We have noticed that we get a great many e-mails telling us about the "power of the crystal" and how this great power can enable us to travel through time with effortless ease. Therefore we decided to investigate this more thoroughly and present our findings.

The crystal has been a source of wonder and veneration since the dawn of time. Man has been mesmerized by its clear beauty, its perfect symmetry, its glowing colours, and its apparent perfection of shape and form. All these have spell-bound thousands of people across thousands of years. Ancient people used to worship such crystals and consider them to be their gods. They would bow down before such crystals and pray to them and carry them into battle with them when they fought against their enemies.

Today we know that the crystal (any crystal) is a set of atoms that possess what we in the scientific trade call "translational symmetry". This symmetry gives rise to the properties that crystals have and there is an entire branch of science devoted to the study of crystal vibrations, a branch of science called "lattice dynamics". (The reader should note at this point that the author of this article, Prof. K. D. Hammonds, is a leading expert on this subject and has written a number of world class scientific papers on the subject.) Thus the "power of science" or the study of lattice dynamics has subdued the power of the crystal and now crystals are used to make watches keep time and do many other useful things.

Now some people have sent us full scale diagrams of time machines that they have built in their garages and garden sheds that are driven by this "crystal power" and we have studied such diagrams in great detail but have always found these time machines to be somewhat under-powered. In fact, in terms of raw power, although the crystal contains a certain amount of quantum zero point energy there is very little else that it contains that could be used to power a practical large scale time machine. Sad but true.

Furthermore, it is our observation that all those who have put their trust in the power of the crystal have been led to their doom in the same way that insects are lead to their doom by the sweet smell of the Venus Fly-Trap!

Across the universe, there doubtless lie the ruins of thousands of civilisations who also trusted in the "power of the crystal". These peoples would have been slaughtered for fun by other civilisations that had mastered the "power of the black hole" and turned the crystal power brigade into mince-meat. The American Indians used to trust in the power of the "Totem Pole", but they were massacred by the million by other civilisations who trusted in the "power of the steel bullet". One cannot imagine the Daleks or The Master playing games with quartz crystals.

The warning is clear!

We can either look at that which looks good and sparkles in the light but which will ultimately lead us to our doom as a species, or we can rise above such things, learn the lessons of history and get our act together before we all get slaughtered by Black Hole wielding beings who have mastered the secrets of Hyperspace before we have.

Of course if you think that our point of view is somewhat arrogant and wish to debate our conclusions then we would be more than happy to hear from you - so please drop us an e-mail - we are, after all, all here to learn more from each other.