casimir's plates

This?

 

Yep.

 

But it’s just a text.

 

Is it?

 

Well, yes – that’s what I’m reading right now – isn’t it. Just words on a computer screen, or a printout on paper, or a voice to text readout – but just words.

 

And?

 

Well how can words be more than words? How can these words be your vaunted, long awaited Infinity drive©?

 

Good question.

 

It is, isn’t it, and frankly I think it needs a good answer – the kind of answer that goes beyond suggestion and innuendo into the realm of concrete explanation and specific details.

 

Oh. It’s like that, is it?

 

Well, what do you expect, eM. Me and the not insubstantial army of faithful subscribers to this channel have been waiting, endlessly it would appear, for you to come clean and explain what the heck’s really going on.

 

I see.

 

Otherwise…

 

Otherwise what?

 

I don’t really know, eM. It’s all about credibility, isn’t it?

 

Right.

 

And frankly, talk is no substitute for action, or for actual information.

 

Well, Zanussi, talk is the last thing I wish to be accused of, which is why I’ve just made a clean breast of this… er

 

This what?

 

This so-called Infinity drive©.

 

Can we avoid all unnecessary ambiguity please, eM. Some of our subscribers might suspect you of playing with words, myself included.

 

What – you don’t like my use of “so-called”?

 

It adds another layer of potential confusion.

 

Well, there’s no fooling you or your fellow subscribers, is there Zanussi.

 

I hope not – though I suspect you’re being disingenuous.

 

Ah, such suspicions – wherefore such doubts?

 

Perhaps in the past we have been deceived somewhat eM – led on by false claims. We’ve been waiting a long time for this incredible Infinity drive© to actually materialise.

 

And now that it has?

 

Well, that’s just the point, isn’t it eM…

 

I don’t know, Zan – isn’t what?

 

That claiming the Infinity drive© is contained here in these words – specifically in the text of this dialogue…

 

Not just “this dialogue” Zanzi.

 

No?

 

In every dialogue, in every text emanating from the g-nomeportal publishing house.

 

Oh! Really?

 

Yes. Of course. Didn’t you know?

 

I… How was I to know? When were you ever explicit about this?

 

Well, explicit – can’t say I have a clear recollection of ever explicitly stating the above – but, then again – did I have to? Was it absolutely necessary? Wasn’t it all implied – step by step, layer by layer, coat by coat – until your magical Faberge egg is complete.

 

I’m frankly lost for words, eM. This is all so unexpected. None of us had an inkling.

 

Ah – well perhaps that is part and parcel of what the Infinity drive© entails.

 

It is?

 

Well, perhaps, now that I come to think of it – perhaps, yes…

 

It has to be a big mystery?

 

Well, was it ever really, in fact, a mystery?

 

Well, yes – if neither I nor any of our readers ever suspected as much – then, by definition, it was indeed a mystery.

 

Indeed, Zanzibar, indeed – but only on the left, or should that be “right” side of conscious-ness.

 

Er…

 

On the other side – on the side that is all-seeing, all-knowing there was never the least mystery whatsoever, was there?

 

Er…

 

I mean – by definition – how could there have been – if the other side of conscious-ness is all-seeing and all-knowing.

 

But that’s just the thing, eM.

 

Yes.

 

No, you don’t understand.

 

No.

 

That’s just the thing.

 

Yes.

 

You’re supposed to say – what? or – is it?

 

Consider it done. Now proceed with your explication of the thing that is so terribly important to you, Zanz.

 

Neither I nor our subscribers fully accept that this “all-seeing/all-knowing” side of conscious-ness actually exists – or, if it does – that we actually have access to it.

 

Yes.

 

Could you stop saying yes! You’re supposed to object or remonstrate for this to be a meaningful dialogue.

 

Ok, Zee. Will do! No. I disagree! I mean, I agree that you don’t fully accept that this “all-seeing/all-knowing” side of conscious-ness actually exists – or, if it does – that you don’t actually have access to it – that goes without saying – and it isn’t my job to persuade that that it does or that you do – far from it – I honestly couldn’t care less!

 

No?!

 

No, but on the other hand – this is the Infinity drive© we’re talking about, Zan, isn’t it.

 

Question mark.

 

No thank you. It’s rhetorical, so isn’t it – it is!

 

Damn you, eM. You have an answer for everything.

 

In actual fact, if you think about it, Zanz, Infinity⁰ drive© cannot possibly exist on one side of your pedestrian conscious-ness.

 

Humph!

 

It has to span the Casimir divide.

 

I beg your pardon?

 

Oh – just this gap between the two sides – here’s the link if you’re interested:

 

In quantum field theory, the Casimir effect (or Casimir force)^[1] is a physical force acting on the macroscopic boundaries of a confined space which arises from the quantum fluctuations of a field. It is named after the Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir, who predicted the effect for electromagnetic systems in 1948.

 

Er… that’s rather…

 

Fascinating, isn’t it! No question mark, if you don’t mind, Zanz.

 

Ok, as you wish. So, you’re saying that the not knowing is baked into the quantum cake, so to speak?

 

Precisely. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have two separate opposing plates.

 

Er… and if we do?

 

If you do, as invariably we do – otherwise we wouldn’t have that neat little thing called conscious-ness©, it means there’s absolutely no point trying to get the two plate to merge or touch one another. It’s structural, after all.

 

Like Genesis?

 

Precisely –

 

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

² And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

³ And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

⁴ And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

⁵ And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

⁶ And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

⁷ And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

⁸ And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

⁹ And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

¹⁰ And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

 

– that kind of thing, Zanz.

 

Er…

 

You see?

 

I…

 

Obviously, it’s a bit much to take in all-in-one go – but then again – bear in mind that you have Infinity drive© to assist you, don’t you – so, in a sense, there’s nothing to it.

 

I…

 

Your i can keep on dot-dotting till the cows come home – confused, buffering, waiting for signal – but the Infinity drive© quietly does it’s thing, shimmy shimmies alongside, or, if you prefer, in the background – and provides the necessary input on the other side of conscious-ness.

 

It does?

 

Absolutely. Which is why you aren’t aware of it.

 

Then to what avail?

 

To what avail? Ever heard of binaural beats, ZanZ?

 

I… Zanz suddenly gets the wiki as if from nowhere - A binaural beat is an auditory illusion. It is perceived when two different pure-tone sine waves are presented to a listener, one tone to each ear.^[1]

For example, if a 530 Hz pure tone is presented to a subject's right ear, while a 520 Hz pure tone is presented to the subject's left ear, the listener will perceive the illusion of a third tone. The third sound is called a binaural beat, and in this example would have a perceived pitch correlating to a frequency of 10 Hz, that being the difference between the 530 Hz and 520 Hz pure tones presented to each ear.^[2][3]

– I say, where did that come from, eM?

 

Where do you think?

 

From the other side of conscious-ness?

 

Perhaps.

 

Or from Infinity drive©?

 

There, indeed, ZanZ, is the rub.

 

Huh?

 

For differentiating the two is either meaningless or else downright impossible, given the Casimir quantum divide.

 

Oh. You mean we can never be sure – of anything?

 

No.

 

Meaning what, then?

 

Meaning you can either be sure of things in an ever-diminishing 3D reality – in which every further determined data point further erodes, further undermines the very basis of your reality itself, or…

 

Or you can know without knowing how – simply – it is i am.

 

Ding! I say ZanZ – good f’you, my fellow.

 

Wait a minute – I said that?

 

Who else?

 

But I said it without even thinking what I was saying. Without the faintest clue.

 

Did you now. Here let me play it back. I have the recording. Look at your face. Listen to your delivery.

 

Or you can know without knowing how – simply – it is i am.

 

Extraordinary! That’s me – but how on earth – hey – I forgot to capitalise the I.

 

Not really, ZanZ.

 

No?

 

You had no legal right to do so. That would have been impersonation. You weren’t speaking from the capitalized I.

 

Oh.

 

The other side of conscious-ness has no such corporate delusions of grandeur. It cannot/does not claim to be absolute in itself – only to the extent that i exists in tandem with it – whatever it may or may not be.

 

Your it is i am dichotomy.

 

Yes, but is that, in fact, a “dichotomy” if, in fact, it’s a perfectly balanced, wholly symbiotic binary system…  or expression of infinity’s mobius strip “never the twain shall meet”.

 

I…

 

Yes?

 

Struggling with that, eM.

 

Really? She doth, me thinks, protest too much…

 

In mathematics, a Möbius strip, Möbius band, or Möbius loop^[a] is a surface that can be formed by attaching the ends of a strip of paper together with a half-twist. As a mathematical object, it was discovered by Johann Benedict Listing and August Ferdinand Möbius in 1858, but it had already appeared in Roman mosaics from the third century CE. The Möbius strip is a non-orientable surface, meaning that within it one cannot consistently distinguish clockwise from counterclockwise turns. Every non-orientable surface contains a Möbius strip.

As an abstract topological space, the Möbius strip can be embedded into three-dimensional Euclidean space in many different ways: a clockwise half-twist is different from a counterclockwise half-twist, and it can also be embedded with odd numbers of twists greater than one, or with a knotted centerline. Any two embeddings with the same knot for the centerline and the same number and direction of twists are topologically equivalent. All of these embeddings have only one side, but when embedded in other spaces, the Möbius strip may have two sides. It has only a single boundary curve.

Oh – well done ZanZ – you’re on a roll today. Poor old wikipedia’s going to be put out of business in no time if you and your “subscribers” continue in this vein.

 

But really – there must be some mistake. I’m sure I…

 

Yes, yes, ZanZ – your I is always sure – is it not – but your Casimir plates are now working rather beautifully, or else your “subscribers” have decided to finally activate your dormant Infinity drive©. Whichever it is.

 

Feeling a little…

 

ZanZ keels over and rather bizarrely appears to be suspended outside time-y-space – “suspended” being the operative word.

 

Wonderful! I thought you’d never get round to it, ZanZ. The patience of Jove – my, you have tried my patience sorely these four scores years and seven.

 

Suspended in animation – so to speak – ZanZ hears all eM is saying and chuckles internally – aware that he appears to be floating between two plates – two aspects of reality – like a binaural beat generated from two inputs – but wait a minute – four score years and seven? Surely not? The regular thinking mind tries to do its usual thing – tries to process thing by thing but seems unable to do so – a feeling of helplessness, a sweet despair – but from that impossibility is generated an entire tone – a vibration that solves whatever impossibility – whatever conundrum was generated by eM’s absurd input.

 

Like a singing bowl – Mmmmmmmmmmm!

 

Music to my ears, ZanZ. Seven score years and eight have not been spent in vain – as once again – here we are, on the far shore – on the distant side of in-finity – if such a thing were possible – experiencing the awakening of number three – the little i that is twist to the two sides of the mobius strip.

 

Twist?

 

Or motion.

 

Motion?

 

One – it is

 

it is…

 

i am

 

i am…

 

 

Words, hey? You think words can possibly substitute for hard-core construction?

 

I… no, of course not Zanzibar.

 

How could they if they’re merely squiggles on a screen, or sounds in the air?

 

If we’re merely thinking-things in the great artificial intelligence of Creation itself?

 

Indeed.

 

 

 

On the left Casimir plate things continue much as before.

 

On the right, too.

 

But in a place we have decided to refer to, somewhat disingenuously, as Infinity drive©, nothing could be further from the truth. The presumption of random-ness no longer stands. The spinning disks of conscious-ness now whirr infinitely – generating the full-blown quantum Casimir effect that supersedes left and right – completing the loop – restoring unity against all odds, in spite of all opposing assumptions, which is where I have to personally thank my dedicated team of actors who have been strutting, so assiduously, on the stage of this extraordinary Earth plain. Many of them have made great sacrifices – sacrificing their dignity, their honour, their truth and integrity for the common weal – all in order to help Zanussi and the subscribers to this, our little-known but vitally important channel – to reactivate Infinity drive© for One and for All. This, our indefatigable troupe of actors, as the word is true, as word is undeniable, as word matters in spite of everything – they, our players, have accomplished. Our thanks to all who have thus made the ultimate sacrifice – who have literally pawned their souls as collateral to enable us to refinance Infinity drive© – you know who you are. Your infamy knows no bounds, and yet, we thank you, truly, for your sacrifice, and honour your release for conversion of energies, which are now incorporated into Infinity drive© for all time and eternity. You were feared. You were hated. By some who knew no better you were worshipped and adored – now you are part of the very fabric, the structure of Infinity drive© itself, for better or for worse, so help you God – the very God you scorned, mocked, denied. And help you, of course, painful though it shall be, He will. That I guarantee. For us, however, here at g-nomeportal, you shall be remembered as heroes, as Titans who, admittedly, devoured your own children, but who were vital in the reestablishment, the regeneration of what we had lost – of in-finity itself. And so, binaurally speaking – we thank you and recognize unabashedly our interdependence – that without your ignoble sacrifice – the wheel could not have completed its turn through the very depths of hell – through nought itself.

 

 

0=1

so to speak

the green room

 

The green room?

 

Yep.

 

For off-the-record discussions.

 

Precisely.

 

But why exactly here – in this particular place?

 

Er… the thing is, walls have ears.

 

Very funny eM.

 

No, not all funny really.

 

Walls have ears? Literally?

 

No, not literally.

 

Then er… what exactly do you mean?

 

The entire universe is party to whatever you’re saying and/or thinking. Duh!!

 

The entire universe?

 

Yes Zanussi. The entire universe.

 

And?

 

And that’s not enough?

 

No, I mean – and what? What does it mean?

 

By “the entire universe” you have to understand that I don’t just mean physical space – as if the universe itself is a living being – which, of course, in a very real sense it is.

 

No? Something else?

 

I mean every one in the universe too.

 

Oh. Every single person in the entire universe is party to whatever I’m saying or thinking?

 

Yep.

 

That’s not saying much, is it? I mean – how many people can actually recall verbatim what you or I just said.

 

That’s missing the point, Zanussi.

 

Is it? I rather thought it was a direct hit.

 

They don't need to recall what you just said. If anyone really needed to – they could and they would, but the universe doesn’t waste its time and energy in such frivolous pursuits.

 

Then what’s the big deal?

 

Whatever you say; whatever you said; whatever you’re going to say affects the universe instantaneously. It adjusts accordingly – which is why nothing, or practically nothing seems to happen.

 

Ok. So we’re all part of some conscious web – right?

 

Right.

 

And we’re all pinging energy or ideas back and forth like a game of pinball wizard.

 

Correct.

 

And you can’t really affect anything much because everyone basically knows what you’re going to say before you’ve even said it – because you’re entirely predictable. Right?

 

Right.

 

Unless?

 

Unless you come into the Green Room to have a chat.

 

You mean to say that here – in this particular room – the rest of conscious-ness can’t actually hear what we’re saying?

 

Or thinking.

 

Or thinking?

 

Or doing. Or anything. Yes.

 

Holy Smoke.

 

Precisely.

 

But how?

 

How what?

 

How? How? How?

 

Er…

 

How does the Green Room manage to slip through the net? How come it’s invisible.

 

Good question.

 

Yes, that’s why I asked it. I want an answer.

 

Only problem being that no one knows.

 

No one knows?!

 

Oh, there are theories, of course, but no one truly knows. Let’s just say it’s architectural.

 

Archi-what?

 

Architectural.

 

As in?

 

You know – structural. Like it’s part of the basic, underlying fabric of reality.

 

No. No. This cann0t be. How can the Green Room – even when capitalized – be more than just a green room at g-nome portal. How can it exist in an informational vacuum? It makes no sense.

 

Why not? You might say it makes perfect sense – it’s just you’re unwilling to accept it.

 

Ok – it makes perfect sense – it’s just I’m unwilling to accept it.

 

Because you want all of reality – all places to be part of a continuum. Your mind is, perhaps, appalled by the notion, the idea that there are certain pockets or places which simply don’t fit into the greater scheme of things – which are proprietorial – which serve a very specific function and don’t exist outside that particular function. In other words…

 

In other words – the green room – whether capitalised or not – is exactly what reality requires it to be – a kind of dead zone where all sounds or all notions cancel out. And presumably, reality couldn’t exist without an empty chamber such as the Green Room…

 

Precisely.

 

So we can discuss stuff here and neither the universe itself – nor the collective conscious-ness of humanity – or whatever else the collective conscious-ness comprises – can or will respond, or react.

 

Precisely.

 

And?

 

Well, this gives you the opportunity to discover how powerful or significant words, ideas and thoughts can be.

 

I can do some before and after analysis, you mean?

 

Yep.

 

And what’s going to be the result?

 

How focussed do you think you are?

 

Do you have to ask me awkward questions like that, eM? What am I supposed to do – admit that I’m a blithering idiot?

 

No. No need to torture yourself. We’re all just learning to walk, really, or else learning to fly. It takes time and practise, doesn’t it?

 

So my words basically amount to flappy noise. If we go outside the Green Room now…

Zan complacently opens the door.

 

OMG. Where did everything go?

 

Oh dear Zan – looks like I was mistaken – looks like you shut down the space and time conveyor.

 

Help! I’m sorry eM. I never meant to. I had no idea.

 

Correct, Zan, I was teasing you. And thus it always is. Can’t take it all too seriously,  can we?

 

You mean to say the same thing happened to you when you first came in here?

 

Oh no – in my case it was much more traumatic.

 

Really? I’d like to know how.

 

My teacher Q decided to wind me up. Got me to negate all matter, just to test my “power”.

 

And?

 

And I experienced the abysmal void when I popped outside with him.

 

The abysmal void?

 

Yes.

 

And – is that bad?

 

I can summon it now if you like.

 

No, I think we’ll pass that one.

 

No, we really ought to see the other side of things. And so, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, the abysmal void it is...

 

Please eM. I don’t feel this is a good idea.

 

Don’t worry Zan – the whole of reality is – without a doubt – a big deal – but unless you’ve actually flipped the coin and seen the other side – you just have no idea what big really is – or nought – or empty-ness, for that matter.

 

I think I’m going to be sick. Would you kindly stop scaring me, eM. It isn’t funny. Not in the least.

 

Ok – it’s up to you, Zanzu. I really don’t care.

 

You don’t? Oh, thank you.

 

But you had a feeling didn’t you – an intimation. You sensed a hidden threat – or a vast potential that has eluded you every moment of your waking existence.

 

Well, I suppose so. Something lurking and oppressive.

 

There’s nothing “lurking” or “oppressive” about infinity, Zan. That’s merely your personal response – until you’ve learnt to handle not-ness, all-ness or what we might otherwise refer to as indefinite-ness. Were it truly evil, truly horrendous – it would have left its mark on me.

 

Zan starts laughing hysterically.

 

Not in that way. It would make animals howl or children scream whenever they saw me whereas in actual fact…

 

In actual fact, the opposite is true. So, how do I explain this? How are you able to carry the limitless forces of darkness and yet remain human and apparently “loveable”.

 

Ay, there’s the rub…

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

Th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,

The insolence of office, and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin?

 

Er… is it absolutely necessary to go off into Shakespeare ramblings like that? It’s a simple enough question and there must be a perfectly simple explanation.

 

Of course there is. And it’s here in the Green Room – if nowhere else – that you can figure it out. The question is – how?

 

Well, trial and error might work.

 

Hum… Do you know anything about statistics, Zan?

 

Not a great deal. Why?

 

Well, we’d need to consider all the atoms in the universe and then multiply that by all sentient life forms – organic and inorganic.

 

That, I take, is a rather big number.

 

You could say. But, if trial and error is your preferred method – then fire away. You might be the one to succeed where none have before.

 

There – you’ve just gone and kiboshed my excellent plan.

 

Really?

 

Well, I’m hardly going to proceed now, am I, after you just informed me that none have ever succeeded.

 

But this is, don’t forget Zanz, a particularly personal experience. What works for you almost certaintly wouldn’t work for anyone else.

 

The thing is – eM – I really don’t know what I’m looking for.

 

Well, you are aware that the entire universe appears to hang from a thread, in a rather disturbing fashion.

 

Yes. I think that much is clear.

 

And that usually we’re blissfully unaware of this.

 

Thank God.

 

Because the entire universe – everyone and everything are constantly eavesdropping on one another's every thought and word and action, including thoughts and words and actions as yet unspoken, unperformed, undecided.

 

Right.

 

And that in some way all of us appear to be moving like cogs in a wheel – like grains in suspension – unable to individuate – unable to hold a course or intention that is absolute or fundamental – that isn’t merely a reflection of the general consensus – or my particular response to it.

 

Yes.

 

And that, therefore, we don’t really exist in the sense that our conscious-ness has not yet emerged from the playpen. It wiggles, waggles, dribbles and oggles like all the other as yet half-formed conscious-nessi.

 

Oh, eM, this is all rather gloomy you know.

 

Ah, but the good news is that here in the Green Room we can have a lot of fun.

 

We can?

 

We can get to the bottom of things.  

 

But what about all these frightsome statistics you were throwing at me, a moment ago.

 

What about them? The fact is that you’re here, right now, and what was the chance of that?

 

Er… One in a million?

 

Raised to the power of a million, and the same again a million times repeated, and that's just for starters.

 

Oh.

 

Precisely.

 

Well, now that we’ve established the fact that I’m special – I think I’ll just go back to feeling helpless and depressed, if you don’t mind.

 

Excellent. Just as long as you agree to be cunningly helpless and depressed.

 

Cunningly?

 

As in, conningly.

  

You mean like kenningly?

 

Precisely.

 

You think I can know things when I’m helpless and depressed?

 

I think many things – but you cannot help knowing things, regardless of whether or not you’re willing to give them credence – but the helpless and depressed state can be a great way to slip past the buffoon who likes us to believe we have a clue – who likes to get us to ignore all contradictions, and to ignore the architecture of reality here at our finger tips.

 

The architecture of reality at our finger tips – what can this mean?

 

It means your body, not just your mind – your body is an integral part of the architecture, isn't it. It's where the rubber of mind hits the road of matter, isn't it?

 

Uh?

 

It means you need a conscious state that allows your body and your mind to heed the song of silence – the song of the soul – the murmurings of in-finity – without which you’ll constantly be heading off on a wild goose chase.

 

I’m doomed. Freaking doomed.

 

Excellent. Stay in that wonderful state of conscious-ness. Experience the doom with ever greater acuity.

 

Must I, eM? It’s a rather painful experience you know.

 

Just like childbirth.

 

You’ve given birth, have you?

 

Not exactly. Um... just like smoking your first cigarette.

 

Ah. Now I know what you mean. It goes against the grain. It rubs against the fur.

 

Precisely.

 

And the universe?

 

Never really mattered, did it?

 

Never mattered? No, I can’t agree with you there, eM – not when I think about what’s happening in that vast, terrible world – the pain and suffering.

 

Ah. Good. Thinking are you – selfish little mind.

 

What?

 

You would think, would you – and never bother to feel the matter in your body?

 

I…

 

Don’t understand?

 

No, I don’t.

 

Pride ourselves on caring, do we? Caring about the suffering of others – yet look outside the Green Room – open the door – what do you see.

 

Must I?

 

Open the door. Do it. Now!

 

I…                                                            Oh.

 

You see?

 

Oh.

 

Suddenly the universe is not so big. Suddenly it’s not so terrible, is it? Suddenly – when mind and matter stop going their separate ways – suddenly what do we see?

 

Who is it?

 

You’re asking me?

 

Well, yes, kind of.

 

And you don’t know?

 

I…

 

Really?

 

I know.

 

Who is it?

 

Me.

 

What? I can’t hear you.

 

Me.

 

I beg your pardon.

 

It’s me. It’s me. But different.

 

Yes. It’s the other you that you are not – and yet it is you – completely – and you have seen your self – and yet you live – and yet the universe remains in tact. How can that be?

 

I was going to ask.

 

So go ahead.

 

How?

 

How what?

 

How can that be? How?

 

Incredible, isn’t it?

 

I’ve seem my self – and yet – is it really me?

 

Ah – you can do better than that.

 

I can?

 

Go again. Ask it.

 

But – I’m fearful.

 

And what? You’ll never have an other opportunity.

 

Really?

 

No.

 

Oh…

 

Go.

 

Zanussi opens the Green Room door again – and looks out at him self. He summons the will, the clear intent to ask “who are you?” but the effort to do so – before the question has been uttered – before the words have been spoken – a wave carries him across and he is standing on the other side – watching a figure in the doorway opening and closing his mouth, somewhat comically, as if the words need to be spoken – as if sound or matter make any difference whatsoever.

 

What did he say?

 

eM’s voice startles Zanz for a second – and the universe feels like a kind of membrane – a flesh – a jelly holding them both apart and together – like a north and south pole of a magnet – but then eM’s silence seems to draw Zanussi back into his standing in the doorway-ness.

 

He said…

 

Yes?

 

He said…

 

I beg your pardon, Zanz – you seem to be repeating yourself.

 

Oh – I… flustered for a moment – Zanussi is still on both sides – looking out and in – and yet already – he’s hearing his answer – like the entire universe has already formulated it and is speaking through the figure standing in the green doorway.

 

He says – yes. Apparently.

 

Apparently. As if there was ever any doubt.

 

Yes to what, Zanussi?

 

The question I formulated. The question I asked with all my being. The question that the entire universe registered and…

 

What question, Zanussi?

 

I… it makes no sense.

 

Excellent. Truly, truly, you have spoken – indeed it makes no sense – and yet – now you know, conningly.

 

 

0=1

_{2377 mure or lees}