Now he had a front row seat at the table of one of history’s turning points. A moment where the life of the planet was at stake! And he realized he was not prepared for it – not at all prepared. He had scoffed at grand strategies and lofty visions. Get the tactics right and chalk up the election victories! But he knew this new challenge would take more than great tactics. It would require vision and an understanding of long term consequences – something he had never been good at. And he had spent his whole life around people who he knew were equally unsuited, most of them woefully so, though some in their arrogance would never admit it or even know it. And he knew the President was one of those.
With all that in mind, he walked into the Oval Office to tell the President about General Greene’s conversation with Plato.
Plato left General Greene to communicate with other generals at the Pentagon and found Dr. Wheeling, David and Planck in animated discussion. He joined them and took a seat where the sun’s rays could find his face.
“Across all the Earths that I have seen so far, we all share a love of the sun,” he said.
“So all the Earths share the same position in our Solar System?” David asked.
Plato nodded. “Otherwise they would not be Earth. However the stars are different.”
“If the stars are different then these Earth’s must be very far apart,” Dr. Wheeling observed.
Plato nodded again, “Yes Professor. So far apart that we are not sure they are even in the same universe – as you think of it. But rather than thinking in terms of distance, you should think in terms of dimensions. We have gotten away from thinking of a universe or multiple universes. We just call it The Existence.”
“So if it is so vast, how do you move about from one Earth to the next?” David asked.
“In your quantum physics you call it ‘entanglement.’ All of the Earths are essentially entangled with each other. It is as if each occupies the same space-time but different frames of reference. Yet the physical existence history of each overlies the others. As the moment of dis-entanglement recedes historically the two worlds drift further and further away and the bridge between them becomes more difficult to cross.
“Between ‘entangled’ worlds, the usual limitations in Physics, such as the speed of light, do not apply. But there are still limits none the less. For example, for I know this will occur to you to ask, we cannot move whole armies of men and materiel from one Earth to the next. Though of course, man being man, that was tried. Above certain low limits, either nothing would happen or worse some subset of the men and their weapons would simply disappear. Where they ended up no one knew.”
David had been thinking along a different track. “So if there are many Earths and many different histories, there must be many different cultures as well.”
Plato shook his head and held up his hand, “Less than you would think. As the Earths’ civilizations mature the most powerful countries in each tend to evolve culturally into just a few successful models. Those Earths that do not have civilizations that take on the culture of one of those successful models tend to not survive what we call Stage III – which happens to be the technological age your Earth is just entering. “
“Now I am afraid to ask. Is our Earth mapping to one of those successful models?”
Plato looked back at David. “There are three basic cultures that survive. One is a culture of brutal and repressive tyranny where a tiny few dominate the many. The more absolute the tyranny, the more survivable it is. The second culture that survives is what you would call extreme libertarianism. There is virtually no government but resources must be plentiful. The third culture is actually the one where I come from. It is a culture that marries two conflicting ideals. It is based on the pursuit of wisdom while maintaining military dominance. Its closest comparison on Earth is the Zen ideal of the Samurai Philosophy. But it is approached through the rigor of pursuing the perfect rendition of Wisdom and Martial Arts. One without the other fails to last.”
“So is yours a warrior culture?” David asked.
“Not so much as it is a culture that understands that one must always be willing to fight for one’s beliefs – and if you fight you must win. One of your Presidents said it well, ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick.’ “
David then repeated the question, “So how is our Earth doing?”
Plato paused again. Then replied, “Your world is just at the beginning of Stage III – the stage where technology capability increases geometrically and resource abundance truly becomes possible. Will your leaders possess the wisdom to master those challenges?”
The four of them sat silently. Plato leaned back in his chair and let his face feel the warmth of the sun. He felt the soft brush on his skin of the slight breeze and heard the whispering of the lovely turquois Bahamian waters ebbing and flowing at the shore. He had learned to take advantage of the quiet moments in the long war he was fighting.
Dr. Wheeling was the one who interrupted. “So what happens next?”
Plato looked once more out to sea and then returned his gaze to the professor. “I suspect that our General Greene after conferring with his leaders in Washington will request that I go and meet with your President. And I will do so.” He paused then for a moment before continuing, “But there are some things I would like you to do. Very important things!”
Later Plato excused himself from the others. He had been shipboard for weeks and the opportunity to be out in the sun and feel an ocean breeze blowing over him was not to be missed. He found it a wonderful surprise that Planck lived on this rather deserted tropical island. It had been a long time since Plato could walk along such a beach and he took off his shoes and rolled up his pant legs. He set off walking and tried to set his mind at ease – to just walk and not think. After a few minutes he saw a woman walking toward him from the other direction. When they came up to each other, she paused to say hello.
Plato accessed his internal data file and said, “Catherine Ozawa my name is Plato.”
The woman smiled, “Welcome to our island. Thank you for returning Planck to us. I was worried for him. I talked with him for a few minutes earlier and he shared with me his recent experience. The universe is infinitely surprising.”
“I understand you are both a physicist and a Zen Master – a combination that is unusual on your world but not so much on mine.”
Catherine smiled again, something that Plato noticed seem to come very easily to her. “I claim neither distinction; I am a physicist only insofar as I have studied physics. And as to being a Zen Master, I only claim to be on the path. But tell me about your Earth. I am curious about a world where Zen and physics come easily together.”
Until she had approached he was happy to be alone, but something about this woman he found embracing. She radiated a calm energy and clarity of being. The marks of age on her, the lines in her face and her short white hair, he barely noticed and knew them to be both irrelevant and reversible. “If you will walk along this beautiful beach with me, I will enlighten you as to my Earth.”
Catherine nodded as she turned around, “Come then let’s walk.”
After walking a little while in an easy silence, Plato found himself telling her about his Earth, an Earth very different than the one whose sandy beach was now underfoot. The dominant culture on his Earth had grown out of a Greek civilization torn asunder by centuries of strife between the philosophically opposed Sparta and Athens. Over the centuries Sparta had gained control of what were here the Americas, North and South. Athens had triumphed over Europa and Africa. Asia had mostly been a neutral land.
Sparta had retained a rigorous military tradition and held to Plato’s philosophy of Ideals. Athens had taken on an Aristotelian society with its democratic energy and scientific emphasis. Though geographically born right next to each other, it took them a thousand years, countless wars and near mutual-extinction for them to finally learn to co-exist. Once they did evolve to welcome mutual co-existence, their Earth flou
rished. They had no stagnant Middle Ages filled with bloody territorial struggles. Every couple of hundred years or so, their political leaders would forget and a war would pop up, but it would be quickly ended. The people knew better and would refuse to fight. Let the politicians kill each other, they would say. Their last war was quite a time ago.
“How long ago was that?” Catherine asked.
“Over three hundred years ago.”
“So where does all our human competitiveness and aggression go?”
“We are an old civilization. Our population is in the millions not the billions. We have no scarcity of resources. We are a world of warriors who don’t fight and philosophers who think they know all the answers – and maybe they do. Our scientists are the only ones actively engaged. Our science is well advanced ahead of yours. They have the universe itself against which to fight their war of wits. The universe surrenders its secrets sparingly.”
Catherine Ozawa listened to Plato tell of a world she could not imagine. “So do you leave it often?”
“For a long time now I have been constantly traveling. I rarely go back for long. I return frequently but still love leaving it more. I still love venturing out. I have traveled across both light-years and across dimensions. And I have found a mission that suits me.”
“And what is that mission?”
Plato refrained from saying the first answer that came to his lips. He found he had already talked to her more than he had intended. It had been a long time since he had talked so freely –and here he was talking unreservedly to a woman he had just met on a beach.
“I think it too soon for me to tell you all. I need to maintain some mystery or you will think too little of me. Let’s just say that like Odysseus I like voyaging under the stars.”
Catherine regarded this tall strong golden haired man with the ancient eyes. “So tell me this. Have you been voyaging long?”
“For some time yes…about 60 years.”
“That is a while. You don’t look old enough for that to be true. How old are you?”
As if consulting an internal clock, he paused then said, “One hundred sixty-three years, eight months and seven days and twelve minutes.”
“Remarkable. You must share with me your secrets to aging gracefully.”
Plato realized it had been a long time since he had felt attracted to a woman; yet here it was. He wondered if he had been seeking it. “Actually, I would like to do that. I’m sure you could, not that you should.”
“We’ll see. But tell me, where were you before you came here?”
Plato stopped walking then, looked at her and then looked out to sea. “Before here I was on a different Earth. An Earth similar to this one – at the same stage of development. I was there for over ten years.”
Catherine could see that Plato’s demeanor had changed – a deep sadness was etched clearly in his face. “Why did you leave?”
“I left because I failed in my mission.” He paused again and continued looking away from her and toward the horizon. “I left because there was no longer a world there. The warring countries blew their world up. Now it will be a centuries-long reclamation project. My heart is too broken to be a part of that.”
Catherine looked closely at Plato and saw past the handsome face to the pain the man carried inside. “I apologize. I have asked too many questions. Let’s just walk.” Without thinking, she took his hand and they walked together. Plato could not remember when last he had walked a beach with a woman hand in hand. He now remembered that he liked it. He was not so old after all.
When later Plato pulled David aside he told him it was important that David be the first one to write what was to appear in the world’s newspapers. He advised David to write up everything he knew immediately. David put his smart phone to record and started asking Plato questions. Plato made no attempt to evade any question or direct how David was to write the article.
When David’s article appeared on the front page of the next day’s Washington Post, it was immediately reprinted across the worldwide news media. The newspapers reprinted his story word for word, but as was the practice, they wrote their own headlines. The Washington Post went for directness.
Other Earths Exist!
By David Randall
[This article is based on an exclusive interview with the Leader of The Object]
The Object is from Earth – just not this one – so says the Leader of The Object. In fact, he says there are many Earths scattered amongst the cosmos. The Leader, who calls himself Plato, says that The Object has come to our Earth on a goodwill and fact finding mission and means us no harm. In fact, Plato says he has come to share with us cultural and technological knowledge that will help us in the future as we learn about and experience a universe that is much more complex and interconnected than our science had led us to believe. We are not only not alone, but we Homo sapiens are spread out into the universe. Our Earth is but one of many Earths which are identical in origin but different in historical development.
After months of silently hovering in the skies of Earth while observing the goings on below, the Leader of The Object came down to the island retreat of Benjamin Planck, the young physicist who previously as reported in this newspaper had been the subject of a worldwide manhunt based on the message from The Object stating it wanted to meet with him. Plato just showed up to meet with Planck and Planck’s guest, Dr. Janus Wheeling, the noted Nobel Prize winning physicist.
When asked why Plato went first to meet with Benjamin Plank and not the leaders of the world’s government, Plato replied, “I will meet with them soon. I wished to first meet with Dr. Planck because it is his work here that led us to this Earth. Plato confirmed that Planck’s work is directionally correct though still rudimentary. Through his work, Planck sent out a ‘calling card’ – so it seemed polite for us to visit him first.” (When asked, Planck stated he had no idea that his work could have such an effect.)
According to Plato, he is from an Earth that developed on a historical timeline that is significantly different from this Earth’s development. Plato’s Earth is no older than our own but its technological and cultural development occurred at a faster pace than that of this world. He pointed out as an example, that on his Earth there was no ‘middle ages’ period where there was almost no technological development for a thousand years. He hastened to add that our Earth is more advanced than some other Earths and that there are other Earths more advanced than his home Earth.
He describes his Earth as one whose historical development was influenced much more by the ancient Greeks of the fourth and fifth Centuries BCE. The cultures of Athens and Sparta thrived far longer on his Earth than on our own. Plato also informed us that the name of the spaceship we call The Object is actually The Bucephalus – named after the horse that carried Alexander the Great to so many victories.
He has come to this Earth, he says, in order to help us get through an era that on other earths has shown to be a particularly deadly period when the destruction of the planet itself is a possibility and the deaths of billions of people a real probability. He points at the recent catastrophic nuclear war in the Koreas as a proof.
He is also here to help us with the myriad challenges imposed by what we will learn to be a very interactive universe. What has thus far seemed to us to be a vast and disinterested universe where we are but a tiny blip of existence, we will learn is actually a universe that invites interconnectedness. Plato says the universe is actually an infinite provider of resources that can empower the growth and prosperity of civilizations. He says Planck’s work is in fact opening the gateway to all that the universe offers.
Plato went on to say that we should expect for representatives of other Earths to soon come calling ….[story continues on page A6]
Back aboard The Bucephalus before his trip to Washington, Plato conferred with Liu Bei, his second in command who had been meeting with China’s senior leaders. The report made by Liu Bei was not heartening though n
ot unexpected. China was the most important of the superpower’s to Plato’s long term strategy but was also thought to be the most intractable. Plato would have liked to take the lead with China himself but reluctantly had agreed that Liu Bei was a better choice because of his common ethnicity. Liu Bei had come from an Earth where their historical line differed from this Earth’s from around the year 1100. In his world China had become transcendent and was the leading geopolitical unit of a model successful Planet.
This China’s historical line was different in significant ways. This China had yet to fulfill what it regarded as its destiny as a nation. For over two thousand years it had out endured all its invaders and learned that its peasant populations would survive any new incursions. The people’s ability to suffer and survive through any chaos was its ineluctable strength. Where its western competitors thought in terms of months and years, China thought in terms of decades and centuries. It had always been patient and now it was confident too.
But the recent annihilation of the two Koreas was very alarming to China’s leaders. Korea was a constant adjunct to all of China’s history and now it was no more. And China knew that it itself had miscalculated and it was bearing the bitter fruits of that miscalculation. Many Chinese had died and more would die from the radioactive fallout. Economic interests were liquidated. The Party itself was in massive reorientation as it dealt with the disaster. The quiet millions of its people were stirring discontentedly.
Liu Bei had selected his name from early Chinese history with the hope that these current Chinese leaders would embrace the subtle compliment, yet it arose no reaction. The Chinese leaders’ focus was so internal and insecure that Liu Bei’s arrival seemed more an inconvenience than an important augury of things to come. He was treated as an unwanted interloper not an ambassador from distant worlds. All of the attention of The Party leaders was on the mighty ocean that was the Chinese People; that ocean was roiled and angry and uncertain. How could the Koreas be gone? What would come next? What new tragedy?
Quantum Times Page 14
