You’ll never guess what was delivered to me yesterday: a bundle of hand-written letters, hundreds of them. At first, I thought it was some kind of joke, but the postman assured me that our Forensics Lab had performed some precursory analytics, and it appears to be real paper from an ancient version of Earth. And we’re talking old here. The writer still uses Earth Standard Time, for Gods’ sake. And from what the technicians said, this is either the real deal or the best fake they’ve ever seen.
Every single letter is postmarked Feb 29, 3053 EST, several million of his Earth’s years old. We have no idea where they’ve been or how they got to us. They obviously couldn’t have been sitting around all that time, though, or they would have decomposed into nothing by then. And I’m not sure if I’m imagining it, but I swear that the grease stain on the front page still smells like HyperChicken™.
I went ahead and had the first letters transcribed, so your screen reader shouldn’t have an issue with them. The others just get… worse. I can send them to you if you want, but I’m not going to lie to you, Vallis, it’s bleak. I wouldn’t wish this man’s fate against my worst enemies, and this guy… he didn’t deserve it. He doesn’t exactly read as the most resilient of people to begin with.
I’m still mulling over the full ramifications of these letters, and even if the probe turns up something, I’m not sure if I’m willing to potentially sacrifice everything for the sake of one civilian. You know I’m not a physicist, but I know that every entry into interdimensional territory has led to the near annihilation of existence as we know it – that’s why our department intercepted it. This is a massive risk to Intertemporal Security.
You and I both know there are forces out there much greater than we could begin to comprehend, and even so much as touching them has destroyed entire galaxies. But that’s not what I’ve envisioned here. If I understand current TimeSpace™ theory – and I don’t claim to; that’s why I’m sending it to you – I believe this man is stuck. I believe he’s created a knot in time, a loop that he’s trapped in, alive but unable to escape, unable to sleep, and unable to die.
But I’d like to hear your opinion. Especially on the topic of how these letters got to us. That’s still the mystery I’m most hung up on. I mean, how the poor fool even stumbled into this mess in the first place would be an interesting question as well, but I imagine that’s more the realm of speculation for philosophers, not physicists. But if you do have any speculations there, I’d value your input.
If there’s anything we can do to help this poor, doomed soul, I beseech you to try.
I’ll be in touch,
Commander Bri