The Arcturus Man (31 page)

“That would be an impossibility, Jenny.”
She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. He reached for a tissue.
“No, don’t treat me like a child,” she said. “I can get it.”
He knew that she was hurt and that she was feeling vulnerable right now.
He
didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure what he should do. The strategy worked up to a
point, but now he was in uncharted territory.
“How long are you going to live? Is it going to be like the
Highlander
?”
“Jenny, I’m not immortal. Highlander is one of the few movies I TiVo. I understand your concern, but I honestly don’t have an answer for you. I know that I age slowly
but I don’t know by how much.”
“I suppose that isn’t that important…I guess.
Then again, how are you going to
feel about me when you look like Dorian Grey and I look like his portrait?”
“You’re not going to be Dorian Grey and I am not Oscar Wilde.”
“Do you ever talk down to me, Jared?”
“Yes.”
Jenny was surprised again. He said something she wasn’t expecting. He was supposed to say no.
“But I have always been honest with you, Jenny.”
She didn’t know what to say next. She stared into the fireplace.
“I suppose I should ask you to explain yourself, but this is all so overwhelming. I
don’t want to talk about this any more…right now. But, thank you for answering honestly,” she said.
Jared remained still and silent. He was looking into her eyes. It made her uncomfortable.
“Are you really the smartest person on earth?” she asked.
“I can’t know for certain, of course. Maybe there is someone else like me somewhere. Maybe there are several like me. However, the odds against there being someone
else like me right now are astronomic.”
“What about physical development? Are you a superman?” She smiled when she
asked this question, but the smile was camouflage. It was a lame question. She was embarrassed asking something that stupid.
“I am not superman or anything of the sort. I am significantly advanced physically. My physiology is unique. I am prewired for almost any physical activity whether it is
athletics or it is playing the violin. It may take other people years of practice to learn—to
use the violin as an example—I can pick it up in days, and sometimes hours. I heal very
fast.
Maybe you remember the gash in my forehead when I fell rock climbing.
It was
only a bruise by the next morning and it was entirely gone the second day. I am extremely strong. I am….”
“This is unbelievable,” said Jenny. She didn’t allow him to finish the sentence.
She was getting the picture.
“I have never talked about myself like this to anyone else. I hope you can appreciate that it isn’t easy for me,” said Jared.
“I’ve avoided people all of my life just so I
wouldn’t have to answer questions or do parlor tricks for them.”
“This is uncomfortable for me as well. I thought I knew you and then I learn that
I didn’t know you at all. I’m just trying to cope with this, Jared. Just cope! That’s all.”
Jenny recognized that this wasn’t a conversation. She had made this into an interrogation.
“So what parlor tricks can you do?” she asked.
Jared smiled. Jenny smiled back.
“I can hold my breath for about 30 minutes—maybe longer. Got a watch?”
She laughed out loud. “No, no, no…please don’t make me sit here for 30 minutes
watching you hold your breath.”
She was beginning to believe him.
She needed proof. She had to know without
any doubt that he was opening himself to her.
But, as she thought about it some more,
she suddenly realized that this had to be a leap of blind faith. It was all about faith.
Suddenly, Jenny pulled away and her face became very serious.
“Jared, I love you too. Probably more than you know. I believe everything you
told me. I really do.”
Jenny teared up again. She put her finger to his lips so that there wasn’t a chance
that he could say another word. She looked into his eyes and drew herself closer.
They
kissed.
It was a long hard kiss.
She explored his mouth with her tongue. He kissed her
lightly at the nap of her neck and then beneath her ear.
Jenny made soft, quiet sounds,
almost like a kitten’s purr.
He stroked her hair and she kissed him hard on the mouth
again and again.
Jenny pulled Jared down to the rug with her.
She was a self-reliant woman, but
this night she wanted to be submissive. She wanted to give herself to Jared. She wanted
him to take her. They made love.

Their love making ended up in Jared’s large four poster bed, an antique Maine
bed from the early 1800s. It was one in the morning. Neither of them felt tired.
“We didn’t use a condom. You know that I’m not taking any kind of birth control
pill, Jared. You do know that, don’t you?”
“I know that,” he said.
“If I get pregnant, that can’t get in the way of how we feel about each other. That
can’t happen, Jared. I don’t ever want you to feel trapped.
It was my decision too and I
am willing to accept responsibility. I didn’t ask you to wear a condom.
But I didn’t do
that so I would get pregnant. You do know that.
I’d rather that I didn’t get pregnant, of
course. Am I making sense?” asked Jenny.
“If you…we…get pregnant, that will be wonderful,” he said.
She put her head on his chest.
“I’m so happy when we’re together. I am so perfectly contented,” said Jenny.
She sat up, letting the sheet drop.
“Can I ask you some more questions?
If you’d rather not right now, that’s OK
too,” she said.
“Ask away.”
Jared had never been close to any person in his life. Not that he
didn’t want that. It just never happened. Now that he had allowed someone in, it was intoxicating. He was happy. He was very happy. His euphoria surprised him.
“What kind of things can you do?
I don’t know.
Do you have x-ray vision or
something?”
“X-ray vision? Of course! You wear pink panties…thongs actually.”
She punched him in the shoulder.
“That was a joke. I was just kidding around. You mean you could actually see
through my clothes?”
“They’re lying on the rug next to the fireplace. No…I don’t have X-ray vision.”
She punched him again.
He just laughed. She was so damned cute.
She feigned
being piqued.
“Seriously, what kind of stuff can you do?”
“Like what. I don’t know how to answer you,” said Jared.
“Well. Suppose I did get pregnant. Will the baby be like you? Will it be a…what
did you call it...a megagenius?
Will it be like me or will it be a little bit of both of us?”
asked Jenny.
“I don’t know Jenny. We could do some genetic testing and probably come up
with some answers, but do you really want to know that.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful no
matter who the baby was like?”
“Of course it would. I’m just curious,” said Jenny.
“I know. But it is the same as wanting to know if it is going to be a boy or a girl.
Personally, I don’t want to know before the baby is born even though finding out is totally routine now,” said Jared.
“Yea, yea, you’re right,” she said.
She sat upright. A serious look came across her face again.
“Can you move things with your mind?”
“No, I can’t, but I think it is possible at a Quantum level.
All things in the universe are connected at the Quantum level.
People often think that this is at the tiniest
level of things.
Quantum mechanics are not necessarily related primarily on the basis of
size—such as at the subatomic level—it occurs at all levels.”
“What’s the answer?”
“I haven’t learned how to do it, but I think it is possible. I’ve tried many times,”
he said. “Go ahead, ask some more questions.”
“How about explaining relativity? Boy! That is lame. I don’t know what I should
be asking you?”
“It is not dumb. In fact, it is a very astute question,” said Jared.
Jenny was going for her doctorate but now she felt like a little school girl. She
didn’t want Jared to be disappointed in her.
She didn’t want to be his primitive. She
didn’t want to be a sex pet.
She needed parity. Without some basis for commonality,
their relationship couldn’t endure.
But, what if there is no level playing field? What
then?
“Do you know what I am thinking now?”
“Yes. There is nothing wrong with us being very different in some ways…in
some things…as long as we find happiness when we’re together…and I don’t mean just
sexually. Aren’t you happy when you’re with me?”
“Utterly and completely happy,” said Jenny.
“Jenny, I have never been happier in my entire life,” he said.
She needed to hear that. She closed her eyes and then opened them slowly.
He
said it. He actually said it.
“And we do have so much in common. We like good music. We like good food.
We are both highly educated.
We like talking to one another.
We both love your tits,”
said Jared.
She punched him again.
“OK, OK. I get it. Relativity. Explain it Master Jared.”
“Right! Then let’s start with some simple rules that we need to nail down before
we start to talk about Einstein’s theories—or perhaps Max Planck is better. It is all about
Quantum physics.”
“Let’s go. I studied Quantum physics—one course.”
“Rule One. Everything is infinite,” said Jared.
“Of course, I know that. I want to hear new stuff,” said Jenny.
“How many dimensions are there?” asked Jared.
“I saw a TV program about string theory. It is 12 or 13 isn’t it?”
“Everything in the universe is infinite. There are infinite dimensions as well.”
“What does that mean? How does that relate to people?”
“Well, I suppose the answer is that it really doesn’t relate to people at all. We live
in our dimensions and we don’t live at the Quantum level.”
“It must mean something. Why do these famous physicists think that there are only a dozen or so dimensions?” asked Jenny.
“They are relying on mathematical abstractions. It means that time is infinite as
well. It means that time travel is possible. It means that—at the Quantum level—the
speed of light is not always fixed and is not always constant. The speed of light is RELATIVE to the framework in which it is measured.
Einstein’s theories only work in the
world that you and I perceive and live in,” he said.
“Time travel? Is that what you did when I dreamt that I was visiting my grandmother? It wasn’t a dream? Was I traveling in time?” she asked.
“What difference would it make to the experience if I answered your question?”
“This is overwhelming,” said Jenny.
Jenny had several physics courses in college, but she now realized how little she
knew. She now had total confidence in Jared. Everything he said had to be true.
“What is Rule Two?”
“Rule Two! Not every possible permutation of nature—evolution for example—
is tried by Nature.
Only the variations that need to occur do occur. Every thing that
changes has a cause. No cause. No change. Nothing is random.”
“That sounds obvious, doesn’t it?” asked Jenny.
“It is only intuitively obvious.
It isn’t at all obvious when you begin to examine
the implications of that axiom.”
“Give me an example I can understand.”
“Did you ever wonder—or for that matter even notice—that polar bears aren’t the
color of snow. They’re actually very off-white, even somewhat yellow at times.
Why
wouldn’t evolution have caused polar bears to be the same white as snow so they would
be better camouflaged?”
“I don’t know. Maybe that kind of white isn’t possible.”
“Good scientific question, but wrong. There are many animals that are extremely
white.”
“What is the answer then?” asked Jenny
“The answer is that at some point of becoming white, natural selection determined
that they were white enough. Being any whiter no longer benefited the species. You’re a
marine biologist.
If you haven’t read
The Selfish Gene
by Richard Dawkins, you must
read it.”
“I haven’t read it.”
“You must! Or let’s look at it another way. Jenny, assuming that time travel is
real, can you change your destiny by changing some event in your past?
This is the old
chestnut about going back in time and killing your grandfather before your father was
born. What happens to you?”
“I disappear.”
“No. You don’t disappear. The “you” who traveled in time doesn’t disappear because you are new in that time line.
The “you” who would have been born had your
grandfather lived to have a son who had a daughter is never born, but only in that time
line. No one disappears
per se
. Moreover, there is another time line in which your grandfather isn’t killed and another “you” exists in that time line,” said Jared.
“And I suppose that time lines are infinite.”
That pleased Jared.
“Exactly, time lines ARE potentially infinite. But as I said,
not every possible permutation in time occurs. Only the ones that are caused. You’re getting it,” said Jared.
“Potentially? Why did you say potentially?”
“Because all possible time lines, that is to say an infinite number of time lines, are
not created. Again--nothing in the universe changes spontaneously. Every change has a
cause. Just like the polar bear that is white enough to survive as a species, every change
must have a root. Therefore, all time lines that could be created are not created.
New
time lines are only created when something causes them to be created,” said Jared.
“But you said that everything in the universe is infinite.
Doesn’t that mean that
causes are infinite too? Therefore an infinite number of time lines will be created.”
Jared was more than pleased.
“Brilliant deduction, but not quite accurate. On a purely theoretical basis an infinite number of causes will eventually occur, but not within a finite period of time—only
in an infinite period of time.”
“You lost me. I have no idea what you are talking about,” said Jenny.
He paused. “Jenny, what is the highest number that exists?”
“There is no highest number. Everyone knows that numbers go to infinity.”
“OK. Do even numbers go to infinity as well?”
“Yes, all numbers are infinite.”
“Would you agree that there are twice as many numbers as even numbers?” asked
Jared.
“Well, yes. No!” She was frustrated by the question. “I don’t know. What is the
answer?” asked Jenny.
“Then…are you saying that there are as many even numbers as there are all numbers?
Or, are there twice as many even numbers as all numbers? Which is it?” asked
Jared.
She didn’t answer.
“That was Sophistry. The question is nonsense…really…because even and odd
have no meaning if you are examining infinite numbers. It has no meaning in the context
of infinity. That riddle is a very old,” said Jared.
“My head is exploding,” said Jenny.
“Just like we can’t possible understand a fourth or higher dimension because we
don’t have any context for understanding—except in mathematics--so too we can’t understand the concept of infinity. We have no context. Edwin Abbott wrote a book around
1884 called
Flatland
. He envisioned a world that only had two dimensions.
This world
had length and width, but it didn’t have height.
Flatlanders couldn’t imagine the third
dimension because they had no context in which to conceive of any other dimensions.”
“OK I get that, but what is the relationship between Rule One and Rule Two?”
“Do you remember the Pachinko machine in my game room?” asked Jared.
“Yes, what about it.”
“Science has already suggested that a statistical anomaly is created when large
numbers of people concentrate on one particular outcome of the steel balls falling down
rows of pins.
is an affect.
They have a very, very minor affect on probability, but it seems that there
Thought can influence the actions of the falling balls.
The source of that
cause can’t be proved, but I believe the explanation is that thought has a connection with
the falling steel balls at a Quantum level.
There is some kind of minute force being applied,” said Jared.
“Is the future formed when we are born? Is our destiny written in the stars? Gosh,
I hope that isn’t true,” said Jenny.
“I haven’t been able to understand the concept of future. It may be unknowable in
the context we live in.
I agree with you that it would be depressing if it turned out that
we have no free will, which would be the only rational explanation if the future exists.
Then again, it may simply be that it is beyond my comprehension and that it is entirely
rational. Perhaps only past exists. I don’t know,” said Jared.
Was this humility?
Jenny wasn’t sure but it was disconcerting to learn that there
was anything that Jared didn’t know and couldn’t learn.
“But it is possible to travel back in time, right?
I mean, I did actually visit my
grandmother, didn’t I?”
“Yes, the past exists,” said Jared.
“That is only true if you want to travel back in time in our own dimension, in our
own time. That was the only relativity that Einstein considered. It was his only context. In
that context, he was entirely correct, of course. However, Einstein, Tolman and Podolsky
wrote a very famous letter in 1931 that stated,