The IPP Time Code Field Guide (Revised)

The IPP Time Code Field Guide

  First Edition

  Copyright © _VDCCLXXI

  The Council of the Interdimensional Police Personnel. There may be no infringements to this code throughout all time.

  This guide is written for Interdimensional Police Officers to be able to make judgements in the field. The ultimate concern for any officer of the time line is whether stopping or interfering with time/dimensional transgressors will cause an ultimately catastrophic event to that reality. This guide will give the main rulings for and guidance concerning adverse time events and their resolution.

  Section 1 Time Travel

  Section 2 Interdimensional Travel

  All time travel causes changes to the time line.

  All a time traveller need do is to swat a fly that would have landed on a general’s meal to kill him, changing all of world history. Or they may sneeze on a peasant who dies of a cold and Napoleon was never born.

  1.All time travel can cause adverse changes to the timeline.

  All a time traveller need do is stop somebody from swatting a fly to allow a mass murderer to live. Or they may sneeze into a handkerchief and allow Napoleon to live.

  2.Is it bad if the timeline is changed?

  If we think of time as a straight line and not as wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff then it travels from beginning to end from a to b. Wars, plagues, murders, natural disasters all occur without being interfered with. If a war, or a plague, or a natural disaster is stopped or started then the timeline is changed, and it takes a moral decision to say whether the effect on the timeline is good or bad (see moral decisions.) The decision must not bend the timeline too far in one direction or it may end up causing a catastrophic event.

  3.Is it bad if the timeline is changed for the worse?

  To answer this question we must know what has happened to the timeline. This is why Xanadu exists partly in the realm of non-space, outside of time, where the entire length or wibbly wobbliness of time can be seen. If the timeline is changed adversely, millions more people may die or one person dies, or a planet is destroyed or an eco system collapses then the overall effect upon time needs to be looked at.

  4.Is it bad if the timeline is changed for the better?

  Who among us has not wished to visit each adverse event in his or her life and change it? With the Interdimensional Wrist Transporter this is possible. However, by taking the bad events away we change the character of our nature and may become that which we do not want. For adversity builds character. But how far down this road should we travel? We must not forget that we cannot bend time too far in any one direction and though we may want to stop an evil dictator from genocide, to do so might actually cause more death further along the line. This is why the Time Resolutions Program should be consulted before any major IPP intervention. (See Time Resolutions Program.)

  5.Minor infractions of the time code.

  Theft of intellectual property, whether it be a song or an invention and its attribution to a person from the past or future who is not its progenitor is a minor infraction. Also included in this section is the concealment of treasure and its subsequent finding by either an observer of the concealer or the concealer themselves in the future. Any event that would save or destroy a life that is of no historical significance whatsoever. (However this is extremely rare the further you get back in time.)

  6.Major infractions of the time code.

  Any event that causes too big a bend in the timeline will cause a catastrophic collapse of the timeline.

  One small event in the deepest mists of time, such as a broken toe, may cause a catastrophic collapse. A time officer will not be able to discern whether a catastrophic collapse will occur from that time and would need to consult his hand held PC and the Time Resolutions Portable app immediately. However, because the app may not be able to make a good and uninterrupted contact with Xanadu, the officer would need to return to Xanadu, if there is any doubt about the change in timeline, and consult the main TR program. If the officer has to return to the maleficious time event then it is imperative that they take paradox pills. Moreover, if the broken toe was caused because of the time officer’s actions then, the further back in time they are, it is safe to assume that a catastrophic collapse is likely to occur sometime in the future and to resolve it there and then by stopping the event before it started.

  7.Paradoxes.

  A paradox is caused by the time traveller travelling to the past and causing the death of either him/herself or of a close relative so that he or she would not exist in the future. This is called a temporal paradox an example of this is the grandfather paradox where a time traveller accidentally kills his or her grandfather and therefore there is no ancestor to create his /her father and ultimately them.

  a.Bootstrap Paradox

  This is caused in the following way. A time traveller goes to visit him/herself in the past to give him/herself the blueprints of a time travel machine. The time traveller in the past uses the blueprints to create the time machine that he/she will eventually use to travel back in time to give him/herself the blueprints. Logically there is an anomaly with the age of the blueprints, they age by a non-zero amount. Unless the blueprints are coated with Anti-Paradox Dust then a paradox occurs causing a catastrophic event.

  Moral Decisions

  Where it is within the power of the IPP officer to stop evil occurring which does not affect the timeline in a catastrophic way then said officer may stop the event. However, other untold consequences may ensue from the intervention that may cause more evil, and this should be taken into consideration with reference to the Time Resolution Program.

  Paradox Pills

  Paradox pills produce a Novikov self consistency effect, which stops either an exploding universe or a double headed time traveller. The Blinovitch rule is that two instances of the same object cannot exist in the same space. Paradox pills surround the time traveller in a film of anti time paradox particles.

  Time Resolutions Program

  The main time Resolution Program is contained in the Xanadu database. It has a pure timeline archetype matrix that contains an undiluted timeline before any time travel event has affected it. Even the smallest variations are recorded and plotted. It can compute whether a small event will eventually lead to a catastrophic time event or not and should be consulted by all IPP’s before they go on a time rescue mission.

  Time Wars

  Time Wars are usually caused by time criminals who try to change the events of history for a cause or to line their own pockets. The events themselves could cause a catastrophic collapse to the timeline. As time officers go to intervene then the criminals move to a different time to try to cause other events and outwit the time cops. Some time wars are created by warlike races and cultures from different planets in the science fiction dimension.

  Interdimensional Travel

  There are seven dimensions, fantasy, science fiction, romance, war, superhero, horror and the inaptly named cowboy/detective dimension, that can be accessed by the IPP. The Hoo Timelord created the seven dimensions by using his time machine to sew up seven pockets in the time space continuum then seeding the core planets with people. The evil Hoo introduced genetically altered humans and other creatures onto the core planets just before they took refuge in the anti-matter/alternate universe. The Hoo Timelord separated these genetic mutants into the respective dimensions they exist in now. He also made sure that certain key events happened to coincide with real earth history so that all dimensions had an archetypal plan. Of the races of men the first to discover interdimensional travel were the elves. To curtail blatant and exploitative between dimensions the Timelord cre
ated Xanadu on the edge of non-space and time and founded the Interdimensional Police Force. Interdimensional Police Personnel are usually chosen from people who live near the end of time and from each dimension. This is because they innately have an understanding of what the timeline should look like in each of their respective dimensions.

  Is interdimensional travel allowable under the time code?

  Yes, interdimensional travel is allowable under the dimensional code. What is not allowable is interdimensional travel moving resources, weapons, genetic material, drugs or slaves from one dimension to the other. This would cause a moral dilemma that the IPP would have to deal with.

  Are there any exceptions to the above rulings?

  Interdimensional travellers are allowed to take three weapons with them for personal safety reasons. They may also take chattels and medication for their own personal use. When it becomes an issue is when travellers abuse the rules. So for three weapons they may cite a Death Star, a battle cruiser and a Varon T disruptor, or moving tons of coffee beans stating they have a caffeine addiction. Each dimension and each culture of each different earth are individual and need to be treated as such. Information pertaining to each dimensional earth and its subsequent civilisations is kept in the main database at Xanadu. Those IPP officers hailing from their respective home earths and cultures are a good source of general knowledge about legal infractions of the dimensional code within their sphere of influence.

  Are there times when the IPP should not interfere in interdimensional infractions?

  The IPP can only do so much. If there is an interdimensional war, with a greatly increased amount of infractions, then they need only deal with those that are threatening to the officers themselves or those that would cause the destruction of IPP property and outposts.

  Time Travel and Interdimensional Travel

  This can be particularly nasty.