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Chapter Two: Question and Answer Session

The ten Microlillans, including General Stringer, were crowded together on the desk in 18 year old Demetria Navarro’s bedroom. They all stood around an inch tall. Demetria was normal sized, dressed in a Roman goddess costume, complete with leather sandals that snaked across her calves to just below her knees.

“How does time travel work?” Demetria asked.

“Time is a continuum, much like space;” Stringer began, “it is three dimensional, so we refer to it as temporal space. There is objective time and subjective time, a temporal displacement field surrounds the time vehicle and slows down subjective time almost completely. The trip from our galaxy to here took many billions of years, but the passengers perceived the trip as happening instantaneously.”

Demetria thought about this for a moment, then replied, “Do you have to plan your trip through the dimension of time? Are there obstacles there you have to avoid?”

“Every celestial object, such as planets and stars, exist as gravity trails snaking through temporal space. Everywhere your sun has ever been since it was created, until it will dissipate billions of years from now, exists as a gravity trail in temporal space. We must avoid the gravity trails of black hole clusters, or our ships can be damaged. We have sensors that help our navigation computer chart our course through temporal space and avoid these objects.”

“What’s a black hole?” Demetria asked.

A Corporal spoke to Stringer: “The people of Earth in this time are unaware of the existence of black holes, General! We’re ten or fifteen years too early for that.”

“Understood, thank you, Corporal!” Stringer replied, then returned his attention to Demetria. “A black hole is a dead star that had collapsed in on itself. There are places in the universe where thousands of black holes have attracted themselves to each other to form a cluster. I believe the people of your era will eventually refer to them as black stars, but the term black hole will be developed later.”

“Is it possible to alter history, or is history immutable?” Demetria asked.

“Our civilization has developed a device known as a temporal integrator. It allows history to be altered without eliminating people in the new temporal event sequence. Anyone who existed in the original temporal event sequence will still exist in the altered timeline. Since our people are not human, we have no fear of the repercussions for altering Earth’s history.”

“You keep saying your people, and that you’re not human. If you aren’t human, then what are you, and why do you look like us?”

“We come from another galaxy. There have been about a thousand different races in your own galaxy with people who look identical to humans. Humans can’t procreate with any of them, nor with us. We have achieved immortality, so we can never grow older, though we can be killed by digestion or by being crushed.”

“Why are your people so small?” Demetria asked.

“The civilization we are originally from is known as the Lillan Imperium. All of us are criminals who were miniaturized and sent to a world where we could no longer be a problem to the society we came from. We are known as the Microlillans, and we outnumber the people of Earth a thousand to one. The star our planet orbits is about to explode, so we are looking for a place to set up colonies to escape to.”

“Doesn’t the government that banished you care that your Star will explode?” Demetria asked.

“We’re completely on our own,” Stringer replied.

“How does miniaturization technology work?” Demetria asked.

“A system of synchronized dimensional fields absorb the mass of the combined matter and energy of sub-atomic particles and weaken the strength of the charge of the protons and electrons. Another dimensional field known as a reactive dimensional membrane controls the temperature of the shrunken person, so they don’t freeze in colder weather or get too hot in warmer weather. The whole process is initiated by a dimensional cascade effect. A dimensional membrane surrounds the person being miniaturized, and anything done to an atom in the center of the person’s body cascades out to every atom contained within that dimensional membrane. Each of us have been implanted with a size inhibitor in our spinal column that prevents us from being restored to normal size.”

“Is being miniaturized and banished a good deterrent for crime?” Demetria asked.

“I don’t know the statistics,” Stringer replied, “but from what I recall, crime is a constant in our society. The threat of being miniaturized and banished does little to stop criminals.”

“What weapons do your people have?” Demetria asked.

“We are part of a vanguard, but we are unarmed. The shuttle cruiser left by the cadets who helped us build the dimensional portal that brought us here has a program that won’t allow us to build most types of weapons.”

“Can one of your soldiers role play with me?” Demetria asked.

“What do you want to act out?” Stringer asked.

“I’ll set him on the floor, and pretend he came to Mount Olympus to challenge an Olympian to a contest, and if he wins, I grant him a wish, but if he loses, I’ll send him to my belly!”

Stringer looked at his corporals, hoping for a volunteer. If this role play took a turn for the worse and became dangerous, they would have almost no chance of stopping this young woman. They were completely at her mercy!

To Be Continued!
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