Ripples in Time and Space, Part 4

As with any great idea, it was not long before the effects of Hawkins’ research were no longer in his own hands. This effect began to be seen with the development of the graviton drive, but of course space flight is intimately connected with Hawkins’ field and his prior research. As time passed, the implications of Hawkins’ revolutionary corruption of the nature of time and the physics of cause and effect began to be exploited in other disciplines more distant from his own.

Perhaps the closest of these was the field of anti-agapics. In prior times, the field of delaying the effects of aging was dominated by two opposing forces. On the one hand, there were the ways that tended to work: eating the correct food, minimising exposure to the sun and to toxins, taking frequent exercise. These methods were generally unpopular. On the other hand, there was a lucrative industry in supposedly anti-aging creams, which were generally no more than simple moisturisers. Similar products, such as hair dyes and make-up, were also big business, although their effect was not to prevent the signs of aging, but simply to cover them up. Therefore there was an industry consisting of two parts – those that worked but were unpopular, and those that didn’t work and yet were both popular and lucrative.

In the late 20th century, the first signs of progress in the field of anti-agapics began to appear. These were based on the genetics of cells. It was found that most cells lost their ability to divide and therefore ceased to function after approximately sixty divisions. Researchers were intrigued to discover that diseased or cancerous cells in the body did not display this sign of aging. The DNA of healthy and cancerous cells were examined minutely until the genetic variation was discovered.

However, the isolation of the precise genetic mutation which caused the immortality of the cancer cell was only a part of the problem. Further issues abounded. It quickly became clear that any attempt to change the DNA of healthy cells to mirror the cancerous cells ran the risk of inducing cancer in the healthy cells. Further, the methods known to cause cell mutations were clumsy and imprecise tools. A new road was required.

It was discovered in the isolation and detection of the tachyon, thanks to Hawkins’ theory.

You can find the complete version of Ripples in Time and Space, Part 4 in issue 59 of TBD.

Joanna McKenzie