, the entire chamber started vibrating and a several dozens of sirens went of all at the same time.
"What is happening?!" Trent demanded.
"It looks like the timeline is unravelling sir..." Thorden said, his face turning ashen. "Most of history is starting to come apart at the seams, and the process is accelerating..."
"By Seldon's Ghost! What could have caused this? We'll have to report..." Trent went for the door but Stilwell stopped him.
"No! You can't do that! As long as we're within the chronal chamber we're in a timeline of our own... We're not affected by the changes, but if you break the sealing we'll loose any chance of ever fixing the timeline!"
Trent stopped in his tracks. "You're right." He admitted "But whas shall we do?"
"We'll have to find the cause first... Then fix it somehow... History isn't being unravelled all at once thank god, we might still be able to send something back to fix it..."
"So... What DID cause the disturbance? I'm sure a camera recording Cleon I's assassination wouldn't have caused this..."
"No... that seems unlikely... SELDON'S GHOST!"
"What?"
"It appears that another physical object was in the chronal chamber... the change in mass affected the destination... The object has been sent several thousands of years back before were we intended it to go, beyond the First Empire, even beyond the legendary Spacer Age..."
"Damnit! A single butterfly in the wrong place could irrevocably change history that far back... What was sent?"
"You're not going to like this."
"What WAS SENT?"
"You know that old book I had?
"Yes?"
"Well... It appears it was that book."
"Now that doesen't sound so bad... What book was it?"
"..."
"What book was it Thorden Stilwell?!"
"...Speaker Gendibal's Psychohistory for Dummies... Equipped with the automatic translation equipment..."
"WHAT!?"
Excerpt from the ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA, 1035th deition, 5235 A.S: BROTHER PAUL PASSENGO... most notably involved in the INCIDENT, before he came across PSYCHOHISTORY FOR DUMMIES he apparently lived a peaceful live at St. Angelus' monastery.. his discovery of the book from the future would irrevocably change his fate, and the fate of all of history...
Location: The Vatican
Date: November 1418
Paul Passengo was nervous, it was a great honour that he, a mere dominican brother (although he hoped he would not committ the sin of pride if he told himself he was a better mathematician than most) would be allowed an audience with the Pope... As the doors slammed shut behind him he immediately fell to his knees in front of the Holy Father.
"Rise, Brother Passengo. Know that we are all brothers in christ here." That voice could not be disobeyed. Paul rose to his feet.
"The report?" Martinus, the Holy Father, Successor of Peter and leader of the Christian Church asked him, HIM, to deliver his report.
"It is... disturbing..." Brother Paul wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. "The evidence cannot be doubted, it is all too clear, but how one could divine the Will of God in this manner.... That I do not know..."
"I know the technicalities." Martinus interrupted. "Give me the details, what does our future look like?"
"Not good, Holy Father.... Within 200 years the church will be splintered, divided between heretics and schismatics, France will experience religious wars, the heathen Turks will stand at the gates of Vienna, the Holy Church itself will be in dire peril..."
"But it will survive? Better times will come?"
"Yes... Sort of... In three hundred years a long and brutal war will ravage Germany, the heretics will stand victorious, four hundred years from now a war the likes of which has never been seen before will turn europe into ashes. Five hundred years from now your own holy Papal States will be reduced to little more than the Vatican itself, six hundred years from now another brutal war will rage across Europe... One which will turn men's hearts into iron and six million jews into ashes... new weapons of terrible power will be invented and men will lose faith in the Holy Church, turning instead to wicked men and theri devices, the stars will be explored and yet humanity will remain as sinful as ever..."
"And is there no way to avert this future?" Martinus asked. "To change what has been foretold?"
"Yes..." Brother Paul replied. "One of the fundamental axioms of this "Psychohistory" is that those affected must not know the predictions that are being made, for that would distort their actions."
Martinus sat to himself, thinking.
Finally he rose.
"Take this heretical book to the King of Castille. Show it to Juan II... Let him look at the future and try to change it if he can. It now rests in God's hands, not ours."
"Yes, holy father."
And with those words brother Paul Passengo left the Vatican, he quickly boarded a ship and within a few months he arrived at the court of Juan of Castille...
