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Chapter 16
It
was not until they joined Interstate 40 that David Lutman finally began to
relax. That need to be with Deanne had now overwhelmed him to the point that he
firmly believed that, even if the circumstances had been different and that he
had entered into a relationship with Claudia, he would have still done the
same thing. Deanne had made his decision so much easier to handle, although he
felt he would have to keep the truth of what happened that morning to himself
for the time being.
If
not forever.
Deanne was smiling, and when not focusing on her driving, looking
at him dreamily.
Although
it was well into the second half of October, the temperatures were in the high
twenties. They drove to the sounds of Pink Floyd, REM, The Flaming Lips,
Radiohead and some obscure American band Lutman had never heard of. Not that he
cared.
They
spoke very little for the first hour, the desert scenery unfailing in its
fascination and beauty. When they were just short of Flagstaff Phoenix
As they settled down inside the half-empty restaurant to
enjoy their burgers and fries, Lutman felt confident and relaxed enough to attempt
to ascertain how she might be connected with his future. ‘Deanne, I hope this
doesn’t sound like a stupid question, but what do you think of the idea of time
travel?’
She
sipped her coke and smiled. ‘You getting geeky? That’s a strange topic to
suddenly bring up now! Why do you ask?’
‘Well,
you’re a physicist, so you’re probably the ideal person to ask. It’s just one
of those things that, well, I’m… just a little curious about.’
‘Just
a little?’ she giggled, before adding, ‘you know, it’s actually kind of funny
you mentioning that.’
She
took another sip. ‘What I do could be said to be connected with that subject
but in an indirect kind of way. But this thing, well, it’s all just theory at
the moment.’
‘And
what’s this thing?’
‘Well,
you heard of black holes?’
‘Er…
aren’t they large stars that’ve collapsed under their own gravitational pull or
something?’
‘Very
good! To be exact, it’s what we call the area of space around a dead, collapsed
star, from which not even light can escape.’
Lutman
was intrigued. ‘So what’s the connection with time travel?’
‘Well,’
she began, ‘In my work I study quantum theory. I won’t try to explain that to
you, as I can see you’re already pulling a face!’
Lutman smiled and unconvincingly tried to feign innocence.
Deanne lent forward, whispering. ‘I believe it is genuinely possible to fall
into a black hole, certain, swirling, black holes, into which you wouldn’t be
crushed into something so infinitesimally flat. I believe that you would, in
fact, enter a tunnel – or a bridge if you like – between two universes, and
you’d come out of the other side. Now this other side could be one of three
things.’
Her
enthusiasm for this subject was clear as she continued. ‘The most popular
belief amongst scientists is that one could use it to travel into another part
of our existing universe. Another is you could end up in a parallel universe –
a universe similar to ours in every way, where another you, and another me,
exists, but where, for example, you made the decision not to join me here but
opted to stay with your group in Las Vegas. Or, perhaps even more interesting,
travel into another time.
‘This
bridge that links these two universes of another place, another dimension,
another time, whatever, we call a wormhole, or stargate. Now, this phenomenon
doesn’t only work out there in space where these black holes are very big, but
they also occur at a quantum level too.’
Lutman
looked at her puzzlingly. ‘You’ve mentioned that word quantum again. What do
you mean by a quantum level?’
‘It’s
the study of things that are the total opposite of very, very, big!’
“…right,’
Lutman grinned.
‘Okay, now, just to give you some context, within this restaurant,
outside, in the United States, in Britain, over the oceans, in the Arctic,
everywhere around us, there are in fact countless fantastically minute
wormholes all around us, an infinite number of them, all forming and decaying
all the time within microseconds. Because they’re so small and their existence
is so brief, we obviously don’t notice them.’ She paused to allow him to absorb
this information, although she was not entirely convinced he had understood
anything.
‘Okay…
I think I’m with you so far…’ Lutman said cautiously. He was not entirely
convinced he had understood everything, either.
‘Now
I believe that if we’re able to capture and harness the power of one of these
wormholes, and have the capability to keep it open, then it can take you to another
point in time and space. The technology, the complexities, the known knowledge
of physics, however, is extreme, but plausible. As I say, there are billions of
these wormholes, and if you’re able to hold one open, great, but it’d be very
unstable. If it’s allowed to collapse, it could have catastrophic consequences
for both ends of the bridge – there, and here. But if you’re able to capture
one and, if you’re able to keep it stable and hold such a wormhole open, then
where would you go? Somewhere else on the Earth or in the middle of another
galaxy? Maybe to another universe where you are in fact the scientist and I am
the girl who’s running away with you? Is there some way of knowing beforehand?
‘David,
I believe I know. You see, most, if not all of the more stable wormholes
occurring here are, in fact, the ones that lead you to another time on this
planet…’
Lutman’s
heart skipped a beat. Lead you to another time on this planet. ‘How can
you be certain?’
‘Let
me finish. The ones that are the most unstable are the ones that can lead you
to those parallel universes. The ones that fall in the middle are the ones for
traveling interstellar distances. But, unfortunately, it’s all only theory and
frankly, and despite support from my father and a few eminent folk, there’s no
way anybody with the vast amounts of money or influence is going to be
interested in helping me fund and complete my research into this. And as for
the technology involved… well, I wrote a thesis on wormholes which got a few
people’s attention, but apart from that, and the few months after when I was
taking it seriously, I eventually gave it up.’
‘But
you said you were doing this in an indirect way.’
‘Indirect
is right. I’ve got lots of lovely complicated kit in the lab for quantum
studies, but not in that particular field.’
Lutman
took another sip of coke. He felt certain he had found the next few pieces of
his puzzle.
*
Deanne
felt confident enough to let the Englishman take the wheel, at least until they
reached the suburbs of Phoenix
As
he started the engine, Lutman felt confident enough to ask the question. ‘Deanne, I know you think I’m going to sound crazy,
but what if I were to tell you that I’d met someone who claimed to come from
the future?’
Deanne
laughed. ‘You know, I’ve read hundreds of accounts from people claiming they’ve
done just that. Even people who’ve claimed to have built machines to do it.
It’s all just total crap. Look, David, the fact is, we’re many years away,
perhaps hundreds, from getting anywhere near that level of technology, so your
comments have to be treated with extreme skepticism, particularly from me.
C’mon, let’s go.’
The
car slowly inched forward. ‘Deanne,’ said Lutman slowly, ‘I just want you to
humor me for a moment. This person claimed he came from the future. This was
about seven weeks ago. When he arrived, he said he’d just made the journey from
a short time into the future.’
He
paused for a reaction. She smiled, but nodded slowly, so Lutman felt safe to
continue. ‘Let me tell you what he was wearing. He was wearing a pink tee shirt
with a picture of the Grand Canyon on the front that included the
words, I hiked the Grand Canyon , and there were further words on
his back saying, I’m lying.’
Then
to his surprise Deanne suddenly turned and glared at him. ‘Really? What else
was he wearing?’
‘He
was wearing a day-glow green baseball cap with the letters ‘DJC’ on it, a pair
of green shorts tied with a black cord, and a small blue waist bag with Mickey
Mouse on the front. He also shouted Dzizzy-R or something like that at me.’
‘Stop
the car!’ she shouted, ‘I want you to repeat what you just told me!’
Lutman
quickly put the car on the shoulder. This was a reaction he did not expect. ‘Well,
I said it was about seven weeks ago –’ he began.
‘The
clothes! What did you say he was wearing?’
‘I
said he was wearing a pink tee shirt with a picture of the Grand Canyon and I hiked the Grand Canyon on the front, and further words
on his back saying I’m lying. And a
day-glow green baseball cap with ‘DJC’, a pair of green shorts and a small blue
waist bag with Mickey Mouse on the front.’
Deanne
went completely silent for a moment, and then said with a tone that expressed
astonishment, shock and disbelief: ‘Oh. My. God. David, keep driving. Get me to
Phoenix
‘What
is it, Deanne?’
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