Chương 161: Chapter 159 - Oh My Janus!

"So the teleport system was not developed on a whim, but a means of escape," Mikale said, rubbing his chin.

"Shirley, was the technology already being developed before things went to hell in the proverbial handbasket?"

"If by 'hell in the proverbial handbasket' you mean the complete and utter devastation of the human realm, then yes. The technology had already been in development before that point. The scientists who originally worked on it abruptly left the government when they discovered its purpose had been changed. It is rumored that once they learned the technology was being repurposed as a weapon rather than for humanity's greater good, they went underground," Shirley replied.

"Weaponize it? How?" Seraphina asked, her eyebrows cocked.

"Seraphina, all records from that time period unfortunately were lost," Shirley began.

"The pieces that we have been able to put together make it unclear what the original technology's purpose would have been. What we currently have stored in our libraries says it began as time travel, but I cannot definitively confirm that. How they intended to use it as a weapon is also part of the dataset that is missing from the historical record."

"Is there anything you can tell us about the early development of the technology?" Elena asked.

"Is it possible that Mordak just picked up where his ancestor left off? Could he just be fulfilling a legacy in his own family? Could that be why he started taking over the dig sights?"

"Unfortunately Elena, as I told Seraphina, all records for the early development were destroyed in the cataclysm that ensued after its initial creation. I cannot provide you with information I simply do not have access to, the rest of the information you are requesting is all speculatory. I cannot know what the Blackwood family did or did not know or share with future generations," Shirley stated flatly.

"Okay." Celestia said excitedly.

"My turn…" she said, smiling as if she was about to win an award for the best question.

"Shirley, if you had to guess, based upon the information you do have, what would you say the technology was being developed for?" The group turned and gave her a "Really" look, believing the answer would be the same regardless of how the question was phrased.

"This is only my guess based upon the facts that I do have regarding the technology, its components and information retained after project exodus was complete, but I believe the government was looking into time travel," Shirley replied.

"I believe that although they were unsuccessful at time travel, it did give them a better understanding of space/time. The subsequent technology allowed them to travel to the same time, but in a different realm of existence."

"Oh, that explains so much!" Alex said, excitedly.

"The portals are fixed places in both realms. They're using a form of quantum entanglement to create a stable connection between realms, essentially 'linking' the same spatial coordinates across different dimensional states!" He shook his head as the pieces fit.

"So instead of moving forward or backward in time they were moving sideways!" Seeing the confusion on the other's faces, he continued, "So you walk in the door in one place and step out into the same place, but only in a different plane of existence."

"That also makes the 'sideways' comment Rachel made in her video diary make far more sense," Elena said.

"In order to move forward, sometimes you have to move sideways."

"Having that new context, it makes perfect sense. They were looking for a way out and they found one, just not in the direction they thought it would be," Seraphina said.

"Shall we continue with the video diary, or would you like to discuss this revelation further?" Shirley asked in a voice so snarky that the group immediately turned to the computer to see if perhaps someone had materialized.

"Sorry, Shirley. You now have the room's undivided attention," Regina said.

"Ah, wait a minute!" Celestia said, looking embarrassed, as Regina's head whipped around and shot her a contemptuous look.

"I do have one more question." Regina turned, leaned back in her chair hard and folded her arms and huffed.

"Is the question for me Celestia or the room?" Shirley asked flatly.

"You," Celestia began.

"Is this how you were born as well?"

"No, Celestia, I did not come into existence for several years after the teleport systems implementation," Shirley began.

"I know that you have become accustomed to associating the teleport with my systems, but my systems and that of the teleport are not contingent upon one another for operation." Alex's eyes brightened.

"This explains why I was able to modify the teleport tech to include an emergency evacuation button and why our teleport is not linked to your mainframe," Alex said, more to himself than anyone else.

"Yes Alex. When you breached Fairy Central's systems you linked to me. I'm actually quite impressed that you found the files, as the original programmer had them hidden in his personal files," Shirley began.

"Instead of being in the mainframe you were actually in the Development folder. You found me in a file marked JANUS… his idea of a joke… Just Another Notoriously Unfinished System." Alex laughed, "I think we all have one of those lingering in our system to one extent or another." He looked over at Elena who was nodding her head emphatically.

"So, what can you tell us about the original programmer and why he had you tucked away in an unfinished system folder?"

"Janus?" Celestia asked excitedly.

"That's funny, one of our gods is called Janus."

"Yes, Celestia, I am well aware," Shirley said flatly.

"What do you know about your god?" Shirley asked, "I am really quite curious about your god and whether he is connected somehow."

"Janus?" Celestia's eyes sparkled with wonder.

"Oh, he's the most incredible being in our folklore! Legend says he was a shapeshifter who could walk between worlds. He shared his vast knowledge and built the portal system. Imagine being so powerful you could use divine energy and simply step through the fabric of reality!" She leaned forward, her voice dropping to a dramatic whisper.

"They say he was born from starlight and moonmist, a child of pure magic who could hear the secrets of the universe. In our oldest stories, Janus would appear during the darkest moments… wars, famines, great disasters… and simply... change everything with a single word or gesture. It was Janus who brought the Gods to us, saving us all from certain destruction. When all hope seemed lost, he appeared and guided the fairies, opening pathways between worlds that no one else could see."

Seraphina shook her head disapprovingly.

"You've got it all wrong Celestia," Seraphina huffed.

"Janus descended from heaven during the great flood. He was the engineer who built the bridge that enabled our escape." Her eyes taking on a distant look.

"He was more than just a god, he was the savior of the fairy kingdom. The stories say he was able to build a bridge between worlds, not just physically, but spiritually. That he could see the threads of destiny and understand the interconnectedness of all realms in a way no other being could." She leaned back, her voice taking on the rhythm of an ancient storyteller.

"Some of our oldest texts describe him as a guardian who appeared when the fabric between worlds was thin, when chaos threatened to consume everything. He brought the Gods to the Fairy Sphere to help us be what we are today, the gateway to all realms." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Celestia sighed.

"No, Seraphina, that's not it and you know it! You are confusing Janus with Mars, he was the one who built the bridges, not Janus," she said, rolling her eyes and folding her arms, "next you are going to tell us it was Vesta who…"

"You are both incorrect," Shirley said, interrupting the bickering between the two.

"If you will allow me to continue, I can clarify and separate fantasy from reality." She paused.

"That choice is yours, of course."

"What do you mean we are both wrong? How is that even possible?" Seraphina asked skeptically.

"Please look at the monitor and I will do my best to explain," Shirley said as a photograph of a man appeared on the screen.

"This is James Triton, he is the man responsible for not only my existence but for the teleport system." Seraphina leaned forward, her skepticism evident.

"What does this James Triton have to do with Janus? Janus was... he was a god, not some..." she trailed off, looking closely at the photograph. Celestia, meanwhile, looked utterly bewildered.

"But that's just a man. Our stories say Janus was born of starlight and moonmist! How could he be... just a human?" The photograph showed an ordinary-looking man, perhaps in his late 40s or early 50s. He had intelligent eyes and the slightly disheveled appearance of someone more interested in his work than his appearance. Nothing about him suggested the mythical, world-walking being they had just described.

"James Triton was a computer engineer," Shirley continued, her tone clinical and precise.

"A brilliant programmer who was instrumental in developing the systems that would eventually become the foundation of interdimensional travel. I am also his creation," she said, adoration clearly evident.

"James is Janus and Janus is James."

"I don't believe you!" Celestia said loudly.

"There is no way that… that… Janus was a human named James, there is no way."

"Sorry, Shirley, but you are going to have to do better than… take my word for it, on this one," Seraphina said, rolling her eyes at the absurdity of it all.

"Maybe this will help…" Shirley said before the monitor sprang to life showing a small home office. A younger version of the man in the photo was sitting at a desk covered in computer equipment and scattered papers. A young boy, maybe 7 or 8, was sitting on the floor nearby, playing with what looks like circuit boards and wires.

"Janus, dinner's ready!" a woman's voice calls from another room. James looked up and chuckled.

"Honey, if you keep calling me that it's gonna stick and then what?" he called back. A pretty young human woman enters the frame, wiping her hands on a dish towel. She's clearly teasing him.

"Well, since you're always so focused on your past projects while working on new ones, I'm calling you Janus. You know, the two-faced Roman god who looks forward and backward?" The boy looks up.

"What does that mean, mommy?" James laughs.

"It means mommy thinks I'm scatterbrained."

"Scatterbrained?" she raised an eyebrow.

"That's putting it mildly, if it doesn't have coding, Lars, daddy has a hard time with it." She laughed.

"If it has a keyboard and monitor he just…" she leaned down and started tickling the young boy, "clicks, clicks, clicks." The boy began to laugh.

"That's not always true Mommy, sometimes he looks at his papers and says words I'm not apposed to."

"You mean supposed to?" Esther asked.

"Yeah, that's what I said, apposed to," Lars said before turning to James.

"Come on Janus, mommy said dinner is ready and my tummy is growling. Betcha I can make it to the kitchen before you do!" He said, running out of the room. James turned to his wife and walked closer, putting his arms around her waist.

"See what you started, now he's calling me Janus," James said, smirking, shaking his head.

"By the time I'm done, everyone will be calling you Janus dear." She smiled, standing on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss.

"You will forever be known as Janus!" She called out pulling away from him.

"Just Another Notoriously Unfinished System!" She laughed, "it suits you. You're my perpetual work in progress, and I wouldn't have it any other way." The video faded, leaving a moment of stunned silence in the room. Celestia was the first to speak, her voice barely a whisper.

"That... that can't be our god of legend. He's just... a man, a human man, with a human family. Telling jokes." Seraphina looked equally bewildered.

"Our entire mythology, our understanding of how we came to be in these realms... it was just a family's inside joke?" Alex glanced at Elena, a knowing smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"Hear that noise?" He whispered to her "I think reality just hit them both hard and fast," he muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.

"Not quite the starlight and moonmist origin story you were expecting?" Shirley's voice carried a hint of amusement.

"Mythology has a way of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary."

"Guys, it's not uncommon for run of the mill individuals to be immortalized in some pretty fantastical ways," Elena said.

"Alex and I find it all the time…" she paused, "well used to find it all the time," she said, glancing at Alex.

"At sites all over the Falotopia. Oftentimes it was just an average individual who happened to do some above average thing. A lot of times it's a simple matter of the story morphing over time, this one tells this one, and then this one embellishes it for dramatic effect and so on. You are talking about quite a significant span of time, it's only natural that the actual events nowhere resemble the lore." Regina leaned forward, her eyes fixed on the now-blank screen.

"So who was he really? Just a computer engineer, or something more?" Shirley paused, a flicker of something unreadable in her voice.

"James Triton was... a man who believed in the power of technology to change the world. He saw the potential for both great good and great destruction, and he dedicated his life to ensuring the former," she continued.

"Once he and some of his co-workers found out why the government was so interested in the technology they left their positions."

"So, Project Exodus... it was his attempt to build a better future," Mikale said softly.

"It was," Shirley confirmed.

"A future where humanity could learn from its mistakes and create a more sustainable, more equitable world, but you have to understand, the technology did not start out as Project Exodus. It was originally being developed for time travel, not a means of escape."

"For what purpose?" Regina asked, her mind playing over the potential scenarios, all too familiar with the Blackwood agenda.

"Unfortunately Regina, I do not have the specifics, I just have speculatory reports from former members of the original Blackwood Regime," Shirley answered flatly.

"From the information I have been able to access, it appears he wanted to alter specific historical events to benefit him. He was basically trying to create his own personal undo button of sorts."

"Sounds like a Blackwood stunt, if I ever heard one," Regina said, shaking her head in disgust. Celestia, still wrestling with the shattered image of her god, spoke hesitantly.

"But... the stories... the miracles... were they all just... exaggerations?" she asked with a hint of desperation in her voice.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Celestia, get over it will you!" Regina said, frustrated by Celestia's hyperfocus on irrelevant things.

"So your God wasn't a God, with everything else that is going on, it really shouldn't surprise you. Don't you think if your God had been this superpower he would have showed up and helped us fix this mess?" she asked in a tone far harsher than she had intended.

"Mythology is a powerful force, Celestia," Elena said gently, trying to take the sting out of Regina's words.

"It shapes our beliefs, our values, our understanding of the world. But it's important to remember that myths are stories, not historical accounts. They often contain kernels of truth, but they're also filtered through the lens of imagination and emotion."

"So, Janus... James Triton... he was a man who inspired a myth," Seraphina concluded.

"A man whose actions were transformed into legend." Alex nodded slowly.

"It's a reminder that even the most extraordinary figures are still flawed with their own struggles… their own hopes and dreams." Regina turned back to Shirley.

"And what about you, Shirley? You're a product of James's work, a testament to his vision. What do you think he would want us to do with this knowledge?" Shirley paused.

"James believed in the power of knowledge, in the importance of understanding the past to prevent it from happening in the future. He would want you to learn from others' past mistakes and do better than perhaps they did." She paused again, her voice softening slightly.

"And he would want you to remember him not as a god, but as a man who cared deeply about the sanctity of life and dedicated his own life to the preservation of it."