Brigadier General Garrett Johnson was at a loss for words. For however far his civilization was along, this scale of teleportation had never been attained, never even guessed at. Wormholes were dismissed a long time ago, deemed to inefficient for interstellar travel, but this would suggest that some culture, somewhere had mastered them.
He unshaded the cockpit and looked to see a tremendous figure on an obsidian throne, whispering some mumbo-jumbo about dreams and whatnot, picked up by the ship’s microphone. He had a healthy sense of religion, but this superstition was too much for him. It reeked of a God-complex derived from being worshipped for having technology. Nevertheless, he listened to this being just enough to glean the useful information from his speech. Unfortunately, there was little, other than that the being spoke English, hinting at an origin in Teflon’s own universe, or at least frequent dealings with denizens thereof.
The being offered his help in returning Garrett home, but Garrett wasn’t paying attention anymore. He saw what he needed to. Through one of the shimmering portals, he saw clearly the Statue of Liberty, holding its torch but seeming somehow…newer. He reshaded the cockpit and put the thrusters on afterburner, an old quaint term that didn’t apply to his engines but meant full power, right through the portal and over an open patch of ocean with the faint outline of a city barely visible on the horizon.
He attempted to use his quantum entanglement communication to report, but was cut off by an error message from AFAI in his digitized soldierly tone. “General, the LREM is malfunctioning. Attempt radio contact.” Duly instructed, the general again attempted to connect, using the Air Force’s secured radio frequency. No response. As the city grew closer, the general began to be more worried. He saw no ships launching from the rooftops, no fast transit planes zipping at hypersonic speeds overhead. The closer he drew to the city, the more apparent it was that he was not at home. The buildings looked like something out of a…museum, like a skyline in a holographic diorama displayed alongside a Roman Coliseum and a Gothic cathedral. A foreboding feeling grew stronger.
“AFAI, what is the airborne concentration of strontium-90 and Caesium-137? “
The computer could obviously guess his intention in asking, and as such returned a more useful answer. “Based on the half-lives of the isotopes in question, if this is in fact Earth, the year is A.D. 2014, Sir. ”
The news struck the commander like a thunderclap. Time travel was within the grasp of the being’s culture? “My God! I’ve gone back in time five-and-a-half centuries?!?!”
“It would appear so, sir. Will you give the order for me to cryogenically freeze you and steer you as far away from Earth as possible until the time from which you left has arrived, sir?”
It was a sound idea, but that human intuition spoke otherwise. “No, I do not. Intercept telecommunications and decrypt. Something feels wrong.”
“Yessir. I warn you, General, that if you make any perceptible impact on the timeline, your actions may have untold consequences. Causation has never been subjected to this kind of test. I cannot calculate what this paradox may do, so I strenuously emphasize the need for excellent judgment, sir.”
After a few milliseconds for AFAI to break the paltry encryption, a hologram in the cockpit displayed the news; Anchors on every channel were talking about the defeat and disappearance of a General Freedom at the hands of some glowing individual, both powered being not unlike the several who had appeared in his day from these portals. The realization was mutual between man and machine. AFAI chimed in first. “If, sir, this was our planet in the past, there would be no such individuals. Memory banks hold no such information, and if they had the powers described, they most certainly would be, sir.”
“What is apparent to me, is that we are in some parallel universe, a world which has developed exactly as our own with only minor deviation. However, I saw the statue of liberty, every detail identical. Whatever deviation has been either so minor as to not change history or so recent that it hasn’t had time to make a significant impact on the culture of this alter-earth. Either way, the freedom-loving liberal democratic culture with which I am accustomed, however nascent, is still alive.”
As the plane drew closer to the city, it began to be visible from the ground. The hologram then showed the correspondents on the ground all simultaneously touching their ears, likely receiving breaking news through their earpieces, and then cutting to amateur video of his plane.
“Yes Martha, we’re here on the ground where this is all happening. As you just saw in that video, some fighter with Air Force markings is en route. Our military analysts have no idea what this is. No comment from the Air Force regarding this plane.”
Lest he incur some hostile response from the same (or incredibly similar? Garrett wasn’t sure) military he was going to protect, Teflon broadcast a message on all radio channels once he reached the skies over the combat below, between what looked like a glowing man and an enormous bear as was shown on the news.
“My fellow Americans, this is Brigadier General Garrett Johnson, United States Air Force…eh…sort of. The important thing is, I’m here to help.”