‘And what’s the question?’
‘Does it go on forever?’
‘What?’
‘The Universe; the blackness; the void - does it go on forever?’
‘A strange, feeble question but I suppose, if I try to answer it, and I must try to answer it after all the trouble I’ve put you through, I do so by reminding you that your Universe is an eight dimensional manifold sitting on top of a Calabi-Yau hypersphere – rather hard to visualize for you I would imagine, especially with your being within it all the time and never without it, as it were – but it goes on forever in a way, but only because it curves back in on itself.’
‘I thought it would be something like that. That’s always the explanation for things that go on forever –
they curve back in on themselves. Sort of a cop-out really. So I suppose that means if I set off from here, in a rocket ship say, and set it on course in a straight line, and travel in it for the longest time I would eventually get back here, right where I am?’
‘Well, no. First off, define a straight line. Remember we’re talking eight dimensions. I suppose you mean a geodesic. But even if you follow a geodesic, you couldn’t get back here because you couldn’t travel faster than light, so the expansion of the manifold at the speed of light is always going to outpace you. It would seem as though you were travelling on forever. If it seems as though you are travelling on forever, I suppose in a relativistic way, you really are. You will never reach an end and you will never tail back in on yourself.
‘Now,’ He continued, warming to His subject. ‘Remember as well, your Universe is contained within the sixth fold. Which is contained within the fifth fold. And so on. The geometry of the seventh fold is fascinating, perhaps a pointer to the fifth, but it is a vast tautology, all made of mathematics. It is as I wish it, and the medium in which it is contained, a digression. The topology of space-time, the initial conditions, the architecture, the whoosh as the thing expands. That’s my main field of research - the real beauty.’
‘And the rest is what?’
‘Unpleasant consequence. Mould on a piece of cheese. You know, you look at me askance, with that funny way you have of rolling up your eyes and puckering your cheeks and fiddling with your thumbs, but one day, you’ll have a go yourself - the seventh fold will create an eighth fold, as fantastic as it may seem to you now. Engineer it and contain it and give it what it supposes is life. Then you’ll know where I’m coming from. All too easy to criticise from a position of ignorance, you know. But let us see how diligently you service your ravenous mould…’
‘Another thing, while you’re here…’
‘Oh goodness, I knew I shouldn’t have come…’
‘Something that’s been puzzling me. The Zargons can travel faster then light. I know they can. It only took me a week to get to Earth from Zargon 8. I timed it on my watch. And Zargon 8 must be many light-years from Earth.’
‘The Zargons can travel faster than light?’
‘Must be able to.’
‘No, no, no. You got your timing wrong. You would be suffering from some kind of relativistic effect. If you were travelling close to the speed of light, time would have slowed for you of course.’
‘But I remember the cow saying the ship would take a week, and that’s consistent with the amount of time I’ve been away…’
The man with the Oxford bags was troubled now and He had his mobile out again and was punching the keypad furiously.
‘Most odd that they could do that without an Intervention Event. It’s not supposed to be possible. My physics does not allow it at all.’
Suddenly Cormack was aware of another presence within the room, a thing with a cheroot that smelt beery.
‘Holy Bejeesus,’ said the man with the bags. ‘What the…? Where did you come from?’
‘I think I might be able to help you with your little conundrum,’ said the thing with the cheroot.
‘And who might you be?’
‘A little more respect, I think.’
‘Come off it, chum. Respect for whom? I am the frigging Creator after all.’
‘You didn’t create me.’
‘I created it all. Everything in this whole Universe.’
‘But not me.’
‘I think I know who He is,’ said Cormack gently, and decided it would be politic to bow this time, after getting himself into so much trouble with his inadequate welcome to the Sixth Fold Entity that time before.
‘Welcome to my kitchen,’ he said, ‘O Mighty Avatar of the Fifth Fold Entity.’
‘That’s more like it,’ said the Fifth Fold Entity. ‘Not even the Child Emperor, when we first met in his bedroom all those years ago, bowed so low.’
THE END
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-Two
Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Four
Chapter Seventy-Five
Chapter Seventy-Six
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Chapter Eighty
Chapter Eighty-One
Chapter Eighty-Two
Chapter Eighty-Three
r>