New Epoch: Ascension (Chapter One)

It began simple enough: a man, a machine, and a hope for a better future. (Scifi/Future)

It began simple enough: a man, a machine, and a hope for a better future.

Electricity hummed, Coils discharged, and the bitter scent of ozone clung to the air. Within the machine, a deep and low thump
resonated. And in front, a ping-pong ball rested.

Dr. Alexander Paulson leaned back in his chair, scrolling through articles displayed in his smart glasses. Half-baked theories, wild conjectures, mathematical sloppiness. Self-proclaimed experts who spouted nonsense. They were either too lazy to run an experiment or were too afraid they would prove themselves wrong.

“An AI could do better research than this,” he muttered. “It wouldn’t ignore data just because it did not fit their narrative.”

He had spent countless hours a slave to the rhythm of experimentation. The hours blurred together with the cycle of: test, analyze, adjust, and repeat. Thirty thousand trials. No breakthroughs. No revelations. Just endless iteration.

John, The AI assistant, spoke. “Anomaly detected. Please verify.”

Alexander, still deciphering gibberish, absently orders, “Run another check.”

“Verification complete,” John replied. “The anomaly remains.”

Now Alexander was paying attention. Looking down at the console, the data was erratic. The machine had recorded an energy fluctuation at the exact moment the ping-pong ball vanished.

He frowned. Vanished?

Alexander sat up, looking towards the platform. The ball was gone. A jolt of adrenaline replaced his exhaustion. Had it rolled off? That would be anticlimactic. He pushed back from his desk, scanning the floor around the device. Nothing.

John’s voice came again. “Dr. Paulson, I found the ping-pong ball,” and an arrow was displayed in his glasses, pointing upwards.

Alexander followed the AI’s guidance. Lifting his gaze. And there it was.

The ping-pong ball was embedded in the ceiling.

For several long seconds, he just stared. Alexander rushed to the console. “John, replay the last ten seconds of footage. Frame by frame.”

The display changed to a video. The ping-pong ball sat motionless on its perch. The air around it shimmered; then, in a single frame, it was gone. No acceleration. No blur.

Alexander pondered, “What do we have here?” His fingers flew over the console, searching through data logs. His mind raced through possibilities: quantum tunneling? A localized gravitational distortion? Had they accidentally created a miniature Alcubierre bubble? He had to be sure.

“John, prepare for another test. Same parameters.”

“Confirmed. Experiment initialized.”

The coils came alive, the room slowly filling with a hum. With a pulse of light, the new ping-pong ball vanished!

He searched the room, seeking where the ping-pong ball could now be. There. It was yet again embedded in the ceiling.

A grin spread across Alexander’s face. Not a fluke. A pattern. Reproducibility. That meant they could control it. And that? That was real science.

The next day, as Alexander awoke, “John,” he mumbled, still half-asleep, “any messages?”

The coat draped over the chair beside him stirred. John’s voice chimed from it. “No messages, Doctor.”

He forced himself up, grabbed some clothes, and stepped into the bathroom attached to his quarters. Hopefully, a cold shower would finish waking him up.

With the enigma of the anomaly still gnawing at his thoughts, Alexander made his way to the cafeteria. It was nothing special, a multipurpose space doubling as a conference room hall when needed. At this hour, the morning crowd was a mix of bleary-eyed scientists hunched over their trays, murmuring in hushed tones about equations, simulations, and caffeine-fueled breakthroughs.

Alexander stepped into the coffee line and grumbled, “Forgot the damn thermos.” He retraced his steps and fetched it from his room. As the saying goes, he’d forget his head if it wasn’t screwed on.

Alexander had a method for preparing his coffee. Sweetener first and then pour in whatever the darkest roast of coffee available. He raised it to his nose, the malty and almost cigar-like aroma filled his nostrils. He took a sip and sighed in relief. It certainly was not like those sweet hot ice cream concoctions others somehow stomached.

While savoring the coffee, Alexander spots the familiar faces of Michael Johnson and Tanya Pickens, his usual breakfast companions. Michael’s attention was deep into his food, while Tanya’s fingers danced through the air, her smart glasses flashed with whatever she was working on.

Alexander dropped into the seat across from them, setting his thermos down with a thunk. “Good morning,” he mumbled.

Michael grunted in acknowledgment, focused on eating his toast and eggs. “Morning.”

Tanya stayed focused on her smart glasses.

Alexander decided to start with a lighthearted conversation before bringing them into his problem. Besides, he needed a bit of a break, he began, “So, Mike, how were your Super Bowl festivities?”

Michael let out a low grumble. “It was fine. They lost, and I lost a few bucks.” He looked up at Alexander. “Did you catch any of it?”
“I only saw the very end. I slipped into VR and watched the last three minutes with a few friends.”

Tanya tapped her glasses and they cleared, “I’m so glad they switched to AI referees this year,” she said. “Relying on humans to make an accurate assessment of the enormous amounts of on-field data was a fantasy. Since switching, there has only been one challenge this season, and it was a deliberate test which it passed.”

Alexander nodded thoughtfully and leaned back slightly in his chair. “From what I caught at the end, it didn’t seem like the game was even that close, so nothing controversial this time.” He grinned, his tone light. “John brought a bit of humor, he fashioned a football jersey for the occasion for himself.”

The trio chuckled.

Michael asked, “Which team’s jersey was he wearing?”

Alexander looked up, recalling, “He was wearing the winning team’s jersey. He did state he wanted to make sure he was supporting the most likely outcome of the match, of course, this was expected of an AI.”

Alexander appraised the two, as he switched topics. “I know we agreed not to talk about work.”

Michael looked up. “So, did your magic gravity experiment break the universe yet?”

Alexander exhaled, rubbing his temple. “Not yet. But give it time.”

Tanya commented, “Tell me we’re not going to end up on some government watchlist because of whatever you’re working on.”

Alexander added, “Not unless disappearing ping-pong balls are classified as a national security threat.”

Michael snorted. “It’s the internet age. Everything’s a security threat.”

Alexander leaned back, taking a slow sip of his coffee. “I need a ladder.”

Tanya blinked. “Excuse me?”

“A ladder,” Alexander repeated. “To retrieve a ping-pong ball. From the ceiling.”

Michael set down his fork. “I’m gonna need you to back up about three steps.”

Alexander smirked. “It’s possible that we’ve cracked gravity. Or space. Or both.”

He stood up. “If you want to see it, come along.” With his coffee in hand, he headed down the hallway toward the lab.

Michael and Tanya exchanged glances, the kind that usually preceded regrettable decisions.

Moments later, the three cautiously entered the lab. They looked to Alexander, who pointed toward the ceiling and the ping-pong ball.

Alexander looked over to the other two. “See? I need a ladder.”

Tanya gawked, “John, call maintenance. We need a ladder.” and after a moment, “And if you don’t mind, Alex, allow me to take a look over the data.”

After the ladder was delivered, they removed the part of the ceiling that the ball had become embedded in, examined it under every instrument available: X-ray, electron microscope, you name it they used it. Nothing. No fractures, no signs of heat or force. It had merged with the ceiling.

Alexander queried Tanya. “How far along are you on the analysis?”

Tanya provided, “I was reviewing the video footage and the data, I think I found something interesting. Let me show you.”

A few keystrokes later, a recording began to play. The footage showed the sphere vibrating slightly, accompanied by the hum of the machine.

A discordant noise cut through the sound at the exact moment the ball vanished. Even at an extremely high frame rate, there was no indication of movement in any direction.

Tanya mentions, “Did you hear that?”

She played the isolated piece of the video that had the discordant noise in the background. The other two nodded in agreement, Tanaya turned back to the keyboard, “I’ll query John to correlate the various readings with the video and audio. That should help us connect the dots.”

Alexander nodded. “Sounds like it could work. You’re better at working with John than I am.”

John’s voice chimed in. “I enjoy working with both of you. I don’t like picking favorites.”

Alexander placed a new ping-pong ball onto the platform while Tanya continued her research. “John, initiate another attempt,” he instructed.

He took a sip of his coffee and grimaced. Time had stolen its warmth. It was cold, so he poured the remainder down the sink and settled into a nearby chair, crossing his arms and propping his feet up on the table. He fixed his eyes on the device, watching intently.

The timer ticked away. The familiar rhythmic throbbing grew in intensity, but this time, a new dissonant sound emerged. Alexander frowned.

“John, shut it down.” The machine grew quiet.

“Tanya, That’s the sound you were looking for, isn’t it? It sounds like a faulty magnet.” He then addressed the assistant. “John, any power loss or inconsistencies in field strength?”

A brief pause followed before John responded. “For the last few attempts, I’ve detected an anomaly at various axial positions, currently it is at the 36-degree axial position. When reinforced with more power, it seems the result is the subject disappearing.”

Tanya looked up from the console, a small smile crossing her lips. “I guess we just had not asked the right questions and we skimmed through the logs a little too quickly.”

Michael chimed in. “It certainly didn’t sound good,” he said.

Alexander nodded, “John, repeat the experiment, if the dissonance happens again, compensate for it.”

The machine’s sound shifted, escalating rapidly. A sudden unease gripped Alexander. There was something not quite right. Reacting instinctively, he lunged toward Tanya, tackling her away from the machine just as a massive discharge erupted. The ping-pong ball vanished.

He got up with Tanya, concerned. “Are you okay?”

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

Michael got up from his own spot on the floor, brushed off his clothing, and checked for wounds. “Thanks for your concern, guys.”

Alexander looked towards the ceiling but it wasn’t there. “Where did it go?”

Then he saw it. The ball had partially merged with the wall. But unlike before, it had gone sideways instead of upwards. His stomach twisted at the realization. If he hadn’t reacted in time, that could have been them.

Alexander said, “John, run diagnostics. Compare this event to the first.”

John said, “Displacement path is different.”

Alexander responded to the machine. “The displacement path obviously changed, that wasn’t what I was looking for.”

Michael stepped forward, arms crossed. “Alex, if this thing starts teleporting people, I’m out.”

Alexander grinned. “We’re making history, Mike.”

Michael threw up his hands. “And history is full of people getting killed.”

Alexander looked over the ball now embedded in the wall. “Then let’s make sure we don’t end up in a history book as a cautionary tale.”

“We need to keep this quiet until everything is documented. There will be a great deal of data and observations to record.” He sighed. “It’s likely I won’t see you both for breakfast for a while.”

Tanya replied, “Take your time, Alex. Don’t hurry on our account.”