there are, we don’t go there. Or rather, they could be all around us right now, and we wouldn’t even know it, because we can’t see them—just like a two-dimensional being wouldn’t be able to see, well, off the page.” It was as elementary as she could make the explanation.
Kane blew out air. “We should’ve never shared that word with the humans. Ever.”
Ronan nodded. “They have perverted it. Dimensions don’t even mean dimensions anymore. Damn Einstein. I blame him for taking the word and screwing it all up.”
She looked from one to the other, her heart rate increasing. “Um, excuse me?”
Kane flattened large hands on the table. “Just kidding. Quote from an old sci-fi book I read as a kid. All right. So say we somehow travel through space, time, whatever…and end up in another third-dimensional world. One not here.”
Who were these men? Some billionaires who’d been watching too many television shows? “Are you talking about the multiverse?” she asked.
Kane shook his head. “Not in that there are identical universes with different paths. Not at all. I’m talking maybe different universes. Or even other places in this universe, though I’m thinking that’s not it. Universes with places you can get to only by, well, jumping through dimensions. Or black holes. Or wormholes.”
Her eyebrows rose. “All right. Then bubble theory? That our universe is one of an infinite number?”
“Yes,” Kane said. “Bubble theory accounts for black matter, so it’s possible.”
She nodded. “That is one of many theories for black matter.”
“Exactly,” Ronan added. “We’re interested in that kind of a study. More specifically, how we could jump to another place in this universe, or a different universe, or world, or bubble—not a parallel universe but one different from this one. Whatever.”
There had to be a way to earn the grant and somehow not insult these men. As a child, she’d dreamed often and vividly about such possibilities until her parents forced her to face reality and study accordingly. “I understand the appeal of such a theory. I truly do.” She cleared her throat. “If you subscribe to superstring theories, then you’d have to believe that the D-brane expends over three spatial dimensions. But those can’t move at right angles, so there’s no exploring the universe outside of the brane.” Did they even comprehend that much of string theory?
“Perhaps we’re looking at an alternate theory about the D-brane,” Kane said. “Something outside of the box, if you’ll pardon the expression.”
Alternate theory? “Physics does have some laws we follow,” she murmured.
“Really?” Ronan’s gaze darkened to more green than blue. “The most prevalent theory right now is that the universe is made of strings—that we’ve never seen. The laws of physics are constrained by our understanding of the universe, and we’re probably dead wrong.”
Well, gravity probably did warp time. She smiled. “You’re sounding like one of those conspiracy groups who were sure the Large Hadron Collider would make black holes and destroy our entire planet.” Which, of course, hadn’t happened. Initially, she’d been concerned too, but the science behind the machine had reassured her.
Kane smiled. “Maybe we were just lucky that space and gravity reacted as we’d hoped. As we’d theorized.”
There was some truth to his statement. She nodded her head, relaxing finally. “So you at least do understand what you’re asking with this grant.”
“Yes.” Ronan Kayrs tapped long fingers on the table. “I’d also like to discuss a couple of your academic papers.”
That made sense, considering their focus. “You’re concerned about my declaration in the paper about fracking that the possibility of a positive outcome doesn’t always justify the risk involved.”
“That’s one of the papers,” Kane said. “And I’m not saying I disagree with your analysis. But we do need to discuss your general belief system.”
“Do we?” she asked.
Ronan leaned forward. “Risk versus reward. If there is a way to bend time and alter gravity to travel through dimensions, there could be risk factors.”
She coughed out a laugh, allowing herself a moment to descend into their fantasy. “Yes. Say that we figure out a way to do what you want, and say it doesn’t take two hundred years, then we definitely would need to look at the risks involved. You’re talking about math and science, about possibilities that aren’t even imagined fully right now. We don’t even know if we have the other dimensions correctly identified.”
“You are a theoretical physicist,” Ronan said quietly. “Theorizing is wonderful, especially when you use the absence of something to prove the existence of something else. But we’re looking