by Gary Starta
“About what?” Caron asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t have time to explain. But if you thought what my nephew was doing was groundbreaking then you ain’t seen nothing yet.” The doctor’s expression was boyish and took years off his lined face.
“So how does the military know where Adams orbits his space station? It’s private right?” Miranda inquired.
Brahms grunted at the teen’s naivety. “Nothing is private. But if you must know, Space Force gave it to them. They are affiliated with the Air Force.”
“Oh. I heard about that agency. But they must be new to policing space; I wonder if they’d be of any assistance if…” Caron muttered.
“There’s nothing new about Space Force or aliens for that matter.” Brahms smiled knowingly.
“I will understand if you have a change of heart, Caron. I understand your emotional need to face Adams. But I can handle him…”
“No way. I’m in. Chip me.”
Miranda giggled at her mother’s stubbornness. “I wish Leesa was here to see this.”
Earth Cat pranced on the table indignant. “You aren’t considering everything for such an experienced team.”
“Oh.” Dr. Brahms scoffed. “Enlighten me.”
“What if you and Caron reach the station and Adams’s collider is already in motion?”
“I considered that.” Brahms munched on a pickle. “It would make it all the easier to trail whatever coordinates he’s sending the wave version of Earth to – but no matter – we’ll find all of his secrets on that space station. I’m sure the wave version of Earth Cat Zero is now trapped in Adams’s collider. It’s how he’s going to be able to send the Earth into the wave state – effectively enacting time travel.”
“Time travel?” Miranda squinted.
“Yes. Think of it. The wave version of Earth will instantaneously be sent to whatever coordinates Adams is programming. It won’t take but a second for the planet to arrive there.”
Caron sighed. “What if the time between particle Earth and wave Earth differs?”
“It very well could. And you can never count out neutrinos. They make the universe interesting.” Brahms smiled.
Miranda laughed sarcastically. “I wish I could share your exhilaration, Dr. Brahms. I just hope you and mom can shut down his collider before we even get to that point.”
“That would be the most desired result, yes.” Brahms finished his pickle.
“But you don’t sound too worried if you don’t.” Caron gazed into the doctor’s eyes. “Why? Have you seen this before?”
Brahms wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I’ve seen a lot. But I’m not sure if anything but the planet itself will be transported. I mean, it’s the universe’s guess if all living things will become waves once the teleportation begins.”
Miranda brushed a hand through her bangs. “I’ve experienced it, Mom. It wasn’t very pleasant.”
Brahms nodded. “But it’s likely survivable. Maybe it’s time for humans to evolve. I won’t be its judge and jury. As a scientist, I observe.”
“What do you mean, likely?” Caron interjected. “Dr. Brahms, have you considered a bounce back effect where everything dissipates?”
“I have. We won’t be conscious to realize it, however.” Brahms placed an assuring hand on Caron’s. “I am just being realistic about quantum physics. Earth Cat Zero seemingly winked into our existence; but did he really? What is his true reality, and why should it be any more or less valid than ours?”
“Yeah. I get it. Philosophy is a bitch.” Miranda muttered. “The trouble is we need to pick the reality we want before Adams does.”
Caron joined hands with her daughter.
Director Schultz did not wait for a confirmation from the DOE for the next acceleration. He laughed softly to himself, seated alone in his office, contemplating that the universe itself would give the final rubber stamp of approval. If the universe winks me out of existence or into another galaxy, I’ll die knowing physics has been and always was a real science.
The whoosh of reverberation filled the bunker at Brookhaven a half hour later filling Normand’s mind with fear but his heart with gratitude. It’s because of the collider that I met Caron. I hope in its consciousness it will keep Caron with me. But Normand knew the universe’s idea of proximity carried a wide scope. Even if we are entangled particles separated by light years, I can and will accept that fate.
Dr. Brahms and Caron Ellis found themselves placed in a long, white hallway. Any anger Caron felt toward Adams dissipated into fear and desperation. She traversed the hallway with Brahms, both feeling small and helpless as black ants crawling toward their demise.
“We were kidding ourselves, right?” Caron asked the doctor.
“I can’t pretend to know what the universe has in store for us. If it’s any comfort, I wasn’t putting on any brave faces for Miranda’s sake. I still think we can stop Adams’s plan.”
“Hmm. I must have missed your moment of chivalry. Tell me, did that happen after your first or your second sandwich?”
“Funny, it’s the small things that always comfort us, isn’t it?”
“I am sorry, Doctor. I just don’t know how…”
“Shush.” Brahms raised a hand. “Do you hear that? Ah. The collider is in motion. It’s time for Plan B.”
“To confirm, we need to shut down the collider?”
“No. No. No. That would be extremely dangerous. We need to free my nephew and find the coordinates to wherever Adams is projecting the wave Earth toward…”
Caron felt a bit of comfort that the man was most concerned with his family member – or – at the very least had given him first priority in his to-do list.
“Which do we do first?”
“I don’t like this, Caron. Adams should be onto us.”
“Maybe he’s too busy playing God.”
“Could be.” Brahms pulled a scanner from his pocket. “I can read my nephew’s biometric signature with this. I say we free Albrecht first.”
Caron smiled weakly. “Well at least we can all die together.”
“There will be no dying! If you are half the physicist you say you are, you know Adams is not about committing genocide. He wants glory. He wants to be the guiding hand that moved our planet to another galaxy.”
“Angry you didn’t get there first, Doctor?”
“No. I mean – well – if you want honesty, yes. It’s the thrill of achievement that drives us…”
Hand clapping reverberated off the walls. “If you know anything about how the universe was created – it was more about sound then light. Either way, I’ll take the credit that’s due.”
“Is that Adams speaking?”
Brahms gripped Caron’s hand. “I’m sure of it. Don’t let him rattle you.” He whispered in her ear. “Be his distraction. A bee in his ear. Get him angry, Caron.” Brahms scampered off down the hallway.
A blink of blue and violet light reverberated off the walls and then Adams appeared in the flesh – or at least his imagery appeared as real as flesh to Caron.
“Trickery!” Caron’s lower lip quivered more in fear than defiance, but the doctor had asked her to play the ultimate game of bluff and she wasn’t going to show Adams her cards. “Show yourself, for real!”
“I am here. I am there. I am everywhere.” Adams chuckled. “It’s too late to stop this. I’ve – we’ve – already made history. Right now, there are wave versions of ourselves on another Earth – thanks to superposition and your odd cat. I must thank you and your daughter for throwing a monkey wrench into the universe’s well laid plans.”
“Ah. The best laid plans of mice and cats.” Caron forced a derisive laugh. “But tell me, Adams. You don’t know for sure if that’s the case. You can never be sure in a quantum universe.” She laid a pensive finger on her chin. “Let’s see. You may not be the god you think you are. You may have killed all of us with your su
perposition, the truth is in Schrodinger’s box, wouldn’t you say?”
“I am the final observer, Caron. I didn’t harm a hair on your daughter’s head – or a cat for that matter. I’ve simply paved the way for future survival. You really didn’t think the Earth would survive indefinitely in its current position, did you?”
“Then that’s your fault, Adams. You’re the head of a space company. Build ships!”
“Takes too long. We don’t have that luxury. Besides the cat carried the elemental recipe within his DNA to move the Earth along to any destination the now sentient collider chooses. And I’ll make it choose wisely.”
“I don’t have a problem waiting for you die, Adams. You lunatic!”
“I will forgive your rudeness, Caron. You did what you asked, you allowed the collider accelerations to continue long enough for me to replicate what you and your Dr. Brands should have been doing all along. Scientists are pioneers, Caron…”
“I allowed it to go on long enough for you to steal and pilfer. If this were a paper, you’d be guilty of plagiarism, Adams.”
Caron heard her heartbeat thump in silence. The image and sound of Declan Adams had apparently vanished into thin air.
From the confines of a room just down the hallway from Caron, Dr. Brahms fiddled with a scrambler device. There. That will interrupt Adams’s holographic trickery. Now to find the real rat.
Dr. Brands struggled to sit up unaware Declan Adams was monitoring him.
Declan Adams pounded a fist on his console as he observed Brands rising from his bed. I don’t have time or the energy to deal with Brands. The self-proclaimed pioneer ordered a shuttle to ready itself for evacuation from his unmanned space station.
Dr. Brahms adjusted his biosignature device to locate Adams’s DNA. He’s going to get away. Maybe I should just let him…
Dr. Brands was aware his uncle was coming for him, but he wasn’t going to sit idly by. I’ll shut down his collider if it kills me. He had only gotten a few meters down the hallway when he ran into his nemesis.
“If I were you, I’d enjoy my remaining days in space.” Adams full of rage, charged at Brands and knocked him over.
A flurry of fists dissolved the fight in Brands who could only act to defend himself until Caron Ellis stumbled upon the pair.
Brahms ensconced over a console had managed to biometrically unlock passcodes thanks to Adams’s unplanned genetic contribution. If you hadn’t been so arrogant to give your girlfriend that pendant you might…
Muffled screams exploded in Brahms’s head. “Uncle, I need your help.”
Caron Ellis raked nails over Declan Adams’s exposed backside briefly interrupting the space mogul’s attack on Brands. From a monitor, Claude Brahms witnessed the melee. Fools! Finding the wave Earth is paramount. I should let them all kill each other.
A loud mewling shook Brahms. It was a cat’s cry inside his head. Earth Cat, is that you?
On the monitor, Brahms visually observed Adams with clutched fists about Caron’s neck. He’s going to kill her. The camera afforded Brahms the ability to view his nephew on the fringe of the screen. Brands’s face was purple, stretched out on the floor like a broken marionette.
The cat’s cry exploded in Brahms’s head again.
Okay. Okay. I’ll do it.
Brahms adjusted his biometric scanner to lock into synch with Adams’s heartbeat. As you said, Adams. It’s all about vibration.
As he did, Adams’s stranglehold on Caron began to turn the woman’s face bright red.
You’ve forced my hand. Just like my evil son did. Brahms made a sign of the cross and pushed a button.
“He’s quite dead.” Brahms rested a hand on Brands’s shoulder as his nephew attempted resuscitation on the lifeless Adams. “I stopped his heart, remotely and vibrationally.”
“I know. I just value life.” Brands shrugged. “The wave version of Adams might very well still be out there.”
Brahms nodded. “He forced my hand. He was going to kill you both. But I think I’ve effectively stopped any and all versions of Adams. He was on the space station before the collider started. There wouldn’t be another wave version of him anywhere else…at least I think so.”
Brands blinked, pensive. “I don’t think saving our lives was your sole motive. Unfortunately.”
“I don’t have time to explain right now.” Brahms knelt over Caron whose face color was phasing from purple to red. When she could speak, she gasped. “I told that bastard he shouldn’t have messed with me.”
“Both of you need to catch your breath. I need to establish some coordinates.”
“Coordinates, Uncle? Why don’t we just shut down the acceleration?”
“Too dangerous. Too many unpredictable outcomes. We can still stop this but it’s going to take a radical plan.”
“That doesn’t seem to have stopped you before.” Brands’s tone was full of righteous indignation and Brahms recognized it.
“I know. I’ve got blood on my hands – again. Now you might know why I’ve kept so much from you, Nephew.”
Brands clasped his uncle’s hand as he lifted him off the floor. Holding a grimace, Albrecht stared into his uncle’s eyes. “Maybe I just needed to see you for what you are. Not good. Not bad. Just you.”
Brahms smiled knowingly. “Maybe I’ve always been both – good and bad at once. A particle in both and up and down spin or a binary number – both one and zero – if you will. I hope you won’t judge me as harshly as the universe will.”
“Show me how to save our planet and I’ll consider a lighter cosmic sentence.” Brands’s tone was grim but his eyes sparkled with hope.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“You should be angry with me. I’ve effectively taken us all off the board.” Brahms’s clenched hands were shaking during his confession. “But” – Brahms said exchanging glances with his nephew and Caron – “I do have a way to make everything appear as if nothing ever happened.
“And as far as my cosmic sentence goes, I appreciate the sentiments, but I’ll face my jury – if not executioner - another day.”
Caron’s mouth fell open while she gathered her thoughts. “Do you think God will get us out of this?”
Dr. Brands patted her shoulder. “Anything is still possible, Caron. But as my uncle just pointed out. We are out of the game. We can’t stop the collider for fear of the wave collapsing and dissipating particle Earth along with it. Adams played a game of chance putting our planet into superposition. Yes, he’s found a way to time travel and even relocate a version of Earth in case of a catastrophic event in our solar system. But we can’t be sure if our wave versions are on that world right now…” He pushed a hand through his hair. “So, Uncle? What can we do from the sidelines?”
“Glad you asked.” Brahms allowed a small smile, but his fluttering eyelids made his face a conundrum. He fell into reflection. I don’t know if I’m going to laugh or cry right now. I’ve got to get a grip. For my nephew, for that girl and her mother, for the world…and oh, yes – of all things – for the cats. Brahms continued hoping the universe would never learn his motivation for saving it were cats. He fished into his pocket for chewing gum. It had been Brahms’s emotional bonding glue on more than one occasion.
“We can turn back the arrow of time. I’ll just need to write an algorithm to reverse every ripple effect from the first particle collision. In other words, I’ll put the particle back to its original state – before the inclusion of electrostatic discharge and any elemental contribution.”
“Don’t forget the Solfeggio Frequency.” Caron’s tone was laced with acid.
“Oh, yes, right. I will.” Brahms stuck the gum into his mouth and chewed.
Dr. Brands sneered. “Uncle, she’s being facetious. And I don’t blame her. Even if you could do that; we would need a quantum computer.”
“No.” Brahms stood with clasped hands. “As little as two qubits can do the trick.
Haven’t you been keeping up with science, Albrecht?”
Dr. Brands’s face reddened. “Please, Uncle. If we’re all going to perish, at least don’t call me that dreadful name.”
“I’m sorry. But we won’t perish. We just need to get to work.”
“How so?” Brands scratched his beard stubble. “Eventually the collider is going to shut down from a power loss and then the wave version will collapse. If it should dissipate…”
“I know. I know that.” Brahms said. “I will get to work on the formula. You need to send a message to Earth Cat Zero. I am so sorry, Caron. I promised your daughter I would not put her in harm. But she’s our only hope.” The older scientist clasped his hands around hers. “If you should say no, I’ll have to understand. We will just take our chances that our entire planet and civilization may blink into nothingness…”
Caron batted eyes. “Great guilt trip, Doctor. I think after everything Miranda has been through that she’s old enough to give you her decision.”
“I agree.” Dr. Brands smiled wistfully. “Your daughter kept me on my toes. And that cat…well…”
Caron wrapped her arms about her as if she felt a shiver. “We’re going to lose Earth Cat Zero, aren’t we?”
Brahms nodded. “Likely, but his existence is not dependent on our reality but from the place in time that allowed his kind to exist in his current specific wave form.”
“Are you saying, we might return him back to his origins?”
Brahms hesitated, stumbling on words and waving his fingers. “I can’t say with all honesty that will be the case. I’ve just killed a man and that’s enough guilt for one day. I won’t become a pathological liar and give you an affirmative answer. But games of chance are just that, Caron. So, yes. There is a chance.”