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diff --git a/24121.txt b/24121.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..79dfbcb --- /dev/null +++ b/24121.txt @@ -0,0 +1,653 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of As Long As You Wish, by John O'Keefe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: As Long As You Wish + +Author: John O'Keefe + +Illustrator: van Dongen + +Release Date: January 2, 2008 [EBook #24121] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AS LONG AS YOU WISH *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: This e-text was produced from Astounding Science +Fiction, June, 1955. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence +that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. + + + +AS LONG AS YOU WISH + +_If, somehow, you get trapped in a circular time system ... how +long is the circumference of an infinitely retraced circle?_ + + +By JOHN O'KEEFE + +Illustrated by van Dongen + + +The patient sat stiffly in the leather chair on the other side of the +desk. Nervously he pressed a coin into the palm of one hand. + +"Just start anywhere," I said, "and tell me all about it." + +"As before?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued, the coin +clutched tightly in one hand. "I'm Charles J. Fisher, professor of +Philosophy at Reiser College." + +He looked at me quickly. "Or at least I was until recently." For a +second his face was boyish. "Professor of Philosophy, that is." + +I smiled and found that I was staring at the coin in his hand. He gave +it to me. On one side I read the words: THE STATEMENT ON THE OTHER SIDE +OF THIS COIN IS FALSE. The patient watched me with an expressionless +face; I turned over the coin. It was engraved with the words: THE +STATEMENT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS COIN IS FALSE. + +"That's not the problem," he said, "not _my_ problem. I had the coin +made when I was an undergraduate. I enjoyed reading one side, turning +it over, reading the other side, and so on. A fiendish enjoyment like +boys planning where to put the tipped-over outhouse." + +I looked at the patient. He was thirty-eight, single, medium build, had +an M.A. and Ph.D. from an eastern university. I knew this and more from +the folder on my desk. + +"Eight months ago," he continued, "I read about the sphere found on +Paney Island." He stopped, looking at me questioningly. + +"Yes, I know," I said. I opened my desk drawer, took out a clipping +from the newspaper, and handed it to him. + +"That's it." + +I read the clipping before putting it back in the drawer. + + Manila, Sept. 24 (INS) Archeologists from University of California + have discovered in earth fault of recent quake a sphere two feet in + diameter of an unidentifiable material. + + Dr. Karl Schwartz, head of the group, said the sphere was returned + to the University for study. He declined to answer questions on the + cultural origin of the sphere. + +"There wasn't any more in the newspapers about it," he said. "I have a +friend in California who got me the photographs." + +_He looked at me intently. "You won't believe any of this." He pressed +the coin into the palm of his hand. "You won't be able to."_ + +"The photographs," he continued, as if lecturing, "were of characters +projected by the sphere when placed before a focused light. The sphere +was transparent, you see, imbedded with dark microscopic specks. By +moving the sphere a certain distance each time, there was a total +projection of three hundred and sixty different characters in eighteen +different orderings. Or nineteen different orderings if you count one +which was a list of all the characters." + +I made a mental note of the numbers. I felt they were significant. + +"As I said," he continued, "I obtained the photographs of the +characters. Very strange shapes, totally unlike the characters of +Oriental languages, but yet that is the closest way to describe them." +He jerked forward in his chair, "Except, of course, ostensively." + +"Later," I said. I wanted to get through the preliminaries first. There +would be time later to see the photographs. + + * * * * * + +"The characters projected by the sphere," he said, "weren't like the +characters of any known language." He paused dramatically. "There was +reason to believe they had origin in an unknown culture. A culture more +scientifically advanced than our own." + +"And the reasons for this supposition?" I asked. + +"The material ... the material of the sphere. It could only be roughly +classified as _ferro-plastic_. Totally unknown, amazing imperviousness. +A synthetic material, hardly the product of a former culture." + +"From Mars?" I said, smiling. + +"There were all kinds of conjectures, but, of course, the important +thing was to see if the projection of characters was a message. The +message, if any, would mean more than any conjecture." + +"You translated it?" + +_He polished the coin on his jacket. "You won't dare believe it," he +said sharply._ + +He cleared his throat and stiffened into a more rigid posture. "It +wasn't exactly translation. You see, _to us_ none of the characters had +designation. They were just characters." + +"So it was a problem of decoding?" I asked. + +"As it turned out, no. Decoding is dependent on knowledge of language +characteristics--characteristics of known languages. Decoding was +tried, but without success. No, what we had to find was a key to the +language." + +"You mean like the Rune Stone?" + +"More or less. In principle, we needed a picture of a cow, and a sign +of meaning indicating one of the characters. + +"For me, there was no possibility of finding similarities between the +characters and characters of other languages--that would require +tremendous linguistic knowledge and library facilities. Nor could I use +a decoding approach--that would require special knowledge of techniques +and access to electronic computers and other mechanical aids. No, I had +to work on the assumption that the key to the sphere was implicit in +the sphere." + +"You hoped to find the key to the language in the language itself?" + +"Exactly. You know, of course, some languages do have an implicit key? +For example hieroglyphics or picture language. The word for _cow_ is a +picture of a cow." + +_He looked at the toes of his shoes. "You won't be able to believe it. +It's impossible to believe. I use the word impossible in its logical +sense._ + +"In most languages," he continued, looking up from his shoes, "the +sound of some words themselves indicates the meaning of the word. +Onomatopoetic words like _bowwow, buzz_." + +"And the key to the unknown language?" I asked. "How did you find it?" + + * * * * * + +I watched him push the coin against the back of his arm, then lift it +to read the backward letters pressed into his skin. He looked up at me +and smiled. + +"I built models of the characters. Big material ones, exactly +proportionate to the ones projected. Then--quite by accident--I viewed +one of them through a glass globe the size of the original sphere. What +do you think I saw?" + +"What?" I noticed he had the boyish look again. + +"A distortion of the model. But that's not what's important. The +distortions, on study, gave specific visual entities. Like when looking +at one of those trick pictures and suddenly seeing the lion in the +grass. The lines outlining the lion are there all the time, only the +observer has to view them as the outline of a lion. It was the same +with the models of the characters, except the shapes that appeared were +not of lions or other recognizable things. But they did suggest." + +_He pressed the coin against his forehead, closed his eyes and appeared +to be thinking deeply. "Yes, impossible to believe. No one can believe +it."_ + +"In addition to the visual response, the distortions gave me definite +feelings. Not mixtures of feelings, but one definite emotional +experience." + +"How do you mean?" + +"One character when viewed through the globe gave me a visual image +and, at the same time, a strong feeling of light hilarity." + +"I take it then that these distortions seemed to connote meanings, +rather than denote them. You might say that their meaning was conveyed +through a Gestalt experience on the part of the observer." + +"Yes, each character gave a definite Gestalt. But, the Gestalt was the +same for each observer. Or at least for thirty-five observers there was +an eighty per cent correlation." + +I whistled softly. "And the translation?" + +"Doctor, what would you say if I told you the translation was +unbelievable; that it couldn't be seriously entertained by any man? +What if I said that it would take the sanity of any man who believed +it?" + +"I would say that it might well be incorrect." + +He took some papers from his pocket and laughed excitedly, slumping +down in the chair. "This is the complete translation in idiomatic +English. I'm going to let you read it, but first I want you to consider +a few things." + +He hid the papers behind the back of his chair; his face became even +more boyish, almost as if he were deciding on where to put the tipped +over outhouse. + +"Consider first, doctor, that there was a total projection of three +hundred and sixty different characters. The same number as the number +of degrees in a circle. Consider also that there were eighteen +different orderings of the characters, or nineteen counting the +alphabetical list. The square root of three hundred and sixty would lie +between eighteen and nineteen." + +"Yes," I said. I remembered there was something significant about the +numbers, but I wasn't at all sure that it was this. + +"Consider also," he continued, "that the communication was through the +medium of a sphere. Moreover, keep in mind that physics accepts the +path of a beam of light as its definition of a straight line. Yet, the +path is a curve; if extended sufficiently it would be a circle, the +section of a sphere." + +"All right," I said. By now the patient was pounding the coin against +the sole of one shoe. + +"And," he said, "keep in mind that in some sense time can be thought of +as another dimension." He suddenly thrust the papers at me and sat back +in the chair. + +I picked up the translation and began reading. The patient sat stiffly +in the leather chair on the other side of the desk. Nervously he +pressed a coin into the palm of one hand. + +"Just start anywhere," I said, "and tell me all about it." + +"As before?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued, the coin +clutched tightly in one hand. "I'm Charles J. Fisher, professor of +philosophy at Reiser College." + +He looked at me quickly. "Or at least I was until recently." For a +second his face was boyish. "Professor of philosophy, that is." + +I smiled and found that I was staring at the coin in his hand. He gave +it to me. On one side I read the words: THE STATEMENT ON THE OTHER SIDE +OF THIS COIN IS FALSE. The patient watched.... + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of As Long As You Wish, by John O'Keefe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AS LONG AS YOU WISH *** + +***** This file should be named 24121.txt or 24121.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/1/2/24121/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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