Alex Gore - The Cube

“And most of all it is an ideal time period from the point of view of safety. Thank you for being so thorough, Mike”, Hans said. “The ship has successfully made the temporal jump and has accosted on the bottom of the desert, where we are now… only it happened twelve thousand years ago. It found the Cube, which is a product of a civilization, unknown to us, and is manufactured with an unknown technology.”

“And it is utterly inexplicable how it entered through the much narrower opening in the metal corps of the submarine”, Marcela interjected.

“Yes, correctly noted”, Hans went on. “I myself cannot give a sufficiently adequate answer to this question. I gave some thought to the problem and reached a couple of scenarios: first, it is possible that there was a larger opening or entrance in the ship that was subsequently welded…”

“No way, Hans”, Alan interrupted. “We all know this can’t be true and the jacket has been thoroughly checked for welding, imperfections on the surface and repair works.”

“I agree, I just outline the possible explanations. The second probability is for the Cube to have passed through the corps by way of some teleportation.”

“Teleportation?” This time it was Marcela who interrupted him. “And how could this be achieved?”

“Well, I know it sounds like an impossible magic, but actually it’s not so hard to be done… at least in theory. There have been certain experiments in this direction ever since the beginning of the previous century. The principle consists in passing the molecules of one body through the intermolecular spaces of another body and that’s it – done! The only problem is the spatial memory and the restoration of the initial structure. Because if you pass a horse and a man through a metal wall, it is highly likely that you receive a centaur with a horseshoe on his head on the opposite side.”

“Okay, Professor, we got the basics”, Norman interjected. “Have you got any other suggestions?”

“The third possible version is that it is alive.”

“Oh, that’s really too much now!”, Alan exclaimed, raising his arms in the air.

“What do you mean ‘alive’, Hans?” Marcela asked in a calmer tone.

“The Cube was purely and simply created in the submarine itself.”

“I hope, not as a result of a sexual act between a parallelepiped and a sphere, which it took by force.” Michael said, amused as always.

“It was conceived? As any living creature? As me and you?” This time Marcela raised her voice a little.

“Since I presume everyone will blame us”, Sergey said, “I am telling you in advance, we don’ know anything about such theories.”

“I never mentioned anything about birth”, Hans said. “But there is a chance for some species to be able to reproduce in a way that is unknown to us. Don’t forget that the passing through a black hole is accompanied by huge radiation loads. And it does not have to be created inside, it might have been brought in while it was still young, sort of a ‘baby-cube’. It was inserted through the small entrance and then, when it grew up…”

“But radiation is detrimental for living creatures”, Marcela noted.

“For us, who are carbon-based – yes, but we cannot be sure about ‘them’, can we?”

“Actually, the strong ionizing radiation stimulates the growth of arthropods. Giant scorpions have been described in the vicinity of sources of radiation“

“Add the strong gravitation, that would slow our growth. But what if it acts on them in the opposite way?” Sergey added.

“So, anyway, sex between cubes is out, is that it?”, Michael said still giggling.

“Cut the bullshit! Everyone!” Norman shouted. “We leave this matter aside. Professor, go on.”

“Yes, of course.” He cleared his throat and continued: “The ship has activated the hyper-temporal engine or the Core in order to return back along the temporal line in 2020, from which it started.”

Hans took a thick black marker pen and started drawing on the board.

“Time can be represented in different forms according to different scientists. I can draw it for you, if you wish.” Hans started drawing on the board again. “It might be spherical or square, depending on the perspective. In this case it is a part of a flat plain, which, however is crossed perpendicularly by another temporal plain.”

“Much like drawing a house, isn’t it?” Michael asked. “That’s right. Only the observer is on the canvas, while the

drawing person is in perspective. It’s turned backwards.”

“But how is time a plain?”

“In fact, it is spherical, but we perceive it as a plain.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Imagine a bug, crawling on the surface of a balloon that is much, much bigger than the bug itself. For us, who observe from aside, the balloon is spherical, but for the bug it is an endlessly vast plain… This is the form of our Universe, while time and space, as Einstein proves, are inseparably connected and you cannot alter one without altering the other. Actually, time and space are one whole entity. In one plain everything went out to plan and the ship just took a walk along the line to the past, then came back to 2020. But after the space-time continuum was bended, the line of life goes to another plain, in the so called ‘unplanned events’. Accordingly, ‘a cone of bending’ is formed.” Hans turned the board at an angle of 45 degrees. “And, bum! – a new plain of events.”

The scientist was most of all amused by watching their faces, showing zero realization of the information received.

“Yes, actually everything is spherical”. The plump scientist was diligently using the marker to create a thick background for the sphere, forming on the board. “Both time and space… no matter how you look at it…”

“Hans, you are totally crazy, man. Does anybody understand something, because I totally don’t.”, Michael complained.

“I understand. So far, you’ve been explaining it very well, Hans. I just could not get it how the ship came to us in 2017.” Marcela had almost assimilated the scheme on the white board.

“The Cube”, Hans said.

“What about it?”

“It was by no means made on the bottom of the ocean or in the sands of a desert, at least not a desert on the Earth. Probably it has participated in the bending of the temporal line.”

“So, the submarine had an accident in the past, in 9861, it was manufactured in the future, in 2020, and is here with us in 2017 only because it took on board an alien cube, made of devil .knows what, with music playing from it.” Marcela summed all this up loudly, without having had such an intention. She was in confusion and reasoned without realizing that her thoughts were audible.

His eyes were closing.

Since Greg was found dead and John and Taylor had disappeared, the shifts became too hard. It was impossible for him with only three other men to cover the shifts of seven people.

He was falling asleep. He made an effort to stay awake, but his lids were heavy as lead.

Then he saw a flash in the darkness on the left!

Something was moving, probably someone’s watch, although the shining was too bright like coming from a table mirror.