The Far Side (100 page)

There was conversation in the background that Kris couldn’t make out, but Andie came back a second later.  “Linda says she needs to see the math.”

“Be here
by Monday and you both can see the math.”

“We’ll be there, then.”

* * *

Sure enough, Andie arrived on Sunday afternoon, after a record-setting trip down from Arvala and then a quick hop across the country.  Kris hugged her and shook Linda’s hand.  Andie eyed Kathy Sharp.  “You look familiar.”

“She’s Pete’s sister, she’s Ezra’s replacement.  You weren’t at the rookery last weekend, when I took her on a tour.”

Andie nodded, but it was clear her real interest was elsewhere.  “Just what is this about?”

Kris explained what Dale Sedgewyck had brought with him.  Andie listen patiently for a few minutes and then shook her head.  “Kris, that guy’s putting you on.  No one would be that altruistic to just give that all away.”

Kris grinned.  “You have no idea.”  She turned and walked over to her desk, where there was a stack of manila folders.  “What’s your poison?  Cosmology?  God?  How to build a Far Side door that goes where you want to go, assuming you really want to go there?”

“And that stack is what?” Linda Walsh asked.  The stack was nearly two feet thick.

“Executive summaries of most of what Sedgewyck brought back, plus in depth data on some of the simpler topics.”

“Give me the one on how Far Side doors work,” Linda asked.

Kris laughed and picked the one off the top.  “I had a feeling...” she said as she handed it over.  It wasn’t possible for Andie to look over Linda’s shoulder, so Andie held the papers.

It took a page before Andie was reduced to turning the pages when Linda asked her to.  Linda got up to page five before she sighed.  “I need to sit down and spend weeks at this.”

“It’s a fake, right?” Andie asked, a little angry.

Linda shook her head.  “If he’s faked the math, he’s a greater genius than any mathematician before him.  In fact, all of the mathematicians before him combined.  I’d say this is earth-shaking, but then it’s literally true.  Unless I’m reading the math entirely wrong, there’s are two full dimensions of quantum mechanics we didn’t even know were there.  I can see the first clearly enough; it’s brilliant work, simply brilliant.  The second part is so non-intuitive I get all twisted up just thinking about it.   Andie, we have too many preconceptions about reality.  It’s going to take a while to work past those.”

She turned around and put her arms around Andie’s waist and pulled her close, the folder going behind Andie’s back.  “Sweetie, do you believe in God?”

“Of course not!”

“Well, sweetie, neither did I.  Do you know what’s on the second page?  A mathematical proof that God exists and that he created man in his own image.”

“How could you possibly prove that with math?” Andie demanded vehemently.

“Because, sweetie, God wanted people who were advanced enough to understand that there is a God.  Do you want to know why you went to Arvala?”

“If you tell me God wanted it, I swear, I’ll spit in your face.”

“Not exactly, Andie.  You went there because you very much wanted to find a place exactly like Arvala.  Where you would find people in dire straits, in desperate need of the kind of help you could offer them.  Sweetie, quantum theory is a lot more complicated than anyone ever thought!  All sorts of things we never suspected might be related, are.”

“Andie,” Kris interrupted.  “You need to take your time and get used to this.  Tomorrow is going to be wowser, so I’m told.  My father is coming, the President is coming; everybody who is anyone is coming.

“Right now I want you two to put away quantum theory and read another folder.”  With that Kris went back to her desk and picked up the next folder on the stack and proffered it to Andie.  It was the one on the Emorans, the playa-rho and the playa-dho.  It didn’t take long before Andie was furious.

“How could you?  The government will use this to shut us down!”

“No, you need to keep reading,” Kris told her patiently.

“The hell you say!  If these bugs are out there, exploring at random will surely bring them here!”

“Yes, but if you read further you can see that there are a couple of ways to avoid exploring at random, and to protect ourselves against the bugs.”

“You were always a soft touch, Kris,” Andie said bitterly.  “You’re going to let them gut the Far Side doors!”

Behind her, Linda spoke softly.  “Andie, why don’t you turn the page, please?”

Andie turned and handed the folder to Linda and stomped off to Kris’s window and looked out at the blossoming of spring.  “I can’t believe you support this, Kris.  I just can’t!  Doesn’t our friendship mean anything?  How could you fall for this fucking bullshit?”

Kris grinned at her friend who seemed to be back in full form.

“Fall for what, Andie?

“Don’t you understand what you’ve done?  You developed the Otto Schulz fusor.  With that you gave mankind all the cheap power it could use.  There are better ways over there in that stack of paper, but if you’d done nothing else, that would have left your mark permanently on the human race.

“But, that wasn’t all you did, Andie.  You created Far Side doors and you found Arvala on the other side.  Arvala, Andie, is your idea of heaven, even if you don’t care to admit it.  Arvala has myriad challenges, a world larger than our own, and just happens to be mostly unexplored.  And when that’s in hand, hanging overhead is another challenge on another world as large, and I’m certain, just as much of a challenge.

“And, if that’s not all...”

“I’ve given humanity enemies that could wipe us out in no time.”

“They could, but Andie, that stack of paper -- based entirely on your work with Far Side doors, is the kryptonite for bugs.  There are ways in that stack to shut down Far Side doors without using nuclear weapons.  There are means to shut down any Far Side door on the planet except the ones you want to keep open.  Nobody, and I mean nobody, would be able to open one without your personal permission.”

Linda spoke up.  “Listen to her, sweetie.  In the last few years there has been a lot of speculation about what level conscious thought takes place on -- some people thought it might happen on the quantum level.  Andie, those people are right.  Our thoughts can and do affect the universe in profound ways that not even these Emorans fully understood.”

“Do we have to give up Arvala?” Andie demanded.

“No, of course not,” Kris told her.  “In fact, it will be safe now, because we can scotch all but our own Far Side doors.  And Andie -- get this.  You can build a Far Side door a few feet away from the one you have, think how nice it would be if it opened in Arvala itself instead of the rookery?  Just go to the right place, and not have to mess with that long trip.”

“You’re shitting me!  That’s impossible!”

“No, sweetie,” Linda told her.  “She’s telling the truth.”

“Andie, that’s a tall stack of paper over there.  All of that, Andie, is the result of the Otto Schulz fusors.  Space travel, Andie.  We’ll have faster than light space ships in a few years.  Weapons.  Wow!  You have no idea!  Weapons that you could use to carve your name on the moon, in letters tall enough to be read from on Earth!  Immortality, Andie, you’ve given us lifespans as long as we want.  And something particularly important to you Andie -- the end of cancer.

“In five years, no one will be dying of cancer.  I wish it had come in time to save Otto, Andie, but it’s coming.  Millions of mothers and daughters, fathers and sons aren’t going to lose their loved-ones to cancer anymore.”

“It’s true?” Andie asked, sounding stunned.

“It’s as certain as dozens of top scientists who’ve done nothing now for days but look over that stack of paper can be, Andie.  You’ve given us not only this universe, but so many other universes that we can’t begin to understand the scale.”

Linda Walsh looked up from her reading, sounding a little distracted.  “The number of universes in this reality is a fixed number, albeit a very, very large number.  You did it, sweetie! You did it!  From here on out, it’s all gravy!”

Andie looked at her friend and suddenly smiled.  “As to the number of universes, my love, you know I never sweat the small stuff.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gina Marie was born in Texas, raised in Arizona and worked in IT consulting until she retired after the Y2K kerfluffle.  Then, being footloose and fancy free, she opted to try her luck in film school.  She gave that a whirl and returned to her beloved desert.  Now she thinks she’s a writer.  Most of her English teachers despaired, but she has finally learned where periods go, sprinkles commas profusely through her work; although semicolon usage still eludes her.