Derek has announced that he knows who mugged him, yet, is reticent to reveal the identity of the culprit.
In a moment of ingeniuous clarity, Derek explained. Knowing the identity of a Time Traveller who did a particular thing is of no use if you do not know when, in their personal timeline, they did the thing. If, for example, you take revenge on someone for some transgression before they commit that transgression then the mere fact of that revenge might cause that transgression. That would be a closed time loop paradox which, Derek, in what seems to be a lucid moment, maintains is a bad thing.
The problems for a Blockchain Ledger for Time Travellers are fairly hard problems. Some might even be insoluble. Even in alcohol. Derek has infrequent insights. Which he then communicates to me in slurred words. Which I then write down. Those insights precede frequent hangovers. Which, he then communicates to me in whispered words. Sometimes Derek whispers and slurs simultaneously. This is rare. It is an indication that something has gone very wrong.
Temporal Paradoxes have often plagued Derek. From the moment I met him. Arriving with a terrible hangover, Derek whispered that he would be getting incredibly drunk later but please could I talk more quietly as he had a terrible hangover. Which was a moment of confusion, for me. Sure enough, he did get drunk. Then he needed to travel forwards to the moment after he travelled back in order to avoid being trapped in a loop.
Derek calls it Knitting for Time Travellers.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the British Government recruited a lot of Women as Code Breakers. Because anybody who can understand a knitting pattern has the kind of mind that can understand code breaking. Derek announced that Knitting was the encryption method needed for a workable Blockchain for Time Travellers. I have to admit to being stumped. Which, given later revelations, stumps me even more.
Derek described knitting using a Time Machine as being able to surround a portion of space time with so many potential paradoxes for other Time Travellers that it would be impossible to enter that space time without disaster. You could hide all manner of really valuable things in plain sight, Derek whispered. And slurred. It was about this moment that Derek announced that, I know who mugged me, but revealing their identity would be a bit tricky.
Looking Derek in the eye, smiling, knowing the jig was up, I responded: it was me wasn't it?
Derek Gives Up On Time Travel: How It All Became Personal.
Derek Gives Up On Time Travel: The Thickening Of The Plot.
Derek Gives Up Time Travel: How It All Became Tense.
Derek Gives Up Time Travel: How It Unravelled.
Derek Gives Up Time Travel: How It Got All Complicated.
Derek Gives Up Time Travel: How It All Began.
