Several days later.
"Yes, that's right, this is it..."
In the Baxter Building laboratory, Reed, who was linked mentally with Miles, saw the latest calculation results and couldn't help shouting.
With his manipulation, dozens of holographic screens before him changed at once. In the energy model equations that had never been able to close, the portion Miles had labeled "unknown loss" began rearranging itself.
[Introduce future boundary conditions, allow nonlocal temporal coupling] [Recalculate anomalous loss terms] [Fitting error: 17.3%] [8.6%] [1.21%] [0.047%]
"It's starting to close..."
Reed stared fixedly at that final set of numbers.
[The error still exists, but it is now acceptable]
Miles's calm voice sounded directly in his mind.
[After adding a time-direction variable, all previously unexplained energy losses have displayed a consistent trend]
The timeline, originally used only to record the system's evolution, was incorporated into the boundary conditions for the first time. They were no longer allowing only "the past determines the present." For the first time, the model allowed future states to participate in influencing current energy changes as well.
Immediately afterward, the massive model representing Galactus's energy state began extending forward. The energy that had seemed to vanish into thin air had not flowed back to some point in history. It was all directed toward the future!
[If recalculated according to four-dimensional spacetime, the effective flow direction of all missing energy points toward future boundary conditions...] [Mathematically, it is equivalent to the existence of an energy outlet leading into the "future"]
"But that shouldn't happen..."
Reed muttered rapidly, "Normal energy transfer must involve a causal process. A future result shouldn't draw energy away from the present in advance..."
``` [At the very least, it can no longer be explained as a simple spatial energy transfer]