"Simon Hawke - Timewars 7 - The Argonaut Affair" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

THE ARGONAUT AFFAIR
Copyright ┬й 1987 by Simon Hawke.
e-book ver 1.0


for Dave Mattingly with thanks

A CHRONOLOGICAL
HISTORY OF
THE TIME WARS

April I, 2425: Dr. Wolfgang Mensinger invents the chronoplate at the age of 115, discovering time
travel. Later he would construct a small scale working prototype for use in laboratory experiments
specially designed to avoid any possible creation of a temporal paradox. He is hailed as the "Father of
Temporal Physics."

July 14, 2430: Mensinger publishes "There Is No Future," in which he redefines relativity, proving that
there is no such thing as the future, but an infinite number of potential future scenarios which are absolute
relative only to their present. He also announces the discovery of "non-specific time" or temporal limbo,
later known as "the dead zone."

October 21, 2440: Wolfgang Mensinger dies. His son, Albrecht, perfects the chronoplate and carries on
the work, but loses control of the discovery to political interests.

June 15, 2460: Formation of the international Committee for Temporal Intelligence, with Albrecht
Mensinger as director. Specially trained and conditioned "agents" of the committee begin to travel back
through time in order to conduct research and field test the chronoplate apparatus. Many become lost in
transition, trapped in the limbo of nonspecific time known as "the dead zone." Those who return from
successful temporal voyages often bring back startling information necessitating the revision of historical
records.

March 22, 2461: The Consorti Affair-Cardinal Lodovico Consorti is excommunicated from the Roman
Catholic Church for proposing that agents travel back through time to obtain empirical evidence that
Christ arose following His crucifixion. The Consorti Affair sparks extensive international negotiations
amidst a volatile climate of public opinion concerning the proper uses for the new technology. Temporal
excursions are severely curtailed. Concurrently, espionage operatives of several nations infiltrate the
Committee for Temporal Intelligence.

May 1, 2461: Dr. Albrecht Mensinger appears before a special international conference in Geneva,
composed of political leaders and members of the scientific community. He attempts to alleviate fears
about the possible misuses of time travel. He further refuses to cooperate with any attempts at militarizing
his father's discovery.

February 3, 2485: The research facilities of the Committee for Temporal Intelligence are seized by
troops of the TransAtlantic Treaty Organization.

January 25, 2492: The Council of Nations meets in Buenos Aires, capital of the United Socialist States
of South America, to discuss increasing international tensions and economic instability. A proposal for "an
end to war in our time" is put forth by the chairman of the Nippon Conglomerate Empire. Dr. Albrecht
Mensinger, appearing before the body as nominal director of the Committee for Temporal Intelligence,