Discovery

Advances in physics have led to a number of theories about temporal physics; a field thought of only in Sci-Fi until about 2020. Then, in a breakthrough moment, R. Blaeksmore, H. F. Chien, and R. Robideux discovered a series of formulas that implied certain conditions where Tauons would disappear from existence and then reappear as if they existed on a SIN wave coexistent with time. Rapidly other laboratories confirmed the validity of the math and Temporal Physics was born.

Early Years

The first five years of the field were marred with failures. Though, the math was confirm, none of the linear accelerators could verify the actual existence of such effects. Since the Tauon is the only particle to decay into Hadrons, the CERN Large Hadron Collider was in extreme demand. That was until the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) was authorized to finish construction and went on-line in 2024. By then, the field was well along and a number of intriguing discoveries had been found. One discovery was the discovery of a number that ties together many related concepts like Newtonian and Einstienian physics. This number, much like of Τ or e, kept coming up as a critical value to calculate in all the calculations. Because the value was related to Tauon’s the value was referred to as &Tau. Meanwhile, physicists at CERN discovered a way to measure the value.

By this time, the success of these esoteric physics programs was garnering international attention. Programs showing the ability of the physicists to predict when particles would appear in the future became popular with many claiming that they had achieved an ability to send particles larger than sub-atomic into the future. Many were claiming that they had sent items into the past as well. However, this last claim was met with must doubt, since there was no way prove that such a feat was accomplished.

Startling Discoveries

In 2029, M. Kurtlans, K.Laumer, and J. McCollum published a paper that stunned the scientific world.At the SSC, the found a relationship between the Τ and the mass of a known particle like Carbon. By the end of the year, they had constructed a man-wearable recording and monitoring devices. This sent off waves of conspiracy theorists, since the only use of such a device was to record past events. In truth, the researchers had no good use for the device and admitted that the conspiracy theorists’ explanations were, in fact, one of the few uses for the devices. At these development, Government officials started to get nervous. Across the globe waves of dissent were building.

Late in 2029, another scientific paper was published. This one was more disturbing that the first. F. DeRose, R. Carrerras, J. Schukraft, and H. Hoorani reviewed all current and past data about the Τ. The discovered that the &Tau was increasing over time at an increasing pace. When extrapolated figures were applied to current gravitational equations, they found that sub-atomic particles exploded. They postulated that within 10-15 years, if the pace of acceleration would continue, the world and perhaps the galaxy would rip itself apart.

Already anxious Government official recognized immediately the wave of panic would be unstoppable if the media and the public were not immediately re-assured. They also recognized that no government would be immune. They, therefore sought to suppress all information about the discoveries. Much to their surprise, the scientific community agreed.

WARP is formed

The UN security council, in closed door sessions, sponsored the Time Anomoly Program (TAP) program at CERN. The main goal was to team the very best and brightest to researching these topics. In addition, they formed a set of subordinate associations across universities and research organizations affiliated with temporal physics and called it sub-TAP. All scientific articles would be freely shared within TAP and limited exposure would be given to sub-TAP. In order to allow the public to continue thinking research was completely open, the TAP Security Council approved all press releases. While public pressure mounted, WARP was given two main goals:

1. Engineer a machine to send back into time to record the ebb and flow of the Τ.
2. Continue basic research to discover ways to lower the Τ.

By mid 2030, they had perfected the ability to send devices back in time. The devices looked like frisbees and were the size of a football field. Unfortunately, the devices weren’t very accurate about what time of place they would go to. When the devices returned they found two issues with the program. First, the local populaces had seen the devices as recorded by the large amount of “flying saucer” sightings in the 1970′s. Secondly, the reliability of the devices wasn’t good. Parallel to this developments, researches noted that the Τ recorded by the man-wearable devices varied more than expected causing considerable doubt with all the original calculations. This study was immediately published causing the media and public to gain a measure of comfort that the world may not end as previously predicted.

The result of these actions, however, prompted changes in the program. First, the devices sent back in time needed to be much smaller. Second, the devices needed to record not only one Τ measurement, but many. One local area measurement, one for each living thing, and one for a very large area. Third decided that the accuracy of the device needed to be much better.

By the end of 2031, they had succeeded in all three goals. A new graduate student, L. Ping, discovered that the folds of time allowed for devices to auto-detect large Τ variants. this meant the devices could be sent on automatic pilot, recording thousands of recordings and then coming back to the current time period. This breakthrough was huge, as the day the device was tested, it returned with a mind-numbing amount of data. The large super-parallel computing grid chewed through the numbers in several days and another experiment could be conducted. Soon they were awash in data. After analyzing the initial data, mathematicians noticed an interesting pattern. Though most people seemed to be in alignment with the area Τ, others were significantly on a different level. There was no indication that these people were anything but time-specific natives of that epoch, therefore it seemed that people were changing the Τ somehow.

Cataclysmic events

December 14, 2031 saw the world’s first 9.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile. Few thought much about this event, although a few conspiracy theorists pointed to the ever-increasing Τ. Despite government and scientific denials, in March and April 2032, two more earthquakes measuring 9.5 and 9.9 occurred. The public was almost inconsolable and the media jumped onto the story like hyenas on a downed gazelle. At the same time, WARP confirmed that in the last two years the Τ had tripled. May 2033 saw an emergency meeting of the UN security council declare that WARP was to be given 90% of the UN’s funding with additional matching funds from the United States, Russia, The EU, China, and the South American Union. The goal of these funds was to reduce the acceleration of the Τ and, if possible, reduce it altogether. TAP had two months to put together a plan and present it to the Security Council. The name for the new program was called World Anomaly Repair Program (WARP).

WARP’s Plans

By this time, TAP became convinced that the problem was unlikely to be fixed through science and physics. More and more they beleived that man itself was the cause of the rise and, therefore, the Τ. The poured over the data feverishly for two weeks only to reinforce their beliefs. The timelines visited by the Ping device always recorded a small number of individuals out of step with the Τ. They reasoned that if the source of these anomalies could be reduced, then the Τ would re-align. After another week of calculations, the computer algorithms concurred. By reducing the Τ of these individuals, the Τ of the area dropped dramatically. They also discovered at the same time, that some people had an extraordinarily low effect of the Τ. They deemed these people nulls. With six weeks before the TAP Security Committee report, TAP’s senior management hedged on advancing a plan with so many unknowns. They demanded evidence to support such a plan would work. Unfortunately, little evidence could be provided. They attempted to send a pig forward in time with confusing results. Although, the chronometer displayed the correct amount of time had passed for the pig, the pig never showed up at the appointed time. When sent back into time, the same occurred.They weren’t sure of the explanation, but the most popular explanation was that parallel times existed and a living thing could not exist at two time-places at the same time.

With no other decent plans, senior management agreed to present the plan to the Security Council. While the text of that meeting remains classified, the few who will talk about it state that it was the most unsettling, unpleasant experience they have ever at in upon. Basically, TAP was asking for trillions of nuyen to implement a plan with no known probability of success and no measurable schedule. The plan’s basic premise was to send a team back in time to Τ hot spots to determine why it was hot and how to fix it. This team would be made up of a small group of people, from 3-5 with multiple humanistic and scientific disciplines. They’d be outfitted with the latest cyberware to allow free language expression, time period history, and immunities to common diseases and infections. As unpleasant as the discussion was, all in the room realized their backs were to the wall. Science simply couldn’t guarantee any plan. Religion had plenty of solutions, but none that aligned with the politicians’ goals. Politics was useless. Impotent and frustrated these uber-beaucrats showed and amazing amount of courage by voting for the program. And so, on July, 7 2033, WARP was approved to start spending money.The TAP Security Council had one addition to the program. The first to be included in this program were those scholars, bloggers, and conspiracy theorists that were causing so much anxiety. If they couldn’t provide useful work for the program, then there were alternate methods of convincing that would be enacted. WARP program management shuddered to think what was meant by that statement. By making them part of the system, they allowed them to continue to criticize, but with much weakened emphasis.

The team was expanded from 138 physicists to a group consisting of over 5,000 people grouped into three main areas:

• Engineering
  • Building a man portable time device
  • Finding time-neutral equipment
• Implementation
  • PMO
  • Construction Team
  • Deployment Team
  • Support Team
• Research

Most of the people working the program were easy to find and place. However, the Deployment Team took three months of negotiations to construct. Program Management decided the team must be formed of nulls to minimize any negative effect on the Τ if they weren’t able to ever return to their own time. Since the effect of time jumping was unknown they also decided that the team lead would be a psychologist. Fortunately for them, a recruit presented himself quickly. One of the TAP Security Council’s required employees was a man named Dr. Francesco “Frank” Giordano. Dr. Giordano had repeatedly written about the government’s lack of initiative in fixing the time problem. When the WARP recruiting agents entered his office, they were gleefully delighted to see that he was a null. Now the only question was how to get him from his office to Switzerland…