by Ken Renshaw
'Vulnerable? That is having a weakness that someone else could exploit,' I said to myself.
She paused and looked at me with the expression I saw in Dore and Colson when they were sizing me up. I felt her mind switch gears.
"Enough about me. Tell me more about you. It sounds like the soaring thing is important to you. Do you take people for rides? Were there pilots in your family?"
"No. My father had a hardware store in a small northern California logging town where I grew up. My mother was a schoolteacher. They raised me with Midwestern Baptist values. Definitely, no shaman in the family.
"About five years, ago someone gave me a glider ride for Christmas. They clipped an ad from the L.A. Times. I tried it once and was hooked. Soaring is esthetically very much like boat sailing, except a lot more is happening. Most sailplanes are designed to carry only a pilot. It is not a social sport. They have two seat gliders for pilot training and giving rides.
"The International Aeronautical Federation has established badges, sort of medals, for different flight achievements, such as flying for five hours at once, gaining sixteen thousand feet of altitude, flying five hundred kilometers and things like that. I am working toward making an ultimate flight, achieving all badge goals in one flight. That flight will take skill, and a day with perfect weather. The trick is to be there, ready to go when that perfect day appears.
"Sometimes, I can't make it back to the airport and have to get retrieved by a tow plane or a ground crew. There are survival hazards in landing in the middle of nowhere in the desert when it is about one-hundred degrees."
Candice's eyes grew wide with interest or amazement as I talked excitedly. "You are passionate about this soaring thing! The possibility of ending the day on the desert in the middle of nowhere is an interesting vulnerability."
Lunch came, and we chatted only about the meal and food for a while.
I felt that I had to question Candice about vulnerability. "I am a little puzzled about your use of the term, vulnerability. I always think of it as a weakness that someone can exploit. In presenting a legal case, there may be logical or factual vulnerabilities in your arguments that can be attacked by the opposition. If a person had a burglar alarm installed in their house, and the kitchen door was not included that would be vulnerability. How does that pertain to being a mathematician?"
Candice though for a minute and then replied. "When I write papers, there are a couple of ways I can go. I can write a paper that is armored with footnotes and references to prove I was not doing anything innovative. And, if I worked at a university with a rigid review process, I would submit it to a faculty review process to further assure that I had not done anything the technically conservative head of the department would disagree with, and then I would submit it to a peer review journal and spend another two years dealing with comments and objections, some of which were from technically conservative guys who don't like new ideas, and then it would be published.
"There is very little vulnerability in going on that route. Few will criticize a paper that has been so expertly scrubbed and there is little danger to one's academic reputation.
"Or, if I teach at a state college, where the emphasis is more on teaching, and they kind of let me publish what I want, I can write a paper and publish it in any of the high quality journals that don't have the innovation squeezing peer review process. Then, I can move onto something else.
"There is a vulnerability in this process because, if you openly do something innovative, you are open to personal and professional criticism from many people. I publish what I believe in, and if people disagree with me that is their problem. If the work is useful, some people will build on the ideas. If the work is of no value, it will be forgotten."
She said with some apparent pride, "I have been doing papers on the implications of complex eight-dimensional Minkowski space for more than a decade. The Colson Foundation decided the subject was useful for explaining things like ESP and remote sensing.
"My students often scoff and object to my broaching the subject of ESP in discussions of eight-space. I tell them they can believe it, or not believe it as they wish, but eight-space will be on the final exam.
"Many of my papers reflect my grandfather's heritage by taking on subjects outside the normal scientific realm like ESP.
"By the way, when Einstein submitted his paper on Special Relativity to the university as a doctoral thesis, it was rejected by the 'old white guys' in the university as too far out."
I thought for a minute and then said, "I understand your philosophy here on the subject of professional papers. I am not sure how this would work in a trial. We always try to present an invulnerable case."
Candice replied, "Tom, my significant other, counsels many people on vulnerability. It is a frequent topic in our house. I have learned the value of being vulnerable in personal relationships."
"I don't understand," I admitted.
"It is somehow easier for women to understand than men. For example, I have told you a lot about my personal life, like how I feel about my Native American heritage, its use it in my everyday life, my philosophy of teaching and writing papers, and why I teach at a state college instead of a major university. I have exposed much of who I am and how I feel. In doing so, I could have been risking your judging me, or somehow changing my relationship with the Colson Foundation. That is vulnerability. I felt that I was safe with you. It is important that, if we are to have an extended professional relationship, you know who I really am and what is important to me. I didn't want to work with you for a few weeks, and then have you judge that I was irrational because my grandmother was a witch doctor. I don't have time for that."
She gave me a soft smile that seemed to say, 'I am your friend.'
I replied with a smile, "Your gamble, if it were that, paid off. I understand a lot about you and think we can work wonderfully well together."
I contemplated starting to tell her some more about myself. Then, the check came.
"We should get back to work," she said. "Ready for some more mind stretching mathematics?"
At my office we returned to the conference room and Candice began describing her movie.
"The Colson Foundation asked for me to write a movie script for an animation short film, for a TV show, a NOVA or Discovery Channel kind of thing. I'll try to describe it for you. You will have to try to visualize it. I wrote the script, and then turned it over to a professional screenwriter. The animation has been done, and the film is in final editing. I am supposed to review the final cut this week. I think it will be ready when the trial comes up."
Candice described the movie [included here as an appendix] to me in detail and then said. "What do you think?"
I replied, "I think that is an elegant explanation of an esoteric subject, quite suitable for a sophisticated audience like those that watch NOVA or the Discovery Channel. I understood it fully because I have had a lot of mathematics. I am sure that many of today’s high school students would understand it. But, it might send a jury, particularly those who 'hate math,' into a spin of confusion."
"The jury doesn't need to care about or understand those mathematics. They do need to know that a valid, scientific, paradigm exists for the many kinds of information shortcuts we use and observe. I could submit the movie as evidence and have you testify that the theory presented by the movie is valid. Maybe one of the jurors will understand the movie and convince the rest of the jury it is OK."
Candice said, "Maybe we should 'cut to the chase,' explain what it all means. Let's try this. In four–dimensional reality, if Bob is in New York and his wife, Alice, is in San Francisco, we could calculate their separation, using their GPS coordinates, latitude and longitude, to be about 2,500 miles. Their information distance is not the same. If Bob dialed Alice on her cell phone, they would only be separated by the time it took their voices to travel through the telephone network, a fraction of a second.
"In Minkowski's eight–dimensional s
pace, if Bob is in New York and Alice is in San Francisco, they are still separated by about 2,500 miles. However, there is a shortcut through those eight dimensions that is zero miles for mind-to-mind communication. If Bob sends thoughts of love to Alice, because of their bond she can instantaneously get them. They don't need to use the cellphone.
"We all have something I call the 'Magic Mirror of The Mind,' that operates through the shortcuts in eight–dimensional space. In fairy tales, some witches or sorcerers have magic mirrors that they can command to get information for them. You remember, 'Mirror-mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?' Well, the one we all have is more limited. We can say, 'What did I have for breakfast?' and our Magic Mirror of The Mind makes an information shortcut in space-time, from where you are now, to when and where you were having breakfast You might think it is a memory stored somewhere in your brain, but it isn't. Scientists with their MRIs can pinpoint areas in the brain active when you try to recall breakfast. However, they have not found any area that has the possibility of storing all the zillions of bits of information you can recall. This is a new idea. There is not much research on this yet because we think it is simply a memory stored somewhere in our brain. This shortcut idea does not fit the current four-dimensional scientific paradigm.
"Conventional scientists such as physicists, engineers, chemists, medical researchers, and others who believe that reductionist science has all the answers, are reluctant to believe that any psychic phenomenon can be valid, because it doesn't fit any scientific paradigm that they know. They will have heard many anecdotal tales of people experiencing psychic phenomena, but will dismiss it as superstition, ignorance, or lack of education. Many will present an angry response to the mere mention of the idea. They have 'skeptic' organizations that strive to debunk any claims of psychic phenomena. They claim to be on the side of science but tend to be hypocritical in using a non-scientific approach. They set out to prove the claims wrong. They only approach the investigations from the standpoint that it is a hoax and ignores data that do not support their belief system that it is a hoax.
"In the film, we show interviews of a few people who report their own psychic experiences.
"The first interviews are with people who inexplicably changed their routines and avoided accidents. We inserted some clips of normal people perceiving some event in future time, that we would call a premonition.
"One is a businessman who refused to board an airliner because of his visions of it crashing. The airliner did crash on takeoff, and everyone was killed.
"The second clip is a housewife who, for no apparent reason, decided to pick her daughter up at school. The school bus that her daughter would have ridden was hit by a drunk driver, and several children were badly injured.
"The third clip is of a farmer who related that, on his way home from town, he decided to take an alternate route that he never used, past a lake. As he arrived at the lake, he saw a car with a woman and a child go off a bridge and plunge into the water. He was able to save them.
"Then, we have an extended clip of experiments at SRI with people remote sensing targets in the Stanford area. I believe you know about those experiments.
"Many university laboratories have done experiments with psychics and other people to test the ability to perceive things in space-time. Little of that research is highly valued in the academic community. Largely, these studies document, and compile statistics about observable psychic phenomena. That is, stuff that simply happens that has no scientific basis. UFO sightings fall into the same general category of studies. If there is no scientific basis, the subject can be ignored by the scientific community at large. Conventional science is an ostrich, hiding its head in a four–dimensional sand."
"OK, "I replied, "I get the idea that the theory of an eight-dimensional description of reality can be formally demonstrated by mathematics, and in experiments. The idea can be confusing to people without the mathematical training. I'll have to take some time to assimilate all this."
"I understand," said Candice, "This is quite a bit for one lesson. This is probably enough for one day."
I agreed. I walked Candice out of the conference room to the lobby to make sure she had her parking validated.
"Thank you so much, this has been enlightening."
"You might also like to spend some time with Tom, my significant other. He has quite a good business in counseling that involves space-time perceptions." She dug into her purse for a second and then said, "Here is his card."
"Thanks," I said, and she left.
Carolyn cheerfully gave me her "I am available after work" smile.
****
After about five minutes in my office, Zaza buzzed me.
"Carolyn says your cutie is back in the lobby and wants to talk to you."
I hurried to the lobby and saw Candice with her eyes opened even wider than before.
"Someone was hanging around my car when I got to the garage. Could you check it out for me? I think he was up to something, because he quickly walked away when he saw me. He went down the parking ramp instead of back into the lobby."
I gestured to Carolyn, "Please call Mr. Steel in building security. Tell him to meet us in the visitors parking area."
"Did you get a good look at him?"
Candice replied, "Not very good-he was too far away. I recall a white, male Caucasian, about five-five, stocky build, grey crew cut, round gold rimmed glasses, wearing khaki pants, and a white business shirt, no tie."
"Sounds like a very good description," I observed. "Dore said to report anything suspicious to her, so I have been kind of paranoid.”
"I'll get security to make a report, and I will forward it to Dore if there is anything serious."
We took the elevator to the lobby and started to the door to the garage. Then, I heard, "Mr. Willard, is there a problem?"
I introduced Steel to Candice and she related her encounter.
"Let's check it out," said Steel. As we entered the garage, Steel asked, "where did you see him?"
"I was right here and he was by the driver's side of the car."
Steel asked, "Which car is yours?"
"That blue Volvo over there."
I thought to myself that it was not the most likely model for a car thief to choose in this building.
We stood back as Steel checked under the hood, examined the interior, and shined a flashlight underneath the body. In a few minutes he came over and said, "Two things unusual: There is some kind of symbol drawn in the dust on the windshield, and somebody wiped the dirt from the door, as though they were eliminating fingerprints. Otherwise, it looks as if everything is normal."
Steel pulled out his security radio and called someone. Then, he wrote down everything Candice had said. Soon, a guard appeared with a camera that Steel used to take several shots of the symbol on the windshield. I carefully examined the symbol. It looked almost like a Mayan hieroglyph, a square with a stocky stick figure, possibly a man, with its arms hanging down.
"Do you have any idea what this symbol is or pertains to?" asked Steel.
We both shook our heads to say no.
"Where is that Symbolist from the Da Vinci Code when you need him?" I quipped."
Steel offered to test-drive the car, and Candice agreed. Steel drove the car down to the next lower garage level. We could hear the tires squeaking and his gunning the engine and stopping.
After he returned he said, "It seems OK to me. Just to be safe, have someone check it over at a garage with a hoist. I could not see much with the car on the floor."
Candice replied, "It is due for a lube service. I'll have it done tomorrow."
Candice vigorously shook both our hands and thanked us, took the keys and left.
"I think I need a full written report. We are working on an unusual court case, and it might have something to do with it."
Steel nodded yes, and said, "Give me your keys and I'll check your car out."
I went back to my of
fice. Carolyn gave me her 'later?' smile as I went in.
In a few minutes, Steel appeared in my office. He was carrying a little black box in a plastic sack. "I found this on your car. It is a GPS tracking device. Is it yours, or part of an anti theft system?"
"Neither," I said.
"It is a model that is used by law enforcement, not the cheap private detective quality. Do you want me to scan your car every day for a while?"
"Seems like a good idea."
I returned to my office and checked my email. I sent a brief email to Dore about what had happened. In thirty-seconds, I had a reply instructing me to send the report to a firm she identified as their security consultants, EB Services.
****
Chapter Four
THE WAVE
I spent the rest of the week preparing my case, reading about remote sensing, and delving into the mathematics of eight-dimensional space.
Friday, just before noon, I got an email from my friend at the Aviation Weather Station at LAX, also a soaring pilot. She said that a late-season cold–front was approaching. Tomorrow, about noon, there would be a good chance for a mountain wave at CrystalAire.
I got excited. As the cold front approaches, the wind over the mountains forms a wave that can be tens of thousands of feet high. In the ocean, surfers on boards ride along waves that might be twenty-five feet high on a very good day. Sailplanes can "surf" along a mountain wave to great heights. I have soared to thirty–thousand feet on a wave. They are really fun.
I thought for a minute. Tina might be on lunch break now. I called Tina on her cell.
"Hi stranger," she answered. "What's up?"
"How is school going?" I asked.
"Great! I just finished a final exam in my night school class. This was the tough one, statistics, and a subject that I was really worried about, required for my Masters, one of my big hurdles in the program. Math is not my thing. How is your new court case?"