Part 6: Makise Kurisu gives a lecture on a familiar subject

(I apologize for the two posts of solid nonsensical pseudoscience I am about to subject you to.)




Why did I send such a short message in three parts? It also looks like the third one was cut off. I have no memories of sending such short mails, but I recognize the content.

"This is... the mail I sent 3 hours ago."

Did Daru actually receive this 1 week ago? On the 21st?

"Very interesting..."



Currently, the important question is 'why is she perfectly fine?!'. Is this an illusion? No, a ghost? Have I been cursed or something?! As a mad scientist, I refuse to believe such unscientific things!





I can actually feel her silk-like hair.

"Sh-She's here, and I can touch her... To think that I just thought that she's a ghost... how silly of me."

"O-Okarin... Ain’t that a bit dangerous?"

I keep poking Kurisu's cheek with my finger. Such wonderful softness and skin tension. It’s completely different from a dead bod-- wait, I never actually touched one.

"...Hey."

Anyway, I already bumped into her when I came in. My assumption that she has no physical body is nothing but proof that I'm in a state of confusion. So what was that gruesome scene I saw in the Radio Center? What exactly was that man's scream I heard? Was that series of events an illusion, just like the mass disappearance?

That's right, wounds! If that was real, then the Makise Kurisu right here must have injuries! I must investigate.



"Do you want cops coming after you?"

"...I just want to find out the truth."

While Makise Kurisu is shaking with anger, I return her a direct gaze and move her jacked aside--

"What's this all about, you pervert?! Are you stupid?! Do you want to die?!"

"That's Louise's famous line..."



"I'm perfectly sure that I saw it!"

Noon today, after the ending of Doctor Nakabachi's presentation, Makise Kurisu was killed by someone and fell in a pool of blood...

I give her a thorough explanation of that.



"What are you talking about, Okarin? Nakabachi's presentation was cancelled."

"...Cancelled?"

"Yep. Because of the satellite crashing."

Once again, the things I've seen and what others tell me are completely different... It's the same as the conversation I had with Mayuri after the mass disappearance.

I'm feeling uneasy... Did I get myself involved in something outrageous? Is this another conspiracy of The Organization?

"Hey, you..."



"But that's completely wrong..."

"Hououin, would you kindly tell me about what you said in more detail?"

Looks like she knows that I'm not lying. Even so, I don't know why what I know and what others know doesn't math, so I doubt I can give her a good explanation--



"Eh? Um, yes..."

Kurisu throws me a glare, takes a deep breath and heads towards the small conference room.

"Okarin, let's just go for now..."

"Go? What do you mean?"

"We came here to listen to a lecture, genius."

Oh, right.

Daru goes to the same place that Kurisu went. Is she here to listen to the same lecture as us?

...I made the wrong assumption. The girl genius didn't come here to listen to the lecture.





"So she's the one doing the lecture..."

Japan's 18 year old genius who had her article published in SCIENCE. The first I knew about her was from an article in a weekly gossip magazine that Daru showed me. That time, he told me that she recently came to Japan, and she's gonna be a special guest at ATF.

So he was talking about today, huh?

"I'm kind of nervous, since this is my first time doing this, so I would greatly appreciate it if you overlook my blunders."

Kurisu gives me a sharp look. She's definitely keeping an eye on me. When I glare back at her, she quickly averts her eyes.

"This time, I've been told to talk about the subject of time machines. It’s not really my area of expertise, but I will give it my best."

"Hoh, time machines, huh?"

"If I were to begin with the conclusion, I would say that time machines are a completely absurd concept."



"Fueh?!"

"It's too early to say that time machines are impossible to make."

"Okarin, you're overdoing it!"

The staff of ATF are approaching, probably to take me out of the room. Perhaps I got too carried away.



It looks like I just lost my reason to be kicked out. I think I heard some bad words, but I think it's better to ignore them.

"But before that, allow me to speak my thoughts on this."



What were they, again? Off the top of my head, I can name the cosmic string theory...

"Neutron star theory. Black hole theory. Speed of light theory. Tachyon theory. Wormhole theory. Exotic matter theory. Cosmic string theory. Quantum gravity theory. Cesium laser theory. Elementary particle ring laser theory. Dirac antiparticle theory."

Makise Kurisu, I acknowledge you as a worthy opponent.

"However, each of these theories are nothing more than hypotheses. Some of them even deny the possibility of others."

"Then what if a 12th theory was proposed?"

"Then it would be denied by the 13th theory!"

Damn you, brat! Bending my supposition and actually using my own words against me... Not bad, not bad at all.



I might not get any points if this keeps up, so I think I'll have some restraint now...

"By the way, time travel to the future is available right now, according to the theory of relativity. For example, if a person was to go to the Haneda airport and board a plane heading towards Okinawa, he, upon arriving at the destination, would be about one hundred millionth of a second in the future from me. The theory of relativity states that the time of an object slows down as the speed of said object approaches the speed of light.
To give another example, if one was to run close to the speed of light, the time that affects that person would only be half of the time that affects us.



Calling me by name... Even though I just decided to restrain myself, it looks like Makise Kurisu wants to pick a fight with me.



Truly, the example of time travel that Makise Kurisu just made isn't really time travel. She nonchalantly accepts the objection.

"You can even go into the past right now. Peek at the sky at night with a telescope. You can see light from tens of thousands of years ago, can't you?
Well, what I've said until now has been an introduction. Practically, for example, let's think about the first thing necessary to make a time machine that could physically move someone to the past or future.
Let's consider the cosmic string theory and the wormhole theory. A cosmic string is a cord-shaped 'crevice' which has an extremely large mass."



"Since it has extremely large mass, it has the ability to distort space-time. If you were to attempt a full rotation within that distortion in the cosmic string, you might rotate less than 360 degrees. In other words, you are able to do something resembling a warp... this is called space-time angle deficit. Due to the loss of angle, if an object was to pass through the area with angle deficit, the time passing for that object would become 0.
By applying this, and assuming that a cosmic string moves at a speed close to the speed of light... according to the theory of relativity, the time of the cosmic string becomes slower than the time of the surroundings. Passing through the distorted angle deficit would make the time passage, which was originally 0, become negative. So, with the use of 2 cosmic strings, a space deficit jump can occur. If an object was to travel within that space deficit towards one location and then back to the original spot, it would return at the same time at which it entered."



"1: Cosmic strings, 2 of them. They are hypothesized to only exist in the space where the universe was first formed, so they might be a little hard to find.
2: Even if you successfully find them, you would need energy that would make them move at a speed close to the speed of light."



"3: A space-ship that would be able to travel towards the location of the cosmic strings and back. What do you think, Hououin? Would you like to attempt cosmic string based time travel?"

There's no way I can do that. And why the hell is she addressing me?

"Hm? Looks like Hououin is not willing to try out the cosmic string theory."