TERMINOLOGY
TERRA FERMA vs IFTs (Inadmisible Future Trajectories)
When a traveler goes forward in time, (s)he lands up in an IFT. Now, what is an IFT? Well, it’s a timeline that is born as a result of traveling forward in time. But this timeline, like the Schrodinger cat, both exists and doesn’t exist at the same time. Let me elaborate. As long as the time traveler stays in the future, that timeline or the IFT will exist. Soon as the time traveler returns or dies, the IFT, or timeline, will cease to exist. Events on this IFT are only possibilities. This means that the Original Timeline, called the Terra Firma, will not necessarily go through the same events of the IFT.
O´Connor recorded it in July 2014 and the Terminus at that time was marked at December 2017.
He revealed that The Vardogger had "swallowed" Njoky and the SEAL team that went in to retrieve him.
He told Shannon to show him the message as soon as she got back to Terra Ferma.
Even though Shannon wasn´t able to board her ship, she returned to the exact time where she had left.
She explains what are Hydelkrugger´s intentions and wants to request a "pre-crime warrant". What for?
Information she brought:
- Libra was caught inside the Vardogger.
- Carla Durr would die in three days. They tried to save her but neither Carla nor Dr Dricoll appeared at the food court. Carla had been arrested, questioned and released.
Summarise the epilogue and elaborate on your thoughts about it. Did it do justice to the story?
BUTTERFLY IN A BELL JAR
This concept is that in case someone on the IFT gets to know that there is a time traveler, that person realizes that their entire reality is only an IFT. And that soon as the traveler heads back, their reality will collapse. To ensure that doesn’t happen, that person might capture the time traveler and keep him/her alive to preserve the IFT. Time travelers need to ensure that they don’t get themselves into this scenario.
Mention some differences between this IFT and the one on the first trip to 2015.
In her second trip, she arrives in a different IFT. In this IFT, Nestor is working with Karl.
Ask about Carla Durr and Doctor Driscoll. (Mursult was planning on selling the information and that´s why he sent her lawyer (Carla) to meet Driscoll (who had political connections that wanted to buy it)
Driscoll´s simulation appeared in Shannon´s room.
Who is Petal/Vivian/ Shauna? Why was she relevant? She had dated Richard Harrier and she was the one who killed Doctor Driscoll. Hydelkrugger had told Richard to kill Driscoll because he was part of the chain.
People start losing their minds due to one specific fenomenon in the sky? What was it?
And what other event coincided with it and how was it considered a crime scene?
The White Hole coincided with the launch of the Onyx.
All the crew members were dead:
Driscoll
Carla Durr
Senator
Admiral
Shannon felt guilty because she thought that she should have let Carla Durr die.
LIBRA - ESPERANCE - MUTINY - TERMINUS
In 1985, Libra was one of 12 ships part of the Zodiac Mission that was commissioned to travel into the future. Unfortunately for Libra, they found themselves in the vicinity of a planet called Esperance that was being consumed by the Terminus. The officers on the ship were – Patric Mursult, Karl Hyldekrugger, Elizabeth Remarque, and a few others. Nicole Onyongo is a person from a far future that joined the ship and its crew, abandoning her own IFT.
After realizing that the Terminus is latched on to Libra, Remarque suggests that they should all head to a far future and commit mass suicide. That way they don’t go back to Earth, they don’t take the Terminus back with them, no one gets to know about Esperance, and Earth will be safe. While one part of the crew is okay with this, Karl, along with his supporters, kills Remarque and everyone in favour of the suicide. They do this merely because they don’t want to die. Libra gets caught in a time knot on Earth after this. This time knot brings together multiple IFTs and times together at one place. The crew of Libra moves on and lives under the radar while Earth thinks Libra just disappeared.
Why does Karl spare her life? What does he do instead?
Just as he is about to kill Shannon, she announces that she’s from the past and killing her will make the 2015 IFT disappear.
Shannon finds a letter written by Patrick Mulsult, what does it say?
THE VARDOGGER
When Karl drags Shannon through the time knot to Libra, what does he explain is the main motive for his killing spree? What does he want her to do?
What revelation does Shannon face there?
Karl also Shannon that the reason the Terminus is getting closer is that the NSC is too greedy and once they find out about Esperance, they will head to that planet. Hence Karl is killing anybody who gets to know about Libra and Esperance. Inside Libra, Karl locks up Shannon like a butterfly in a bell jar.
He wants Shannon to go back to Terra Ferma and destroy the machine that wil bring the Terminus.
Shannon passes the field where she sees a dead version of herself being consumed by QTPs. This dead Shannon is the initial Shannon we are introduced to in 2199. She realises she is an echo.
Why does O´Connor tell Shannon not to go back to Terra Ferma? Does she obey? What are the repercussions of her actions?
Nicole Onyongo plays a significant role in this final part of the chapter, both in connection with Shannon´s past and her possible future. Why?
She meets two Nicoles here.
We don’t know the date, but Shannon is at a time when the mutiny is happening on Libra. Shannon meets a very young Nicole and asks for help but gets none. Moments later, much older version of Nicole shows up to help Shannon claiming that they had met days before. Now, remember that Libra is caught in the center of the time knot thanks to the time-travel engine on board leading to multiple IFTs. Older Nicole, like the crew of the Libra, can navigate the time-knot to get to the ship. Shannon gets free and passes through the time knot to get back to her time.
In the end, Shannon realises that there is only one way of saving the Earth. Explain the ending.
Shannon finally realizes that since the time Libra first traveled to the future in 1985, everything that has happened with the Terminus is inside an IFT (which child IFTs). The entire story we’ve been witnessing has been an IFT. Which means that if the Libra crew died during the time of the mutiny, this IFT and all the child IFTs leading to the Terminus being brought back would disappear. Shannon learns of a black hole that Elizabeth Remarque was trying to set off on the Libra to kill everyone. Shannon gets to the device and triggers that black hole wiping out Libra and everyone on it. In this process she erases her IFT and everything that goes with it.