“How? What the holy hell! You’ve heard the expression ‘mind-blowing,’ haven’t you?”
Copernicus continues walking toward the shady spot to the west. As we come upon his fruit orchard, he reaches up and hands me an apple.
I take the large red orb, hesitating before placing it into my mouth.
“No, it’s all right, Michael. Don’t worry. It’s just an apple; it’s nutritious. You won’t be eating an entity with consciousness—at least not yet.”
I hear the crunch, hoping that I haven’t indeed hurt anything.
I know this is strange, but I had a premonition that Copernicus was toying with me.
“Good to know,” I say.
With that, we all sat down under a fig tree. “Thank you for the shade, Felicity, Copernicus says to his friend.
Zeke and I exchange glances. Oddly—yes, I know I sound paranoid—I have the distinct feeling that I’ve met Copernicus before. But when?
Copernicus seems to relish my confusion. He gazes up at the sky as a flock of birds flies toward us. He quickly points to a set of trees, enjoying the company of that same finch. Then the finch alights on my shoulder.
“She likes you, Michael. She thinks you’re cute!”
“Michael, I enjoy your company so much! Of course, Zeke and I are old friends. We go back a long time. But you see, science holds no limits, and our creator’s intelligence holds no limitations as well. I feel it is my job to stretch the world of science and reality beyond the imaginable; that’s how I show my love and reverence for life.”
“I see.”
An eerie silence casts dark shadows on the strange afternoon. The trees sway, offering a continual rotation of blue rain that falls in various spots. I feel more and more as if I’m falling into a strange abyss of Copernicus’s making.
Coppy touches his nose, making a verbal command, “Beethoven please!” Melodic sounds permeate the orchard. Copernicus peers directly into my eyes, creating a more spiritual connection with me. “All of my creatures—well, actually, I call them Copernici—are spiritually bound to me as their creator,” the great man says, flashing a cunning smile. “It’s very amusing and certainly creatively rewarding.”
“So tell me, Nicolaus, what about Maura—is she a human being just like me?” I ask.
Copernicus reaches up and grabs one of the apples off the tree. “Aren’t these delicious?” he inquires. “They’re both real and what you might consider to be enhanced.”
Enhanced? I muse. “What exactly does Coppy mean by ‘enhanced’?”
“And Maura?” I inquire. “What is the truth about her?”
Copernicus camouflages a grin, which chills me to the bone.
“Precocious boy,” Nicholaus says softly. “Michael, I told you the truth. Maura does come from the planet Beetlejuice. Yes, she does have a mother. And yes, much of her DNA is like yours.” He hesitates. “However, Maura is both an AI—a being with artificial intelligence—and a RI. She’s a hybrid.”
I nod, wondering what else this crafty man could create. “Don’t you feel strange creating something that loves you like a husband?” I inquire. I notice that Zeke appears highly uncomfortable as he shifts awkwardly.
“Of course not!” Copernicus shoots back. “When God created us, he loved us. I’m doing the exact same thing.”
“So you liken yourself to God, right?”
Copernicus rubs his forehead. “Yes, of course. On this planet I am God—or haven’t you noticed?”
Then, in a shuddering vague recollection, something else occurs to me. Have you ever had a memory that just won’t completely surface—an important memory that wants to come out but is too afraid to do so? My heart beats faster and faster.
CHAPTER 19
July 5, 2378
1:13:32 p.m.
Faster than light, we’re traveling through the wormhole
Out of the night, into a VORTEX OF FIRE
Time slips away, as we plunge into the unknown dimensions
Brilliant display, quenching my deepest desires.
—Ayreon (ancient band)
“So how do you find a wormhole?”
Zeke shrugs.
“You mean you’ve taken me into the bowels of space and you don’t know?”
“Well kinda,” Zeke says squeamishly, flashing his pearlies.
“You know, you really are a freak!”
“Really?” Zeke responds as he kicks up the speed on his lunch bucket sports jet. “Oh, you mean freak like an anomaly? Aberration? Misfit? Well, thank you very much! Some of the greatest things in the world are accomplished by so-called freaks, Michael!”
“You know, I didn’t ask for all of this, Ezekial. You do remember that, don’t you?”
Zeke fiddles with a few of his controls, placing the spaceship on autopilot. He stares at me as though I’m an infant peeing in my diaper and puking. “Do you think I did?” the time traveler shoots back.
I stare at him, feeling ashamed. After all, he was trying to do the impossible—change what I’d already done, changing the mistakes of the past—even though I wasn’t exactly sure of the sinful nature of my past.
“You destroyed the world! You destroyed everything in it, Michael. You’ve heard of the Epic of Gilgamesh, haven’t you, Michael? You know what global annihilation is, I assume?”
I just stare at him, totally paralyzed, unable to move or speak.
“That’s what happens on Earth when people can’t work together, right? That’s what our species does—it annihilates everything we love and are too stupid to reach out to.”
Ezekial pauses, allowing for a horrifying silence to hang in the air, seeping slowly and sickeningly into my consciousness. “So don’t ask me what you did; I don’t think you want to remember. Is that what you want, Michael? Do you want the world to remember you as a murderer? Oh, that’s right; there isn’t much of a world left. You saw to that!”
I sit there in silence, feeling sick to my stomach. My heart is pounding hard, strangling me with its constant beat. Zeke is offering me a way to move on.
“So how is this possible? What are we experiencing now if I’ve already destroyed everything?”
Zeke nods. “Do you want the sun to go ahead ten degrees? But let the shadow return backward ten degrees. Ten degrees is exactly forty minutes, Michael. This is an exact quote from the Bible.”
“But it was only forty minutes.”
“Twenty years can be forty minutes, Michael. It’s happened before, and we’re hoping to do it again … for you, Michael. It’s your choice.”
I observe a flashing signal on Zeke’s screen. It simply says, “The wormhole awaits.” I stare at it as it blinks on and off.
I notice that our craft is hovering in the air. It is as if all time is suspended, waiting for me. I feel a rush of adrenaline inside me, surging as though it is going to explode, sending my body into oblivion.
My thoughts turn to Maya. I think about my love for her and the child I could have with her one day. Oddly, my thoughts also return to the cave and all its mystery and inner beauty.
Zeke glares at me, awaiting my decision.
I nod. “I’m sorry, Ezekial. Of course … I will.”
Ezekial laughs and then smiles. “Actually, you take a left at the gas station, go down two blocks, make a U-turn at the corner, and then take the shuttle bus to the sign that says, ‘wormhole.’”
“Give it up, Zeke,” I say. “I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
“Okay, the truth is I’m going to have to do some tricky navigating. First we need to find the Eye of Medusa, where a wormhole actually exists—at least I think so.” Zeke clears his throat. “Are you ready?”
I nod.
“You need to know, Michael, that going through the eye is like entering a luminous collision that drives two galaxies to
gether, impelling them to their deaths. Our mission is to head straight through the birth of our universe. We’re going straight through the region known as the Lair of the Medusa. Are you ready?”
I stare into the abyss, glaring at the unblinking rogue eye ahead.
“We have to watch out for exotic matter as well,” Zeke says. “Remember: wormholes also contain quite a bit of radiation and have the potential to suddenly collapse!”
“I liked it better when you told me that we needed to turn at the gas station.” I peer out the window to my left, where I notice a sort of strange, eerie light. “What’s that?”
“Oh, c’mon Michael. I thought all Eisensteins would be familiar with that light.”
“Humor me,” I quip. “It’s been a rough day.”
“Well, this is what we refer to as a primordial light. You see, most scientists theorize that the oldest photons have traveled at least forty-five to forty-seven billion light-years since the big bang. These photons are what my Rocket GPS is looking for right now.”
“Can’t we just take the Green Line bus? I think I have a few tokens dangling in my pocket.”
“Are you sure you’re an Eisenstein?” Zeke queries. That’s where we’re going. Remember, Michael: after the universe began slowing after its original big bang burst, the cosmos has continually expanded, owing to the advent of something called dark energy!”
“Like I didn’t know that,” I say sarcastically. “And dark energy is what causes dark civilizations, perhaps evil civilizations, owing to the lack of positive energy coming from more fruitful so-called enlightened suns.”
“It’s time!” Zeke announces. “Remember, Michael: once one approaches the end of the universe, there is something called the theory of cosmic inflation. We are going to start to fly at an amazing speed. Hang on for your life!”
CHAPTER 20
July 5, 2378
1:13:33 p.m.
“How’d you sleep, Michael?”
I peer skeptically at Ezekial, scrutinizing him as he adjusts a few controls.
“You tell me,” I coldly reply.
“You sound perturbed, Michael; did something happen?”
“You know damn well that something happened!”
Zeke adjusts the speed of the craft. “I think we’ll cruise for just a little bit.”
I peer out the window, seeing merging hues forming an image that looks like a demon—Daimon himself!
“What’s that?” I ask.
“Let’s just say it’s the opening to the wormhole, but I think we need to talk first.”
“What’s it called?”
“Well, if you’re an ancient, you may call it ‘trap-doored.’ Technically, being trap-doored is passing through a theoretical tunnel to the other side—to another universe. So did you dream last night?”
“No, I didn’t dream!” I say crossly. “But something really messed up happened, and I think you know what!”
Zeke’s face remains impassive. “I do,” he utters. “I believe this one is a traversable wormhole. It’s going to let us in!”
“I thought you told me that traversable wormholes have to be held together by an artificial threading by human—or let’s say intelligent—means.”
I decide to communicate telepathically, knowing that Zeke will receive the message. I think about the words “My mind is everywhere over and over again!”
“Michael, I know you’re mad at me and you have many questions, so let it out! I want to know what happened last night! You’re not in it over your head.”
“That’s right; I forgot you can get inside my head, pulling out information like I’m a sieve,” I say sarcastically.
“You’re angry, and I get it, but you’ll have to hear me out.”
“What about the wormhole?”
“We’re going in soon, but I need to know that you’re okay.”
“Whatever you and your buddy Copernicus did to me, I didn’t ask for it.”
“That’s right, Michael. And honestly, I didn’t ask to be a time traveler for the last two thousand years. Sometimes life calls! We are tested to see what we’re truly made of.”
I stare out the window. All I can see is pitch-black darkness.
Ezekial slows the craft even more. “You are an extraordinary person, Michael, with amazing gifts, so—”
“So you thought you could screw with my mind—is that it?”
“I don’t blame you, Michael, if you’re feeling disoriented and angry; that’s normal! But we have great things in store for you. Explain to me what happened in your sleep.” Zeke begins stroking his beard as he peers out into the dark space of time.
“My mind was hyped all night. But don’t you dare tell me I was dreaming! I felt like my mind was thrown into some sort of rocket-powered thruster and was traveling all over the world without my permission! Are you going to say that’s normal!”
“I’m not going to say that. I know what happened. Your mind was working overtime. You were seeing images of injustice all throughout the universe. Is that a good assessment of what happened?”
I shake my head in disgust. “I kept overhearing conversations. People were plotting against other people, other planets… other galaxies that I’ve never hear of! I was there, but I couldn’t control it!” I take a good long breath and look straight into Ezekial’s eyes. “Zeke, I was lucid! It was happening! This was no dream!”
Zeke’s eyes look sad, as if he actually experienced the nightmare along with me. For a moment, I can tell that Zeke’s mind traverses elsewhere, as if all my horror and fears are being transmitted into his brain.
“Listen, Michael; the extended mind is both a gift and a burden. Once you have it, you can accomplish some amazing things. Yet the burden and responsibility of such a gift can also be debilitating.”
“First just tell me how this happened!” I shriek angrily.
Zeke shakes his head. “Okay. Do you remember that apple that Copernicus gave you yesterday?”
I nod. “I should have known better.”
“Yes, Copernicus is very good at transforming things, and he placed some ingredients in that apple that allowed your mind to become a receiver for selected happenings in the universe.”
“So my mind isn’t my own; is that it?”
“No, Michael! Over time you’ll learn how to control it; trust me!”
“Okay, so do you want to tell me who’s in charge of that?”
“I can’t … actually. Copernicus is in contact with some higher forms of life—maybe God for all I know. It’s his job to give mere mortals the tools they’re going to need to combat evil.”
A long silence ensues.
“What else has Copernicus done, Zeke?
“I was waiting for you to say something. So you remember?”
“I know something’s up, Zeke. Do you want to tell me?”
For once I see a worried look on Zeke’s face, as if he’s been struggling with a problem for a long time. “I had no choice Michael—none!”
“That’s a funny thing to say from such a wise, philosophical man.” I take a deep breath. “If there’s anything I didn’t want to hear…”
Zeke looks down at his feet, taking his time. “He brought you back from the dead, Michael. You didn’t come back in a reincarnated form. You were actually brought back from the ash heaps. He re-created you, taking all of your past DNA and your mental circuits, so to speak.”
“Then what?”
“Then he erased all of your memory, or most of it. And just like he created those birds and flowers, and Maura, he created you—programmed you.”
I take a deep breath. “So I’m nothing other than an AI—just another one of Copernicus’s creations; is that right?”
“No, Michael, you are human, just like me… just like Copernicus himself. On some level
, we’re all re-creations, humanoids—half man, -half machine, if that’s the way you want to look at it.
I stare into Ezekial’s eyes. “So who re-created Copernicus?”
“I’m sorry, Michael; that’s a secret I’ll take to my grave.”
“This isn’t easy.” I felt like a boy whose life had been ripped out from under him. I had no bearings, no real history—no life at all.
“I’ve dreaded this moment, Michael. I know it’s not easy when you find out that God’s Earth is just a beginning. It’s up to us to save what we have left.”
“You mean change who we are!”
“No, Michael, I mean improve who we are.”
I close my eyes, wondering if everything had somehow become different. I’m not who I thought I was—or am I?
I feel Zeke’s eyes on me.
Zeke and I stared at each other for a long time. I’m sure Zeke was trying to find the right words.
“You are what you’ll make yourself to be. It’s all in your hands, Michael.”
“Now sleep, young man, sleep! You’re going to need it! We’re going through the Eye of Medusa soon!”
CHAPTER 21
July 5, 2378
1:13:31
Doth glance from heaven to
Earth, from earth to Heaven;
And as imagination bodes forth
The forms of thins unknown, the
Poets pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
—William Shakespeare (ancient writer and poet)
Ezekial knew the power of dreams. I, on the other hand, was just a willing accomplice. Albert Einstein did envisage riding a live beam traveling at the speed of light. I guess I was doing the same thing, but my dreams were more vivid. Case in point: last night’s lucid dream.
I was the beam, and Maya was the beamette, and together we flew through the night sky together. Yes, I had my shirt off, and Maya… I guess she was dressed pretty provocatively as well. Truth be told, we were both naked!
So you really want to know? You want more? Here goes…
Imagine the ultimate love. There is no matter. There is hardly a physical world. I’m a particle. Maya is a wave. I’m a fermion and Maya is a boson. I’m laughing. Sorry—that’s just futuristic mumbo-jumbo. Truth is, I’m hornier than hell! Hey, have you ever gone through a wormhole? Think about it!
Descendant Page 13