Chapter 1Introduction

The Time Traveller - that's what we're calling him - was dropping some seriously deep knowledge on us. His pale grey eyes were sparkling, and his usually pale face was flushed and super animated.

The fire was blazing, and the soft glow from the fancy lights reflecting off the silver lilies caught the bubbles in our glasses. Our chairs, which were his inventions, were basically hugging and molding to us, way more comfy than just sitting on.

It was that chill after-dinner vibe, when your thoughts can just flow freely without getting bogged down in details.

"And he laid it out for us like this - tapping the points with his long, thin finger - as we sat around and lazily checked out how into it he was about this new paradox (at least, that’s what we thought) and his crazy creativity. "You gotta follow me closely.

I’m gonna have to challenge a couple of ideas that practically everyone believes. Like, the geometry they taught you in school is based on a misunderstanding. Isn’t that a lot to expect us to jump into? asked Filby, a guy who loved arguing and had red hair.

"I’m not asking you to accept anything without a good reason. You’re gonna see things my way pretty soon. You know, of course, that a mathematical line - a line with zero thickness - doesn’t really exist. They taught you that? Neither does a mathematical plane. These are just abstract concepts."

"That makes sense," said the Psychologist. "And, just having length, width, and thickness, a cube can’t really exist either. "Hold on," said Filby. "Of course a solid object can exist. Everything real - " "That’s what most people think. But wait a second. Can an instantaneous cube exist?"

"I’m lost," said Filby. "Can a cube that doesn’t last for even a split second actually exist? Filby looked deep in thought. "Basically," the Time Traveller continued, "any real object has to extend in four directions: Length, Width, Thickness, and - Duration."

But, because of a natural limitation of our brains, which I’ll explain in a bit, we tend to overlook this fact. There are really four dimensions: three we call the three planes of Space, and a fourth, Time.

"However, there's a habit of drawing an artificial distinction between the first three dimensions and the last, because we only move forward in time from birth to death. "That," said a really young guy, struggling to relight his cigar over the lamp, "that... very clear indeed."

"It’s really amazing that this is so often missed," continued the Time Traveller, sounding a bit more cheerful. "Seriously, that’s what people mean by the Fourth Dimension, even though some who talk about it don't even realize it. It's just another way to look at Time."

There’s no difference between Time and the three dimensions of Space except that our minds move along it. But some clueless people have twisted the idea. You’ve all heard what they have to say about this Fourth Dimension, right? "Nope," said the Provincial Mayor.

"Okay, so basically, this is it. Space, as mathematicians explain it, has three dimensions - Length, Width, and Thickness - and you can always describe it using three planes that are all at right angles to each other."

But some smart people have been asking why three dimensions specifically - why not another direction that’s also at right angles? - and they’re even trying to figure out a Four-Dimensional geometry. Professor Simon Newcomb was talking about this to the New York Mathematical Society just a month ago.

"You know how on a flat surface, which only has two dimensions, we can draw a picture of a 3D shape? Well, they think that using models of three dimensions, they could represent something in four - if they could just nail down the perspective of it. Get it?"

"I think so," murmured the Provincial Mayor, and he furrowed his brow, getting lost in thought, his lips moving like he was repeating some secret words. "Yeah, I think I get it now," he said after a bit, looking suddenly brighter - but only for a second.

"Well, I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been working on this Four-Dimensional geometry for a while now. Some of my results are pretty wild. For instance, here’s a picture of a guy at eight years old, another at fifteen, another at seventeen, another at twenty-three, and so on."

All these are basically snapshots, 3D representations of his existence in four dimensions, which is a fixed and unchanging thing. "Scientific folks," continued the Time Traveller, after a pause to let that sink in, "know really well that Time is just another kind of Space.

Look at this popular science diagram, a weather record. This line I trace with my finger shows how the barometer moved. Yesterday it was high, yesterday night it dropped, then this morning it went back up, and kept going up gently to here.

"Did the mercury trace that line in any of the regular dimensions of Space? Of course not! But it did trace a line, so we have to conclude it moved along the Time-Dimension."

"But," said the Medical Man, staring intently at a coal in the fire, "if Time is really just a fourth dimension of Space, why do we treat it as something different? And why can’t we move through Time like we move around in the other dimensions of Space? The Time Traveller smiled.

"Are you sure we can move freely in Space? We can go right and left, forward and backward - people always have. I admit, we move freely in two dimensions. But what about up and down ? Gravity limits us there. "Not exactly," said the Medical Man. "There are balloons."

"But before balloons, aside from a few jumps and bumps, people didn't have much freedom to move up. "Still, they could move a little up and down," said the Medical Man. "Easier, way easier down than up. "And you can’t move at all in Time - you can’t escape the present moment."

"My dear sir, that’s where you’re wrong. That’s where the whole world’s been wrong. We’re always getting away from the present moment. Our thoughts, which aren’t physical and don’t have dimensions, are moving along the Time-Dimension at a steady pace from birth to death."

"Just like we would if we started our lives fifty miles above the Earth’s surface." "But the big problem is this," interrupted the Psychologist. "You can move around in all directions of Space, but you can’t move around in Time."

"That’s the core of my big discovery. But you’re wrong to say we can’t move around in time. For example, when I’m remembering something really vividly, I go right back to the moment it happened: I zone out, like you said. I just jump back for a second."

Of course, we don't have a way to stay back for a long time, any more than a caveman or an animal can float six feet off the ground. But we civilized folks are better off in this respect.

"We can beat gravity in a hot air balloon, and why shouldn't we hope that eventually we can stop or speed up our journey through time, or even turn around and go the other way? "Oh, this," Filby started, "is all - " "Why not?" the Time Traveller asked. "It doesn’t make sense," said Filby.

"What doesn’t?" the Time Traveller asked. "You can argue that black is white, but you’re never going to convince me," said Filby. "Maybe not," the Time Traveller said. "But now you’re starting to see the point of my research into the math of Four Dimensions."

A long time ago, I had a vague idea for a machine - To travel through time! the Very Young Man exclaimed. That will travel anywhere in space and time, just like the driver decides. Filby just laughed. But I’ve got proof, said the Time Traveller.

"It would be super handy for historians," the Psychologist suggested. "Imagine going back and checking out the accepted story about the Battle of Hastings, for instance! "Don’t you think you’d stand out?" said the Medical Man. "Our ancestors weren’t big fans of things that didn’t fit in."

You could learn Greek straight from Homer and Plato, the Very Young Man thought. Then they’d totally roast you for being out of place. The German scholars have messed up Greek so much. Then there’s the future, said the Very Young Man. Just think!

"You could invest all your money, let it grow, and jump ahead! "To find a society," I said, "built on a strictly communist system. "Seriously? What crazy theories!" the Psychologist started. "Yeah, that’s how it seemed to me, and I never talked about it until - " "Proof!" cried I.

"You’re actually going to prove it? "The experiment!" cried Filby, who was feeling totally fried. "Let’s see your experiment anyway," said the Psychologist, "even though it’s all a bunch of nonsense, you know. The Time Traveller smiled at us.

Then, still smiling faintly, and with his hands in his pockets, he slowly walked out of the room, and we heard his slippers shuffling down the long hallway to his lab. The Psychologist looked at us. "I wonder what he’s got?"

"Some kind of magic trick," said the Medical Man, and Filby tried to tell us about a magician he’s seen in Burslem, but before he could finish his intro, the Time Traveller came back, and Filby’s story just fell apart.