Chapter 27

Time: Unknown, transversing a slip channel conduit...

Isabelle's mind was filled with wonder as she sped through the column of blue bubbles. She could sense being held tightly by her mother, but that sensation seemed to exist in an alternate reality. Isabelle cried out to her mom, trying to make contact.

"Mom! What is this stuff?"

Isabelle sensed rather than heard an answer. "I don't know! This isn't what I was expecting! Hang on!"

The lights were so pretty, broad swatches of rainbow and bluish pastel colors shimmering on the waving bubbles. There was no sound to the popping, and Isabelle felt dry even through the sensations of being sprayed and splashed by the foaming chaos.

"So pretty," Isabelle thought. "It's like being inside a cartoon..." And then she blinked her eyes open, as if awakening from a dream. Her body was surrounded by A'moth's arms. Her mother let her go as they both realized the ride was over.

Isabelle stood up and gazed at her new environment. The sun was shining low overhead. It felt like mid to late afternoon. The air temperature was comfortably cool, a little above 50F. Isabelle was overjoyed to be away from the extreme cold. "The corn! It's so lush! Are we in the Southern hemisphere?"

A'moth smiled. "Good guess, but this isn't Earth at all. Welcome to Antelope Freeway! Give me a few minutes and I'll explain." A'moth took off her backpack and took out a sextant and a periscope with telescopic sights. She extended the optical tube four meters in the air, above the high tops of the corn...

A'moth surveyed the horizon and saw her objective almost immediately, the 400-foot walls at the center of Antelope Freeway. From the sun position, A'moth guessed the walls to be approximately in a southwest direction, and then she felt a stab of fear. Her rangefinder on the periscope was estimating the distance at twenty-three kilometers, which would put her right at the chaotic edge of the small universe. A'moth grimaced but then looked again at the sun's position. It seemed stable and unmoving.

"Isabelle, let me put off explanations for a few more minutes. I've got to make some measurements with the sextant."

Isabelle yawned, and the then shook her head as if to clear it. "Sure mom. Can I take a look with the periscope?"

A'moth gave her permission and spent the next several minutes timing the progression of the sun. When she was finished, she felt a bit puzzled. The sun's speed was consistent with a 24-hour day, as close as she could measure it.

"So what's next?" asked Isabelle. "Do we head for one of the two buildings?" She stretched her arms and sighed deeply.

"What?!"

After a moment of conversation, A'moth took a look herself with the scope and confirmed Isabelle's observation. There appeared to be two large buildings, each about twenty-three kilometers apart, in opposite directions on the horizon. Finally A'moth spoke. "Isabelle, I don't understand what's going on. The building to the southwest might be a hair closer. Let's head to that. I'll explain what I know as we walk..."

Isabelle wobbled on her feet for a second, then nodded her head and began hiking with her mother. They had only been walking for a few minutes when Isabelle started to lag behind. A'moth turned to her. "Something wrong?"

Isabelle nodded and wobbled again. "I'm so sleepy. I don't know why." She smiled and tried to make a joke. "Maybe I'm Dorothy approaching the Emerald City. Where's my dog?" She looked at the ground for a moment and then laid herself on the ground. A'moth stared at her in astonishment as she thought Isabelle was pretending to go to sleep.

"Isabelle, we don't have time..." A'moth suddenly realized Isabelle was not playing. She rushed over and examined her.

Isabelle's eyes had a glazed look to them, and she seemed to be semi-conscious. "So pretty..." she muttered. "All the people..."

A'moth sat by Isabelle's side for the next two hours, until the sun set. She was very alarmed by Isabelle's state, but at a total loss for what to do. As twilight fell, she set up her small tent and carried Isabelle inside. Her daughter was mumbling incoherently. A'moth knelt by her side watching her. Isabelle would occasionally look around the tent, but did not seem to recognize her presence.

"Isabelle, can you hear me? How do you feel?"

Isabelle panted. "So intense... I never realized... So intense... Nice though... attractive... enticing..." Her eyes drifted. "The emotions... so powerful... so beautiful..." She panted again for a while, her glazed look drifting around the tent. "I'm not ready... I love you..."

A'moth didn't know what to do. Isabelle would occasionally pant and break out into a sweat, even though it was quite cool in the tent. A'moth stroked her daughter's head and waited, hoping Isabelle would come out of the stupor on her own.

A'moth debated whether to try to read Isabelle's mind. She didn't need her daughter's cooperation to make the link. She had read Juan Perez's mind fully, despite his frantic efforts to stop her. But to force read would be a profound invasion of privacy, and without Isabelle's permission A'moth couldn't bring herself to do it. She wound up sitting by her daughter's side and gently petting her head.

The time passed slowly. The cornfield at night was silent, except for the slow chirps of a few distant crickets. A'moth was deep in her own thoughts, and then she felt her daughter's hand reach up and pet her. "Hi mom..."

A'moth blinked and looked at the time. It was more than two hours past sunset. "Hi sweetie! How do you feel?"

"Fine... Strange..." Isabelle stretched. "I just had the strangest dream."

"Yeah? What about?"

"Uh..." A'moth saw Isabelle blush. "Well... It was kind of... well..."

"Embarrassing?"

Isabelle nodded and shrugged. She looked like she was trying to say something, but wound up remaining quiet for a long moment. "Do you need to know the details?"

A'moth shook her head. "No, that's okay. I was just worrying about you, that's all. Hungry?"

"Sure!" said Isabelle, eager to change the subject. "Can I help with anything?"

They spent the next two hours sharing a meal and chatting. A'moth filled Isabelle in on all her previous experiences with Antelope Freeway and Jim and Cindy. Isabelle was quiet for the first hour, but the second was filled with questions. A'moth answered as best she could, and she was very impressed at Isabelle's analytic mind, and how rapidly her daughter understood her incredible tale.

"I guess I see why you never told us about all this," Isabelle commented after a while. "You were afraid of changing Earth's timeline, weren't you?"

"Yes. Jim Arnold was amazed by what was in the physics books, but he was also bewildered by the implications of the mathematics. Havika was too. Havika wrote that what he was observing was in direct conflict with core of the slip-bubble formalism, and Jim's first impression was to agree with him. But now Jim has had more than a month to study the texts. I can't wait to see if he's changed his mind."

"But the concept makes no sense!" said Isabelle with exasperation. "How can free will be an illusion?!"

"Yes, I know... The mathematics wasn't quite suggesting that. But what it was suggesting was just as bizarre. That if free will were not an illusion, then going back in time should have caused a causality violation."

"Which would do what?"

"Jim wasn't sure. He wasn't too happy though. He muttered something about all of reality unraveling, and then looked very embarrassed... more confused than frightened. I can't wait to talk with him again."

The two walked outside the tent to stretch their legs. The night stars had the familiar look of Earth. "Mom? This looks just like Earth! But where's the moon?"

"The moon? I don't know. Think of the view as an illusion. The entire third spatial dimension really doesn't really exist here. It's a holographic illusion. It's all part of the gravitational illusion."

Isabelle shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand. What does that mean?"

"I don't know. Ask Jim when you meet him." They were both wide awake, and Isabelle tried one of the ears of corn after roasting it over a small fire. She commented that it was the most delicious illusion she ever ate.

The rest of their night was restful and uneventful, and they broke camp shortly before daybreak. "Look mom! There's the moon. But the crescent is pointing in the wrong direction!"

"What?"

"Yesterday the moon was a waxing crescent, but today it's pointing in the direction of a waning crescent."

A'moth studied the sky for a moment. "You're right. And the stars look like the spring equinox position, maybe even a little passed it."

Isabelle looked very thoughtful. "Do you think we moved in time? Dad will have... did have... a long wait... How do I say it?"

A'moth smiled. "I'm not sure. English tenses aren't designed for time travel. But I get your idea."

They continued their hike. Within four hours they covered eighteen kilometers, and A'moth estimated they were only about five kilometers from the towering walls. They crossed several asphalt roads in their journey, but the roads ran roughly perpendicular to their desired direction, so they kept walking across the cornfields.

"Look mom! Birds!"

"Huh?" A'moth looked up into the morning sky. High overhead two birds were circling them. As A'moth stared, she realized they were also descending.

Future Interlude VII: Memory Integration

Aina time: 2:50 AM day 211 of 1473 H.E.

Mayoni was turning fitfully in her sleep. Her sister Kalea was doing the same, waving her arms while her eyelids fluttered with the rapid movement of REM sleep. Both young women were experiencing intense and vivid dreams...

Mayoni opened her eyes within her dream and looked around. There was a howl of wind all around her, and she realized she was lying in a small tent. She turned and saw Keona beside her, smiling and holding her low on her waist. Mayoni blinked and felt a shiver of... of what? Embarrassment? Arousal? She was naked, naked with a man! She should be so embarrassed. And yet... "Keona! You are my husband!"