Chapter
83 The Right Jenkins
Codes play
a previously unsuspected role in equations that possess the property of
supersymmetry. This unsuspected connection suggests that these codes may be
ubiquitous in nature, and could even be embedded in the essence of reality. If
this is the case, we might have something in common with the Matrix
science-fiction films, which depict a world where everything human beings
experience is the product of a virtual-reality-generating computer network.
– James Gates
Back to the Egg Room, but this time as like
the last few trips to fallen Castle Wonderlands, she wasn’t in the Egg. But unlike those other times, the Egg was not
there, but Barry, Stan, Jackie, and Doctor Who all were. And all alive.
Before anyone could speak, Luke came into
the room, “We’ve got some kind of weird readings on the Mawacky and then it
died….”
And then they all saw her.
“Marie!” Shouted all five of them at
once. Barry came running up to her and
hugged her.
“She’s back! You made it!”
“Where’s the Egg?” asked Stan “how did you
come back without the Egg?”
“I don’t need the Egg anymore, Stan.”
Doctor Who hurried over with Jackie in tow,
and attempted to check her pulse or whatever, Marie shrugged him away. “Thanks, but I’m fine, Doc.”
“But…how could you not need the Egg anymore
after only two minutes in one trip?” Stan continued. “How?”
“One trip?
Yeah, I guess, that’s what it would seem like to you all.” Agreed Marie.
“But I’ve made a helluva lot more than one trip, I can tell you that
much.”
Barry released her from his hug, Marie
smiled at him, “It’s good to see you too, Bar.”
Jenkins then came into the room, with
Dutchy following like a puppy dog.
“Ah,” said Marie, “Just the man I need to
see.”
“But, but…” Stan insisted, “You have to
tell us where you’ve been off to…you’re saying you made more than one trip?”
“Yep, that’s what I’m saying,” Marie
assured him.
“Luke’s right, by the way,” said Jenkins,
“The Mawacky is offline or something…we’ve stopped getting signals from our
colleagues.”
“That is because, they’re all dead, I’m
afraid,” Marie explained.
“Dead?” blumbered Stan, “How could
thousands of versions of us in other universes all die all at once?”
“Marie Brabant killed them.”
They all looked at her in horror, their
eyes wide their jaws slack.
“Not me, the other one.”
“Well, there’s a lot more than one,” Barry
corrected her.
“Not anymore…there’s just two of us,” Marie
said, “The first one and the last one.
I’m the last one. Look I don’t
know how much time we have, but I do know she will probably come here and kill
us all very soon, if she gets a chance with Wally’s help, of course, but
honestly, I’m not sure she really needs it anymore.”
“How could…?” Stan began.
“I’ll explain it all later, Stan, if we
survive the next couple of hours,” Marie assured him, “but right now, I need to
talk to the Right Jenkins.”
“The Right Jenkins?” Jackie asked.
“Yep, and he’s been right here in front of
my eyes the whole time…I just didn’t realize it. Can we go to your office, doc?”
“Of course, of course,” Jenkins agreed.
“Oh, and everyone else…you should all get
the fuck off out of here and off this mountain now, before Wally shows up with
his army of infected and kills you all.
I’ve seen it happen too many times now, I can’t bear to see it again…not
to you. And Jackie…don’t forget to take
Virgil with you.”
“That’s crazy,” exclaimed Stan, “What makes
you think we’re in any danger, we’ve been working here for fourteen years.”
“I won’t leave you,” said Barry to Marie.
“Yes, you will,” Marie told Barry in a
command. “You have to. Or you will all die. I’ve seen it at least fifty times now. That much I can stop.”
“And you, Stan,” Marie said, “It’s
over. The Mawacky won’t work
anymore…there isn’t anyone else to talk to out there…or no one who’s willing to
talk to you.”
“But…we have to man the Mawacky at all
times…” he complained.
“No, you don’t…” she said plainly. “The Freezer will still work, you can all
come back and tinker with that if you like…in just a couple of days…if my plan
works….you might even be able to rig the Mawacky to talk to other
hyperdimensional entities out there…but the easy days of talking to yourselves
across the universes are over…you’re all dead…everywhere but here…at least for
now…I suppose you make enough decisions in a few weeks more of you will be
created…so…yeah..okay… but there are a lot of more interesting people to talk
to out there…you have no idea…but no more Egg, it’s too dangerous.”
“But, Rian…” Stan whined…”we can’t just
listen to her…all our work”
“Go, get out of here, you heard her,”
Jenkins commanded, “Now. I’ll call you
all when the cost is clear.”
“And if he doesn’t call you,” said Marie,
“it’s because the Multiverse as you know it, including this world…is about to
end. So, you’ll know to make whatever
arrangements you have to make. Go, Wally
isn’t going to warn us this time, he’ll be here as soon as she senses that I’ve
returned.”
“Who senses?” Jackie asked.
“The other Marie Brabant, the first one,
the evil one.” Marie turned to Jenkins,
“To your office Dr. Jenkins?”
“Yes, yes, of course, let’s go”
Marie grabbed Barry and planted a kiss on
his lips, “Stay safe,” she whispered.
“You and I have some unfinished business, Mr. Allen.” And with that she followed Jenkins out the
door to the Freezer.
She was happy to see all the grad students
and even Dr. Helmer all there, with Renee hunched under one of the server
panels.
“Did it work,” asked Brenda.
“Yep,” Marie answered coyly. And she and Jenkins went quietly the stone
staircase around and around until they came to the third floor where Jenkins
office was. He held the door open for
her, indicated a chair for her to take a seat in and closed the door behind
them. He walked around his desk and sat
down.
“So, Marie, what are we to talk about? And why did you say I was the Right Jenkins?”
“Because Dr. Jenkins…” she began.
“No, not Dr. Jenkins, please call me
Rian. I have a feeling I’m the one who
should be showing you the respect now.”
“Okay, then Rian….because a
hyperdimensional lemur told me that the right Jenkins knew what I needed to
know in order to save the Multiverse from the evil Marie Brabant. And I know now that you are he…the Right
Jenkins. And I even know what it is that
you know about that can help us stop her from taking over everything throughout
all everywhere.”
“You’re saying that I know all this? I hate to doubt you, but I can’t see how…I’m
not the expert of MWI, that’s Stan.”
“MWI is very cool, but it misses the real
point actually. The truth of the matter
is that you and the Cathars were right.”
“I didn’t know I shared any beliefs with
the Cathars, I am an atheist after all.”
“Are you, are you really? See, I don’t think you are exactly. You’re real interest is the Simulation
Hypothesis isn’t it?”
He
looked surprised. “How could you know
that?”
“I’ve met a couple of you that were working
along those lines…but you’re the one with the information I need to defeat
her. Her Jenkins gave her the clues to
all this…and that’s what really started this mess…but he didn’t know what you
know…and now you and I are going to finish it.”
“If you say so, Marie, but you does seem
hard to believe.”
“Harder to believe than sending someone
across the dimensions? Really, Rian?”
He laughed, “Okay, I see your point. But
what do I and the Cathars have in common?”
“You’re both proponents of the Simulation
Hypothesis,” Marie answered.
“I think it’s rather a newer idea than they
would have been exposed to.”
“Think so?
Well as I understand it they believed that this reality was in fact an illusion,
a false creation made by an evil God that exists within the larger creation of
the Ultimate God. If you think about it,
is that really vastly different than the concept of a living in a simulation?”
“Damn!
That never once occurred to me!”
“It’s not surprising really, why would a
scientist, a cutting edge scientist look back to ancient beliefs and offer them
even a slightest thought? I get it.”
Jenkins leaned forward excited, “Wow!”
“Exactly.
I have a feeling that the whole Cathar religion as well as Gnosticism in
general was a message to us, an important message that is going to help us
figure this shit out. So, can you
summarize the whole thing again…the basics of simulation theory?”
“Again?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, it was another version of
you that first told me about it.”
“Ah, I see.
Well, one of the first theories came in the form of a thought experiment
by a fellow named Nick Bostrom. It goes
something like this. One day technology
will advance to the point where people or whatever comes after people are
capable of running ancestor simulations to study the behavior of those who came
before them. Supposing this does happen,
then most likely it already has happened, and we are in fact living in such a
simulation, though completely unaware of it.
Taken further, if this were true, then the odds are that there is a very
large number of nested simulations…that is to say simulations inside simulations…with
unimaginable numbers of nested simulations between here and what Bostrom calls
the Basement Reality.”
“Basement?
Because that’s the bottom? So,
turtles all the way down?”
He smiled in excitement, “Yes,
exactly. I hadn’t thought of that
mystical notion either. Now, the problem
is one of computing power and energy consumption to run that many
simulations. And it’s equally possible
that in addition to the vertical nesting of simulations, that multiple ancestor
simulations or lateral simulations could be running concurrently within any one
simulation. Which, once again makes the
whole thing seem impossible by the laws of thermodynamics. Where’s the energy and computational power
come from in the Basement Reality? It
would need infinite energy and infinite computational power.”
“So, are you saying that MWI could simply
be concurrent lateral simulations?”
“Or vertical as well, I see no reason once
you can move between lateral simulations you couldn’t move between vertical
ones as well.”
“I don’t see how that would be?”
“Yes, it’s a tricky point for sure. But then comes another question, and here’s
where I differ from Bostrom…they don’t have to be ancestor simulations that’s
just an assumption. They could be
recordings or interactive virtual realities in addition to simulations. If they are virtual realities, then…it begs
yet another question…are we merely avatars or are we sims?”
“Shit,” said Marie, “That’s deep.”
“Indeed it is. This is why I started our project at Castle
Wonderland to study those inbetween places…”
“The interstitial transdimensional
boundaries?”
Jenkins laughed. “Exactly.
I’d ask you how you knew that, but…it doesn’t matter…I imagine I told
you in some universe or other.”
“Yeah you and Barry, actually.”
“Well, I believe that’s where the answer
lies, that’s where the morphic fields seem exist and interact between the Many
Worlds. If we can study those places, we
can look behind the curtain, as it were…and see the very nature…the true nature
of reality.”
“Okay, but…let’s go back to the energy and
computational power problem….have you any idea how that could work?”
“Well suppose the basement reality isn’t
like the other simulated realities…though it is their source. I have come to believe that the basement
reality is simply energy and power itself….of infinite transcendental
nature…and this is largely what the interstitial transdimensional boundaries
are composed of…then the thermodynamic problem would go away.”
“But, what’s to give everything else a
basement then? Why did the first regular
simulation arise in the first place?”
“Consciousness.”
“But, there is no consciousness there…I’ve
been there…lots of times…forever actually…it’s just light…and energy…the Ain
Soph Aur as that old book The Veils of Negative Existence called it.”
“And morphic fields that are, in a sense,
transtemporal …meaning that time is irrelevant.”
“I don’t get it.” Marie sighed, a little
flustered.
“Think, Marie, think. We knew consciousness exists, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And throughout the Multiverse, there’s
lots and lots of it, right?”
“Okay.”
“So that has generated a strong
consciousness morphic field that has permeated the Multiverse and…the
interstitial transdimensional boundary…”
“So you’re saying that….”
“That consciousness itself created the
first level simulation beyond the Basement Reality of the interstitial
transdimensional boundary.”
“Oh Fuck!
That’s what she’s trying to do!”
“Who?
What?” asked Jenkins.
“She’s trying to fill the Multiverse with
her consciousness. She created or
adapted the Toxies. She’s trying to
become God of the Multiverse and direct all creation everywhere.”
Jenkins leaned back in his chair and turned
pale. “Oh my God! And she can do it too.”
“She almost has,” Marie said.
“What are we going to do?”
“I’m going to stop her. Or die trying.”
Then she paused, “Wait, I have few last
questions for you.”
“Okay.”
“First, you don’t have a family do you?”
“No, my dear…there was this girl at
Princeton though…”
“Okay, okay. And you weren’t part of the Ongs Hat Travel
Cult, right?”
“No, Stan is our connection to Chandler and
them.”
“Last question then…how did you get that
copy of VALIS?
“Oh, Chandler told Stan he got it from you.”
copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
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