clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org

introduction
An Ancient Grotto; Cherbourg, France; 4:00 P.M.
The year is 2012 and you are the chief FBI investigator of unsolved cases
involving paranormal or unexplained phenomena. Your background in
mathematics makes you especially interested in those cases that may be
explained by studying the fourth dimension.
Today you are beside a shrine in Cherbourg, France, just a mile away
from one of France's largest Chinese populations. The air is musty and
damp as vague perpetual clouds float overhead in a fractal pattern of
powder blue and gray. Occasionally you hear the cry of a blackbird.
With you is your scientifically trained partner, Dr. Sally Skinner. Sally,
an FBI forensic pathologist, was initially assigned to work with you to
debunk your far-out theories. But as your partnership progressed, even
Sally had a hard time explaining some of the bizarre happenings you
encountered in your investigations.
Sally pushes back a lock of cinnamon-colored hair that the soft breeze
has teased out of place. Her gaze is intense. "Why did you bring me all
this way?"
You tap your knuckles on a nearby tombstone embossed with ancient
Chinese calligraphy. "Some unusual sightings have been reported here."
She puts her hands on her hips. "You dragged me all this way to
France to investigate ghosts and aliens?"
You chuckle. Sally, originally trained as a physician, knows a lot about
medicine but so little about the fourth dimension. She has not been
keeping up-to-date on the latest top-secret research on the Omegamorphs,
mysterious beings from higher dimensions that sometimes
seem to penetrate your three-dimensional universe. Sure, she's heard the
rumors, the tabloid gossip, but she has not fully accepted the philosophi-
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