Outland (World-Lines Book 1) (4 page)

June 16

Bill

Richard had emailed a
be-there-or-else
invitation the day before, and now Bill was getting his first look at the grand experiment. A bewildering array of equipment spread over several tables, connected by a rats’ nest of cables.

He glanced over at Matt and noticed a hangdog expression. “Erin?”

“Left for Yellowstone,” Matt shrugged. “She’ll be back in a few days.”

Richard walked over and passed out tinted goggles. “Any time lasers are involved, it’s safety first.” Donning his own goggles, he sat at what looked to Bill like the control station.

Kevin hovered over Richard, spouting advice. After a few moments of this, Richard turned to him. “Kevin, why don’t you set up the interference experiment?”

“Right.” Kevin bustled off.

Bill, meanwhile, unwrapped the item that he’d been carrying. He placed it where Richard indicated, took the cables that were lying in readiness, and plugged them into the proper connectors.

The item consisted of a wire-frame cage, about twelve inches on each dimension, with an opening at one end. A metal hoop about eight inches in diameter encircled the opening, with nine odd-looking symbols spaced equidistantly around the rim.

Richard glanced at the hoop, did a double take, and gave Bill an accusing glare.

“Yeah,” Matt said, rolling his eyes. “Stargate. You didn’t see that coming?”

Bill grinned.

Kevin came back with a small assembly and placed it into Bill’s device through the metal hoop.

“This gadget will shine a laser through a circular aperture,” Kevin said. “This produces an interference pattern projected onto the screen.” He pointed to a small white screen at the front of the device. “We’re hoping to modulate the pattern using our experimental setup.”

Richard seemed to have decided there was no point in making a big deal out of the extra decorations, although he still looked unhappy. “Ready to go. Set up the cameras and turn on the interference device.”

Kevin checked two cameras that had been placed in the corners of the room. He placed a third camera right in front of the aperture. He started all cameras recording, reached into the gate, and flipped a small switch, then gave a thumbs-up.

The large monitor in the back of the lab showed a close-up of the small device as seen by the third camera. It showed an interference pattern projected on the device’s screen, reminiscent of the ripples produced by throwing two stones into a calm pond. Richard made a few adjustments on his tablet and pressed OK.

They crowded around the monitor and watched the image. So far, there was no change. “Okay, now I’m going to vary the phase lock,” Richard announced.

As they watched, the interference pattern started to wobble, then change. Over several seconds, it became much more complex, then simpler, narrowing at one point to a single circle, then back.

“Again, it’s important to understand,” Kevin said, “that we are not doing anything directly to the device that I placed in the cage. It’s just a laser going through a diffraction opening and producing an interference fringe. It should sit there showing the same thing until the battery dies. The changes you’re seeing are caused by our experiment ‘tuning in’ to different possible outcomes. We are modifying the results of the interference after the fact.” They stared at the pattern for a few more seconds.

“And that’s a wrap,” Richard said and pressed another button on the tablet. The interference pattern settled into a stable pattern.

“Well that’s odd...” Kevin muttered. “I don’t think that’s the same pattern we started with!”

“Is that significant?” Bill asked.

“It’s, uh, unexpected. It would mean we’ve changed the ground state. That’s a little more interactive than my model predicts.”

Bill could see that it bothered Kevin. He was already getting the unfocused expression that Richard had described as
going into math mode
.

Matt rolled his eyes. “Look guys, this is all very interesting… Okay, I lied, it’s not really. Is there any actual point to this?”

Kevin lost his faraway look and turned to Matt with a surprised expression. “We just modified reality, Matt. We just changed the results of an event after the fact. This is
science!
”

“Plus,” Richard added, “it worked on our very first try! The people who got quantum entanglement working had a lot of failures before they got their first positive result.”

“So,” Matt said, “we’re not done, right? There will be more experiments? Maybe a little more dramatic?”

“You bet!” Kevin bounced up and down on his toes. He kept motioning to the gate with his hands. “Next step is to attempt to modify a physical chance event, like a coin flip.”

“How?” Bill asked. “What’s really happening here?”

“Inside the cage, we’re tuning in to a different world line. We’re moving the space in there sideways in a way, so that we’re seeing a different result to a random event than what we started with.”

“They’ve been doing similar stuff for years with photons and individual electrons,” Richard added. “We’ve now extended the principle to the macro level. And
that’s
new.”

Bill frowned. “How big can this get? I mean how much reality could you affect?”

“Don’t know,” Kevin answered. “The models don’t predict anything about mass or dimensions. I think it’s all about how well you can tune into the other world-line.”

Richard looked at Matt. “Which is where we depend on your software.”

Matt’s eyebrows went up. He turned to Bill and grinned.

Richard’s gaze swept the group. “We’ll try this again in a couple of days, with the coin flip. I have a few things I have to get done first.”

***

Richard

Kevin was in math mode. Richard watched him with a sympathetic smile.
Poor guy looks like a lobotomy victim when he gets like that. No wonder he got picked on as a kid.

They had gone to the cafeteria to discuss the test they’d done with Matt and Bill. As with most places on campus at this time of year, it was all but deserted. The two men claimed a coveted table along the glass wall that looked out over the courtyard. It was late afternoon, and the sun was creating long shadows that exaggerated any slight movement caused by the occasional breeze.

Richard reached across the table and snapped his fingers in front of Kevin’s face. “Hello. Hello. Earth to math genius. Come in, math genius.”

Kevin looked startled for a second and looked at Richard. “What?”

“I was asking you why the interference fringes bothered you so much. You muttered something about world lines and intersections, then you went bye-bye.”

Kevin grimaced and took off his glasses. “Sorry. It’s just that it shouldn’t happen. Or… Okay, maybe I just didn’t expect it. It’s like if you were watching TV, then the person on the screen turned and started talking to you, addressing you by name.”

“So are your models wrong?”

“No, just incomplete. I’ve been building up this world lines theory for maybe ten years now. It’s not mainstream, so I’m not going to get a lot of outside help. With more people working it from different perspectives, things would go faster. But no one is going to listen to some geek from nowhere.”

Kevin looked angry for a moment, and Richard wondered what particular bit of adolescent torture had caused that reaction.

“Anyway, sorry, getting this working will give me supporting experimental results. Then it won’t be just metaphysics.” Kevin looked a little sad. “I guess I know how the String Theory guys feel.”

“Well, glad to help, Kevin. You
do
know that I’m planning on riding your coattails, right?” Richard said gently.

Kevin smiled. “Works for me. Nice to have company. Speaking of which, what about Bill and Matt?”

Richard thought for a second. “They’re okay. They have the skills we need. They get to do thesis write-ups on the project.
Quid pro quo
. If they walk away afterward, no biggie. I’d rather they bought into it, though. Like you say, it would be nice to have company.”

Volcanism almost certainly will recur in the Yellowstone National Park region.

— Robert Christiansen, USGS

June 16              Erin

Erin, Lise, and Donna stood waiting with the rest of the class, while Professor Collins discussed preparations with the park ranger. Erin did her best to eavesdrop on the conversation, punctuated by Lise’s occasional sarcastic comment.

Once he had finished his discussion, the professor turned to the students. “The ranger here tells me that the water level has risen on the east end of Yellowstone Lake and dropped on the west side. Can anyone tell me what that means?”

Several hands went up. “Brett?”

“It means the land has risen on the west side, which is part of the lava dome. The water has rushed over to the other end.”

“That’s correct. So, Brett, what can we expect next from the lava dome?”

“Hopefully, that it goes down.” That got general laughter, even from the park ranger.

“Okay, I’ll give you that one,” the professor said.

“Now, we’re going to split into groups. We have people from the USGS who will be performing their rounds, checking GPS transceivers and such like. You’ll be tagging along. Some of you will be helping them with logging any maintenance requirements. Others will get to do the more glamorous stuff like slogging through swamps. There are fumaroles to observe, hot springs to measure, rock strata to examine, and conclusions to reach. Tonight we will feast on hot dogs—not the name-brand kind either—and compare notes. Everyone back here at seven p.m.”

The students, everyone in high spirits, organized themselves into their assigned groups.

Erin said goodbye to her friends and went to find her group. She was relieved to find that it didn’t include Jenson Hildebrandt. Erin had labelled him
creepy guy
the first day she’d met him. It was no surprise to Erin to find that she wasn’t alone in this opinion.

Erin could understand why the professor would keep Jenson as an assistant. His knowledge of geology was encyclopedic, his memory was near perfect, and he seemed to be quite happy to obsess over the smallest detail until he’d wrestled it into submission. Still he gave off a vibe that made Erin want to be as
elsewhere
as possible when he was around.

When he looks at you, it’s like he’s dissecting you,
She’d thought on her first day. She’d found him staring at her every time she looked up. The last time, she had glared back at him until he dropped his eyes. Since then, she’d seen him staring at other girls the same way.

Erin found herself grouped with Ted, Sheila, and Cassandra. She knew all of them by name from various classes but had never hung out with them. Still they all seemed to hit it off right away.
Going to be a good time
.

The four of them waited until their guide came over and introduced himself.

“I’m Jim Shaw, and we will be doing a tour of some of the geology today. Not the touristy stuff like Old Faithful—we’ll be examining rock strata and looking for the ash and lava layers. Not as dramatic, but far more significant.

“So let’s get this show on the road.”

June 17              Bill

As Matt reached the cafeteria entrance, he heard Bill’s voice calling him. Turning, he spotted his friend hurrying to catch up. As he came to a stop, Bill paused to catch his breath.

Matt smiled to himself.
Exercise really is your friend.

Several students pushed past them while delivering dirty looks. Taking the hint, Matt grabbed the door and headed into the cafeteria with Bill following.

“Done for the day?” Matt asked.

“Yeah, homework time. Plus I downloaded something on probability theory. Like it or not, this experiment of Richard and Kevin’s has got me interested. I want to do a little reading.”

Matt nodded. “I got specs from Richard for some software changes. I’ll make sure he’s finished thinking up mods, then I’ll burn the new EPROMs.”

They walked into the cafeteria and looked around for a good table. Matt sniffed the cafeteria air.
Unidentified Frying Objects.
Pass.

Once they were seated, Bill pulled his tablet out of his backpack. “Heard from Erin?”

“She’s having a blast. Uh, metaphorically, I mean.” Matt smiled. “She does love her geology.”

Bill worked his tablet. “You get Richard’s email about the next test run?”

“Yup. Another exciting evening watching paint dry.”

Bill sat back and turned to face Matt. “Dude, I’m not sure you’re grokking the situation here. We looked at the video, remember? The patterns changed. And then
stayed
changed!
”

“Yeah, okay, I understand in principle why that’s a big deal. I guess I’m just wishing for something more dramatic.”

“Be careful what you wish for.” Bill grinned. “That’s usually the point where an alien spawn bursts out of someone’s chest.”

Matt laughed. “Okay, Captain Reference. I’ll be there for the hatching.”