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Matthew's parents saw across the table from me, and his fathered eyed me like I had just showed up to date his daughter wearing a heavy metal shirt and sporting a nose ring. Matthew had wandered into the other room, and I could hear a video game playing.
"He's a special boy," his mother said. "He always has been."
"Not a boy," his father said. "He's a man now, Judith. Has been for years."
"He'll always be my boy," Judith said.
I could see the tension between them. I could almost see the whole thing play out—the mentally disabled son who had special needs that only his parents could meet. Matthew was 38 years old, which meant that for almost forty years he'd been a child, in his mother's eyes. His father had expectations of him, clearly. But he was stuck. He couldn't turn him out, could he? His wife—clearly a religious woman—would never hear of it. And besides, it was plain that the man loved his son, too. But I could see the pain in his eyes. And the fear.
"I'm not here to cause any problems, but I think Matthew has stumbled onto something that could change your lives forever. It could change the lives of everyone, actually. I work for a company that builds very high-performance batteries. We supply companies that are working hard to end our dependence on oil and natural gas, and make sustainable technology more prevalent. We make some of the highest-performing batteries on Earth—and nothing we make compares to what Matthew has built!"
"He's always been a special boy," Judith said, smiling sublimely and nodding.
"I think he's more special than you even realize," I said. "I'd like to introduce him to some people I work with. I'd like for him to show them his batteries, and maybe work with them to patent them."
"Patents?" his father, Earl, asked. "That sounds expensive."
"My company would pay for them, for the exclusive right to produce Matthew's battery in our factories," I said. "In fact, Matthew stands to make a lot of money from this. He'll never have to worry about money again. His needs will be taken care of for ever."
I looked squarely into Earl's eyes when I said this last part. I knew the burden of caring for Matthew had to be tremendous. It was clear that Earl worked hard, and that Judith wasn't really contributing to the family's income. She cared for Matthew, and Earl cared for the family. But it wasn't enough. I could see that just by looking around.
"And what do you get out of it?" Earl asked.
"My company gets control of a patent that they can use to change the world," I said. "Personally. I'll probably get a promotion. And an electric car, finally."
I laughed a little, but Earl didn't reciprocate. His attitude toward me had been fairly guarded, and maybe even a little angry, ever since he came home and found me hanging out with his son in the shed. I had explained why I was there, and had managed to get this table-top conversation going. But I still hadn't convinced Earl that I wasn't there to cause trouble.
"Would you like some more coffee?" Judith asked.
"Sure," I smiled. Say yes a lot. That's what they teach you, when you're learning how to negotiate deals. Say yes. Be amicable. And when it's time for you to make your big ask, they'll feel like they should reciprocate. It was a bit of psychological manipulation, but I was ok with it. This was a big deal, after all. This was bigger than Matthew's special needs. This was the Earth. This was the future of humanity.
Judith got up and went to the coffee maker, and Earl called after her. "Put it in one of the paper cups," he said. "I need to show our guest something."
Judith said nothing, didn't even look back, but Earl stood, sliding his chair across the linoleum and gesturing for me to follow him as he walked out of the kitchen door.
I followed.
We walked past the shed where Matthew had his little workshop set up, and into a larger barn. Earl pushed a large sliding door to the side and stepped into the maw of darkness. I hesitated on the outside, wondering what fresh hell awaited in the dark ahead. And then, with the sound of a large breaker switch being flipped, the barn lit up like noon.
I stepped inside.
Where I had expected bails of hay and racks of pitchforks and maybe a cow or two, instead I found rows of workbenches, large machines of every description, and a large circular arch that dominated the far end of the barn.
I took everything in as best I could, looking from table to table and object to object. I moved about touching things here and there, checking with Earl to make sure it was ok first. He nodded each time. His expression had changed. He no longer seemed gruff or cautious. Instead, there was a note of sadness in his features. He watched me as I moved around the room, and it was almost as if he felt regret.
"I'm going to miss this one," he said.
I turned to him, "What do you mean?"
"It was a quiet place. Has been for years. Decades. When I first got here, I was pretty sure it was on the path, but it was so ... quaint. The technology was a throwback, for sure. But I knew it would catch up. Seems like it's moved a lot faster than I expected." He sighed. "Everything is moving so much faster now. The closer I get to the center, the faster time moves." He chuckled "Or maybe I'm just getting old."
"I'm sorry, Earl, I really just don't know what you're talking about."
He shook his head. "No. You wouldn't. It's pretty amazing, actually. Every time, you come along. Well, not you. Someone like you. The one who discovers my boy. The one who learns that the impossible is really possible after all. I've tried to move us to the most backwater places I could, but it always happens. I guess it's just the way the Omniverse works."
"I don't ..."
"No, you don't," Earl said. "Look, I don't want to scare you, but what you're after isn't quite as nice as you think it is. We found that out the hard way, back on my world. Oh, it's wonderful, when the whole world finally notices that everything is bigger and better than they expected. But as big as the universe is, there are a lot of really small minds in it. People discover this—they discover zero point energy—and they do alright with it, to start. But then ... it's over. They never seem to realize that having that kind of power comes with a responsibility. There's a balance, see? You can't have access to infinite power without also having infinite restraint. You can't have evil still roaming around in the world when God comes to call, as my wife might say."
"Earl, look, I didn't mean to come and disrupt anything here. Matthew found me. I was just here to build a battery factory, that's it. But I have to tell you, what he's done ... it changes everything."
"Yes it does," Earl said. "It always does. A billion different universes, and Matthew changes every one of them. I've brought him and Judith to a new start more times than I can count, and it always ends the same way. The boy just can't help himself. He feels it."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
Earl laughed. "Gods and men, son. My wife ... she loves Jesus. She just loves him. She took to Jesus immediately. It's the story, you know? The son of a carpenter becomes a messiah. He starts with simple roots, and he changes the world forever. That's a story. That's a legacy. She likes that a lot. She's always chasing God, every time we start over. She wants to talk to him, I think. She wants to find out why."
"Why what?" I asked, cautious.
"Why Babel. Why Eden. Why we were cast out, told we couldn't have access to the power God has access to. She doesn't quite realize that right now. She started giving in to the persistent dream a long time ago. Too many universes ago. She just lets me take her and our boy across the threshold and into a new one. And the closer we get to zero, the more she just lets herself be taken by the persistent vision of each universe."
"Earl ... I have to tell you, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
Earl shook his head, then went to the wall beside the circular arch and pulled a large switch. There was a high-pitched sound, like water coming to a boil in a kettle, and when that faded a spiral of blue light swirled around in the center of the arch until it filled it from edge to edge.
I stumbled back from it. And for the first time I noticed that there was an array of Matthew's batteries all along the edge of the archway. Whatever this was, it was being run by zero point energy. And it was massive.
"You have what you need," Earl said. "You have my boy's battery. That will change everything. You'll have a few years, maybe even a few decades of prosperity here. I'm glad of that, at least. But tell them, boy. Tell them that this isn't the first time it's been tried. There have been billions of tries. And every one of them has eventually turned into a nightmare, because humans ... well, we don't respect the balance. Tell them, if they'll listen, that infinite power must come with infinite restraint. You have a whole universe to explore and expand into, but you need to stay right here until you're all of the same mind. Don't let the divisions stand, son. Don't let everyone decide they can be anything they want without considering anyone else. The persistent vision of this universe will fracture, and infinite power will tear you all apart."
I was about to say something, to ask more questions than I ever thought I could ask, but before I could say a word Judith nudged me with a paper cup full of coffee. She'd put a lid on it, and she was smiling at me. Matthew was standing beside her, wearing his coat and wool cap.
"I made it to go," she said. "I'm happy to have met you. I'm sorry for what's to come."
"They might make it," Matthew said. "They have hummingbird cake here."
"And Jesus," Judith nodded, smiling.
"There's hope all around then," Earl said. He looked at me as if to drill his dire warnings deeper. "Don't forget to tell them," he said.
I shook my head, dumbfounded. "No," I said. "I ... no I won't forget."
Earl nodded, then took Judith by the arm. She, in turn, took Matthew's hand. And they walked toward the archway.
As they stepped through, Matthew looked backed and waved and said, "Good luck with your factory."
And then they were gone.
The archway collapsed after they entered, falling into a pile of rubble and debris on the ground. I stared at it as it toppled, not even sure what I should do. It was just too disconnected. I was just too unsure of what had happened, or what any of it meant
I walked out of the barn and went to the rental car, and started making calls. By morning I could have some people here. I could work out what to do next. I could take Matthew's batteries and anything else we found here, and I could help turn those into something that could change the world
And I'd remember to tell them, too. Respect the balance. Maybe this time we'd listen.