3: The Fifth Dimension Project

II: Metaphysics: Chapters 33-37

33      The Second Seminar

Marhan and Nora stand in the front of the auditorium welcoming folks who steadily fill the room.  Everyone from the physics and computer science departments is there; the Dean of the College of Sciences is sitting next to the University President.  Science reporters, one for the local newspaper, and a few from national papers and TV are also welcomed. 

Marhan gives some background on the string theory basis for the technology, and tells the audience that they have found their way into the fifth dimension: it is the fifth, sixth and seventh dimensions to be more precise, but we have taken to calling what we are doing the Fifth-Dimension Project.  Though there was still a lot to learn, we now know that these dimensions contain snippets of each of our pasts.  If a person concentrates on a particular event, even an event they only have the sketchiest memories of, the technology makes that event come to life on a computer screen.  They note that they have run a number of tests but were unable to show the videos from them to the audience, because of the private, personal nature of what they show.  Marhan notes, “The events we replay in our minds, are often deeply personal.  That isn’t a problem, but it makes it hard for us to develop a catalogue of examples we can show.”

A fellow physics student yells out, “What hidden secrets did your tests show?”

Marhan glances over at Nora, blushes slightly, “We’ll have none of that thank you.”

A question is asked about the guy in shackles and orange jumpsuit that had been seen in the halls. Nora notes that he agreed to a session.  He was a suspect in a murder, and we were able to see the crime scene through his eyes as though he had been carrying a camera.  Our technology cleared him of the murder and pointed the police to the actual killer.  The police were able to solve a crime that happened in LA two years ago.  That seemed to impress the audience as to the value of this technology.

Psychology Professor Fred Wilson raised his hand.  “Memory is inexact.  How can you be so sure that you can trust the memories that test subjects show you?”

Marhan steps forward.  Sorry, I haven’t been clear.  We rely on memory to locate the point in time that we want the session subject to go to, but then, once there, once they are inside the fifth dimension, as far as we can tell, we are not relying on memory anymore, but on a record of the event.”

Professor Wilson inquires further, “How can you be sure?”

“Thus far, in sessions we’ve done, we have been able to confirm the accuracy of what we’ve seen.  For the murder suspect that we just talked about, he showed where the weapons were buried during his session.  The police dug them up and confirmed the accuracy of at least that element of the memories we saw; they also arrested the killer in Mexico, and he confessed, so there’s that.”

“That still isn’t definitive.”

Marhan nods, then continues, “We do have one definitive test, but we cannot show it to you.  I have thought of a definitive test, that may once again be too personal to show a broad audience.”  Pointing to Professor Wilson, he starts, “Some psychologists do marriage counseling.  I could imagine the husband and wife each going through a session, where they, say, each discuss a recent argument they had.  They might each offer wildly different retellings.”  Professor Wilson nods.  “Suppose then that we put both of them through a session to see what is locked in the fifth dimension.  If the exact same scene is produced from their opposing perspectives for both of them this, I think, would be definitive evidence that we are producing something deeper than memory.”

Professor Wilson responds, while nodding, “If it works like that, this technology could prove to be a useful counseling tool.  It might take years off the time it takes to get people to face themselves.”

“Maybe when we get further down the road in our experiments, we could work together on an interesting problem in psychology.”

The professor smiles and nods.

Wilna is seated in the front row, she raises her hand and Marhan introduces her, “This is Wilna, she is a resident in Emergency Medicine, she was one of our first test subjects and she will be helping Nora and I today.” 

Wilna stands up, turns and faces the audience, the cameras.  “I am the source of the one definitive test that Marhan mentioned.  There is something about my test that I haven’t told Marhan and Nora, and listening to Marhan just now has given me something more to think about.  I used the test I did to go back to when I was 3-years-old.  Both my parents were in my test, as was a policeman.  Nora sent me the video of my test and I have watched it quite a few times.  My memory of that day, as you can imagine, is but a few fragments, but I’ve come to question the exactness of what got stored in the fifth dimension.  In the scene, my mom and dad are wearing the same clothes they are in pictures I have of them.  Their faces, are the faces from those pictures.  Maybe that’s what they looked like and what they were wearing on that day, but maybe not.  The policeman was outside our front door.  His face is fuzzy, in part because I was looking at him through a screen door, and in part because I don’t have any memory of his face.  The events of that day are accurate, but it may be that the faces and clothes were filled in by my mind with pictures of them that I have held onto.”

A newswoman now speaks up.  “Wilna, what more can you tell us about your test?”

Marhan and Nora each take a step back to give Wilna some space.  She starts, “Nora and Marhan had asked me to think of something that happened in the past, something that I did not remember precisely.  The first few tests were of recent events that were remembered precisely, so it was possible that this new technology was just unlocking memories in a way that was not possible before.  My test provided the first insight, that what they had unlocked was something deeper.  In my test, I went way back, I … I.”

Nora steps up next to Wilna and says, “You don’t have to say anymore.”

Wilna turns to her, nods, then says “I know,” but then with tears in her eyes says, “It’s okay.”  She turns back to the audience and with pain in her voice says, “I relived my father’s death.  He died in a car accident on his way to work.  It was incredibly painful, but I got to see him and my mom again, if for just a few moments before he left for work that morning.  Their images from that day, inexact though they may be, are a beautiful reminder of the happy family I was born into.  I often revisit those moments.”

A murmur and then a hush settled over the audience.  Nora steps up next to Wilna and uses this moment of quiet to explain that she is going to be the subject of today’s demonstration and that she has in mind an event that is less personal in nature that she didn’t mind sharing with everyone in attendance. 

The question, “How do we know what we are going to see is not you just carrying around a camera and showing us the footage?”

“You won’t.  The only way to absolutely convince some of you in this audience is for you to take part in a demonstration.  We’ll welcome you to do this after my demonstration is complete, but I’m not advising it as you do not know what it could reveal that you would rather not show the world.” 

“What makes it so risky?” an audience member yells out.

“As has been discussed, the technology produces a record of things we’ve been thinking about, and our thoughts often stray from one topic to the next.”

Another physics student raises her hand, asks.  “You mentioned that you have been exploring the fifth dimension, have you tried to explore any of the other dimensions that string theory claims exist?”

“No,” is Marhan’s response.  “I have been thinking about how we might find our way into what I will call ‘The Higher Dimensions,’” Marhan says while making air quotes. “The fifth dimension, again fifth, sixth and seventh dimensions has thus far occupied all of our time.” 

Marhan motions for people to put their hands down, “Maybe we should get to today’s demonstration.  There will be more time for questions afterward.  Nora, Wilna and I are going to head into the lab.  I will start the protocol while Wilna gets Nora set up.  This technology so excites a person’s brain that one’s body relaxes as though they are sleeping.  As you will see, the margins of the screen show Nora’s pulse and blood pressure to help us keep tabs on her during the demonstration.  The projection screen above will show a split screen view.  The left half will show you exactly what I am seeing on the computer screen, the right half is a wide-angle view of the three of us in the lab.”

With that the three of them exit the room.  They come back into view after they enter the lab, all wave and then get down to business.  Nora holds the helmet out in front of her to show it to the audience.  “This piece of technology, which is Marhan’s design, is the key piece of hardware the enables access to the fifth dimension.”  Then she puts on the helmet on and lays down.  Wilna stands between her and Marhan who sits at the computer. 

Before starting the protocol, Marhan turns and faces the audience.  “The helmet would be just a clunky science fiction toy without the software and quantum computer expertise that Nora has brought to this project.”  Marhan begins the protocol.  He announces “Pulse level 1,” then increases the pulse every 5 seconds.  At pulse level 10, the flash causes a stir in the audience.  At pulse level 11 fragments of the event Nora is focusing on from her recent past started swimming on the screen. 

The audio kicks in “Hi, I am up here alone, standing on a dusting of snow, speaking to no one in particular just so you would know that this technology has voice capabilities.”  As she says this, an image begins forming.  Nora is on a local mountaintop looking around.  “Let’s see, for those of you in the audience that do not know this area,” she now points in front of her, the sudden appearance of her arm in the video makes people jump, “Those are the Crazy Mountains, the Absarokas are over there, and,” she looks north, points and says, “these are some of the next peaks along the ridge I am standing on.  To try and convince many of you that I do not have a camera in front of my face, I’ll let you see my hands,” Nora puts her hands out in front of her face and waves them around.  “Next, I’m going to pull out a mirror and point it at myself so that you can see I don’t have a camera mounted on my head, on either shoulder, or strapped to my chest.”  She reaches into her backpack for the mirror, lifts it up, looks in it, smiles and waves at her image.  A hint of sadness crosses her face and the image begins to turn blue, and get fuzzy.  She turns her head, and Sam Marshall is suddenly visible. 

Nora turns back and starts talking again, but Marhan can hear the murmur from the audience over the speakers he has set up on the desk.  He decides to shut down the demonstration. 

34      Professor Chris Warner

Professors Warner and Levin stop by the lab shortly after the seminar.  “Marhan, Nora, can you take a break so we can talk for a few minutes?  Chris has some interesting ideas about quantum entanglement.”

Professor Warner starts, “But first I have to ask, you know Sam Marshall.  What’s he like?”

Nora looks deflated.  She doesn’t want to talk about Sam.  “We don’t know each other well.  We ran into each other that morning, and ran together.  It was totally unplanned.”  She doesn’t add anything else, so Professor Warner moves on.

“First let me say that what you two are doing is incredible.  You are creating a whole new field within physics, exploring ideas that no one ever considered before.” 

“Thank you, professor.”

“Mark told me about your success with the mouse experiment and that other, human, test subjects have tried to change things in their past and how it looks when they try.  Can I please see an example for myself?”

“Sure.” Marhan replies, “We can pull up the scene from when Wilna was little.”

Nora loads Wilna’s test and fast forwards it to just before the point where Wilna tried to stop her dad from leaving.  Nora points to the screen.  “Watch how as older Wilna opens the door to chase her dad, you can see younger Wilna standing still behind the door.  Right there.”

“I see.”

“Then her mom grabs her, to keep her from leaving the house and, watch, BAM! The image slams back behind young Wilna’s eyes.”

“This is fascinating!  As Mark and I have discussed, and you two are aware, this is a unidirectional form of quantum entanglement.   This means, as expected, that the ports between the dimensions are quantum sized.  In this instance, young Wilna was so young, three, right?”  They all nod.  “She could not exert a counter force in the opposite direction. That is why the entanglement is unidirectional.  If the younger and older self are roughly the same age, then it seems likely that the younger self will be able to exert a counter force and we will end up with full quantum entanglement with both ages of the individual acting on each other.”

“But we have another test, one that we haven’t showed anyone, where Nora tried to change a scene with herself from that morning.  She couldn’t do it, and the entanglement there was also unidirectional.”

“How long did that test last?” Chris asks.

Marhan and Nora look at each other.  “About 10 minutes.” 

“Nora, did you go into that scene with a clear idea of what you wanted to show?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the other part of this.  Your current self was in control of that scene and it didn’t last long enough for your slightly younger self to fight for control.  Oh, this is so exciting.  What you two are doing is more than creating a new physics research field, you are combining the disciplines of physics and psychology.”

“Calm yourself Chris.  You are just theorizing at this point.  We haven’t seen any evidence of this sort of battle for control in any experiments thus far.”

“Ah, but the portals are at a quantum scale, this will happen if they are left open.”

Marhan interjects, “So you are saying, that if we leave a portal to the fifth dimension open long enough, the two selves will start battling for control.”

“Yes.”

“But, even if that’s true, doesn’t the older self have an upper hand on this entanglement as it is older and better informed?”

With that thought, Chris starts grabbing at his beard, pacing, trying to work out the possible entanglement outcomes in his head.  “Maybe.  It seems that I can’t rely on physics insights alone to solve this problem.  Psychology comes into play, as may the inexactness of what is stored in the fifth dimension if that proves to be a problem.”

Marhan responds, “We can try to design a longer test where the subject tries to change his or her past self, but let the test run for a longer time to see if the entanglement becomes more complex.”

“Yes, but since psychology will now come into play, the result may differ for each test subject and for each experiment for any given test subject.”

“Surely there will be rules that people will follow,” Mark notes.

“Yes, but we will have to learn them.  This is very exciting,” Chris says again with a big smile.

“Chris, it’s been a big day for these two.  We’ve given them more to think about, how about we leave them to their work.”

“Professors, before you go, there is one thing about the mouse experiment that I am only now figuring out.”  Marhan starts, “We have been describing this technology as giving us the ability to look into an individual’s past, similar to how a telescope allows us to peer into the history of the universe.  But the mouse experiment indicates that we can do more than peer.”

Professor Warner listens but begins walking around while massaging his beard while Marhan talks.  Marhan stops, then says, “I think you see where I’m going.”

Professor Warner looks up, “Yes, you are about to say that what you are doing is, or at least can be, a form of time travel.  If you can change the past, then in a very real sense, you went there.”

“And, unlike how Einstein’s theories, it doesn’t require travel at speeds faster than the speed of light,” Professor Levin adds.

“Of course, because Einstein was only aware of four dimensions.  String theory wasn’t developed until decades after he was gone.”  Professor Warner adds.

“Exactly.” Marhan finishes, “The fifth dimension provides an alternative node for access to time travel, not among the stars, but at least into our past.”

“Very exciting,” Professor Warner begins, “but we still have to see if it is possible for humans.”

35      Dinner Conversation

Since it was raised at the seminar earlier in the day, the thought of exploring a higher dimension had captured Wilna’s attention.  She had asked Marhan and Nora to meet her for pizza and beer after work in part to broach the subject of her being the first explorer of dimensions eight, nine and 10.

Before she could broach that topic though, “Sam Marshall lives here, and you know him.  How’d that happen?” Marhan blurts out.  “What’s he like?”

Nora, was still a bit gun shy about what had happened.  “I didn’t intend for Sam to interfere with the vista I was trying to show.  He was just standing there, and I looked over at him.”

“Wait, so you don’t really know him?”  Marhan pries.

“I do and I don’t.”  Nora squirms, trying to signal that she wants to leave this topic.

So, is this my competition, “I shut the test down as quickly as I could after that scene appeared, but you and Sam were the topic of conversation once we got back in the seminar room.  The news folk seemed especially interested.”

While writing words across the sky, Wilna blurts out, “Physicist and quantum computer scientist find pathway into human consciousness, and one of them is dating Sam Marshall!”  Which gives them all a good laugh, though Nora remains uncomfortable. 

“It isn’t like that.  We aren’t actually dating; we’ve just gone on a few runs together.”

“But he is in your head,” Wilna says looking over at her.

“Yeah, maybe, but mostly, he was just there.  Look, what really happened is that when I pointed the mirror at myself, I had gotten sad that I am so often alone when I am out in the mountains.  But then I looked over at Sam for a moment for comfort.  I had forgotten I did that.  I should have purged that moment out of my brain for the demonstration.”

Marhan says somewhat distractedly, “That wouldn’t have worked.”

“Huh?”

“Purging your brain.  If the fifth dimension keeps an accurate record of events, blocking Sam from your thoughts wouldn’t have worked.”

Wilna pushes the inquiry, “What’s he like?”

“I don’t really know.  He can be fun, but he’s just been through so much.  He’s so guarded, hard to get to know.”

“He’s been through so much?” Wilna says incredulously.  “He’s the reason there our economy is in the shitter.  These trade wars Nichols has started are hurting everyone.”

“He is aware.  That’s a big part of why he doesn’t speak much.  I mean he’ll talk about politics, the weather, running, but he doesn’t like talking about his life.  He has talked a little about his ex, Sarah.  He’s just so sad.  Stuck in his words.”

“I don’t feel sorry for him.  We are all stuck in this world, we all have to consider whether or not to have children.”  Wilna says in an exasperated voice.  

Nora reengages.  “He drinks.  He does it to help him sleep at night.  We met when I found him passed out on the Ridge Trail next to a pile of vomit.  That hasn’t happened while we’ve been out running together, but once he stunk of alcohol flushing out of him.  It’s got to be hard having everyone in the world hate you either for helping to bring Nichols to power or for turning on Nichols once he got in power.  Everyone has an opinion to hurl at him.”

“That sucks,” Wilna responds with a hint of empathy, but then lashes out, “but it’s getting bad, and is only going to get worse.  Nichols’ people are purging the government of anyone who is competent, and the latest is that extremists are being given access to the Treasury.”

“And yet his supporters are out waving their guns around, like this is all great.  Like they are itching for a civil war.  Battle lines are starting to be drawn around cities across the country.” Nora responds angrily.

They all sit quietly for a moment, then Wilna begins, “If it’s okay, I’d like to change the subject.”

“Please do,” Marhan jumps in.

“Higher dimensions.  According to string theory there are 10 dimensions in total, that means there are three more dimensions to explore.” Turning to Marhan, Wilna asks, “What can you tell me about them, for example, what’s in them?”

Marhan starts, “There are theories about parallel universes, maybe Wilnas from other universes are in there, maybe Wilnas from other planets in our universe are in there, maybe Wilnas from other planets in the Milky Way are in there.  We have discovered that we can create alternative realities, at least for mice, when we unlocked the fifth, sixth and seventh dimensions, but I don’t know what is in the higher dimensions, so I don’t know what we will find, or even if we will be able to access them or create more alternative realities,” he shrugged his shoulders and threw up his hands.

“Would I look the same?” Wilna inquires, still curious and wanting to push the idea further.

“It depends,” Marhan offers.  “If the planet another Wilna is on had less gravity, you’d probably be taller, if it is farther from its sun, you might have Big Eyes,” Marhan says as he forms binoculars around his eyes with his fingers.  If the atmosphere is ammonia and vinegar, maybe Wilnas and everyone else would be made of glass so you’d be easy to clean.”

This raises a groan from Nora and Wilna.  Then Nora adds, “Why the questions Wilna?”

“I think I’d like to be the first higher dimension explorer.  It just seems exciting to me.  “Marhan, do you know how to access any of those dimensions?”

“I have an idea, but I don’t know if it’s right.  Once we open the door into the fifth dimension, we alter the angle of the energy pulses.  Just like going left or right, up or down, alters which dimension you are moving through in our 3-dimensional world, shifting the angle of the pulses might give us access to higher dimensions.”

Nora queries, “Wouldn’t we be able to see these dimensions then, while we are looking around in dimension five.”

“No, by shifting directions, we will essentially be going through another door, opening up a new 3-dimensional world.  I’d want to discuss this with Professor’s Levin and Warner to get their input before trying it.”

“Now that Sam and I being running buddies is out of the bag and while we are talking about new explorations with this technology, I’d like to put an idea on the table that I’ve been mulling over.  We were able to change the future by conditioning a mouse to change who he mated with.  Do you think we could do that with Sam?  I mean, change his past, so as to change all of our futures?”

Marhan turns to Wilna and with a smile says, “Nora wants us to change Sam’s past so that she can mate with him.”

That elicits a laugh from Wilna and a smile, a groan and an “I’m serious,” from Nora.

“Okay,” Marhan says, then “I think it would be much more difficult to do, not to mention dangerous as we would be trying to rewrite history.  Let’s focus first on the difficulties.  With the two mouse tests there was one specific event we wanted to change.  Timey couldn’t help us find his way back in time, but we found a way to locate him in time and apply the energy needed to have him go where we wanted him to end up.  Is there one specific event with Sam that we could change that would change the world, or would we have to change a good part of his life?”

“Assuming we could do this, do you think he would be game to try?” Wilna asks. 

“I don’t know,” Nora replies, “But I know he hates the impact he’s had on the world.  If he had it to do again, I know he would do it differently.”

“But if we were to send him back to one or more points in time, he’d still have to convince his younger self, who doesn’t see the world the same way, to change,” Marhan notes.  “I know that Wilna wanted to impact her younger self to hold her dad for a few more seconds, but her mom intervened, so we don’t know if she might have succeeded.  I’ve seen Sam’s name in the paper many times.  Like all of us, he had a professional identity, but had so much support and received so much attention along the way.  That would be hard to fight against.”

“I get that, but I think it’s at least worth raising it with him,” Nora replies.

“Before going down that path, let’s first think about the dangers,” Marhan replies.

Wilna chimes in, “We won’t know how the world will change if we can keep Nichols from getting elected.  It might be as simple, as our democracy continues to function, but we just won’t know what will happen.”  They both look over at her.  “Yes, I’ve thought about this.  Not in this context, but in the context of going back and trying again to save my dad’s life.  I hate what happened to him, but if I changed that, what else would change?  Would someone else’s dad die?  Was my dad fated to die then, would he have just died a different way in the days or weeks after that if I just got my younger self to just hold onto him a little longer instead of trying to reach for him again as he started out the door?  Or, would that hug have made him late, and would he have driven faster and ended up in the same spot.”

“You’re right.” Marhan jumps in, “Wilna is giving us examples of the Butterfly Effect.”

“What’s that?”  Nora asks. 

“It was a movie in the early 2000s, but the idea that even one small change, an extra flap of a butterfly’s wings say, can induce big unforeseen changes has been around for a long time.  In the case of Wilna’s dad or Sam, we would be unleashing changes we could not predict.  We would be playing God with one person’s life and then letting the dice roll to make random changes to the world.”

“Suppose we did play God,” Wilna starts, “and we made a big change to the world.  Would we even know we did it afterwards. If a Fifth-Dimension pulse rushed over everything and rearranged the world, would it rearrange our memories of it, would the country just make the same mistake again?”

“That’s an interesting point Wilna,” Marhan begins.  “Suppose we were able to get rid of Nichols.  Those of us who were impacted should be affected by the pulse, but there are going to be lots of people around the world who won’t be affected no matter who the American President is.  Will the pulse affect our memories?  My sense is that it has to. How could the world be rearranged and our memories not be affected.  We have memories of Timey’s babies being both white and brown, but does Timey?  Too bad we can’t ask him.”

They were all silent for a moment, but then Nora comments, “Maybe we need the help of a few gods right now.  Sam and I are going running tomorrow, I’ll talk to him then, see what he says.”

“Have you told him what you are working on?” Wilna asks.

“Not any details, why?”

“I expect that he is going to know by tomorrow morning.”  Wilna pulls out her phone, and Nora and Marhan follow suit.

“Oh my god!”  Nora exclaims, “The first stories are already up!”

36      Sam

Sam is waiting out front when Nora pulls up in the morning.  She isn’t sure how he will react to the news about her, and her connection to him.  “I didn’t know my running partner was a celebrity,” were his first words; he greets her with a smile.  “Now I know what you were doing up on the peak on our last run.  You were putting on a little show to entertain a TV audience.  I couldn’t imagine what you were using for a recording device, but the recesses of your mind acted as the device.”

“Folded recesses in the fifth dimension, to be precise,” Nora adds.  “I’m so glad you aren’t angry.  Revealing that we know each other was unintentional.  I forgot that I looked over at you when I was doing my preparations up in the mountains.”

“For me, it was just one more uncomfortable moment in a lifetime that has now been full of them.”

Nora is silent after Sam says this.

“Sam finally seems to pick up on the vibe and clarifies, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that being seen spending time with you makes me uncomfortable, it doesn’t.  Just getting put back in the public eye, even for a moment, that’s what’s uncomfortable.”

Nora looks over at him.  “I get it.  After the demonstration finished, you, and our relationship, was as much a topic of discussion as what Marhan and I had accomplished.”

“I picked that up in the news reports.  Can we talk a bit about what you two are working on?  It sounds like you are able to send people back in time.”

“People and mice,” Nora says with a smile.  “But we can’t actually send people back at least not in the sense of teleporting them back in time, it’s more that we open a door and look into their past.”

“That’s amazing.  You and Marhan, is that his name?”  Nora nods her head, “You two figured this out.”

“The idea was Marhan’s, but I provided the quantum computer capabilities that made his ideas come to life.”

“Yes, that’s what you were telling me about on one of our previous runs.  You remember that time when my eyes glazed over.”

“Not funny,” Nora says with a smile and a nudge from her elbow.

Sam smiles, “What have you seen, I mean other than you and I standing on a mountain top.”  Sam says with a smile.

Nora blushes.  “The most moving session we’ve done was with Wilna, our friend who is an Emergency Medicine Resident.  She took us back to the day that her dad died when she was three.”

“I’m sorry, that must have been horrible.”

“It was very sad, and Wilna relived it.  We didn’t ask her to relive it.  She chose to.  Through her eyes we all got to see her dad that morning.  This brings me to something I want to talk to you about.”

Sam looks over at her.

“When Wilna was back sharing a moment with her 3-year-old self, she tried to change what happened that day.”

“To change history?”

“Exactly.  Her mom picked her up, stopping her, but this caused us to run tests with mice to see if we could get a mouse to see into his past and change it.  We were successful.”

As Nora drives, they come up behind a caravan of slow-moving military vehicles.  She looks over at Sam as she slows so as to not get too close.  He is noticeably upset.  “I am responsible for this,” he says while looking down.  “Have you seen what else is in the news?  We seem to be headed toward civil war.  If Nichols has his way, this country will explode like Northern Ireland did in the 1970s.  Everyone on both sides has access to weapons of war.  People are armed to the teeth, and all Nichols can think to do is to pour more fuel on the fire.  His propaganda machine will twist whatever violence outbreak happens to be the fault of the Urban Fire or some other urban battle group.”  Then Sam takes a breath, “I’m sorry for going off like that.  It’s just that I can see what’s coming.”

“Are you going to stay here if violence breaks out?”

“It’s not if, it’s when.  I’m starting to feel that it’s coming time for me to reengage with the world, whether the world wants me or not.  I can’t just watch this battle from the sidelines.”

“So, no plans yet?”

“Not yet, but soon.”

The military vehicles were still lumbering along in front of them.  “It’s not too far.  We’ll be pulling over in a minute.”  They rumble along in silence for a minute, then Nora pulls into a parking lot. 

The military vehicles continue up the road.  With them gone, Sam starts to relax.  “I’m sorry, did you say that you got a mouse to change his past?”

Nora smiles, “I’ll tell you about it while we run.”  She tells Sam about the mouse tests, about Mae, and about Carlos.

Sam runs in front.  With each revelation, Sam stops, turns, looks at Nora open mouthed, astounded, then turns, starts running again.

When they reach the top of the mountain, Sam can’t seem to relax.  Nora just sits eating a snack, watching him.  It is a lot for him to absorb.  Finally, Sam turns to her and blurts out, “Do you think you could change my past?”

37      Marilyn Atell, University Ethics Officer

Marhan responds to the knock on the lab door.  “Good morning, I’m Marilyn Atell, your University Ethics Officer.  I was at your seminar the other day.  We need to talk about ethics.  Do you have a minute?”

“Sure, come in.  Nora, could you please join us?”  Marhan introduces Nora to Marilyn.

“What can we do for you?” Nora asks.

“There are ethics requirements that need to be satisfied in order to run experiments on human subjects.”

“Okay, though as you saw in the seminar, we’ve mostly been running experiments on ourselves,” Marhan notes.

“Understood, but there are still some forms that you need to sign and that you need to ask others to sign before they undergo any demonstrations on your machine,” Marilyn adds, and then she walks over to the table with the helmet sitting on it.  “Is this it?  The helmet that makes time travel possible?”

“It’s not exactly time travel,” Marhan starts, but Nora gently elbows him in the side.  Gives him a not now look.

“Marilyn, we will certainly have session subjects fill out forms.  Is there something else we can help you with?”

She stands there looking at Marhan and Nora, her mouth silently opening and closing like a fish. Finally she quietly states, “Yes, I could use some help.”

“Is it something we can help you with?” Nora asks.

Marilyn looks at them uncertain, scared.  “Is it possible to send me back to a year ago?  I need to do something that I should have done then, but didn’t know it at the time.”

“What is it that you need to do?”  Nora asks gently.

“I, … I,” she looks at the two of them.  “You’re going to think I’m nuts.”

“Ahh, then you’ve come to the right place,” Marhan jokes in a robot voice while making some robot moves.  “Everyone in here is kind of nutty.”

They all enjoy a moment of laughter, then Nora says, “Just relax and tell us what you need help with.”

“Okay, here goes.  I need help getting rid of a ghost.” 

Marhan and Nora look shocked, look at each other, then Nora regains her supportive face and asks, “Can you tell us more?”

“My husband and I moved into an old farmhouse outside of town about a year ago.  There’s a ghost in the house.  One evening, shortly after we moved in, she was there sitting in our rocking chair in the living room.  She seemed peaceable enough at the time.  We both saw her, but neither of us tried to talk to her.  We’ve haven’t seen her since, but she’s there.  We hear her at odd hours of the day and night.  Banging, moaning, moving around.  Some stretches get so bad that we move into a hotel for days at a time to get sleep.”  Marilyn says with the crazed look of a woman who experienced too much terror and too many sleepless nights. 

“So, you want to go back to the time you saw her a year ago.” Nora begins, “What is it you hope to accomplish?”

  “I’ve researched who she is.  She was murdered in the house by her violent husband.  I want to tell her that we understand that she suffered in life, but that it’s time to move on.  We’ve tried everything else.  We’ve even had a priest come by and perform an exorcism.  Nothing has worked.  Maybe talking to her will do the trick.”

“Can you please give us a minute?”  Nora pulls Marhan aside, out of earshot of Marilyn. “What do you think?”

Marhan is excited.  “It’s a perfect test case as to whether we can change realities in humans.  It’s an example of the smallest possible change that shouldn’t have unintended consequences.  If it works, no more ghost.  Our ethics officer is happy in life and happy with us.  If it doesn’t work, we tried to help, but nothing changes.  I think we should do it.”

Nora nods, walks over to Marilyn.  “When do you want to do this?”

“Now would be great, or as soon as possible.  How long does it take?”

“Umm, maybe a half hour,” Marhan estimates.

“Do you want your husband to be here?” Nora asks.

“He’s away on business; I’d rather try to do this now instead of waiting for him to return.  I could sure use a good night’s sleep.”

“Okay then, if it’s okay with you Marhan, I’ll get her set up on the table, and you start the protocols,” to which Marhan responds by nodding and walking to the computer.

“Think about that night, and we will try and send back to the moment when you were sitting together,” Nora calmly notes as she gets Marilyn set up.  She looks Marilyn in the eye.  “You, your current self, is going to have to force the change.  Yourself from a year ago is not going to get up and talk to the ghost.  You have to do that.” 

Marilyn is perplexed, “There will be two of me?”

“Yes,” Nora says while she nods.  “You will be inside your younger self, and you, your current self will have to take action by separating yourself from your younger self.  Okay?”

Marilyn is still looking uncertain, but responds, “Okay,” as she nods.

Nora looks over at Marhan. “We’re ready if you are.”

A few minutes later Marilyn is back in her living room sitting across from the female spirit.  “My god!” Nora exclaims, “There’s the ghost!”  She looks wide eyed at Marhan. “They’re real!”

It takes a few minutes, but the images separate.  Older Marilyn stands up and walks over to talk to the spirit while younger Marilyn stays seated on the couch.  Marilyn begins to speak, “Mrs. Rutherford, I know that you were treated horribly in life.  Your husband abused you …,” as she does the spirit starts rocking faster and faster. 

“The walls, Marhan, look at the walls!”  Nora yells while pointing at the screen.  The wood in the walls is twisting, aging, greying.  Nails are popping.  Chunks of plaster fall into the room.

“Holy shit!” Marhan excitedly notes. “Maybe the room is returning to the way it looked when she was murdered.”

Nora glances at Marhan, “Should we stop the session?”

“No!  He points at Marilyn’s pulse and blood pressure stats.  She’s fine.  We have to finish this.”

“But her house.”

The ghost rocks and rocks going faster and faster.  Her speed becomes impossibly fast.  Suddenly she is seemingly jettisoned out of the chair; her mouth open in a blood curdling scream that engulfs older Marilyn as it flies through her.  Then Mrs. Rutherford is gone. 

A moment later a Fifth-Dimension pulse passes through the scene on the computer; the computer screen goes black. The pulse then passes through the lab. 

“Holy Shit!  Marilyn is gone!” Nora screams.  They get up, run over to the table.  The helmet is sitting in its usual place, as though it hadn’t been disturbed all day. 

They look around in panic.  “This isn’t good.” Marhan blurts out, “We lost the University Ethics Officer!  This is surely an ethics violation!”

Nora fights to bring her rational judgments back online.  “Wait, wait.  A Fifth-Dimension pulse passed through.  We know both realities because we weren’t affected by Marilyn’s ghost.  But what if she only knows, and is living, her new reality.”

Marhan joins in.  “If it worked.  If we exorcised the ghost, then Marilyn wouldn’t have needed to come here today.  She’ll be in her office.”  They look at each other and bolt for the door while pulling out their phones to figure out where the Ethics Office is located on campus. 

They run to the building.  “We need to take a few breaths and calm ourselves,” Nora insists.

Marhan looks crazed.  “Are you kidding me, how can we calm ourselves?”

“Good point, “she huffs.  “She’s in office 203, let’s go.”  They run up the stairs, and quickly walk down the hall to office 203.  The door is open.  Marhan stands against the door, Nora jumps across the opening to the wall on the other side of the door and plasters herself against it.  “Ready?”  Nora whispers.

They glance in like they were expecting a weapon to be aimed at them.  “I don’t see her.”  Marhan whispers nervously.

“Why are we whispering?” Nora asks.

“Why are we trying to hide?” Marhan replies.

“She’s got to be here.”  Nora says just above a whisper.  They both step into the doorway.

“Can I help you?”  They both jump, look behind them.  It’s Marilyn.

“What are you two doing here?  I dropped those forms off in your lab not 30 minutes ago,” Marilyn notes while pointing at the ethics forms Nora is holding.

They both look at her like they are looking at a ghost.  Nora tries to reign herself in, regain her composure.  “We, we just wanted to ask you a question, Marilyn.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“Umm, … would there be a different ethics form if someone asks us to search for, say, a ghost from their past?”

“Funny that you should bring that up.  I had a ghost in my house when I first moved in, but I talked to her and she moved out,” she says while gesturing with her arms. 

Nora follows up, “Did she damage your house?” 

“No, the house is just fine, it’s a refurbished old farmhouse.  The previous owner told us that he spent years working on it to bring it back from being a dilapidated mess.  We couldn’t be happier with it.”

Nora looks at Marhan as if to ask if he has anything he wants to ask, but he is still wide-eyed and recovering.  “Thank you, Marilyn, and we’ll be sure to get you the necessary forms before we do anymore sessions on our technology.”

They take a step away, but then Marhan turns around.  “Marilyn, one last question. Is your husband still away on a business trip, and if so, have you heard from him recently?”

“That certainly is an odd question, but yes, he texted me when I was in the bathroom.  You know, I don’t remember telling you that he was away.  Huh, I guess I did.”  She says this as she fiddles with her wedding ring.  “Oh shoot, I lost my diamond.  I don’t remember hitting it into a wall.  I wonder if it fell out in the bathroom.”  She looks at them.  “Will you excuse me; I have to search for my diamond.”

“Holy shit!”  Marhan starts as they walk away, she has no memory of being on our machine,” and then he smiles, “It worked.  We changed the past.  Marilyn is the world’s first human time traveler, but she doesn’t even know it.  We remember both pasts because the pulse didn’t affect us, but Marilyn only remembers her new reality. 

Nora looks at him, “Why did you ask her questions about her husband?”

“I wanted to learn if there were any unintended consequences.  I mean, what if the pulse took her husband as payment for getting rid of the ghost.  It didn’t.”

Now Nora joins in, “But maybe it took her diamond.”

Marhan stops, “That would be just like in that streaming series Outlander.”  Nora looks at him uncertain of what he is talking about.  “A woman, and some others, on that series use standing stones to time travel, but the stones extract a price, a precious stone, to allow them to pass through.”

They start walking.  Nora looks at him.  “You watch TV series?”

Marhan shrugs, “I binge.”

“I do too.”  They smile at each other.