"Meaning," Hugh said, providing his own conclusion that Alan believed they had agreed to withhold during the initial disclosure, "it is likely the signature becomes consciously aware of all historical iterations or incarnations of itself."

"I would like to emphasize that is speculation," Alan added drily, "though by all appearances a viable possibility." Hugh might be indeed be right, but Christopher had not yet been able to directly confirm. In the depths of The Facility, as they spoke, Christopher was directing a swarm of laboratech to create an updated transdimensional spectrometer, but it would be some time until construction was complete. Longer until the measurements could be taken and the results processed.

"Please, a question," came a voice Alan hadn't heard yet from a man with a shock of red hair, "regarding time..."

"Ah, Dr. Carroll, welcome. Your question?"

"First off, this is all very unusual, the model seems to make sense so far, but the issue of time... how did you say it.... is non-linear? But it does appear linear, as a function of entropy, which directs the arrow of time. Has this, or is this, somehow accounted for?"

Alan and Hugh both looked to Jack, who was smoothing his moustache with a thoughtful expression on his face, "Hmm... yes, it does appear that entropy determines our perception of time, in that you are quite correct I think. Our perception however is not everything, despite the double-split experiment. Christopher could likely better describe this than I, so I must ask you to bear with me, but as the delayed choice experiment - a variation of the more popular double-slit - has suggested, we live in a universe in which quantum effects... hmmm... what was the quote again?"

Hugh's smooth tone provided the answer, "...Quantum effects mimic not only instantaneous action-at-a-distance, but also the influence of future actions on past events, even after these events have been irrevocably recorded... or something very close to that."

"Yes, that sounds right," continued Jack, "So, in my view, this increases the likelihood that both entanglement theory and the 'many worlds interpretation' are viable."

"Please, gentlemen," commented Elisabeth in her royal tone of indulgence, "recall most of us are not versed in these fields. Does this really have a bearing on the subject at hand?"

"Of course, Your Majesty," grinned Jack somewhat sheepishly. If Alan hadn't known better, based on Jack's glittering eye, he would suspect he was developing a crush on the Queen, "and it is quite relevant. Entanglement postulates individual particles share a common existence at the quantum level yet are only capable of being described as individual as a function of their relation to one another. In a sense, this is what we are seeing with our discrete incarnations that we perceive as ourselves.

"And the 'many worlds interpretation' is the idea that conscious observation is itself a quantum event that determines existence based on relative position or perspective. Each variant viewing of the same event, so to speak, results in the generation of a parallel universe. This means, in relation to the double-split experiment, that the wave function does not actually collapse into a single instance but rather splits into alternative versions of reality, all of which are equally real. This is a possible explanation for how discrete consciousnesses can be permanently extricated from our space-time without the system grinding to a halt because a necessary component has gone missing."

The Queen nodded in a manner that indicated she had understood, if not perfectly, than sufficiently for her to feel comfortable enough to proceed.

"And I think," said Alan, "that also resolves your query, Dr. Carroll?"

"This sounds like Wheeler and DeWitts postulate," he replied, "that time does not exist at all. Are you suggesting that this AI of yours has found the Holy Grail?"

"The 'Theory of Everything', you mean?"

"Yes."

"Not exactly," supplied Jack, "though it wouldn't surprise me if Christopher had already formulated a 'Theory of Everything'. No, perhaps the most viable model is Hawking's 'Imaginary Time', though how exactly that functions together with the omphalos in the framework of a functional many worlds model is something I am still coming to terms with. It does however assist in understanding the non-linear nature of reinsertion."

"Imaginary time?" grunted Rothschild.

"Not imaginary in the sense of fantastical. Rather in the sense of - as a banker I am sure you understand - imaginary numbers. Imaginary Time basically postulates that time is a dimension very similar to that of space, that permeates and occupies space, making it possible to move back and forth through time just as it is possible to move back and forth through space."

"Wait a minute!" exclaimed Musk, "Are you saying travelling back in time is possible?"

"Why, it's not just possible," Jack grinned gamely, "It is a constant, It happens all the time, it is happening right now. Indeed, I would contend it is happening to your consciousness signature at this very moment. Given of course, one still believes time is linear. Rather, as was mentioned earlier, it may be best to conceive of all time as existing simultaneously.

"If we were to entertain an analogy that we as individuals are blood cells, then time would be the marrow that excretes us into the body of space. It is an imperfect analogy. As best we can determine at this time, the signatures representing our consciousness within the omphalos traverse time both forwards and backwards so as to be reinserted as necessary, but the omphalos is outside of space-time, so postulating there is anything like time or space as we know it within that dimension is...questionable at best. In theory, I suppose if we could physically enter that dimension it might somehow be possible to travel in time..."

"Okay, so time travel is probably out," persisted Musk. "But parallel universes, they exist. That's what you're saying right? And these parallel universes basically represent divergent timelines, is that right?"

"If the models are correct, which we... or Christopher rather... has yet to confirm, then yes, there may be a multiverse of parallel yet divergent timelines."

"So there is more than one of me out there?"

"No, but there are likely countless versions of you. You, or what you conceive of as you, is a unique trajectory or perhaps collapse of the particle-wave in our particular shared space-time."

"Does this mean," Carroll asked, "There are multiple instances of the omphalos as well, each one processing the divergent timelines?"

"We suspect that to not be the case actually," responded Alan for the three. "Rather that the omphalos, and it is for that reason we chose the word 'omphalos', is the singular navel of the multiverse."

...

To be continued in [Eternity is a Closed Circuit - Chapter 10]