46 Temporal Rifts (1/2)

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.