The aurora city
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| at 24 hour mart. am starving.
meet you at denny’s near the hospital. Markman found the restaurant and parked. As he headed inside, a car leaving the parking lot backfired. A small, frightened bird darted out from bushes nearby. It flew by Markman and crashed headlong into the glass front door, just as he was about to pull it open. It fell to the sidewalk and lay motionless. Markman stooped over and picked up the limp, lifeless body. This was another of life’s sad motifs; running from a danger that doesn’t really exist, creating real danger in the effort. Humans are no different, he thought. At that moment, the bird suddenly fluttered in his hand and sat upright. It jumped and landed on his shoulder. Still dazed, it looked around, decided his shoulder was not the best place to be, and took off for nearby trees. Sometimes we make it, thought Markman. He went in and took a booth. There were quite a few patrons, despite the hour. The restaurant was well-lit and clean. The green embroidered seats looked newly upholstered. There were two servers in green uniforms behind the counter across the room. The smell of coffee dominated the place. Markman ordered one for himself and sat back playing with his cup on the table top. When no one was looking, he pointed a finger and slid his salt and pepper shakers in an arc to the other side of the table. While looking around for another all- clear, he noticed a woman’s wallet had slipped out of her purse and onto the
floor beneath her table. She was completely engrossed in conversation with a friend and had no idea. Markman tucked his left hand under his right armpit and pretended to look down at his table. With one carefully controlled finger, he locked onto the wallet and very slowly lifted it off the floor. When it was high enough, the attempt to move it back over the half- open purse presented more of a challenge than expected. The wallet wanted to turn in place in midair rather than move to the right. As he struggled with it, a voice behind startled him. The wallet fell back to the floor. “Will this booth be alright?” the server asked her new patrons. “Perfect. Coffee for me and ice tea for my wife, please,” said the customer. “I’ll be right back.” The server
paused at Markman’s table. “Do you need a refill yet?” she asked. “I’m fine, thanks.” When things settled down, he began again. This time it was easy to get the wallet to float up to purse level, and with a different twist of his hand it moved over and above the open purse. When it looked just right, he snapped his fist closed and the wallet dropped down into the purse and out of sight. He sat back proudly and looked around the room, smiling as though applause was due. He laughed at himself and sipped his coffee. “Just coffee? I would have guessed you’d have cleaned the place out by now.”
Markman rose instinctively at the sound of Cassiopia’s voice. A flash of gladness filled his heart. He turned and
hugged her tightly and stood back to gaze at her. She wore a gray wraparound shift with a pearl necklace. Just seeing her made him feel good about everything. He motioned to the booth and Cassiopia smiled and sat. “You are not going to believe what I’ve discovered!” she said and she reached across the table and took his hand. Her excitement was overflowing. “By the way, it’s good to be with you.” “Me too,” said Markman, then he wondered if it was a stupid thing to say.
“You were in the sensesuit today, weren’t you?” “Yes, wait till you hear about that.”
“I have something that may top it. Something about the system that will make John Paul’s day.”
“What are you talking about?” “I found an error in the sensesuit computer’s design specs. A big one.” “When did you do that?” “Are you kidding? Sitting around the hospital room all day and night while my father drifts in and out. I’m three quarters of the way through what they gave me, but this horrendous error is going to mess them up a bunch.” “How’s your father?” “He’s fine. They’ve had him sedated, so he drifts in and out, sleeps most of the time, good for him, too. Only thing is, now they’re weaning him off the drugs and he’s getting back to his ornery old self, asking questions. You and I will have our hands full now. He wants answers to what’s been going on. We’re not going to be able to put
him off any longer.” “Oh boy.” “Yes. A story will need to be told.” “Might as well be the truth, don’t you think?” “Yes, the truth cooked up and presented with the culinary skill of Rachael Ray.” “So what about this error thing in the sensesuit computer? Am I in danger of getting fried alive even more than I thought I was?” “I don’t think so, but it means we don’t understand shit.” “Wow, I love it when you talk dirty. Why are you talking dirty all of a sudden?” “Maybe you bring out the slut in me, Markman.” “Hold that thought.” “Anyway, the design of that
system is so far ahead of us it’s just beyond belief. It’s fortunate my specialty is in computer systems. Half of this system is beyond my understanding. My father could manage through it maybe, because he’s quantum physics. I’m not, so I’m lost when the systems begins talking about translation.” “Okay, duh...” “It’s like this, I would not describe this system as a simulator. I would describe it as an adaptive convergence of environments with simulation attributes.” “I am so dumb…” “No, no darling you are not. We are talking about something so far ahead of anything we know, it’s hard to describe it.” “You called me darling.”
“Let me put it another way. This system is more like a machine that allows something from one world to coexist in another world.” “You mean it’s like a doorway to somewhere else?” “You can’t really call it a doorway, because the word doorway implies that you can just pass from one place to the other. That can only happen if both worlds support the same kind of physical constructs. In our case for example, both worlds would need to provide oxygen, atmospheric pressure, temperature and all that. This system allows someone to visit worlds that are inhospitable to us. Are you still with me?”
“Always, darling.” “So with the sensesuit, you could walk around on Venus and not be
crushed or cooked. You get it?” “I guess so, but you’re saying this is not a computer simulation?” “That’s another part of the beauty of this thing. The sensesuit computer can translate any environmental components as necessary to support this coexistive capability.” “So, are you trying to say that Crillia could be a real place?” “I don’t know. It’s possible you see a real Crillia through the eyes of the computer’s understanding.” “But I’m in a suit. If it was a real place how would others see me?” “They would see an image projected by the computer and suit. The same image you see when you’re in there.” “Well, I think I may have some info for you that says Crillia is not real,
but first, exactly what is this big error thing you’ve found?” “Okay. You know about radiocarbon dating, right?” “The thing they do to date ancient artifacts.” “Yes, but it’s much more than that. Lucky for us Carbon-14 has a fairly short half life which allows us to measure how much degradation has occurred in certain isotopes and then we can produce dates based on that.” “Ya wanna watch TV later or something?” “Okay, too technical. I get it. Here’s the bottom line. The sensesuit computer is so advanced that the specifications for its circuitry stipulate that the materials used in them must be of a certain age span as measure by a process similar to radiocarbon dating.
So, you cannot use materials or substances in the sensesuit computer unless they are of a certain age.” “I think old reruns of Lost In Space are on tonight.” “Scott, please, stay with me on this. I looked at the half life spans of the materials being used in the sensesuit processor system and was able to compare some of those materials to our own isotope measurement tables, and it comes out that the dates required for the materials used in the sensesuit computer are beyond present day.” Markman sat with his chin in his palm. “I’m trying. I really am…darling.” “Scott, some of the materials used in the sensesuit computer would have had to come from the distant future to exist in the state described by the
specs. So, it’s a big screw up. There’s something wrong with the data we have on the sensesuit computer.” Markman sat up and stared at Cassiopia in disbelief. He shook his head. “I don’t believe it. You figured that out just from the paperwork John Paul gave you?” “What? It just means there are typos in the documentation.” Markman shook his head. “That’s unbelievable. Do you see what you’re really saying? You’re saying that the sensesuit computer is from the future.” “Oh now, I never said that. That’s ridiculous.” Markman smiled. “Let me tell you about today’s trip inside.” Markman leaned back and with as few flourishes as possible related his trip to the Crillian high council, and the
subsequent journey to Crillia’s moon. Cassiopia’s expression kept shifting from amazement to disbelief. When Markman was done, she stared at him silently for a long time, until a waiter interrupted the impasse. After an ample selection of food had been ordered, Cassiopia challenged Markman’s tale of two cities. “You’re saying John Paul agrees with this? John Paul’s group thinks the sensesuit computer is from the future?” Markman locked his hands behind his head. “He says it’s the only possible explanation.” “And so, at some point in the near future, Earth is destroyed and eventually ends up in a solar system with two suns?” “Yep.”
“My god!” Cassiopia paused and stared off into the distance. “It can’t be. It’s too much.” “Yep.” A waiter interrupted the sobriety of the moment to place their food on the table. Cassiopia sat staring into the distance, ignoring the steaming plate in front of her. Markman stabbed his fork into the food and watched silently, not knowing what to say. He had just informed her that the planet they were on would soon be destroyed. “What will John Paul do about this?” she finally asked. “I’m not sure. He seems kind of off-balance about it.” “He must have access to higher powers.”
“Wow! That coming from an eminent scientist? You know what he’s said about intervention.”
“I’ve been expanding my concepts. He must have higher authorities he can call upon.” “Yeah, but remember, he’s always saying how they don’t interfere with Earthly affairs. It’s up to people to do that themselves.” “But in this case? Invasion from another world?” “The atom bomb was kind of like that. We could have been destroyed by it, but so far we have somehow worked together to avoid that. Maybe this is like that.” “Well, one thing’s for sure. I’m scared.”
“Me, too.” “What will you do on your next visit to Aurora?” Cassiopia took a slice of bread. “Cut a hole in that other wall.”
“What do you hope to find?” “Artifacts from a time the Crillians are trying hard to forget, that is if the Crillian High Council doesn’t have me arrested and imprisoned.” Cassiopia munched on her bread. A far away look came over her. Markman waved one hand. “Hello? Where’d you go?” Cassiopia refocused. “A time they’d like to forget, you say? Funny you should put it that way. There’s something else I haven’t told you.” “At this point, you are looking at a very open-minded man.” “Let me show you something.” Cassiopia tapped a few icons on her cell phone and brought up an old, grayed image. It was a group of union soldiers during the civil war, standing at a table in front of a battered tent. A caption
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