by Gary Starta
Miranda’s face scrunched with confusion. “What the hell…?”
“Just strap it on. Suffice to say, it’s a forcefield. It will only allow penetration to let a person pet Earth Cat Zero. But any attempt to grab or sequester the cat will result in a shock.”
“Oh, but the cat? Would this shock affect him as well?”
“No. I hope…” Brands scowled.
“Oh, great.” Miranda commented.
Earth Cat Zero mimicked Miranda. “Oh, great.”
Miranda scowled at the cat.
“I bet I know why you liked us so much.”
Miranda’s face softened with wonder.
“Because we never talked back to you before.”
The bird seemed to chirp in agreement.
“He’s here!” Brands shuffled over to Red’s cage and draped a bird cage cover over it. “Hope you don’t mind. But I don’t think you need to be involved in this. The DOE has no jurisdiction when it comes to you, Red.”
“Hmm. Maybe my second-class citizenship does come in handy.” Miranda giggled at the bird’s joke before clasping a hand over her mouth.
“This is all so surreal. So dreamlike.” She paused to pat Earth Cat Zero. “But dreamlike in the best possible way.”
Earth Cat Zero tilted his head so it would graze Miranda’s hand. The teen blinked in rapid succession. “I feel the same way, my friend.”
Brands peered at his watch which gave him a visual and tracked each footfall of what he had labeled ‘the intruder’. “Hmm. He’ll be at the door in seconds. I will still buzz him in. No one, not even under legal authority, is just going to march into my home without approval.”
Miranda felt the hairs on her arm stand on end, but it wasn’t in reaction to the intruder but in the newfound confidence she felt with her displaced ‘family’. We are in this together.
The man spoke in a British clip and wore a tweed suit despite the comfortable Chicago temperatures. “Good afternoon. I am Stephen Rossington from the DOE and I hope you understand a cooperative partnership is imperative not only from a legal standpoint but from a moral one. After all we are in the middle of the biggest missing cat mystery of all time.” The man’s attempt at humor did not include laughter and Miranda suspected the man was speaking rehearsed rhetoric.
“Well, take a seat.” Brands waved a hand at the leather recliner. The man sniffed and held out a hand. “No thanks. I am good.”
“I really don’t care about your comfort level, Mr. Rossington. However, I am all about the cat’s comfort. He has just come out surgery. Please take that into account.”
“Ah, yes. The experimentation.”
Brands shook his head in disagreement. “I am not experimenting. This procedure is proven. I don’t see how or why the DOE needs to pay any attention to it. The real collaboration will come back at Brookhaven. Maybe you should think about visiting them.”
The man sighed. “I won’t be in your business or in Brookhaven’s, at least not personally. The DOE works locally with Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago. You should look it up, Doctor. They have a fascinating take on quantum communication. If I were you, I would see this as a win-win.”
“Hmm. You seem to be up on all our expressions despite your – what is it – a cockney accent.”
Earth Cat Zero arched his back and hissed reminiscent of his previous reaction to Red. “Is he an outsider?”
Ignoring the cat, Rossington continued. “But even though I won’t be involved in your work, I still know that you possess a great capability to influence the outcome of events.”
Brands fell into the recliner and waved a dismissive hand. “You know nothing about me.”
“I know all about your lab and its nickname. Don’t think I don’t know all about your pretty toys you have here, all funded by the DOD – or maybe more accurately, DARPA.”
“The DOD is not usurping your rights, Mr. Rossington. We – I – in particular along with my gifted assistant Miranda are simply allowing the cat to provide us with information via communication. We will not be conducting further surgeries on Earth Cat Zero so I do believe you will be wasting your time and money sending your representatives here.” Brands crossed his legs and arms.
“I am not deciding this and let me remind me neither are you. This is bigger than both of us.”
The cat began to mimic Rossington’s accent. “This town is not big enough for both of us.” The cat gurgled. “Did I get the accent right?”
Rossington’s face paled. “Let me be clear.” The man paced as if trying to hide his shock at the cat’s brazenness. “The cat is believed to have been created on Brookhaven property.”
Earth Cat Zero bantered still in cockney accent. “I can hear you, Mr. Rossington. No need to refer to me in the third person.”
Brands and Miranda traded smiles.
“The DOE looks upon you – uh Mr. Earth Cat Zero I presume – to exist under the purview of Brookhaven Lab, i.e., the DOE which oversees and funds Brookhaven. Am I making this clear?”
Earth Cat sat on his haunches with tongue protruded.
“Suffice to say, you are the embodiment of intellectual property.”
“IP?” Brands pounced off his seat in a rage. “That is not so clear as you think, Mr. Rossington. Maybe the Ellis’s first witnessed Earth Cat Zero on lab grounds, but it is also quite likely the cat’s existence is ethereal in nature. He may not belong to our planet or even this world’s set of universal laws…”
Rossington grinned. “Then why is he blue and green? Looks kind of earthy to me.”
Miranda caught herself sneering at Rossington and raised a hand to cover her mouth. Constrain yourself, Miranda. You can’t allow your anger to endanger Earth Cat.
Rossington rubbed his index finger against his middle fingernail. “It’s a fine line to be sure. But it seems the court is siding with our argument. Don’t make me come back here and confiscate the animal.” He sighed through gritted teeth and produced a whistling sound. “I know how much it would hurt the girl.” He paced so he was confronting Brands head on. “Don’t force me to do something we will both regret.”
Brands forced a smile. “Then full cooperation it is. I will be more than happy to learn about quantum communication. I think it is the DOD who will benefit more from this partnership anyway. Well, sorry about any ill feelings on my part.” Brands extended a hand.
The man looked at it for a long moment before taking Brands’s hand into his.
“We’ll be in touch, Dr. Brands.” Rossington nodded toward Miranda. “Good day.”
After Rossington left, Miranda was up and out of her seat, practically showering the doctor in hugs. “I am so proud of the way you defended Earth Cat Zero.” She began to dance to some internal beat.
“Ah, well. Don’t be so kind, my dear. Truth is, I wasn’t really sure how good the force field would be, and I didn’t want the man to make a grab for our new friend.”
Earth Cat grumbled. “I still can hear you.”
Miranda playfully patted the doctor’s shoulder undaunted while the cat roamed the couch. “I still believe you played a good game of poker face for the good of Earth Cat. And Earth Cat Zero isn’t anyone’s intellectual property. He’s family.”
Chapter Thirteen
“More coffee, Caron?” Brookhaven Director Max Schultz stood at the ready, decanter in hand, ready to pour. Caron Ellis paused a moment, dissecting the man’s zealousness. He wants answers; and he wants them today. Caron’s desire to help her child, her cat and the millions of other felines had trumped all concern for the reality of her situation. Her sabbatical was over, and it was time to work. This time results were even more crucial. Funding wasn’t just on the line. Lives were on the line. Maybe even the fabric of civility. How much longer will the public hold out without an answer? Caron tilted her cup and said: “Sure, please.”
Schultz poured with one hand and fiddled with his gr
een tie with the other. “For a moment, I wasn’t sure you were going to answer. Were you lost in thought, Caron; thinking of some grand scheme to get our cat population back?” He paused to smile. “We can only hope.” His gaze scanned the conference room, it was the same one the team had met in a few days earlier. The team’s faces mirrored smiles like the one Schultz was wearing, but the cheerfulness was weak, it was on the brink of collapse. I know how they feel. There is real fear behind those smiles. Caron believed it would be best to answer honestly.
“I certainly am. If you must know, I haven’t slept much. I bet we all haven’t.”
Caron tapped a spoon against her mug.
“Care to share?” Schultz said taking his seat at the center of the table.
“Uh, you’re going to laugh. It’s just that I usually enjoy vanilla bean tea in the morning…with Miranda.” Caron’s head remained tilted downward and even though she realized her body posture was not proper behavior for a professional, she allowed it. She hoped the next words out of her mouth would be inspirational if not conducive for a productive meeting.
“But I’ve come to realize we are far out of our comfort zones.” She raised her mug.” So, cheers to the kind of coffee that can dissolve stomach linings at a single gulp.” She waited for the team’s laughter to reside. Cheryl Lacroix and Devin Ramsey shared in the moment of relief equally, trading glances, allowing themselves to be humans for a moment instead of physicists.
“Yes.” Schultz added raising his mug. “We are all far out of even our quantum comfort zones, I believe.”
“That’s it.” Caron emphasized. “I think we will have to stop rationalizing and abandon familiar trains of thought if we are to get an answer. We aren’t in a comfort zone anymore. At least, Earth Cat Zero certainly isn’t. That reminds me of a recent paper that posits quantum entanglement is not a result of space/time but that it is itself responsible for creating it. Maybe Earth Cat Zero has created another reality that can somehow exist in the reality we believed to be unchangeable.”
Ramsey entered some words into his notebook. “Yes, a fascinating idea.”
Lacroix rolled eyes. “We still must consider everything we think we know to be true. I am open to thinking outside the box, but quantum physics has already provided some very sound groundwork that very may well answer all our questions.”
Schultz tapped a hand on the table. “We will consider everything, Cheryl. The Standard Model…everything. Believe me.”
Ramsey finished typing. “No disrespect, Cheryl. But maybe even the fact of drinking coffee instead of tea may help us come at this problem from another angle. What if whatever was created by the last acceleration was not so much an accident? Meaning, we might have room in our existing universe for paradoxes.”
Lacroix adjusted her glasses. “But we can presume the presence of Earth Cat Zero changed the laws of what kind of cat can exist in our reality. The fact that all the other cats are gone would seem to be a viable conclusion.”
Ramsey clasped hands. “But from what we know about measuring waves, whatever new field was created should have dissipated, making Earth Cat Zero a short-lived reality and allowing existing fields to continue operation as they were. There seems to be a wrinkle here.”
Schultz added. “I hope Dr. Brands will be able to shed some light on genetics, possibly find what is different, other than his coat coloring, that allows Earth Cat Zero to exist when it seems it was impossible for him to exist in our reality prior. Maybe that can tell us what kind of field we’re dealing with.”
Lacroix intervened with a raised hand. “I am certain that quarks are the culprit.” She accented her statement with a nod.
Caron forced a smile hoping the odd behavior would catch attention. She held the smile which grew genuine when the attention getter worked. It seems I’ve learned a lot from playing poker face. Thank you, Miranda.
“I think we should all feel encouraged about yesterday’s breakthrough. Earth Cat Zero can speak. He may still guide us in the proper direction.”
Schultz scrubbed a hand along his cheek. “Oh, Caron. I was going to save that news for the end of the meeting.”
“Why?” Ramsey asked.
“Because although our infamous cat has spoken, he doesn’t seem to recall much.” Schultz massaged a hand over his forehead. “I didn’t want to discourage us, that’s all.”
“No.” Caron continued. “It is a momentum we can choose to use wisely. I would say the first talking cat is not anything we should feel discouraged about. It is most positive and should put smiles on all our faces. Besides, I allowed the cat to undergo an operation that could have injured or killed him; please remember that, Director.”
Schultz nodded. “I concur. Excuse my judgement call. Maybe the cat will recall where he came from in time…I am glad he is well.”
“I spent hours talking with Miranda, yesterday. Don’t worry, we used a secure line…” Caron paused to sip from her mug. “My daughter feels a great bond with the cat and even Dr. Brands.” Everyone laughed.
Ramsey twirled a pencil. “Yes, a very focused, but very strange man.”
“Takes one to know one.” Lacroix commented avoiding anyone’s gaze including Ramsey’s; the blonde physicist seemed more occupied with writing notes.
Schultz interlaced hands and rested his chin on them. “Caron, please tell us more. I thank you for reminding me that we are all still humans here. We still need to behave as such.”
“I am confident that Miranda will help Earth Cat Zero’s memory. It wasn’t that the cat couldn’t remember, he just seemed to have a memory blockage. He kept telling Miranda about an echo. It was as if he did exist before.”
“Hmm. But where in particular?” Ramsey scratched his chin.
A knock on the door interrupted. “Come in.” Schultz said.
The door opened halfway, and Security Officer Catalina spoke. “I hope this isn’t interrupting your latest attempt at saving the universe, but I think you’ll welcome the visit.”
Catalina stepped back and Normand popped through the door. The man looked like he hadn’t slept wearing lines on his face and his shirt was in need of ironing. Despite his unkempt appearance, Caron beamed. She blushed at her reaction. Catalina waved goodbye and closed the door.
Schultz bolted out of chair, wearing a big grin, and shook Normand’s hand zestfully. “Welcome, Normand. Take a seat.”
“If I had known I’d get this reaction, I would have violated protocols sooner.” Normand’s straight face told Caron the man wasn’t really kidding. Maybe he’s never felt important before.
Normand took a seat and stared at the coffee pot. “Help yourself, Normand.” Schultz said. “It’s my own special blend.”
“Ah. No thanks. That’s what helped keep me up. Despite, Dr. Brands’s assistance.”
Lacroix grumbled to herself. “I don’t want to know what that means.”
“Yeah,” Ramsey added. “What we don’t know we can’t repeat in court.”
Caron felt a wave of relief. She had missed the combative but loving camaraderie with fellow physicists. She also was thankful Schultz seemed to be a man of his word and did not cower from showing his enthusiasm for Normand’s return. Most department heads would have remained straight faced at the very least.
“So, Normand. My latest email tells me you are on probation. Well, I can live with that if everyone else can.” He glanced about the room and everyone nodded in affirmation.
“I do realize the severity of my actions. I promise no more disobedience.”
Schultz nodded. “It seems the DOE realizes the importance of having all hands-on-deck. We were just weighing the importance of following routines and leaving comfort zones. I for one and am glad you are back. I think we do need to repeat circumstances as much as possible so we can learn how and why a particle was able to change our world. In other words, as Mr. Ramsey was saying, even a radical change initiated by a subatomic particle col
lision is temporary. The wave field generated can only last a finite and short amount of time; when we measure a field, it is already begun to collapse. Please excuse the rudimentary outline everyone, I just wanted to help Normand, an engineer, to understand basic principles.”
Lacroix laughed without humor. “There is no such thing as basic in the quantum world. But, Normand, if we are dealing with subatomic particles – which seems to be the case based on your observation of a cat in the collider – we should be looking at charmed quarks. Quarks combine to form particles like hadrons especially in particle collisions, but a charmed quark is another animal so to speak – a subatomic particle made of quarks. The charmed quark explains the absence of an expected particle interaction. I would say the appearance of both a subatomic and physical cat – neither designed to exist in our reality – constitutes an absence of an expected interaction.”
Normand grabbed some paper from Schultz and began taking notes. “So, how do we track these charmed quarks?”
“Hmm. That is the challenge.” Lacroix adjusted her frames. “Measuring a field will not give us a particle’s location.”
Caron broke in. “It’s because of quantum superposition, Normand, meaning the particles is said to be in many places at once.” Caron felt a smile tug at her lips. She was explaining the science in a much kinder tone of voice than Lacroix and she knew everyone could observe that.
“Oh,” Normand said smiling. “That’s like quantum entanglement! So, what if the physical representation of Earth Cat Zero and the subatomic version of him - the one I saw in the collider - can communicate with each other? I mean, from my understanding, the very idea of quantum entanglement means a change in one particle can immediately affect another particle even if it’s light years across the universe. What if a message could be sent from Earth Cat to his subatomic counterpart?”
Schultz nodded with pursed lips. “Impressive deduction. I don’t know how we could have the cat communicate, although, Normand, we are pleased to report Earth Cat Zero can now speak to us.”