King of All I Survey

I was going through the options for inhabited worlds to contact, sitting in the observation tower now miles deep in the ocean, when Joe interrupted me. "King Tim, you have a call from Professor Wagner. He says he has an urgent matter to discuss."

I liked Professor Wagner, talking with him always cheered me up, his easy-going attitude and quick with always made for fun conversations. I had almost forgotten that I had team of top scientists working on unlocking alien technologies. With Joe's decision to use his full power to let us bypass those technologies, it was kind of a moot point. I hadn't circled back to the team I had working on to either release them or redirect them, yet. "OK, Joe, I've been meaning to talk to him anyway. Put him through.

The professor's face, a young man of maybe 30 years old now, after the full course of rejuvenation treatments had been completed. Appeared on the clear glass wall of the observation tower. "Hello, Professor! How are you?"

His smile was still the same one I remembered from our first meeting, full of life and energy. Now, however it was plastered on the face of a strong, young man. His blue eyes were sharp and clear, his ever-present eyeglasses gone. His hair was a sandy blonde, which I hadn't known since it had been white when we met. His features were sharp, chiseled, like the classic definition of handsome. It was hard for me to equate this face with the man I knew as Professor Ernst Wagner. His words and tone, though his voice was a bit deeper and lacked the little tremor it had before, revealed the same man behind the new face. ""It depends who you ask, the others here say I'm the most curmudgeonly thirty-year-old they've ever met. I tell them I was thirty when they were in diapers! Which, for most of them is not a pleasant mental image. I mean, I love George, but the thought of that man in diapers… well, not something to thing about before a cocktail or two."

I smiled. I resolved to spend more time talking to Professor Wagner, it was good for my spirits. "Well, professor, before the conversation devolves into imaginative descriptions of umbilical cords, what can I do for you today?"

"Umbilical cords! Ha!" His smile widened, then shrank and disappeared. Yes, well," he paused and I could tell this was not going to be good news. He was deeply troubled by something from the look on his face. I don't recall ever seeing this expression from him. He sighed heavily. "I don't know how heavily you 've looked into the alien sciences and mathematics systems… You've demonstrated that your skills are very good, with the direct implant learning and specific teachings from your AI."

"Joe. My AI's name is Joe Torres," I interrupted. "he's actually listening in. Say hi, Joe."

"Hello, Professor Wagner. Have there been any issues in adapting to the rejuvenated body?"

Wagner's smile returned for a second, "Well, it was a bit like going through puberty again, if you know what I mean. Of course, young Tim has no idea what I mean… "Then the smile left his face again. "Tim, I'm not sure… Joe, should hear this."

I raised my eyebrows, "Oh? Unfortunately, there's no way to hide it from him, even if I wanted to. He is by default always listening to everything, everywhere, all at once."

Wagner's brows knitted, a bit of apprehension, but mostly in thought as he considered my statement. One eyebrow lifted, "So, you know?"

"Know what, professor. This'll go a lot faster and easier, if you just tell me what's on your mind."

He took a deep breath then slowly exhaled, as if gathering himself to do something difficult. "I haven't told the others yet, and they haven't figured it out. Not that they are bright enough, but I have them assigned on projects that lead their thoughts elsewhere… Your alien mathematics don't actually work. I mean, they do, but only up to a point. Far superior to what we had on Earth, of course. But, at the far end, it goes wrong. I think deliberately so. The discrepancy doesn't affect most practical or theoretical lines of inquiry. Except one."

"Go on." I said, suspecting what he was going to tell me.

"The mathematics doesn't support the development of the interdimensional quantum scale computing of the alien AI's- the math just doesn't work. The hardware doesn't support it either, if we didn't have the actual AI units, working… I'd say it was a fraud and couldn't exist. Either way, I think we've been deliberately misled."

"The others don't know yet? Do they suspect?" I asked.

"No, as I've said, I've focused their research in other areas. The math works, as far as I can tell, for everything else. It would be almost impossible to detect the problems, unless you start squirming down the rathole of your impossible interdimensional quantum AI. I mean basic quantum computing is child's play, but the interdimensional matrices and interactions, just can't be mathematically defined by the systems we have. Not just that, but the math says they can't exist… Outside of the math, conceptually, I can almost envision a solution, but…"

"But?"

"But once initiated, it seems like it might sort of be a runaway cascade. Subsuming more and more of the surrounding energies and particles in an infinite chain reaction. Chain reaction is not the right concept because it implies a series of causes and effects, with effects that are the next causes, and so on. But this process, if my non-mathematically supported theory is correct, would lie outside of the normal flow of time, where the cause and effect are, in a sense simultaneous and not limited by space or time." Wagner's expression was quite intense, and at the same time distant as if he were concentrating, visualizing some grand concept, and a getting lost in the fascination of ti, all at the same time.

"Professor," Joe's voice cut it in, "You are correct. I've told King Tim, about this, and he is aware of the limitations of the current 'state of the art' mathematics systems used throughout the galaxy. As you have steered your colleagues away from this particular area of inquiry. The other civilizations of the universe are also steered away from this area. They are also misdirected by their own seeming ability to produce such interdimensional quantum computing 'devices', though they don't understand how, exactly. "

"Joe," I said, why don't you add a couple more chairs here in the observation tower and bring Dr. Wagner and your android form here to continue this discussion. Would you care for tea, Dr. Wagner?"

Wagner looked a little relaxed having gotten the topic of conversation off his chest and realizing that I already knew. "Yes, and a bagel would be nice, plain, warm, but not toasted."

Two chairs were rising from the floor forming a triangle shape with mine. "Joe," I added, I'll have a hot chocolate, with little marshmallows."

"Of course," his incorporeal voice answered. "Dr. Wagner, are you prepared to be transported?"

"Hmm. Oh, yes, let me just stand up. Wouldn't want to fall on my ass when I get there without my seat under me." He pushed his chair back from the table, and stood. His frame, previously thin and stooped, was now fit if not overly athletic, and he was taller than I had assumed, over six feet. "OK, ready to go."

The display on the wall cleared revealing the deep ocean behind it. The man himself appeared in front of me. I stood and reached out my hand, "Welcome to the Super Secret Planetary Leadership Undersea Treehouse Fortress, Dr. Wagner. This is the observation deck." I shook his hand and then swept my hands around at the space around us. "I like to come here to think and relax."

Joe appeared beside us, as did a tray of beverages with one plain bagel, sliced neatly in half.

Dr. Wagner looked down at my diminutive eight-year-old body. "Ha. I'll never get over that you are so young! As his gaze followed by gesture, he shook his head in wonderment, "Remarkable… truly awe-inspiring."

Joe reached out his hand toward the professor, "Doctor Wagner, I'm Joe Torres, the impossible interdimensional quantum artificial intelligence."

Dr. Wagner looked at him, meeting his gaze directly and seemed to be trying to bore into his head with his eyes. "Remarkable," he said again.

"Please have a seat, Professor. I can raise my chair up to feel like a big person," I smiled playfully. "My neck get s sore if I have to look up at everyone all day."

"Ha!" Wagner said, "actually, I'm looking up to you, with all you've done in such a short period of time." He took his seat, and the tray floated over to him. He took half the bagel in one hand and the tea in the other. The adaptive chair molded itself to provide perfect comfort.

Joe took a coffee from the tray, then it floated over to me, and picked up a nice mug of hot chocolate with milk and marshmallows, exactly how I liked it. The smell was heaven. My chair, as if formed around me, lifted me so that my head was at eye level with the others. The tray with its remaining half bagel floated over to Dr. Wagner and took up a position in the air, just to his side at the perfect height for him to comfortably set his tea down as desired. Though the thin tray floated in the air, it was perfectly solid and stable.

Dr. Wagner looked at it, seeming to marvel at the concept, though they had similar trays and food synthesizers at the island base where he was working for me.

"I can make the math work for that," he said nodding toward the tray, "but you, Joe, seem to be something of a mystery."

Joe smiled enigmatically.