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After they both came, I asked them for some time alone in "my" room.  They left and shut the door.  I poured myself another Gatorade cocktail to wash down my "protein" supplement, heh.

It was great fun serving my captors/hosts in such an intensely physical way, sealing my fate as Stockholm Marco, but I'm denied any sexual relief, which feels arbitrary.  The memory bomb would only need the food trigger to be effective, wouldn't it?  I'll have to eat food someday.  But I could put off having an orgasm indefinitely, couldn't I?

Then I experienced another flash of unredacted memory, playing a game with my best friend in high school, who could go the longest without an orgasm.  He won.  I lasted 14 days before I remorselessly raped my pillow, remembering that teenage orgasm kept me on the edge here decades later.

Still, the other rules feel arbitrary.  Why keep me naked but sexually frustrated?  Why keep me isolated from the outside world?

Plus, Tate's questions from before ... especially how did I step outside the time bomb's bidirectional causality prison to construct the memory bomb, while suffering from debilitating PTTD symptoms that grew worse each day?  And Chris reminding me that some people managed to commit suicide despite their compulsion to be present for the time bomb's detonation.

There must be competing, overlapping, independent bidirectional causation fields.  But if this is true, then both the future and the past are stochastic, not deterministic.  I've been flipped from being in Vancouver, to not being in Vancouver, on a particular date in the future.  When I was going to be in Vancouver, I had PTTD symptoms, but now I'm not going to be in Vancouver, so I'm not having PTTD symptoms.

And just as the weather forecast for "Wednesday" changes as you move from Sunday to Tuesday, the forecast for whether I was going to be in Vancouver changed as I built and triggered this memory bomb.

Except I suspect this memory bomb wasn't my doing (if any of this is true at all).  Oh, with my hacker skills restored, I know I could've built this thing.  I can inspect it, inside my head, using my skills, all day long if I want.  Looks like a real memory bomb to me.  I can even talk with it, because it is sentient.  An independent sentience occupying my brain, alongside my own sentience.

How many sentients can co-occupy a single brain?  Especially if the brain is augmented with implants.  How would they get along and settle disputes?  In my own case, this memory bomb is firmly in charge, what I experience as "me" is a residual portion of the brain.

So why didn't I just blow my memories as soon as I'd constructed the bomb?  Why create this scenario in which I'm essentially a sex slave, slowly starving to death?

Why am I here?  To find an alternate solution?  To which problem?  Or is this truly my dying wish?  Before blowing myself up, a week or two of Heaven with two of the people I cared about in my past.

I might survive for a few weeks without food, but I'll start having hallucinations and other severe physical and cognitive symptoms after a few more days of fasting.  I don't have a lot of time to come up with a solution, if that's why I'm here.  Chris suggested that having a limited amount of time & space, while frustratingly horny, would compel me to come up with my best solution.  That all these memory bomb triggers were part of my plan for provoking a better solution from myself.  A self-imposed existential crisis combined with frustrated desire = creative genius.  The lack of food would short-circuit my brain, allowing some crazy wisdom to emerge, as though I were on a vision quest.

I need a way to make sure I'm not in Vancouver on that day, even if I change my mind -- which I will -- and would do literally anything to be there on that day.  Which is why the current plan is to completely wipe my mind, in a way that will take years to repair.  Tate suggested imprisoning me ... but he also suggested that I might be responsible for designing the time bomb myself ... and he's a smart kid ... what if I am, what if the time bomb compels me to design it, and wiping my mind means the time bomb never exists?

What if everybody suffering from PTTD, because they were present for the time bomb's detonation, is compelled not only to be present for the detonation, but to ensure that the time bomb exists at that point in spacetime?

We should technically call it Pre-Traumatic Time Disorder, not Post-Traumatic Time Disorder, because the detonation hasn't happened yet.

Time bombs could stochastically summon themselves into existence, once the technologies are available for their construction.  Which means anybody suffering from PreTTD should have their brains wiped, so they cannot help to design the time bomb that will cause their PreTTP.

Yup, that must be the logic that brought me here.  But now that I'm certain to have my brain wiped, I don't have PreTTP anymore.  Is there some other way to keep me away from Vancouver, without wiping my brain?

Wait, did I really just imagine a world in which time bombs begin to summon themselves into existence merely because they could exist?

Then, there must also be anti-time bombs stochastically summoning themselves into existence, to fight the time bombs.

"Yes," said the memory bomb.  Eeek.

On exactly which day did these stochastic time wars become possible?  What was the technology or set of technologies?  Ugh, it's not like I can stop those technologies from emerging.  Imagine me going back in time, somehow, to warn the people of 2020 or whenever, that they need to stop inventing new technologies to avoid falling into a series of stochastic time wars, in which their minds will be drafted in service of the time bombs and/or the anti-time bombs.

Yeah.  How am I going to solve this problem.  And how much longer can I survive on Gatorade, vodka, and semen.
m_d_h: (Default)
Chris used his command voice, "Tate, give him another spray and then go get the beverage cart. He's going to need calories."

After hitting me with another shot of sedative (wait, nobody asked me), Tate immediately moved to get up, "Yes, Sir." As he scrambled over me, I wished he could stay; although I can't see him with this blindfold on, having him touch me is the best thing this new and crazy and probably-short life has offered me. I remember something called the Stockholm Syndrome, in which a captive begins to identify with her captors, developing positive feelings toward them, adopting their goals as her own.

This is happening to me. Stockholm Marco. But ... now that I've got my hacking skills back, I'm able to analyze my situation myself, I'm analyzing my own brain, my own brain implants, and I can see how a hacker with his own brain implants could be the best brain implant hacker in the world -- programming his own head to program his own head, and, shit, even though the double sedative is trying to keep me calm,

"Chris, this memory bomb inside my head is sentient. It's alive, and it's inside my brain, holding me hostage, and it wants to destroy me."

Chris ordered me, "Flip over onto your belly, now." And of course I obeyed, as though I'd obeyed him without question dozens of times before.

He climbed on top of me with his hairy naked body, heavier and larger than Tate's, and started to massage my shoulders with rougher more calloused hands.

"I'm not surprised, Marco, most memory bombs these days are sentient, that's state of the art, I'd expect no less from you." The massage felt good, but,

"Shhh, shhh, you need to relax. You've been through a hell of a lot, and have a lot to adjust to, and I suspect a lot more to adjust to soon. But right now, relax. Focus on my touch, focus on my hands touching your shoulders now, and now your back, digging into your muscles. Breathe deeply. Give your head some space, right now you're safe, nothing is going to happen to you."

"OK ..." I did try, and the drugs helped, and the massage helped, and having a strong and massive man on top of me, claiming to care about me, helped,

"Were, or are, we lovers, you and I?" I asked him. Although, how could I trust an answer?

Chris chuckled softly, "From time to time, but we're both pretty busy with our work. I had to cancel a fuckload of work when you showed up yesterday and triggered this fucking bomb on us. Sorry, you're supposed to be relaxing. I'm supposed to be helping. Just focus on my hands as they move to your lower back, as they press out from your spine toward your obliques, as they move the tension out of your body. Focus."

I could hear Tate reopening the door and pushing a beverage cart, I guess. I'm blind like he is for now. Tate asked, "I know this is a stupid question, but why don't the people with PTTD just make sure they stay away from Vancouver? Then they wouldn't be near the bomb when it goes off, and then ... they wouldn't ever have PTTD."

I instantly replied, "We can't stay away. We can't. Causation ... it works in both directions ..."

"Shhh, shhh," Chris said, as his hands continued moving lower, now starting in on my buttocks. He's really good at this. Yay massage! I wish I could just stay here naked with these guys forever, forgetting about stupid memory bombs and time bombs, and ... that's exactly why I'm not allowed to eat anything, because I knew I'd want to stay here forever, instead of letting this memory bomb explode.

How the hell does a memory bomb defeat a time bomb? How does it defeat causation? Or does it really? What's causing what? Maybe it's this memory bomb that sets off the Vancouver Time Bomb in the future, or vice versa. Ugh.

"You're not focusing," Chris broke in, while slipping one hand between my buttocks, massaging the area between, mmmmm.

"Chris, if you keep doing that I might cum."

"Then warn me before you do." Now he's sticking a finger in there, oh God, moving it toward my prostate.

"Is that when you'll shock my balls again?"

"If I have to. Now shut up, and focus, and tell me when you're about to cum."

Oh, God. Now there's two fingers massaging my prostate, my cock hardening, my breath quickening, and he just keeps doing it, deeper, and stronger, and I feel a drop of liquid pressed from my prostate through the length of my cock, emerging from the tip,

"I think you'd better stop," and then ZAP, though not as strong as before, as he pulls his fingers out and lays down on top of me, putting those same fingers in my mouth -- they taste clean, with only a hint of earth. A much lighter ZAP than that previous one, but enough to jolt my cock away from its desire to cum. Damn, I'm hard and horny and I forgot for a minute about the impending war inside my brain.  The war that will destroy my personality, leaving me as vulnerable, helpless, and stupid as a newborn.

"Tate, pour him some Gatorade and give it to him using a straw, so he doesn't have to get up," Chris commanded, as he somehow sunk deeper into my back with his torso. In a few seconds I felt the straw at my lips, and I am thirsty, so I suck some liquid down my throat. Tastes good -- it better taste good, it's all I'll be getting for the rest of my life. "Relax, deep breaths," Chris reminded me, having felt how I tensed up when I thought again about dying.

Then Chris started singing!

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.


As he finished the verse and started repeating it, Tate joined in, but eight beats later, so they were singing in a round, with Chris taking a lower octave, and Tate following in a higher octave, so beautiful,

Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques,

Dormez-vous?/Frère Jacques, Dormez-vous?/Frère Jacques,

Sonnez les matines!
/Dormez-vous? Sonnez les matines!/Dormez-vous?

Ding, dang, dong./Sonnez les matines! Ding, dang, dong./Sonnez les matines!

Ding, dang, dong. Ding, dang, dong.


As they finished, I thought, there's no way this is Stockholm Syndrome.  I think they really love me.  As impossible as all this sounds, with this sentient bomb about to destroy my own sentience, with another kind of bomb exploding backward through time, I think this is real.  But I also think they love me.

Chris kissed the back of my ear, whispering, "We're going to help you find your best path, forward and backward.  I swear.  We're with you all the way."

Tate said, "Me too!" from a couple feet away. 

My Garden before the Fall.
m_d_h: (Default)
That stuff acted quickly, I was feeling calmer than I have since I woke up. And now Tate snuggled up against me, which was absolutely fine. I think maybe we've spent time snuggling before.

"OK ... 'Vancouver Time Bomb' ... I have no idea what you're talking about." I really didn't. WTF is a time bomb? WTF is PTTD?

Tate murmured into my ear, "That's because it hasn't happened yet."

"Speak up, boy, I'm in the room also," Chris snapped.

"Yes, Sir," Tate said more loudly as he snuggled deeper into my side.

Yes, I could totally just hang out with Tate until I get super hungry, then I'll fuck him into my own oblivion. Sounds perfect. Who needs memories? Assuming he's old enough, and consents. My cock likes this idea. I think his does also. Sedatives are cool.

Chris answered more authoritatively, "Not everybody thinks PTTD is real, but because you've got an implant, we have digital recordings of how the Vancouver Time Bomb affects you. In the future."

I really was almost believing these guys until they started talking about time travel. Well, about me being a time traveler!

"I'm from the future? Hahahaha, OK, how about we all have a good fuck and then you let me go home?"

Tate found a way to snuggle even deeper, while Chris seemed to move closer, and started to hold my free left hand.

"No, Marco, you aren't from the future. In the future, you're too close to the Vancouver Time Bomb when it goes off, and the effects fuck you up in the past. Our past, and our present. I sympathize with you, I really do, and part of me is happy that right now you don't remember any of this."

Was I kissing Tate's forehead now?  I forced myself to stop, "Everybody knows time travel is a paradox! You're so bullshitting me. But this is the best bareminder fantasy ever, you guys. Bravo!  How many times have we played this game?"

Tate moved away a bit so he could speak, "I would never bullshit you. The main effect of PTTD, the way you described it to me once it started happening to you, is you start to experience causation as working in both directions, and your experience of time wobbles back and forth, you feel like you're speeding forward in time a few seconds, then backward in time a few seconds like bobbing on a time wave."

Chris added, "Yes, it was becoming extremely disorienting for you. And unfortunately, as your subjective time point moves closer to the time when the bomb hits, your symptoms get worse. You were feeling mentally and physically ill, and it was only going to get worse as time went on."

Tate volunteered, "It's great seeing you like this, right now, you're back to normal, you're sassy and fun again."

"So why the hell would I want those memories back?!"

Tate shrugged next to me. Chris sighed.

"We've warned you that you might decide getting your memories back would be too difficult," Chris said. As Tate nodded next to me.

I suddenly sat up, earning a little squeak from Tate, but, "But, packing away only some of my memories, as I've done now, shouldn't cure this PTTD. That doesn't make sense. I should still be feeling it right now." And then I realized I was thinking like a memory hacker. "Hah! I think we just unlocked the first clue!"

I could feel ... another section of my brain, spinning up, coming online ... I hadn't known it was there ... like a chunk of myself just popped into the slot.  I was Marco, the memory hacker again.  Not all of my memories came back, but my memory hacker skills had popped back online.  Yeah, before I'd wondered what my occupation was.  Now I know again.

I'd figured out a way to temporarily offset the PTTD symptoms.  And it's working!  But why did I have to design this elaborate and potentially destructive memory bomb in order to temporarily offset the PTTD?  Oh shit.

Oh shit shit shit.

"Guys, the only reason I'm not feeling the PTTD symptoms right now, is because this memory bomb will go off!"
m_d_h: (Default)
T cooked dinner, and it was great!

So, after Blue Apron kept forgetting to send us all the ingredients, week after week, we finally killed them and switched to ... Martha Stewart. This was T's idea. Now we're getting 3x2 meals each week from Martha Stewart instead of Blue Apron.

I usually cook dinner. And I'm OCD, and I've been cooking The Blue Apron Way for Years! Oh now, Martha Stewart ... is ... different ...

In a lot of ways! I asked T to join me in the kitchen for moral support as I cooked my first Martha Stewart meal, and I did end up needing his help. But the food was great.

Tonight T took a turn, and the food was also great. Martha Stewart meals are more difficult to cook, but they taste better. I feel like we just upgraded our lives. I feel like I wouldn't be able to cook these meals if I had to commute for 150 minutes per day.

-----

We split a bottle of red wine with dinner. After I did the dishes, I went out to the hot tub while T played video games. Just like old times, LOL, I really haven't spent much time in the hot tub over the past few months. Summer sucked. But this was relaxing :-)

-----

Probably coming up on my last night with K before he moves away. If I were a tyrannical Goddess, I wouldn't let him go. But instead I'm a relationship anarchist. Should I have worked harder in the past to "make him mine"? Not my style. Not with T either. Not with others before them. I commit to my partners, but I also let them go.

As cause and effect must work in both directions along the time axis, I believe my future self is causing me to play this meditation game to deal with the grief of K moving away.  Didn't I start playing it before K told me the news?

My future self is reprogramming my life. It has to. My past self could not have accepted this outcome. There were a lot of outcomes my past self could not accept.

The result of all this not accepting ... sprang back through time to reprogram the past.  Yes, it's a paradox.  The present moment is always the result of tensions between a range of possible pasts, and a range of possible futures.  These are the tensions that could fuel a stochastic spacetime bomb ;-)

-----

Cause and effect is time travel. It's how time travel works. And it works in both directions. But it isn't like a wormhole -- wormholes are the dreams of those who wish to evade cause and effect. You act now, and it has an effect in the future, along every moment between --> that's time travel. You act in the future, and it has an effect now, along every moment in between --> that's time travel. Whenever you act it has effects on both the future and the past, but only along every moment in between. This is difficult to trace, due to quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle ... the Goddess rolling dice in contravention of Einstein's wishes ... we barely understand that cause and effect works from past to present, and from present to future. It is much more difficult to trace the other direction, that cause and effect works from present to past, and from future to present.

But it's just math. If you create an equation for cause and effect moving forward in time, the same equation works backward in time.

When Dōgen said 800 years ago to observe cause and effect, I don't know whether he meant that it works both forward and backward through time. But maybe he did. In which case, I caused Dōgen, and Dōgen caused me.  I'm telling Dōgen right now to write his lectures so I can read them 800 years later.

-----

It's not that we each get to create our own pasts and our own futures.  It's that the present moment in which we act is determined by both our pasts and our futures, and the present moment in which we act determines both our pasts and our futures.  It's way too complicated to control.  Also way too complicated to perceive.  It's the math.  If the present state can predict the future, then the future state can predict the present.  That's the import of the equals sign.  It works in both directions.  A = B, but B = A.

In Ontario, they teach the equals sign in first grade.  I think it would be a helluva lot more interesting to all of us, if they taught us that the equals sign is what enables time travel.
m_d_h: (Default)
I've got until November 1 to come up with a plausible design for a stochastic time bomb, plausible enough for fiction that is.  Plausible enough for continuing my story about Matt Bisko.  I also need to figure out a plausible set of effects from the explosion of a stochastic time bomb.  When these bombs start going off in the year 2059, what will my story inhabitants see?  What will they fear?

I'm thinking that everything within the bomb's radius will be transported to a different point in time, replaced by whatever had existed in that other point in time.  For example, New York City of 2059 AD exchanged for New York City of 1359 AD, except there was no New York City back then.  The different point in time would be random -- stochastic, and could be a point in either the future or the past.  Could be billions of years in the future or the past.

There has to be an exchange of matter though, because you can't be zapped into a different time and space without colliding with what was already there.

Oooh, a stochastic spacetime bomb would zap you to both a different time and a different location in the universe.  Most likely you'd end up in the vacuum of cold space billions of miles and years from anything.  But from the point of view of the people left behind, you're just gone, most likely replaced by a temporary vacuum, into which the surrounding atmosphere roars.

The advantage of using a stochastic spacetime bomb over a nuclear weapon?  No radioactive fallout, of course.

I suppose there'd have to be some sort of effect outside the effective radius of the bomb.  Something like time waves.  If there can be gravity waves, there can be time waves, definitely ;-)

So, time waves would radiate from the bomb.  Within the effective radius of the bomb, everything would be exchanged with a different set of matter (or vacuum) from a randomly different location in spacetime.  Outside the radius of the bomb, we'd be hit by decreasingly powerful time waves.

What happens to you when you're hit by a time wave?  You move back and forth in time, of course, duh.  If you're on the water, and you're hit by a water wave, you bob up and down, but then return to flat.  Everybody struck by the time waves would bob back and forth through time, but then return to present.  This would definitely be disorienting!  Unless you were carrying a time surfboard ...

So how on Earth would a stochastic spacetime bomb work?  Still thinking.  You'd need a powerful source of time waves, some sort of time fuel, and a way to detonate the time fuel.  What fuels time?  Dark Energy, of course (see "expansion of the universe") .  How would you detonate Dark Energy?  With Dark Matter, of course.  You've got this sphere of concentric electromagnetic compartments containing alternating layers of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, and when you turn off the magnets ... BOOM!

Yay!  Let's all hope this scenario is less plausible than the invention of Facebook was in 2003.  (Facebook was launched in 2004.)

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