Quantum Times

by Bill Diffenderffer

  “The President will love hearing this. He thinks he’s the leader of the free world.” The general wouldn’t admit to it but he found David’s position compared to the President’s somewhat ironical given this particular president’s intellectual pretensions. And he liked David and didn’t particularly like the President.

  “In any case,” Plato continued, “David can help us here. General, you will recall no doubt that I showed you some surveillance video that directly linked a Palestinian named Khalil to the destruction of your Tel Aviv Embassy with a weapon not from this Earth.”

  “Yes, you gave us that video. We have been looking for that man but have not yet found him. We almost got him a couple of times. We have learned that he has claimed to be the one to fire the rocket though he hasn’t really been able to prove it within the community. I don’t suppose you could tell us where to find him?”

  “No I cannot to that. But I can show you more of his actions.” First Plato replayed the video material of Khalil going into the hotel in Tel Aviv with the weapon used to destroy the embassy and then leaving without it. The video included a visual of the rocket firing from the hotel window. Plato reconfirmed that it was Khalil who fired the missile. Then Plato stated that The Bucephalus had been continuing to monitor the movements of Khalil. He then showed a meeting that Khalil had very recently in a café in Beirut with a man whose back was to the surveillance equipment. As the meeting concluded, that man stood up and turned so that his face could be seen.

  “I recognize that man!” David exclaimed. “I saw him on The Freya when I was there a few days ago. He was sitting at a table just a few feet away from me when I was interviewing Captain Ragnar.”

  “Are you sure?” General Greene asked.

  “I’m positive. Almost all the other people I saw on The Freya were blond or light haired. The Captain and this guy were the only ones with black hair. But better yet, I used my smart phone to take pictures. And he’s in at least one of them.” David took out his device and scrolled his pictures to find what he was looking for. “That’s him, isn’t it?” he said when he found the right one.

  “Yes,” Plato and Greene said as they were looking at Hasan.

  Greene studied the picture and then wanted to see again the whole of the meeting between Hasan and Khalil. “Plato, you say this meeting was only a couple of days ago?”

  “Yes.”

  General Greene was immediately concerned. “I can’t imagine why this guy from The Freya would meet with Khalil again unless they are planning something again. And we have some sources telling us that a guy who claims to have been responsible for the embassy bombing is now bragging that he has something even bigger being planned. Something that would hit the U.S. inside the country.”

  “My counsel to you is to take that as being true.”

  “That’s your counsel, is it? Your counsel that the guy who blew up our embassy with the help of The Freya is now about to hit us inside the U.S. probably again with the help of this guy Hasan who David shows us is a crew member of the Freya?”

  “Yes,” Plato said sadly.

  “That’s your counsel and that is all you can tell us?” Greene repeated. His agitation showed as he leaned forward in his chair with his hands balled up into fists. The warrior in him wanted to strike out, but his experience kept him seated. “I don’t suppose you could counsel us on how to find this guy Khalil before he blows something up and kill even more Americans, could you?”

  “Yes, I probably can give you counsel there,” stated Plato, to Greene’s surprise. “But perhaps I can give you better counsel than that. Khalil and others like him – of which there are too many to keep track of – are not your main problem. Your problem is to stop the activities of Captain Ragnar and his crew which are further destabilizing your planet.”

  “And how do we do that?” Greene asked, his distemper showing with no attempt by him to hide it.

  Plato looked back at Greene, stern and resolute, “Why you kill them, of course.”

  David looked around at the paintings on the walls of the Oval Office. He’d read that the President could have his pick of artwork on loan from museums so he looked to see what he could learn about this President from the art on his walls. The picture of George Washington over the mantel of the fireplace was the traditional choice. It certainly set the tone. The other paintings maintained the American history motif. To the side of the fireplace was a bronze bust of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was David’s pick of best president of all time, so it was easy to agree with Honest Abe looking over the goings on in the room.

  David was reasonably confident that his meeting this time would not end the way his last meeting in the Oval Office had ended. He had no interest in another unwanted stay locked in a bedroom in the bowels of the Pentagon. This meeting certainly had started better. He had been overnighted at the historic and beautifully restored Willard Hotel and then walked the few blocks to The White House for his 11 AM meeting on a lovely warm and sunny day. Then when he arrived, the President had been very cordial and welcoming; though he made no mention or apology for locking him up last time.

  Also sitting on the couches in the center of the office were Hank Scarpetti and General Greene. The President had chosen to sit on a chair on the perimeter of the couches. General Greene had just finished summarizing the meeting he and David had with Plato. David was pretty sure that at least Scarpetti and probably the President had already heard it all.

  The President turned his focus on to him. “David, the reason I asked you to join us for this meeting is that it seems I have to decide whether Captain Ragnar and his crew are the ones behind the recent upsurge in terrorism. You have been aboard The Freya and interviewed Captain Ragnar twice. And you ID’d the man called Hasan as a member of the crew of The Freya and Plato has shown us video of Hasan meeting with the man who allegedly bombed our embassy in Tel Aviv. That’s right isn’t it?”

  “Yes sir,” David replied.

  The President went on, “You also have spent a lot of time with Plato and members of his team, too. Correct? And you have first-hand experience in observing that the level of technology possessed by Plato is well beyond our capabilities. Correct again?”

  “Yes sir, to both questions.”

  “David, is it correct for me to say that you now believe that Captain Ragnar and The Freya are the instigators of this wave of terror and that Plato is trying to help us?”

  David felt like he was being cross-examined. The President early in his career had been the lead prosecutor in a major organized crime case, the case that started his rise in politics, and David now felt like he was a defendant. Still, he just had to say what he thought and he figured he’d put it very simply. “Yes, I believe Captain Ragnar is our enemy and that Plato is our friend.”

  The President held up his hand. “And now we are at the heart of the issue. You see we don’t have any real corroboration that Captain Ragnar is behind the bombing of our embassy. We don’t know that the man we call Khalil is the one who did it with Ragnar’s help. We know that even among many of his peers, Khalil is not credited with doing it. All we really have is video given to us from Plato. If you believe the videos, then it is easy to see that Captain Ragnar is the instigator. But if the video is just a fiction created by Plato to point blame away from himself, then Ragnar is probably innocent and it is Plato who is the villain here. And wouldn’t you say that Plato with all his advanced technology could fool us with false videos if he wanted to?”

  David felt trapped. He knew Plato was on their side – at least as much as he could be. And his perception of Captain Ragnar was that he was not to be trusted. So he said all that to the President. He shared his appreciation and respect that he had for Plato and how well his crew always comported themselves. And he shared how Dr. Wheeling’s and Planck’s research was being aided by Plato’s science team, though that aid was as much guidance as instruction – but still invaluable. He finished with a definitive statement of his conviction
that Plato could be trusted and that the U.S. needed to trust him.

  The President listened carefully without interrupting.

  When David had finished, he looked to General Greene for support but the general remained silent. And the President then said, “So on the basis of all that, I am supposed to try and blow The Freya out of the sky – assuming that we even could? For Plato’s advice to us is that we need quote ‘to kill them.’ That is what he said, isn’t it?”

  David saw how things were going, but he knew he had to go all in, “That’s right. Plato said that. And I believe him. I think that is what we should do.”

  “What I think is that he may be manipulating us. I think to try and kill Captain Ragnar and his crew on so little evidence – evidence that could be fictitious – is a very questionable proposition.”

  David looked back at General Greene. “You agree with me, don’t you?”

  The President answered for him. “Yes, the general does agree with you. But he admits he doesn’t have much to go on, it is just his judgment. And though I highly respect the general, it is my judgment that counts, not his. And I don’t have enough reliable facts to make a decision as consequential as trying to execute the Captain and his crew for acts that at best are indirect – if they occurred at all.”

  The President leaned over to reach for a glass of water on a side table. David thought he seemed pleased with how he had conducted the conversation. David looked over at Hank Scarpetti who just looked away.

  The President then shifted the subject. “David, I would like to get your views on something I know you are actually an expert on, tell me what you think the societal effects are going to be from the Participatory Physics. The more my experts describe to me the new insights and developments, the more I perceive how momentous the changes can be. What do you think?”

  David forced himself to ignore the President’s somewhat belittling tone of voice – the question was too important. Also he saw a way to buttress his case for Plato. “When Planck first explained his introductory work on Participatory Physics it was fascinating but we thought it would take years to put into practice. But with Plato’s guidance we are moving much faster than we ever thought possible. We will be able to put it to use in important ways soon. It can be used to improve the yield of our crops. It can be used to improve healthcare. It can be used to increase energy output. However the social and economic adjustments are going to be huge. The healthcare industry and the energy industry are going to be hammered by Wall Street.”

  “And what about weaponizing what you are learning? Are the scientists you are talking to giving that any thought?”

  David considered the question, then he looked to General Greene whose face remained impassive. “I have not heard yet of any new weapons that can be created, though I don’t doubt that they will come. What I have heard being considered is whether Participatory Physics will make it easier to develop nuclear weapons through changing ordinary uranium into the uranium variants necessary for a bomb.”

  “Is that right, General?” the President asked.

  “Yes, that is our conclusion too.”

  Scarpetti sighed and rested his head back against the couch. “God save us. What a world we are creating!”

  “Yes, on that note,” the President interrupted, “David, as I’m sure you know, your friend Dr. Planck now seems to be a media sensation. Ever since the social media picked up the story of how that little girl down in Houston with the fatal heart condition has been cured – how her heart is now healthy. That church and Planck seemed to be leading a religious revival. What’s that minister’s name, Hank?”

  Scarpetti answered, “Wentworth but everyone calls him Reverend Teddy.”

  “Yes, that’s the one,” the President said. “David, is that all for real? That little girl was really cured based on the advice Planck gave them? Is that Participatory Physics or just prayer?”

  David had been as surprised as anyone that his once reclusive friend was now a leading figure in the growth of a religious movement that tens of millions of people were joining. But David did not believe he should speak to what Planck was doing to the President. “I think you need to ask Planck that. Or Reverend Teddy.”

  The President nodded, “Yes….David, and thank you. I am going to have to think about all this. Rest assured I take this all very seriously – and I appreciate hearing your point of view. The United States will do what it must. We will lead our nation and the people of the world through this period. The future once we get to it will be so bright.” The President stood up and David saw the meeting was over.

  The President had Hank Scarpetti and General Greene remain behind after David had been escorted out. “General, you still don’t agree with me about not trusting Plato, do you?”

  If possible, Greene sat up even straighter in his chair, “No sir, I don’t.”

  “And what about you, Hank?”

  Scarpetti had kept his own counsel so far. He knew that the President would want him to agree with his view. Only he didn’t agree, but he knew he could only go so far. “I think that it might be riskier to not trust Plato then to trust him. If Plato is right and acting as our friend, we really do have to destroy The Freya. If The Freya keeps doing what he accuses them of doing, our whole world could end up in flames before we ever get to that rosy future. On the other hand, if Plato is playing us as you suspect, we don’t appear to lose much by attacking The Freya – we aren’t getting anything from them. They are doing some exchanges of intellectual property so far, but to a pretty limited extent. It’s not really clear why they are here.”

  The President shook his head, “I hear you Hank, but I just don’t trust Plato. You know he is meeting on that damn island the most influential people in our country? They are flocking to him like he’s some damn pied piper. And he’s preaching an idyllic political creed that would have them far more involved in politics than they ever were before – like a Roman Senate of the rich and famous. And boy!... are they swallowing it all! It plays to their ego that they really do know what needs to be done. I’ve talked to a number of people who have gone to hear Plato – and you should see the look in their eyes. All of a sudden they think they are responsible for our government! Not me. The last thing we want is more involvement by business and social leaders. What do they know? It would be anarchy! They need to leave government to those of us here in Washington. We are the professionals! I’m the one the people elected. I know what’s best.”

  The President looked to the two men for agreement. “General, what do you think? You’ve been on that island. You’ve spent time with Plato and seen these alleged leaders there.”

  Greene wasn’t interested in voicing his private view. “I’m in the military. I don’t have an opinion about political matters.”

  “Good for you, but Hank, you can’t say that. What do you think?”

  “I think I would rather have Plato as my friend than my enemy.”

  “And what about this Reverend Teddy? Do we need to pay attention to him?” the President asked.

  “Absolutely!” Scarpetti answered immediately. “His followers are becoming true believers and it’s a short step from religion to politics these days. And for some there’s no difference at all.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” responded the President as he ran his hand nervously through his dark hair. “And I don’t think it bodes well for us – Reverend Teddy could create some real problems for us in the future.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Those ages which seem most peaceful were least in search of peace. Those whose quest for it seems unending appear least able to achieve tranquility. Whenever peace – conceived as the avoidance of war – has been the primary objective … the international system has been at the mercy of its most ruthless member.”

  Dr. Henry Kissinger, former United States Secretary of State

  It had taken David longer to get the interview with the Captain of The Lucky Dragon than he had expec
ted. But now that it was happening, David found himself excited to be doing it. Things were different. The Lucky Dragon was bigger than The Freya but smaller than The Bucephalus. Its furnishing was spare and less militaristic than that on The Freya and more artfully crafted. It seemed elegant and timeless. Rather than meeting in a lounge area, David had been led to a large conference room with a table and chairs made out of what looked like dark rosewood. The wall decorations signaled a dominant culture that David recognized: a culture foreign, ancient and familiar. The exquisitely mounted Katana and Wakizashi swords were ample evidence but the full suit of Samurai armor in the corner of the room left no doubt.

  The man in the close fitting white tunic who had greeted David on the ground and brought him up to the ship saw David admiring the sword. “It dates back to the late 16th century. You could take it off the wall right now and easily cut off the head of an adversary. And that short sword there, the Wakizashi, has been used even in recent times by officers who failed in their mission and were permitted to perform seppuku.”

  David looked back at the man who had introduced himself as Lieutenant Uesugi Maeda. He was young, tall, with black straight hair and could walk any street in Tokyo and fit right in. “Should I assume the dominant culture on your Earth is Japanese based?” David asked.

  “That is correct. From the research we have done since we arrived, it appears our worlds split apart at the time of the Battle of Sekigahara – that would be the year 1600. It was perhaps the most important battle in Japanese history. Over 160,000 warriors fought there that day. In your world that battle was won by the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In our world the forces of Ishida Mitsunari were victorious and Ieyasu was slain on the battlefield.”