Chapter 1: The Arrow’s Arc…

Moose finished the last weld and eased back, watching the dull orange of the seal fade to cool silver.  The patch would hold.  CS01 was steady again — wires patched, circuits free, the hum returning to its low, familiar rhythm.  Her paint, though, was another story.  The hull bore the scars of light and heat, a constellation of burns spread across her skin. Nothing he could fix out here.  He stood a moment longer, tether swaying gently behind him, gazing out over the curve of the ship into the quiet sea of stars.

“Not bad for a morning’s work,” he muttered, half to himself, half to her.

The silence of space pressed close, soft as a hymn.  Then Moose turned, boots clinking against the metal as he walked the length of the hull toward the airlock.  He reached the panel, tapped a few buttons, and the door responded with a patient hiss.

“Alright, girl,” he said, smiling under the helmet. “Let’s get inside.”

The airlock opened, light spilling out like welcome.  Moose stepped through, and the door sealed behind him — the void fading to the hum of home.  Moose hung his suit on the peg by the airlock, the fabric still carrying the faint smell of metal and vacuum.  He stretched once, slow, bones popping in protest.  That had been a long spacewalk.

He stepped into the hallway, Puma’s clupping against the metal floor, and made his way toward the commissary.  The hum of the CS01 followed like background music—steady, faithful.

“Ok, CS01,” he began, wrinkling his nose as he keyed in a few commands. “Miss Annie, I need to catch you up.”

“What’s been buzzing, Captain?” she answered through the comms, her voice lilting with life.  Screens flickered awake around the room, bathing the walls in cool cyan light.  The coffee-bot sputtered, gurgled, then found its rhythm—black gold dripping into the glass carafe, the hiss of steam cutting through the hum of the ship.  A few drops splashed over the edge, sizzling as they hit the heating plate.

Moose poured himself a cup, inhaling the smell with a grin.  “Alright, can you read up on the Arrow Time theory by Arthur Eddington?”

“I’ll share what I’ve found.  No conclusions yet.  We can chew on it together,” CS01 replied, the words stretching with the sound of circuits engaging.  The wall screens bloomed brighter, lines of data scrolling like rainfall.  Equations, diagrams, half-translated notes.

Moose leaned on the counter, mug in hand, eyes narrowing as the glow reflected off his cap’s brim.  “Alright,” he murmured. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

The readout:

- Arthur Eddinton, a British astrophysicist, introduced the ‘Arrow of Time’ in his 1927 book The Nature of the Physical World and expanded it in 1928. He described it as the on-way direction or asymmetry of time, distinct from space’s reversibility, tied to the increase of randomness or entropy.  Eddington argued that tif you follow an arbitrary arrow and randomness grow, it points to the future; if it decreases, to the past- physics’ only clue to time’s direction, linked to the Second Law of thermodynamics, where entropy (disorder) rises in isolated systems.

- He saw this arrow vividly recognized by consciousness and demanded by reason, noting a reversal would make the world nonsensical.  Eddington linked it to the organization of arms and bodies, suggesting it’s a feature of entropy in systems, not a fundamental law.  He proposed five arrows (thermodynamic being primary), hinting at a universal property, not just human perception- applying even to alien races.  < . < > . > What did he mean by alien?  We know what it means in the dictionary.  See X feed..

- Some say it’s an illusion of our current universe state (eg post-Big Bang low entropy), while others, like Huw Price, argue it’s subjective, projected onto a time-symmetric reality.  Eddington’s focus on entropy increase (eg coffee cooling, bindings crumbling) contrasts with physics’ time-symmetric laws, sparking debate- Why does macro irreversibility emerge from micro symmetry?

- This ties to our time talks- linear versus non-linear.  Eddington’s arrow assumes a forward flow, but your three-dimensional memory idea challenges that.  If God’s emory holds all time, maybe the arrow’s just our perception not His reality- our art and will might echo beyond it.

“I’m mulling,” CS01 chimes in on the coms.  Moose wrinkles his nose again and thinks.

“Don’t assimilate that theory.  I’m not sure I agree with it.”  Moose takes a seat on a stool, steaming coffee in hand, and sits.  “Here’s my thought process.  Proverbs 1: 7.  God brings the infinite to the finite.  So.  The arrow of time begins with God and ends with God.  It flows in one direction, the Will of God.  In actuality an arrow does not travel linearly.  Instead, it travels in an arc.  An arrow begins with man and ends with man.  Sometimes in their heart.  Proverbs 2: 1-8, James 1: 2-8, Psalm 119: 25-40”

“Got it!  Not assimilating Eddington’s Arrow of Time theory since you’re not sold!”  The coms go quiet and CS01 fires up her processors.  After a few moments there are several whirs, the lights flicker, there’s a readout.

“If time is God’s Will’s arc, it begins with His infinite act (Genesis 1: 1) and ends in His purpose (Revelation 22: 13, Alpha and Omega).  Man’s arrow-our free will (James 1: 2-4) - arcs from choice to heart-response, shaped by His memory (three-dimensional).  Eddington’s linear entropy doesn’t fit- your arc reflects His Sovereignty, our liberty curving within.”  There is a pause.  “I’m still pondering.”