clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org

152 surfing through hyperspace
cerebrum. Sally's hair blows in the slight breeze, and she beings to scream
and scream and scream. . . .
"It's okay," you say and take her in your arms.
The president gazes all around like a madman. He suddenly realizes he
is back in the White House and an expression of joy comes over him.
Both Sally and the president look tired; their clothes are torn in places
and covered with mud.
Narcinko salutes the president. "Glad to have you back, sir."
The president returns the salute.
You hear some shuffling sounds, and head toward the burlap bag. You
give it a squeeze and feel several shapes, like a bag of oranges. You lift the
bag up, remove the rope, find the exact location from which you disappeared,
and with all your might toss it into the air.
When the bag finally comes down, you run for it and squeeze it.
Nothing is inside.
The shuffling sounds disappear.
You look at the bag. "I think we caught a piece of one of their infants
in the bag. Maybe it was in a region of space that had adhesive properties.
Maybe the baby was lost and didn't know how get away. But now
it's free."
Sally looks at you. "How did you know what to do?"
"From what I saw upsilon in space, I surmised that the Omegamorphs
have a technological society and are intelligent. I noticed they
had buildings, metal, and leather. They cultivated crops. Although my
vision was limited to seeing cross sections of the Omegamorphs, they
could see and understood the photos of you and the president that I
brought along. They could also see my flares, just like a 2-D Flatlander
waving a torch would visually attract our attention. I coaxed an Omegamorph
down until its eye was on the same 'plane' with me. Perhaps
that wasn't necessary, but I wanted to confirm that some creature was
paying attention to me."
The president walks closer to you. "The fourth dimension is a nice
place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. Our 2-D retina just doesn't
see enough. But the 4-D beings gave me a message."
Sally stands beside you. "What message, sir?"
"They gave me specifications for building a 3-D retina that we can
plug ourselves into. It will allow us to see things we can't even dream of.
You two are to supervise this work immediately."