New Epoch - Ascension (Chapter One)

Chapter One:
Inertial Decoupling

Alexander awakens from his slumber. He sleepily mumbles into the air: “John, any messages?”

The coat draped over the chair beside him responds in its usual monotone: “No messages, Doctor.”

Alexander runs a hand through his disheveled hair. He hadn’t even bothered to remove his coat nor clothing in any attempt to get comfortable in bed the night before. He pushes himself up off the bed, retrieves a change of clothes from the dresser, and heads to the shower.
Completing the preparations for the day, he makes his way to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was a short walk from his dorm. It is about the size of an elementary school cafeteria, but it served multiple purposes, doubling as a venue for larger meetings and announcements when higher-ups visited.

At this hour, it was occupied by about fifteen scientists. Most were seated, engaged in quiet conversation or eating, while the remaining moved slowly through the food line, assembling their breakfasts.

Alexander realizes he had forgotten his large thermos in his room. He grumbles, retraces his steps, fetches it and quickly returns to the cafeteria. As the saying goes, he’d forget his head if it wasn’t screwed on.

When he returns, he joins the short line for coffee. As he waits his turn, his mind drifts to when he lobbied for better coffee here. He was passionate on that rare occasion. He loved his coffee. He is an avid supporter of a dark roast, almost as intense as a cigar, with an aroma that clung to the air long after the cup had been emptied. Most of the others preferred their coffee light and sweet, like melted ice cream. The thought of such a travesty makes him shudder.

Alexander prepared his cup of coffee, the scientific way, by putting a few sweeteners in the empty thermo and then filling it with the dark, rich liquid. He saved himself having to mix them, the act of filling it allowing him to be lazy about it. He put the coffee to his mouth and inhaled the aroma, and sipped his creation. After savoring the coffee, he looked around the room, his eyes flickering over the faces of the scientists scattered throughout. Though he was familiar with most of them, he really only bothered a few of them regularly. Each had their own story to tell, experience to share, and most did keep to themselves. He risked awakening the odd extrovert with his inquiries so he had to be careful.

His eye lands on the table he was searching for. It was tucked against a wall, isolated by a couple of empty tables, a space that seemed to offer sanctuary amidst the bustle. His smartglasses identified the two: Michael Johnson and Tanya Pickens.

With coffee in hand, Alexander takes another few sips, savors the dark, bitter warmth. He approaches the table, neither looking up, he sits down without any request.

“Good morning,” he greets. Michael glances up from his meal, meeting his eyes and offering a brief nod. Tanya gave no response, her own smart glasses had reflections of various messages on them, her fingers moving quickly across the air as she viewed them and made quick responses.

The three had mutually agreed to try and keep their research talk in the labs, though Alexander was always the one to break this agreement.
Michael was deeply involved in regenerative and customizable silicon, while Tanya was focused on advanced machine learning.

“So, Mike,” Alexander begins, trying to stir the conversation with something light, “how were your Super Bowl festivities?”

Michael lets out a low grumble, “It was fine. They lost, and I lost a few bucks.” He looks up at Alexander and adds, “Did you catch any of it?”

Alexander sets the container down, his fingers curling around the container. “I saw only the very end,” he replies, “I slipped the VR headset on and watched the last three minutes with a few friends.”

Tanya, who had been engrossed in her messages, with a motion, her glasses clear of text. “So glad they switched to AI referees this year,” she says, her voice laced with enthusiasm. “Our reliance on having humans attempt to ingest all that monitoring data quickly and render an accurate assessment was a fantasy. There was only one challenge this season, and that was a test, which the system passed.”

Alexander nods thoughtfully, leans back slightly in his chair. “From what I caught at the end, it didn’t seem like it was even that close, so nothing controversial to fret about.” He grins, his tone light. “John actually brought a bit of humor, he fashioned a football jersey for the occasion for himself. It was quite funny.”

The trio chuckle at the thought of the computer-generated assistant indulging in such a human-like whimsy.

Michael asks, “Which team was he supporting?”

Alexander mentions, “I believe it was the one who was winning at the time. Would we not expect an AI to hop on the bandwagon?”

They settle back into the rhythm of their conversation, a tall man enters the cafeteria, his presence commanding attention even before he reaches the breakfast bar and takes a few items from it.

Michael’s eyes flicks toward the newcomer, his expression betraying an unspoken recognition before returning to the table. “Hey, Alex,” he says with a half-smirk, “looks like your favorite fan is here today.”

Alexander glances up briefly, then immediately returns his gaze to his coffee, trying to mask his discomfort. He inhales sharply, exhaling through his nose. “Thanks for the heads-up, Mike.”

The man notices the trio, flashes a broad smile and begins to make his way over. The man approaches, Alexander receives a notification on his glasses. He glances up and reads it and raises an eyebrow.

Alexander abruptly stands and sprints out of the cafeteria, heading back toward the lab where he had been the night before.

Michael, Tanya, and the newcomer, watch him go, puzzled. The newcomer frowns. “Did I say something wrong?”

Adrenaline surges through Alexander as he tore down the corridors. Bursting into the lab, the usual rhythmic pulsing of the machinery had ceased. The hum, the whir, the ever present background noise was gone. His eyes were drawn to the perch.

Empty. Again.

A sinking feeling grips him. He scans the floor, searching frantically for the missing ball, struck by sudden inspiration, he looks up.

His jaw drops.

The ball was embedded in the ceiling.

He was still breathing heavily. He retreats to the nearby computer, his fingers flying over the keyboard, pulling up the logs. “What could have done this?” he muttered to himself.

Footsteps echo down the hallway. Moments later, the three from the cafeteria cautiously step inside. Their eyes go to Alexander. Alexander points towards the ceiling’s new addition, with his gaze still down at the monitor in front of him.

“Holy crap,” the tall man mutters.

The other two offer their own versions of the sentiment.

After a long beat of silence, Alexander looks over to the three and back to the ping pong ball, “Anyone have a ladder?”

Tanya says, “John, call maintenance. We need a ladder.”

Some time later, Alexander stood perched at the top of the ladder, studying the ball up close. The other three were watching him with the air of bored supervisors overseeing a tedious task. Alexander descends the ladder and asks the three, “I think we need an X-ray scope. I think we need to see how well bonded that ping pong ball is with the surface of the ceiling. There is no damage to the ball and the ceiling shows no indication of cracks or damage as well.”

Michael’s face lights up with realization. “I have one, I just need to go to my lab and be right back.” He motions to the man who had followed them to the lab, “Dr. Sanatos, mind lending a hand?”, Dr. Sanatos nodded and both turned and hurried out of the lab.

Tanya wanders over to the console and begins typing away without invitation. Alexander opens his mouth to say something but closes it without a sound, he comments “Go ahead Doctor.” he says to himself.

Tanya with a smile, pauses a moment, “You mind a hand with analysis?”

Alexander seems to pause in consideration, “Go right ahead.” he smiles to punctuate it honestly was not something he was intending to answer with a negative. He watched over her shoulder as she dug into the data, awaiting Mike’s return, he has his own mysteries to unravel.

Alexander asks, “John, Need a lift from Maintenance now. Tell them I’m sorry for bothering them a second time.”

Eventually, Michael and Dr. Sanatos returns following a cart with a device on it, wheeling itself into the lab. The lift was already there by the time they had arrived.

Michael and Alexander carefully positioned the X-ray scope and raised it toward the ceiling. The lift was smooth and didn’t make much noise as it hydraulically lifted the scope to the ceiling. They positioned the scope so that it could image the ball and how it may have impacted the ceiling. What they discovered defied explanation. Alexander announced, “You're not going to believe this, guys. It seems the ball and the ceiling have molecularly bonded together.” It was yet another item to write in the prospective research paper.

Dr. Sanatos's glasses chimed and he sighed, “I need to go.” He looked up at Alexander, “Once you are able to figure out what happened, make a report of it and send it along to me.”

Alexander nodded, “Yes will do Steve.” he dutifully responded.

Dr. Steve Sanatos rushed off talking to the air as he went, “It’s not quite so easy as that. It’ll be another three months before we get the funding.” his voice fading as he speedwalked out the exit.

Alexander descends the ladder and approaches Tanya. “How far along are you on the analysis?”

Tanya provides, “I think I found something interesting. According to John’s logs, the system detected the ping pong ball’s absence and shut itself down accordingly. Let’s see what the video shows.”

A few keystrokes later, a recording begins to play. The footage shows the sphere vibrating slightly, accompanied by the rhythmic hum of the machine. A discordant noise cuts through the sound at the exact moment the ball vanishes. Even at an extremely high frame rate, there was no indication of movement in any direction.

Alexander stares at the screen, dumbfounded. “Any ideas, guys?”

Michael shrugs. “This is your ball game, Alex.” He grins at his own pun. He stood back and let the two go about their investigations.

Tanya was more focused. “I’ll query the AI to correlate the various readings with the video and audio. That should help us connect the dots.”

Alexander nods. “Sounds like a good plan. Thanks, Tanya. You’re better at communicating with John than I am.”

From the lab speakers, John’s voice chimes in. “I enjoy working with both of you. It’s difficult for me to pick favorites.”

Alexander places a new ping-pong ball onto the platform while Tanya continues tinkering with the console. “John, initiate another attempt,” he instructs.

As he reaches for his coffee and takes a sip, he grimaces at the cold coffee. With a sigh, he pours the remainder down the sink and settles into a nearby chair, crossing his arms and propping his feet up on the table. Fixing his eyes on the electromagnetic device, watching intently.
The timer ticks away. The familiar rhythmic throbbing grows in intensity, but this time, a new dissonant sound emerged. Alexander frowns. “I haven’t heard that before. It sounds like a faulty magnet.” He then addresses the assistant. “John, are you detecting any power loss or inconsistencies in field strength either between the magnets or within the device?”

A brief pause follows before John responds. “I detected a dissonance at the 36-degree axial position. I initially reduced the energy at that location, but the issue persisted. Consequently, I then increased the energy field at the same point, which resulted in a loss of contact with the target.”

Tanya looks up from the console, a small smile crossing her lips. “It seems that John’s counterintuitive adjustment may have uncovered something.”

Michael chimed in, “It certainly didn’t sound good.” he said from his spot a bit, a bit further from the two and the device.

Alexander nods slowly. “John, repeat the experiment exactly as before, with the same adjustments.”

The machine’s sound shifts, escalating rapidly. A sudden unease grips Alexander. There was something not quite right. Reacting instinctively, he lunges toward Tanya, tackling her away from the machine just as a massive discharge erupts. The ping-pong ball vanishes with a violent jolt, and leaves an eerie sensation lingering in the air.

Alexander scrambles to his feet, scanning the lab. “Where did it go?”
Then he sees it. The ball had partially merged with the wall yet another inexplicable displacement. But unlike before, it had shifted in a different direction. His stomach twists at the realization. If he hadn’t reacted in time, that could have been them.

He turns to Tanya concerned, “Are you okay? We almost merged with that ball.”

Still catching her breath, Tanya let out a nervous laugh. “A Nobel Prize on my tombstone would definitely not be my first choice.”

Alexander chuckles. “Fair point.” He exhales and runs a hand through his hair. “You should get back to your own experiments. I have a lot of notes and observations to record. It’ll probably be a few days before I have time for breakfast with everyone again.”

Michael brushes off his clothing and checks for wounds on his body as well, “Thanks for your concern guys. I think I’ll be off too.”

Alexander and Tanya looked over. Tanya mentioned, “Sorry, we almost all could have been killed.”

Alexander looked back at the ball embedded in the wall, “We’ve achieved something remarkable, reproducibility.”
He adds, “We need to all keep this quiet, until I have everything documented and the proper evidence in place. I don’t want the administration thinking we’re all mad with ping pong balls magically teleporting into walls and such. Let them keep believing I’m the only eccentric one for now.”


A: While caution is important, survival requires action, not hesitance. Discoveries like these offer humanity opportunities to advance, and it's vital to capitalize on them, even with risks.

B: I agree with progress but emphasize that the risks must be calculated. If we rush into discovery without due consideration, the consequences could be dire.

C: Both of you are missing the greater concern, what if this new discovery unleashes uncontrollable forces? Humanity must ask itself if it is prepared to handle the ethical dilemmas and unintended consequences of such powerful knowledge.