The Cheorkas’ crests lay down as Pascual put one finger in his mouth and cleaned it with his tongue. He tried to think of Mexican blood sausages he'd eaten, but it tasted nothing like that. It was thick and slippery. He gagged on the first swallows, and then licked quickly as he could. If he vomited, it would probably be an insult. As he licked away the last spot of alien blood, he knew himself changed. Maybe now he was an American, like he told the president. But he felt more Mayan, in some ancient sense, than he ever had before. He didn't need to call his parents before he made the decision. He would call them after.
"I didn't have time to ask Aranead; did you understand the message I sent?"
Wa'akon opened her eyes and nodded. “When we last visited, we placed receivers in the debris belt around your sun. All signals in the likely frequency ranges were transmitted to us. In yours, we recognized the number sequence. We'd seen a similar sequence in a message sent earlier. It was the other two components of your message that prompted us to come again. The diamond pattern caught our attention first. The approximate count of Earth days since our last visit, given in the base-twenty system that we use, convinced us."
Wa'akon ran her talon along Deekor's neck, tracing the chain of diamonds outlined there. Pascual felt the air, stirred by the long feathers on Wa'akon's forearm, brush his face.
The Cheork named Chika spoke, “In your message, we saw that you remembered us. After more than five thousand years, you remembered. It indicates a mature and cohesive civilization."
"Why did you choose 5,129 years? How did you know we'd be ready?"
The Cheorka exchanged looks. “We did not choose it. The number has no significance to us."
The statement resonated through out Pascual's body. The skills brought by the aliens so long ago had only been a start. They were tools his ancestors used to create a body of knowledge, calendars, and a method of prophecy that held their own truths.
"I accept the seat on the observing team, to honor Aranead's sacrifice. But before I go, I need to...” His voice cracked. How would he tell Mama? Could he stand to look Papa in eye and say good-bye? They might never see Guatemala together now. He wondered if they realized how far he'd strayed from home over these last few years. Now they would know. He couldn't imagine how observing at the Universal Council would change him, but he knew he would no longer be a Mayan or an American. He would simply be from Earth. There was some joy in that, but a full measure of sadness, too.
Copyright (c) 2007 Sarah K. Castle
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Short Story: ANYTHING WOULD BE WORTH IT by LESLEY L. SMITH
The most unlikely things can have practical applications, under the right conditions....
made it through one more morning without any crying or “crazy incidents.” In the coffee shop's early afternoon lull, while I was hanging out reading online high-energy physics articles, there was a commotion in the doorway, with a lot of laughing. I heard shushing, and then someone approached my table.
I looked up and there stood a woman and two beautiful little girls. My heart caved in as I took in their giggly faces.
"Abigail?” The woman's smile was luminous in her round, dark face. “I heard you're a grad student and you do physics tutoring?"
I'd been kicked out, but that was the least of my worries.
The woman continued, “I'm Sophia, a new grad student."
"Yeah, I'm Abigail and I do tutoring,” I said, glancing at the girls who were fighting over where to sit. They appeared to be about seven and nine and were dressed in similar all-pink and all-purple outfits, complete with matching barrettes at the end of their frizzy black pigtails.
A little younger, my daughters had also been in their “girly” phases. Against my will, my thoughts were drawn back to last fall.
"Mommy!” my youngest, Emma screamed from the family room.
"Mommy!” Isabella echoed.
I dropped the dinner preparations in the kitchen and ran to the family room. When I got there, the girls were fighting over costumes and my husband, Jacob, was just sitting on the couch grinning, watching them.
I put my hands on my hips. “Please no screaming in the house, girls. What's going on in here?"
Emma's cheeks were flushed and her fine blond hair stuck out every which way. “Isabella tried to take my silver fairy wings! They're mine! Tell her, Mommy."
Isabella's blue eyes flashed as she shook her head vigorously, throwing her long hair back and forth. “I need the silver wings. The gold ones don't go!” She pointed at her sparkly pink tutu on the floor.
I turned to Jacob, still leaning back on the sofa, sporting his grin. “A little help here?"
He glanced up at me with mischievous green eyes and a full-fledged smile spread across his face. “Oh, c'mon. They're so cute! Look at them."
I couldn't help smiling back at him. “Agreed—they're adorable. But if someone doesn't finish dinner, we won't be able to eat. And you're on fairy patrol, Jacob, so deal, dude."
He sighed in mock consternation. “Oh, all right.” He slipped off the couch onto the floor next to the girls. “The punishment for fairies acting up is the tickle monster!” He grabbed the girls and started tickling them.
They laughed uncontrollably, but didn't try to get away, I noticed.
I took a step back toward the kitchen.
"Watch out for the tickle monster, Mommy!” Emma cried out, reaching for my hand.
Jacob crawled toward me. “Yep, look out, Mommy.” He pulled me down on the carpet and three sets of hands started tickling me. I laughed so hard it was hard to breathe.
"Abigail?” a woman said.
Suddenly aware of my surroundings again, I still found it hard to breathe, albeit for the opposite reason. Remembered joy had turned to ashes. My eyes tried to fill with tears, but I blinked them away. No more crying. Last time I'd started crying, I couldn't stop and I'd ended up in the hospital for three months.
Sophia looked from me to her daughters and back again. “Oh dear. I hope it's okay that I brought the girls? I didn't think—"
I forced a smile. “It's fine, of course."
"I'm so sorry for your loss—your entire family—I can't imagine. Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. “Didn't it happen about a year ago?"
One year ago, today. But I shook my head. “It happened a year ago, but no, I don't want to talk about it."
"It'll get better,” she said. “Just take it one day at a time."
She had no idea what she was talking about—thank God. It was more like one nanosecond at a time. I cleared my throat. “So you've run into some trouble? You need a tutor?"
The girls had decided on one big chair and were both sitting in it, poking each other.
"Kayla! Brianna!” Sophia said, her good temper beginning to crack. “Girls, please behave."
The older girl got up and whispered something to her mom.
Sophia said, “Okay, girls. You can explore the coffee shop, but please be quiet while Mommy talks to this nice lady."
They were off in a flash toward the window that looked over the university across the street.
Sophia turned back to me. “What were you saying?"
I was not going to obsess about little girls. I turned my palms up.
"What can I help you with?"
She frowned. “It's just that grad school is so much more difficult than I was expecting. I feel like I'm not prepared, especially for quantum mechanics. There are these weird interpretations, like the Transactional one with waves that go forward and backward in time?"
"Yeah.” I nodded. “You're thinking of the handshake between the retarded and advanced waves. They're supposed to cancel one another out. You're in luck; quantum mechanics was my specialty—"
A strange rocking noise came from the corner of the room by the window. I glanced over and saw the younger girl had climbed up the huge wooden shelf and it was starting to topple over onto the other girl.
Sophia cried, �
��Oh my God!"
We both jumped up.
This cannot happen again! The next thing I knew, I was standing next to the shelf holding it up against the wall as merchandise showered down on me.
They kid working behind the counter yelled, “Hey! You break it, you buy it!” but made no move to come over and help us.
While ducking down, I thought I saw a woman who looked like me sitting at my table, but when I looked back she was gone.
"How? What?” Sophia asked. Then she rushed over to us and grabbed her daughter off the shelf and hugged her.
I managed to set the shelf upright.
"Kayla, what were you doing? You should know better than to climb furniture!” Sophia bent down and hugged both her daughters at the same time. “I would just die if anything happened to you two."
Sadly, that probably wasn't true.
After a few more moments of hugging, Sophia let go of her daughters and stood up. She looked at me. “I don't understand what just happened. But thank you from the bottom of my heart.” There was that luminous smile again. “You just appeared next to the shelf. It was like magic."
My mouth fell open. “Wait. You saw me do something like magic?"
Could it be my doctors were wrong and I wasn't crazy? A tiny seed of hope sprouted in my chest. “I'm not sure what happened. I just knew I couldn't let the girls get hurt. Can you tell me what you saw?"
"I didn't really see anything,” she said. “I was looking at my daughters.” She shrugged. “I thought you were sitting over there, and then you materialized out of thin air in front of the shelf."
I nodded even though I didn't quite understand. There was something important here though.
"I hate to think what would have happened....” she said.
"Me too,” I said.
"Oh dear, Abigail, you're bleeding!” Sophia said.
I reached my hand up to my head. It was wet, and when I held my hand out it was red with blood. Weird.
"You have to let me take you to the emergency room,” she said. “It's the least I can do—you might need stitches. I'm parked right outside.” She took me by the arm and led me out the door.
Outside on the curb I had an unfortunate epiphany as she directed me to her nondescript dark SUV. She expected me to ride in her car! I hadn't ridden in a car for almost a year—not since the accident that claimed my family. There was no way I was getting in that car. I stopped abruptly on the sidewalk. “No. Thank you, but no, I'm not going with you."
"What?” Sophia asked. “You have to go to the hospital."
My heart was racing. “No. You don't understand. I was in a crash with my family. I can't ride in a car!"
"Well, I can't let you bleed to death,” she said. “Should I call an ambulance?"
"No!” Unwillingly, my mind went back to Emma's fine hair matted to her little head with blood, to Isabella's dulled unmoving eyes, and the bubble of blood that came out of Jacob's mouth when he tried to speak, right before he never tried to do anything again.
Suddenly the pieces fell into place. I just went back in time to save Sophia's girls, so I should be able to save my girls! I concentrated with all my might on waves that went back in time, and then I felt a Herculean wrench.
I was standing on a front stoop, my old front stoop, and I felt very woozy. Maybe an ambulance wasn't such a bad idea. Shaking, I lifted my finger to the doorbell and pressed the button.
As I heard footsteps approach in the front hallway, I had to grab the front planter to keep from keeling over.
The door opened and I found myself face to face with ... me.
Apparently dazed, other-me reached out and took my hand.
And then I did fall over.
The next thing I knew, I was lying on my old family room couch.
I appeared to be leaning over myself, peering into my face. “Are you me?” the other me asked.
"Yes.” There was something important I was forgetting. “Wait! What day is it?” I yelled.
"Tuesday, October 31,” she said, crouching down. “You're in bad shape. Can I take you to the hospital?"
"The year! What year is it?"
"2006,” she said and paused. “Time travel?"
"Yes. I have to warn you."
"Warn me?” She leaned back, her eyes straying to a family portrait. She gulped. “Who do I, er, we lose?” she asked, her voice husky.
I forced back tears as I looked at her, unable to speak.
She looked at me, then at the picture, and then back at me. “All of them?” she whispered.
I nodded, tears escaping.
"Oh my God,” she whispered, tears running down her cheeks. “How? What happened?"
"Car accident. Jacob driving.” I tried to wipe my face, but my hand was shaking too much. “Tonight."
"Tonight? Oh, my God."
I felt so dizzy I almost couldn't get the words out, “On the way to the trick-or-treat party.” I was starting to feel something was seriously wrong with me.
She leaned over the couch and clutched me to her. “Oh my God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."
When she finally released me, I said, “I don't feel so good."
"You do look ba—uh, you could look better. I'm calling 911."
As she called an ambulance, I struggled to stay conscious.
"They'll be here in a couple minutes. Hang in there.” She grabbed my hand. “Uh, how did you get back here?” Her face brightened. “Did you build a time machine?"
"No. Transactional interpretation,” I whispered. “I guess the waves didn't cancel out."
Other-me looked off into the distance. “The advanced waves that travel into the past and the retarded waves that travel into the future don't always cancel out?” She peered at me. “But that would violate causality."
I tried to nod. “Yes. You're good, stay in school—” I could hear the sirens approaching, but they were fading.
"Abigail?” she asked. “Come on, stay with me!"
"If you keep them safe, it was worth—"
* * * *
She was gone. I could tell because the haunted look left her eyes, and my soul shuddered.
There was pounding on the front door.
I went over to open it. “She's over here.” I led the EMTs into the family room.
They ran over to her and knelt down. One of them said, “Twin sister?"
I nodded as the tears started cascading down my cheeks again.
"I'm very sorry, miss. She's gone."
I sank down in a chair, cradling my head in my hands. Oh my God.
"Abigail!” Jacob yelled, running into the room. “Why's there an ambulance here? Abigail! Answer me! Are you okay?” He must have seen the figure on the couch because then he screamed, “No!"
I jumped to my feet. “Jacob! I'm here. I'm okay."
He ran over to me and crushed me in his arms. “Thank God,” he said into my hair. We clutched each other as if our lives depended on it.
"What's happening, Mommy?” Isabella asked from the front hallway.
Jacob and I let go of one another, and I ran into the hallway and hugged them. “Girls, please don't go into the family room.” I turned back toward Jacob. “Can you please take them into the kitchen?"
"But we have to get ready for the party, Mommy,” Emma said.
"I'm sorry, girls. We can't go to the party,” I said.
"Aw! I wanna be a fairy!” Emma stomped her feet.
"That's not fair!” Isabella said, throwing her long hair back and forth. “I wanna wear my costume!"
Jacob came and took them by the hands. “What the hell is going on? Do you have a twin sister?” he whispered to me.
"I'll tell you later,” I whispered back. “Girls, you can put on your costumes. We're going to have our own party at home tonight."
I watched my very confused husband lead our grumpy daughters into the kitchen and another tear escaped.
It was worth it. Anything would be worth it.
Cop
yright (c) 2007 Lesley L. Smith
* * * *
It is no use saying, “We are doing our best.” You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.—Winston Churchill
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THE ALTERNATE VIEW: THE EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE AGAINST OBJECTIVE REALITY by JOHN G. CRAMER
Quantum entanglement, a phrase first coined by Erwin Schrodinger in 1935, describes a condition of the separated parts of the same quantum system in which each of the parts can only be described by referencing the state of other part. This is one of the most counterintuitive aspects of quantum mechanics, because classically one would expect system parts out of speed-of-light contact to be completely independent. Thus, entanglement represents a kind of quantum “connectedness” in which measurements on one isolated part of an entangled quantum system have non-classical consequences for the outcome of measurements performed on the other (possibly very distant) part of the same system. This quantum connectedness that enforces the measurement correlation and state matching in entangled quantum systems has come to be called quantum nonlocality.
Nonlocality was first highlighted by Albert Einstein and his coworkers Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen in their famous 1935 EPR paper. They argued that the nonlocal connectedness of quantum systems requires a faster-than-light connection that appears to be in conflict with special relativity. This criticism of quantum mechanics was ignored by most of the physics community until 1964, when John S. Bell, a theoretical physicist working at the CERN laboratory in Geneva, used the formalism of quantum mechanics to show that certain experimental tests could distinguish the predictions of quantum mechanics from those of alternative theories that were “local,” in the sense that nonlocality was eliminated. Bell based his calculations not on measurements of position and momentum, the focus of Einstein's arguments, but on measurements of the states of polarization of photons of light.
In a propagating light wave, if the electric field oscillates in the vertical or horizontal direction the light is said to be linearly polarized vertically or horizontally. If the electric vector corkscrews through space in a counterclockwise or clockwise direction, as viewed from the front, the light is said to be right or left circularly polarized. A mixture of linear and circular polarization is called elliptical polarization. As an example, my sunglasses pass light that has vertical linear polarization and block light that has horizontal linear polarization because the latter is produced by reflection and glare.
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