Out of This World

    “How was the trip, Honey?”

    “The trip was fine.”

    “Where did you go? You said before you left you weren’t allowed to disclose your destination. Top secret, all that nonsense.”

    “It is not nonsense, and now that we’ve returned I can tell you some of where I went, and what we found. Until it is cleared, I can’t tell you everything.”

    “Well?”

    “It was a difficult trip. Not because of the physical demands, although there was nothing we didn’t expect. We were to investigate a new Galaxy, Surmise someone had named it. It was located in one of the new regions recently discovered in the Optimism Nebulous. The Optimism has been deemed a phantom realm, as it exists within the confines of what we believed at one time, a black hole. 

     Black holes before they were understood, were deemed matter that became so dense it ceased to exist, visually that is. Imagine something becoming smaller and smaller until it is no longer visible, even with the most advanced technology. We know it is there because it was documented, and matter once created does not, although it can’t be seen, become what we once referred to as a spirit. 

     A spirit is considered to be the virtual expectation of something physical, but having none of the tangible properties. It can’t be touched. It makes no sound nor appears in any form known to man to this point. It is a form of energy that exists because someone or something wants or needs it to. Think of it as an extension of the mind where a concept takes on a physical form, but only in ones imagination. Once the concept is no longer considered, the form reverts to its prior state of disjointed energy.

    All perception at that point becomes personal as no two people are likely to perceive of the identical form, therefore limiting its existence to the individual. The concept makes governments and laws obsolete, as there is no longer a need to control aspects of life, as each life in the relationship with others is controlled, or rather manufactured by the individual. If you wish there to be a conflict, a war, a simple exchange of words, the outcome becomes what the individual wishes it to be.

    Optimism although it exists, does so only because it is wished to be. It is the conjured state of form where one functions, not the reality we experienced on Surmise itself. Surmise is similar to our physical realm, but has the ability to influence those in its sphere because of the Alignment Treaty everyone in that region had agreed to.

    The AT states that each and every action taken individually or collectively, must prove the consequences of the proposed option will not interfere with a forms ability to function within the parameters of its own illusions.

    You can envision how this requirement would affect any and all actions perceived, as it would be impossible to know if your perception would interfere with another’s perception, therefore causing a state of immobility, or action of any kind. The concept when taken to its full dimension becomes a vortex of diminished returns, which continues to accelerate to smaller and smaller possibilities until it becomes so dense it ceases to exist, other than in a virtual form.

     Operating in this realm, attempting to investigate, well, you can imagine. It was as if we were attempting to weigh the essence of a spirit. And then only if the spirit were agreeable to being weighed. Three of our staff were released from the assignment as they became so confused by the protocol we were asked to follow, they became delusional, and could not remember who or why they were who they believed themselves to be.

     The concept of defining the consequence of an action not taken, but only imagined, was beyond the scope of anything we had previously attempted and we became bogged down in the descending notion that becoming less dense, actually leads to the reality of becoming more dense and therefore likely to become invisible at any moment. We are still searching for two of our explorers, volunteers actually, who found the concept totally absurd, and yet they are no longer with us, or if they are, we can’t seem to find them.

    The most difficult for me was the music. We of course could only hear music we agreed to hear being obliged to operate under the auspices of the treaty. My particular music, if you could call it that, was, and I am not making this up, an old Rock and Roll group called the Diplomats. They only knew one song, or at least that is the only one I heard. The lyric, and I say lyric, because I heard only the one; “the Lone Ranger and Tonto were comin on down the line, fixin everybody’s trouble, everyone’s but mine.” That was it, over and over. I began to wonder if my fellow investigators were actually missing or they, having had a similar experience, were just hiding.

    We got back late and I didn’t want to disturb you so I stayed at Jay’s. I should have called, but I was just exhausted. I still haven’t unwrapped my mind from the experience.”

    “I know. I called Judith, she said you were in the basement pretending to be someone you are not. Where were you really?”

    “I told you we went to the Surmise region, and then to Optimism. Optimism, the black hole, and the Alignment Treaty, density…were you even listening?”

    “Where’d you really go to be who you always wanted to be? Was Surmise some bar, Optimism your hopes of becoming all you could be? They’ve got the army for that.”

    “No…we went to Vegas. Optimism is a club that belongs to the Surmise conglomerate. Jay does some accounting work for them and got us free tickets. He talked me into going. I didn’t want to, but I was afraid if I left him to his own devices…well, you know Jay.”

   “You appear to have shrunk! How long were you guys in that place. Can you feel yourself shrinking. It won’t be long until you fade away entirely. At least in the vortex of my new world.”