clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org

28 surfing through hyperspace
King's Eyes
Figure 2.3
A square moves through Lineland while the King observes.
dimension, the square gradually moves perpendicular to the line." You
draw on your office's blackboard (Fig. 2.3). "As the square moves through
the space of Lineland, he becomes apparent to the King as a segment that
appears out of nowhere, stays for a minute, and then disappears in a
flash. Later I'll tell you about how the same sort of appearance and disappearance
would happen as a 4-D being moved through our space."
Sally nods. "Let me see if I can visualize a trip to 2-D Flatland. If I
were to plunge through their universe it might be like wading through an
endless lake. The plane of the lake is their world. They can only move in
the lake's surface. If the plane of Flatland cuts me at my waist, the Flatlanders
would only see two small blobs (my arms) and a central blob (my
body). Think how odd I would appear to them!"
"Pretty scary."
"It would be like a miracle when I suddenly appeared in their midst.
As I moved around, a second miracle would be the surprising changeability
of my form. If I could swim horizontally through their world, they'd
see a human-like outline, but if I stood horizontally, I'd be totally incomprehensible
to them" (Fig. 2.4).
"Right, and if the Flatlanders tried to surround you to keep you in one
place, you could escape by moving perpendicularly into the third dimension.
In their eyes, you would be a God."
From beneath a large pile of books on your desk, you bring out one
with the story "Letter to My Fellow-Prisoners in the Fortress of Schlusselburg."
It was written by N. A. Morosoff in 1891 and describes the pow-