Time is a fluid.

As so many other authors in the past have mentioned with time travel stories, time just doesn't like to be pinned down, and the more you try to do to keep it the same, the more that it changes. I think that this is even more evident in reverse. The more that you change, the greater the chaqnges become given just a little time.

Think of it as ripples in a pond.

In our own lives, we see it with the introduction of things like EverQuest or Cell Phones. Even greater has been the impact of so-called Smart Phones. Our lives now are so much different that they used to be even ten years ago, let alone twenty. I remember, from my personal Geek heritage, when DOS was considered the king of all operating systems. I even uninstalled Windows 3.11 because of the problems it caused with the speed of my machine.

I loved all of my controllable Batch Files, and I even knew how to make interactive menus with them.

Yes, this is geekier than most of you can probably stand.

Windows 95 changed the market. Sure, I hear some of you Apple diehards say that MAc OS was first and did it better, but I have to disagree. Even with all of the problems that it had, Windows 95 brought the GUI interface to the masses, and in so doing, changed the world forever.

I personally believe that without Windows 95, the internet would never have come into it's own.

What does this have to do with the story you ask?

Everything and nothing at the same time.

There was a time when CPU speeds were doubling every six months. That is no longer happening. We've reached a plateau, and nothing that the engineers do is fixing that. Sure, they still get faster, but at a glacial pace compared to what used to be happening.

We've reached the limit of what technology can do for us.

Unless we can manipulate things, accurately, on a smaller scale.

Enter a world where someone, seven years ago, figured out how to actually make nanotechnology feasable. In seven years, a lot has changed, and a lot has remained the same. I'll not go into all of the changes, as that is part of what a good story is all about.

I am simply here writing a few of my thoughts as to the why of what I'm doing.

No, there are certain falacies that I willingly court in the writing of this story. That is the author's perogative. I recognize tham and accept them. That doesn't mean that the story is falacious. All it means is that I accept bending the rules a little bit in order to explain certain parts of the story.

This is the reason it's called 'willing suspension of disbelief'.

Thank you, everyone, who reads this, as it really warms me when my works are read. I hope you enjoy the ride,

Liadan