Time: Wibbly Wobbly
Twilight sat calmly at a small table across from Azimuth as Sigmund poured tea for the both of them. "How are you feeling now, General?" she asked softly. "Calm? Relaxed? Open minded?"
Azimuth shrugged as he took a sip of his tea. He then paused, staring into the cup. "...nostalgic," he murmured. "This is exactly how Vashiir brewed tea for Kaden and I back in school..."
"Huh," Twilight murmured. "It's Daddy's favorite blend." Shrugging her shoulders, she settled herself. "Are we ready to begin?"
Azimuth nodded. "Ten minutes."
"Starting now," Twilight confirmed as Sigmund started the timer. "Let us begin with the assumption that I will discover a way to safely send you back in time without tearing the universe apart, whether through modifications of the Clock's hardware or software." She giggled. "After all, if I can't the entire conversation is moot, anyway."
"I can accept that as a stipulation," Azimuth agreed.
"Then there are two possible ways it will send you back to when you want to go," Twilight continued. "Either you as you are now will be physically sent back into the past, or your personal timeline will be collapsed backwards to the point in question. The latter has two ways that could work, so shall we address the former first?"
"Makes sense," Azimuth allowed. "So I'm sent back to before I gave Tachyon access to Lombax technology as I am now. I'd be able to prevent him from gaining access-"
"How?" Twilight interrupted. "It's Past You that's in charge of that, not Present You." When Azimuth hesitated, Twilight pressed on. "As I see it, you'd have only two viable options. Either try to convince your past self to not give Tachyon access, or try to take out Tachyon yourself...in the middle of a Lombax city where the Lomaxes have become dedicated to maintaining the peace. You won't be able to use any weapon that could finish Tachyon off in one hit, and anything less would have Present You locked in jail and give Past You more ammunition to convince the other council members that the military needed to be rebuilt, and Past You would put Tachyon in charge." Twilight paused, waiting for Azimuth to refute her claims.
Azimuth turned her assessment over in his mind. "...I can't find any fault in your logic," Azimuth admitted. "How do you know so much about how we ran our civilization?"
"I used the time viewer to look back in time and watch a few council sessions before we started talking," Twilight explained. "Wasn't sure if my interpretation was dead on till you just told me, though."
Azimuth let out a soft chuckle. "Alright. But there's still trying to convince my Past Self..." Azimuth trailed off. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Just remembering how hard it was to convince you that Daddy was actually a Lombax when we first met you," Twilight offered with a smile.
Azimuth stared at Twilight for a time. "...fair enough," he admitted. He then paused as he stared at something Sigmund was handing him. "...I'm allergic to aloe," he replied simply.
"Apologies, sir," Sigmund replied, putting the burn cream away.
"Now, you were saying there's two ways that collapsing my personal timeline could work?" Azimuth began.
"Yes," Twilight agreed. "It would either work by taking all your memories up till now and implanting it in the mind of your Past Self like a vision of the future, or you'd wake up as your past self. Assuming the former, we're taking a big gamble."
"Why a big gamble?" Alister asked, confused.
"Well, assuming all that information funneling into an organic brain doesn't cause it to explode, there's just as much chance of you shrugging it off as a bad dream, and only a very slim chance of your Past Self actually acting on the information, assuming it even transferred accurately." Twilight sipped her tea as she finished that explanation. "And even then, there's only your Past Self's ability and experience acting on it."
"That's a crap shoot," Azimuth murmured. "And if I wake up back in time as you suggested?"
Twilight smiled. "Then you'll be able to block Tachyon from getting access to military tech...but you'll be in the same rut as far as doing anything beyond that, and Tachyon will just find a different avenue to pursue his revenge against the Lombaxes. Like, for example, offering his services in the medical division, where he'll be able to create a super-virus that will kill all Lombaxes, including Daddy. Then not only does he have access to Lombax military tech, but the Lombaxes don't escape to another dimension, and neither you nor Daddy are there to stop him when he uses the Dimensionator to bring back the Cragmites."
"Then I just have to make sure that he doesn't get access to any Lombax tech!" Azimuth insisted. "I can convince Kaden to help me-"
"How?" Twilight interrupted. "By telling him the whole story?"
"How else would I do it?" Azimuth countered. "Kaden was the one to theorize the Great Clock's existence!"
"And then he has confirmation of his theories," Twilight agreed, nodding.
"See?" Azimuth proclaimed. "It works perfectly-"
"And so does Tachyon," Twilight added.
"W...what?" Azimuth asked, confused.
"There is literally no way you'd be able to prevent the conversation from being overheard," Twilight explained. "And Tachyon is thorough. You suddenly changing your tune about letting him work would make him suspicious. He'd keep track of you, and any information you shared with Kaden about the Great Clock, he'd learn. And then he can pull the same thing Nefarious did here...except more carefully."
"What do you mean by that?" Clank asked curiously.
"He won't use threats," Twilight elaborated. "He'll be the kind, curious, benevolent scientist, seeking to learn and grow...an enlightened Cragmite. Orvus would jump at the chance at working with him, helping him develop."
Sigmund sighed. "Yeah...he would..."
"And that would eventually lead to discussion of the Clock, even if Orvus refused to reveal anything about the Clock's location or controls," Twilight continued. "And Tachyon would learn about the Zoni vulnerability to sonic based weapons - like what Nefarious used to scatter the Zoni - and he'd do the logical thing...tell Orvus about such a glaring weakness in the Clock's security."
"Okay," Ratchet interrupted, taking a sip of his own tea. "I was following you up till now...but how is that logical?"
"Duh!" Qwark interrupted. "Spycraft 101. He's done nothing to make Orvus suspicious, so Orvus would ask him to develop the proper countermeasures. Of course, Orvus himself can't stay and watch, since he's got all these other responsibilities, but he'd assign a few Zoni to assist Tachyon, including testing the devices as they're developed, creating the perfect opportunity for Tachyon to create a sonic device that lets him control the Zoni, including Orvus!" He picked up a handful of cookies. "I used that in one of my movies." He stuffed the cookies in his mouth. "These are delish!"
Twilight smirked. "And if Qwark can come up with such a plot, you can bet Tachyon would be able to carry it out."
"But the Great Clock has built in Quantum Actuators!" Sigmund gasped out. "If you did make hardware modifications to enable Azimuth to travel safely, those modifications would travel back in time as well to maintain quantum stability! If events played out this way, and Tachyon built the device to control all the Zoni..."
"...then doing this would hand Percival Tachyon total control of Time itself..." Azimuth murmured, sinking into his hands. "...you were right, Clank. Nothing is worth risking that." He turned to Ratchet. "I'm sorry Ratchet...I guess we...can't save your parents..."
"Now who said that?" Twilight interrupted.
"But you just-"
"I was explaining why your plan was flawed," Twilight countered. "I haven't even come up with my plan yet. I still need to study the Clock first. Gimme a month for a preliminary investigation and study, and I'll have a basic idea." She grinned widely. "We haven't failed to save Orvus, Kaden, or Vashiir. We've just discovered one more way not to."
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Here's where the fun starts. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Hoo boy, Twilight's plan should be interesting.
yeah just .....nah I wont try to spoil it but I have a pretty good idea
Another great chapter by the awesome Tatsurou! You are an awesome person and I give you all the huggles. *Huggles for days*
7022318
...you mean the Chrono Trigger solution? Body doubles and temporal slight of hand?
7022337 yup, the standard thing to do in that situation.
I said it once I'll say it again, the confidence of this Twilight is stunning.
As Thomas Edison once said, "I have not failed. I've just found 1000 ways to not make a lightbulb."
Well, that last line reminded me of a line spoken by Thomas Edison:
Maybe not the exact wording, but I think the message is still clear.
Now I wonder what Twilight's plans will entail? *looks around* Err.. Does the Temporal Prime Directive cover this as well?
7022337 pretty much
You're almost starting to mess with one of the biggest conflicts in the game. Azimuth NEEDS to die in order for one of Ratchet's biggest personal growths in the R&C Future series.
I would also like to point out that Azimuth is a military leader before a scientist. If Twilight gets too technical, he'd likely go "F*** it! I'm doing it myself."
I haven't wasted damn-near fourteen years for nothing.
And once again, sound logic wins again
Ha!
7022533 but hes also smart enough to know when a strategy is flawed, it cant work and requires refinement or replacement. already, the presence of Twilight has altered this world and helped Rachet grow in other ways faster as her father, characters that otherwise would be in very different positions r not in them. dont forget, Quark was made Galactic President in the games despite his being completely unqualified for the job, Rachet tried everything to get attention onto himself and fame throughout several galaxies for his actions. none of that has happened in this story and its because of Twilight
7022572 But no-one has yet to explain that just turning it back will destroy the universe.
7022754
Clank learned about it, but he has stated trying to use the Clock as a Time Machine is insanely dangerous. It just hasn't been explicitly spelled out.
7022757 And so far the only ones Azimuth seems to actually listen to are Ratchet and Twilight.
7022759 and Twi told him the risks he would be taking, their probable outcome and the consequences that would result. She is by no means a silly filly, and does her homework ahead of time.
So is Planet Morklon doomed in this timeline, since they never crashed landed there and went back in time to help?
7022897
Well, saving it isn't really necessary to the timeline...so yeah.
Let's hope that this one doesn't end with Azimuth trying to kill the gang...
7022759 And both of them listen to Clank. Azimuth might not trust Clank, but he does seem to trust Twilight and Ratchet, just like you said. Clank's viewpoint will be made known, and Azimuth will hear it from people he trusts.
And then Twilight will pull a "FUCK IT! I'M A MAGICAL SUPERGENIUS THE LIKES OF WHICH THIS ENTIRE UNIVERSE HASN'T SEEN BEFORE. SCREW THE RULES, I'M GOING TO REWRITE THEM!" In her defence against claims of 'MARY SUE!', nothing she's done is outside what we know of canon Twilight's ability. The only beings in FiM that seem to have a chance to claim to be as intelligent/powerful as Twilight are all pretty much gods/demigods. Twilight simply lacks their level of experience and wisdom to temper her power and intellect.
Temporal cherry-picker that plucks them out of the time stream at the moment of their deaths, thus evading the Reaper's scythe at the last minute?
I think that's what Twilight is going to do.
I think it's possible to build a bunker in a month.
7023253
And harden it against temporal shift or distortion? Usually that requires at least a year to process the chronotons for the stasis shell.
7023342 Not necessarily, what if you re-purpose part of Ratchet's Uncle's ship's hyper drive to put it partially outside of reality? Might provide sufficient protection.
7022897
7022908
Are there any anomalies there that the Clock can pickup? If so, then it is possible to do something about it. They do have a month of downtime after all. Boredom would likely set in for someone.
Why suddenly I see the Doctor Who solution....
Transport all of them from the past to the future and make everyone think they died in the past.
7023422
Perhaps for a temporary fix, but you don't know how long the quantim field will be in flux for. Though...if you used a buffer layer of contained anti-matter, your method has promise.
Reminds me of a quote I came up with recently.
Why do I expect this to involve a chronoton detonator, a quantum-fueled Byzantium actuator, six carbonidium exhaust conduits, and a rubber chicken?
...no wait.
two rubber chickens
ah the old thousand ways not to make a light bulb my favorite phylosophy
*pulls out giant tub of popcorn.* This is gonna be sweet.
Nice discussion, can't wait to see what Twilight comes up with to make everything better through use of Time Travel.
"I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
-Thomas Edison
7025805
7024663
"I have not failed, I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
-Thomas Edison
7027804 7027814 That quote's already been posted. You don't need to say it twice.
7027997
Damn... thought I was the first...
The f****** chapter name reference though.
"Time is a great big ball of Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey... stuff." - The Doctor.
...how could I screw that up?!
One sentence to sum it up:
Time traveling is a mindf@ck
Wow. All of that is just so scary logical.
Nice to see a sensible exploration of the possible consequences of time travel before the actual time travel.
It'll be interesting to see what Twilight comes up with. My approach based on some sci-fi I've read would be to rip their consciousnesses through time at the moment of their individual deaths to install in replacement bodies in the future. No impact on the existing time stream, but life parents in the end.