“Of course you can walk me home,” said Joanna. “I'd enjoy that very much. What I meant was that I think Einstein's got it all wrong. Why don't you read it and let me know what you think.”
“I'll take it home tonight and read it,” said David.
“Read it now,” said Joanna.
“The whole book!” exclaimed David. “You want me to read the whole book now?”
“Just a few pages,” said Joanna as she sat down on the school steps and flipped through the pages. “You can read the rest later. Here.”
David read for a moment. Then he read it again and finally read it for a third time. “That's got to be a misprint,” said David. “That's the stupidest statement I've ever read.”
“Then there are a lot of misprints in this book,” said Joanna.
“It was translated from German,” said David.
“I like that about you,” said Joanna. “You're never happy with just an answer. You always want to know why. But I don't believe it's a misprint. I'd be interested in hearing why you think he got it wrong. We'll talk more after you've read the whole book.”
“Getting back to your paper,” said David. “Have you ever seen a UFO?”
“No, but I believe we're being visited,” said Joanna. “I often sit and try to figure out why they would come here and then try to stay hidden. They can't be afraid of us. What do you think?”
“I haven't given it that much thought,” said David. “Do you believe all those stories about abductions?”
“Probably not,” said Joanna. “It's the ones that don't remember being abducted that concern me.”
“Exactly,” said David. “They wouldn't let us remember when they're going through all the trouble to keep their presence a secret. But what about the ones that remember under hypnosis?”
“That's another story,” said Joanna. “The subconscious is a tricky thing. Maybe they can't erase it.”
“But how can you trust your subconscious,” said David. “Dreams can be so erratic and confusing. And you can do things in your dream that you can't do or wouldn't do in real life.”
“With the proper guidance, such as a properly trained hypnotherapist, you can learn how to interpret those dreams,” said Joanna.
“You really think so?” asked David.
“Hey! What do I know,” said Joanna. “I'm just a kid.”
....................
“Hi, Joanna,” said David as he greeted her the next morning. “Can I walk you to school?”
“Sure,” said Joanna. “Did you read the book?”
“Yeah,” said David. “I see what you mean about misprints. There couldn't have been that many.”
“So what do you think went wrong?” asked Joanna.
“E=MC2 “ said David. “I'll grant you that energy and mass are interchangeable and a small amount of mass can be converted into a large amount of energy. The constant you would use to make the conversion would be a huge number but where does the speed of light come into the equation.”
“And once that particular number, the speed of light in a vacumn, was placed into the equation, all future measurement of Mass when Energy was known, or vice versa, were destined to fit the equation,” said Joanna. “Like someone saying there are twelve inches in a foot. Did the fact that there are twelve of them predetermine the size of the inch or did someone calculate the number of inches in a foot after their lengths had already been predetermined?”
“Obviously the number 12 came first,” said David. “And they could have started with any number since prior to that point, the size of the inch had not been determined.”
“Just as the ratio of energy to matter had not been determined,” said Joanna. “He had only just discovered that there was a relationship between the two.”
“But now that he has used this so-called constant in the formula,” said David, “it just wouldn't do to find out it's not a constant at all. He should have just picked a real constant and not tied it to the speed of light. Now he had to prove that light speed was constant and he couldn't do it. Unless you want to believe in time dilation.”
“It really goes downhill from there,” said Joanna. “I'll bet we could come up with a theory that makes more sense.”
“Could we possibly do any worse?” replied David. “Of course we'd have to spend a lot of time together.”
“I understand,” said Joanna. “You've got better things to do than hang out with me.”
“No,” said David. “Let's do it. I can't imagine anyone I'd rather hang out with.”
“Where do we begin?” asked Joanna.
“Well, there's nothing wrong with the formula if you simply consider C as a constant,” said David. “But he's all wrong about the speed of light being constant for any observer. Let's work on that aspect of his theory.”
“We may have to break it down to the very basics of how light works,” said Joanna. “For instance, how can it be a particle and a wave?”
“Nobody really knows,” said David. “You really think we can figure that out?”
“Two heads are better than one,” said Joanna. “Or do you think we need help?”
“Three's a crowd, I always say,” said David. “How hard can it be? It's not like we have to prove it. I'll be satisfied with a theory that just makes sense.”
....................
“Good morning, Darling,” said Carolyn as she stirred the steaming pot of oatmeal. “How'd you sleep last night?”
“Fine,” said David. “Except I had a dream about being back in grade school. You were in it, or at least someone that looks a lot like you.”
“Was she a teacher?” asked Carolyn.
“No,” said David. “A seventh grade student.”
“You never knew me when I was that young,” said Carolyn. “I thought you said she looked like me.”
“The way I imagine you must have looked,” said David. “Like they say, you must have been a beautiful baby.”
“What happened in your dream?” asked Carolyn as she sat down at the breakfast table.
“I don't remember a lot about it,” said David. “You know how dreams fade in the light of day. But I woke up feeling really happy.”
“You don't remember anything?” asked Carolyn. “But you've got my interest. What was she like?”
“She's really smart, like you,” said David. “But she likes sci-fi.”
“Well, you two should be very happy,” said Carolyn. “You should tell her about your theory.”
“I think we did discuss it,” said David.
“How romantic,” said Carolyn. “Do you want more orange juice?”
....................
“How did things go at church?” asked David. “Are the kids coming over?”
“Fine,” said Carolyn. “And yes, they're coming over.”
“I'd better take a nap,” said David, “if we're gonna stay up and play cards.”
“I wish you didn't have to go to work so early,” said Carolyn. “Can't you get them to change your hours?”
“I like getting off early,” said David, “and I can beat the rush hour traffic.”
“Did you write anything today?” asked Carolyn. “If you need me to check it, bring it up on the computer before you go take a nap.”
“Not today,” said David. “I've been thinking about my theory. I reread some of it today. I can see where some people would have trouble following it. Even I had trouble. When I wrote it, all of the details were clear in my mind, but it wasn't all there when I reread it.”
“You have the same problem with your stories,” said Carolyn. “You know what's going on, but sometimes you don't give the reader enough details.”
“They're supposed to be short stories,” said David. “If I give them all the details, they won't take the time to read it. And you've got to leave something to the reader's imagination.”
“Not when you're writing about your theory,” said Carolyn.
“I guess you'r
e right,” said David. “But it's hard to change. The best stories I ever read let me use my imagination.”
“Well, not everyone has a great imagination,” said Carolyn.
“I guess I'm writing for the ones that do,” said David.“Wake me in a couple of hours if I'm not already up.”
....................
“Good morning, Mr. Yarbrough,” said Joanna. “Is David home?”
“Come on in and make yourself comfortable,” said David Sr. “I'll let him know you're here.”
“Junior, that girl is here again,” said David Sr. as he entered the kitchen. “What do you guys do every day?”
“How soon you forget,” said Wilma. “We were young once, remember?”
“We just talk about stuff,” said Junior as he headed for the living room. “She's really smart.”
“So, he's interested in her brain,” said David Sr. “I keep telling you there was a mixup at the hospital.”
“Hi, Joanna,” said David. “What's new?”
“Do you want to go to the Saturday matinee?” asked Joanna. “They're showing The Day The Earth Stood Still.”
“Sure,” said David. “Hey Mom! Can I borrow a couple of dimes to go to the movies?”
“Here's fifty cents,” said Wilma. “You're gonna need popcorn and sodas. Do you need a ride?”
“Thanks, Mom. We're gonna walk,” said David as he and Joanna hurried out the door. “I'll pay you back.”
“That boy thinks money grows on trees,” said David Sr.
....................
“Did you get a chance to read that book about energy waves that I gave you?” asked Joanna.
“Yeah,” said David. “It doesn't make sense that a particle can also be a wave.”
“But the experiments show that light acts like a wave,” said Joanna. “It can be polarized. How do you explain that?”
“What if energy particles such as photons travel in pairs?” asked David. “And they orbit around each other like binary stars. They could only pass through a slit that was oriented to match the plane of their orbit.”
“But then they would fail some of the particle tests,” said Joanna realizing that this explanation didn't match his written theory. “Wouldn't they?”
“I think you're right,” said David. “You were right when you said two heads are better than one.”
“Any other ideas?” asked Joanna.
“A particle can't be a wave,” said David. “But what if it did travel in a wavelike pattern?”
“Isn't that what you were just describing with the binary star theory?” asked Joanna.
“What if it's not interacting with another photon?” asked David. “Maybe it's interacting with something else.”
“In space?” asked Joanna. “There's nothing there to interact with.”
“Maybe it moves through space in a straight line,” said David.
“The Hubble space telescope,” said Joanna. “It can use polarization to enable it to look directly at the sun.”
“The what?” asked David. “Hubble space telescope?”
“Scientist have taken photographs in space,” said Joanna. “Polarization still works even out there.”
“But I still say it can't be a wave or even act like one if there's nothing for it to interact with,” said David.
“Are you saying there's something in space that we can't detect?” asked Joanna.
“I'm not the first to say that,” said David. “What about WIMPS?”
“Dark matter,” said Joanna. “But you're saying it's all throughout space.”
“And why not?” asked David. “Do you think it's undetectable because it's hidden only in the far reaches of the universe?”
“I hadn't really thought about it,” said Joanna. “But if it's everywhere, how can it be undetectable?”
“It's presence has been detected,” said David. “They know it's out there, they just don't know where or what it is.”
“But how is it undectable?” asked Joanna. “And why can't we see it?”
“Maybe it is detectable?” said David. “But it's interaction with photons, for example, causing them to act like waves would be very hard to detect. Like looking through a telescope at a distant planet. You don't see the lens, just the results of its ability to bend light.”
“That's amazing,” said Joanna. “What other properties could this dark matter have that we haven't yet detected?”
“The movie's starting.” said David as he held her hand in his. “This is gonna be great.“
....................
“Wow,” said David. “How do they come up with the ideas for sci-fi stories? I really enjoyed that one.”
“I have a theory about that,” said Joanna. “If you'd like to hear it.”
“Sure,” said David. “What's your theory?”
“I told you that I believe we're being visited,” said Joanna.
“Yeah,” said David. “So?”
“I believe these ideas or at least the seed for these ideas were accidentally implanted into human minds by the aliens themselves,” said Joanna.
“Implanted?” asked David. “How?”
“I believe the aliens are probing human minds,” said Joanna, “and somehow they unintentionally leave these ideas behind.”
“Why are they probing our minds?” asked David. “Military secrets?”
“I doubt they'd have any trouble with our military,” said Joanna. “I wish I knew what they're looking for.”
“What do you base this theory on?” asked David. “Abductions remembered under hypnosis?”
“Yeah,” said Joanna. “That's it. What do you think they are looking for?”
“Some new jokes maybe,” said David. “They scour the universe looking for new jokes.”
“Very funny,” said Joanna. “I'm serious.”
“What could humans know that would be of any interest to a superior race?” asked David. “Maybe it's just curiosity.”
“They've traveled light years and hung around here for who know how long just because they're curious,” said Joanna. “Surely you can do better than that.”
“Maybe they're here to stop us from blowing up the universe,” said David. “Like in the movie.”
“Yeah, right,” said Joanna, “and they're just waiting till the last minute before they do it.”
“You're right,” said David. “Stupid idea. Let's change the subject. We were talking about dark matter.”
“You were about to tell me what other properties it might have,” said Joanna.
“Scientists call them Weakly Interactive Massive Particles,” said David. “If they don't interact with normal matter, then there would only be their interaction with each other to consider. Like forces repel and unlike forces attract. They would be spread evenly throughout the universe.”
“With only the repelling force, they would continue to increase this spacing,” said Joanna, “pushing outward in a continuous expansion.”
“Like the expanding universe,” said David. “But surely gravity would have slowed or stopped the expansion by now.”
“The dark matter would have to be unaffected by gravity,” said Joanna. “Or it would be clumped like ordinary matter and attracted to ordinary matter.”
“Unaffected by gravity,” said David. “How is that possible? It must have mass if it can affect photons.”
“It would have to be inside normal matter,” said Joanna. “At least matter that light waves pass through.”
“You're right,” said David. ”The repelling forces of the other dark particles would force them inside of the very atoms that make up matter.”
“Wouldn't it take a great deal of force?” asked Joanna.
“There's only the repelling force,” said David. “But without other forces to interfere, wouldn't that be an accumulative force. Imagine particles from here to the edge of the universe all pushing together. It's like a spring with trillions of coils.”
; “Compressed coils,” said Joanna. “What would happen if matter interferred with this pushing action?”
“I'm not sure it could,” said David. “Unless ...”
“What?” asked Joanna.
“The dark matter inside the normal matter,” said David. “What if it reacted differently?”
SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORIES VOLUME IX Page 16