Alien Joe smiled. “Very good, but let’s refine your conclusion. Travel pertains to an act of physical movement; movement invokes the passage of time, which is a component of the physical dimension. As we speak, you and I occupy a higher dimension where time does not exist. I mention this to ease your mind about hastening your journey back to the submersible. Time is not passing in the physical sense while we are conversing, so don’t feel pressured. Let me also assure you that you are not being held captive. Simply express the desire to leave, and you’ll find yourself back in the ice tunnel and on your merry way.”
“Will I remember any of this?”
“No.”
“Then what makes it real?”
“The implications of our communication are very real.”
Settling deeper into the seat cushion, I began to rock, finding the familiar action soothing. “You say we’re in a higher dimension. It doesn’t feel any different.”
“Do you hurt?”
“No.”
“Yet you were experiencing physical discomfort before you entered the ice tunnel.”
“But if this was a lucid dream, I wouldn’t be shivering or suffering from frostbite or aching muscles or joint pain. Or even hunger.”
“Good point.”
“How many dimensions are there? Are they all like this?”
“You studied quantum physics at Princeton. How many dimensions are there, Zachary?”
That’s why the icon seemed familiar!
“Ten. There are ten dimensions, at least according to superstring theory. And they’re arranged just like that icon glowing on your — your front door.”
Ten golfball-sized sparks of energy appeared between us, hovering four feet above the wooden floor in the same alignment as the icon, only now the three upper dimensions were burning white, while the middle six were flowing with the colors of the spectrum — red to orange intoyellow, followed by the darker green, blue, and indigo hues. The lowest dimension, our physical dimension, remained bathed in violet.
“Interpret what you see, Zachary.”
“Energy. It seems to be flowing through the ten dimensions in accordance with the electromagnetic spectrum, from the three upper worlds into the bundle of six, and from the six to the one, the physical world.”
“Very good. White energy encompasses the inclusive spectrum. Darkness, defined as the absence of light, generates an eleventh dimension, which we do not access. What else can you theorize through your observations?”
“While the purest energy is abundant in the upper three dimensions, by the time it reaches our physical world it’s been filtered considerably. The wavelengths are longer and yet weaker, as if by design.”
“Excellent. And why is that significant?”
“Less energy imposes limitations.”
“And what limitations might be imposed on a physical being such as yourself?”
“You really do sound like Joe.”
“Answer the question, please.”
“Sure. Wouldn’t want to waste your time.” I burst out laughing, feeling giddy.
And there it was — the answer he was trying to coax out of me.
“My own mortality. In the physical world we face the threat of dying every day. You can add to that disease, pain, hunger, hatred, injury, loneliness, and sorrow. Do you experience any of these things on your world, Alien Joe?”
“We did, but not anymore. We evolved.”
“You’re immortal?”
“The soul is immortal. Physicality imposes limitations that can be overcome.”
A chill ran down my spine. At least I registered the sensation as such. “Alien Joe, why are you here?”
“I am here because I chose to communicate with you. Why are you here, Zachary?”
“I’m here because I sought answers about life by exploring the past. Now that I’ve been given access to an advanced intelligence, I need to know more. How did you evolve as physical beings? Does it have something to do with this energy that is flowing down through the ten dimensions of existence? Where’s this energy originating from? What does it do? How can we access it?”
“You say you seek answers about life. What you truly mean is existence: why are we here? What is our purpose?”
“Tell me.”
“How can I tell you that? My purpose is different from yours.”
“Then tell me, does God exist?”
“Define God.”
“The Creator. The entity that was here before there was a here.”
Joe closed his eyes and rocked. “Let’s play our old game of cause and effect. How was the physical universe created?”
“The Big Bang.”
“If energy flows from the higher dimensions into the physical universe, then which came first, the energy or the Big Bang?”
“I suppose the energy.”
“Then imagine, if you can, the entirety of existence before the here as pure, infinite, conscious energy. And in this infinity of conscious energy, there was the essence of the energy’s DNA, an essence which gave it an all-consuming desire.”
“What desire?”
“The desire to share.”
“Share what? What can energy— Oh, you mean immortality.”
“Far beyond immortality, Zachary. We’re talking about everlasting, unimaginable fulfillment. But there is one problem: sharing requires a receiver. And so this vast all-consuming conscious energy created another consciousness to receive its energy. Let’s think of this second consciousness, this creation, as a vessel. With the creation of the vessel, the conscious infinite energy could experience its own fulfillment by sharing, and the vessel could receive fulfillment by receiving. And everything worked, until—”
“Until what?”
“Until the receiver wanted to experience what the energy, its creator, felt. It wanted to feel the desire to share. You see, even though it was created to receive energy, the vessel was made from the energy’s essence, endowing it with a like desire to share. But unlike the energy, the vessel hadn’t earned its fulfillment. Imagine, Zachary, that you were given every accolade as both an academic and an athlete, and yet you had never earned those honors. Remove the trials and tribulations that lead to success and you are left with emptiness. That’s how the vessel felt.
“Seeking to earn its fulfillment, the vessel did the only thing it was capable of doing — it shunted its creator’s flow of energy. And in doing so, it shrank to a singular point of existence.
“The creator energy understood what its creation desired. Because the energy loved the vessel unconditionally, it gave its creation the opportunity to earn its fulfillment. The vessel reopened, and energy rushed in until the vessel burst.”
The entity appearing as Joe Tkalec stopped rocking and opened its eyes. “Zachary, tell me again how the physical universe came into being?”
“The Big Bang.”
“Describe the event.”
My scalp tingled as I suddenly comprehended what I was being told. “The Big Bang was the sudden expansion of a singularity of inconceivable energy containing protons, neutrons, electrons — all ejected into the vacuum of space.”
Alien Joe nodded. “And now you know cause and effect. The event that shattered the vessel and expanded the physical universe also gave order to the upper dimensions so that the flow of energy might be veiled.”
“Why veil it?”
“Think of the upper dimensions as everlasting fulfillment and the physical universe as the arena where that fulfillment had to be earned. This is what the vessel desired.”
My mind was reeling. “Okay, so if the conscious energy is what we collectively refer to as God, what was the vessel?”