Master of Time

Chapter 46: Temporal Rifts

In geosynchronous orbit around the planet, Shield Headquarter slowly rotates.

The constant rotation induces artificial gravity into the massive structure via centrifugal force, allowing the people living inside to move about more naturally.

This is the best we can do since artificial gravity hasn't been invented yet, not even in the 31st century.

If humanity just have another thousand years of peace and prosperity, they will probably master the power of gravity and construct a true interstellar ship – maybe even an intergalactic ship.

We are really good at building things when we put our collective mind into it.

Humanity would be able to spread out amongst the stars, preventing the calamity that leads towards their extinction.

Sadly, with great powers come great destructions.

I can attest to this. I do not know how exactly, but I am likely responsible for the impending destruction of the timeline.

There is no other explanation that I can think of.

"Please don't cry, Anti. Daddy will not be gone for very long. Be a good girl and stay here and play with all your new friends."

I tell my daughter when she refuses to let go of my hands. Her fingers wrap themselves tightly around my index finger, struggling not to let it slip away.

This is the first time Antigone is like this. It is as if she knows something bad will happen.

Antigone is currently in the nursery, where countless children are being taken care of. They are mostly born from a Shield or Hydra couple. The other children are brought into the headquarter from all over the world, from all manner of countries and races.

Genetic diversity is required for a healthy growing population on a new planet. This is one of the many contingency plans I have to ensure the survival of the human race.

Why go so far for humankind? Well, I am human for all my faults and ambitions. When it comes down to it, I am as human as any others on the planet.

There are several stars system capable of sustaining life, as observed by countless astrologers in ages passed and to come.

This is all I have to go on since I cannot teleport to those planets. They are too far out of my range.

It is also hard to pinpoint those planets through sights alone. I have to be there in person to know the actual spatial coordinate.

However, it will takes centuries for the generation ship to reach there. I hope the ship won't have to be launch. Contingency plan is a contingency plan after all.

I will do everything in my power to stop the destruction of the planet. It is my wishes that Earth is and always will be the cradle of humanity.

After giving a kiss to Antigone, I teleported away, returning to Earth. I materialize in a Hydra base. It is the one that underneath Atlantis.

"I have released everything I know on temporal research into the Hydra Network. From now on, every scientists on base will dedicate their every waking minute into the research. I want a working theory within a month time. That is when the entire world will go to shit."

I order. All other plans are on halt as I need them to work on a way to stop the temporal rift. They are far more destructive than any weapons I have ever seen.

Once I gave my order, I jump ahead to the future to where Hydra Headquarter is flooded. The temporal rift has destroy much of the base along with the rest of the planet, killing quite a lot of people.

With the fusion reactor undergoing irreversible meltdown, I head to the central core and copy all the temporal research data. With the data crystal in my hand, I jump back to the past to integrate the new information into Hydra Network before making my announcement.

"I have released everything I know on temporal research into the Hydra Network. From now on, every scientists on base will dedicate their every waking minute into the research. I want a working theory within a month time. That is when the entire world will go to shit."

Once that is done, I jump ahead to the future once more to steal the updated data. This speeds up the research thousands of times over.

And by the 35th loops, Hydra finally have something tangible.

"It appears that time is like space, constantly expanding as the universe expands. There are just more of time as time passes – if you know what I mean."

Hammond gives the lecture.

He has become an expert on time and anything related to time. He finally admits that he was so wrong in his first assumption. The time distortion does expand and become less intense, but its overall energy – temporal energy – increases exponentially.

Once it reaches a critical point, an unstable temporal rift will form.

Unstable temporal rifts are like black holes.

They won't suck everything into them like what a black hole does. They will simply scatter everything coming in contact with them throughout all of time and space, bit by bit, atom by atom.

The people will have their cells scatter over a span of billions of year. Yeah, that means they are dead the moment a temporal rift touches them.

Hammond shows a machine blueprint on the hologram for everyone to see.

"This is a temporal disruptor, courtesy of your truly. It can disrupt the flow of time, causing distortion in time and space. It can also do the reverse, focusing the scattered temporal energy to a single point in space."

"Wouldn't that create a temporal rift?"

One of the scientists asks.

I am also curious. If temporary rift are so dangerous, why create one in the first place.

"Precisely. That is what we are intend to do, creating a temporal rift that is. A wild one is dangerous, but a tamed one will be our bitch. Who is with me?"

A huge amount of uproars occur. Some scientists call for Hammond to be hanged. Others like the idea, wishing to see what a temporal rift can do. Most are in it for the fun of it.

"Shut up!"

I shouts, but no one heard me. The noise died down when half of the room turns to ashes with a snap of my finger.

Seeing their colleagues get instantly dusted shut up their mouth. I return everyone to normal after a couple of seconds of silence. Those who get snapped and blip back into existence sweats profusely. It is incredible painful even if it only lasted a fraction of a second.

"There is more to this, isn't it Mr. Washer?"

I question.

"Yes, of course, Lord Maxwell. I have a theory that these temporal rifts are not really connected to our own time and space, but to another time and space. Perhaps to an alternate universe with a different law of physics and the like. If we somehow stable a rift, wouldn't that give us a gateway into another world?"

Now that is something I want to see. Unstable temporal rifts will destroy the world if left alone, but a stable rift might set the world free.

We can spread humanity not only across the universe, but across time and space itself.

I always look for another mean to ensure the survival of humanity.

"Alright. I vote for creating a rift. If he fucks up, we will be back here again."

My vote is the only one that matters. In the end, the temporal disruptor is built and assemble at the apartment.

The sensation I feel when I am there is temporal energies ravaging my body.

I learn to absorb a little of the energy, giving me greater control of my power. However, absorbing too much overloads me, causing me to swell up and threatening to explode.

Luckily I manage not too. At least I figure out my limit.

I wonder where this temporal energies come from. If it was from in my anger, it shouldn't be this much or could it? No, I didn't think I was that powerful.

Once the temporal disruptor goes online, all the temporal energies got suck into a single point.

I feel like I was being drained as well. This machine might be my weakness. I will have to lock down its knowledge to prevent it being used against me.

Tear in space and time begins to form within seconds, expanding to create a temporal rift.

It ripples repeatedly, but otherwise stabilizing. It didn't attempt to spread out and consume everything it touches.

Everyone gasps at the newly formed rift. They are not looking at the rift itself, but what lies beyond it – a world in ruin.

"Detecting massive amount of radiation, Mr. Maxwell."

Someone calls out when I stand in front of the rift. It is big enough for a car to pass through.

I cock around to see the person before my arm got vaporized by an energy blast that comes from the other side of the temporal rift. I am too stunned to even feel the pain.

The wound is also cauterized immediately.

Gripping my painful stump, I back away from the rift immediately before what appear to be a homeless person jumps through and enter our world. He is tackled onto the floor immediately.

"Run! Run! The Nazi bastard is coming!"

The homeless person screams. He is being chase by a man in heavy armour, armed with a submachine gun. It is unlike any submachine gun anyone have ever seen.

Before the gunman could utter a word, his armour and squish body within is riddle with holes by lasers and bullets from all Hydra personnel.

"I guess we will have another meeting now. Shut this damn thing down!"

I order as my arm return to normal.