Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2

Episode Four: Meteors #5

"The most exciting thing to happen all shift just happened," was the agent's hand off report when Dan's day started. "Arneshi is at the gates to see Blumenthal."

Dan nodded. "Sounds good, I'll go escort him in." He turned to one of the junior agents. "You want to let Blumenthal know." Blumenthal was on the patio, eating and reading on his slate.

Dan headed down the alleyway to the security station. Arneshi was a tall, thin man in a long dark robe with a bald head. He was the senior diplomat assigned to the team that dealt with the U.S. And Dan bowed deeply to him. "We are honored by your visit," he said. "I'm sure the ambassador will be delighted."

"I'm honored to be greeted. I look forward to having Ambassador Blumenthal on Saras now. I'm sure we will be great friends."

If friendship could be measured solely in polite words uttered, Arneshi and Blumenthal were already best buddies. But Dan couldn't help but think that neither man would be easy to truly call friend. Both were diplomats to the core, and you never knew what went on behind those friendly masks.

Blumenthal greeted Arneshi with solemn dignity. And then, "come, you really must tell me about this shrine. I am fascinated with your views on religion."

"Of course, of course," Arneshi replied and Dan followed as the two men strolled across one of the bridges to the shrine at the center of the island.

"I've always considered myself a rationalist," Blumenthal was saying. "I was more than a little surprised to find how deep religion runs in your culture, given how technically advanced you are."

"Religion is perhaps an inexact translation," Arneshi mused. "Our spirituality does indeed run deep, but our belief don't run to quite the literal interpretation that many of your religious groups seem to. But for a rationalist, this shrine is perhaps fitting."

Blumenthal raised an eyebrow but didn't comment.

"The statue is Durgana," Arneshi said. "She would be Sarasvat's great-grandmother. She lived in the early days of the Vatari empire. A great mathematician."

"You worship an ancient mathematician?" Blumenthal asked.

"Venerate, would be the better word. Yes." He bent and inspected the symbols on the base of the statue. "Look here, this is it. The great equation. You would say, the unified field theory, yes? The symbols are approximate, only, two dimension but it's there, nonetheless."

"The unified field theory?" Blumenthal sat on one of the benches and looked at the statues base. "The answer to everything. Yes, I think it is fitting. I can venerate this as well."

"The answer to everything?" Arneshi tittered, a high, almost girlish laugh. "Answers only lead to more questions." He pulled out his slate and pulled up a holograph. "You graph the equations and get this." A brilliant three dimensional graph displayed a swirling fractal pattern. "See, the symbol on the base?"

"It's a simplified version, but yes," Blumenthal said. "I see it."

"The pattern is not the answer to everything, I'm afraid. But it is the window into the next level of reality. The divine language."

"We've heard of this, but I don't follow," Blumenthal admitted.

"The physics of it? I can't either. But the basics are this, different variables, different numbers of variables, create different patterns. Patterns of potential. Lower simians developed the math. Devans perfected it. But only Durgana understood what the patterns meant. The language upon which the universe is built. She began the research it, to develop the field of potentiality. Shaiva continues her research to this day, delving ever deeper into this language."