Advances

Sheffield. Lore and The New Hologram were stood outside of The Guildhall on a regular looking street in central Sheffield. Seeing the front doors made Lore shudder. “This is, as you know, the Temporal Sciences Guildhall. While it’s looked like this on the outside since two thousand and one, in the last few days, it has changed significantly on the inside.” The New Hologram gestured for them to follow. “The Faochite Protocol, a hidden capsule of information and schematics that revealed itself upon the detonation of the Faochite Incident, finally gave the Temporal Sciences Guild the knowledge and technology they needed to cement themselves as a true power in The Protectorate.”
“So, what was in there?” Lore walked through the lobby, stopping abruptly before the lift.
“Let’s have a look.” The foyer melted and became the room where it all began. A table, three chairs and a door. On the table, two boxes waited. Loren and Crait entered and removed the lids.
“Everything in those boxes was carefully removed, duplicated and then returned. The boxes would then be returned to the moment The Guild was founded, to be buried; ready for them to find when the time came.”
“But that’s…” Lore sighed. “A bootstrap paradox.”
“No flies on you.” The New Hologram chuckled.”In the boxes, there was just enough knowledge and technology to kickstart The Guild on the path to what it would eventually become.” They found themselves in a control room, reminiscent of that used to monitor astronauts and rocket launches. A wall of monitors sat before a room of computers. “This is one of the first advancements the data provided. The Monitor. A device that allows The Guild to scan and evaluate the entire timeline to search for exploitable moments and fixed time.”
“Hold on. Loren was taught about this. And if they were teaching the theories behind all of this to a child then surely it shouldn’t only just be being built.” Lore cast their mind back. “Actually, how is it that Loren has such a strong grasp of temporal mechanics? If the technology to monitor time didn’t exist, how did they know so much about time?”
“And therein lies the other bootstrap.” The New Hologram walked them into an adjoining room. “Theoretical information was fed to The Guild from before their inception. Competing theories, misinformation, just enough to get the theorists interested, give them a carrot to chase, eventually culminating in the creation of The Guild, the very theories they chased and their ultimate goal: Time Travel.”
“The Temporal Sciences Guild was formed because of a massive bootstrap paradox where its own theories inspired the theorists to work together to form The Guild and recreate those theories?” Lore scratched their head. “So the information came from the theorists?”
The New Hologram nodded. “The theorists trying to disprove their future selves only to prove them right.”

Loren and Crait sauntered into The Monitor room. “So. What does all this do?” They asked, tapping away at the keyboard of a computer they thought was turned off.
“Nothing yet.” Loren laughed as Crait recoiled at the screen turning on. “Until we find someone capable of connecting to it, it’s effectively a massive CCTV feed viewer for The Guildhall.” Loren sighed. “It also means that our other gifts don’t work yet either.”
“Those grenades?” Crait shook their head. “Who makes grenades hardware dependant?”
“They’re not grenades.” Loren sat at one of the computers and logged in. They displayed the scans of one of the devices. “It’s called a Shredder. It appears to be similar to a Slider but… It’ll allow us to travel through time.”
“So we could…” Crait’s eyes twinkled.
“No.” Loren was blunt and immediate. “Remember, while its a saturated moment, it’s also a fixed one.”
Crait sighed.
“But we can go back and meet our parents if you wanted?” Loren tried to bring the sparkle back. He was mildly successful.
“What do we need to get it all to work then?” Crait sat beside him.
“That’s the thing.” Loren paused. “We need someone called an Oracle?”
“What’s an Oracle?” Lore asked.
The New Hologram clicked its fingers with a smile. “An Oracle is an individual that, when connected to The Oracle, can see through time and visualise history.”
“An Oracle, the person? Connects to The Oracle, the machine, and together, they interface with The Monitor to allow an atlas of time to be drawn?” Lore tried to gauge the look The New Hologram was giving them to determine how right they were.
“Exactly!” It clapped its hands. “Now, Oracles can be created or born however, both methods require the individual in question to be exposed not only to a specific kind of radiation but also a certain element.” A different book appeared in its hand, large and bound in leather. “It’s said that The Cornerstones came to Earth long ago. When they visited, their very presence changed parts of the planet. Time is said to have mutated a certain plant to grow in reverse; certain cultivars of the Rose of Jericho contain trace amounts of an element called Tempora which, when ingested by a pregnant person or given to someone in high enough doses, can mutate the necessary genes in the offspring, allowing them to interface with The Oracle to become an Oracle.”
“Don’t tell me…” Lore looked at Loren and Crait.
“They spiked their employee’s food and drink in an attempt to create a new Oracle.” The New Hologram nodded. “Their early days were spent refining the new technology, getting used to using it and exploring the frontiers that space and time had to offer so we’re going to skip ahead to almost the middle of their story. To an icy planet and an icier woman. Misha.”