Quantum Times (40 page)

     “Thank you Captain for agreeing to this interview. I suspect you know that the whole world has now watched the ‘documentary’ for lack of a better word that The Bucephalus has shown online which presents the destruction at Earth #309?”

     Captain Ragnar presented his usual unsmiling and resolute expression. “Yes, David, I know of it. I thought it a little melodramatic but I suspect Plato was pleased with its effect.”

     David now found that he could just follow through with his questions as he had countless times before. Each breath was now coming naturally, not the product of a reminder to ‘just breathe’.

     “Well, Captain, from the video it was clear that The Freya was there just before the nuclear weapons started going off. My readers will want to know what you believe set everything off. And what advice do you have for us to ensure that what happened there does not repeat itself here?”

     Captain Ragnar could not help himself from showing a small ironic smile. This was exactly the question he had been asking himself ever since the destruction of #309. Things there had advanced too quickly and too far to meet his purposes. Too many nuclear devices had gone off and that Earth was too far destroyed to be useful to him. He had not anticipated the chain reaction of attacks that had followed the bomb blast in Washington, D.C. That was why he was taking things slower here. Chaos could outrun opportunity if the chaos left radioactive particles all over the planet.

     Of course that wasn’t the answer he gave David.

     So David asked his questions about #309 and Ragnar gave his answers: answers which showed he had tried to help the planet but had not succeeded, answers that pointed at Plato as a potential instigator, answers that showed how sorry he was at the great loss of life and how this Earth #310 – an Earth so like #309 – needed to learn from #309’s mistakes, answers that showed what a powerful assistance The Freya could provide in the interests of world peace.

     David recorded everything and dutifully asked the logical follow-ups and made the appropriate commentary. All the while, in the back part of his brain he marveled at the power of ‘the big lie.’ He found himself wanting to believe Captain Ragnar; if he believed him, he wouldn’t have to try and kill him – and kill all of his crew there onboard. Only he knew better. He didn’t believe Ragnar. He found deep inside himself, he blamed Ragnar for killing Gabriela on #309 and taking her away from him there. His mind had opened up a new portal which he could pass through and find the feelings of loss that the death of Gabriela on #309 produced.

     After what seemed like just moments, David checked the time and found the hour set for the interview had passed and he checked his notes and found he had asked all his questions. The interview was apparently over and David still had no idea where to place the bottle. The Captain stood up and shook David’s hand and said he looked forward to reading David’s article. He said he appreciated that David’s past articles had seemed fair and balanced. David gathered up his things and slung his backpack over his right shoulder.

     Then the Captain turned back to him. “You know David, I’ve never asked you. What do you really think? Do you fear for your world? Do you trust those of us from other Earths?” Perhaps the Captain’s demeanor was no more intimidating than usual; but to David’s heightened sensitivities it seemed more aggressive and suspicious. The Captain’s dark eyes were focused on David as if he sensed a new danger.

     Standing there, David felt trapped. He knew he should not answer with what he believed to be true. And his mind was still desperately thinking about what to do about the bomb. But he found the truth was welling out of him. “Captain, my world changed the day we learned there were other Earths. The history of my Earth has taught me that no one from other Earths should be trusted. I believe to you we are the natives of a backward land and you are colonialists. You are here to take things from us and give to us trinkets and beads.”

     Captain Ragnar’s expression hardened. He stared back at David and seemed about to say something, then turned and walked away. David stared at his back and then once more looked around for a place to stash the bottle. But there was nowhere. And then as he went to pick up his backpack which still contained the bottle bomb, one of the crew members came over to him to usher him back to the cargo area where the shuttle was awaiting him. The crew member picked up David’s backpack to carry it for him. Half-heartedly David tried to wrest it back but the soldier just smiled and started walking with it to the shuttle. Both relieved and frustrated, David followed him.

     Once on the shuttle, the shuttle pilot closed the shuttle door and saw that David was harnessed into a seat, and then went to sit upfront as David had seen him do each time before. The soldier flight attendant seemed to be looking at his personal digital device from the co-pilot seat and never looked up. As the shuttle was pulling away from The Freya, David saw that the pilot and the soldier about fifteen feet in front had their faces turned from him and were looking out through the front view screen. And then it was obvious what he should do. Quickly David took the second unopened bottle of water and placed it in a leather seat pocket designed for the seat next to him.

     Then David closed his eyes and tried to envision the details of the shuttle, where he was sitting in it and particularly the location of the seat pocket where he had put the bottle of water. Only now he didn’t think of it as a bottle of water – which it never had been.

     The rest of the five minute trip David spent memorizing the interior of the shuttle, where he was sitting and the look of the seat pocket of the seat next to him. Then he would envision the plastic bottle lying on its side in the seat pocket exactly as he had placed it. He had been told by Plato that being able to visualize the exact location of the bottle was essential.

     The shuttle landed exactly where it had come to rest a little over an hour ago when it had come to pick him up. David unhooked his harness and stood. He tried to just move the way he normally moved. He snuck a look at the soldier who had stood up and opened the door for David. The usual boredom was all that David saw on his face. David stepped down onto the grass of the field and almost immediately the soldier had closed the shuttle door. David walked back to where his car was parked and watched the shuttle take off and quickly disappear from sight.

     Then a tall figure stepped out from behind a tree and David nearly jumped out of his skin. He had not been expecting anyone. But as soon as he saw who it was, he felt relieved.

     “So David, do you have it all envisioned?” Plato asked.

     “What are you doing here? I thought I was doing this alone.”

     “I brought you something. It will help.” Plato handed David a tiny device that David recognized as one of Plank’s mentalization amplifiers. David was struck once more by its innocuous look – yet its enabling power was still immeasurable.

     David took the amplifier and inserted it into his ear as he had seen Planck do. “How come you didn’t give me this before? If I had it when I was practicing yesterday I’m sure I would have done better.”

     “Probably, but you might not have worked so hard. Now you will be more confident and have no doubt you can do it. As you know, doubts destroy mental clarity.” Then Plato shifted his glance away from David as he seemed to be listening to something elsewhere.

     Plato turned back to face David, “The shuttle is just now docking at The Freya. Now before anything changes further is the time. David, are you ready? You are sure you should do what you are about to do?”

     David had already prepared himself. He knew he had to do it. “Yes.”

     “All right, sit with me on the grass here.” They both sat down. “Now empty your mind of everything and just focus on breathing in and out, in and out, in and out.” David focused on his breathing even as he let his mind relax into the soft comfortable space filled by Plato’s voice. He found that same meditative trance that he had learned how to access in the months of practice at Planck’s retreat.

     “Now do what you know how to do,” Plato said and then said no more.

     David envisioned the shuttle parked inside the cargo bay. He saw it there. Then he moved his mind inside the shuttle until he saw the seat where he had been sitting. Then he envisioned the seat next to him with the seat pocket and the plastic bottle wedged into the bottom of it. His mind took hold of that bottle and he held it there just as if he held it in his hands.

     Then he saw the liquid in the bottle but this time he saw it as a powerful explosive, a very powerful explosive that once shaken roughly would explode. He stayed with that thought until it was absolutely clear in his mind, nothing else existed in his mind but that thought. Then he shook the bottle violently and he saw in his mind a huge explosion. He held that thought for what seemed endless time.

     Then he opened his eyes and looked upward where he knew The Freya had been. There was a streak of far off light and the dim sound like a distant peel of thunder.

     With a mental clarity new to him, he looked over at Plato. He didn’t need to ask. He knew The Freya was gone. He had destroyed it almost down to its constituent atoms.

     Plato just nodded. His eyes just looked even older then before – and sadder.

Chapter Eighteen

                         “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

Winston Churchill

     General Carl Greene knocked on the door of David and Gabriela’s apartment in New York. They had been told by Plato to expect him but didn’t know why he was coming. In the week since the destruction of The Freya, David and Gabriela had kept mostly to themselves. David had just wanted to go about doing what he used to do: write at his desk, eat out at their local restaurants and sleep in his own bed. Really sleep with no dreams. In his dreams he kept watching The Freya blow up, with details that he had never actually seen.

     David went to the door and welcomed the general into their apartment. Gabriela went and gave him a hug and the three of them took seats in the small living room. The general unlike his usual practice didn’t seem to know how to begin. He asked what they had been doing. When would they go back to the island? How was Gabriela’s research on participatory physics going?

     They answered while wondering what he was trying to get to. They had come to genuinely like the general.

     Finally, General Greene said what he had come to say. “David, you did a great service to your country and to the people of the world. Before you deny anything, I have talked to Plato and I do know exactly what happened. I convinced Plato that someone like me needed to know if only to be able to assess future risks.”

     David regarded the general solemnly, “It is not something I want known. The fewer people that know, the better. If it gets out, I’ll be a hero to some, a villain to others and a target for everyone – good and bad. And I probably committed a crime as well – I could be tried for murder.”

     Greene nodded, “Well, you are a hero to me – and to some very senior officers at the Pentagon. And they are not going to forget you. You did what absolutely needed to be done.”

     Gabriela interrupted, “Well then why couldn’t somebody from the military have done it? David should never have had to be the one!” Her bitterness and fear still showed.

     General Greene looked down at his spotlessly shined shoes. “I very much wish we could have.”

     David saw that Greene was embarrassed. He could tell that the military man in front of him would have given his life to do what David had done. He felt sorry for him. “You know, our country was founded by citizen soldiers. Maybe this isn’t such a bad thing.”

     “I just wish I could have been that citizen.” Greene replied.

     “Does the President know?” Gabriela asked.

     “No, as I said, just a handful of very closed mouthed generals. I’ll tell the President if you want me to.”

     David was quick to say, “No...So what is the explanation?”

     “We aren’t giving one. We are saying it was some kind of internal explosion. Obviously there were no missiles fired at it or bombs dropped on it. And at the time it was up at about 50,000 feet. Also, there was no record of the shuttle picking up anyone or taking anyone down off the ship. As far as any records or data show, you were never there.”

     David nodded, “Good! I have destroyed any proof that I was there. There was no interview as far as I’m concerned.”

     “That’s how it will be then,” General Greene declared. Then he looked over at Gabriela and smiled, “I’m told I should congratulate you, too. Or I should say congratulations to the two of you – soon to be three.”

     Gabriela gave her first real smile since he had arrived, “Thank you General, but first there has to be a wedding! Which by the way, we would love it if you could come.”

     “I’d be honored,” General Greene replied.

EPILOGUE

One year later

It would be nice to say that Earth #310 took a pause and breathed deeply and found a better geopolitical balance point where peoples everywhere could go about their lives in greater security, peace and prosperity. And to some degree that was true for a short period of time. The message of what had happened on Earth #309 was not lost on world leaders. Iran limited its sanctioning of terrorism and was less vocal in its condemnation of Israel. Russia didn’t launch any new invasions of its old Soviet Union territory. No foreign embassies were bombed.

Other geopolitical activities were not so benign. China continued to increase its military expenditures. Japan’s New Nationalist Party took political control and the first thing Akira Watanabe did was to change Japan’s Constitution so that it was no longer limited in its war making capabilities. In truth, all the major powers added to their war making capabilities by authorizing extensive research and development of advanced weaponry using Participatory Physics.

The United States not only led in that effort but also took the lead in planning an expedition to Other Earths. General Carl Greene was awarded his 4
th
Star and was put in charge of that effort. He recruited Brigadier Mark Randall to join his team and Randall put off his retirement.

David and Gabriela were married and after a very easy pregnancy, Gabriela gave birth to a beautiful 9 pound baby boy. David’s articles were in very high demand and he was working on a book. The three of them spent a lot of time on Pirate’s Cay where they continued with their meditation exercises, talked Physics with Planck and his team and visited with Plato and Catherine Ozawa who were living together.

Planck and Catherine Ozawa patented their Mentalization Amplifier. Planck and Megan Baxter were still dating with Megan pushing to get married while Planck had commitment issues. Planck did his best to hide-out from his global celebrity while Megan worked to increase it.

People everywhere were trying to figure out what Participatory Physics could do for them. The Captain and crew of The Lucky Dragon fully understood Participatory Physics and used the ability to continue with their mission. They did so quietly and relentlessly.

As it happens, during the whole of the year not a single hurricane or typhoon caused any extensive damage as a result of hitting any large populated area.

But nothing had changed really.

NOT THE END