Roll pointed his finger at Rock, it was an important point. “Yeah, I don’t know if we have souls. There could be something there. That same article even touched on the subject of souls and teleportation. Anyway, we seem to be the same ... us. Souls intact. If there are immaterial souls involved, I’m not sure how something like that is transferred, or how the Universe keeps track. But whether the soul comes along for the teleportation ride, or meets up with us on the far end of the journey, if we have a soul, it does stick around with us. I’m sure of that.
“I was less concerned about being renewed physically, even on a subatomic level. As long as the process involves an exact duplication! After all, people are in a constant state of change. Our bodies completely change out over time. Well most cells change over. Perhaps not all brain cells and such. But over the course of something like 7 to 10 years, almost nothing of our original material self is left, right Mia? We are renewed, duplicated. When we teleport, it just happens more quickly. Probably. That’s what we think anyway. The result of teleportation is a perfect copy. But it’s instantaneous rather than a 7-year process.”
Rock had a contemplative look. “Well, I don’t know anything about souls. But I do wonder about the availability of entangled particles. People are mostly made up of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Right Liz? There are a few other trace elements too. For teleportation to work, it seems likely all the necessary elements would need to be available at the destination.
“And there needs to be entanglement. We’re not sure what would happen, for example, if we teleported into deep space. Space is a near-vacuum, though hydrogen is common enough. All the elements are out there. They are just scattered unless you are near a star system. By my way of thinking, a Big Bang beginning would suggest extensive entanglement. I hate to use a meaningless construct such as it ‘feels like’. But for this, it’s all I’ve got.
“It ‘feels like’ the necessary entangled particles are drawn to the location to which I am sending a quantum information wave. Don’t ask me what a quantum information wave is. I just made it up. This is a branch of science that lacks good descriptive, technical terms. With the dearth of good technical terms we may have to make some up as we go.
“Whatever information wave I generate when teleporting, it seems to attract the particles needed to construct the exact copy of me. Maybe there is an electro-mechanical-quantum-attractor that draws the quanta forces and materials. There is still a great deal to consider and define.”
Roll nodded in agreement. “We have also concluded there is an active nanite ... complex. You pointed out as much with the EEG recordings. The nanite network seems to process and focuses what our minds initiate during a teleportation action. But we don’t understand the mechanism of teleportation or how the nanite complex functions.
“Even apart from the nanite interaction, from what we have read, no one seems to fully understand what is happening in the quantum world of subatomic particles. I’ve been sorting through all sorts of information related to quantum nonlocality, quantum entanglement, Bell’s Theorem. The nanite thing adds another layer of complexity.”
Rock sounded excited as he drummed his fingers on the table. “This whole teleportation study is going to also help with our study of quantum computing. Roll and I have been studying quantum computing for a while now. It’s all just ... so exciting!”
Throughout the whole discussion, even the part about souls, I kept quiet. It didn’t seem like the time to get into one of our common debates about spiritual things. Mr. T and Para must have felt the same. I can hold my own when discussing spiritual matters. It’s not really that hard to make a plausible argument for my beliefs. I don’t tend to do as well when it comes to science and the twins. Still, I thought there was a valid concern that should be brought up, with regard to distant teleportation.
Maybe, just a little, I also wanted to show off a bit of intellect. I’ve read my share of science-net posts on related subjects. “What about teleportation and momentum? You know, such as teleporting from a star system moving at a certain velocity to a different star system moving at a much different velocity. You would splatter if you teleported to a planet in another system.”
Rock looked puzzled, I thought I had him. “I’m not sure what you mean, exactly. Remember, quantum teleportation involves perfect replication using entangled particles already existing at the location to which you are teleporting. Or it is possible the system draws the particles there and they would already have stabilized in that setting.
“So, there are no concerns about the sort of momentum you seem to be considering. Right? Think about it as though it is quantum information that is being transmitted, or teleported, rather than matter. There is no violation of the laws of conservation.”
I stared at him with my best noncommittal look. “Oh...” Ding-dong. Doorbell. Literally saved by the bell.
As the doorbell rang, we all looked at each other. Now what? It was really turning into one of those days. We all raced upstairs to see what else could happen. There was a monkey at the door. A little spider monkey like the one at the laboratory that had blown up. He smiled, walked in, and hopped up on the couch.
Grandad crouched down, so he was eye-level with the monkey. “So, what’s your story little fellow?”
Muncle had a high-pitched voice. “Wow. So, this is what it’s like to be completely self-aware. I’m going to like this.”
We stayed up late getting acquainted with Muncle. We found out he was one very smart monkey. He is sensitive though. I’ll never forget the looks on his face when Grandad was telling him about what had actually happened during the lab explosion. What a range of expression, from awe to terror. Muncle had probably received an extra dose of the DARPA compounds.
When Mr. T wound down with the lab explanation, Muncle asked specifically about the DARPA genetic tests. That wasn’t Mr. T’s area of expertise, but he’s a scientist, he gave a fairly detailed explanation. Muncle pulled up the sleeves of his shirt. Yes, Muncle wears clothing. He dresses quite smartly I’ll have you know. He finds the best stuff at the local Goodwill give-away site.
Anyway, he pulled up his sleeves and pointed to some bumps on his wrists. “See this? It looks like a spinneret doesn’t it? You know, the nozzle on a spider where the web silk comes out. I bet I was hosed with genetically altered spider parts in the explosion. Can you imagine the jokes? A web spinning monkey. A web spinning Spider monkey. I’ll never live it down.”
I had to turn away. It was all I could do to NOT go into a hysterical fit of laughter. I saw your face too Para, so don’t give me any grief. Mr. T kept his composure. “Let’s have a look buddy. No, it’s just a rash. Your skin is irritated. I’ve got some cream that will clear that right up. Here, rub this on twice a day. Once in the morning, once at night. The bumps and rash will be gone in a few days.”
The relief on poor Muncle’s face. It was precious. Muncle climbed into Para’s lap and went right to sleep. And like that, we had a new roommate.
When we were finally ready to call it a night, Grandad grew serious. “We should not tell anyone about this. No one. ”
He then scared us a little. “If the government finds out about this, we will all be lab rats ... for a very long time.”
We didn’t want to be any kind of rat. We kept quiet. And tested. Practiced and honed our gifts. Grandad is well networked. He knows some important people. He asked around, especially about the explosion in the DARPA lab. And he was able to get a real answer. An answer he didn’t like at all. They did it. They who?
CHAPTER TWO
INVASION.
The world was in crisis even before the invasion. We were polarized. Nations were crumbling, crushed by immense pressure. Pressure from within, pressure from without; civil wars and the clash of entire civilizations. Then the aliens invaded and changed everything.
When the Emergency Alert System triggered, most of us in the United States thought we were under nuclear attack. That noti
on wasn’t far-fetched given the world situation, the spirit of the times. The eerie, grainy beep ... beep ... beep, followed by the long tone. That dredged up multiple levels of fear. Especially for older folk who had grown up in the duck-and-cover days of the cold war.
All throughout the Midwest and southern portions of the nation sirens began to wail. In recent times, those were normally used as a warning for an approaching tornado. Not this time. The message delivered by the Emergency Alert System was clear, seek shelter immediately. More grainy beeps, leading to the announcement ... this is NOT a test. Shelter in place. Seek below ground shelter when available. For more details go to the website...
Communication lines were overloaded. Tom and Bill kept calling their dad. They managed to get through just as Bill was heading for the door to run home and bring him to Grandad’s house. A mobile home was no place to weather whatever was coming. Mom and dad had already arrived.
Some nations had a more robust civil defense program. In those countries, the general public ran to underground concrete spaces reminiscent of the old fallout shelters once used in the U.S. They hunkered down, in fear, to await their fate. Not everyone chose that course. Some stayed in the comfort of their own homes to await the end of humanity.
Dad said something to the effect, they finally did it then, someone launched. Grandad said no, this was something else entirely. He pulled out an odd-looking phone from a desk drawer. Sat-phone. That sort of odd equipment just seems to pop up regularly at Grandad’s place. He called a friend in the military. Sure enough, the nation’s defense forces were at DEFCON One. The U.S. military expected an imminent attack. But not from an Earthly source.
No one will forget August 21st . A Tuesday. Thankfully, for our family the warnings started early in the day. Mom and dad commute together and start their workday later than most. They had not yet gotten to work and were able to make it back home. Most people decided to leave work and go home to be with their families. The traffic jams were epic. So much for the initial attempt to have people shelter in place.
The spacecraft of the invaders streaked through the atmosphere as the world held its breath.
***
August 24 th It’s day 4 of the invasion.
“They have been watching Earth for a long time, ” said Grandad.
He says the government has known for a while that something was going on. Government officials have known for years that the Solar System had received visitors. The main base of our enemy is on Mars, but they’re not Martians. They came from somewhere else entirely. Somewhere far, far away. But their main base in the Solar System is evidently on Mars. It likely isn’t a coincidence that humanity has been sending a lot of robotic exploration ships there. The early 2020s saw a push to send people too.
We, the public, thought the intent was exploration and possible settlement. It could be the real plan was for spying and war. This invasion seems to put the lie to any coincidence. Also, the governments of Earth have been putting up a decent fight considering the technology they are up against. The enemy can travel between stars after all. Humanity has barely started to travel to the worlds of our own sun.
The invaders knew about DARPA. They blew up the DARPA lab because it was a center of high technology. But their evil act turned into something good. The good thing is, that explosion resulted in our capabilities. Those would be helpful in the fight against the horrible invaders.
Grandad likes Bible stories. Once in a while he uses one as an analogy. “It’s a little like the story of Joseph and his brothers. Just a little. I think our gifts are from God.”
Rock shook his head just a little. “So, God was involved in the lab explosion?”
Grandad shook his head back. “Not exactly. His involvement would be an intervention with regard to result, turning something evil into something good.”
Rock wasn’t so sure. “Hmmm. Some help from a benevolent omnipotent force would be nice I suppose. We’ll see. I’m wishing for a secret government program that has developed a high-tech version of the AC-130 Spectre gunship.”
That engaged Roll. “How about equipping them with high-powered fiber lasers?”
“A particle beam weapon would be nice.”
“There’s the propagation problem, beam spread in atmosphere.”
“Yeah, that’s true, directed energy is likely better in atmosphere.”
“Power problem though.”
“Better fusion plant technology.”
“Still, there are effective countermeasures. Ablative material, or even reflective surface.”
“Maybe, if the specs for the laser are known.”
“Tesla Howitzer?”
“Probably fiction.”
“You don’t have the math.”
“No one has the math.”
“Like I said.”
“You heard of the Casaba Howitzer?”
“Those are awesome. Wouldn’t want to use that in the atmosphere though.”
“Yeah, that would be messy.”
Hey guys. We’re all still here. This could go on for an hour. Best to help them move along.
However you look at it, the lab explosion resulted in an unintended consequence. The enemy did something that was evil but our resulting capabilities will end up being used for something good. Rock, the agnostic, sees an odd twist of statistical probability. Roll sees a smile from the Universe in the happy consequence. Para-
Oh no. The Emergency Alert System sounding again. I better see what’s happening.
I’m back. This time it was just an update and some helpful best practices for sheltering in place. Nothing of immediate consequence. It seems like they’re conditioning us. The EAS sounding off isn’t always bad news. But you better check to be sure.
Grandad has been spending more time with Para and me, working on our abilities. Now he’s looked at Rock and Roll. “How are you doing with your gifts?”
Rock shrugged. “Good, I think. The methodology is somewhat hard to explain. With our capability, we can ... well, it seems like there is almost a two-way connection. It’s like we interact with a quantum realm. We access it. We consider a destination. It’s like something helps us dial in. We go. The whole process is so ... intuitive.”
Roll nodded in agreement. “It’s mystical, the Universe stepping up to help.”
Rock rolled his eyes a little at that comment. Grandad squinted at him, about to say something as he often did when a philosophical statement like that would come along. But he ended up moving on to some task or another. Too much was going on for our customary friendly debates.
***
BUGS EVERYWHERE
Let me tell you about the creatures that invaded us. The Intelinet reports have not been very descriptive. No doubt the government is muzzling them. Grandad says there is concern over frightening the populace. Well, we should be frightened. Some military friends of Grandad sent recordings of the enemy in action. A real horror show. We then witnessed it in person. Ummm, I’ll be back in a minute.
I witnessed ... we witnessed ... the carnage at two different locations. It was day two of the invasion. Grandad decided he was going to take a look around, see what we were up against. He didn’t know how bad it was out there. Not really. Not on day two. Somehow, we talked him into letting us go along. I wish I hadn’t gone. It was worse than a virtual reality 3-D holovision horror show. I realize, I shouldn’t use such a stupid comparison. It’s the best I can do right now. Here’s an example of what we saw.
A group of bugs cornered a crowd of people. One brave fellow stepped out of the crowd and started yelling at the bugs. A bug stepped up to him. The bugs can walk just fine on their four rear legs. They tuck their abdomen under and stretch out.
The bug was looking the man right in the eye. It started pumping its head up and down like a ... like I don’t know what. Maybe a wild animal. A challenge.
The man had on heavy boots. And he must have had extensive martial arts training. He executed a perfect outside
crescent kick to the side of the bugs head. Billy Jack would have been proud. It rattled the bug too, almost knocking it completely around. If it didn’t have so many legs it would have landed right on its ... abdomen.
The bug moved back about 10 feet or so. It looked startled. I could tell what it was thinking. Really, I could. How could something so soft, something that doesn’t even have an exoskeleton, do that? The other bugs started making a horrible raspy rattle sound. Horrible. And they all started with the head pumping. Up and down. Raspy rattle.
The bug was 10 feet from the man. It crouched down and sprang, wrapping the man up in its legs. Mandibles, claws, stinger. Blood. Then the rest of them moved in on the crowd. There was nothing we could do...
I wake up at night. Any little sound. Middle of the night. Terrible dreams. I think it’s the screaming that’s the worst. You can look away from a terrible sight. But the screaming goes on. Someday it might stop. I don’t want to hear that any more. In the middle of the night.
The bugs need to die. Often, that’s my sentiment. At other times I want to run and hide, head for the mountains. Terror. The bugs are running through the streets terrorizing. They come at any time with their single seat fliers too, rail guns chattering. They are evil. Sure, I’m frightened, but I’m going to use this ability against them in any way I can.
You probably already know all of this because you’re going through the invasion too. Then, there’s all you rich guys in your multi-million-dollar renovated and redecorated missile silos. Got any extra room in there? Just kidding. Well... More to the point, the Journal needs to have cohesion. So, starting from the beginning and including the basics helps with that cohesion. Cohesion and a timeline will make for a good journal.
Here is what I know about the bugs. I’m just going to call them that. It fits. They bear a distinct resemblance to Earth insects. Especially big ugly Carpenter ants. Well, Carpenter ants if you mixed in some wasp parts. They are terrifying creatures. There are likely three types. Queen, worker, and soldier. All are insectoid in appearance and have segmented bodies with a head, thorax, and abdomen. They have six legs.
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