Quantum Times (8 page)

     He was not unsympathetic to the people or dismissive of the government’s good intentions. The problem here he believed was that the political leaders had no true understanding of the challenges posed by accelerating technological development. Predisposed to solving future problems with solutions from the past, these leaders offered no new visions and would be blindsided by unanticipated challenges. Enormous challenges lurking twenty to thirty years in the future were either unknown or disregarded, yet these challenges would be upon them in a mere blink of civilization time.

     The Alien leader had seen the consequences of civilization decay on other worlds – and always the political leaders had failed to recognize the early signs. Instead, in their ignorance and egotism, they pranced about in their robes of self-importance giving meaningless speeches and posing and basking in media’s glare. The people they served said nothing, though they knew better. No child stepped forth and asked why their emperors wore no clothes.

     After hours of debate it was decided by Planck, Dr. Wheeling, Gabriela and David that Planck could not just privately reach out to The Object. The objectives of The Object were too much unknown; whether friend or foe too many unanticipatable consequences were possible.  They came up with a multi-tiered approach that would precede direct contact, but first they had to be sure that Planck was the one The Object wanted. So their task began with sending out a message and seeking confirmation.

     Planck organized his full meditation group and had them focus on a simple message. If The Object responded to this form of approach, they would learn more than just that Planck was indeed the one sought.

     With their minds they focused on “Am I the one you seek? If I am, please say ‘yes’ through your usual communication.”

     In just moments, “Yes” appeared on their smart phone screens and on electronic screens everywhere else.

     Dr. Wheeling spoke for all of them when he said, “That settles it.” Then they started implementing the plan they had developed.

Chapter Four

“I do not know any sense in which I could claim that the universe is here in the absence of observers. We are together, the universe and us….I cannot imagine a consistent theory of everything that ignores consciousness.”

Andrei Linde, Stanford University Professor of Physics

     Their plan started with David’s writing a limited version of the story for publication in The Washington Post that would hopefully be picked up by other newspapers. It would report that it was believed that the Benjamin Planck that The Object was looking for was a young physicist who had been doing work in quantum physics based on the role of the Observer. It would hint at a new understanding of how consciousness had evolved, but it would stress that Planck’s work was preliminary and theoretical. Nothing would be said of the ability to manipulate matter with one’s mind and definitely nothing would be written about his little electronic amplifier!

     David himself would provide a few modest quotes but claim to be as mystified as anyone about why The Object was interested in him. However David would admit that he had reached out to The Object in an unspecified way and that the “Yes” that had appeared on all the electronic screens worldwide had been in response to a query he had put to The Object.

     David did stipulate that Planck did not want to be interviewed by anyone other than David and that Planck would not appear publicly. He insisted on staying out of the public glare and his whereabouts were to remain unknown.

     In the article Dr. Wheeling’s role was to be identified and Wheeling would confirm that David’s work was interesting but still untestable. He was to downplay its importance.

     And that was all that was to be written.

     David wrote the story just that way and all four suggested edits and deletions and argued that too much was said and too little. They wrangled over details until David took the lead and just said they were done. That afternoon David submitted what he had written to his Editor at  The Post and resisted the ranting and raving of the editor who sensed that David was holding back on more of the story. Still with David not conceding anything more, the Editor said the story would run the next morning.

     At the same time that David was writing the story, Dr. Wheeling reached out to several other leading physicists who Wheeling admitted were “almost as highly regarded in the theoretical physics community” as he was. Planck had agreed that too much was at stake to work through the customary protocol of releasing a paper and then having it peer reviewed. Dr. Wheeling had convinced Planck to present his work with a demonstration to the select few he would contact and that they would all be sworn to secrecy. A meeting in New York would be set up for a few days later.

     They all had also agreed that a meeting with the Government of the United States would also have to be set up immediately after The Washington Post had published the story. As it turned out, David was the only one with a contact, his uncle, Brigadier General Mark Randall, that seemed at all the right starting point. Dr. Wheeling said he had met the President’s science advisor but was not impressed and it was only a casual acquaintance anyway. They figured David’s uncle was as good a way to start as any. Planck himself knew no one.

     In fact, Planck’s participation in all these discussions was limited. The more they considered the likely events that would follow the story’s publication in The Post, the more he withdrew from the discussion. The withdrawn and uncommunicative Planck that David had known at Columbia was reappearing. Planck made Wheeling and David promise that they would take the lead on moving forward and that he could remain closeted away in the background. Only in the discussions with other physicists did Planck want to play a central and vocal part.

     Though they discussed how The Object might react to what they were doing, none actually had any particular insight. Too much was unknown.

     With no part to play, Gabriela listened to the discussion and said little. Only at the end when all was set to role forward did she speak up. Cassandra like, she voiced her concern that they were opening a Pandora’s Box. Things would not go well. David dismissed her concerns to himself and the others as just her usual dark personality. They all went to bed that night on Pirates Cay thinking the morrow would be an interesting day.

     The next day’s Washington Post had the front page headline and story:

Benjamin Planck Found! Aliens confirm he’s the one they want

Story by David Randall

     The worldwide manhunt for Benjamin Planck is over. The man the aliens of The Object told us they wanted to meet has been identified as Benjamin M. Planck, a young physicist with a PhD from Columbia University who has been residing at a Zen Buddhist retreat on a remote island in The Bahamas. While at the retreat he has been doing research in the field of advanced theoretical physics focusing on the need for an Observer in Quantum Mechanics. Although very reluctant to come forward into the public glare, Mr. Planck has agreed to share with this newspaper the nature of his work and why it appears to have gained the attention of The Object.

     That Planck is indeed the man The Object was seeking was confirmed by a message sent by Planck to The Object. The manner with which Planck communicated with The Object is still undisclosed but it was the reason for yesterday’s cryptic “YES” message sent out by The Object worldwide. Planck did confirm to this newspaper that the form of his message was only possible as a result of the research work he has been involved with over the last five years. Planck described that work as “demonstrating that the fundamental nature of the universe is a construct of consciousness.” He emphasized however that his work is still very preliminary and theoretical. If not for the enormous amount of attention flowing from The Object’s seeking him out, Planck emphasized that he would not be going public with his theories at this time.

     Planck has shared the basics of his work with the Nobel Prize winning physicist, Dr. Janus Wheeling. Dr. Wheeling describes Planck’s work as brilliant and transformative but hastened to add that “It is not ready for Prime Time. It needs much further thought and experiment before it could be published for peer review.” Although it should be noted that as Dr. Wheeling observed, “The Object seems to think that Dr. Planck’s work has merit. They aren’t asking to communicate with me or anyone else.”

     As made available thus far, the implications of Planck’s work would not just cause a dramatic new understanding of the laws of physics, but could also raise far reaching issues in the fields of philosophy and religion. If consciousness is indeed a fundamental attribute of existence as Planck’s work appears to indicate, man’s role in the universe would take on a potentially much more involved prominence. This view would be at odds with the understanding and theories of a majority of theoretical physicists today.

     Planck’s theory positions consciousness not as a result of formative drivers of the Universe but instead as the principal causation factor. Planck says, “It is consciousness that drives the universe to evolve from an infinite state of potentiality into specific states of existence.” Moreover he asserts, that consciousness “has the power to change any particular state of existence into a different state of existence.” In other words, according to Planck, even after matter has coalesced into a particular form, that particular matter can be changed into a different molecular structure through the application of the force of consciousness.

     Planck acknowledges that his work borrows from views of physicists like John Wheeler who have long wondered about the role of consciousness in the formation of the universe. He believes he is merely moving their ideas forward into a more structured and empirically provable theory. He also insists that his work is very preliminary.

     As the leader of the team watched the sun rise he uttered a curse in Russian then switched to English to tell the boat captain to take the boat in a little closer to the island but to stay out of sight of the buildings near the shore. He had hoped that he could have made the pickup while it was still dark but the instructions had come too late and there had been too much to do. Still the instructions were clear. Regardless of what might be involved, he was to complete his mission.

     He knew why it had to be done. The intelligence service for which he had been working for the last ten years had been looking for a week for any signs of the person they needed to extract and then suddenly the pieces of information they had meticulously gathered all came together and they knew they had the right person – or at least they could not afford to pass up the chance. It turned out that he was closest to the target and could put together the team in the time available. He also knew that time was precious. Others would come to the same conclusion. He had been a little lucky to be able to move so fast, but others might be lucky too.   

     He decided the big fishing boat was close enough and he motioned to the three others of his team to get in the smaller boat with the little outboard engine. He joined them and they shoved off toward the deserted piece of shore they had chosen as their point of entry. The four of them all wore shorts and loose fitting un-tucked-in Tommy Bahama shirts and might resemble any group of guys out for a day of fishing except none had much of a tan and there wasn’t an extra ten pounds of fat on the four of them combined. Like the team leader they were very fit and very sure in all of their actions. Each also had a pistol tucked into their waistband though make and model differed based on personal preference.

     As they neared the mangrove lined shore they jumped out of the small boat and pulled it up on the sand where it was relatively hidden. If things went to plan they would be back to it in minutes. They left at a trot toward the resort buildings that were only a few hundred yards away.

     Their problem was they did not know much about the layout of the property nor exactly where their target would be. It had been agreed that once they were within sight of the buildings, the others would get as close as possible while staying out of sight while the leader would simply walk in from the beach and ask for the person they were looking for. He would claim that his boat had broken down on the other side of the small island. From what they had seen there was little likelihood of real resistance and the leader believed that keeping things simple was often best.

     As he approached the main building he was surprised to see how many people were about despite that it was only a few minutes after sunrise.  But as he got closer he saw they were all in a main room sitting monk like in prayer. Most of them never looked up at him even though he was now only fifty feet away. But one who had looked up rose from where he was sitting in a lotus position and came over to talk to the leader.

     The leader smiled. The man he had come to take was the man who was approaching him.

     Planck came within a few feet and asked, “Can I help you?”

     The team leader’s response came quickly. “Yes, you can come with me.”

     Planck was surprised. “Who are you and why would I do that?”

     The leader motioned to his men to show themselves and he took out his gun and pointed it at Planck, “You will come with me because I have this gun and because they also have guns.”

     Planck looked at the three other men. Then he looked back at where the prayer meeting had been taking place. Everyone there was now looking at him. Though they saw the men with the guns, only one of them reacted. David stood up from where he had been sitting in the back of the room and looked at the man with Planck. Planck raised his hands to them all, including David, to remain calm. As Planck lowered his hands, David saw him press his index finger into his ear. He’s pressing his amplifier deeper to ensure it doesn’t slip out, David thought when he saw Planck’s gesture.

     Planck saw that David noticed and subtly nodded. “Let’s go then,” Planck said and went with the leader and his men back to where they had left their boat.

     David watched the men lead Planck away and then followed them. He stayed back what he hoped was a safe distance. He saw them pull the little boat back into the water and put Planck in it and climb in after him. He saw them start the engine and take it out to the bigger fishing boat. Then he watched that boat head off away from the island. It was too far away for him to read a name. He watched it a while longer until it was almost out of sight but then he noticed it didn’t actually go out of sight. He could not see any detail, it was too far out, but he could see that something was still there. It seemed stopped in the water. He wasn’t sure but it occurred to him that Planck might have something to do with that.

     Staring at the boat, he thought about what he had to do next. Then he took out his smart phone and he called his uncle, the general.

     General Mark Randall was in a hastily called emergency meeting with about twenty other senior officers tasked with dealing with the threat posed by The Object. The meeting had been called as soon as The Washington Post had come out that morning with his nephew’s article emblazoned on the front page. It also had an old picture of Ben Planck. The three star general leading the meeting was passing downstream the shit he had just been getting from his boss for not knowing sooner than The Washington Post anything about Benjamin Planck. Mark Randall had already had to confess that it was his nephew who had written the story.