Dr. Gefiltefish led Dr. Worcestershire to what appeared to be a metal storage cabinet. Dr. G pulled out a set of keys, found the appropriate key, and opened the cabinet. He led the way in. When Dr. W had passed through the fake cabinet and entered the secret room, Dr. G closed and locked the cabinet door from the inside.
Past the boundary of the fake wall, there was an empty space several feet wide all the way to the original wall of the laboratory. To the right of that space, filling the area from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall, was a metal structure with a door in it. That door had a small, round window on it five feet from the floor. Dr. G led the way through that door, too.
Dr. W saw that his colleague had created a small chamber with four seats. On one wall was a panel with various controls. There was also another door at the opposite side of the chamber. It was identical to the chamber door they had just entered. On each of the two walls that didn’t have doors, there were two small, round windows about five feet from the floor. All that could be seen through those windows were the interior walls of the secret room.
“What’s behind that door?” asked Dr. W.
“Ah! That leads to the rest of the space behind the fake wall. The mechanism of the machine is there. I’ll explain it to you in detail if we make it back.”
“You’re inspiring me with great confidence, Fidelio.”
“Faith, Hammond! Faith! Now pick a chair and buckle yourself in.”
Dr. W sat in one of the chairs. He found the seatbelt and buckled it over his lap. “No shoulder belt?”
“I don’t think they’re necessary here. We probably don’t even need the seat belts.”
Dr. G examined the controls. They still had the same settings that they had had for the student who hadn’t come back.
“We’ll actually travel in this compartment to the other universe. When the box came back last night, it wasn’t damaged, so I assume that the journey itself is safe. I don’t know what happened to the student, but we’re going to find out.”
“Shouldn’t we take weapons with us? Or tools? Something we could use in case the student is trapped?”
“I’ve got some bandages and some aspirin in a first-aid kit. I also have a roll of duct tape. If we need anything else, we can come back for it. Ready?”
“No. I’m not ready for any of this. But by all means, proceed.”
“Here goes!”
Dr. G pushed a green button. A motor began to hum. The room shimmered for a moment, then returned to normal. Now there was light streaming through the small windows of the chamber.
“I think it’s done,” said Dr. G.
“Which door do we open?”
“The one we entered.”
Dr. G removed his seatbelt and went to the door. He looked through the door’s window, then opened the door. He left the chamber, and Dr. W exited right behind him.
They stepped out into a Ventibofenti coffee shop.
A young lady behind the counter said, “Hi! Welcome to Ventibofenti! What can I get for you?”
Then another voice said, “Dr. Gefiltefish! Dr. Worcestershire!”
The two doctors turned to see a young man sitting in a booth. He had a newspaper spread out on the table in front of him.
“Stanley!” said Dr G. “Why didn’t you come back with the machine?”
“Are you kidding? The food here is free! And they have the latest newspapers, the bathrooms are clean, and there’s free wifi. And no exams. Why would I want to leave?”
“Didn’t you think I might be worried? Why didn’t you send me an email, at least?”
“I did! I sent you five emails. Didn’t you check your email?”
“Oh. No, I suppose I didn’t.”
Dr. G looked out the windows of the coffee shop. He saw only blackness. He looked back at Stanley.
“Are we in the universe I created?”
“We are.”
“What’s outside of this store?”
“Nothing, yet.”
Dr. G turned to look at the young woman behind the counter. “How is this possible?” he said. “I just created this universe last week.”
“I’m glad you asked,” she said with a smile. “By the way, my name is Hannah, and I’ll be your barista today!” Hannah stepped out from behind the counter. “Our Department of New Locations is second to none. We have very sophisticated algorithms, and the best equipment. As soon as our computers detected this new location, we just had to be the first to occupy it. That’s one way that we stay ahead of our competitors.”
“So, how did you get here?”
“I’m not really sure. They just put me in a box and I show up, then the person who worked the shift before mine enters the box, and the box disappears.”
“I mean, how did they build this?”
“Engineering is beyond my pay grade. If I knew how they did this, I wouldn’t be working behind a counter.” Hannah quickly looked around. It had occurred to her that she was possibly being watched by unknown supervisors. “Not that I’m not happy to have my job!” she said loudly. “I love my job!”
“You know what this means, Fidelio?” asked Dr. W.
“Yes. It means my theory about the nature of the universe is correct, but that I’m not the first one to discover it. The people at Ventibofenti beat me to it.”
Dr. W looked at Hannah. “Are there other Ventibofenti locations around the galaxy?”
“I’m so sorry,” said Hannah, “I’m not allowed to talk about that. I can only tell you about this one. Our legal department and our media relations department have very strict rules. Our prime directive is not to interfere with native cultures – except to introduce them to coffee and coffee related items, of course. Employees are not allowed to discuss with a native what that native might not know about the universe.”
“Tell them about the free food,” said Stanley to Hannah.
“I can talk about that. This is our Grand Opening month,” Hannah said with a smile. “We’re giving away free food and free coffee to attract customers! But, so far, Stanley has been our only one.” Her smile began to fade.
“I’ll take a large coffee,” said Dr. W, “and one of those apple danishes.”
“Wonderful!” said Hannah. Her smile was back. She went behind the counter and started pouring the cup of coffee.
Dr. G looked at Dr. W, who shrugged.
Dr. G turned toward Hannah. He said, “I’ll take a pumpkin spice latte, venti. And a blueberry muffin, please.”
“Coming right up!” said Hannah.
“Here’s what I suggest,” said Dr. Worcestershire. “Don’t tell anyone about this just yet. This place will save us twenty minutes on our coffee runs, and over a hundred dollars a month. When they start charging for the coffee and the snacks, you can reevaluate.”
Dr. G nodded his head. “I need to think about this. I created this universe. They should pay me rent. We could open a portal from the university, and other universities too, and the rent would be my cut of the profits.”
“Excellent idea,” said Dr. W.
“Dr. Gefiltefish?” asked Stanley. “Do you think I can get a ride back with you, and then come back in a couple of hours? I’d like to go home and take a shower and pack a bag of clean clothes. I want to bring a sleeping bag and a pillow back here with me, too.”
Dr. G shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t see why not.”
Hannah gave the customers what they’d ordered, then she watched all three of the visitors walk into Dr. G’s machine.
The machine disappeared.
Hannah sat down, took a magazine out of her purse, and began to read.
[End of Part 2]
© Copyright 2018 Mark James Wooding
Dr. Drew interviewed Scott Adams recently, and Scott Adams mentioned the absurdity that Republicans went to overthrow the government on Jan 6, but they neglected to bring their guns. On the first or second anniversary of the event, that alleged oversight made the narrative appear absurd to me, so I made a "video" that was supposed to be audio from January 6, captured on a video camera from which the lens cap had not been removed. I'm posting it again just because.
While I was waiting on hold to talk with a human at the IRS, I decided to put some food out for the dogs. I set the full bag of dog food on a chair, and walked away to get the bowls. When I turned around I saw the bag slowly tipping over, spilling much of its contents onto the floor. Fortunately I had help cleaning it up.
The main task for today is to begin revising McGuffey's Fourth Eclectic Reader. It may take a couple of weeks, possibly more. I still have to work at Publix, and next week I start a new job in the memory care unit of a rehab/nursing home facility, and I'll also be working at Publix at least one night.
After that I'll take a look at the double-slit experiment, and see if there is an interpretation that is consistent with my theory of wave physics.
Also, I came across the attached meme, which I had created two or three years (or so) ago. I thought I'd include it because I still like it.
I recently proposed a theory of matter and energy called Wave Physics. In this theory, the only things in the universe are energy and the universal membrane, which is the medium through which all energy is transfered and stored.
Tonight I realized that according to this theory, everyone and everything in the universe are connected to each other at all times. Things that would be impossible according to the standard model of particle physics, are very possible in the universe of wave physics. Psychic transmissions and the power of prayer are physically possible and make sense if the universe works in any way like the theory I proposed.
If you've ever heard the phone ring and felt sure who it was before answering it, and were proven correct, this makes sense in wave physics, but not with particle physics. If you've ever looked intently at someone, and had that person quickly turn and look directly at you (I have), that phenomenon makes sense if all of us are parts of the same vast, ...
I was only scheduled to work three days this week, so I decided to work on a theory I'd been playing around with for fun over the last few years. I'd never been a big fan of the standard model of particle physics, so a few years ago, just for fun, I thought about exploring some alternate ideas, with zero training and zero experiments.
This week I wrapped up a few loose ends, and posted it to a community I created called Wave Physics. Originally I had called it Alternative Physics, but I changed my mind, so the link still has alternativephysics in it, but the community name is Wave Physics. I'd love for people to pay $5.00 a month to tell me how wrong I am.
https://alternativephysics.locals.com/
I also posted it on my personal website:
