The Cantor Dimension

by Delarose, Sharon

  Temple Manor, which had once been in the possession of the Knights Templar and later the Earls of Salisbury, was thus also linked with the widow Sibble Parry who was mentioned in a will that also named Joane Jones and Jane Watkins. The names Sible/Sibble/Sibella/Sybilla Parry, a woman known only as Joane, and a woman named Anne Watkins were all associated with Edmond Halley the soap-boiler whose body was found dead on the shore at Temple Manor in 1684.

  Through Sybilla Parry as she was most commonly known, soap-boiler Halley's son who was the astronomer Edmond Halley may have had access to Temple Manor and the secrets that lie hidden therein, left by the Knights Templar centuries earlier. Legend had it that the Templars possessed the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, a piece of the True Cross, Holy Bones, and the Shroud of Turin at various times. If there was an item of great importance, the Templars were likely to possess it. Whether they left any treasures behind at Temple Manor in Strood, perhaps buried or otherwise hidden in the buildings which survived the ages, their secrets are not forthcoming.

  Eventually the Knights were persecuted again and forced to evolve and disperse, emigrating to a number of countries to escape persecution. One country of note which absorbed a large number of Templars/Hospitallers was Namibia, South Africa, where the rare Itzawisis meteorite was found.

  Table of Contents

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  Memphis, Tennessee

  Max's notes were fascinating and Brody could see why Max had gotten sucked into the ancient history of Kent, the Knights Templar, men born with tails, Transylvanian princes, lost gypsy treasures, Charles Dickens and his fallen women, and other such bizarre tales. He was beginning to suspect that Max had traveled to Kent to see such places for himself.

  Brody didn't realize how lucky he'd been. The officers had planned to ask him about the papers scattered on the floor - the Cantor papers. They'd gotten so excited when they saw how close he was to telling them everything that they'd forgotten. Even worse, Brody had inadvertently provided another nail for Max's coffin. A man who lives well in spite of his not having a steady job made Max all the more suspect. If Brody hadn't looked so innocent when he kicked at the papers the officers would have been all over them. Since Brody had read nothing of interest the night before, he hadn't given thought to the Cantor papers when the police showed up.

  Brody called Max's landlady and asked when Max was paid up to and the landlady cheered noticeably at the prospect of Brody's paying the rent for him. A sour note entered her voice when Brody explained that he was only asking and wasn't necessarily planning on paying Max's rent.

  Brody realized that he might need to start moving Max's belongings to his own apartment if Max didn't hurry up and return. He didn't know that the police had already broken in, leaving the door lock broken, and that Max's apartment was now ripe for theft.

  Time was definitely becoming critical and Brody sat down with another stack of the Cantor papers. In spite of Brody's doubts, Max was still his friend and would remain so until proven otherwise. He began to read from a notebook with strange entries in Max's handwriting:

  The CIA was after me. I hid in a house and they did not find me. Later they came again. I was running through the house searching for another place to hide, but I could not find a place. The stairs were creaking. Oh God, they'll hear me! Coggins had a barrel with a fake bottom and he was going to put me in it but I didn't fit. In the end, Coggins put me up a flue that led outside like a chimney. There was a hot air balloon hidden inside. After they'd gone I got in and floated away. I was floating away to freedom but I was too low to the ground and unfamiliar with balloons. I inadvertently landed a few blocks away. I doubted they'd find me. Then I was walking down a street and I saw them running toward me. They must have followed my escape in the balloon. Where do I turn? Nowhere. I sat on some porch stairs and waited for them. They asked about the gold. I said I had to leave it behind. They didn't believe me and arrested me.

  The entry was too far-fetched to be anything other than a dream and Brody found it a bit prophetic considering that the police were looking for Max for reasons unknown. Perhaps Max was psychic, predicting his trouble with the law in his own dreams.

  Brody wasn't surprised to find Coggins in the dream. Coggins was an acquaintance of Max's, a bizarre specimen of a man who seemed more suited to a room with white padded walls. Coggins believed that his phone was being tapped by the CIA for reasons that were never quite clear to Brody. Coggins also believed that his mail was being tampered with and that he was being otherwise watched, as if the CIA had nothing better to do than to spy on Coggins, a renowned "space case." That's how Brody thought of Coggins but he never shared the nickname with Max, who considered Coggins to be a friend. Brody read on, a bit disappointed not to be reading more about Kent, England.

  In Europe with Dad, Grant and Parry. Grant had autographs of several famous people including Einstein and Halley. We were in the attic of a three-storey house. It was grey and dingy. Boxes and boxes of letters and other mementos were stacked in a corner. They were from the time of the war with the Nazis. I begged Dad to let me bring the boxes home. I felt an urgency to look through them. He claimed that nothing of interest was in there but I didn't believe him. I planned to take them home in spite of Dad's objections. I found a letter that he'd written to a girl, a typical teenage letter. I was laughing. Is this Dad?

  Brody was surprised to find a reference to autographs from Einstein and Halley. Brody had noticed autographed photos hanging on Max's wall and assumed that they were cheap replicas. Brody assumed that Halley referred to Edmond Halley of Halley's Comet. As Max had a fascination with fossils, meteors, and such things, it made perfect sense.

  Max had never mentioned a family involvement in World War II or having spent any time in Europe, though he did appear to be German. In fact, Max had never mentioned his family much at all now that Brody thought about it.

  An odd feeling crept over Brody as he realized he was understanding his friend less and less as he read Max's secret papers. The individual passages were not clearly marked to be dreams, actual events, or story ideas, and the lack of identification frustrated Brody's efforts to understand what he was reading. Brody frowned and hoped that it would become clearer as he read more.

  Unfortunately, the Cantor papers took a rather difficult turn for Brody who went numb at the mere mention of math.

  Mathematical genius Georg Cantor proved the concept of mathematical infinity, before which it was described as 'nothing more than a figure of speech which helps us talk about limits.' Cantor's theories proved that it was possible to have an 'infinity of infinities,' a concept that was ridiculed by his peers.

  Cantor was called a 'scientific charlatan' during much of his life. Before he died, he was finally acknowledged with the Sylvester Medal, one of the highest awards one can be granted in mathematics. According to the School of Mathematics and Statistics in a search rating of the top 100 biographies of mathematicians, Cantor ranks higher than Schrodinger (of Schrodinger's Cat), Boole (of Boolean logic), Ampere, Doppler, Hubble, Aristotle, Mandelbrot, Copernicus, Plato, and even Ohm.

  Cantor believed that his mathematical theories were dictated to him by God, who had chosen Cantor to reveal these truths to the world. Cantor identified the 'absolute infinite' with God, even going so far as to write a letter to Pope Leo XIII on the subject.

  We know that a Cantor cube is zero-dimensional, a Cantor space has the cardinality of the continuum, and that if 'a' is a countably infinite set, the corresponding Cantor cube is a Cantor space. Therefore, one could conclude that a Cantor space is a zero-dimensional space which possesses the cardinality of the continuum.

  All of the mathematical mumbo jumbo might as well be Greek as far as Brody was concerned. The only words that struck a chord were "continuum" for its connection with his favorite TV series Star Trek, and "Cantor cube" with its possible connection to Max's stamping the Cantor papers with a three-dimensional cube. Brody wondered if this was significant.


  Max and Brody often watched the old Star Trek episodes together and the Q Continuum episodes were among his favorites. The Q Continuum was an extra-dimensional plane of existence where an omnipotent race of beings lived who possessed extraordinary powers and the ability to manipulate both time and space. Brody was beginning to see why Max might be enamored of Georg Cantor outside of a family connection.

  As Max's last name was Cantor, Brody assumed that Georg was an ancestor and that Max was interested in what appeared to be a famous mathematician who he might be related to. Brody read on expecting more about Georg Cantor but instead Max's notes took a bizarre turn.

  Germany. Cold, snow, winter. Standing outside of a military compound surrounded by wire fences. I could see a woman, naked under a heavy fur coat. A pasty-faced man in a Nazi uniform had his hand up under the woman's coat. She appeared to be very humiliated. She told him that she wished he would not do this where people could see. He looked at her with dirty lust and she appeared resigned to her position. He said that no one could see but nearby there was a man who resembled Schultz9 of the TV series Hogan's Heroes, who did not appear to be pleased about what his fellow officer was doing.

  India. An elephant-drawn vehicle. People were saying that the government had banned large animals in the streets because too many people were being trampled so I knew this would be the last ride. The buggy jolted roughly along the rutted streets. The surrounding sights were both colorful and dirty. The din of the ever-present multitudes echoed painfully in my eardrums. It was not a pleasant experience and I was grateful when the ride ended.

  Brody assumed these last two were dreams though he couldn't see why Max would stamp them as being important. It was as if Max were dreaming of other times and places. In any case the dreams were quite strange, not the sort of things Brody dreamed about which usually involved him fumbling his chance with a girl. Brody didn't have good luck with girls so he spent a lot of time thinking about them.

  Max's notes went back to following the life of Georg Cantor, this time bringing Einstein into the equation. If Max were going to idolize famous people, at least he chose great scientific and mathematical minds rather than drugged out rock stars.

  Albert Einstein as a child, upon seeing a compass for the first time, became fascinated with what caused the needle to move despite the apparent 'empty space,' giving rise to his fascination into the field of physics. Einstein grew up to become one of the greatest pioneers in physics of all time, providing us with the theories of relativity and special relativity which give new definition to the concepts of space and time.

  Some of his greatest achievements, however, are in dispute as to whether Einstein should get full credit. One person of note who many believe should share in the credit is mathematician and physicist Henri Poincare, who published an article on relativity before Einstein did.

  Poincare was one of Georg Cantor's detractors stating that, "Cantorian set theory should be banished from mathematics once and for all." Poincare also stated that Cantor's theory of transfinite numbers was a disease from which mathematics would eventually be cured.

  Einstein was familiar with the works of Poincare, and while Poincare never acknowledged Einstein's work on special relativity, before his death Einstein acknowledged Poincare as being one of the pioneers of relativity. They were both working on the special theory of relativity and publishing papers at the same time so in essence, they were competitors, and controversy exists as to who should get the credit. As other names were also involved in the various scientific and mathematical aspects of the relativity theories, some believe that many names should be given credit rather than just one.

  Another contender for credit is Alfred North Whitehead, who put forth a rival doctrine to Einstein's theory of general relativity, which was later discredited. Whitehead wrote the 3-volume Principia Mathematica published from 1910-1913 with co-author Bertrand Russell, which repeatedly cited Cantor's work. Russell described Cantor as being one of the greatest intellects of the nineteenth century, and Cantor had hoped to meet Bertrand Russell in person. While it is unknown as to whether Cantor and Russell ever met, Russell's co-author Whitehead did meet Albert Einstein at Lord Haldane's in London in 1921 where they apparently had a discussion on their theories of relativity.

  As a strong connection exists between Cantor, Poincare, Russell, Whitehead, and Einstein, it would not be a stretch to intertwine their various discoveries as Hermann Minkowski did in 1908.

  Obviously Max was putting some serious research into Georg Cantor, probably to build a family tree and perhaps link his family to other famous notables as well. Brody could see how this might be important to Max, but not why he'd want to hide it from the police. Max's notes then reverted back into more of the bizarre entries, the types of entries that might interest the police.

  In a jewelry store at closing time. Lots of jewelry on the floor, broken and scattered in the aisles. An aborted robbery? I was thinking to pocket some of the unbroken jewelry before leaving, especially the blue stones and green stones.

  America in the 1800s. The women were dressed in floor-length skirts with bustles and bows and calico prints. Layers and layers of clothes, plus bonnets. I was telling them how people dressed where I came from and they did not believe me. I wished I had brought some twentieth-century clothing for them to see. Women in slacks and shorts and miniskirts, arms bared and bellies exposed, with low necklines showing cleavage. Wouldn't the ladies of old be outraged! Wouldn't the men be following me forward through the ages to live in this lap of male luxury themselves! I didn't even try to describe our thong bikinis and other such garments that expose women's glorious round buttocks in all their splendor, with nothing but a tiny strip of cloth to cover that secret place that all men seek after. Even the showgirls and the wanton women of that era didn't expose half of what the average woman of today exposes. Had I been able to show them, their expressions would have been priceless! The thought of exposed flesh in such uptight surroundings tugs at my manhood.

  Brody was taken aback at this entry dripping with sexual overtones. He had never associated Max with fleshly pleasures. Max seemed somehow above such carnal desires. For Brody, Max had been more of a mentor than an ordinary friend, more the spirit-bound master than the earth-bound man. Naked women just didn't fit the picture.

  Brody, however, could easily envision the forbidden pleasures that Max mentioned, the bare cheeks running down the beach on a sultry, summer day, the heavenly orbs that he fervently wished he could grope at this moment, and the hidden paradises waiting to be exposed and explored. Brody read on, growing more fascinated but again, the entries took another bizarre turn.

  Someone came at me suddenly. I faced him and he instantly disappeared inches before colliding with me. It happened so fast that I barely got a glimpse of him. I thought I saw a name sewn onto his pocket: Jerry? Jeremy? Jerome? Then the words: 'Get out of here!' I instantly returned to my point of origin.

  I was at a TV security monitor watching different areas the way guards do. I flipped channels from an old bum flopped out on a park bench to a sauna room full of naked and near-naked girls. One girl was just about to enter and was peeling off her clothes. Someone chastised me for monitoring the undressing women. I shouldn't interact so I returned to my point of origin.

  Brody was sorely disappointed that the entry ended and his mind was drifting more into the realm of girly magazines than Max's non-sensical notes. Oh Max, dammit! Why couldn't you give more detail? Just when it was starting to get good you revert back to the mumbo-jumbo. Damn you, Max! Heat surged through Brody's loins but Max was in trouble so Brody kept reading, shoving his lusty thoughts aside as best he could.

  The entries were fascinating with their sexual enticements but they didn't explain Max's disappearance, unless of course Max was off somewhere partaking of the sensuous pleasures he was hinting at. Brody was becoming frustrated. He was about to shove the papers aside when he came across something interesting. It was a little clo
ser to home than the previous entries.

  Max described an event in which he was in Brody's living room. He recounted it as if he were actually there but Brody couldn't see him. He described Brody's actions in vivid detail: Brody drinking a root beer float, flexing his muscles in front of a mirror, and doodling bicycle tires on the pages of a Popular Mechanics magazine. He also mentioned Brody rehanging a picture that had fallen down off the wall.

  Brody remembered that particular night in vivid detail. He remembered it because he'd had lunch with Max the following day and Max had been teasing him. "Why were you checking yourself out in front of the mirror last night? Is that what you do when no one's around? Flex your muscles and doodle bicycle tires?"

  "You don't know what you're talking about! I don't flex my muscles in front of a mirror!"

  "I know you were flexing your muscles last night, and I also know you were drinking a root beer float!"

  "So what? You've seen me drink root beer lots of times. You're just a good guesser."

  Max chuckled. "If you weren't flexing your muscles and doodling bicycle tires, why would you call me a good guesser?"

  "You're full of shit!"

  Brody had turned beet red and punched Max in the arm. At the time Brody figured that Max just knew him so well that he could easily figure out what Brody would do behind closed doors. A lucky guess, that's all. Still, it left him with an odd feeling. It wasn't like he did those things every night.