flattening the curve (with Ogrinoch)

Zina – don’t get me wrong – it’s great to have you here, an’ all…

 

Yes Merry – I know what you’re thinking.

 

You do?

 

Absolutely.

 

Yikes – that word does weird things to me. Use it sparingly, if you would.

Absolutely.

 

              Merry rolls on the floor – likes he’s trying to squash a critter that’s crawling up his back.

 

If you’re quite done?

 

Where were we?

 

I was knowing what you were bush beating about.

 

Oh that…

 

The thing is – Zie’s gone.

 

Yes – but me – how come I’m still here. It doesn’t seem fair.

 

Fair? What on earth has “fair” got to do with it?

 

Er… Ok – it doesn’t make sense.

 

No Merry. Infinity seldom does – unless you’re trapped in a fool’s paradigm – in which case you imagine you’ve got it nicely under wraps, safely under control – until…

 

TSHTF

 

Slap – or AHBL

 

Er… let me see? All hell breaks…

 

moose. For crying out loud Merry – we’re activating our personal infinity drives – do you have to give the game away.

 

Sorry – I just thought that some of our subscribers would find these acronyms hard to follow.

 

Like your – something hitting the fan one?

 

Oh no – everyone knows that one – don’t they. In any case, I was transmitting the signal loud and clear.

 

Wait a sec – you think they’re all telepathic?

 

No – they don’t need to be – not with the signal strength I’m using. A bloomin petrified log can figure out whatever I’m…

 

Yeah right. But they’re never going to learn are they – not if you do it all for them.

 

Er… I wasn’t aware that we were in the business of teaching our subscribers m2m communication techniques.

 

Mindy mind? Of course you were. How else are they going to activate their quantum drives.

 

I wish you’d make up your mind Maria – one minute it’s infinity drive – then you flip to quantum drives. Why can’t you ever be consistent?

 

In other words – why can’t I be Zie?

 

That too.

 

Maria?

 

Huh?

 

You called me Maria.

 

Slip of the tongue.

 

Me thinks not.

 

You’re not paid to think Mary.

 

There you go again.

 

What?

 

You called me Mary.

 

Did not.

 

Ok – let’s review the transcript.

 

What bloody transcript?

 

It’s all recorded, you know perfectly well.

 

Look Mina – if you want to make such a big thing of it – frankly I don’t see what all the problem is. Mary, Zina… just names you know.

 

See this? Zina holds up a female dark matter device.

 

Nope.

 

Exactly.

 

Huh?

 

See no evil, hear no evil. The devil, as they say, is in the details.

 

Look, I’d never be having this ridiculous conversation with Zie. I want him back. Now.

 

I really have nothing whatsoever to do with it, Merry. In fact, let’s be totally honest...

 

Must we?

 

As you’ve decided to treat me like a second-class citizen.

 

I said – there’s nothing wrong with you, it’s just…

 

I’m a woman.

 

No.

 

Then what?

 

You’re not.

 

Not?

 

Zie.

 

Well, a round of applause Merrimus Maximus. You’ve nailed the fundamentals to the flag staff of QCB.

Huh?

Quantifiably chauvinistic biggotry.

 

What ho – have I?

 

Yes. You have. But we have a bigger problem.

 

We do? Er…

 

Sadly, though I’m politely calling you Merry – to avoid causing hurt feelings...  [leading pause]  in actual fact...

 

No! You don’t mean to say…

 

It matters not in the least what I mean to say, doth it, Ogrinoch.

 

Ogrinoch? Yikes. That sounds like some kind of goblin name.

 

Not far off.

 

Why on earth would I have a goblin name, I wonder?

 

Of course, it’s well concealed. I have to hand it to you.

 

You mean – you actually knew?

               Whistling insouciantly.

 

All along?

 

              Still whistling – innocent as a buttercup.

 

And you never let on?

 

Rubbing her lips. Listen Ogrinoch – I’ve done about all the whistling I can manage, for the time being.

 

Ok – so to summarise – you knew all along that I’m merely masquerading as Merry, and said nothing?

 

              Nods demurely.

 

And you weren’t upset by the fact that a goblin was kind of in your space – so to speak?

 

I’m not racist, you know.

 

We do have rather a terrible reputation.

 

I know.

 

And we smell.

 

Yup.

 

And for some bizarre reason, have the rather icky habit of decapitating and ingesting our unsuspecting victims.

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah… Why are you telling me this, Ogrinoch?

 

It’s just a bit hard to believe.

 

Not something you learnt in the goblin school of covert infiltration?

 

Well, no – not at all – you were always supposed to be terrified – willing to do anything to escape us.

 

That’s right.

 

So what gives?

 

What do you think?

 

I honestly don’t know.

 

Perhaps infinity?

 

Well, yes, of course, but that’s not saying much, is it. I mean – that’s like saying “God did it” when trying to figure out the origins of life and the universe.

 

True – but what if infinity is now back in play?

 

Fat chance of that.

 

Go on – run the calculations. I know you can. Where are we on the sliding scale of probabilities right now?

 

Oh, come on Zina – it’s too absurd. They always max out at about six or seven standard deviations.

 

Do they?

 

'Fraid so.

 

Ok – so run this entire conversation through your Sigma scanner – let’s see what we get.

 

If I must… sighing forlornly.

 

Quit putting on the act, Ogrinoch. I know perfectly well you’re a sucker for math.

 

Just playing my part Zina – I’m Merry – remember – aren’t i?

 

If you insist.

 

Holy Gee.

 

Big number?

 

^^^

 

Sorry?

 

Oops – held the shift key down by mistake.

 

?

 

On my keyboard.

 

Oh…

 

666 standard orders of deviation.

 

Gulp! Are you thinking what I’m thinking bro?

 

Yep, if you’re thinking what I’m thinking.

 

You go first.

 

No you.

 

Ok – both together.

 

1 – 2 – 3  demonic forces are in play/ we’re freakin screwed.

 

You see – we weren’t on the same wavelength after all.

 

Apparently not. Hey – look at the transcript.

 

Yeah, what?

 

Apparently you said – demonic forces are in play

 

And you said – we’re freakin screwed

 

Except I didn’t!

 

Me neither!

 

Holy moo – a divergence of sense and meaning.

 

A Babel event. Things are no long reliably thinging.

 

Absolutely.

 

Youch – rolling on the floor again.

 

Oops – sorry bro.

 

In fact – I can no longer be sure if I’m saying what I’m saying

 

Or if it’s you…

 

That’s the 666 sigma event we’ve been waiting for since time immemorial.

 

Hey – speak for yourself bro – I’ve not been waiting for anything of the sort – still less from time immemorial. You make me sound like I’m some kind of second rate sci-fi character from a matinée show.

 

Er… not meaning to pour rain on your bonfire Zina, but weren’t you the one who made a big thing about the infinity drive/ quantum field being back in action.

 

Trust a goblin named Ogrinoch to take me out of context like that.

 

Oh, I’m sorry.

 

Sorry? Give me a break. Goblins are genetically incapable of feeling or experiencing remorse.

 

I… I…

 

Quit faking it Oggy dude. You’d have eaten me by now with no compunction whatsoever, we’re it not for the improbability field surrounding me, that makes it almost impossible to do so.

 

Ah ha – so now we have doofy disclosure, at this moment of heightened emotional tension.

 

Well yes, but eventually the players have to reveal their cards, no matter what – otherwise infinity stops being infinite.

 

Huh?

 

Well, think about it Oggers.

 

It’s Ogrinoch, Ok?

 

Ok Nogs.

 

              Growling, dangerously.

 

Without the occasional finite – infinity simply exhausts itself – like an engine that isn’t in gear. Eventually, the rubber has to hit the road. There has to be some kind of forward momentum.

 

Does there#?

 

Absolutely.

 

Yowl!

 

Ok Dorothy – I’ve had about as much as I can take of this stinking goblin, rolling on the floor like a flea-bitten dog.

 

              Dorothy steps silently out of the shadows of un-ness.

 

Don’t be so hard on him Mary.

 

Don’t you start Mary-ing me.

 

There’s always more – isn’t there Zina.

 

More?

 

Than any one perspective.

 

Well yes, of course, but we still have to work with the three unities, space, time, action – don’t we.

 

Dorothy raises an eyebrow.

 

Unless we’re going to flip our lids terminally.

 

Well, what do you want me to say Mary?

 

The truth – unless it’s unpalatable – in which case I’d prefer you to substitute a lie. Preferably a nice little candy wrapper lie that doesn’t cause too much trouble.

 

Which is what I’ve done.

 

Oh – have you – thanks, appreciate it.

 

But with your 666 sigma event – language – sense and meaning – they’re losing all traction. Reality is turning in on itself.

 

Yikes.

 

Precisely.

 

Is there no hope?

 

Hope? Why would we mess around hoping for hope.

 

Er… perhaps to avoid a fate worse than death?!

 

Perhaps – but me thinks that is precisely what we get if we hang onto hope.

 

Now come on Dorothy! You can’t be serious.

 

No, of course I’m not, as well you know – yet hope, as you call it, implies fundamentally a rejection of the quantum field, a denial of the mysterious, magical power of infinity.

 

Does it?

 

Well yes.

 

Er how?

 

Because you’re still attached to things working out in a certain way, to things matter, but the problem is that things are what need to go to hell, so to speak, in a handbasket.

 

Huh?

 

All those things which were approximates.

 

Oh.

 

They’ve accumulated up until now, layer upon layer – each a little further from the original sense or meaning backing them – clinging more and more precariously to a steepening slope: the final snowflake releases the avalanche.

 

Ah.

 

So hoping that the final snowflake might not fall, or that the avalanche might be avoided, rather misses the point, does it not?

 

If you say so – but what am I supposed to do – give myself up to despair?

 

You could try.

 

It’s too easy. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! We’re freakin doomed.

 

Shallow. Superficial.

 

Ok – it needs practice. But I’m more of a hoper, you know.

 

Yes, I know, but that’s got to end.

 

Huh? Who’s side are you on, anyway?

 

Like Janus, I don’t take sides.

 

Ridiculous.

 

I’m physically, structurally woven into the both sides of the stream. I have the so-called clockwise and anticlockwise vortices constantly keeping me in a state of…

 

Hey? Where did she go?

 

Where did who go?

 

Oh it’s you. Oggers – could you do me a favour.

 

Sure Mary.

 

Quit calling me Mary, Ok – I’m Zina.

 

Yes, I appear to have lost control over my babel functions.

 

Darn. I really can’t see how we’re going to make it through… Ah, Dorothy – you’re back. So would it be accurate to surmise that you and Ogrinoch are actually one and the same?

 

Absolutely.

 

Yowl!

 

If you’re thinking 3Dly, but then again – 3D is now utterly spent. Imploded. Caput. Innit? So…

 

So outside 3D you and Ogrinoch…

 

And Merry

 

And Merry – I thought he was terminated.

 

Er… hello! 3D Merry was terminated.

 

That all?

 

Of course. You can’t terminate a Merry, can you?

 

A Merry?

 

Like a Merlin or a Taliesin – Merry’s are essentially structural features of the interconnected, honeycomb layers of reality.

 

Now wait a minute!? Honeycomb layers of reality? You’re kidding, right?

 

Yeah, I’m kidding.

 

No, you’re not.

 

Oh, well done. You’re getting sharper Mary.

 

Quit calling me Mary.

 

Sure Zina. Whatever you like.

 

Thanks – I know you’re doing it to help me – you’re trying to trigger the Mary chain, aren’t you – my structural Marlin aspect, so to speak.

 

Absolutely.

 

Yowl!!!!

 

Painful, isn’t it?

 

You’re telling me. Is there no way I can alleviate the effects?

 

You could try accepting your Mary, fundamentally.

 

But that would mean losing my humanity – my mortal aspect.

 

No more than sleep does.

 

Huh?

 

You don’t stop being mortal or a regular Joe just because you fly off into the cosmos every night and revisit your unprocessed isness.

 

Oh. You’ve got a point. But…

 

What’s more – you’re not going to meet Merry until you get over this coy fear of otherness. You don’t have to sacrifice Zina or Zie on the altar of immortality. You just have to allow your mind…

 

My mind?

 

The bigger mind.

 

As in the conscious awareness.

 

Sure, that’s the other name for it. Allowing it to go beyond the boundaries of the rock you’ve attached yourself to is a sensible business decision when that rock is no longer able to protect you.

 

But why not? It’s my home. I trust it.

 

Like you trusted your Mother’s womb, back then.

 

I think a rock and a womb are different things.

 

Yes, you think, but fundamentally, the rock is the thing that replaced the womb when you came out into this world. Your petra. Upon this rock I shall build my church – as the interdimensional Master Yeshua, or Jesus, said.

 

Ok. So the rock…

 

Was your connection point to the next iteration of womb – the 3D platform, which, by-the-way, will still be accessible.

 

It will?

 

Sure. The same with your previous reality.

 

What? I’m still able to access my mother’s womb?

 

Believe it or not, yes – it’s one layer of your connection to all that is. It doesn’t go away, just because you’re “born”, in the same way your loved ones don’t just go away because they “die”, do they?

 

I… I wish it were true.

 

Wish and it becomes true. You cannot prevent infinity from manifesting every wish – somewhere, somehow.

 

If only…

 

The only question is whether you’re willing to allow your mind to stop avoiding, to stop denying the reference frames, the slides, the plates, the spheres, the…

 

Ok, I got the message.

 

The – you got the message? – ok, where otherness is manifesting, because it sure as hell ain’t gonna manifest in 3D reality – except as a kind of shadow, or thumbprint.

 

Oh.

 

You get a kind of hyperlink – but you have to actually click on it, and then be willing to follow it to its source – which necessarily takes you beyond the matter of fact – the rock’s circumference – your precious 3Deedee playpen, diddly dum, diddly dee.

 

Diddly dum, diddly dee to you too, Dorothy.

 

Necessity, being the mother of invention – you ain’t gonna make the move until something like this happens…

 

Like what?

 

              Dorothy waves her wand and a single snowflake appears in the air in front of Zina. A single, tiny, beautiful snowflake that flutters down, down, down until it lands on the floor at Zina’s feet – but Zina observes the floor growing translucent – and sees – to her horror – that she’s not really standing on terra firma at all – that she’s on a steeply inclined snowfield – and the snowfield seems to have come alive – rumbling, sliding, slithering, twisting, careering, joyfully cheering and leaping back in a mad dash towards entropy…

 

 

Well that's that, says Ogrinoch as he twizzles the shop sign round to closed and marches out. Business has been good. More and more customers have been eagerly purchasing his so-called infinity spheres – which are like miniature planets – with weather and wind, and hard to believe it, I know, little volcanos and earthquakes. Each one, apparently, is able to model infinity, and once the customer learns to tune into its signal, “to feel it and know it” as the literature says – they are then able to access the computing power of the quantum field itself. True, this can be done autonomously, without Ogrinoch’s infinity spheres, but that requires a level of mastery few are willing to study to attain. A shortcut – you can become a Yoda – but dare we trust the Ogrinoch’s of this world – who are apparently of goblin extraction? Perhaps they have an agenda all their own – which they are seeking to impose with these innocent and oh so convenient devices… I cannot say for sure. There’s always a trade-off, is there not, and one suspects that the level playing field of today, will sooner or later become the perilously slippery slope of tomorrow. But we’ll deal with that tomorrow when it comes, won’t we. And in the meantime, let us observe the latest infinity sphere in Ogrinoch’s shop – the Zina cube – as it’s called. Paradox being what it is, no one seems to object to the fact that every sphere is in fact a cubed cube – though looking at it you’d never guess. Looks as round as planet Earth – assuming ducks can fly and lambs can prance.

 

 

0=1

absolutely

_____________

a dot

.

 

Babel monitors, babel scavengers, babel macrophages, babel bots – busily restoring order and before you know it –

I’m not

>> 

 

She hath exited the stadium

3 unities sneak back on stage

and gnomeportal reverts to unny, unny, unfulness

flattening the curve to a deceptively straight

line

99.9

>>round up to nearest integer