202: The Prequel to "To Die For".

Transfer No. 718
Date: August 1st, 2107

Come stai la mia amica? Come stai?

This will likely come as a surprise to you, I'll bet. It has been a long time. Well, it will be a long time. Or is it a long time? Look at the date. Yes, it is actually 2107. One hundred and seven years into your future. No, it isn't a joke.

We have finally developed a means of communicating through thought. It is called "transferring". There is no longer any need for paper. There IS no more paper. keyboards and big, fat monitors are a thing of the past. Well, my past. Your present. I shouldn't tell you too much as it can get kind of confusing. The internet evolved into a completely different entity than anyone could have imagined. Utterly and completely. It took on a whole new dimension. If you ------------------- finally say "yes".

Actually, the transferring is not yet perfect. There are still lost portions of data that go missing (like the socks in the dryer used to disappear - something we always said as kids back in the 20th century.) But not much can be done about it. We learn to live with it because it is still an amazing process.

Transferring from person to person in the present, my present (your future) is pretty easy to do. The scientists are working on some algorithms to test the probability of transferring to the past. This is one of the tests. I am actually involved in this experiment. As a researcher, and as a subject.

At the present we are unable to transfer directly. So what we have done is find a loophole in the time-space continuum where we are able to actually transfer our thoughts into a medium that you in the past can passively access. Since you don't have the technology yet, there is not much else you are able to do with this data. But it ------------- to be pretty ---------------- for now.

It is actually kind of funny. Even after 107 years, my old website is still here. It is still getting lots of visits as a relic of the past and has been placed in the solar archive museum on Vega 465B. This is how I am getting to you. Through that old friend of mine from when I was just a child. Funny how things like that happen.

And what you have in front of you is the fruits of our labors. As I first mentioned the internet evolved. But it evolved from an original concept. We are able to access the roots of that concept and use it as a conduit to the past. Not to the future yet. At least not from this date. And besides, even if we did have that ability it is classified information and cannot be divulged to any source whatsoever lest it cause a rip in time and a complete destruction of the continuum.

It is a little complicated because the science of your time is not developed enough to explain it. So I won't go any further. Just suffice it to say this is my first communication to you from your future. I hope it comes as a surprise.

There is one point that I want to explain to you. It has been semi-declassified so I can discuss it somewhat, but not in any details. I have been waiting for this to occur so I could explain to you the paradox.

You told me back in 2000 after accessing a future transfer from me to my kids that somehow got transferred to the past by error (it wasn't supposed to be there - but glitches happen) that there was something wrong with the "math" of the story. If I was born in 1965, how could I possibly be 200 years old in 2167, on the day of my death? That seems perfectly logical. And we could maybe explain it away to old age and disease. Which was how I --------------------- r many years.

But I thought you ought to know the truth. Again, thanks to advances in science I am able to explain this paradox to you. It may be impossible to actually understand fully because in your current time, such an event cannot possibly happen. Well, let me try.

In 2076 I was commanding an intergalactic patrol unit out in space. Yes, space. The advances from the year 2000 were phenomenal. Before you know it, space travel and even colonization will become a reality. Faster than anyone could ever imagine. Especially pushed on by the fire ---------------- which occurred due to ----------------- cardinal. It was a nightmare. But I cannot go on about that. We were out in deep space, a new quadrant that needed to be mapped and researched. There was a worm hole that seemed to be acting non-mathematically so we had to investigate. As we drew near, strange things began to occur. I can only say that there was a very bizarre warp. Something neither I nor any of my veteran crew members have ever experienced. The details of this are highly classified and I am not at liberty do discuss it or where it actually occurred.

Upon returning to our station, everyone was absolutely astonished to see us. We couldn't understand because we had only been away for little over three years. A very short trip. But according to the records, actually we disappeared from the tracking records and the computers lost us. Completely. We were officially dead. Dead dead. If you understand. This happens quite a lot in space as it is so vast. Get on the wrong orbit and spin off to another galaxy, hit an asteroid belt, get sucked into black holes and dematterized. All hazards of the job. So my crew and I were just another statistic.

But we didn't understand what anyone was talking about. Until we put the data back together. We returned exactly 1182 days, according to our calendar. But instead of the three years, we had returned FIVE YEARS LATER!

This, needless to say caused great concern and worry among all the scientists. We had done something that was not possible. Thrown into the future. All scientific experimentation and testing on us proved that we were only 1182 days older than when we had left. But somehow, an additional 730 days had occurred.

So in 2080, when we returned, we were all at the age of 2078. This meant that although I should have been 113, I was actually 111 years old. Two years had disappeared.

Do you understand? Does it make sense? Probably not. I don't blame you. Don't worry, you will eventually understand. In fact, it will be YOU that goes on to explain this paradox to the rest of the galactic federation. Yes, you. Former optical manufacturer turned astrophysicologist. And a "galactic-famous" one at that. Well, no more details about that. Just something to whet your appetite for the future.

And to help you ease into the future, because there will be MANY ups and downs, as you will find out, your kids are all doing fine. All seventeen of them. Not a single one has encountered a mishap. I can promise you that at this current time, there is nothing to worry about. Except maybe my health. It is tough being godfather to 17 kids of your best friend. A full-time job as it is! But I managed. And they are all doing great. (keep this in mind for future events).

Especially your first two. One went on to a brilliant career in the military. She became a decorated hero in the Man-Kzin wars. The other is currently a governor of a small explorosearch colony out in a frontier quadrant. Transfers come semi-regularly from her but she and her partner seem to be having an amazingly successful future.

As for you and I, well we made it past 100years, but not for 100. Your research took you out to the far far ends of the galaxy while I was developing a colony in the other end. We lost track of each other for 50 or so years. Only recently were we able to find each other when I happened to chance upon your legendary explanation of my event. I could see that your thoughts and descriptions, though scientific in nature still held the same old feelings that they did back when we first met. Full of wonder, full of strength, power and wisdom. Beings from all walks of life respect you now. You are like a "goddess" to some. But you are still la mia piccola ragazza. Always have been and always will be. You went on to much greater things than I. But it was in your stars. I could see it back then, however was never able to make you believe me. Well, we all had to live by our own trials and errors. It just so happened that your life was pretty blessed and you had more successes than failures. Which is what took you to where you are now (my time).

I don't want to give away too much of your future. It would ruin everything. Heck, I happen to know exactly when and how I am going to die. Is that wonderful? Well, nice to know that I get to live for another 170 years. But not so nice knowing how I go.

One last thing to leave you hanging on the edge of your seat for the future. For some strange reason, even YOU cannot yet explain it at this current time, you stopped aging at 40 years of age. Do you know what that means? We, of course have extended our health amazingly over the past decades. Mainly due to scientific breakthroughs (and drugs). But your case is different. Without any life-enhancing drugs your body just naturally stopped aging. At forty years of age. So without the drugs, you have none of the side-effects. If it --------------- then I ------------------ for about that long. Funny, don't you think? So that means that while right now I am 140 years old with the body of a 55 year old (when my birthday comes around in about a month and a half), you are 140 years old with the body and health of a natural 40 year old! And you have been that way for many years. Actually you should be 139 because your birthday hasn't arrived yet. Speaking of that, I wonder what I am going to do for you this year?

So we found each other again and picked right up where we left off. You and I were able to be one of the first to transfer directly to each other. With that bond we forged over a hundred years ago, it was definitely something more than just a "feeling". There was truly a chemical event which happened. That is too complicated to even begin to explain so I will leave it at that. We were able to transfer feelings, emotions, then finally thoughts and words, then pictures and images. It was amazing to actually feel you inside me like that. It reminds me of the day you "were inside me all day" and I was seeing everything from my perspective, through your eyes. On my eyes. And the shape of a feline. That was the first of many to come. I got used to it after a while and eventually was able to shape it more directly for you so that you didn't have just vague impressions. You could gather the image and turn them into --------------------

The one drawback of transferring is it used a tremendous amount of energy. That we haven't been able to reduce yet. This was a particularly long transfer so I am nearly at my end. Quite tired. A cup of Starbucks coffee (my favorite Venti Latte with extra foam) is keeping me going right now. Yes, Starbucks is still going strong. Their business expanded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Everyone in the universe knows about Starbucks. No matter which colony you visit, there is always a Starbucks in the space port. One of the comforts of us earthlings so far away from our homes. Ask me about it when we next meet. I will tell you all about the story of Starbucks. Then you will truly understand the meaning of that movie called "You've Got Mail".

So I know you cannot respond to this. Hmmmmm I wonder what you will think? I just want you to know that you and your kids have an excellent future ahead of you (as long as you don't do anything stupid before that) and no matter where you go, I will always be available for communication with you.

I wish you luck and this will likely be the last time that I can contact you from the future.

One last very very very important word of advice: When you come to the fork in the path that leads you to Boronax26, be absolutely certain you take ----------------------

Got it? Good.

Love always your friend,

Commander Cambino

End Transfer No. 718
Date: August 1st, 2107