The Zul Enigma (12 page)

Greg fished for the half
moon spectacles in his breast pocket.

When he finished Carlos
called up the ITU-T report, which he also read. He sat back in his chair and
put his glasses down on the desk. ‘Well that is pretty incredible. Not knowing
who sent them.’

Carlos shrugged.
‘Exactly.’

‘And Hans was sitting at
your terminal when the last one came in?’

‘
Sí
.’

‘When you were with
NASA, or since you’ve been with us, have you ever heard of anything like this?’

‘There are always
rumours about extraterrestrials. But that’s all they are – rumours. Now
there are a few organisations around with mandates to look for life in the
universe. Here in the States there’s SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence programme. And then there’s WMAP. They scan the skies using a wide
range of microwave frequencies. If something unusual showed up, they’d know.
Then there are other organisations outside the US doing similar things. I’ve
spoken to all of them, but no one’s reported any unusual activity.’

‘How about UFO
sightings? All those supposed investigations conducted by NASA?’

‘I
was never involved. There are books and videos on YouTube with claims by ex-US
Army generals and military pilots, but nothing irrefutable.’

‘Wait a moment,’ Greg
chuckled, ‘back in 2010 didn’t the media report you were going to announce your
appointment as UFO Ambassador at a Royal Society conference?’

Carlos laughed. ‘Perhaps
that’s why Zul contacted me. Seriously though, different governments have made
investigations into UFO sightings and of course there was Roswell here in the
States, but there’ve never been any conclusive results that I know of.’

Greg cleared his throat.
‘Earlier you led me through a graphic visualisation of how enormous the known
universe is and how many billion galaxies are in it. One hundred billion, you
said.’

Carlos nodded. ‘
Sí
,
that’s right.’

‘But even so, I thought
it was very difficult for a planet to develop conditions that would allow life
to begin. And then – for it to evolve to where we are today – I thought
it was virtually impossible?’

Again Carlos nodded.
‘You’re right. Many challenges have to be overcome before life can reach our
stage of development and many things threaten our extinction. Even so, our own
existence
proves
that life
can
develop, that it
is
possible. And if it can happen once it can happen again.’

‘Hm. But what about the
physicists, the astrophysicists, the astrobiologists, the cosmologists –
is there any consensus regarding the possibility of life outside Earth?’

‘More and more scientists
are accepting there is a strong possibility alternative life forms exist.’

‘And you really think
it’s possible Zul’s claim could be true? That they could have integrated
gravity into the Grand Unified Theories?’

‘
Sí
,
I think it’s possible. You see Greg, in a third, longer, video Zul explains his
take on the cyclic nature of the universe and the fantastic thing is it ties in
with the direction our own physicists are going with what they call Matrix
theory. Matrix theory offers a single framework that can embrace all forces and
matter. It provides the promise of a single description of our universe, the
“Theory of Everything” as it’s called. This framework is
capable
of
unifying all the other theories. The problem is we haven’t yet found the
explanation.’

‘And if Zul’s lot have
come up with this “Theory of Everything”, you believe they might also have
discovered how to travel in time and space?’

Carlos nodded. ‘It’s
possible.’ He paced in front of the desk, punctuating his words with his hands.

‘Of course we don’t know
how long it will take but once understood, the “Theory of Everything” will
redefine the rules governing the universe. And I believe this understanding
will be reached through Matrix theory.’

‘Although I’ve heard of
Matrix theory, I don’t know much about it. Physics never was my field.’

‘In the early 1970s, a
group of physicists presented papers announcing something fantastic. String
theory. But it got a surprisingly cold reception. Some experts thought it had
potential and devoted their careers to researching it, while others paid it
little or no attention.

‘The theory suffered
some blows over the following twenty-five years as another version of string
theory was developed – then another – and another, until there were
five. This was horrible! How could five versions of string theory provide the
key to the “Theory of Everything” that everyone was searching for?’ and Carlos
shrugged.

‘Then in 1995 Edward
Witten found a unifying principle that he called M-theory. What a relief! This
M-theory acted as a “translator” of the five string theories which, it turned
out, were not different theories at all but different ways of mathematically
analysing a single theory – string theory.’

‘But I thought string
theory was discredited a few years ago?’

‘At the beginning of
this century some physicists spoke out against it, it’s true, but they could
never prove their claims.’

‘What’s so special about
it?’

‘It lets us think about
the tiniest bits of matter in a completely different way. Before string theory
the majority of people had a misguided understanding of what subatomic
particles are and how they work.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘If asked, most people
would say that particles such as electrons or gravitons are microscopic balls
of matter like tiny grains of sand that zoom randomly around and collide with
each other to form other different kinds of matter. But that’s not how it is.’

‘What is it like?’

‘Try and picture energy
being everywhere, because everything we see as well as everything we don’t see,
like electricity, is made up of energy. We’re made up of it… it’s what gives
form to our entire universe. Now imagine the billions and billions of
interactions that go on between all the different energy fields every
millisecond. Interactions are continually being created, annihilated and
created again and again and again. It’s these interactions that form our
microscopic particles, our electrons and our gravitons. Particles don’t hurtle
around randomly – they can’t move at all – but they are everywhere
just waiting to twinkle in and out of existence.’

‘I never pictured it
like that before.’

‘Then string theory
changed our perception even further. It dictates that the tiniest bits of
matter – which are unimaginably short – are one-dimensional
filaments called strings. It also declares that the basis of
all
matter
and
all
forces is the same. What makes one type of particle different to
another; an electron different to a graviton for example, is not
what
it’s made of – as we’ve established they are all “energy” – it’s
the
difference
in the resonant vibration of its string.’

Greg took a breath as if
he was about to speak but instead covered his mouth with his hand. Then he
slowly put it back down on the desk and leaned towards Carlos. ‘I think I’ve
got it. What you’re saying is that the very basics of life as we know it are
all made of identical material and the only thing that makes one type of
material different to another is the rate at which it vibrates.’

Carlos clapped his
hands. ‘
¡Exacto!
Vibrating strings are the basis of our universe –
our whole existence depends on vibration.’

‘That is wonderously
simplistic.’

‘And also ties in with
what Zul says. Now the compelling thing about string or M-theory is that it
already
united general relativity and quantum mechanics, the existing known laws of the
very large and the very small that up until a few years ago seemed incompatible
and which even quantum field theory could only unite in a limited way.’

‘And that’s a big deal?’

‘
Sí
, a really big
deal! It offers a completely different understanding of time and space, perhaps
leading to the potential of time and space travel. And now we come to what I
believe. I think it’s possible, or even likely, that entities exist in our
universe that are more intellectually evolved than we are. So yes, I believe
it’s possible that a more advanced life form could already understand the
mysteries of time and space travel like Zul claims.’

‘Is there any proof?’

Carlos shook his head.
‘No. We have no proof. But we discover new things about our universe all the
time. You know there’s a growing school of thought that disagrees with the Big
Bang theory and proposes our universe was activated due to heat caused by a
collision between two boundary branes lying either side of a hidden spatial
dimension.’

‘What’s a brane, in
God’s name?’

‘It’s an ingredient in
addition to the strings I mentioned earlier.’

‘And where do these
branes fit in?’

‘This is where we get to
the Matrix theory. Matrix theory has practically proved zero-dimensional branes
are the fundamental ingredients of the universe and that they combine to
generate strings and higher-dimensional branes.

‘Some physicists believe
there may be other dimensions adjacent to ours that could also contain
habitable universes, that our three-dimensional universe is contained within a
three-dimensional brane. Just imagine! That a massive three-dimensional brane
actually holds our entire universe? It’s called a braneworld scenario. If it’s
correct, then it may be possible to move in and out of different branes and
even move in and out of parallel worlds.

‘And I believe the key
to travelling between braneworlds is changing the rate of vibration of our
sub-molecular structure.’

Greg shut his eyes as
Carlos sat back down next to him. Eventually he opened them and spoke. ‘Well,
that was the most interesting physics lesson I’ve ever had. You present an
impressive argument for the existence of other life forms. But – and
Carlos there’s still a “but”, a very big “but” – you have no proof. And I
can’t make myself believe in space travel and aliens without it.’

‘I understand that. But
perhaps the only proof we have is the
lack
of proof that the messages
originated on Earth.’

This is what Carlos said
but in fact he was thinking back to the previous day when he held the baby.
That was proof enough for him. But although he wanted Greg to experience the
same degree of belief as he did, he knew he couldn’t mention that incident. Not
yet. If he told Greg about that right now he would blow everything he’d
achieved so far.

‘And that’s the only
reason you’re still here,’ Greg grunted. ‘It’s what I keep coming back to. If
our UN Network Security guys and ITU-T can’t explain the messages, then I don’t
know what to think.’

He rubbed his face and
ran his hands through his thinning hair.

‘Carlos, I want to see
the other video, but it’s getting late and I’ve had enough physics for one day.
So why don’t you stay the night? You’ll find everything you need in the guest
room. That way you’ll be on hand to show it to me tomorrow.’

‘
Sí
. Good idea.’

‘That’s agreed, then.
And I’m glad you brought this to me. Who else knows about these messages?’

‘Hans, the Network
Administration Department and my Administrative Assistant. Hey, and an old
friend of mine from NASA days. He was with me the other morning when I received
the message at home.’

‘We don’t want this
leaking out.’

‘Don’t worry. Our people
at the UN won’t say anything. Nor will Drew.’

‘Are you sure you can
trust him?’

‘Absolutely. So, what do
we do next?’

‘We need to get this
checked out independently by an agency with a more diverse mandate. We need to
confirm irrefutably where the messages originated.’

Carlos nodded. ‘What do
you suggest?’

‘There’s only one place
with access to cutting edge communications and cosmological facilities that I
know of, and that’s the White House.’

‘Jesus! And how do we
get in there?’

Greg
beamed. ‘To say that Bob Anderson and I are best friends is a slight
exaggeration,’ Carlos grunted, well aware of the historical tension between the
President of the United States and the UN fuelled by continued conflict
regarding differing views on energy conservation and emissions restrictions, as
well as countless other issues, ‘but I’m meeting him Monday and…’

‘That’s a coincidence.
You meeting Anderson the same day I’ve been called in by the Pentagon.’

Greg raised a bushy
eyebrow. ‘I’d say no coincidence at all. Anyhow, I’ll call tomorrow and have
these e-mails added to the agenda.’

‘You really think that’s
a good idea? Talking about it to Bob? He’s front-page news right now with his
proposal to cut NASA’s budget and negative views on space exploration. He has
no feeling… no interest in cosmology.’