Meridian - A Novel In Time

There were, however, a few Arion mainframes deployed in universities and government facilities for runtime sessions requiring intense computation like weather modeling or exotic 3D-Holography. Named for the mythical horse endowed with the gift of speech and prophecy, the Arion series computers were massive parallel processing units with enormous computational power. A typical Arion system could now do the work of three high-end Cray machines. They were usually booked the whole year through, but Dorland had managed to secure five coveted sessions to run the crucial calculations necessary for his project. The computer genius of the group, Kelly Ramer, was finishing the last session tonight and was scheduled to bring in the numbers on a laptop for the meeting. He had to go all the way into the City, however, as there was no time left on the closer machine at U.C. Berkeley.

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it," Nordhausen sighed, his tone shifting noticeably. "If you ask me, the whole thing is a waste of valuable comp cycles."

"You aren't going to start in on that again, are you?" Dorland was drumming his fingers on the oak tabletop now, visibly agitated. His long slender hands moved in a graceful motion, index finger tapping out a steady rhythm.

"Waste of time," Nordhausen said again, obviously intending to stir the kettle, though Maeve shot him an admonishing glance just the same. "It won't work," he pressed on. "Even if the theory is sound, as it may very well be, I still think the whole thing is impossible. So it doesn't matter if the target is there or not, Paul. We may never know."

"So certain again, are you?" Dorland shot him an annoyed glance. "Honestly, Robert, one minute you're absolutely convinced that everything will be fine, and then the next thing out of your mouth is this damned pessimism! What's your problem?"

"I'm just being realistic," Nordhausen corrected. "It's not pessimism. I have my doubts, that's all. Hawking said it best: if it really is possible to travel in time then why aren't we awash in time travelers? You've never answered that one, you know. Don't you think they'd be just a little bit interested in a meeting like this, for instance?"

"Oh please," Dorland rolled his eyes in obvious dismay. He had heard this complaint before; argued it many times in fact, but Nordhausen was still as stubborn now as when he had first broached the subject with him three years ago. "You really don't expect a team of future researchers to just come barging in and join us for coffee, do you? Hello," he acted the part, with a clear edge of sarcasm in his voice to let Nordhausen know he wasn't happy to be launched on this course again. "Please excuse us, but we're from the future and we understand this to be a particularly important meeting. Mind if we just stand here off to one side while you folks make a bit of history. We promise not to make any noise." He looked away, obviously frustrated.

"Well, to be honest I really don't expect much of anything at all-and that's exactly my point, Paul. Nothing is going to happen! Therefore this isn't a particularly important meeting and, assuming your theory is correct, that's why nobody is crashing the party. It's simple, really, when you think on it."

"Oh, he's thought on it," Maeve put in with a smile, secretly pleased to find herself the referee again in another sparring session between the two senior researchers. Dorland was the Master Of Sciences on the project, and Nordhausen was Chief Historian.