DLM, Bk 6, Ch, 7

“You are suggesting additional dimensions?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around the strings of information Galatea had sent to me. Calling the math she had assembled to demonstrate the concept ‘dense’ was akin to calling the Pacific a small puddle, it was horrifyingly complex, referencing and quoting research of dozens of physicists spanning multiple decades. Some of the names I recognised as greats of their times,their work groundbreaking and changing the way the world was seen, others, I had never even heard about, their work obscure and almost lost to time and memory. At times, she was merely using their ideas as a foundation, other times taking a part of their work, using established concepts to further a point or define a variable. Just trying to read the whole thing, without any of the referenced materials or trying to fully comprehend it, simply taking in the text and equations, had taken me two days, working at superhuman speed with only limited down-time for the necessities of life, food, sleep and Sophia.

Even trying to digest the referenced thesis would add months to the effort, as those writings were complex in their own right and, again, referencing different, often obscure treatises, some of which had been discarded as disproven. But just because something did not work in the normal, three-dimensional paradigm of space, did not mean that it couldn’t have relevance for an expanded paradigm, with the necessary adjustments.

“It makes sense.” Galatea insisted, transferring yet more information, a variety of experimental results, interpreted through the framework laid down by her maths. I could only shake my head, simply reading her equations did not allow me to apply them, or interpret real-world data through them, not without a whole lot of extra effort. Regardless of my inability, I was able to follow along with her logic, at least to a point. And what I saw made an eerie amount of sense.

It made me wonder if I felt like one of the ancients had felt, as they measured shadows, compared and realised that their whole, flat world was merely a tiny part of a much larger, round whole. Realising just how small your world had been, how limited the breadth of your vision was, it was humbling but, at the same time, exciting, as I began to wonder what was hiding behind the horizon.

“It would also solve the problem of Powered Energy Generation.” Galatea added, further battering my disbelief and I eagerly snatched up that particular line of thinking, as it was something with which I had more than passing familiarity. It was the question where the energy used by Powered came from, how it was generated. In all other parts of reality, our understanding of Physics had allowed us to pin down where the energy was coming from, crystallizing in the first law of thermodynamics. Within a closed system, energy was constant, could neither be created nor destroyed, which begged the question, where was the energy someone like Technica had used to power equipment with her Power coming from. It certainly was not from her biological existence, the amount of energy generated was simply too large, unless there were some direct matter-energy transfers involved. Of which there was no hint. Galatea’s work invoked that additional dimension as a previously unobserved opening within the observed system, allowing energy to flow in from outside, thus circumventing the first law of thermodynamics.

“What does that mean in practice?” I asked, finally giving up and simply accepting her hypothesis, so that we could begin to test and examine it. When there was no immediate answer, I began to look at the last set of equations again, leaving her to present the first experiment.

“I have an idea, a simple one.” she told me, not sharing the plan for some reason, but asking me to get Sophia into one of the work-rooms.

Not quite certain why she needed Sophia, I accepted.

“Love, Galatea wants to test something and we need your help.” I explained, getting an affirmative response without ever questioning what we needed.

“What did you work on, those last two days?” she asked, walking next to me as we moved through the base.

“Galatea thought something up and it is…” I paused, not quite sure how to describe it. Complicated? Ground-Breaking? Insane? It was all of these things, and so much more.

“...Interesting.” I finished, the word not expansive enough by far, but the best I could do, without sounding bombastic.

“As long as it is you using the probes, I don’t mind getting experimented on.” Sophia grinned, giving me a gentle shove.

“I do not think there will be probes involved.” I assured her, getting a pout in return. “But I might find something, later.” I promised, a grin on my face.

The set-up in the workshop was simplistic, a rope hanging off a redirecting hook, before vanishing through a newly made hole in the wall, into the room next door. Without showing me what was on the other side, Galatea’s instructions were for Sophia to pull down the rope, in an attempt to get an easy, base-line reading, as there was no weight on the other side. It did not make sense to me, but I relayed the instruction, stepping back to see how it worked.

Sophia stepped up, easily pulling on the rope, showing no strain what-so-ever until Galatea transmitted the instruction to let go, which Sophia did. The speed with which the rope snapped back surprised me, but did not explain the set-up to me.

My confusion was not lessened when Galatea transmitted the next set of instructions, namely to climb up the rope, which was now apparently fixed in the other room.

Again, I relayed the instruction and, driven by super-powered muscles, Sophia easily climbed up the rope, swinging around a little, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Once she was at the top, she simply let go, gracefully landing after a short drop.

“Can we start with the experiment now?” she asked, looking as confused as I felt.

My confusion was only heightened when Galatea transmitted the set-up on the other side, my mind trying to re-align my understanding of reality with the reality she presented.

During the first test, Sophia had lifted twice her weight, without bracing or any other tools. It should not work, she should have pulled herself up, not the unseen weight on the other side of the wall. Before I could begin to work myself into a mental frenzy at the impossibility of it all, Galatea made sure to direct my attention to the second part.

In which the rope Sophia had climbed was just dangling there, without any weight attached at all. No matter how heavy the rope, no matter how light Sophia was, without tying off the rope, there was no way it should have the weight to let her climb it. Not unless there was some massive friction-break somewhere, taking the force out of the rope. It was impossible, or so everything I knew about physics claimed. What she had done was the equivalent of pulling herself out of a swamp, by using her own hair. If she could do what she had just done consciously, she would be able to fly, or at least, she would be able to freely move through the sky. Grace in flying might need some practice.

“So, what was this about?” Sophia asked, looking at the stunned expression on my face.

“Galatea just showed me some data and it looks like she pulled one over on both of us.” I admitted, only the electric modulation allowing my voice to sound normal. Disbelief was still trying to find an explanation for the results of this oh-so-simple experiment.

“And I have to admit, I am feeling like an idiot. Or maybe, like someone pulled the rug of reality from beneath my feet.” I admitted, shaking my head.

“Explain, please.” she asked me, stepping up and putting her arms around me, the physical sensation adding a bit of grounding to my struggling mind.

“I guess I will have to arrest you.” I began, laughing despite myself, “You see, you broke the laws of physics over there, little lady.”

Sophia’s snort caused the suppressed laughter to bubble out and for a minute or so, I simply laughed at the simplicity of the experiment and the implications of it. At the same time, I wondered if I should tell Sophia, as it was obvious that the thinking mind had some influence, when Sophia had thought that she should be able to easily pull down the rope, she had been able to, when she thought she should be able to climb it, she had been able to. When in reality, she should not have been able to do either.

What would it mean, if I told her about that influence, would it make her unable to wield that influence again, if she questioned her ability to influence reality on such a level? Would a single word, spoken without ill-intent forever destroy her ability to fly?