The God Who Wasn't - Final Chapter

Hi,


First of all I'd like to apologize to everyone again for delay in the final part. I know its unfair to end a chapter at a cliffhanger and don't show up for next 4 months !!
For the convenience of the new readers, you can download the complete story in pdf  from Chapter - I to Chapter - III at this link http://tinyurl.com/3tnt36m. 


Enjoy the story and I'll see you again at the end of this chapter.

CHAPTER – III

As the moon began to touch the western horizons, Its dim milky light casted a long shadow of the 300 year old abandoned observatory,  onto the valleys of Coeltshire. The rotunda of the observatory still stood proudly with many generations of scientists and astronomers unleashing the wonders of the universe. After Earth’s unification the pace of scientific progress doubled as the best scientists worked together using the best resources available. 

Setup of wide array telescopes was one such landmark where all planets right from Mercury to way far to Pluto, housed synchronized telescopes. It helped astronomers technically harnessing a solar system wide mammoth telescope. 

And then no one needed the old observatory. Once a centre for all cosmological progress - coeltshire observatory was forgotten as an age old relic declaring the footsteps of human civilization.

But tonight, by a sheer stroke of fate, it again was home to greatest scientists in the world trying to unknot the biggest discovery humanity has made.

“I…I don’t understand it. These depictions can’t be the key to ultimate secret of the universe. Its nothing!” – said Professor Lowell as the piece of paper in front of him challenged him at 10 years of intellectually heightened brain’s work in those simple images

 “Professor Lowell – to the unwise, the Rosetta is merely a stone but those who seek knowledge are unbound by their own rationalities. For such people that stone changed everything we knew. We are again standing at the same point in the history. These figures represent the ultimate knowledge. I am sure of it. And I have not had a moment’s calm since I got to see these pictures. But I can’t get farther now, and you are the only one who can solve this mystery. Nothing will be a greater loss for the mankind if this knowledge is lost.”

‘Follow me professor….we have a long night ahead of us. Let me show you a place where you can put more thought to it.’

Sudarshana gestured Lowell to follow him. Before leaving, Lowell took one last look at Anuj who was sleeping his deepest sleep.

Minutes later, Lowell and Sudharshana were sitting down on opposite ends of a long dimly lit table. The room was living quarters cum the laboratory of Sudarshana. A variety of instruments lay around the room along with some simputers.

Lowell quickly diverted his mind onto the piece of paper. Still, the figures merely represented some random drawings. He began to wonder if it indeed contained anything at all.

‘But I must give it a try’ – he thought

 “A cylinder is the first figure. And it is connected to a circle; the next row has a cross connected to a similar circle. Well nothing much to it but then how is this supposed to contain an answer which will let humanity take a leap thousands of years into future.” – said Lowell with a bit of contempt

“Very well Lowell. You are right. There is an answer somewhere in there. But if there is an answer then what is the question?” – Interrupted Sudarshana

“What do you mean?”

“You see, this paper does not only contain the answer but the question too. Else, whatever secrets it has won’t make any sense. Imagine professor – getting to the biggest secret of the universe summarized in a puzzle, but without knowing the question which it answered, you’ll never be able to decipher the question, even if that represented the biggest discovery of the mankind.”

“So you are telling me that the question is also hidden somewhere in this” – asked Lowell pointing towards the diagrams

“Exactly.” – Said Sudarshana with a confidence reflecting that he had already solved a part of the puzzle

Lowell closed his eyes and tried connecting the pictures again. Cylinder….a circle….a cross…another circle.

And his mind subconsciously drifted to an old memory -

“If 13 : 89 is same as x: 1597, what is x here?” had asked his high school teacher in advance mathematics class

“Its two thirty three” – had answered his youngest pupil

“Defend”  - declared the teacher smiling and perfectly knowing that his favorite student definitely will.

“These four form a set of consecutive Fibbonacci primes.” – had answered Lowell much to the awe and envy of his fellow students

And he opened his eyes with the realization that -

“Its not a cross! Its “X”! That’s an alphabet X!” – exclaimed Lowell

“Yes Lowell.  X is what is used by mathematicians since ages to depict the unknown. And that is what Anuj wants us to figure out. He want us to find what will X represents here. More precisely – what represents its relationship with the second circle if the same relationship exists between the cylinder and the first circle. And that’s the question. And this is all I was able to understand Lowell. Its now all upto you”

Lowell looked at the picture admiring the beauty in which a very difficult question has been laid out in front of him. The question as well as the answer.

‘The little x’- thought Lowell presently –‘has always been there’

‘So the x is the question here. What is that which holds the same relationship to the second circle as the cylinder holds to the first one?’ – said Lowell summarizing the question

“Yes Lowell, I also came to the same conclusion. And that’s as far as even I have reached. ” – said a visibly  impressed Sudarshana realizing that Lowell has cracked the first piece of the puzzle.

‘But still it’s a long way even to the question.’ Sudarshana commented . ‘You see, by that logic the x should be a cylinder again. And that’s not a secret at the very least’

Lowell knew Sudarshana was right. A cylinder to a circle connection is what existed in both the figures.

‘But this doesn’t make any sense.’ – thought Lowell

“Why would someone draw exact circles which will depict the identical things. There must be something more to it.” – he said

.

Lowell looked again focused on the pictures. For the first time he looked at the two circles in isolation. And after the realization, he felt embarrassed to not to have noticed earlier that -

   “The second circle had a dot at the very centre!” – Exclaimed Lowell and continued

“Interesting. Very interesting. But are you sure that is what he intended. Couldn’t a dot just be a small mistake?” – asked Lowell suspiciously

“I don’t know Professor. I haven’t noticed that earlier. But I don’t imagine Anuj making a mistake. I have seen his papers. His logical process is very precise. And his intelligence cannot be measured through any of the known techniques. This human God doesn’t make mistakes Professor Lowell. That dot could be the key to solve this riddle.”

“I understand. But still I don’t see more to it. The first set of pictures clearly represent a geometrical figure and its cross section. If that’s the connection with second set, and assuming our understanding is correct – the X merely represents a hollow cylinder. Nothing more.”

‘But there will be more Professor’ – replied Shudarshana with heightened emotions

‘I know that there is something hidden there somewhere and I urge you to accept that as well’

Lowell sighed. He leaned back on his chair and nodded slightly and plunged himself into the piece of paper hoping to uncover something majestic.

*****

Two hours later, the crumpled balls of paper formed a heap atop the ash-free disposer lying at one corner of the room. A lumiglow flickered in another corner futilely demanding the attention of the scientists.

‘Professor, I don’t mean to interrupt but if you can share your thoughts I might be of some help’ – asked sudarshana pouring another cup of brew for Lowell

‘These’ – said a tired Lowell raising another crumpled sheet of paper before tossing it over to the disposer ‘…are my thoughts’

‘There is nothing more to it Sudarshana….nothing at all. And you will have to accept that.’ Paused Lowell

‘And now I will have to call the OEC and let them take control of everything’ - he said while rising from his chair

‘So is this it? Is this the same Lowell whom I thought would help the mankind take another leap into the future? Tell me, would you give up just because you could not understand the scribe of the God? Tell me Lowell, if you just give up now, won’t you regret for your whole life for this decision?’

‘I might. And I will strive for my whole life to get a glimpse of whatever Anuj has seen. But these diagrams mean absolutely nothing Sudharshana. And I can’t believe that wasted my time in listening to crazy stories of a madman ’

‘I am not scared of being evicted to Mars colonies Professor. And I know no one will listen to me. Please trust me Professor for once. For our old times sake. I have seen Anuj’s work before. And you have too. The EC works professor. I have seen it. I might be an eccentric but I am not a madman.” – said Sudarshana making a final attempt

Lowell suddenly stopped in his tracks. He froze as if stunned by a neurogun. Gradually his eyes turned wide as looked at Sudarshana and mumbled in a half question – eccentric?

‘That’s it !!’  Exclaimed Lowell and rushed back to his chair

‘Quick . Get me a nanoscale.’ He ordered Sudarshana

Sudarshana, a bit confused now, scrambled with his instruments to find the nanoscale - the device which was used to measure lengths smaller than a millimeter. The smallest length which could be measured was a nanometer and hence the name.

He handed out the nanometer to Lowell who was now again intensely looking at the figures again.

He stood silently watching Lowell taking several measurements and scribbling hastily on the margins. Few minutes later when Lowell raised his head, his face showed signs of content.

‘Please forgive me Sudarshana for my outburst earlier. You are right. Anuj is right’ – said Lowell

‘Anuj was definitely working on a complex problem and we were trying to interpret it in a very simple manner.In fact, Anuj has left us clues layered in these pictures. ‘

‘We were assuming that both these circles simply denoted a geometric figure.  And that’s where we were wrong. Let me explain’ – Lowell said as Sudarshana pulled up an adjacent chair.

‘We were thinking that the second figure is a circle with a dot….’ Lowell paused before saying

‘…well its not’

‘But then…what it is?”

‘Yes. And that was our mistake. And we assumed that the dot was the centre of the circle. 

Actually, It only looks like a circle’

‘Remember that you said that each and every dot has a meaning in Anuj’s drawings. I had that running subconsciously in my head. But when you said eccentric , I realized that perhaps we were not looking at a perfect circle but and eccentric one…in other words….’

‘…its an ellipse’

‘And that’s what I tried to check with nanometer. See here…the circle should have all points at equal distance from the dot. But in this case the smaller side is shorter by 99.98%. In fact, the dot represents the focus of the ellipse.’

 ‘But that’s not it. As I said…these are not merely the diagrams…..they represent something very real. Something which can help us answer the question. Tell me Sudarshana, whats  so peculiar about the ratio of having minor axis and major axis to be 99.98%?’ Questioned Lowell

‘Isn’t that….that’ – fumbled Sudarshana with a sense of disbelief

‘Its not any ellipse here…it’s the orbit of the earth’ –Lowell completed his sentence

‘Are you sure about this?’ asked Sudarshana

‘Yes. I even checked the radius of the centre dot. That’s our Sun on that scale.’

‘That’s….thats marvelous’ said the astonished scientist

“Hold your awe Sudarshana. There is even more. I think I have deciphered the last part of the puzzle as well. I am still not absolutely sure of it. But I think that’s what Anuj intended.” – said Lowell with an air of seriousness

‘Let me start from the beginning itself. See…the first set of figure has a cylinder and a circle. A three dimensional object and its two dimensional cross-section’  Lowell paused

‘That is…if you extend the circle from two to three dimensions – you’ll get a 3 dimensional object called cylinder. If that is the exact same relationship which exists in the second set of figures as well…then…tell me Sudarshana…what will have as its cross-section a part of our solar system?’

Lowell waited for an answer. And then replied.

‘A four-dimensional solar system’ – Lowell said as Sudarshana sat there frozen with what he was hearing

‘That’s right. The x represents a four dimensional solar system and ultimately the existence of a four-dimensional Universe !’ – Lowell repeated

A silence erupted between the two man. Sudarshana knew the concept of four dimensional Universe but merely as a theory. A Universe having an additional dimension was incomprehensible by anyone. Well, that did not stop people from theorizing it – but even imagining it was beyond human limits.

‘That’s …that’s crazy’ – exclaimed Sudarshana

‘Is it really? Let me simplify the logic for discussion professor. Imagine a life of a two dimensional being in a two dimensional world - say, a piece of paper. How will you define your Universe? – won’t you just imagine it to be limited to two dimensions? In such a planar Universe length and breadth will define everything present in such a Universe.

All of your senses and perceptions will be limited only to that plane. You may even imagine huge two dimensional planets circling two dimensional suns. And may be even life thriving on them. Our hypothetical two dimensional life forms may even interpret physical phenomenon observed by them and may develop laws of science fitting into their two dimensional Universe. They would be completely impervious to the presence of a third dimension’

Lowell lifted the piece of paper and waved his pencil near to it as if trying to grab the attention of hypothetical two-dimensional beings -‘Even if a three dimensional object lay close to them…they won’t sense it as they can’t perceive the third dimension’

 ‘Ok . Even if I agree that such 2 dimensional world might exist. What is it you are trying to prove?’

“By extension professor – our Universe consists of only the dimensions we are able to perceive. What if there exists a four dimensional Universe of which we hold no more significance than a cross-section?”

“What Anuj is suggesting Professor…that there are tangible higher dimensions out there…and we merely are living in our fewer-dimensional-Universes.“

As Lowell emphasized his last sentence, both the scientists who were now standing in excitement stared at each other. Small droplets of sweat were visible at Lowell’s head. Both of them perfectly knew the implications of what Lowell was saying. And that – was the only logical conclusion.

“Sudarshana, as I said I am still not sure. But if this can be proven somehow, it could really be the biggest  discovery the humanity has made. Proving it is near impossible. But we must try ‘

Said Lowell with a sigh. He stared down at the two diagrams Anuj has made which now looked completely different altogether. He was the best scientist of his time and now when he thought about his discoveries and his work and it all seemed too insignificant to what might lay in the Universe.

Still looking into infinity he said –

 “Have you ever pondered whether we are the greatest creation of the God? I have. And that has always bothered me. If God wanted us to be his greatest creations he would have given us a more prominent place in this Universe. Not a small pale speck in one corner of an ordinary galaxy which itself is nothing more than a dust particle in a Universe of 100 billion such galaxies. And then we believe we are special? I could never push myself to take that leap of faith which religious fanatics talk about."

"Sudarshana…probably we are merely living in part of the Universe handicapped to only 3 dimensions. And probably even higher dimensional beings looking over us. We are merely one of unique specimen in the wilderness the God created. “

And now even if I have to sacrifice my remaining life trying to uncover this reality it’ll be a small price to pay. I don’t know if I will be able to do it or not but I must try.

Sudarshana stood there with a feeling of disbelief as Lowell walked out of the observatory towards his car. The Sun was beginning to rise from behind the hills as the stars fought for their place in the sky. Lowell looked far towards the sky.

He was an ignorant curious child again and sky was again anew.

EPILOGUE

“We never expected this Alpha”

“Yes. I know Beta. But then we never could have anticipated someone like Anuj.” – Said Alpha

“They do surprise us sometimes”

“Beta. They now stand 1 million years ahead of where they should be. I hope you have made your arrangements”

“Of Course I have” – replied Beta

“But this was an interesting Volume indeed. Let’s look at the others” Alpha inquired

******

Hi,

Thanks for reading. I don't know if i have done justice to a great idea. The last chapter, in fact, was written 3-4 times. Please do point out my mistakes and areas of improvement. I have many many more such ideas but their honorable execution will require your honest feedback. Thanks again.

Regards,

Vaibhav