5: The Fifth Dimension Project

4:   Higher Dimensions

1      Back in the Lab

There had been a guard in the hall, a prisoner was wheeled in and out.  Everyone in the Physics Building wanted in on what had happened.  A crowd formed around Marhan and Nora when they returned to their lab on Monday morning.  Marhan and Nora gave them the short version of events.  Marhan kept an even keel in his descriptions; Nora’s emotions ran the gamut from sadness to rage; everyone was horrified, stunned. 

“And it worked?”

“Yes, beautifully.”  Marhan starts, “Possibly well enough that once word gets out that the feds can see the crimes that rapists and murderers have committed, it will give some pause.  There may be fewer heinous crimes in the future.”

Once that discussion dies down, the conversation turns to what’s next.

“Over dinner the other night, Wilna made clear that she wants to be the first explorer of the ‘Higher Dimensions.’” Marhan says while making air quotes, “So, that may be what we attempt next.”

In their own little world, and now even outside of it, they were getting to be stars.  A pile of mail was now coming in each day.  All their colleagues had questions, had ideas, and they all wanted to be part of what might be the biggest scientific discovery ever.  High fives were extended to them everywhere they went; they were becoming known as fifth dimension explorers.  Doodling that afternoon, Nora drew 5th enclosed in a D.  Marhan joked that they should get it emblazoned on bright red capes.

Nora smiles, but then raises a note of caution, “We are still figuring out the science; we haven’t yet found our kryptonite.”  She put her doodles aside. 

“I’m going to go and see if Professors Levin and Warner are available.” Marhan says, “I need their insights as to how we might access the higher dimensions.  You want to come?”

Nora turns to look at Marhan, “Sure.”

2      Professors Levin and Warner

“Glad we caught the two of you together,” Marhan says as Nora and him enter Professor Levin’s office.  “Can we have a moment of your time?”

“Of course,” Professor Levin says as he motions to two chairs in the room.  He continues, “Professor Wilster filled me in.  Good work.”

Nora looks stressed.  “I never thought that working with such a beautiful piece of technology as a quantum computer would bring me face-to-face with criminal insanity.  It’s going to take a long time to process what we experienced.”

“If either of you need to talk to a counselor, just say the word, otherwise, just try and focus on the positives,” Professor Levin adds, Nora nods.

“Professors,” Marhan starts, “we would like your insights as to how to access other, ‘Higher Dimensions,’” he says while making air quotes.

“You are in luck,” Professor Warner starts, “Mark and I were just discussing this exact topic, though I will tell you that we do not have an exact answer.  You see, it depends on three things: how many additional dimensions there are, how they are arranged, and your position relative to these dimensions.”

Professor Levin picks up a rubber ball from his desk that he uses for hand strength exercises.  “Let’s start with an idealized example and consider relative position first.  Suppose that you are generating pulses from the center of this ball, and suppose there are six closed dimensions with no hierarchy in their arrangement.  Let’s put dots on this ball to represent access nodes for each of the dimensions.  Each point on the surface of the sphere is equidistant from you, the scientists, located at the center.  Now, assume that each closest pair of points on the surface span the same portion of the surface of the sphere as every other closest pair of points.  Given these assumptions, it will be the case, that one access node will be located on each the north and south poles of the sphere,” he holds the ball so as to show Marhan and Nora the blue pen dots on the north and south poles of the ball, while the other four access nodes will be equally spaced around the equator.”  He now rotates the ball to show the four blue dots on the equator.

Professor Warner continues the discussion, “Under all of these assumptions, from your position in the center of the sphere, for each dimension doorway you find, there is another at a 90-degree angle to it either vertically or horizontally, up or down, left or right.”

“But we don’t know which, if any, of these assumptions are correct,” Marhan starts.  In fact, it’s our experience,” he says while gesturing at Nora, “that the dimensions are hierarchical, and that we did not start at the center of the sphere.”

“What makes you say that?”  Professor Warner queries.

“Because,” Nora jumps in, “we direct the pulses into the brain cells.  If we had started in any other direction, we would have missed the brain.  Once we are in the fifth dimension, it may be that we are in the center of the sphere, but the fifth certainly seems to be at the top of the hierarchy, the first one that can be accessed.”

Marhan nods, “Now that we have access to the fifth dimension, it may be that we are now at the center of the sphere.”

“I’m not so sure about that Marhan,” Nora begins.  “As we’ve discussed, what we call Dimension 5, is most likely Dimensions 5, 6, and 7, so it is likely that there is only one set of higher dimensions to be found.”  Now she turns to the professors and asks.  “If there is only one set of higher dimensions left, what direction should we look?”

They look at each other quizzically for a moment, then Professor Warner picks up the ball that Professor Levin had put back on his desk, and rolls it around in his hand.  “I would like to give you an answer based on a deep theoretical insight, but I do not have one.  Holding this ball, and thinking again of you at its center,” he looks at Mark for a moment then brightens, “you have been tunneling down directly into the brain so maybe we can consider the lower half of the ball to be Dimensions 5, 6 and 7, and we can cut the ball in half, as continuing downward only moves you further back through time.  Considering just the top half of the ball, there is only one dot, one doorway, that remains, it is sitting at the north pole.  Can you angle the energy straight up?”

“We can definitely angle it upward at 45-degrees, but I’m not sure we can go straight up.”  Marhan added while considering the capabilities of the helmet.

“Well then try 45-degrees,” Professor Warner adds, “as that is the largest angle you can set to create separation from the fifth dimension.  But this is all just theoretical musing.”

Then Professor Levin adds, “For all we know, the door will form wherever you focus the energy.”

Professors, Nora starts, “In terms of what we are likely to find, what does it mean for the dimensions to be hierarchical?”

“You of course know that hierarchy means that entry into the next level is conditional on first obtaining entry into a lower level,” Professor Levin starts and Nora nods, “I would expect that the information you find in next level has to be conditional on what you found in the first.  It may be that it is information that is buried deeper inside the person’s mind.  Does that sound right Chris?”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.  If this is correct, psychologists will love you two.  You may have created a tool for looking inside a patient’s mind deeper than years of therapy can reach.”  Then Professor Warner hesitates, “But you know what that means Mark, if you are right?”

They look at each other, faces show mock distress, “No aliens.”  Professor Warner snaps his fingers while making an ‘Aw Shucks’ kind of motion with his arm, and they both laugh.

Marhan and Nora look at each other, then Marhan starts, “Thank you professors.  We don’t have any more questions, so we will get back to the lab.”

At that moment, Professor Warner turns to them, and gets deadly serious.  “There is one more thing we have been discussing that we should apprise you of.  I presume that you are both familiar with quantum foam.  That world of turbulent fluctuations that is theorized to exist at the quantum level.”  Both Marhan and Nora nod.  “As we have discussed, to unfold the dimensions of string theory you are working at the quantum level.  Thus far you haven’t experienced any wild gyrations in time or dimensions.  You may have been lucky.”

“Or,” Marhan cuts in, “our experience indicates that supersymmetry is satisfied, and the turbulence of the foam is smoothed over.”

“Yes maybe,” Professor Warner rejoins, “we can certainly hope that to be true, but that theory has not yet been verified experimentally.”

“Professors,” Nora begins, “what would happen if we suddenly found ourselves mired in quantum foam.”

“We don’t know,” Professor Levin starts, “but the test subject could experience jumps or distortions in location, and/or jumps in time.  The world might look like a Picaso painting.  Your process would become unstable.”

“Jumps in time?” Nora queries.

“Yes!” Professor Warner began while jumping out of his chair and becoming animated.  “Forward and backward.  At the quantum level time travel into the future may be possible!”

“If our process does become unstable,” Nora continues, “do you have any ideas on what we could do to restabilize it?”

“As physicists, and quantum computer scientists,” Professor Levin starts, “we are used to having theory direct us in all our experimental work.  We don’t have that basis for our thinking here.  Not yet anyway.”

“Mark is right.  You are pushing physics into a world where gut instincts will play an important role,” Professor Warner notes, “at least until we get the theory and psychology of this technology of yours figured out.  That might take a few years, so for now,” and he wags his index finger at Marhan and Nora, “breathe, stay focused, and work quickly to find solutions.”

3      Opening the Mail

“Dick pic!”  Ben announces, “Everyone take a swig of wine.”  They all dutifully pick up their glasses, clinked them together, and take a gulp.  “This guy doesn’t just want a one-night stand, he wants to marry you, Nora.” 

“Ooohh, so is this future husband flaccid or hard?”  Nora asks.

Emily takes a look. “This guy is ready to go.”

“Is he shaven or hairy?”

“Definitely hairy,” Emily notes with a hint of disgust.

“Let me see that,” Nora takes a look, is repulsed.  “Nope, another one for the reject pile.”  Then Nora picks it back up.  “What can I tell about you from this picture.  Are you cute, fit, intelligent?  Can I read the lines on you dick like the lifelines on a palm?  What, pray tell, does this tell me about you?”  They all laugh.

Jeremy chimes in, “I think that picture tells you everything you need to know about him.”

Nora nods, throws it back on the reject pile.

Nora had invited Marhan, Emily and Ben, and Wilna and Jeremy over to help them sort through the bag of mail they had received since they made the news. 

“I feel bad for the two young women work study students that got hired to look at all the emails we’ve received.  Nora starts, “I can’t imagine how many dick pics they are having to wade through.”

“Jeremy laughs, “I wonder if it will end up grooming them to become lesbians,” everyone looks over at him, “I mean, come on, how many dicks can you look at before you’ve had your lifetime fill of them,” which causes everyone to smile.

“Ahh, here’s one for Marhan,” Nora announces.  “Damn she’s cute.”

“Ooohh, let me see,” Marhan says excitedly.

“Not so fast.  I’m your gate keeper.  She’s not offering marriage, so that’s a mark against her, but she gets a plus for the thong.”

“Thong!”  Marhan is salivating.  “I don’t need to marry her, we could take it slow, or maybe we could just hook up.”

“I’ll bet you could,” Nora says, while giving Marhan a side glance, and throwing it on the reject pile.

Marhan reaches in, grabs the photo.  “Wow! but you know, you’re right, she’s nothing to me without an offer of marriage.”  He throws it back on the reject pile, they all laugh.

Wilna starts reading a letter.  “This one is interesting, serious,” she says.  “It’s from a divorced mom.  Her and her ex-husband shared custody of their now 14-year-old daughter from when they got divorced, when she was 9, until he kidnapped her at age 12.  He hid out with her for a year.  She is back with me now, and he is serving time for kidnapping, but their daughter, who was a happy vibrant child, is not right anymore.  She’s been going to weekly therapy sessions, but it doesn’t seem to be helping.  I’d like to look back at the time my ex had her so I can learn what happened.  She is the love of my life, please help us if you can.”

Nora takes a deep breath.  “Dick pics are easier to deal with.  This is very sad.  We now have at least a dozen worthwhile requests, but Marhan and I don’t have the skills to deal with the complex set psychological issues this could raise.”

“First thing that comes to my mind,” Emily starts, “is that her dad or one of his friends raped her, possibly many times.  If your technology forces those events out of her, she could feel like she was raped again, but by you two this time.”

“What about selling this technology, “Ben begins, “you could sell it to psychiatrists, criminologists, and as a service to people who want to relive a moment from their pasts.  You could make millions from this.  You wouldn’t even have to do the work, just license it to a firm that builds on your designs and code and give you a percentage of the sales.”

“Maybe there’s an art element to this tech as well,” Jeremy chimes in.  “People could go back to the peak creative moments of their lives, or maybe there’s a way of turning what gets visualized into pieces of art.”

“My artsy detective,” Wilna smiles, as she runs her fingers through his hair.

“It’s what I think about to give my mind a break from all the fucked-up shit I have to deal with.”

“Those are interesting possibilities Jeremy, and we know Ben,” Marhan says while nodding, “we are starting to get offers, but the technology isn’t ready for general use yet.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Ben continues, “there are likely 100 labs around the world right now that are trying to duplicate what you two have done.  Once they do that, your window for selling your tech will close.”

“We are aware,” Nora chimes in, “but we have good reason for keeping this tech under wraps for as long as possible.  This technology is powerful, but it is also dangerous in ways that we are still trying to comprehend, and we really can’t discuss.”  The room is quiet.  Nora picks up another letter, “Let’s hope this one’s a dick pic.”

4      Wilna

Marhan and Nora invite Professors Levin and Warner and a few other colleagues and friends into the lab to watch their attempt to make Wilna the first explorer of the higher dimensions.  The excitement is palpable.  No one knows if they will find a way in, or what Wilna will experience if they do, but experiences in all tests to-date have been benign, this one is expected to be as well.

Everyone watches as Wilna gets fitted with the helmet, they then move over to watch Nora at the computer as she begins the protocol.  At pulse level-10 the door flashes open for an instant.  Oohs and aahs rise from the gathered crowd.  At pulse level-11 Wilna is in, the crowd is mesmerized.  Before the fragments can form into the thoughts in Wilna’s mind, Marhan shifts the direction of the pulses to an upward 45-degree angle and asks Nora to start increasing the energy to move the pulses through time or space, they won’t know until they get there.

Nora keeps the pulse energy up for about 30-seconds while everyone just stands mesmerized looking at Nora’s computer screen.  “The fragments are starting to thin out.  Marhan, maybe there is nothing out there,” Nora says as she looks over at Marhan.

“Maybe, or maybe we’re exiting the fifth dimension.  Let’s keep going a little longer.”

Suddenly the screen flashes.  Another round of oohs rise with the shock of the flash.  “Nora cuts back the pulse energy to let the fragments begin to form into images.”

As Nora does this a woman’s voice starts to became clear.  “Sweetie, I am so proud of you, you are doing so well in school.”  The images began to form.  They were looking through a pair of eyes at a teenage girl sitting at a table studying.  “I think it’s time for bed.”  The voice says.  The girl closes her book and says, “Okay mom.”  She goes over and hugs her mom.  Her mom kisses her on the head, and off she goes to get ready for bed.

For the next few minutes, they look through the eyes of the mother as she hums while cleaning the kitchen and making lunches for the next day.  Then they hear, “Mom, come tuck me in.”

Marhan is the first to speak, “Is that Wilna we were looking at?”

“I think so,” is Nora’s response, followed by, “If so, we’re looking at her through her mom’s eyes.”

Professor Levin looks over at Professor Warner.  Smiles while sounding a little disappointed, “It’s as we feared, no aliens,” which sparks some light laughter from the audience.

“It’s a beautiful moment,” Emily opines, “even if Wilna isn’t turning green or sprouting antenna.”  Everyone laughs a bit more.  The scene is making everyone comfortable. 

“So, the fifth dimension allows us to look into our own past, while the higher dimensions takes us back a generation,” Marhan says, somewhat matter-of-factly as he is gathering his thoughts.  “Yes, I think that’s what this test is showing us.  We can’t travel to distant worlds, but we can see farther back in time.”

“This makes sense given the hierarchical structure of the higher dimensions; yes, this is the deeper past that we theorized we would find!” Professor Warner bursts out excitedly.

Wilna’s mom walks from the kitchen, and leans against the frame of Wilna’s bedroom door.  Watching this brings everyone’s attention back to the computer screen. 

“Did you finish all your homework?”  Teenage Wilna nods her head yes.  Her mom looks at her end table, “Why is your science book not in your school bag?”

“I was just rereading the section on Alexander Humboldt.  He was an amazing 19th Century explorer and scientist.”

“I’m sure he was,” her mom says as she makes her way over to Wilna’s bedside. 

Nora starts mumbling, “Science textbook, why does this all seem familiar?”

Professor Levin quietly cuts in, “Nora, what are you thinking?”

Nora looks over at him, still puzzling out this scene, and how it could possibly seem familiar.  Suddenly her eyes light up.  “We have to stop the test. Now!”

As she turns to start powering down the pulses, everyone in the room hears a loud crash coming from the computer.  Nora freezes.  All eyes are glued to the screen.  Wilna’s mom turns her head in the direction of the crash, looks down, grabs the science textbook, walks out of Wilna’s bedroom, sees the two young men who had just broken in standing there trying to figure out their next move.  She screams, “Get out of my house!”  In a flash, her mom’s arm fills the screen and the textbook goes flying at the head of one of the men.  A shot rings out, her mom falls, Wilna screams.  A voice says “It was an accident; I didn’t mean to shoot her.”  A different voice says “Let’s get out of here.” 

Nora returns to frantically shutting down the test.  In a few seconds the screen is blank.  Nora breathes a sigh of relief, but then Emily screams, “Oh my god!”  Blood is pouring out of Wilna’s chest as she lays on the table. 

Professor Levin shouts, “Somebody call 911,” and he heads over to Wilna to try to stop the bleeding.  “I need scissors and some towels.”

Marhan hands him scissors which he uses to cut open Wilna’s shirt to get a look at the wound.  Marhan doesn’t have a towel, but rips off his shirt, quickly folds it and thrusts it at Professor Levin.  The professor uses Marhan’s shirt to apply pressure to the wound. 

Wilna starts waking up from the test.  She coughs, she cries, she losses consciousness.  “She’s losing a lot of blood,” the professor yells in frustration.

Emily meets the ambulance outside the building and EMTs race into the lab.  Professor Levin steps back.  They see she has blood pressure and pulse monitors already in place.  “Where are these reading out at?” one EMT asks and is shown the computer screen and yells to the other two on his team.  Her blood pressure is 100/55 and dropping, her pulse is racing.  Others on the team switch out Marhan’s shirt for sterile bandages and get a look at the wound.

“This is a gunshot wound.”  The EMT looks around at all the faces in the room as he says this.  “What happened?”  Everyone is standing looking down at Wilna, looking around at each other, no one knows what to say.

Finally, Professor Levin blurts out, “We sent her back in time, she inhabited another person’s body who got shot while she was in there.”

The bleeding is slowing.  The EMTs look up from Wilna, one of them speaks.  I’ve read about the experiments with time travel.  This is the lab where it happens?” He says somewhat in awe.

“Yes,” Professor Levin responds with a somber nod, “And we are still learning how dangerous it can be.”

The EMT lifts up the bandage.  “The wound looks clean,” he says as he looks around at everyone, “Does she have a bullet inside?”

They look at each other, “We don’t know,” Marhan says, but on further reflection, he adds, “I doubt it.  We are not sending her physical body back; we are just opening a window to look into the past.  I doubt that an actual bullet could pass through the window.”

“The damage passed through the window,” the EMT says, as they bring in a stretcher and put Wilna on it.  “We’ll take an X-ray at the hospital and let you know.” 

Nora goes with them and insists that they let her ride in the ambulance.  Marhan follows in his car. 

Professor Warner looks at Professor Levin, “I certainly hope she is okay, but Mark, the connection between the past and present is amazing.  It’s as though the test subjects share more than a cerebral connection with their counterparts from the past.  The connection, it seems, is metaphysical.” 

5      Lockdown

Nora and Marhan arrive at the lab at around noon the next day to find police caution tape formed in an X across the door and the lock changed.  They look at each other with a sense of exhaustion and dread, turn, and walk to Professor Levin’s office.

His door is open; he waves them in.  “How’s Wilna?”

“She was stable, awake and alert when we left the hospital,” Nora says as she plops down into one of the professor’s chairs.  “Though we didn’t ask, because we didn’t want to stress her, she told us what she remembered.  Looking at herself through her mom’s eye’s then seeing her mom get shot through her own eyes.”

“Was there a bullet?” the professor asks.

“No,” Marhan chimes in, “the wound isn't deep, there's a crack in her sternum, but it should heal nicely.”

“If there is a anything positive about this,” Nora adds, “it’s that we have the killer’s face on video.  Wilna said that the police never found Wilna’s mom’s killer; these images should be all they need.  We will turn the recording over to them as soon as we can get back into the lab.

Professor Levin looks quizzically at the two of them, “You know, maybe that’s why she was sent back there.  Not knowing who killed her mom has likely weighed on Wilna for all these years.”

Marhan nods. “It does seem that this technology focuses in on important moments from our pasts.”  Then he continues, “Why is the lab door blocked?”

Professor Levin turns serious.  “There is going to be an investigation into your experiments.  The DA is not happy with you two, or with your experiments.  The lab is off limits until the investigation is complete.”

Nora cuts in, “Does this have to do with Carlos?”

“Absolutely,” the professor says.  “Of course he didn’t say that, but Joanna let me know that he is angered by the fact that Carlos’s session made it clear that they didn’t have anything on him.  He also felt trapped by Mae’s test which outed their relationship.  He felt forced by these circumstances into giving Carlos a work permit.  He would rather have had him deported immediately.”

“The results of these experiments are not our fault,” Marhan jumps in.  “These sessions show what happened.  Carlos was innocent of that murder, his session showed that.  Mae chose to think about,” he hesitates, then looks over at Nora, “getting funky with the DA.”

Nora bursts out laughing. 

The professor looks at him, wagging his head to give a yes and no answer, then says, “I expect that he sees it as being compromised into letting a murderer out on the streets.  If it wasn’t for this technology, his relationship with Mae would still be unknown, and Carlos would have already been shipped out.”

“He is going to stick to the deal he made to allow Carlos to continue to stay in this country and work legally, isn’t he?” Nora asks in a tone that mixed sincerity with frustration.   

“Hopefully,” the professor responds. “Joanna is trying to hold his feet to the fire on that.  They simply don’t have any evidence to support an expedited deportation.  The DA is furious for a lot of reasons related to your new technology, and your latest experiment with Wilna gave him the justification he needs to act.”

They all sat in silence for a moment, then the professor adds, almost distractedly, “The DA is a Nichols supporter.  He was voted into office on Nichols’ coattails, and like Nichols he doesn’t trust science or scientists.  Nichols would like nothing more than to shut down arts and social sciences in universities across the country.  Experiments like you have been running might even bring the hard sciences to their attention as problematic because they may not produce results consistent with their worldview.” 

Angry and flustered, Marhan jumps in, “Research is about exploring the unknown.  If we knew what the results were going to be, it, it wouldn’t be research.”

“True,” replies the professor.   Then with an air of resignation, he adds, “Expect to be called in for questioning in the next week or so.  They are likely going to try and figure out what they can get you to say that will allow them to shut the lab down permanently.”

“So much for this research leading to professorships,” Nora mumbles almost under her breath.  Then after a moment she continues, “Professor, Sam Marshall and I went running together the other day.  He is interested in undergoing a session to try and change his past.  If he were successful, it could change everything.  We could be rid of Nichols and the DA, we move the country from the brink of civil war, and maybe the whole country would just reset.”

The professor just looks at her.  Doesn’t know what to say.  On the one hand, the idea was intriguing, but on the other hand, they were playing God.  Changing the color of mouse offspring and getting rid of a ghost to help the Ethics Officer didn’t have unpredictable world changing consequences, this would.  Finally, he quietly asks, “What would actually happen if Sam were successful?  Would all of our memories be changed, would all of Nichols’ offences simply be forgotten?  Would that be a good thing?  Wouldn’t another extremist simply take his place?  Is this even worth trying?”

Marhan had an answer, “Not all dictators just make room for other dictators when they depart the scene.  Not every extremist can capture the popular imagination.  Hitler, for example, was a fairly unique historical character.  Others have ‘othered’ groups, the way he othered the Jews but he was more successful at it than other dictators.  It was the times Germany was in, but also the force of his will.  Remove that will from the scene and resets can happen.”

“That,” Nora begins, “and Americans didn’t vote for the right-wing extremist Nichols.  They voted for the Nichols that Sam created.”

“But he still has a following.  There are many people out in the streets expressing support for his style of politics,” the professor responds, then continues.  “Let’s see how this investigation evolves first, I’m not saying that we will or won’t do this, but maybe this investigation will wrap up quickly, and while it’s in progress we will have time to think more about this.”  Then the professor hesitates, “Do you, or does Sam have ideas on how his current self can change his past self?”

Nora jumps in, “We haven’t talked about this, but that has to be the next step, getting him to focus on a few events in his past that, if he is able to step in and change, could get his younger self to rethink his support of Nichols.”

6      Running Mt Baldy in the Snow

A few days later, Nora picks up Sam for their next trail run.  They greet each other, then Nora bursts out “That speech you gave last week was amazing.  Fingers crossed that it may yet pull us back from the brink of civil war.  It was brilliant.  I’ve heard Nichols’ speeches that you crafted, but I’ve never heard you speak.  And, you did it without notes, it was all extemporaneous.”

“Thank you, and thank you for outing me.”  Nora gives him a don’t bullshit me look.  “No, I’m serious. Being recognized and taking that stage made me feel part of the world again.  I started drinking heavily because I couldn’t quiet the turmoil in my mind.  I had to either take heavy sleeping meds, gummies, have a few shots, or mix the poisons on the worst of my nights.  I’d wake up drowsy and hungover, but it was still better than lying awake all night.  I can’t say that I’ve beaten it, but my mind’s been a little quieter in the past week.  I’ve been able to sleep with fewer drugs.”

“Glad to hear that you are doing better.  Let me know if I can be of any help.”  Nora hesitates, then asks, “Can we turn to today’s topic of conversation?”

“Not yet.  One last thing.  I’ve been monitoring a few right-wing ‘news channels,’” Sam says while making air quotes.  “The Nichols propaganda machine is in full swing.  They are claiming to have intelligence showing that urban militia groups in cities around the country are preparing a coordinated assault.”

Nora looks on with concern, “Are they?”

“It’s unlikely. It’s more likely that Nichols’ people are projecting their plans onto the urban groups.  He knows that he has to start the war before people come to grips with how badly the economy is tanking.  I expect to see major battles to begin in the next few days.  That’s my news.  What did you want to discuss?”

“That’s a lot to absorb,” Nora begins, “can you give another speech that alerts the country to his plans, to get ahead of him.”

“I’ve thought about that, but I don’t have ready access to news media that will get me a large audience, and Nichols’ militia goons could well begin their attacks in the next 24 hours, maybe even tonight.  Besides, at least a few reality-based media stations are already raising the alarm.”

“That makes today’s topic of conversation all the more pressing,” Nora begins.  “Let’s start with how you came to know and work for Nichols.”

“His people discovered me.  I was always speaking and writing about political themes and one day after a panel discussion that I was part of, I was approached by Mike Williams, asked if I was interested in coming on board the campaign.  I’m now embarrassed to say that I jumped at the chance.  It was the chance to have my ideas made more visible, to possibly see at least some of them be crafted into laws.”

“Williams is smart, a shrewd operator.  He lacks a moral compass, but he could see that Nichols’ campaign was floundering.  Nichols didn’t strike me as particularly smart.  I actually took this as a good sign.  All the better to fill him with my policy ideas, I thought.  My desire to be part in the game was a blind spot a mile wide.”

“I’ve looked into some of the history.  Nichols was polling in the low single digits before you showed up.  With each speech after you arrived, he seemed to poll a few points higher.  Is that how you remember it?”

“That’s right.  Before I got there, he attracted a small coterie of angry populists with his culture warrior pose, but he couldn’t attract a larger audience.  Little-by-little, I helped him expand his reach.”

“Were the ideas all yours, or did you come up with them as part of a team?”

“After he swept Super Tuesday and it was obvious that the campaign had legs, I got to hire two more writers; two enthusiastic young people who believed in me, who trusted me when I said that Nichols would be a good president, but at first it was just me and Mike who made the decisions.  Nichols was never more than the mouthpiece that read what we stuck in front of him.  But obviously, my opinion of him was too simple by half.  He too was shrewd.  He knew that he needed ideas to help him get elected, but he also knew what he wanted to do once he got there.”

Nora parks at the trailhead.  They assemble their packs for the run.

Nora looks over at Sam.  “I want to ask you one last thing before we start.  How much autonomy did you have in writing Nichols’ speeches.  Were they all joint workups by you and Williams, or did you craft them independently?”

“I wrote the speeches.  Williams usually checked them over before Nichols presented them, but there were a few times that I was late finalizing ideas, and I handed the speech to Nichols right as he was about to go on stage.  Mike hated when that happened, and he let me know that I needed to get the speeches prepared in time for him to go over them, but he was always happy with the result, so mostly he just bit his tongue and dealt with it.”

Nora leans against the side of her car, “That’s great.  If we are able to send you back, the times when you handed speeches directly to Nichols will provide you with opportunities to change what he says.  Hopefully lessen his appeal.”

Sam is surprised, “So, you’re going to send me back?” He says with a smile.

“We’re working on it,” Nora responds.  “I’ll run behind you and give you what updates I can without getting completely out of breath.”

It is a beautiful December day.  They take off up the mountain.  Nora explains about the experiment with Wilna, about being shut out of the lab, about the DA’s vendetta against her and Marhan.  They run without talking for the last few miles.  The snow on the trail is mostly packed down, but there are sections where the wind had blown over the trail and they have to post-hole through the snow to make progress. 

It was cold up top.  Sam takes in the view.  “I finally made it to the summit.”  He forms a megaphone with his hands and howls “Yahoo!” Then he starts walking around thinking for a minute before starting, “I know this might sound a little paranoid, but I’m being watched and my phone is tapped.  It started shortly after our friendship was outed by your demonstration.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, there is a clicking sound when I talk that wasn’t there before.  You should listen on your phone, your and Marhan’s phones might also be tapped; your lab might also be bugged.  A car sweeps by my street a few times a day; I’m guessing the person is looking to see if I am at home and if others are gathering at my house.”

“Who do you think is behind this?”

“Nichols.  I expect that he’s concerned that I will start speaking again.  The bugs and surveillance are just to remind me that he knows where I live and he can make life hard for me.  I can call someone to have your lab swept for bugs.”

“But you just said that your phone is tapped.”

“I picked up a few burner phones and discard each one after a few uses.  I might have to call you from now on, or maybe we should just plan to meet regularly at the coffee shop where you first stalked me.”

“I wasn’t stalking you,” Nora smiles and gives Sam a gentle shove.

There’s one more thing, “If the DA is anything like Nichols, your lab might never reopen.  He’s all about vengeance and retribution.  Science, the good of humanity, these are not considerations that are part of his calculus.”

“I’ve thought this myself,” Nora calmly replies.  “I’m going in for questioning tomorrow.  I hope to have a better sense of the DA’s intentions after that.”  Then Nora broaches a topic she knew was difficult for Sam.  “Sam, what can you tell me about Sarah?”

A pained expression falls across Sam’s face.  But then he sits down and motions to Nora to sit next to him.  “She is, was, I don’t know, the love of my life.  She’s a journalist, author, professor.  She’s brilliant, as are you, but while your brilliance allows you to use technology to change the world, her brilliance allows her to use her powers of observation to see people.  We met at a talk I gave back before I met Nichols.  She was planning to cover my talk for a story.  We talked after.  We went out for a drink.  She challenged me on my ideas.  I wouldn’t yield on my thinking, but I was profoundly attracted to her.”  He turns to look at Nora.  “She is another stunning brunette, taller than you and with straight hair, but it was her ability to challenge me that was the real turn on.  I looked her up after that night.  Read some of her writing, got back in touch with her.  We got together again and had another debate, then another, we slowly fell in love.  She never wrote that story.”

“We moved in together shortly before Mike Williams contacted me.  When I told her that Williams wanted to hire me to write speeches for Nichols she freaked.  She could see who Nichols was in a way that I couldn’t,” Sam sighs. “Or at least wouldn’t allow myself.  I started working for him and the fights began.  When she saw how palatable I was making Nichols to broad swaths of the electorate, she attacked me.  She said I was being willfully blind, that the access to power that I so craved wasn’t worth the price that everyone would have to pay.”

“Did you crave access to power?”

“I didn’t think so, I just saw my ideas being laid out in front of millions, being accepted by millions.  That is what I craved, but it was my access to power that allowed my ideas to spread.  Sarah just jumped over the middle step, went right to the heart of it.” 

“When I started, I wrote speeches with having the ideas accepted in mind.  I can’t say I really had a political philosophy beyond finding the set of ideas that could be used to build the largest possible coalition.  In principle, there was nothing wrong with that, except that people came to trust me, so when I sold the idea of a powerful executive to cut through the red tape, many voters bought into it without giving it much thought.  Sarah didn’t buy into it, she didn’t buy into any of it, and eventually we split up.  Our dreams of raising a family together were pushed aside by my unwillingness to see the monster I was creating.”

“Wow, so you and Sarah, were close to getting married.”

“Yes.  I even bought her an engagement ring shortly after I was brought onto Nichols’ team.  I figured that I was finally making the big time.  We would be able to afford a house, and we would have children.  But the fights never died down, we never got back on track, I never proposed.”

Sam stands up, he is shivering from the cold and from the stress he is feeling, forms his hands into a megaphone once again, and yells into the canyon below, “I fucked up my life so that I could build a monster!”  Then tearing at his hair, he sits back down.

“Do you still want all that?  I mean, a wife, a family?”  Nora asks a little hopefully and hesitantly.

Sam just sits for a moment.  “Who I am hasn’t changed, but the world has.  I couldn’t see bringing children into this mess I helped create.”  With that Sam stands up again, looks over at Nora as she stands facing him.  He really likes her, and he knows she likes him.  He wants to reach out, to hold her hands and lean in and kiss her, but instead, while staring at the ground, he quietly starts, “You are really great, but I can’t be with anyone right now Nora.  I can’t allow myself happiness while the world wallows in the mess I created.  I have to keep trying to fix this.”  He looks up at her.  “We have to try and fix this,” he says while swinging his left forearm between her and himself.  “If we can fix it, I have to go back to DC and find Sarah, see if she’ll have me, see if we can restart our dream.”

Nora nods her head as they stand in silence for a few moments.  The cold finds it way in.  She starts to shiver. “We should start back.”

7      Lunch

The run down and the ride home from Mt Baldy were quiet.  Nora and Sam’s relationship had never gotten beyond being running partners, and even that had had its limits.  Now it was clear that even that was at an end.  Their relationship would continue in order to make preparations for one final act: sending Sam back to change his past and move his life, and the country’s life, in a different direction. 

After Nora dropped Sam off, she decides to give Marhan a call.  “Hey, you want to have lunch?”  She wasn’t sure why.  Maybe she needed a distraction because of the angst she was feeling, about Sam, about tomorrow’s interview. 

“Hi Marhan, thanks for coming,” Nora says with a smile.

“Thanks for asking me, this is our third time doing something together recently—if you call nearly getting beaten to death doing something together.  What’s up?”

“I just want to chat a bit.  I realize that we have been working together for almost a year now and I don’t really know anything about you.  Tell me something about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know.  Let’s start with, where you grew up?”

“India, just outside of Kashmir.”

“Ooh, I bet it was beautiful.”

“The Himalayas were too far away to see. Just brown hills with small farms and ranches filling every meter of ground.”

“Sounds like you lived in a small village.”

Marhan hesitates.  He stares at Nora wondering, why this sudden interest in my past, in me?  Then he just lets it start spilling out.  “Yes, it was a small village.  I grew up as the oldest of eight brothers and sisters.  My dad is a laborer.  We were desperately poor, they are still quite poor.”

“Oh my god.  I had no idea; how did you get from there to here?”

“My teachers in primary school, such as it was, recognized that I had talent.  They wanted my dad to send me to the Delhi Institute of Science.  But there was no money.  My parents tried to scrimp and save, but it was never enough, could never have been enough.  One of my teachers kept writing letters trying to find a source of funding for my education.  Then one day, when I was nine, a well-dressed man showed up at my school.  He looked through my records, pulled me aside for an interview, and decided that I was worthy.  The money came from a philanthropic organization.  I am the only one in my family to have been given this kind of opportunity.  I carry the weight of my family’s expectations on my shoulders.”

“That’s amazing.”  Nora jumps in.  “Expectations for me were high as well, but it was because I was given all the advantages that many American children receive.  I studied ballet and violin, I played tennis, I tried theatre, but none of it stuck.  I was a nerd, math and computer science excited me, I ran track and still love to run.”

Marhan came back somewhat sternly.  “You got to be exposed to the arts and sports.  You got to choose who you wanted to be.  I was sent to study science, so that’s all I did.  I was afraid that if I didn’t get high marks I would get sent back to my village, that I would dishonor my family.  So, I worked relentlessly.  Incessantly driving myself is all I’ve ever known how to do,” but then Marhan stops.  “Until now that is.”

Nora looks at him quizzically.  “With the lab closed and our futures in doubt, yesterday I said ‘fuck it’ and went for a hike.”  Nora smiles and laughs.  “This is funny?” Marhan says as he looks over at her.

“No, not you going hiking.  Just your accent when you said ‘fuck it.’  I’ve never heard you curse before.”

“Well, ‘fuck that,’” Marhan now says in his best western drawl, which cracks Nora up.

Then Marhan gets serious for a moment.  “I really liked hiking, okay I didn’t get far, but I want to do it again.  I’d love to do it once the wildflowers bloom in the spring.  I saw trail runners like yourself out there.  I found myself wondering if I could do that too.”  In a self-mocking mystical tone he continues, “There may be all sorts of mysteries to me that I have yet to explore.”

Nora keeps smiling, she likes this side of Marhan.  A side she hadn’t seen before, a side maybe he was only learning that he had.  “I want to thank you for running back into the protest to save me.  All I knew was that you were suddenly there.  Emily told me what you did.”

Marhan smiles, blushes, I’d run through burning coals to save you, quietly says, “Anytime.”

“So, your family is still in India?”

“Yes.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t wanted to use our technology to see something of your past.”

“Don’t need to.  The last time I was back there, I setup a WiFi connection.  I talk to them every Thursday morning at 7 am our time; videocall when we can get it to work.”

Nora smiles, but then she gets serious.  “Any thoughts on tomorrow?”

Marhan too gets serious.  “What can we do, we tell them the truth about what happened to Wilna.  If they intend to shut us down as Professor Levin says, they’ll shut us down no matter what we tell them.”

“Professor Levin and Sam,” Nora cuts in.

“That doesn’t surprise me.  Sam knows these folks.” Marhan finishes.  “Aw shucks,” he then twangs, trying to bring in a moment of levity.  He likes when he makes Nora laugh, he wants to make it happen again. 

But Nora is now too stressed to offer anything more than a pained smile.  “We can’t let them do this to us before we have a chance to get Sam in there and possibly change the past.”

Marhan looks over at her.  He feels her pain; he is struggling to feel her confidence that they can make things right.  “Rewinding the last few years, what would that even be like?” He says, expressing his uncertainty.  “Let’s just take it one step at a time.  We’ll see how tomorrow goes, and then we’ll plan our next step.”

“There’s more.  Sam’s phone is being tapped.  He thinks our phones might be as well, but I haven’t noticed any odd things he suggested it might do, so I think I am in the clear.  You should listen for clicking sounds when you talk, or for odd messages, or whether your phone shuts down and restarts without you doing it.  He thinks our lab might be bugged as well.”

“I’ve only met him that one time; does he seem paranoid to you?”

“Not at all.  This all started after I exposed him in my demonstration and he gave a talk at the school.”

“Okay.  I’ll look online for equipment to search for bugs.  If they let us back in the lab, we’ll have to sweep it.”

8      Questioning

Nora is sitting in the police station awaiting her turn.  She sees Marhan walking down the hall flanked by two men in suits.  He had gone first.  He looks over at her as he was escorted past.  He shakes his head no.  She doesn’t know what that means.  They hadn’t prepared any signs to give each other beforehand, but it seems ominous.

Nora looks away after Marhan and his escorts pass by.  Then she hears, “Nora, would you come with me?”  She hadn’t noticed that one of Marhan’s escorts was Ryan, the lawyer from the session with Carlos.  Nora gets up, and follows him dutifully into a windowless room, tries to make small talk, but he just looks at her with a blank stare and closed mouth.  The room has a steel table in the center.  The DA is in the room.  This suddenly feels threatening.  She is told to sit on one side, her team of interrogators sits opposite her. 

The thought, I should have a lawyer with me, races through her mind.  She wasn’t expecting anything this formal.  They didn’t do anything wrong.  But since she is here, she decides to see how things start out, before deciding whether or not to demand an attorney be present.

Ryan starts by asking her for her name, age, etc.  Basic formalities that would have taken the edge off if the DA hadn’t been standing in a corner facing Nora, his arms crossed over his chest looking like he was about to burst.  Then the questioning took an unexpected turn:

“Tell us about your relationship with Sam Marshall.”

“What, what does that have to do with Wilna getting injured during an experiment?”

“That is what we are trying to find out.  Just answer the question, please.”

“Sam and I are friends, running partners mostly,” Nora says as she sinks a bit in her chair.

“Was Sam in the lab during the experiment on Wilna?”

Nora sits upright in her chair, she is starting to understand what this inquisition is about.  They want to frame Sam for Wilna getting hurt.

“Please answer the question.”

“No, Sam was not there, he had nothing to do with that test or any other test.”

The DA burst: “you will limit your answer to the question you are asked.”

Nora sits bolt upright, is shocked.

Ryan picks up on the DA’s frustration and follows up, “So your answer is that Sam was not in the lab on that morning.”

“No, Sam was not in the lab.”

Ryan continues, “Did Sam direct the experiment on Wilna that morning?”

Nora looks confused, looks up at the DA, and considers her answer.  She keeps it simple.  “No, Sam did not direct the experiment that morning.”

Ryan backs off a bit, “What does Sam know about the experiments you do?”

“He knows exactly what everyone in the rest of the world knows.  As you are well aware, we’ve been in the news.”

“Do you talk about these experiments while you are out running?”

Nora hesitates for a moment.  “Only once.  We went for a run a few days after Marhan’s and my seminar was on the news.  That’s how he learned what I am working on.  He was excited for me.”

“Did he ask if he could be the subject of an experiment?”

“No,” Nora blurts out, maybe too quickly, but luckily, Ryan doesn’t seem to pick up on it.  “The only thing we talked about related to the experiments on our most recent run was the fact that Wilna got injured and we got locked out.”

“What was Sam’s opinion on the lockout?”

Nora looks at Ryan and then at the DA.  “He is concerned that you won’t reopen our lab.”

“Why is he concerned about this?”

“Politics.  Simply politics.”

“Would you like Sam to be one of your experimental subjects?”

“I never thought about it.”

“Think about it.  What could he learn or you learn from him undergoing a test?”

“Not sure.  Maybe there is something from his childhood he might want to revisit.  I just don’t know.”

“Why his childhood?”

“These tests, these sessions, are about revisiting poignant moments from the past.  Maybe Sam has something, possibly something sweet, he would want to revisit.”

“Could you learn anything else about Sam?”

“Now that you have me thinking.  Sam had a girlfriend, Sarah.  She is/was the love of his life.  If we did a session with him, I bet he would want to revisit one of his happy moments with Sarah.”

Ryan isn’t getting what the DA wants.  The DA steps forward interjecting himself into the questioning.  “How do you do it?  Actors, hidden cameras; how does it work?” He says with a force that puts fear into Nora.

“It’s science sir, there are no actors, no hidden cameras.”

“I don’t believe this shit for a minute.” The DA angrily blurts out as he pounds his index finger into the table.  Here’s the deal, you give me something on Sam Marshall that I can use, or I charge you with Reckless Endangerment for what you did to your ‘Friend’ Wilna.”

Are you aware that we helped the FBI find the bodies of young girls a serial killer raped, murdered then buried?  Are you aware that we captured the faces of the men who murdered Wilna’s mom?  We are helping to solve real problems.” 

The DA is furious.  “If you ever want to see the inside of your lab again, you’ll give me something on Sam Marshall.”

Nora is startled by this sudden turn of events.  “I’m not saying anything more until I have legal representation.”

Ryan tries to calm the situation.  “Nora,” she looks over at him, horrified at everything the DA had just said.  “Would you be able to coax Sam into making incriminating statements?  We could coach you.”

She looks at Ryan.  She stands up, Ryan stands up.  “Am I under arrest?”  The DA and Ryan just stand there.  “I didn’t think so; I’m leaving.”

The DA blocks the door.  “We can file Reckless Endangerment charges against both you and Marhan that will consume your lives for the next few years.  Deal with us, or deal with the consequences.”  He steps aside; Nora opens the door and leaves.

9      Dinner Conversation

Nora and Marhan greet Wilna, ask how she is, on her arrival at the local pizza and beer joint they often frequent.  Wilna touched her right hand to her solar plexus.  “I’m okay.  That was,” she searched for the right word, “unexpected.  I didn’t expect to be my mother, and I certainly didn’t expect to be her when she got shot.”

“How are you doing?” Nora asks, then pointing to her chest, “I don’t mean the wound, I mean psychologically.”

“Let’s just say that’s my last session on your machine,” she says while feigning a smile.  “I did get to see, be, my mom for a few moments, and to see myself through her eyes, I could feel her love as she looked at me, before it happened.  What I don’t understand, is why it brought me to that moment?”

“It was a poignant memory for you and,” Marhan hesitated, “your last memory of your mom.” 

“Were the faces of the two men clear on the computer screen?” Wilna asked.

“Yes,” Nora said, “we got clear images of your mom’s killer and his accomplice.  Maybe that’s why it brought you there.  Once we can get back into the lab,” then she hesitates, “I mean, if we can get back into the lab, we’ll be able to hand them to the police.”

“Well then we have to get back in there,” Wilna quickly adds. 

“We need to talk to Professor Levin in the morning, “Marhan starts.  I also want to point out that we learned something valuable from your session.  The higher dimensions don’t contain alternative realities, but it’s as Professor Warner has thought, they allow us to peer deeper back in time.”

“If that’s true,” Wilna cuts in, “would each subsequent dimension, enable us to look through the eyes of our grandmother and great-grandmother, etc.?”

Now Marhan shrugs, “That seems right, but if we don’t have any memories in common with them, where would it take us?”  Marhan sits back, then says with confidence, “We can’t be certain, until we get to experiment some more, but it’s unlikely there are any more dimensions to search.”

“But there’s a point we’re missing here,” Nora starts, “to access the higher dimension in Wilna’s session, we moved straightforward with a 45-degree upward tilt.  Even if there aren’t any other dimensions, what if the direction we search effects what we find.  Once we are in the fifth dimension, we can direct the energy in a variety of different directions: up or down, to the sides, and even opposite of where we directed the pulses for Wilna’s session.  Maybe direction determines what we find?”

“It is possible.” Marhan responds, “Maybe we’ll find aliens yet and make the day for Professors Levin and Warner.” Which produces some light laughter from them all.

“This all may be moot at this point,” Nora notes.  “Marhan, I saw your expression as you left your inquisition this morning.  What did they ask you about?”

“They started by asking what safeguards we have in place for these tests, but,” Marhan hesitates, “the conversation quickly turned to Sam.” 

Nora smirks, “They didn’t even bother to ask me about safeguards, they just immediately started asking if Sam ran Wilna’s test; was Sam in the lab.  Then the DA threatened me.  Said if I didn’t give them dirt on Sam, they would file Reckless Endangerment charges against us and we’d never see the inside of our lab again.  I insisted that they let me leave.  I was pretty shaken afterwards.”

Marhan nods, “Me too.  They told me that they are planning to come to the lab in two days to ‘test,’ Marhan raised his arms and made air quotes, ‘our equipment.’  My guess is that they are going to take everything and destroy it.”

“Taking down ‘Friends-of-Sam,’” now it is Wilna making air quotes as she spoke, “could make the DA visible to Nichols.  Move him up the fascist food chain.”

“We haven’t told you.  Someone, probably the DA or other Nichols people, is monitoring Sam’s phone and watching his house.  When the current unrest turns to full scale civil war, they don’t want him leading the charge.”

“Wow, is that Sam’s opinion as to where this is headed?”

Marhan and Nora both nod.  Then Nora adds, “We have to be careful to not have any conversations in our homes or in our lab, when we get back in there, as Sam is concerned that they may be bugging us.” 

“With all the ruckus, I forgot to tell you, I bought a bug detector.  It arrived this morning.”  Marhan says, “No bugs at my house, not yet, anyway.” 

“Other than checking for bugs and waiting for the DA to destroy your lab, what do we do?” Wilna asks.

“Since Sam is why they are after us, maybe Sam can get us out of this,” Nora offers.  She looks at her tablemates who are looking at her with anticipation, “We send him back, we change history.  I know that it’s dangerous, but so are they.  I say we talk to Professor Levin tomorrow.”

At first Marhan is hesitant.  But then he says, “We started out searching for alternative realities.  We didn’t find them, but starting with little furry Timey,” Marhan smiles, cups his right hand and holds it out as though he is holding a mouse in it, “we learned that we could create them.  This one won’t be as simple as changing the color of a mouse, or even exorcizing a ghost, and it might not work, but by destroying our nation, threatening us and putting our research at risk they are changing our reality.  They really are leaving us no choice but to try.  It is our best means of fighting back and avoiding something like the 30 years of the Troubles that wreaked havoc in Northern Ireland.”  He turns to Nora, “Yes, I also watched Sam’s speech.”

Marhan puts his hand in the center of the table.  Wilna put hers atop Marhan’s and Nora follows suit.  They smile at each other. 

“Don’t fuck with the Fifth-Dimension Flyers,” Wilna says, a little too loud, and then looks around.  No one appears to be listening.  Then quietly says, “Let’s do this.”

10  Nora

Once they had finished dinner, Nora drives over to Sam’s. 

Knock, knock.

“Hi, Nora, I wasn’t expecting you,” Sam says as he sees Nora outside his door.

“We need to talk.” And Nora motions for Sam to step outside.  “I don’t want to speak indoors just in case you’ve been bugged.”

Sam responds, “No worries, I bought a bug sweeper and have given the house a good going over.  I think it’s safe.”  They step inside.

“We’re go for tomorrow night.  Be at the Physics Building at 8 PM.”

Will do.  Is there anything else?”  Sam asks.

“I thought that maybe you would like some company this evening, and maybe a little something to help you relax,” she says as she pulls out a joint.  “Looks like you got started without me,” she adds as she notices the whiskey bottle and glass sitting out on the coffee table.”

“Can I get you a glass?”  Sam asks.  His movements and voice suggested that he was already pretty buzzed. 

 “I can’t say that I drink anything stronger than beer or wine, but for tonight sure,” Nora replies.

She sits next to Sam on the sofa, takes a sip, makes an awful face.  “You drink this shit,” she says while pointing at the glass, “It tastes like battery acid.”

“It’s an acquired taste.”

She takes a second smaller sip.  Shakes her head as she forces it down, “Why would you bother to acquire it?”  She lights the joint, takes a hit, passes it to Sam, says while holding in the smoke and pointing at her glass, “Even this is smoother than that.”

They lean back on the couch as they pass the joint back and forth.  “It’s hard to believe that we’re here,” Nora begins.

“It’s just a rental house,” Sam replies, and they both burst out laughing.

“No, asshole, not here, as in this place, but here as in what we are about to try and accomplish.” She folds her one leg under her and turns to Sam, “This is a moonshot, or maybe an expedition to Mars, but with a team of just a few people.  Including us, only five people on this planet know what we are about to do, or at least try and do, but if we succeed, it will affect the whole world.”

“On our first run together, you said you wanted to accomplish something earthshattering, you just might.  Of course, I hope you don’t actually shatter the earth.”

They start laughing.  They missed an exchange as Sam tried to pass the joint to Nora, it fell to the floor, they both reached for it, and smacked their foreheads together.  “Fuck, that hurts,” they both blurt out while leaning back, rubbing their heads and continuing to laugh. 

Then Sam bends over and tenderly kisses Nora’s forehead, Nora returns a kiss to his forehead; they look in each other’s eyes and started kissing.  Sam pulls back, “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“You’re right, we shouldn’t,” Nora says as she stands up.  She is a little wobbly, she looks at Sam, and with a wistful smile says, “Marhan loves me, and I think I love him.  So, yes, I need to go.  Just be at the Physics building at 8 tomorrow evening.”

Sam nods, “Marhan is a lucky guy.”

“Tomorrow night, finger crossed,” Nora crosses her fingers, “you and Sarah will be lucky as well.”  Nora smiles, opens the door and leaves.

11  Professor Levin

The three of them walk into Professor Levin’s office in the morning.  Nora holds up a notepad on which she had written: Please don’t say anything until Marhan sweeps for bugs.

Professor Levin nods and turns back to his computer while they wait.  CNN is on.  The announcer is out on the streets, there is movement all around him.  Gunshots could be heard nearby.

Marhan scans everything in the professor’s office.  He announces “All clear.”

The professor turns to face them.  The three of them sit down.  Nora points to the computer screen.  “Sam predicted the war would begin within the next few days.  Wow, is he prescient.”

“Unfortunately, it seems he is,” the professor responds.

Professor Levin begins, “Wilna, glad to see that you are up and about.”  They then proceed to tell the professor what their interrogations were like.

“I was afraid of that.  But you know that they can’t arrest the two of you if Wilna doesn’t press charges.”

“But, even without that,” Marhan adds, “They’ve threatened to permanently close down our lab.”

“I was afraid of that too.  Have you been past your lab yet today?” the professor asked.

“No, we came straight in here.” Nora said.

“There’s a guard in front of the door.  I think they are planning to dismantle your equipment starting tomorrow.  They want to make sure that no one gets in there before they do.”

Wilna was horrified! “I wonder if there was a plant at the restaurant last night who heard me bragging that we would beat them?”

“Can they do that?” Wilna asks, changing the subject, “Just tear apart world-changing scientific experiment without cause.”

“Keeping Sam’s voice from leading the rebellion is all the cause they need.” the professor replies.

“Sam is willing to do a session on the technology,” Nora starts, “he wants to try and change his part in our current political drama.”

“What about your concerns about ‘playing god?’” the professor asks.

Marhan chimes in forcefully.  “Look at your computer screen.  That is what they are doing.  They are messing with the lives of an entire nation, destroying the world order, and replacing it with one where they are at the top stealing everything while keeping us under the thumb of the military.  And, it’s only going to get worse.  If we think for a moment, that Nichols is ever going to ease up, we’d be wrong.  War suits him as it distracts from all the other problems he is causing.  I’d rather take my chances altering history.  It will at least give us a chance to get things back to the way they were.”

They all look a Marhan and are a bit stunned by his forcefulness. 

“Any ideas on how you are going to get past the guard?”

They all looked at each other.  “The Fifth-Dimension Flyers will figure it out,” Marhan smiles while glancing at Nora and Wilna.

“Okay then, I have to go to a meeting.  You know, I wouldn’t notice if this key is missing when I get back.  He takes a key out of a locked cabinet and places it in his top desk drawer.  Good luck.”