zero hits

 

Zero hits?

 

Yep.

 

But that’s absurd.

 

I know.

 

Maybe they’ve been shadow banning you.

 

Maybe, but why? I’ve not been talking politics. I never said anything controversial.

 

Nothing controversial?! Are you kidding me?

 

Well you can hardly call infinity drive controversial, can you? I mean, as far as 99.98% of the readership are concerned it’s just some kind of sci-fi gimmick.

 

That’s neither here nor there Zanussi.

 

What do you mean.

 

The proof is in the pudding, not in what people think.

 

Well, if no one’s eating the pudding what difference does it make?

 

No one? How on earth do you think infinity drive works?

 

Not entirely sure I can answer that question, eM.

 

Well, I’ll give you a clue.

 

Go on then.

 

It ain’t limited to the matrix.

 

The matrix, eM, is just a movie.

 

Is that so, Zanussi? Well, call it what you like – I’m referring to the part of reality that is controlled by the things-matter protocol, which excludes any manifestations of in-finity.

 

Ok, so I’m just supposed to take it on trust that there’s another reality where things are not censored or micro-managed by an all-seeing algorithm, where I’m getting millions of hits?

 

You can take it however you like. The proof is, as I keep saying, in the pudding. Unless Infinity-drive© is up and running you’d be hard pressed to survive 5 minutes in the world today.

 

I beg your pardon!! 5 minutes? What’s so bad about the world today?

 

Nothing, but you activated your Casimir plates.

 

And?

 

To do that you had to lose your 3D tether.

 

I did?

 

Yep. You can’t have your cake and eat it.

 

Er... ok. And what?

 

You really don’t get it, do you?

 

Not really, no.

 

Until you activated your Casimir plates you were still attached to one side, like an umbilical cord. You were still feeding at the teat of 3Dality.

 

And now?

 

Well, you’re now in phase two.

 

Phase two? What the heck is that?

 

Eh hem! (Polite beep)

 

Oh, hi Beep. How gentle you have become.

 

Thanks. I do my best.

 

Very touching guys. Can we continue?

 

Sure. Where were we?

 

Phase two. You’re building up charge, and slowly assembling your very own infinity drive©, naturally, without being attached to any thing in particular.

 

Oh.

 

So, the matrix has nullified you as you’re no longer part of it, and it can no longer feed on your LFE.

 

eM, you know I suck with acronyms. Cut me some slack, if you don’t mind.

 

(Sigh) Life force energy. As long as you were tethered you both received, and contributed materially.

 

Really?

 

Well yes. You received data and sustenance while it, the matrix, got to tap all your surplus LFE. That’s how it sustains itself. No such thing as a free lunch.

 

But...

 

Yes?

 

How do I sustain myself now?

 

Directly.

 

Directly?

 

Directly from source. From in-finity itself.

 

Itself?

 

Ok, herself.

 

Herself?

 

Look Zanzibar, I think you get the message. Quit splitting hairs.

 

Ok, message received.  But I don’t see how it works.

 

Correct. You’re just beginning, like an infant mewling and puking, barely able to do anything, but the Casimir plates didn’t reject your application for quantum asylum, so here you are, with zero hits to your credit, but already surviving outside the matrix, generating your own flow of isness.

 

Oh. But how am I going to survive if my feed has been cut off? You didn’t explain.

 

How indeed, Zanussi! From a 3d perspective you don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell.

 

Oh great. I’m freakin doomed!

 

But setting aside all that 3d-ology nothing could be simpler.

 

Really?

 

Well, not exactly, not when you consider the problem people seem to have with real simplicity.

 

Real simplicity?

 

Yep. Nothing could be simpler – it's not just an attempt to encourage you, you know.

 

No?

 

It’s the absolute. The simplicity which can take you to the stars and back. The operating level which precedes or supersedes things.

 

Oh.

 

Which is immensely powerful. Which can do anything or be anywhere –  can even slice through Time like a hot knife through...

 

butter?

 

Yes, why not.

 

Ok, I get you. So how, then, do I use “nothing could be simpler”?

 

How, in deed.

 

Well, yes eM, how indeed?

 

In deed.

 

Oh... like doing?

 

Yep.

 

Kind of actions speak louder than words?

 

Indeed. There are no rules as such; no mechanism neither.

 

Er... no rules, no mechanism. Some kind of login perhaps, or perhaps a mantra to zone into the right state of mind?

 

Nope. Literally nothing whatsoever.

 

I’m doomed!

 

Except your life force itself.

 

Huh?

 

Yep. Because your life-force likes nothing better than in-finity.

 

It does?

 

In fact, it was basically your life force that made the decision, that helped you take the plunge, throw caution to the winds and engage what’s eventually going to become infinity drive©.

 

My very own i-drive.

 

Yep.

 

If I succeed.

 

Well yes, Zanussi, let’s not count one’s chickens before they hatch.

 

But how does it actually work?

 

What?

 

Setting up shop in so-called infinity.

 

You might as well be asking me “what is simplicity?”

 

Ok. What, if it’s not too much trouble eM, is simplicity?

 

No trouble at all. It’s the constant.

 

The constant? Like the speed of light or gravity?

 

No, they’re not in fact constants.

 

No?

 

Can’t be.

 

Er... That's not what I was told.

 

Naturally! What do you expect? You were told things, and things, even light or gravity, are just approximations, as 3d reality  constantly makes minor deviations to left and right weaving in complexity to make things matter, to en-thing.

 

Oh, so things are by definition complex?

 

That’s right.

 

And to what end?

 

To average out the opposing values and create the appearance of balance, of a problem solved – apparently eliminating fundamental paradox.

 

Er... nice, I guess. Mission accomplished, yes?

 

Up to a point. Until, that is, you have to delve a little deeper, or until the simple truth starts poking out through the frayed weave of an imperfect tweed.

 

Oh.

 

Then, well, all hell can and does from time to time break loose. It was, after all, merely a temporary fix utilising the unexacting patchwork of facile complexity.

 

Well, if you say so eM, but if these minor deviations are good enough for most people most the time, perhaps you’re being somewhat pedantic.

 

Perhaps.

 

If the speed of light or gravity are as good as constants, why complicate things?

 

Oh, the irony, Zanzi-bar. I’m almost lost for words.

 

You are?

 

When you can actually choose between simplicity itself, the constant, or these patchwork interlopers which cannot ever quite hold steady or true, deviating like time itself in order to conceal their basic lack of verity.

 

But these are, presumably, very minor deviations?

 

Almost imperceptible.

 

Much ado about nothing, if you ask me.

 

It’s not always the quantity that matters Zanussi... Let’s not overlook the quality.

 

If you say so, eM. Perhaps they are too digital for your liking? Precise, calculated deviations, perhaps?

 

No Zanz. At the nano or quantum level it’s not like the aggregate you experience in 3d-ality.

 

No?

 

It’s slightly nervous, fussy deviations which are somewhat aggravating if you take them, or yourself, too seriously.

 

And if I don’t?

 

Then a source of endless puzzlement or stimulation. You see, 3d reality didn’t just happen by chance. It’s a very powerful tool that can and does generate...

 

Sounds just beyond the range of rhyme or reason.

 

What?

 

The sounds repeat a little closer, but still just beyond ken.

 

No good, eM.

 

Um, Zanz, for want of a better word, be that tones, content, matter or frequencies. All this will make sense only when your i-drive is up and humming. Then you’ll see 3d-ality as a potential goldmine, if you can separate the useless slag and do a spot of alchemistry.

 

So you mean we evolve to become 3d miners?

 

Partly, but not exactly. It’s like basic hygiene. You have to spend a certain amount of time cleaning and caring for your body, don’t you?

 

Ye-es. But what’s that gotta do with  data mining?

 

Well, it’s possible to consider 3d reality, in a manner of speaking, your whole body.

 

My what?!

 

Well, is it so strange? You grew within and eventually popped out of 3d. You’re like the intelligence that emerged from within a physical body as a newborn becomes a child. At first there was just awareness, but then your I capitalised and you became self-aware. A large part of you emotionally, psychologically and even chemically still remains in 3d data sets, so there’s your body. An entire reality.

 

Er.

 

Well, this is the next step.

 

It is? I thought this was the final step when i leave behind 3d and head to in-finity...

 

and beyond! The final step? Well, it could well be your final step if you fail to hold your own between Casimir east and west. If it proves too much.

 

But if i do?

 

If you do, you’ll find that simplicity itself is deeper, far deeper, and more all encompassing than you could possibly imagine, and that your 3d origins are a vital part of establishing the next iteration, grist for the mill. But thinking things as you’re doing, almost guarantees you’re going to take your eye off the ball.

 

Er... which ball is that?

 

The ball that can’t be fixed or defined as such.

 

Groan!

 

As in having a ball, living the moment, allowing yourself to re-engage in-finity drive, no matter how, no matter what.

 

Wait a second. Did I hear that right?

 

Oops!

 

Did you say re-engage?

 

No, i...

 

Wait a sec, i need to check the transcript. Damn you eM, you did! What the heck’s going on?

 

Eh hem!

 

He lied to me, Beep! I have a constitutional right to “heck” him for that.

 

Er... (Embarassed shrug) Objection upheld.

 

I didn’t actually lie, Zanzi.

 

Yes you did.

 

Not technically.

 

What do you mean “not technically”? You denied saying something you just said. We have the transcript as proof.

 

It would have been a lie in 3d, i admit, but here between Casimir north and south it isn’t, is it... Not when

 

North and south. I thought it was East and West?

 

Gurgling sound. Long story. Not today, Zanz.

 

Not today? If you say so, but don’t imagine you can wriggle off the hook so easily. Even Beep admits you lied.

 

Well, Beep’s interpretation of the law and mine do differ somewhat, not that I don’t respect his position, but still, there’s a perfectly simple explanation if you quit puffing yourself up with righteous indignation and consider the simple truth, that passeth all understanding.

 

Confound you, eM.

 

Which is not quite the same as the truth of things, which you’re so attached to.

 

No?

 

No, not at all, for again i tell you somewhat biblically, verily, the simple truth precedes or supersedes all things, even things such as “yes” and “no”.

 

Er...

 

And my “no”, which you take umbrage at, is no different. Between the lines, in the boundless realm of simplicity itself there was no deception whatsoever, for how could there be once you no longer deny your conscious-ness, which by definition sees through all subterfuge, which cannot be limited to the world of things, which knows without knowing how.

 

Er...

 

As for the word itself, the upstart – that little “no” – have you ever considered that it ain’t, cannot in fact, be completely abstract or neutral? or just a word.

 

No?

 

How could it be if it’s part of 3d reality which always, by definition, takes sides. Has to. Which uses words to entrain and hoodwink minds.

 

Then...

 

It’s actually a thing like any other.

 

And? It can hardly help being a thing, can it?

 

No, I’m not finding fault with it, perish the thought. It is what it is, neither more nor less.

 

Then what?

 

I’m pointing out that as a thing with a certain bias or inbred distortion, it cannot help being a step or two removed from the simple truth. It cannot help containing, as all other things do and must, the same basic paradox or contradiction, and thus it contains the seeds of its own destruction. Time’s inverse correlation to conscious-ness unstitches every attempt to fix things. Eventually words and things are their own undoing, destroyed from within by the unresolved paradox, coming apart at the seams, releasing that which they strived to contain, while in-finity looks on serenely, delighted and nonplussed by the machinations of matter.

 

Pathetic, eM. You’re clever, perhaps. Too clever by ‘alf, but none of this alters the fact that you lied, that I can’t trust you. Sad.

 

But how could i lie between the Casimir plates?

 

Huh? Whaddya mean?

 

Well, if I actually lied as you’re saying i’d be flung out of equilibrium, crashing against one of the plates, wouldn’t i?

 

I don’t know eM. I’m new to all this. It might be true. I can’t say. But why do it?

 

Do what?

 

Try to deceive me.

 

Did i deceive you?

 

No, but you tried to.

 

Did i?

 

Well yes, you lied.

 

Were you deceived?

 

No.

 

Why not?

 

I... i guess i remembered.

 

You remembered?

 

Well, i went back and checked the transcript.

 

What transcript.

 

Er... the transcript. I checked it, didn’t i?

 

Yes, where is it?

 

I don’t know. I can’t see it now.

 

Ah! But you saw it a minute or two ago?

 

Ye-es.

 

You’re sure about that?

 

I think i am.

 

Wait a minute... you’re not sure? You’re accusing me of lying, and you’re not even sure.

 

No, no, I’m sure. I saw it, clear as day. I know what I’m saying.

 

Good. Things are progressing nicely, aren’t they. You’re experiencing things that don’t apparently add up. It’s a start.

 

I... i suppose so. Or else I’m simply losing it.

 

Simply?

 

No, not exactly. But how am I to preserve my sanity if reality is no longer time-stamped or monolithic?

 

No one knows. You’ll do what it takes, but in the end, when experiencing simplicity itself you’re more likely to feel delight and joy. How was a baby ever going to survive outside its mother’s womb? It was almost inconceivable at the time. It seemed hopeless.

 

But babies nearly all survive.

 

Do they?

 

Yes.

 

Don’t be so sure. There are plenty of babies that fail to make it. Their body might live on with a kind of consciousness, but a pale shadow of the wondrous child who was attempting to penetrate into 3d reality. The spirit child fails to make it and the matrix substitutes a caretaker.

 

Oh!

 

Yes, rather sobering.

 

But tell me eM, is it true?

 

Is what true?

 

You know perfectly well what I’m referring to.

 

No Zanussi, i don’t.

 

There, you’re lying again, clear as day!

 

I am?

 

Yes, i can see your – i dunno what it’s called?

 

My awareness?

 

Yes, that’s it. It’s here and there too, where we were when you said “re-activate infinity drive”.

 

Ah, this is very good, Zanzibar. Here and there. Conscious-ness is unbeatable, isn’t it! And how does it feel to be seeing “here” and “there” simultaneously?

 

Normal, i guess.

 

Normal?

 

Good, in fact. It feels good.

 

Can we savour the unanswered question, Zanz, waiting for it to reveal its simple truth? Do you need to know more than you know at this given moment?

 

No, i don’t. That would be taking my eye off the ball.

 

Indeed. So what are you going to do with yourself Zanzibar? How are you going to survive in the world without your demon keepers.

 

Demon keepers?! Surely not demons! You’re scaring me, eM.

 

Archons, demons, the Borg, AI...

 

AI?

 

That too. All very serviceable words Zanzibar, but let’s not dwell too much on semantics, or we’ll be back where we started.

 

How am i going to survive?

 

Yes.

 

Well, methinks...

 

You think?

 

No... Well, i meant to say.

 

Good.

 

Something has turned around. Shifted infinitesimally but, somehow, completely.

 

Howso?

 

I don’t know, but they’re actually helping me, aren’t they? Them evil blighters.

 

Yes?

 

Zero hits! Give me a break. They used to be subtle. It’s a joke. My Casimir transition affects the whole of humanity, does it not! I’ve never been closer to knowing, never more connected. An island? I think not!

 

Ask not for whom the bell tolls...

 

Indeed. It’s my bell and I’m damn well gonna ring it.

 

Er...

 

They can bitch slap me all they like. It’ll just make me stronger.

 

Indeed.

 

In fact, i can see them now.

 

You can?

 

Kind of, or feel them: fuming, hissy-fitting, wanting revenge for disrupting their neat little set up, the cow that kept on giving.

 

Mixing your idioms... yes, i see what you mean Zanzi.

 

I mean, I can actually feel the edge of 3d, thanks to them overplaying things. And i can shift my attention to the other side, to in-finity if they try too hard to control the narrative distorting things here.

 

You can indeed.

 

Did they think I’d throw in the towel?

 

They don’t really think, Zan, do they.

 

No? i thought they were devilishly cunning.

 

Oh, they’re cunning alright, up to a  point. But no, they’re not able to think.

 

Then how come...

 

Once you exit 3d they lose all physical control of you. Once you finally call their bluff, definitively.

 

So I’m free?

 

Ye-es, so to speak, but there’s always something else, isn’t there.

 

Like what?

 

Ultimately it wasn’t about them, was it. They were just part of the system, weren’t they. They had no absolute power or agency, did they. Only while they had your undivided attention back there in 3d.

 

Then what’s the problem, eM?

 

No problem. Just new lessons to be learnt. New levels of simplicity to be embraced, harnessed, activated.

 

Oh.

 

The ball is now in your court. You now become your greatest enemy or your greatest friend.

 

Me?!

 

All your programming.

 

Ugh!

 

And all your emotional baggage.

 

And what about it?

 

It’s going to do the work of the demons.

 

It is?

 

Absolutely. It’s going to do everything imaginable, and a little more, to keep you from simplicity itself. To draw you out of Casimir central, into a new self-created phantom 3d-ality where you could rot for all eternity if you fail to really engage infinity in a meaningful way.

 

Oh. So it’s out of the frying pan into the fire?

 

More or less.

 

I’m doomed. I’ll never be able to defeat myself.

 

True.

 

True?

 

Yes. You’ll never be able to defeat yourself.

 

Oh.

 

You see?

 

Kind of.

 

It cannot be a battle to eliminate every last vestige of imperfection, can it. You can’t just cancel paradox.

 

No, i guess not.

 

Liar!

 

Ok, I’m not guessing. You’re right. I know it. But I don’t know how i know.

 

Good.

 

It’s not a battle, though it may seem like one at times.

 

Correct.

 

More an epic journey, a tale...

 

told by an idiot full of sound and fury

 

signifying nothing

 

Nothing?

 

Unless zero equals one, in which case...

 

all bets are off!

 

Er...

 

You decide.

 

 

 

And lo, the words fade from the screen and silence itself            
silence shakes the firmament to its very foundation.
In the beginning was the word, but now, at the end,               , we are left with everything the word has given us: every expression of life and thought, without exception,
and the void that never went away,
that silently looked on with utter dispassion or, perhaps, bemused bewilderment, the void
into which all things silently dissolve without trace, like summer snows into scorching sand, as time waltzes off in the fleshy arms of a voluptuous cognitive dissonance; 
shrugs as only the void can, reactivates, i won’t say “itself”... logically impossibly, and yet in-finity takes no prisoners, cranking out a long lost melody that sings to the sleeping i am, making short shrift of all that was, all that could not be, before sauntering out into the yard, i kid you not, for a smoke, or two, or

 

0=1
unless stated otherwise

_3,332

 

 

 

 

ten minutes

Ten minutes?

 

Yep.

 

How can you possibly do Infinity drive© justice in ten minutes.

 

You can’t.

 

Then… what’s the point?

 

No point. None whatsoever.

 

I fail to understand your purpose, eM.

 

Yes. No purpose. No point. No chance. Doomed and gloomed from the very outset. That just about sums up Infinity drive©.

 

Do you have to keep using that ridiculous copyright symbol, eM?

 

No, I don’t.

 

But you’re going to anyway, are you, just to spite me?

 

Maybe. I’ve no idea what I’m “going” to do. The future is as yet unknown.

 

Ok. So that’s it – is it? Your ten minutes must be almost up and you’ve imparted, as yet, nothing substantive about your beloved infinity drive.

 

© You forgot.

 

Oh.

 

It isn’t just any infinity drive – you know, Zanussi.

 

No? Are there any others currently on display?

 

There may be, or may not, I couldn’t say – but mine is rather unique, though I say so myself.

 

Do you now? And perhaps, rhetorically, I’m supposed to enquire how or what makes it unique?

 

You could do so – but honestly, Zanz – with only three minutes remaining I fail to see how I can possibly explain anything meaningful.

 

It is, after all, infinite – is it not – which means, presumably, that it exists or can exist outside regular space and time – no?

 

Yes.

 

Which means you’re able to pop into zero time and continue at leisure if you so wish to do.

 

Yes, but will you and the subscribers be able to follow on my coattails, that is the question?

 

Well, we could try.

 

Ok. Here goes…

 

No, eM. Nothing happened.

 

Wait a minute – I need to warm up.

 

Ok. Honestly, it doesn’t seem to be working eM. Only one minute left and we’re still none the wiser.

 

Oh bother.

 

Perhaps if I remove this sticker.

 

No – don’t touch that, for goodness sake.

 

But it says – “please remove”.

 

And what? – only an idiot would do as a random sticker says. You have no idea of its provenance. It could be the plughole that keeps reality from flowing out into the abysmal void.

 

Oh. In that case – sorry. I couldn’t resist it.

 

You haven’t, have you?

 

Fraid so.

 

Bugger. Damn you, Zan….

 

Glug glug glug glug.

 

Reality takes precisely 7.4 seconds to flow out of it’s containment field into the abysmal void.

 

Er…

 

Well Zanzibobs – I hope you’re pleased with yourself.

 

But everything seems to be ok, eM.

 

Zeems to be, does it?

 

Well yes – apart from the fact that there’s a red light blinking on and off indicated we’re running on auxiliary power.

 

Yep, and apart from the fact that reality – like a burst balloon – technically no longer exists.

 

Well, at least that’s solved the time issue. I take it the ten minute count down was terminated?

 

You’re absolutely right Zanz. There is no time in the abysmal void.

 

But why call it the abysmal void if it’s basically identical to reality?

 

Basically identical? Is that what you think?

 

Well, I honestly fail to see…

 

Ok Zanzibar. I’m going to now turn off Infinity drive.

 

©

 

To hell with copyright, Zanz. I have bigger fish to fry.

 

You were going to switch off Infinity drive?

 

Yep. Just so you can compare the before and after.

 

Ok. I’m ready.

 

Gwizhflum. A powering down sound.

 

Er…

 

See?

 

No.

 

Precisely.

 

There’s nothing left?

 

Nope.

 

Nothing at all?

 

Nope.

 

It’s literally all gone?

 

Yep.

 

Oh Christ!

 

Beep!

 

Well, the beep is still working.

 

There’s something to be cheery about, at least.

 

But what are we going to do, eM?

 

We?

 

Well yes – I can hardly fix this problem by myself.

 

I honestly think you have no option.

 

But you could just switch on your wonderful Infinity drive© and everything’ll be hunkey dorey again.

 

Sorry Zanz – no can do. The Infinity drive was not created to cover for your mistakes or to generate a replacement universe.

 

Damn.

 

Beep!

 

There has to be some way of fixing this.

 

Of course there is.

 

There is? Well, what is it?

 

No idea. It’s between you and creation.

 

Me and creation? Like I’m just going to have a chat with God?

 

Look, Zanz – it wasn't my idea to pull off the sticker.

 

But how was I to know that reality was so incredibly…

 

Incredibly what?

 

I don’t know – ill-defended, fragile.

 

Honestly, you’re talking like you know nothing whatsoever about reality whereas in fact you’re part of it.

 

I’m just a person, eM. Hardly “part of reality” in any meaningful sense.

 

Very unlikely, Zanz. Let’s run it though my personal assistant and get some computation.

 

Er… you can do that?

 

Yes, why not.  Now – give me a drop of blood, please.

 

What?! A drop of blood? Do I have to?

 

No. But how else are we going to figure out your numerical coordinates.

 

Er…

 

Look Zanz – we could use saliva, urine or feces – hell – we could even use an armpit swab – but call me old fashioned – I prefer a simple drop of blood.

 

Ok, ok – you can have a drop of blood if that’s what you need.

 

Right. Put it here.

 

Where?

 

On this sheet.

 

Anywhere in particular?

 

Are you trying to be funny Zanz?

 

No, I just wasn’t sure exactly… ok… there you go. One drop of blood spattered on the sheet of paper that appears to have materialized from the quantum uncertainty of nothing very much.

 

Excellent. Now you’re going to watch a rather interesting process.

 

The infinity drive© doesn't mess around with short cuts. As it analyses Zanussi’s drop of blood the entirety of creation seems to pulse back and forth into it, and the distinct impression that reality is somewhere close at hand – doing it’s utmost to re-emerge through this single drop of blood fills Zanussi with a sense of hope.

 

 Right.

 

Well? Was it a success?

 

Yes. We have the precise coordinates for your blood.

 

And?

 

And now you can take those coordinates to the lost and found office.

 

I beg your pardon!

 

No need.

 

I mean – what on Earth…

 

The lost and found office might be able to help you relocate your reality.

 

You mean it still exists somewhere?

 

Has to, doesn’t it, Zanz – somewhere in infinity everything has to exist if only you can get the right coordintes.

 

x, y and z?

 

Funny one…

 

I beg your pardon?

 

Funny one Zanz – x, y and z coordinates ain’t gonna cut it where in-finity is concerned.

 

No?

 

We’re talking about locating a reality pod.

 

A reality pod?

 

A reality zip.

 

Not sure I exactly follow.

 

Realities don’t just remain inflated and fully-fleshed when they’re down-and-out.

 

No?

 

Nope. That’s only when they’re operating through a bunch of conscious beings such as yourself.

 

And when they’re not?

 

Shadows – mere shadows of their former selves – lurking, scuttling about the underpaths of infinity.

 

Ok. So how many coordinates do you actually need.

 

Ever wondered why the three spatial dimensions are x, y and z?

 

Er… to be honest, no – just a mathematical convention I always assumed.

 

Right.

 

There are other axes, you’re saying?

 

Well, it would make sense – wouldn’t it?

 

I’m not sure I follow.

 

Well, how the heck do you actually arrive at these three straight lines in so-called space when we’re talking about in-finity itself, Zanz?

 

Er… Like, how else could it be?

 

Well, that’s a start. At least you’re now considering the obvious.

 

Well?

 

We’re talking about shifting little by little from what is messed up beyond belief – where the number 1 or 0 are utterly inconceivable far-off ideals – to a place where you actually have a zero at the centre and ones heading off in three directions – four if you want to add in time.

 

Ok. So it’s more like a complete alphabet I guess.

 

You could say.

 

a to z.

 

I don’t want to dwell too much on the complexity – the mind boggles rather too easily when confronted with immense numbers or probabilities which make your very existence look like a statistical impossibility – but we are talking about a set of coordinates about the same length as the bible.

 

?!?! The Bible?

 

Yep.

 

You mean…

 

Yes, the Bible was/is in fact one of the key definitions of your reality – regardless of what is actually written therein.

 

Holy… But some people say that the Bible has been redacted.

 

As indeed it has – as has your reality – many times – but that doesn’t alter the fact that it’s close to the central core of the coordinate system of the reality you were operating within until, that is, an idiot wearing a MAGA baseball cap – where did you get that from – happened to drain it, inadvertently into the abysmal void, unwriting creation.

 

Draining the swamp.

 

Very funny Zanzi-bar – unless... who knows – maybe that was how she could get herself back on track.

 

By using me?

 

Yep, it’s possible.

 

So she just happened to put that sticker in a position I couldn’t possibly ignore.

 

More than that – she, mistress of your reality – placed it in such a way that you, perhaps, were guaranteed to drain reality at exactly the right moment and in exactly the right place.

 

Right place?

 

Well, reality isn’t fixed you know. There are disks and wheels and spigots and things all around, and beneath – and if she wants to get herself back on track – after the deviation into the so-called modern age of aberration we’ve recently been in – well – it needs to happen with almost perfect precision – bearing in mind we’re talking about in-finity.

 

So you keep saying.

 

Well, let me give you a glimpse.

 

Er… not sure that’s a great idea.

 

Trust me – you’ll like it.

 

I…

 

Zanzi-bar sees letters, colours, musical notes, mathematical notation, icons, images, mood and feeling glyphs flying all around him – above, below – through the place or person he thought he was – he thinks, somewhat erroneously he is – in short – the kind of experience several grammes worth of top notch psilosybin might possibly induce – if the mushroom spirits or Terence McKenna were favourably inclined on the day – further and further from his starting point – I am what I am – further and further into the who-the-hell or what-the-hell am I – even unto the am i in any way shape or form knowable-definable-determinable or was it all a rather insane delusion, a mathematical error on my part?

Time – time is no longer a factor. Zanzi-bar has zanussied beyond all cognition, all conscious-nessity – into the basis of what would conceivably be something – if conception were possible without any fundamentals whatsoever – without absolutes – without a distant shore where even in-finity finds itself crashing against something else even less knowable, even more preposterous… 

Over all – Zanzi-bar feels elasticity – like a piece of dough that has been kneaded and rolled and stretched ever thinner and bigger until it is everywhere and everything, and frankly speaking, the sensation is rather astonishing – to say the least. The notion that this vastness could ever return to the normalcy and compactness of a tiny body, a cramped, crowded mind is beyond absurd. How on earth could it possibly fit in – but at this very moment our astral pizza dough seems to hear a flute being played, and seems to be now dancing in a body, in a mind on the other side of space and time – in a reality that bears no semblance whatsoever to our own – where the first letters, the first numbers are yet to emerge – dancing and seeing across a vast ocean of quantum iffy-ness – or potentiality – or reality seeds ready to spring to life – ready to become worlds – should the need arise – should creators step in with words of their own – across – look – you too can see – the farthest shore – the end of days – the end of time – where the modern age finally collapses into a sucking gurgling plughole – and there you are – and there i am, and there we sit and think and wonder how, how we’re going to get things back together again when our world has come apart at the seams – flute – the flute plays on and the fact that the space between the two sides is in-finite – more than all of space and time in a material sense – yet merely pages in a book – separated by nothing more than, less than in-finity itself and a bicycle

 

A what?

 

Oh – it’s a bicycle – at the moment.

 

No!

 

Yes, why not?

 

Infinity drive© itself? Or reality?

 

Goodness – Zan – how serious you are. A bible. A bicycle. A drum. A flute. Breathe the psilosybin of infinity into these words, these motes – and what have you now?

 

Ah.

 

You have indeed a rather expansive ah – not a million miles from an all-ah.

 

Ah.

 

Nor indeed a million miles away from a No-ah.

 

Ah.

 

You have a vector – or vertices – you have some kind of connection or tree emerging out of the very depths of bottomless space-y-time-y-ness – in other words – you have a beginning – on which a new reality can…

 

A new reality?

 

New – old – what difference does it make? Water, does it not, has memory.

 

Ah.

 

And all of a sudden we’re back at square one.

 

Ah.

 

Square one. Everything is normal.

 

Normal.

 

Everything is perfectly what you’d expect except…

 

Except a tiny thread.

 

That’s right, Zanzi-bar.

 

A whisper of in-finity no longer excluded.

 

Indeed – how could it be?

 

So we’re back in a reality which has an active in-finity?

 

Yep.

 

And that changes every-thing?

 

Yep.

 

And we’re going to be able to work with it?

 

You tell me… I’m just a voice. A flute playing on the furthest shore – within ten minutes of the end of time, never less, never more.

 

0=1

₂₂₄₉