Virtual Reality And More On The Holont

Starfarers.

Nansen adventures in virtual reality and wishes he hadn't because his companion in the adventure is the dead Jean Kilbirnie. We also notice that:

"Two condors wheeled on high." (41, pp. 396-397)

See Birds Of Prey.

The Holont receive a message from their future selves.

Hawking thought that, since contradictions are impossible, time travel must also be impossible. However, although a time traveler cannot change the past, his "'...actions can be part of what did happen.'" (42, p. 398)

Kerr, Thorne and Tipler described time machines consistent with relativity but physically impossible, e.g.:

a torus as massive as a giant star with an impossibly large electric charge and magnetic field, rotating at near light speed;

an infinitely long cylinder denser than a nuclear particle, spinning at near light speed.

The Holont:

form massive but stable nuclei;

use electromagnetic forces to spin such nuclei at a required speed, density and field strength;

with this miniature Kerr smoke ring or Tipler cylinder or whatever it is, generate a space-time warp;

send energetic gamma-ray photons through the warp;

modulate the photons to bear information;

instruct their earlier selves in how to communicate with human beings;

know how to communicate with human beings because they remember the instruction that they received.