Quantum Times

by Bill Diffenderffer

  They had been walking in silence for a while, each enjoying the gentle breeze and the squish of the wet sand beneath their bare feet. David also enjoyed just looking at Gabriela with her olive-tinged Bahama tanned skin contrasting her short white shorts and pink halter top barely covering her slim and lanky form. She might not be the most brilliant physicist – though she could hold her own -- but she was definitely the best looking one he had ever seen. Though he should probably tell her that more often, he realized. But he didn’t seem to have the time. And as he walked he realized how lame that was. And then he started thinking about the times they were in. And the now-ness of walking hand in hand on a beautiful beach with the beautiful woman he was going to marry started sliding away from him.

  David’s mind had lost its meditation induced calm and now anxiously gnawed at his consciousness with the fears associated with the scary present. “You know,” he said, breaking the silence, “the part I struggle with is the idea the future could be so great with the benefits of Participatory Physics but to get there we have to entrust an immature and hate-ridden world with powers of frightful magnitude. How do we survive the short term to get to the long term?”

  Gabriela squeezed his hand, “I know coming from me, this will surprise you, but I think you just have to believe we will. I guess that is what we have to put out to the universe. You have to have faith.”

  “Faith?”

  “Yes faith. Believe David! You have to believe.”

  “That’s strange talk coming from a physicist,” David responded.

  Gabriela stopped their walking to turn toward him. She looked at him with a gentle smile flickering on her face. “I’m a physicist who has now learned that the universe is founded on consciousness. Physicists have actually known that that elephant has been hiding in the kitchen for quite a while, but we didn’t like the implications and couldn’t do any math that supported it. So we ignored it. I did too. But now I know it is true and I wouldn’t be much of a physicist if I wasn’t willing to go where our data and experience takes us. So consciousness matters. The mind matters. So belief matters.”

  David thought it through as he stared out over the turquoise waters. “So if I fear the catastrophe, I am helping to bring it on. I have to believe we will survive this?”

  “Yes, but it wouldn’t hurt for us to do everything we can to beat back the terrorism and whatever it is that The Freya is up to.”

  “Good point. But don’t forget about The Lucky Dragon. Trust me, those guys are really scary! They make Captain Ragnar look no worse than a street punk in a bad neighborhood.”

  When David and Gabriela finished their walk, they returned to the main building and saw Plato sitting at an umbrella covered table near the pool with Catherine Ozawa. Plato waved David and Gabriela over to join them and they took the two remaining seats – Gabriela took the one not shaded and David was happy with the one remaining seat still under cover of the umbrella.

  “There are things that must be done soon,” Plato said immediately. “Events are moving faster than I thought they would.”

  “What is it that we have to deal with?” David asked.

  “Another terrorist attack facilitated by Captain Ragnar – which I think will be a major strike within the United States.” Plato responded.

  “How do we know this?” asked Gabriela.

  Plato looked at them with a gleam in his eye that made him look more fierce than his usual wise and calm demeanor. “There is good and bad to this. The bad is that I believe The Freya is again working with the terrorist who blew up the American Embassy in Tel Aviv with a weapon put in his hands by The Freya. And judging The Freya from past experience, I think they are seeking a more dramatic and destabilizing strike than the one against the Embassy.”

  Gabriela’s eyes widened at the thought, “That was horrible enough!”

  “Yes, but the next will be worse.”

  “So what’s the good part?” David asked.

  “The good part is that they are going to try and blame it on me!” Plato said with a smile belonging to a cat that just ate the goldfish.

  David and Gabriela looked at each other in confusion. Catherine Ozawa asked the question they each had in their mind. “And why is that a good thing, Plato?”

  Still smiling, Plato answered, “I have told you that I am severely limited in the degree that I can become involved in activities on this world. The limitations imposed on me by my homeworld are not absolute or without qualification. One of the enabling exceptions to the prohibitions applies to circumstances when as a result of actions taken by other parties, my role as advisor is compromised and it is made to appear that I am actively engaged in support of a particular faction. When my reputation or character is under attack, I can take such actions as are necessary to protect myself and ensure that such actions by others do not continue.”

  David shook his head as if to bring his gaze into focus. “And that means what?”

  “It means that since Captain Ragnar is trying to make it look like I am in support of these terrorist actions, I can take whatever actions are necessary to prevent him from succeeding.”

  “And who decides what the limits are to your actions?” Ozawa asked.

  “Why I do, of course,” Plato replied.

  David felt more relieved than he had in weeks. “So this means you can help us stop whatever The Freya is trying to do? Is that right?”

  “Yes, that is correct. I can do whatever I deem necessary to stop them – including taking such action as will be quite permanent in effect. I still have limitations as to the extent of my actions here, but they are far looser now.”

  Ozawa, David and Gabriela exchanged looks as each considered the possible meaning of the word ‘permanent’ as Plato had just used it. No one said anything. After moments had passed, Gabriela asked, “One thing I don’t understand, how do you know, Plato, that Captain Ragnar is planning to blame a terrorist action in the U.S. on you?”

  Plato leaned back in his chair so that he could turn his attention onto all three of them. “Well, remember that I told you that my home Earth’s technology is quite ahead of yours because our civilization traces back to a continuous development from the glory days of ancient Greece without the thousand years of knowledge atrophy you call the Middle Ages here?”

  David nodded, “You said that your technology is like 200 years ahead of ours.”

  “Approximately, yes. And though Captain Ragnar is not aware of it, we are just about as far ahead of him.”

  “So what does that mean for us?” Ozawa asked.

  “It means that I can keep track of things that go on here – on this planet -- at a level that would probably amaze you. For instance, our surveillance capability of the six billion people on this planet is almost 100%. We can focus our cameras on anyone and everyone at any time and follow them wherever they may go. We can access any data recording, any digitized surveillance video of anyone or anyplace. In other words, if one of our cameras sees something – and we have a lot of cameras – or anyone else’s cameras see something, we will have it stored in our data libraries.”

  David had to think about the amount of raw data that meant was stored somewhere and mentally gulped. But then his doubtful mind was triggered. “But that isn’t much use is it really? Because it’s just raw data.”

  Plato shook his head, “David, to get that raw data, isn’t much of an accomplishment. Even your Earth is only a few years away from being able to do that. As I said, our technology is considerably more advanced than yours and our data storage is literally managed in a different dimension. No it is not just raw data. We can access the data in a myriad of ways. I can call up instantly a video stream of everything you have done when you were either outside or being reviewed by any security camera anywhere since The Bucephalus arrived. And I can do that on anyone of the other six billion people here.”

  David’s smile was one of wonder not disbelief. “Really, you can call up anything?”


  Plato returned David’s smile. ‘Shall I give an example? You and Gabriela were just before walking on the beach, correct?” David nodded.

  “Then see for yourself.” In that moment there appeared a hologram right beside the table they were sitting at. In the hologram were David and Gabriela walking along the beach holding hands, wearing what they now were wearing. Then Plato said out loud, “Show all the times on a fast forward basis Gabriela and David walked along the beach.” Now the hologram raced through a number of such walks – including one walk where David and Gabriela were passionately connecting on what they thought was an unobserved deserted beach. When Plato noticed that particular hologram, he shut it down.

  “Wow!” David responded. “And you can do that to basically everyone in the world?”

  “Yes,” replied Plato.

  “OK,” Gabriela persisted. “So how do you know about Ragnar’s plans?”

  Plato’s look turned serious. “We have tracked every one of his team every time they left The Freya. Neither he nor any of his men have gone anywhere or met with anyone we are not aware of. So it was quite the surprise to see the man he refers to as Hasan when on this Earth meet with the individual who we determined was the one who shot a Freya missile at the Tel Aviv embassy and then see someone who very much looked like me show up at the table in Beirut.”

  “So let me get this straight,” David said. “Because you saw someone who appeared to be you with one of The Freya’s men meet with a known terrorist, you determined they are going to frame you – which now enables you to help us, if you so choose.”

  “Correct,” said Plato.

  David continued, “If that had not happened you would not be now telling us about this awesome surveillance capability and you would not help us stop The Freya from doing whatever it is they are planning. Am I right?”

  “Yes again.”

  “So what are they planning to do?” Gabriela asked when David took a moment to think it all through.

  Plato looked back at them expressionlessly and said, “They are going to try to blow up The Capitol in Washington.”

  “Oh shit!” said David. “Well somebody has to stop them! You can stop them right, Plato?”

  “Yes someone has to stop them – but not me. The action needs to be done by someone from this Earth”

  “And why is that, Plato?” Ozawa asked.

  “If I do it, what is learned?”

  ________________________________________________________________

  David arranged to meet with General Greene the next day. Immediately after talking to Plato on Pirate’s Cay he had called the General saying that he had something urgent to tell him. When pressed David said it dealt with a major terrorist strike within the United States. They set up a late afternoon meeting and the general arranged for transportation for David from the island to Washington D.C. General Greene had him met at a designated Pentagon entrance and ushered through the vast complex until David found himself at Greene’s office where Hank Scarpetti was also waiting for him.

  The general was in his dress uniform but his jacket was off. Hank Scarpetti was wearing a blue pinstriped suit with a blue and white striped shirt and a red and blue striped tie. Too many stripes, David thought. And even though the suit was expensive, Scarpetti could have used a better tailor. Like Scarpetti himself, it looked tired and stressed.

  They said their hellos and Greene explained that he had invited Scarpetti to the meeting because it was probably best to save time. That was fine with David. Greene returned to sit behind his uncluttered desk and Scarpetti and David took the seats across from him.

  “So what about this terrorist attack? What can you tell us?” Greene asked David.

  The general and Scarpetti listened carefully as David repeated the basics of his conversation the day before with Plato. They asked questions just to clarify what David had said. Both asked about the extent of Plato’s surveillance capability and considered what that meant about the technology requirements to do what Plato said they could do. When asked about data mining and manipulation technology operating out of another dimension the best David could answer was a guess about quantum computing which theoretical physicists had speculated about.

  Then David explained about the meeting in Beirut with the terrorists identified as Hasan and Khalil and how they were joined by someone who looked like Plato. And then David said how that freed Plato up to help more aggressively. Scarpetti and Greene asked a lot of questions about that too. Finally, David finished the way Plato had – by saying that Plato believed the target was going to be The Capitol, specifically to blow up the dome of The Capitol.

  “God help us!” Scarpetti responded, his face whitening.

  “When is this supposed to happen?” General Greene asked.

  “Plato doesn’t know – only that it will be soon.”

  “And how does Plato know what the target will be?”

  David shook his head, “I don’t know for sure. I suspect that their surveillance capability could include listening technology if it happens in real time. Plato never tells all his secrets.”

  “So is he going to stop it from happening?” Scarpetti asked.

  David shook his head again, “No. He’ll help us but he said we have to actually take the action to save ourselves. He said otherwise we don’t learn anything.”

  Greene turned to look from David to Scarpetti, “Is this enough to change the President’s mind? Do you think he’ll let us go after The Freya?”

  Scarpetti looked away from the general and ignored the question. Instead he asked, “David, did you see the video of the meeting with Hasan, Khalil and the false Plato?”

  “No, I didn’t see it. Plato told me about it. But I’m sure it exists.”

  Scarpetti just shook his head slowly while looking at General Greene. Then he said, “I guess if Plato says it exists, one way or another it will exist. My problem is, now even if we through our antiquated surveillance methods find that such a meeting did exist – and if we even observed that someone looking like Plato was there, now Plato is telling us, it wasn’t him. So now, not only is Plato telling us again that we have to trust him and that Captain Ragnar is the villain, but we shouldn’t even believe our own eyes if we were to see these terrorists with Plato. That’s pretty much it, isn’t it, David?”

  David just stared back at Scarpetti knowing there was nothing he could say. Finally he conceded, “Yea, that’s about right.”

  Scarpetti turned back to face General Greene, “What do I do with this, Carl? I can’t go to the President with this.”

  Greene looked back at Scarpetti and then turned to regard David, “Hold on Hank, let me ask a couple of questions. “David, assume for the moment that everything that Plato is telling you is the truth and that The Freya is going to help this terrorist to blow up the Capitol. What kind of help could they give? Obviously they could give them the same weapon that blew up our Tel Aviv embassy. But how would they get the terrorist and the weapon into the US?”

  David realized then that the general was probably on his side on this. “Plato and I talked about this. And unfortunately the answer is that getting the terrorist and the weapon into the country is pretty simple….You know that I have twice already interviewed Captain Ragnar?”

  Greene nodded.

  “And do you know that I conducted the interview on The Freya?”

  Greene nodded again, “Yes…I guess I knew that.”

  “Well, did you ever wonder how I got on The Freya?”

  Greene looked back at Scarpetti and neither man liked what all of a sudden they were thinking. “No, but I guess I should have,” the general said.

  “They picked me up with their shuttle. They had me drive to an open field where a small shuttle craft came and picked me up. And that’s where they dropped me off later. Do you remember General, when you first met Plato on Pirate’s Cay and he showed you what his shuttle could do?”

  Greene nodded.

  “Well, it wa
s like that. And think about it, have you ever heard anything from the FAA or the Air Force or anyone else about all the shuttle flights that have taken place in the last few months? I know you haven’t because I checked. Near as I can tell both Plato’s shuttles and The Freya shuttles do not show up on any of our radar or other sensing devices. Even when you look at them, they are hard to see. If they don’t want you to see or detect them, you won’t.”

  Greene turned to Scarpetti, “This is bad Hank, real bad.” Then he focused on David again, “So The Freya could pick up the terrorists anywhere in the Middle East, fly them in The Freya – or maybe even a shuttle – who knows what their range is – and drop them off somewhere in the DC area with the weapon. The terrorists shoot the missile at The Capitol, the shuttle picks them up somewhere previously designated and flies them back to wherever they picked them up….and while this shuttle is flying over our heads, we won’t even be able to see it. That’s right, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, General, I think that is exactly right,” said David.

  “Hank, how are we supposed to stop something like that?” the general asked his friend.

  Scarpetti’s eyes traveled all around the room searching for an answer and finding none. No one said anything. Greene unconsciously was staring up and to his right hoping for something to occur to him. David just stared at the two men. Finally Scarpetti said what all three were thinking, “If we do nothing and Plato is telling us the truth, then sometime soon someone is going to blow up The Capitol and probably kill half of our legislative branch or worse.”

  General Greene found he could no longer sit still. He rose out of his chair and walked around his desk to stand in front of Scarpetti. “Or we can choose to believe Plato and with whatever help he can give us, we fight and keep that disaster from happening – or at least we god damn well tried!”