A Pause in Space-Time

by Laurence Dahners

  As if the point of the blade got absolutely no grip on the mirror in the opening!

  Gunnar felt the tip of his blade to make sure it was sharp. It was. He worked the point in a little deeper. This time when he pried on it, the mirror on the wall of the chamber bowed outward a little though the mirror in the chamber didn’t budge. Gunnar quit when he thought either the blade or the mirror on the wall of the chamber was about to break. What the hell?! He thought wonderingly.

  He felt the surface of the mirror again. That’s way slipperier than an oiled surface! Wondering whether it’d be okay with the kids who were his employers, but far too curious not to do it, Gunnar placed the point of his knife on the mirrored surface with significant pressure and scraped it sideways. It slid across the surface without any detectable resistance. He knew the metal of the blade wasn’t hard enough to scratch glass, but when he’d scraped glass with knives before there was at least a grating sensation. He looked at Arya.

  She’d been watching what he was doing. “Did it make a scratch?” she asked curiously.

  He shook his head but reached for the loupes he used for fine work. Putting them on, he looked at the surface more carefully. He couldn’t seem to get them to focus on the surface. Lifting the loupes, he looked at the surface with the naked eye. He realized he really couldn’t see anything but the things that were being reflected by the surface. There’s no dust! he thought as he realized that dust and smudges were what you usually saw when you looked carefully at the surface of a mirror. Actually, you see the dust on the surface of the glass, since the reflective layer’s on the back side of a normal mirror. He leaned close and looked at the surface with and without the loupes. There’s no glass in front of this mirror! We’re looking right at the reflective surface and it’s absolutely perfect. And, nothing sticks to it. And I can’t scratch it! What the hell!

  Gunnar got a file. The hardened steel on a file would scratch normal glass.

  However, it wouldn’t scratch this surface. I need a diamond, he thought, getting up and going after one of his carbide-tipped drill bits. Carbide was right up next to diamond on the Mohs hardness scale.

  The bit wouldn’t scratch the mirrored surface either.

  When he walked back to put away the drill bit, he stopped and pinched up some dust from beneath his band saw. Walking back, he rubbed the dust against the mirrored surface. It fell off. None of it stuck. He tried a piece of duct tape. It didn’t stick. In fact, now he realized the surface didn’t even have a fingerprint after all the touching they’d done.

  He looked up and found Arya studying him. “What’re you thinking?” she asked.

  He tapped the surface, “This isn’t the kind of mirror we’re used to. There’s no glass in front of the reflective surface. We’re touching the reflective surface and it’s harder than carbide… I assume you know only diamond’s supposed to be harder than carbide. But diamond’s transparent and this surface is perfectly reflective. It’s frictionless and nothing sticks to it, not even dust or fingerprints.” He shrugged, “I don’t know what the hell this is, but I’d swear it’s the first piece of it that’s ever existed on this earth.”

  “How thick is it?” Arya asked.

  Gunnar slid his knife in between the mirror and the wall of the chamber again, then bent a hook into the end of a piece of fine wire. Reaching in with the hook, he couldn’t feel anything because the surface was so slippery.

  He didn’t meet any resistance until the wire was almost deep enough to hit the back of the chamber. Then he felt some resistance to pushing it in deeper. The resistance he suspected came from the narrowing of the space between the mirror and the glass mirror of the chamber’s wall, not from friction with the mirror filling the center of the chamber.

  There wasn’t any resistance to pulling it out, suggesting that the wire hook hadn’t gotten in deep enough to catch on the back corner. He said, “I think it, whatever ‘it’ is, completely fills the chamber. I’ll bet we can’t pull it out because it’s caught on the radar emitters and other irregularities in the walls of the chamber.”

  “What the hell? Fills the chamber?”

  Kaem suddenly got up and came over. Gunnar drew back and watched as the kid felt the strange surface. He frowned, “I was wrong about how something would get to the future when it was encompassed in the differential fields. It doesn’t disappear from now, then reappear at some point in the future. Instead, we’re simply stopping time inside the incorporated volume. Presumably, at some point in the future that small section of space-time will start progressing forward in time again.”

  Arya said, “What?! Then where’s your watch? If what you’re saying is right, we should be looking at a stopped watch.”

  Kaem gave her a steady look, “We didn’t just stop time for the watch. We stopped it for the entire volume of space inside the chamber.”

  Arya looked back at the device, “And the surface of that volume of space is covered with a mirror?”

  Kaem shrugged, “Probably not just the surface. Because time’s stopped in there, nothing can get in or out. Everything just bounces off. Fingerprint oils, dust, knife blades, light… It’s a mirror for everything, not just for light like the mirrors we’re used to.”

  “It’s a stasis field,” Gunnar said.

  “A what?” Arya asked, looking disappointed. Gunnar supposed she thought he’d just said it was something common, not exotic.

  “A stasis field. They’re a trope in science fiction. Just like what we’ve got here, a stasis field is a place where time’s stopped. In SF they’re usually spherical, but they have mirrored surfaces and they’re impossibly hard.”

  “So, not something real,” Arya said disparagingly.

  “No,” Gunnar said pointing at it, “but anybody who reads science fiction’s going to recognize that thing.” He gave them a questioning look, “You want me to take that chamber apart so we can really examine it?”

  “Can you get it apart without breaking any more of it?” Kaem asked.

  Gunnar glanced at it, then shrugged. “Probably going to break the other radar emitters.”

  “Let’s just wait,” Kaem said. “In another five, plus or minus twenty days, the stasis should break down and we’ll have all our parts back undamaged, except for the front mirror and emitter, of course.” He sighed, “Besides, I need time to think this over.”

  Gunnar really wanted to play with the stasis field.

  But it wasn’t his call.

  Chapter Two

  The start of Kaem Seba’s freshman Year

  A few days before Kaem Seba left home his father suddenly said, “The next few months are gonna be hard for you, aren’t they?”

  Kaem had nodded uncertainly.

  His father shifted uncomfortably, “I’m not sure how to give you advice. All your teachers tell me you’re a genius. I’ve seen you learn faster and you surely know more than… anyone I’ve ever been around. However, I think there’s a difference between knowledge and wisdom, eh?”

  Kaem nodded again, wondering where this was going.

  “Now, I haven’t been to college. But I left Tanzania and went to Italy. Then I left Italy and came to America. And I can tell you that even a trip to another town… There’re new people, and new places, and different ways of doing things. You don’t know where to find anything. It’s frightening. So, here’s my bit of wisdom. Act calm. Not only will others think you know what you’re doing when you act calm, but you’ll also start to feel calm. When you’re sad, make yourself smile and your sadness will be less. When you’re frightened, pretend you’re brave and the fear will be less provoking.”

  Kaem had thought this advice ridiculous, but when he’d gotten on the bus for the first solo trip of his life he’d pretended it didn’t bother him.

  And it hadn’t!

  Afterward, he’d told himself that of course, it hadn’t. He knew the numbers. Traveling by bus was safer than riding in a car.

  When he’d felt sad that he’
d left his family, he’d forced himself to smile. The lady he was sitting next to on the bus had asked him what he was so cheerful about. Kaem said, “Somehow I got a scholarship to study at the University of Virginia.”

  She drew back, “Somehow? You must have done well in school, then applied for it, that’s how!”

  “Um, no. My family was too poor to send me to college so I didn’t even try to get admitted. But a friend of my mother’s gave her an old computer and Mom let me use it as much as I wanted after I got home from work. I’ve been studying online, taking courses through the Khan Academy,” he shrugged, “mostly because I like knowing how things work. Then I got a call from a man in Virginia named Richard Curtis. He gives scholarships to kids all around the world.”

  “Still,” she said, “you had to apply for his scholarship, right? So, you must have thought it was possible.”

  “No. Apparently he selects his scholarship recipients based on data provided by Khan Academy. He looks for young people who’ve passed the higher levels of the Academy’s courses.” Kaem snorted, “I wasn’t even aware it was possible. I was lucky enough to be selected without even knowing it could happen. Mr. Curtis even paid for me to take the SAT. When I got into UVA, he sent me a new computer. And, then just an hour before I left, a new phone arrived. It’s supposed to be linked to a high-end AI.”

  They’d talked on as the bus droned through the night and the pleasant conversation had eased his fears.

  When the bus got to Charlottesville, he asked his phone’s AI how to get to his new dorm. It was much more capable than the AI on the old low-end phone he’d shared with his sister Bana. He didn’t even have much experience with the old dinosaur because she’d carried their phone most of the time. Social media was so important to her that she’d considered it a major imposition when he asked to use the phone.

  This new phone immediately told him of a number of ways he could get to the dorm. It turned out that it was only two miles, so he slung the strap of his dad’s old army duffel over his shoulder and started walking, following directions provided by his new AI through his earbud. While he walked, he started exploring the capabilities of the phone’s AI. He began to appreciate more and more what it’d meant when Mr. Curtis sent the phone. It wasn’t just so he’d have a functioning phone, but so that he’d have a truly capable AI. Which is gonna help me learn, he thought.

  When the phone rang, he wasn’t sure what was happening because the sound it made was quite different from the ring he’d been used to on his old shared phone. It took him another moment to figure out how to answer it. “Hello?”

  “Kaem?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Why didn’t you call me? My AI says you’re already in Charlottesville.”

  “Um… Who are you?”

  “Arya Vaii! Didn’t your phone display my name?”

  “No, I mean, ‘Who’s Arya Vaii?’”

  “I’m one of Mr. Curtis’s scholarship students here at the University. I’m supposed to orient you. I sent you a text telling you to call when you were about to get here. What happened?”

  Feeling embarrassed, Kaem said, “I, uh, barely got the phone before I left home. I don’t really know how to use it very well yet.”

  Vaii sighed as if dismayed to be saddled with such a cretin. “Where are you now?”

  “Walking to my dorm.”

  “You’ve already gotten checked in?!”

  “Um, no, I just got off the bus.”

  “You came on the bus?!” she asked, disbelievingly.

  ~~~

  Kaem’s phone rang again as he and several other incoming students walked up to the front of his new dorm. Holy crap this Vaii girl’s impatient, he thought. He’d promised to call Arya as soon as he arrived at the dorm, but she didn’t even seem to trust him to follow through on that. Calling the phone’s AI by the name he’d assigned it, he said, “Odin, answer the call.”

  It wasn’t Vaii. Instead, he heard his sister Bana’s voice in his earbud. “You got a new phone?!” she asked accusingly, as if he’d committed some grievous wrong.

  “Yeah,” Kaem said, worried about what he thought was coming. “The scholarship guy, Richard Curtis, sent it to me. It’s supposed to help me wi—”

  Bana interrupted, “You don’t care about phones! Trade with me! It doesn’t matter to you if you have a new phone, but,” her voice started to whine, “it’d mean the world to me!”

  “I think I’m supposed to use it to help with my school—”

  “You don’t need social media for college,” she said dismissively. Our old phone’s plenty good enough for calling home.”

  “No, it’s got a high-end AI that can help—”

  “An AI?! Oh! That’d be perfect. Please Kaemy!”

  I don’t want to argue, he thought, also disgruntled by the use of her pet name for him. “Let me make sure I don’t need it for my classes. If I don’t, maybe we could swap when I come home for Thanksgiving.”

  “Can’t you mail—?!” Bana started.

  Kaem used one of her tactics, interrupting to say, “Oops, sorry Bana. Gotta go… Odin, phone off.” He heard an abbreviated wail from his sister as the connection cut off.

  Kaem set down the duffel and looked around the dorm lobby. It was crowded with milling people. Almost all looking younger than he was. There was a line of people waiting to talk to a person behind a desk. Not sure whether he needed to see that person or not, Kaem got in the line, then said, “Odin, call Arya Vaii.” He thought. I hope she intended me to call before I got checked in.

  ~~~

  Kaem had been standing in line for quite a while. He’d been working with his phone’s AI trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing on arrival here in the dorm. A pretty girl stepped up beside him. He thought she might be Indian, but he hadn’t met many people of Indian descent so he wasn’t sure. To his surprise, she spoke with Arya’s voice, “Looks like I timed it about right, you’re almost up to the front.”

  “Arya Vaii?” Kaem asked.

  She nodded.

  “How did you know who I was?”

  “Asked my phone,” she said distractedly. “It brought up a picture.” She glanced around, “The people behind you are pissed because they think I’m trying to cut the line. I’m just going to stand over to the side.” She stepped away.

  As she moved away, a couple of big guys strode up and stepped into the spot she’d vacated in front of Kaem. One turned to him and said, “Thanks for holding our place.”

  Halfheartedly, Kaem began to protest, “Hey…”

  The guy turned back to Kaem. Looking him straight in the eye, he said menacingly, “Hey what?!”

  Suddenly, Arya was there. She stepped up so she was right in the big guy’s face. Loudly she said, “‘Hey,’ he was saying, ‘I’m not holding places for you two snails. Go back to the end of the line where you belong.”

  The guy blinked, obviously having no idea how to handle her. “Snails?”

  “Ugly things. Leave a trail of slime behind them wherever they go… Just like the two of you.”

  Somebody behind Kaem giggled. The big man’s face reddened. He turned and gave Kaem a high-intensity glare, “You were holding us a place, right? Tell her.”

  Kaem didn’t like confrontation and he really didn’t think he should make an enemy of a guy this size. He was about to just agree with the guy before he got hurt, but then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Arya give a sharp shake of her head. When his eyes strayed to her, she was giving him a ferocious look. He turned and looked the big guy in the eye, “You must have me mixed up with someone else. I wasn’t the one holding your place.”

  The guy grabbed the front of Kaem’s shirt, pulling him close and growling, “You were holding us a place, right?”

  The word, “sure,” was forming in Kaem’s mind when, to his utter astonishment, Arya grabbed the big guy by the upper arm, pulled up close, and snarled, “Let go of him before I have to hurt you.”

&n
bsp; “Get off!” the big guy said, trying to shake her loose. Even while he was doing this, he turned his attention back to Kaem and drew back a fist, “Am I gonna have to…”

  Using her grip on the man’s arm, Arya practically launched herself up and slammed her elbow into his nose.

  The guy let go of Kaem’s shirt, staggering back. Hands clapped to his face, he stumbled into his buddy. The friend made no effort to catch him so he toppled to the side and sprawled to the floor, landing on his buttocks and hands.

  Arya was immediately up in the face of his oversized buddy. “Take him to the back of the line, where you two belong!” she bellowed in a commanding voice, pointing back along the line.

  This guy put up his hands, “Okay, okay. Let me just check on my friend first.”

  Arya looked at the guy on the floor, “He’s got friends?” She shook her head then turned her eyes back up to the one who was still standing. “Go ahead. But if you count yourself among his friends, you have my pity.”

  The guy squatted down and said, “You okay?”

  His buddy said, “Fine!” then rolled over and started getting up off the floor. Looking angry but sheepish, he started for the back of the line trailing his friend.

  Arya turned cheerfully to Kaem, “You okay?”

  “Holy crap! Where’d you learn to do that?”

  She shrugged, “Got picked on when I was a kid. My mom sent me to karate classes.”

  Then Kaem was checking in. They took his fingerprints and a DNA swab, then sent a room key to his phone.

  Arya walked him up to his room. To his surprise, she helped unpack his duffel bag and put stuff away, all the while keeping up a running commentary about the university. He felt embarrassed having her handle his stuff, but she taught him a surprising amount as they went along. Where to do laundry, find quiet places to study.

  How to do this, how to do that.

  He found himself sprawled on his own bed. She’d perched on the bed that would belong to his roommate as she advised him on the social milieu at the university. Suddenly, in what felt to Kaem like a completely unrelated topic, she asked, “What’re you going to study?”