clifford_a-_pickover_surfing_through_hyperspacebookfi-org

42 surfing through hyperspace
Figure 2.17
4-D guinea pig.
the American flags outside your window bellying in the wind like matadors'
capes. Overhead, a few birds fly. For a moment their cries remind
you of the happy screams of children.
You follow Sally's eyes that have wandered to the windowsill on which
is perched a bronze bust of astronaut Neil Armstrong. On the adjacent
wall is a picture of Robert Kennedy, Herbert Hoover, and Nikita
Khrushchev boarding a flying saucer.
Sally's eyes are wide as she steps closer to the pictures. "Am I crazy, or
does your office decor seem a little out of place?"
"Never mind that. Turn on the TV. Let's get a weather report."
Sally switches on a small TV buried under a stack of mathematics
texts. Larry King, a CNN talk-show host, is shouting some late-breaking
news into his large microphone. It's something about floating blobs of
flesh appearing in the White House. There is a rumor that it is a new
Russian spying device.
A shiver runs up your spine. "Hold on! Turn up the volume. We've got
to investigate."
"Could it be something from the fourth dimension?"
You grab your black overcoat. It must be the Omegamorphs, the 4-D
creatures that have recently intruded into your world. "We've got to get
out of here and head to the White House."