The Pillars of Eternity

‘It might be asked why an expedition of foray is not sent to Meirjain to ascertain the validity of these conclusions. The fact is that although less than a standard year has passed since the events in question took place, the planet has already disappeared back into the Brilliancy Cluster and has proved unlocatable.

‘I now ask Citizen Orskov, Dean of Moss Corporated Laboratories, to speak.’

The designated academic, grey-haired, with a mild manner and a slight nervous affliction that caused him to jerk his head a little as he spoke, did not rise. ‘A few months ago we were asked by the Department to make a fresh examination of the Mirror Theorem,’ he began. ‘For the benefit of those who may not be acquainted with it, the Mirror Theorem describes the motions of point masses through eternity. Put briefly, it states that if an intersection is made at any arbitrary moment in time, the world-lines produced by the future configurations of the totality of point masses in the universe will be an identical reflection of the past configurations. In less technical language, the theorem proves, given a sufficiently long span of time, the periodic recurrence of the universe.

‘Philosophically speaking there has always been a missing piece in this theorem. It deals with a closed system. Its prediction that the future will exactly repeat the past arises from the mechanical determinism inherent in the movements of masses. For a loose illustration of this principle, we can refer to its earliest historical exposition by the prescientific philosopher Lucretius. Working purely with inductive, observational methods, Lucretius produced an account of nature that in many respects was remarkably correct. He pictured the universe as consisting of particles or atoms falling through an endless void. As they fell the particles collided, tangled with and parted from one another, and the impermanent configurations that resulted comprised the worlds and their contents. Since the particles must eternally continue to fall, and since the number of possible configurations is limited, it follows that the same configurations, that is, the same worlds, beings and events, must recur again and again.

‘For Lucretius’s perpetual falling we can substitute its modern equivalent, the law of conservation of mass and energy which, in general terms, represents the endless momentum inherent in matter. What the Mirror Theorem lacks, however, is any term showing that the theorem is rigorous. The theorem is valid not of necessity, but simply because what it describes is a closed system. It has yet to be shown what would happen were an extraneous factor, by some unimaginable means, to be inserted into this system. What could be extraneous to the universe, you may ask? That is why this feature of the Mirror Theorem has never been taken seriously, and why to all intents and purposes the theorem has been regarded as rigorous.

‘Nevertheless, it is thought that the configurations exhibited by our universe in its lifetime do not exhaust all possible configurations, and therefore alternative universes are at least conceivable.’

With that, the academic sat silent, nodding to himself and smiling.

‘Well, and what did your examination yield?’ Director Hebron prodded impatiently.

‘Hm? Oh yes. So sorry. No change. We could not prove the rigorousness of the Mirror Theorem. The mutability of time remains theoretically possible.’

One of the econospheric councillors nodded gravely, and took up the theme. ‘Extraordinary though it may seem, this is the possibility we must seriously consider. Ever since the non-rigorousness of the Mirror Theorem was discovered, we have had to take account of the fact that there might, however low the order of probability, be a means whereby the unfolding progression of events could be turned aside. We know what this means, do we not? It means that the magnificent stability which the econosphere enjoys, and which is guaranteed eternal by cosmic recurrence, could be nullified. The next manifestation of the world could be one in which the econosphere does not exist, in which none of us exists. The time regulations are there to guard against this remote possibility.’

What grotesque grandiosity, thought Madrigo as he listened to the discussion. It was a case of political ideology arrogating cosmic proportions to itself – a peculiarly gross overestimate of the importance of mankind.