Alexis

Oparah
Manipulations of Time

Manipulations of Time:
Time Flows Backward:
(i) He looked in the mirror: one less white hair. It was the first to go black. He couldnt
remember who he was. Today he was a new man, and tomorrow again, he would be a new mandistinct from who he was today. He understood this now; he knew he would lose important parts
of his memory and mind every day and become multiple other selves and then no one at all. He
had no recollection of his yesterdays and would never know the man he used to be. Multiple
other versions of him existed across time yet; he was stuck in a time and mental state that left
him a stranger to them all. His future was his past, and his past was his future; though now it was
inaccessibleforgotten, and hardly his at all. He was confused. All was written and decided.
He was completely helpless and powerless to change anything. Even his thoughts were products
of someone or something else. He broke out into a cold sweat, breathing heavily and without
control. He squeezed his eyes shut repeatedly and rummaged around in a drawer until he found
The Scriptures:
One: Nothing is ever lost; our souls persist through all times: past, present and future. He
held the book in his left hand as his right hand rubbed his temples up and down. He searched
quickly for the correct passage, Ten: Questioning and changing are futile practices. All is as
it should be and will be. Do away with these ideas and instead embrace the blessing of order.
He dropped his right hand down suddenly, squeezed away the subsiding tension in his knee, put
away the scriptures and returned to the mirror. He reexamined the black hair. It was longer and
thicker than all his others. He picked up his tweezers, whispered, Order, pulled out the lone
hair and left the bathroom with a renewed calmness.
Theology is unquestioned here. Its the only thing that gives the people a sense of worth.
Without it, they are lost. They are reduced to machines, or less, mere scripts and directions.
Breathing and thinking creatures parade around the world in both ignorance and omniscience.
Beings arise with a complete set of memories and experiences that create a unique personality.
Their only task: to experience those things they hold as memories with an unavoidable
novicehood.
The backward flow of time; however, turns experience into oblivion, as events and
knowledge of oneself are erased and inaccessible once they are experienced and made present.
Time does to the memories and personality of beings what the rising sun does to the darkness of
the night sky; infringes upon it slowly and fully-wiping it from existence until it is gone; with no
trace of its former existence. Mental order is only kept through The Scriptures that quiet these
beings curiosity with claims of some higher purpose. Free will is transcribed as a useless and
undesirable idea that only causes pain.
He reached for his mahogany loafers. He would wear them every day for the next ten
years. They became his lucky shoes the day he met his wife Francine at the Millennium Tavern.
He tied his shoes tenderly as a tear escaped. Francine looked at him in confusion. He smiled to
comfort her, but he couldnt help but think that in less than ten years, he would lose her and have
no memory of the only love hes ever had.

Alexis Oparah
Manipulations of Time

(ii) If a human were to enter into this world, the major change that he would need to
make would be one of mental acceptance. Younger beings would boast of maturity and intellect,
and the elderly would be impulsive and daring. Life lessons would be learned and experienced
and then immediately voided. Though he would match the maturity of his peers, he would only
have the fraction of the life experience that they would have had but now, cannot recollect. The
visiting human would be incapable of relating to a world without even the perception of free
will. He would be overwhelmed with all other beings knowing where they were going and what
would happen yet, who functioned without any sort of motivation or intrinsic intuition. The
backward flow of time would also be confusing to the visiting human. He would not have a
scripted set of memories in the new world to guide him, so he would grow younger as the other
beings, but would not be constricted by the determinism of the new world. I expect that there
would be a sort of jet lag period experience by the visiting human as well. Since his body,
actions, and the sum of molecules that compose him were subject to the order of a foreign,
determined world, he could potentially disrupt the order and design of the new world by his
displacement. The new world must adjust to him on a deterministic level, and potentially change
the stored memories (i.e. the lives) of the beings.
(iii) - Minus Causation
As is, causation in this world is thought to be an extrinsic relation between the memories
of a being and the actions of day-to-day life. They treat life as a product of their memories rather
than vice versa. Their omniscience of what is to come and the inevitability of determinism allow
them to associate the visions in their memory-scripts with the happenings before their eyes. The
beings would be completely reduced to machines. Without the feeling of ownership and
influential power of their own memories, they would relinquish the only property of their lives
that is truly theirs. Without causation, the beings would become computers that are running on a
code... a code that has no external meaning and is foreign to them. They would have no free will,
transform into different people throughout their lives as their memories became inaccessible and
have no type of explanation or reasoning for anything that happened. The only thing that would
separate this world from the large-scale factory is the presence of their and all objects souls
persisting and interacting with one another.
Time is like Newtons Cradle:
A. It is early in the morning. Tears run down the cheeks of six. Six stoic, reminiscent and
hopeful individuals, connected only through genes, are now together to surrender a loved one
over to another, more powerful, being. Their eyes are focused on their passing mother, whose
eyes are placid and distant. She opens frail lips to comfort her six, but is leftbreathless.
The heart monitor sends a monotonic whisper denoting the end and the six heads
synchronously drop-heavy, with the weight of pain. Only seconds later, a soft whisper is heard
beneath sobs, and frail lips generate a four-word phrase assuring the six of impending
happiness. Twelve eyes shoot up yet, before any form of happiness could be reinstated; death
was again met by their mother.
In this world, time flows like energy through Newtons cradle. It elapses in two
directions- forward and backward- with temporal segments varying in their respective rates of
passage.
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Alexis Oparah
Manipulations of Time

Before the incident in the hospital was publicized, the nature of time was rarely
questioned. The simultaneous existence of two temporal parts was rarely recognized, and most
remained unaware of the regression of time.
Theologians asserted the double-death to a miracle or declared it some sort of living
purgatory; others blamed it on faulty hospital machinery, but there existed a small, peculiar
group of speculators that were long waiting for some empirical evidence affirming their
burgeoning theories of time.
This group believed that the passing mother had both existed and ceased to exist at the
same time- capable of a temporal duality not through divine intervention or inadequate
machinery, but through the nature and essence of time. Among these beliefs were testimonies of
time speeding and slowing without any external warning, and most astonishing- a collection of
stories of dj vu lasting full months to years.
Though regarded by their community as mental cases, these speculators were the closest
to discovering the true nature of time as anyone ever got and ever will get. Time was essentially
finite and determined: moving at a slow and observable rate in the subjective end and the
beginning and an incomparably hastened way through intermediate times. Collision and
interactions of times were a necessity for it to elapse- allowing for two times to be had at once.
For some indeterminable time, each temporal part shared all its associated characteristics-no
matter how incompatible- with the subsequent temporal segment of its interaction. Sensations of
experience and origins of thoughts were simply characteristics of temporal parts, which were
gained and lost as time elapsed, making each individual a mere subject of time.
This peculiar group of beings had almost all the evidence fundamental to the nature of
time, yet it would be lost, as quickly as it was found. Accounts would be rewound and forgotten.
Insight would relapse, thoughts would progress back to their basic roots, and ignorance
regained. The process would continue, in the exactly the same way until external forces,
independent of time, caused its eventual dissolution.
B. These are the notes of a so-named peculiar speculator, re-recorded here due to the
uncanny accuracy of her theories on the true nature of time:
Few people initiate debates on the truth value of the subjective present. Most can assert
that those things experienced in the present, are factual and true by empirical access. Time seems
fluid to most- completely unquestioned by the masses. Excuses are made for the oddities
observed. They fail to see and feel the inconsistency of time. They fail to note the dynamic
hastening of times passage, unraveling slower once, then much quicker. I find myself incapable
of accounting for actions due to an almost unperceivable rate of passage. It baffles me that my
observations are novel.
Though my beliefs are regarded as foolish by most, I must admit to and clarify them, lest
I become committed to the ignorance of fact that so clearly surrounds me:
For clarity, consider all of time to span only that of my lifetime. I suspect I would grow
old with limited interruptions (interruptions being the moments of time where I would posses all
properties of two times in a single instant). And then again, grow young in the exact way in
which old age was reached. I would live life writing, and unwriting; thinking and unthinking,
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Manipulations of Time

dying and then being resurrected. Each time experienced would exist independently of another
time- connected only through a sort of external interaction rather than an intrinsic fluidity. I
would liken the temporal universe to waves of the ocean, successive, yet distinct, interacting, yet
an individual entity with its own attributes.
I do believe in past, present and future and their concurrent existence, though not in the
ways the terms are now so casually used. With my opinion of the present already addressed, I
will explain the difficulties of past and future. According to my theorems, once one event ceases
to be present, it becomes both past and future immediately.
Suppose there is a time T3 that is present. At such a time, T1 is past- that is, having
already elapsed previously to T3, but due to the speculated nature of time, T1 is also future to T3that is, occurring thereafter. Time would literally seem to flow forward, then turn on its self and
progress in the opposite direction. The repetitive nature of time muddies these terms and makes
them incapable of distinguishing or explaining the critical components of the true nature of time.
Such a theory, without observable data, is seen as humorous. Critics demand that for my
theory to be of any value we would have to have access to thoughts and experiences that would,
at some point, be inconsistent: Memories of our own deaths when we were still vibrant and
healthy, or of birthday celebrations before we were of the celebratory age. But, I assert that
memories and all physical evidence can be viewed as a property of a single time. Owned by that
time or times, and discontinued when the time itself is no longer present. Each time exists, in full
possession of its properties, in a sort of recess, waiting for interaction with another time in order
to be accessed by our simple minds.
The veracity of my theory will also remain in recess. I will struggle to produce these
words again and again, believing this to be my first draft, and not my hundredth or thousandth.
Whether now, or in the future, when this is read and I acquire a follower, I will eventually lose
that follower as his mind slowly becomes more and more doubtful, as he disconnects the dots
and ceases to relate his experiences to mine.
Time is weighted:
Time is weighted. It accumulates after your initial exposure. As you move through time,
it becomes heavy, debilitating- holding you down both mentally and physically. Each second
stacks upon the former and pushes down, rupturing sanity and the ever-brittling bones of the
most innocent of men. Age is no longer an accurate measurement of health, but instead, in this
world, the (physical) burden you bear acts as a testament to your longevity.
Young men- not yet convinced of times authority over all and still committed to
combating times force- reside in the gyms pumping their veins full of drugs to improve their
strength and lifting weights that become increasingly heavier with each repetition. Young girls
fixate and stress about their immutable BMIs in spite of their continuous dieting and exercise.
Those more attuned to the indefatigable flow of time take more appropriate measures in
combating its effects. Plastic surgeons are in short supply: lifts of the face, breasts, shoulders,
backs and infinitely more areas are as commonplace as a trip to the grocery store.
Many think immortality is possible in this universe. Some have committed their lighter
years to fantasizing and theorizing about the best way to position oneself in order to endure time.
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Manipulations of Time

One man, spending the entirety of his life on his back, lived the most miserable life to nine
hundred pounds of temporal pressure (roughly 160 years), while others unconcerned with time,
surrender fruitful lives over to time without ever reaching the two hundreds.
By accepting times burden you allow its passage. Older men inch across the world,
supported by canes and sticks. The most resilient of them employ motorized chairs and trolleys
to help them fight against time. Children, fearful of their parents mass, commit them to a life in
bed, fluffing pillows and blankets around them daily, tending to their every need so their
movements dont further the affliction.
Here, time is unbiased and exists without intention. It accumulates at equal rates for all
beings and objects. Buildings, once erected, begin to crumble at their core. All food derived from
what other worlds refer to as plants, fail to exist since stems and roots prove too weak and
sluggish to withstand the time it takes to break through the earths surface. Time accrues
continually, ceasing only when the object of its timeline is stifled under it.
Space is weighted:
It is dusk. A brother and sister tiptoe around their quarters- meticulously collecting their
finest outerwear and placing it into hand-sewn bags they are to carry on their backs. The two
hold smiles on their faces; still convinced their plans will be legendary; still excited by the
prospect of escape; yet, still in the safety of the only place theyve ever known. They placed their
luggage across their shoulders and tore into the night.
The sister:
It was her idea. They would break the north barrier at the darkest time of night.
There were approximately two minutes in which the barrier was poorly monitored- when the first
guard left his duty and was replaced by the next. She would watch them every night for months,
confirming their behavior: the larger of the two would finish his coffee and put his boots back
on. He would continue staring at the monitors until the phone rang. Hed answer the phone with
a crude joke each time and buzz the other guard into the barrier tower. Right then, he would
remove his eyes from the monitors and begin to tie his boots: exactly one minute and fifteen
seconds. Confirmed.
The brother:
It was his courage. He convinced her that they had to do it. He loved her deeply, but the
whole situation felt wrong. If their plan was to work, he said, they would be able to find love
elsewhere. There must, he postulated, be others like themselves beyond the walls. But if they
were to fail, they would be forced to wed and bear children together. Their children would suffer
like the others and the two would cease to be as happy and close as they were before. Hed seen
it happen to everyone that lived within the walls. It was time for a change.
Reaching the gates, he held his breath. Fear and excitement overwhelmed him as he
watched his sister and waited for her signal to run. Her eyes were fixed on the barrier tower- only
straying for seconds to check her watch.
In five, she whispered.
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Alexis Oparah
Manipulations of Time

The guard bent down out of view to tie his shoes and they broke through the gate in
euphoria. Just inches beyond the wall, they begin to feel it, but still they edged forward. Their
steps became heavier and their bodies, weaker; their paces decreased exponentially until they
could no longer move. Too weak to return to the barrier, too disappointed to speak of their
defeat, they both fell to their knees and surrendered under the weight of the earth until death met
them.
In this world, with each new space you experience, you accept the burden of spatial
weight. For this reason, there exist over 700,000 known languages; people live in discrete
societies and no devices have been created in the effort of traveling. War is none in this world.
No one ever leaves his or her hometown, but those who do never, ever return.