Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [9]
‘You didn’t come in the front door.’
‘Your horses aren’t accustomed to us. I thought I would spare them the fright.’
‘And I thought it was An’ Lawrence you avoided.’ She chuckled.
‘The man holds a grudge.’
‘Not without reason. I think it best you two keep your distance, for now.’
Kreshkali crossed the room and he stood, bending to kiss her—one cheek, the other, and then her lips.
He pulled out a chair and motioned for her to sit. ‘Straight to business?’
‘Hotha, we need to discuss the future.’
‘Which future?’ he asked, his eyes dancing.
Heat rose up her spine. ‘That’s an interesting question.’
‘Isn’t it?’
‘Are you saying you’ve glimpsed more than one?’
‘I have.’
‘Please tell me you aren’t playing with time.’
‘It’s anybody’s game, my queen.’
‘True, if you know the rules.’
‘That’s just it. I don’t think there are any.’
She crossed her arms, her fingers tapping her biceps. ‘I’m listening.’
‘It happened quite by accident.’
She laughed.
‘You’re right, not by accident. Let me start again. The portal made an odd turn. For a moment, it was visible, clear as a summer’s day.’
‘What was visible, Hotha?’
‘The symmetry of time. I saw it flowing both ways.’
Kreshkali stood. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Hotha’s smile deepened.
‘Time symmetry?’ she whispered. ‘You actually perceived it?’
He nodded.
‘Tell me more.’
‘I’ll do my best. Thinking about time moving in both directions is disturbing. I can’t quite grasp it myself.’
‘That’s because everything we observe in nature reinforces an asymmetrical motion to our universe. Things happen in a first, then, finally order, all moving from low entropy states to ever increasingly disordered ones, all moving forward.’
‘Am I telling this, or are you?’ Hotha asked.
‘You are. Please continue.’
‘You’d think it was like that, Kali—time moving only forward, only one way.’ He lifted his finger. ‘But it’s not. The twentieth-century physicists were right. Time flows in both directions, and it is observable outside of closed systems.’
‘You mean, outside our universe?’
He nodded. ‘You can see it from the corridors if two opposing universes are lined up next to each other.’
Kreshkali sat down.
‘I know. It’s unnerving,’ he went on. ‘And what looks like reverse order to us is an ordinary, natural flow to them. It’s a counter unfolding of time—finally, then, first, and nobody seems to notice. I suspect that’s what creates symmetry within the whole.’
‘I suspect so too.’ She rubbed her hands together. ‘Who’s them, Hotha?’
‘Parallel worlds maybe? I don’t know. I couldn’t tell.’
‘So time is symmetrical,’ she said again. ‘It flows both ways…’
‘It does, but we are only in one stream, so we see only our half, an asymmetrical aspect. It’s the same with them, I’ll wager, but when the universes are viewed side by side, when they become comparable, the distinction is made.’
‘Distinction between what?’
‘Asymmetrical and symmetrical time—forward-moving and backward-moving time.’ His face lit up. ‘It was incredible. Our past is their future, their future our past.’
‘But any comparison is meant to be hypothetical. There is no way to bridge the counter universes. The portals between them, between the symmetries, are closed.’
‘Not completely.’ He patted her hand. ‘Don’t look so scared. It was only a peek, a one-off experience. I doubt there can be actual travel between the time symmetries.’ He rubbed his jaw. ‘It would likely drive someone mad if they tried. There’s no preparing for such a journey.’
‘Did anyone else notice this glimpse of yours?’
‘Only me.’ He laced her fingers in his. ‘Kali…’
‘How many Lupins came with you?’ she interrupted.
‘Two more clans, though some will return to Gaela.’
‘I can understand why. Earth is hardly a holiday destination.’
He raised her hand to his lips, brushing her knuckles as he whispered, ‘I need to see you, Kreshkali.’
She retrieved her hand. ‘We don’t want to make matters worse.’
He leaned closer. ‘You and I are the only ones that can bring this temple to life. We have to work together.’ He waited for a moment, and when