Post by C_Miller on Mar 28, 2013 17:42:57 GMT -5
Ultimate Infinity Inc. #0
Ex Astris Scientia
By C_Miller
Los Alamos National Laboratory. March, 1943
With timid apprehension, Dr. Theodore Knight stepped off the repurposed school bus and towards the large white building at the center of the facility. The first thing he noticed was the dry desert climate, which was a fair shake different than the breezy east coast humidity that was used to. Squinting his eyes to avoid what he could only describe as a sandstorm, he felt for the door and pushed it in, entering the building.
“Welcome to Los Alamos, how can I help you?” The woman at the front desk coldly asked him as he brushed himself off of all the sand that had gotten on his khaki pants, light blue button down shirt and lab coat.
Looking up at the woman, he adjusted his polka-dotted bow tie to look presentable and less disheveled. “Um, yes, my name is Dr. Theodore Knight. I’m looking for General Groves. I’ve been invited to the Manhattan Project.”
“The main door at the end of the hall.” She pointed without looking up from her typewriter, typing out a telegram with one hand.
Ted nodded and began to walk down the hall with a sense of nervousness. He was one year out of getting his PhD in theoretical physics and while he was confident in his knowledge, he wasn’t sure that he had much to offer any type of project in the way of experience and practical application.
He arrived at the large oak door and the end of the hall and timidly knocked.
“Come in!” shouted a voice from the other side of the door and he obliged. Stepping into the room, he saw a rather large man sitting behind a desk and a smaller man seated on the other side, both men looked as if they were in deep conversation.
“Who are you?” The man behind the desk asked.
Ted cleared his throat. “Um… uh… I’m Dr. Theodore Knight. I was asked to report here when I got in.”
The man on the other side of the desk turned around and smiled at him. Ted instantly recognized him as Doctor J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the foremost scholars in the world of physics and he instantly felt the typical shiver of being star struck. Oppenheimer stood up and out stretched his hand “Dr. Knight, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I’m….”
Ted instantly took his hand and shook it vigorously. “I know who you are. It’s a real honor to meet you, sir. When I was an undergrad, you spoke at my University. It’s the moment I point to deciding my career path.”
Oppenheimer laughed. “Well, it’s nice to know that I helped this project in more ways than one. Your doctoral thesis was a real page turner, nice work.”
Dr. Knight stood there with wide eyes and his jaw agape. He wasn’t used to this kind of praise, especially from those that he held in that high of esteem. “Th… Thank you, sir. You have no idea what that means to me… if you don’t mind me asking… how did you get my paper?”
“Einstein forwarded it to me. Most men would be insulted and entirely dismiss a theory that rejected their previous findings, but not him. But, I must say, disagreeing with his general theory of relativity took chutzpa, kid.” Oppenheimer patted the young scientist on the back as he left the room.
Ted looked back at the larger man behind the desk and saw that he was in full military uniform with rank patches that denoted him to be a brigadier general. Putting two and two together, he decided that this was General Leslie Groves. “General Groves, it’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
“Save the pleasantries for the other scientists, my job is to keep all of you in line.” General Groves spat back at him.
Tentatively, Ted took the seat that had originally been occupied by Dr. Oppenheimer. “I’m sorry, keep us in line how?”
“You are going to be dealing with some very sensitive material. If I even hear about you possibly discussing what you’re working on here with anyone outside this compound, I’ll have you tried for treason via military tribunal.” Groves spoke with hushed intensity, which sent a shiver down his spine.
Ted nodded. “Yes, I understand, sir. What is it that we’ll be working on?”
Groves grunted. “That’s none of your concern now, kid. Now, report to your room in the living compound. Room 24b with Dr. Anthony Ives.”
Without any form of salutation, Ted Knight exited the room as fast as he could and made his way towards the living compound.
***
My Dearest Katherine,
I arrived today at the compound a good few days before I was supposed to, which has given me enough time to explore the scene and create a rapport with the folks I’ll be working with over the next few months. I appear to be one of the younger members of the Core of Scientists by quite a few years. The director of the project, Leslie Groves, his secretary even called me a B.Y.T., which seems to be a colloquial term for an intelligent young person that the kids use these days.
But after going through a few briefings, I still have no clue what I’m doing here. All I know is that we were gathered by the United States Government and some of the brightest and most forward thinking minds have been assembled. When on the way to the showers, I almost ran into J. Robert Oppenheimer and I also was able to watch a chess match between Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard. That was truly a sight to see. It’s so queer watching all of these men that I admire bumping gums. And though these names most likely mean nothing to you, just know that when it comes to theoretical physics, we are truly blessed to have these guys on for us rather than the Kraut-Heads.
There is one man who I can’t seem to size up though. My roommate, Anthony Ives. While every person here has somewhat made a name for themselves in some type of physics, I can’t recall ever hearing anything about him. He appears to be a bit hard-boiled and he’s the only scientist wearing iron. While he seems like the type of guy that you want to keep away from, but something about him intrigues me. I’m not sure what it is.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but I already can’t wait to be in your arms again, sweetheart. I’ll write again as soon as I have time.
Yours Always,
Ted
“What are you writing?” the man lying in the next bed asked Ted as he finished signing his name to the letter.
Startled, Ted looked over at his roommate, Anthony Ives who had been feigning sleep the entire time. “Um, it’s a letter to my fiancé. I told her that I’d send her one as soon as I settled in. Do you have anyone in your life, Professor?”
“No. My entire family died in a house fire when I was twelve and I never really found the time for love while I was working.” Anthony Ives was as stoic as stoic could be. The stoicism was so unwavering that Ted found him to be creepy.
He turned over in his bed and looked at his new roommate. “I’m sorry to hear that. It must have been difficult for you at such a young age.”
“It was.” Ives responded without showing any emotion. “I devoted my life’s work to solving the problem.”
“Preventing fire?” Ted asked with a sense of naivety.
Ives gave Ted the first smile he had given since they met. “No. Preventing death.”
“How does that work? What did you study?” Ted asked, getting more and more interested with every response.
Ives cleared his throat. “Whatever I could. Chemistry, robotics, biology, ecology… anything that I thought would help me find the secret of life…”
Ted furled his brow. Ives didn’t speak like your typical scientist. There was a certainly fluidity to his voice like he was reciting poetry, even through the words didn’t back up his tone. Ted wasn’t sure what to make of his roommate, nor was he even entirely certain of why he was there. “So, have they told you why we’re here?”
Ted’s heart leapt when he heard Ives chuckle from the next bed. “No, but I can put two and two together. Rumors of Hitler’s obsession with mysticism have crept over to this side of the Atlantic and Roosevelt won’t let him go unchecked. Unfortunately for Hitler, we are our nation’s wizards.”
The younger scientist smiled inwardly. “Kind of telling that most of our nation’s wizards are German and Austrian.”
“I’m Italian. Came here in 1922, the second Mussolini came into power, my parents ran away. First to England, then to America,” Ives said wistfully. “If this war can get rid of him, I’ll do what ever I can to help.”
Ted nodded. “Hopefully we both get our chance.”
***
Los Alamos National Laboratory. October, 1943
Ted Knight and Anthony Ives sat in near total silence in their own personal laboratory as they crunched numbers, typed data on their personal typewriters and worked out equations on the blackboards, often all at the same time. “Can you imagine, Ivo… every scenario I run… the energy produced by this is extraordinary.”
“Is that not the point, Theodore? We are attempting to craft a bomb that can level entire cities. It would be insanity if it did not produce large quantities of energy. “ Ives responded without looking up from his type writer.
Ted shrugged. “I understand that, but just think where humanity would be if we could harness this power and use it for something positive.”
Anthony looked up from his desk and straight at Ted. “Humans destroy, my friend. God is the one that builds.”
“I still haven’t surmised how you have such a belief in God and a fear of death.” Ted thought out loud with an ironic smile on his face.
Professor Ives matched the smile. “Don’t you see where we are, Theodore? We are the harbingers of such evil deeds, the heralds of something that will change the world for worse. My belief in God is exactly why I fear death.”
Ted nodded and began to work out his equations for the day. He continued to work for another hour and a half without making a sound until he slapped his forehead, alarming his fellow scientist. “The stars!”
Sliding his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, Ives looked up at Ted with a look of concern in his eyes. “Is everything alright, Theodore?”
Ted jumped up from his seat and charged towards one of the clean blackboards. Once he reached it, he pulled out a piece of chalk from the pocket of his lab coat and began to scribble down equations. “Anthony… what is the sun but a giant nuclear reaction. But where, we’re trying to split atoms to create fission, stars use fusion. And what do the stars create a lot of? Gravity!”
“Gravity?”
Ted nodded vigorously. “Yes. Gravity. I think that rather than creating this bomb, we can create the tools to harness gravity. What’s stronger than the power of the stars?”
“The evil that men do.”
Shaking his head, Dr. Knight chuckled. “You’re probably right, my friend. And I’ll do what I can to stop the Japs and those krautheads… I just wish we were doing something to benefit society.”
Ives nodded. “I understand. But, don’t you think we are benefiting the entire world by making Nazism only part of history?”
“I suppose. But this will smash down the floodgates… we’re about to open Pandora’s Box so to speak and I’m not sure there will ever be a single human being alive that will have the power to close it.”
Anthony Ives looked at the blackboard that Ted was working on. “Yes… I unfortunately agree.”
***
Opal City, Maryland. August 15, 1945
Ted Knight’s skin was clammy and his hands were shaking as the waitress took his order for mint tea. As he wiped his forehead clear of sweat with his handkerchief and placed it neatly in his breast pocket, Anthony Ives strolled towards the table wearing a freshly pressed suit and a winning smile. “Good morning, Theodore… I guess that’s more a question than a statement at this point. What’s wrong?”
The disheveled man looked up without saying a word and then looked back into space in the café. Ives sat down at the table only occupied by Ted and gazed at him, trying to size up his expression. When he couldn’t, he looked down at his watch and tapped his fingers on the table. “You invited me here, Theodore. Crossing the country isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, so I would hope that you’d at least tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Hiroshima… Nagasaki… gone… 200,000 lives extinguished… for what…? Why?” Ted stammered, unable to form complete sentences. He couldn’t even form them in his head; much less filter them through his mouth. The past few days had been a blur for him, but this had been his standard disposition.
Ives nodded his head. He had more or less surmised that this is what it was about, but the confirmation gave the conversation a new form of clarity. “It’s what we signed up to do, my friend. I wish we could have done something else, but it’s the way of the world. And it wasn’t all for nothing. Did you hear the announcement today? The Japanese are surrendering.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“It changes… nothing.”
Ives nodded again. He didn’t figure that it would, but there was at least some hope. “There’s no proof that a land battle would have saved lives. It certainly wouldn’t have saved American lives. We didn’t lose a single person in this.”
“Does that matter? What gives an American life more value than a Japanese life? And this is coming from the man who fears death. You have become death,” Ted spat back in a rare showing of lucidity.
Ives sat there stone-faced and stoic through the character assassination provided by his former roommate and friend. “Don’t do this, Theodore. We stand at the precipice of the future and people like us need to stick together.”
“People like us? Who are we, Ivo? Murderers, conquerors, zealots?”
“Gods. The world doesn’t know it yet, but we’re immortal. We’re infinite.” Ives flashed Ted a sinister grin.
Ted’s mind began to race, trying to unlock the meaning behind his words and his mannerisms. Something was different about his old friend, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He shook his head and put it out of his mind. “Immortal? Then you’ve found what you’ve been looking for.”
“You could say that.”
A silence fell between them that made everyone in the café take notice. Ted shifted in his seat and re-engaged his friend with his eyes. “We have to atone for what we did, Ivo. Didn’t you see the pictures?”
“I did.”
Ted shivered as a chill went down his spine, responding to the cold tone of Ives’ statement. “Then you must know that we have a lot to make up for.”
Professor Ives stood up and smiled at Ted. “Yes, Theodore. I’m well aware and I’m working on it. I will get in contact with you at my earliest convenience. Until then, farewell, old friend.”
Ives walked out of the café, leaving Ted Knight completely alone to process their conversation.
***
Opal City Psychiatric Hospital. July, 1949
Ted Knight paced around his room that was filled to the max with blackboards with a full piece of chalk in his hand. He had been interned in the hospital for nearly three years now, unable to handle the guilt of being part of the Manhattan Project.
There was a knock at the door before it opened to reveal the chief psychiatrist that was assigned to Ted’s case. He stepped in, adjusting his glasses, with a wide smile on his face. “Good afternoon, Dr. Knight. How are you feeling today?”
Ted didn’t look up; he just continued to pace around the room, occasionally scratching out a new equation on one of the blackboards. He looked frantic and unkempt, yet there was something about him that seemed thoughtful, the way he furled his brow when someone spoke and the way his eyes lit up when he wrote something down on his blackboard.
The psychiatrist moved in closer and studied his wall. “So, have you gotten anything new today?”
Ted simply shook his head. “I need the stars.”
“I’m sorry?”
Dr. Knight flicked his arm towards the Doctor in dismissal. “I don’t understand any of this during the day. The only time I can truly think is at night. I need the stars to think.”
“What led to this fixation on stars?” The Doctor asked with concern.
Ted shrugged. “It’s always been this way my whole life. I’ve always used the stars as inspiration. It’s just the way it is.”
The Doctor nodded. “You’re not crazy, Dr. Knight. I understand the guilt you carry, but you are not insane. Why do you keep yourself here?”
Ted looked up at the Doctor with wide eyes. “It’s the only way.”
Dr. Appleby nodded again and turned on one foot to leave the room. It was the same conversation they had every day. Sometimes Ted would go off about the Manhattan Project in whole and other days, he’d simply talk about Anthony Ives, or Professor Ivo as he affectionately called him, but it would always end the same. Dr. Appleby noted that he wasn’t crazy, yet he remained in the hospital for some unknown reason.
Once Dr. Appleby was gone, Ted returned to his work of frantically writing numbers, letters and symbols on the board. He went on for close to an hour when he stopped for a second and stared at the blackboard for close to five minutes. Immediately afterwards, he slapped his forehead with incredible force. “No. It’s all wrong. IT’S ALL WRONG!”
Ted violently threw himself around the room, erasing bits and pieces of equation and data and with one fell swoop he punched the board as hard as he could, sending his fist clear through. He pulled it out and examined his bloody fist as tears began to form in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. “I can’t figure it out. Why can’t I figure it out?”
“Because you don’t want to.”
Ted spun around from the fetal position on the floor and saw Anthony Ives standing in the doorway wearing a fancy black suit and a winning smile. “Ivo?”
“Yes, my friend. I told you that I was working on our atonement and I’ve found it. I’m here to offer you a wondrous opportunity… all you have to do is decide if you want to take it. Infinity is wide open, Theodore.”
THE ADVENTURE TO INFINITY IS JUST BEGINNING!
Ex Astris Scientia
By C_Miller
Los Alamos National Laboratory. March, 1943
With timid apprehension, Dr. Theodore Knight stepped off the repurposed school bus and towards the large white building at the center of the facility. The first thing he noticed was the dry desert climate, which was a fair shake different than the breezy east coast humidity that was used to. Squinting his eyes to avoid what he could only describe as a sandstorm, he felt for the door and pushed it in, entering the building.
“Welcome to Los Alamos, how can I help you?” The woman at the front desk coldly asked him as he brushed himself off of all the sand that had gotten on his khaki pants, light blue button down shirt and lab coat.
Looking up at the woman, he adjusted his polka-dotted bow tie to look presentable and less disheveled. “Um, yes, my name is Dr. Theodore Knight. I’m looking for General Groves. I’ve been invited to the Manhattan Project.”
“The main door at the end of the hall.” She pointed without looking up from her typewriter, typing out a telegram with one hand.
Ted nodded and began to walk down the hall with a sense of nervousness. He was one year out of getting his PhD in theoretical physics and while he was confident in his knowledge, he wasn’t sure that he had much to offer any type of project in the way of experience and practical application.
He arrived at the large oak door and the end of the hall and timidly knocked.
“Come in!” shouted a voice from the other side of the door and he obliged. Stepping into the room, he saw a rather large man sitting behind a desk and a smaller man seated on the other side, both men looked as if they were in deep conversation.
“Who are you?” The man behind the desk asked.
Ted cleared his throat. “Um… uh… I’m Dr. Theodore Knight. I was asked to report here when I got in.”
The man on the other side of the desk turned around and smiled at him. Ted instantly recognized him as Doctor J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the foremost scholars in the world of physics and he instantly felt the typical shiver of being star struck. Oppenheimer stood up and out stretched his hand “Dr. Knight, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. I’m….”
Ted instantly took his hand and shook it vigorously. “I know who you are. It’s a real honor to meet you, sir. When I was an undergrad, you spoke at my University. It’s the moment I point to deciding my career path.”
Oppenheimer laughed. “Well, it’s nice to know that I helped this project in more ways than one. Your doctoral thesis was a real page turner, nice work.”
Dr. Knight stood there with wide eyes and his jaw agape. He wasn’t used to this kind of praise, especially from those that he held in that high of esteem. “Th… Thank you, sir. You have no idea what that means to me… if you don’t mind me asking… how did you get my paper?”
“Einstein forwarded it to me. Most men would be insulted and entirely dismiss a theory that rejected their previous findings, but not him. But, I must say, disagreeing with his general theory of relativity took chutzpa, kid.” Oppenheimer patted the young scientist on the back as he left the room.
Ted looked back at the larger man behind the desk and saw that he was in full military uniform with rank patches that denoted him to be a brigadier general. Putting two and two together, he decided that this was General Leslie Groves. “General Groves, it’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
“Save the pleasantries for the other scientists, my job is to keep all of you in line.” General Groves spat back at him.
Tentatively, Ted took the seat that had originally been occupied by Dr. Oppenheimer. “I’m sorry, keep us in line how?”
“You are going to be dealing with some very sensitive material. If I even hear about you possibly discussing what you’re working on here with anyone outside this compound, I’ll have you tried for treason via military tribunal.” Groves spoke with hushed intensity, which sent a shiver down his spine.
Ted nodded. “Yes, I understand, sir. What is it that we’ll be working on?”
Groves grunted. “That’s none of your concern now, kid. Now, report to your room in the living compound. Room 24b with Dr. Anthony Ives.”
Without any form of salutation, Ted Knight exited the room as fast as he could and made his way towards the living compound.
***
My Dearest Katherine,
I arrived today at the compound a good few days before I was supposed to, which has given me enough time to explore the scene and create a rapport with the folks I’ll be working with over the next few months. I appear to be one of the younger members of the Core of Scientists by quite a few years. The director of the project, Leslie Groves, his secretary even called me a B.Y.T., which seems to be a colloquial term for an intelligent young person that the kids use these days.
But after going through a few briefings, I still have no clue what I’m doing here. All I know is that we were gathered by the United States Government and some of the brightest and most forward thinking minds have been assembled. When on the way to the showers, I almost ran into J. Robert Oppenheimer and I also was able to watch a chess match between Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard. That was truly a sight to see. It’s so queer watching all of these men that I admire bumping gums. And though these names most likely mean nothing to you, just know that when it comes to theoretical physics, we are truly blessed to have these guys on for us rather than the Kraut-Heads.
There is one man who I can’t seem to size up though. My roommate, Anthony Ives. While every person here has somewhat made a name for themselves in some type of physics, I can’t recall ever hearing anything about him. He appears to be a bit hard-boiled and he’s the only scientist wearing iron. While he seems like the type of guy that you want to keep away from, but something about him intrigues me. I’m not sure what it is.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but I already can’t wait to be in your arms again, sweetheart. I’ll write again as soon as I have time.
Yours Always,
Ted
“What are you writing?” the man lying in the next bed asked Ted as he finished signing his name to the letter.
Startled, Ted looked over at his roommate, Anthony Ives who had been feigning sleep the entire time. “Um, it’s a letter to my fiancé. I told her that I’d send her one as soon as I settled in. Do you have anyone in your life, Professor?”
“No. My entire family died in a house fire when I was twelve and I never really found the time for love while I was working.” Anthony Ives was as stoic as stoic could be. The stoicism was so unwavering that Ted found him to be creepy.
He turned over in his bed and looked at his new roommate. “I’m sorry to hear that. It must have been difficult for you at such a young age.”
“It was.” Ives responded without showing any emotion. “I devoted my life’s work to solving the problem.”
“Preventing fire?” Ted asked with a sense of naivety.
Ives gave Ted the first smile he had given since they met. “No. Preventing death.”
“How does that work? What did you study?” Ted asked, getting more and more interested with every response.
Ives cleared his throat. “Whatever I could. Chemistry, robotics, biology, ecology… anything that I thought would help me find the secret of life…”
Ted furled his brow. Ives didn’t speak like your typical scientist. There was a certainly fluidity to his voice like he was reciting poetry, even through the words didn’t back up his tone. Ted wasn’t sure what to make of his roommate, nor was he even entirely certain of why he was there. “So, have they told you why we’re here?”
Ted’s heart leapt when he heard Ives chuckle from the next bed. “No, but I can put two and two together. Rumors of Hitler’s obsession with mysticism have crept over to this side of the Atlantic and Roosevelt won’t let him go unchecked. Unfortunately for Hitler, we are our nation’s wizards.”
The younger scientist smiled inwardly. “Kind of telling that most of our nation’s wizards are German and Austrian.”
“I’m Italian. Came here in 1922, the second Mussolini came into power, my parents ran away. First to England, then to America,” Ives said wistfully. “If this war can get rid of him, I’ll do what ever I can to help.”
Ted nodded. “Hopefully we both get our chance.”
***
Los Alamos National Laboratory. October, 1943
Ted Knight and Anthony Ives sat in near total silence in their own personal laboratory as they crunched numbers, typed data on their personal typewriters and worked out equations on the blackboards, often all at the same time. “Can you imagine, Ivo… every scenario I run… the energy produced by this is extraordinary.”
“Is that not the point, Theodore? We are attempting to craft a bomb that can level entire cities. It would be insanity if it did not produce large quantities of energy. “ Ives responded without looking up from his type writer.
Ted shrugged. “I understand that, but just think where humanity would be if we could harness this power and use it for something positive.”
Anthony looked up from his desk and straight at Ted. “Humans destroy, my friend. God is the one that builds.”
“I still haven’t surmised how you have such a belief in God and a fear of death.” Ted thought out loud with an ironic smile on his face.
Professor Ives matched the smile. “Don’t you see where we are, Theodore? We are the harbingers of such evil deeds, the heralds of something that will change the world for worse. My belief in God is exactly why I fear death.”
Ted nodded and began to work out his equations for the day. He continued to work for another hour and a half without making a sound until he slapped his forehead, alarming his fellow scientist. “The stars!”
Sliding his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, Ives looked up at Ted with a look of concern in his eyes. “Is everything alright, Theodore?”
Ted jumped up from his seat and charged towards one of the clean blackboards. Once he reached it, he pulled out a piece of chalk from the pocket of his lab coat and began to scribble down equations. “Anthony… what is the sun but a giant nuclear reaction. But where, we’re trying to split atoms to create fission, stars use fusion. And what do the stars create a lot of? Gravity!”
“Gravity?”
Ted nodded vigorously. “Yes. Gravity. I think that rather than creating this bomb, we can create the tools to harness gravity. What’s stronger than the power of the stars?”
“The evil that men do.”
Shaking his head, Dr. Knight chuckled. “You’re probably right, my friend. And I’ll do what I can to stop the Japs and those krautheads… I just wish we were doing something to benefit society.”
Ives nodded. “I understand. But, don’t you think we are benefiting the entire world by making Nazism only part of history?”
“I suppose. But this will smash down the floodgates… we’re about to open Pandora’s Box so to speak and I’m not sure there will ever be a single human being alive that will have the power to close it.”
Anthony Ives looked at the blackboard that Ted was working on. “Yes… I unfortunately agree.”
***
Opal City, Maryland. August 15, 1945
Ted Knight’s skin was clammy and his hands were shaking as the waitress took his order for mint tea. As he wiped his forehead clear of sweat with his handkerchief and placed it neatly in his breast pocket, Anthony Ives strolled towards the table wearing a freshly pressed suit and a winning smile. “Good morning, Theodore… I guess that’s more a question than a statement at this point. What’s wrong?”
The disheveled man looked up without saying a word and then looked back into space in the café. Ives sat down at the table only occupied by Ted and gazed at him, trying to size up his expression. When he couldn’t, he looked down at his watch and tapped his fingers on the table. “You invited me here, Theodore. Crossing the country isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do, so I would hope that you’d at least tell me what’s on your mind.”
“Hiroshima… Nagasaki… gone… 200,000 lives extinguished… for what…? Why?” Ted stammered, unable to form complete sentences. He couldn’t even form them in his head; much less filter them through his mouth. The past few days had been a blur for him, but this had been his standard disposition.
Ives nodded his head. He had more or less surmised that this is what it was about, but the confirmation gave the conversation a new form of clarity. “It’s what we signed up to do, my friend. I wish we could have done something else, but it’s the way of the world. And it wasn’t all for nothing. Did you hear the announcement today? The Japanese are surrendering.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“It changes… nothing.”
Ives nodded again. He didn’t figure that it would, but there was at least some hope. “There’s no proof that a land battle would have saved lives. It certainly wouldn’t have saved American lives. We didn’t lose a single person in this.”
“Does that matter? What gives an American life more value than a Japanese life? And this is coming from the man who fears death. You have become death,” Ted spat back in a rare showing of lucidity.
Ives sat there stone-faced and stoic through the character assassination provided by his former roommate and friend. “Don’t do this, Theodore. We stand at the precipice of the future and people like us need to stick together.”
“People like us? Who are we, Ivo? Murderers, conquerors, zealots?”
“Gods. The world doesn’t know it yet, but we’re immortal. We’re infinite.” Ives flashed Ted a sinister grin.
Ted’s mind began to race, trying to unlock the meaning behind his words and his mannerisms. Something was different about his old friend, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He shook his head and put it out of his mind. “Immortal? Then you’ve found what you’ve been looking for.”
“You could say that.”
A silence fell between them that made everyone in the café take notice. Ted shifted in his seat and re-engaged his friend with his eyes. “We have to atone for what we did, Ivo. Didn’t you see the pictures?”
“I did.”
Ted shivered as a chill went down his spine, responding to the cold tone of Ives’ statement. “Then you must know that we have a lot to make up for.”
Professor Ives stood up and smiled at Ted. “Yes, Theodore. I’m well aware and I’m working on it. I will get in contact with you at my earliest convenience. Until then, farewell, old friend.”
Ives walked out of the café, leaving Ted Knight completely alone to process their conversation.
***
Opal City Psychiatric Hospital. July, 1949
Ted Knight paced around his room that was filled to the max with blackboards with a full piece of chalk in his hand. He had been interned in the hospital for nearly three years now, unable to handle the guilt of being part of the Manhattan Project.
There was a knock at the door before it opened to reveal the chief psychiatrist that was assigned to Ted’s case. He stepped in, adjusting his glasses, with a wide smile on his face. “Good afternoon, Dr. Knight. How are you feeling today?”
Ted didn’t look up; he just continued to pace around the room, occasionally scratching out a new equation on one of the blackboards. He looked frantic and unkempt, yet there was something about him that seemed thoughtful, the way he furled his brow when someone spoke and the way his eyes lit up when he wrote something down on his blackboard.
The psychiatrist moved in closer and studied his wall. “So, have you gotten anything new today?”
Ted simply shook his head. “I need the stars.”
“I’m sorry?”
Dr. Knight flicked his arm towards the Doctor in dismissal. “I don’t understand any of this during the day. The only time I can truly think is at night. I need the stars to think.”
“What led to this fixation on stars?” The Doctor asked with concern.
Ted shrugged. “It’s always been this way my whole life. I’ve always used the stars as inspiration. It’s just the way it is.”
The Doctor nodded. “You’re not crazy, Dr. Knight. I understand the guilt you carry, but you are not insane. Why do you keep yourself here?”
Ted looked up at the Doctor with wide eyes. “It’s the only way.”
Dr. Appleby nodded again and turned on one foot to leave the room. It was the same conversation they had every day. Sometimes Ted would go off about the Manhattan Project in whole and other days, he’d simply talk about Anthony Ives, or Professor Ivo as he affectionately called him, but it would always end the same. Dr. Appleby noted that he wasn’t crazy, yet he remained in the hospital for some unknown reason.
Once Dr. Appleby was gone, Ted returned to his work of frantically writing numbers, letters and symbols on the board. He went on for close to an hour when he stopped for a second and stared at the blackboard for close to five minutes. Immediately afterwards, he slapped his forehead with incredible force. “No. It’s all wrong. IT’S ALL WRONG!”
Ted violently threw himself around the room, erasing bits and pieces of equation and data and with one fell swoop he punched the board as hard as he could, sending his fist clear through. He pulled it out and examined his bloody fist as tears began to form in his eyes and roll down his cheeks. “I can’t figure it out. Why can’t I figure it out?”
“Because you don’t want to.”
Ted spun around from the fetal position on the floor and saw Anthony Ives standing in the doorway wearing a fancy black suit and a winning smile. “Ivo?”
“Yes, my friend. I told you that I was working on our atonement and I’ve found it. I’m here to offer you a wondrous opportunity… all you have to do is decide if you want to take it. Infinity is wide open, Theodore.”
THE ADVENTURE TO INFINITY IS JUST BEGINNING!
