clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org
clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org
clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org
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150 <strong>surfing</strong> <strong>through</strong> hyperspace<br />
To prove you have some control over your destiny, despite the chain<br />
around your leg, you swing away from the path you've taken and follow a<br />
little green light that sits atop a metallic structure. You pass tiny craters<br />
and odd blobs of maroon that look neither alive nor dead, but as if they<br />
are hibernating. Ah, if only you had time to take a more leisurely travel in<br />
this world. But you have responsibilities.<br />
How can you ever find Sally in such a strange world? She could be<br />
inches away from you and you wouldn't be able to see her if she were not<br />
in your "plane" of vision. You can't see beyond your three dimensions.<br />
"Sally," you scream. There is no response, except perhaps a barely<br />
audible laughter. You trod <strong>through</strong> fields of strange vegetation surrounded<br />
by puffs of mist. It seems you are floating from one spatial<br />
"plane" to another. Then the chain becomes tight. You can go no further.<br />
You bring out your flare, light it, and wave it around. You scream and<br />
scream.<br />
Eventually a small ball of flesh comes near and you wave the flare even<br />
faster. The ball jumps up and down and grows larger. When the cross section<br />
increases to the size of a large pumpkin, you rub it gently and it<br />
vibrates in response. There is a purring sound. You pull the creature<br />
delta. A dozen ellipsoidal blobs coated with a hard enamel-like surface<br />
come into view (teeth?) and finally you see a perfectly white ball with a<br />
trace of blood vessels. You hope this white ball is the cornea of the creature's<br />
hyperspherical eye. After a few seconds, it transforms into a brown<br />
sphere with musculature like the iris of an eye, a perfect ball. This ball is<br />
so shiny that it sparkles in the light. At last you see what you've been<br />
waiting for: two, black, moist orbs, the size of baseballs, floating in front<br />
of you. These must be the creature's pupils.<br />
You feel a strange shiver go up your spine as you look into the Omegamorph's<br />
glistening eyes. You feel a chill, an ambiguity, a creeping<br />
despair. The Omegamorph is still. Neither of you moves. Its eyes are<br />
bright. If you could see it smile, you imagine it would be relentless and<br />
practiced. Time seems to stop. For a moment, your mind fills with a cascade<br />
of mathematical symbols. But when you shake your head, the formulas<br />
are gone. Just a fragment from a hallucination. But the inscrutable<br />
Omegamorph remains.<br />
"Thank you for paying attention to me," you say. You bring out a<br />
photo of the president and one of Sally that you've had in your wallet for<br />
years. "Please, bring my friends back and push them into my world. As