Father Abraham
Eber always knew he didn’t fit in. He always felt that he belonged somewhere else and that the world was all arranged wrong. Even history seemed funny. He lived in Ur of the Chaldeans, but had long thought of travelling west to Canaan. When he was a teenager, he began having dreams. He repeatedly dreamt he was someone else living somewhere else and serving a god no one in his village had ever heard of. Over the years he grew old and still had never travelled far. When rumors began to circulate of a monster ram destroying entire flocks, only then did he place his faith in the god of his dreams and start west.
The ram was unstoppable. Nothing slowed it down. Nothing hurt it. Never stopping to eat or sleep, it tore across the Earth, destroying everything in its path – plants, rocks, animals, and people. Everything that touched it simply disintegrated as if it were entropy itself. Even its footprints remained dangerous for a time after its passing. It scoured Asia first, then Europe, then Africa, and then trod the bottom of the Atlantic, killing hagfish and sea cucumbers before showing up on the shore of South America. The human race was extinct in thirty years.
Zortack appears with a flash on the bridge of the Silver Storm as it speeds through the time vortex. “Hello Zortack. Nate and Derek are sleeping right now. Shall I wake them for you?” the Silver Storm’s computer responds.
“Yes, this can’t wait – and not even time travel can buy us time anymore,” Zortack says.
Within minutes, Nate and Derek are on the bridge sipping coffee while Zortack speaks. “Time keepers are beings of abstraction. History is material to them. It has texture. It has rough spots and smooth spots. Each time keeper has preferences for the shape of time that are comfortable for them and allow them to enter and exit at will. This is why we are always trying to change history to suit us, but we rarely agree on what to change it to. One of us pulls the temporal sheets one way and the others freeze. Much of history is the result of compromise. Some time keepers like myself are happiest when those beings bound by time such as yourselves are also happy. Other time keepers are happiest when misery abounds. Then there are those that prefer a static universe with no life at all.”
“I need more sugar,” Nate says, frowning at his mug. Zortack teleports more sugar into Nate’s drink with a flash of light. “Ooh.”
Continuing, Zortack says, “Time keepers alter history by attacking its pivotal nodes. To prevent the invention of light bulbs, they might kill Thomas Edison as a baby. However, light bulbs are something that can be easily invented by someone else, so all rival time keepers have to do is grab someone from the future to replace him. In fact, Thomas is the sixth person to have been put in his life slot.”
“Thomas Edison is from the future?” Derek asks.
“Born in 2865 and brought into the past when he was a month old,” Zortack answers. “Unlike inventing light bulbs, other events can only be done by a particular unique individual. Only one person could have painted the Sistine Chapel exactly the way Michelangelo did. When his timeline was interrupted, we had to rescue him from forty-five seconds prior and bring him a minute into the future to replace himself. Unfortunately, this fix cannot be done with someone who was never born in the first place because their parents never meet.”
“Hmm,” Nate says.
“One of the most important men in history has now never been born,” Zortack declares.
“Weird Al Yankovic?” Nate says.
“Abraham, father of Isaac and Ishmael,” Zortack says.
“That was going to be my second guess,” Nate declares.
“Abraham’s act of faith in beginning to sacrifice his son Isaac could have been done by no other. Only he would have been in the right place and time to catch and kill a particular ram to take his son’s place, a ram that if it survived would have created a paradox large enough to let in one of the worst time keepers of the exoverse. Possessing the ram, its actions would destroy the world,” Zortack explains.
It takes another ten minutes and another cup of coffee to get Nate to focus, but eventually he, Zortack, and the Silver Storm come up with a plan that he then tries to explain to Derek. “Suppose that instead of buying you a bicycle for your birthday, your mother bought you a skateboard instead. Would you still be who you are today?”
“I don’t see why not,” Derek says.
“You might have fallen and developed a scar on your elbow. You’d be different,” Nate says.
“But I’d still be me,” Derek replies.
“Okay, now suppose that your father had to go away on a trip for a few days so that he missed your original conception, but he made up for it when he returned. Would the resulting child be you?” Nate asks.
“I guess so; I’d still have the same parents,” Derek says.
“But three days later the exact sperm with the exact genetic combination might no longer be in a position to get to the egg first. You could have been born female,” Nate says.
“Hmmm,” Derek says.
“If your father died before meeting your mother and she married someone else, would the resulting child be you?” Nate asks.
“Not if he wasn’t Rachoosian. If my mother married another human, I’d be full human,” Derek says.
“So small changes like elbow scars don’t change who you are, but swapping out half your genes does? Could I alter your identity by injecting you with a retrovirus?” Nate asks.
“Well…” Derek says.
“Suppose your mother died young and the man she would have married instead ends up marrying a Rachoosian woman? Would their child be you?” Nate asks.
“As you know, Nate, human-Rachoosian hybrids made that way always turn into balls of cancer by the end of the second trimester,” Derek says.
“But before it died, would that embryo have been you?” Nate asks.
“I don’t know. Where are we going with all this?” Derek asks.
“Temporal mechanics predicts the existence of an immutable soul, something of identity that still exists after all identifying markers have been removed. This means that even though Abraham as we remember him never existed, somewhere out there is somebody with the same soul. If we can find that person, he – or she – can exhibit the faith necessary to kill the ram,” Nate explains.
It takes a long time to track down Abraham’s soul. Finally, they find it in a young man named Eber. Posing as a priest named Melchizedek, Derek does his best to explain to him his true destiny. “I always felt like I should be somebody else. I always thought I should be somebody important. The god of my dreams has answered my prayers at last,” he says.
With help from Nate and Derek, Eber hunts, kills, and sacrifices the ram. The threat is over. He goes on to rename himself Abraham, marries a woman named Sarah, and has a son named Isaac. Except for a few minor details, history continues on as before.
The ram was unstoppable. Nothing slowed it down. Nothing hurt it. Never stopping to eat or sleep, it tore across the Earth, destroying everything in its path – plants, rocks, animals, and people. Everything that touched it simply disintegrated as if it were entropy itself. Even its footprints remained dangerous for a time after its passing. It scoured Asia first, then Europe, then Africa, and then trod the bottom of the Atlantic, killing hagfish and sea cucumbers before showing up on the shore of South America. The human race was extinct in thirty years.
Zortack appears with a flash on the bridge of the Silver Storm as it speeds through the time vortex. “Hello Zortack. Nate and Derek are sleeping right now. Shall I wake them for you?” the Silver Storm’s computer responds.
“Yes, this can’t wait – and not even time travel can buy us time anymore,” Zortack says.
Within minutes, Nate and Derek are on the bridge sipping coffee while Zortack speaks. “Time keepers are beings of abstraction. History is material to them. It has texture. It has rough spots and smooth spots. Each time keeper has preferences for the shape of time that are comfortable for them and allow them to enter and exit at will. This is why we are always trying to change history to suit us, but we rarely agree on what to change it to. One of us pulls the temporal sheets one way and the others freeze. Much of history is the result of compromise. Some time keepers like myself are happiest when those beings bound by time such as yourselves are also happy. Other time keepers are happiest when misery abounds. Then there are those that prefer a static universe with no life at all.”
“I need more sugar,” Nate says, frowning at his mug. Zortack teleports more sugar into Nate’s drink with a flash of light. “Ooh.”
Continuing, Zortack says, “Time keepers alter history by attacking its pivotal nodes. To prevent the invention of light bulbs, they might kill Thomas Edison as a baby. However, light bulbs are something that can be easily invented by someone else, so all rival time keepers have to do is grab someone from the future to replace him. In fact, Thomas is the sixth person to have been put in his life slot.”
“Thomas Edison is from the future?” Derek asks.
“Born in 2865 and brought into the past when he was a month old,” Zortack answers. “Unlike inventing light bulbs, other events can only be done by a particular unique individual. Only one person could have painted the Sistine Chapel exactly the way Michelangelo did. When his timeline was interrupted, we had to rescue him from forty-five seconds prior and bring him a minute into the future to replace himself. Unfortunately, this fix cannot be done with someone who was never born in the first place because their parents never meet.”
“Hmm,” Nate says.
“One of the most important men in history has now never been born,” Zortack declares.
“Weird Al Yankovic?” Nate says.
“Abraham, father of Isaac and Ishmael,” Zortack says.
“That was going to be my second guess,” Nate declares.
“Abraham’s act of faith in beginning to sacrifice his son Isaac could have been done by no other. Only he would have been in the right place and time to catch and kill a particular ram to take his son’s place, a ram that if it survived would have created a paradox large enough to let in one of the worst time keepers of the exoverse. Possessing the ram, its actions would destroy the world,” Zortack explains.
It takes another ten minutes and another cup of coffee to get Nate to focus, but eventually he, Zortack, and the Silver Storm come up with a plan that he then tries to explain to Derek. “Suppose that instead of buying you a bicycle for your birthday, your mother bought you a skateboard instead. Would you still be who you are today?”
“I don’t see why not,” Derek says.
“You might have fallen and developed a scar on your elbow. You’d be different,” Nate says.
“But I’d still be me,” Derek replies.
“Okay, now suppose that your father had to go away on a trip for a few days so that he missed your original conception, but he made up for it when he returned. Would the resulting child be you?” Nate asks.
“I guess so; I’d still have the same parents,” Derek says.
“But three days later the exact sperm with the exact genetic combination might no longer be in a position to get to the egg first. You could have been born female,” Nate says.
“Hmmm,” Derek says.
“If your father died before meeting your mother and she married someone else, would the resulting child be you?” Nate asks.
“Not if he wasn’t Rachoosian. If my mother married another human, I’d be full human,” Derek says.
“So small changes like elbow scars don’t change who you are, but swapping out half your genes does? Could I alter your identity by injecting you with a retrovirus?” Nate asks.
“Well…” Derek says.
“Suppose your mother died young and the man she would have married instead ends up marrying a Rachoosian woman? Would their child be you?” Nate asks.
“As you know, Nate, human-Rachoosian hybrids made that way always turn into balls of cancer by the end of the second trimester,” Derek says.
“But before it died, would that embryo have been you?” Nate asks.
“I don’t know. Where are we going with all this?” Derek asks.
“Temporal mechanics predicts the existence of an immutable soul, something of identity that still exists after all identifying markers have been removed. This means that even though Abraham as we remember him never existed, somewhere out there is somebody with the same soul. If we can find that person, he – or she – can exhibit the faith necessary to kill the ram,” Nate explains.
It takes a long time to track down Abraham’s soul. Finally, they find it in a young man named Eber. Posing as a priest named Melchizedek, Derek does his best to explain to him his true destiny. “I always felt like I should be somebody else. I always thought I should be somebody important. The god of my dreams has answered my prayers at last,” he says.
With help from Nate and Derek, Eber hunts, kills, and sacrifices the ram. The threat is over. He goes on to rename himself Abraham, marries a woman named Sarah, and has a son named Isaac. Except for a few minor details, history continues on as before.