Page 137 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

The Quantum Reticulator

It merely swings in ever-declining arcs, as energy is dissipated. Do
you understand, Mr. Larson?”
I shrugged, palms up. “Sort of,” I mumbled.
“It’s an obvious corollary of relativistic physics: if absolute motion
is impossible, as Professor Einstein proved, then so is absolute
immobility. We are supposed to have intelligent, educated people on
the bench: apparently not in this jurisdiction. Now I’ve got to scrimp
and save to make it to the end of next month.”
I couldn’t have asked for a better opening.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Professor. But I might have the solution
for that embarrassment.”
“Eh? What are you talking about, young man? Do you have
influence down at city hall?” He seated himself at a very crowded
workbench in the middle of his living room.
I smiled. “No. It’s better than that.” I sat down, too, uninvited.
“You have been selected as our entrant in the competition for the
Randolph Prize. As you are undoubtedly aware, the award for
incontrovertibly proving the existence of clairvoyance is one million
dollars. No one has claimed that money, despite repeated attempts.
The Psychometrics Research Association is willing to invest one third
of that purse in return for two thirds of it when you win. Your
quantum reticulator looks like it has the best chance of anything yet
to come along.”
Simeon Gibbons put the numbers through a couple of quick
mental arithmetical operations. The prize, at least, was real, and its
guardians would be only too pleased to expose yet another fraud—
they, and it, would serve unwittingly as part of my scheme.
“That’s a lot of money,” he said, stroking the place a goatee might
have grown on a healthier specimen. “Enough to finish the device
and leave me some living expenses. But I don’t see the connection
with that mumbo-jumbo. My intent is to establish the existence of
the multiverse by casting a short skein of diverging and converging
world lines, exploiting recent developments in metamaterials.”
“Sir,” I replied, with effusive sincerity, “I can’t pretend to
understand the science behind your project. But our committee has
analyzed your writings and come to the conclusion that the results of
your experiment will be indistinguishable from an otherwise
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