Chapter Seven

On 15 July 2001, Josef6 broke his silence.

Hi! -- He wrote -- I can see there’s been a lot of talk and speculation about my last post. Unfortunately, problems related to my mission and certain family issues have rendered me unable to respond as I would have liked to. I can say that I’m very gratified and kind of shocked at the outpouring of interest in what I’ve posted here. I guess its understandable and I should have expected it, but its sometimes difficult for me to keep in mind that things which are commonplace -- or at least accepted as fact -- in my time period are completely unknown in your time line.

I want to say a few important things right off the bat: first of all, some of you are placing a spiritual or moral import on these things. I have no such intentions -- or pretensions. Its not that I’m not flattered, but I’m not a prophet or a guru and definitely not a messiah. I’m just a soldier doing his duty. Believe me, I’m really not that interesting. I don’t know much more about this technology than you do, and in some ways its equally impressive and unbelievable to me. I think somebody once said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic to the primitive mind -- not that any of you have primitive minds, don’t take me the wrong way, I’m just trying to bring a few of you back down to earth where all of this is happening. Sorry to burst your bubble, but its just physics! Nothing magical or divine is happening here. I actually believe in God in a sort of vague, non-formalized way, like a lot of people in my time period -- we’re more religious but less dogmatic -- but I can assure you that no spiritual intervention was necessary to get me here and wont be necessary to get me back to where I came from.

The second thing is very important to me personally, and has been causing me a lot of conflicted emotions over the past few months, which is one of the reasons why I haven’t been in touch with you. Some of you have expressed the opinion that I am here to warn you or to push you towards actions which will change the future to which I will return. I think I made it pretty clear that any changes you could or would make in this time period would be unlikely to effect any outcome in my time period, unless there are serious unknown factors in terms of the compound nature of the multiverse, which is definitely possible. In any case, the possible outcomes of your timeline are as infinite as any other, so both you and I are basically powerless to influence the course of events in either continuum.

Having said this, I have been forced to reconsider some of my assumptions regarding my mission. It’s a pretty accepted theory in physics that just by observing certain phenomenon you change them, and I’ve done much more than simply observe all of you. I thought at first that I could engage myself anonymously with your time period through the medium of the internet while maintaining a safe distance. Now, I think that might have been a way of evading responsibility. I’ve been wondering if I have certain ethical responsibilities towards you as much as to my mission. For better or worse, I’ve made contact with you, and now I have to accept certain moral consequences just as you do.

The point I’m getting at is that even though it is probably pointless to reveal things to you about the future, it may not be. I’m not sure I have the right to withhold certain information from you if there’s even the possibility that it could change things for the better. On the other hand, I have to balance any information I might give you with my military and ethical responsibilities to my time period.

So, I’m going to confine myself to a few simple words of advice. I can’t reveal anything more than this, so please don’t ask me to.

There will be a major event on the east coast of the United States in 2010. You might want to be elsewhere.

If at all possible, acquire a water purification system and start storing your own water supply.

Learn how to shoot and maintain a weapon. I know this may be difficult for some of you, and I hope it wont be necessary, but if your timeline does end up following mine, it will be an absolute necessity, both for hunting your own food and defending your property.

I would get out of the stock market by 2005 at the very latest.

That’s all I can comfortably tell you right now. I’m keeping a close watch on certain developments in this time period -- mostly considered unimportant by your media -- and if I think it becomes necessary I may reveal more. For the moment, this will have to do. I hope you appreciate the dilemma I’ve been facing and the reasons I have for withholding -- for now -- any further information.

J6

The first response was, as should have been expected, from survivor69, and read as follows:

I TOLD YOU!!!!!!

Jennieruptha was on it a moment later.

Josef, I just want to say on behalf of those of us who care about and admire you that we totally understand the soul searching you must have been going through over the past few months, and we appreciate your taking this chance. You did a really beautiful and amazing thing today and we won’t let you down.

Bourbonstreet5 was conciliatory but triumphant.

Its nice to be vindicated, but I want to express my apologies to Josef if he felt in any way pressured by some of the things I posted here. I was wrong in assuming that he was really here to warn us in order to change his time period. I see now that the situation is much more complicated. I hope Josef will forgive me if I contributed to any conflicted feelings he might have had recently on this subject and thank him for this incredibly altruistic act. NOW ITS UP TO US PEOPLE!!!

Prettycrazygirl sounded the only note of concern.

Obviously, I’m as astounded and moved as everyone else about what Josef has told us. But we should remember that this is pretty scary stuff, folks. Stay away from the entire east coast in 2010? I don’t think we can have any doubts about what that means. Its the date of the Chinese nuclear attack. Everything else he’s telling us is how to survive after it happens. Is it inevitable? Are we totally helpless? What can we do to stop this before it happens? I think I speak for a lot of people here when I say that I’m more confused and frightened after reading this message than before it. I know Josef is only trying to help, but how can we even begin to deal with this kind of information? And according to him, its only the tip of the iceberg! Can you imagine if we knew everything he knows?

Jennieruptha was, as always, on hand for reassurance.

I understand, pretty, but remember, he’s telling us this because he thinks this may have a positive effect. In other words, he thinks this may be enough for us to make some real changes for the better. We can work with this. None of the terrible things Josef has told us about and warned us about have to happen. That’s exactly why he’s telling us these terrible things. I believe that if we band together and believe that we can change things for the better, we’ll succeed. This is the only thing that has ever changed things for the better. Josef knows this too. That’s why he’s taken such a risk in revealing these things. We should be grateful, not frightened, that he trusts us and believes in us enough to take that chance.

Jennieruptha, you see, was sure that she could read the mind of God.