The

The Untold
Untold Story
Story of
of

Contact
 The Untold Story of Contact

Based on Contact by Carl Sagan, and the Scholium by Isaac

Newton.

This story makes liberal use of some of the story elements in both the book
version and movie version of Contact, even though it substantially alters the
story line.

Originally written in 1997, revised in 2005 (Wayback Machine 2007 July 29)
Part 1
What actually happened when Palmer asked Ellie if she believed in God

The scene is at an interview hearing. The focal character is a young woman who has been on a lifelong
search for First Contact with Alien races via reception of RF signals. The search had been successful,
she was the first to establish contact. What was received were plans for the construction of some sort
of space vehicle with room for one person. She is now being interviewed for the opportunity to go on a
mission aboard that vehicle.

The final question was what one issue would she bring up with the aliens upon first meeting them.
Her answer accorded well with the members of the committee, and the interview appeared to draw to
a close. But not quite.

Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?, Palmer Joss asked her. This was not just an idle
question raised by interviewer to interviewee. These two persons knew each other very well.

Palmer had described himself to her, a few days after first meeting her, as a Man of the Cloth ...
but without the Cloth. The expression reflected, in a deviously subtle way, feelings he had for her
which more than amply illustrated why the Cloth was missing feelings that were quickly reflected
back to him and, in due time, mutually acted upon.

In the reverie of their intimate conversations to follow, this issue more than once was brought up,
each time with a tacit agreement to disagree on questions of faith. But now, this seemed like a
betrayal, especially considering he seemed to be making unfair use of intimate knowledge he had of
her and her apparent weaknesses to secure her expulsion from the selection process.

And she knew that. The question awoke her just as much as when she heard that first signal from
outer space, I ... uh ... I dont understand the question., she stammered, I mean, I think I'm a moral
person.

Of that, the committee leader interrupted, I am sure we will all agree., she stated in her
distinctively Hindi accent. But I think what he's trying to ask is ...

Interrupting the committee leader's attempt to clarify the question, Palmer pointedly rephrased
what it was he wanted to ask her: Do you believe in God?

She was completely dumbfounded at the seemingly unlikely appearance of such a query in this of
all places an interview for participation in a potentially historic space mission.

I don't understand why this question is relevant.

At this, a third committee member spoke up. Doctor, almost 95% of the people in this world
express a belief in some kind of Supreme Being in one form or another. We are here to select someone
who will represent the rest of humanity in going on this mission. So I think the question is highly
relevant.

This seemed like too much. But she still had her wits about her and was prepared to confront this
issue head on, even in such a way as to put the ball back in the court of the man widely regarded as
one of the most devout believers in God: Tell me what God is, and I'll tell you what I believe.

1
 What actually happened when Palmer asked Ellie if she believed in God

Now that turn of events was most certainly not in Palmer's itinerary. He secretly wanted to keep
her grounded, away from this mission, for reasons he was not quite prepared to admit neither to
himself nor to her. Well, He's the Supreme Being, of course.

That's not what I mean.

I don't understand.

That's just another way of saying God. I am asking what God is.

What more can I say? He's just ... well ... God.

Here: I'll give you get a start. I'm sure you would all agree, regardless of how you conceive of God
(even if you don't believe there is one matching the description), that God is one who exists over and
above the stream of time a sort of timeless existence. In other words, God is Eternal.

Well, yes of course. But some people, when they say Eternal, they mean in the stream of time, but
without end. But I think your version of Eternal better captures the idea, as I understand it.

OK ... and that, even more, God's existence transcends not just time but space-time, or ... as you
would say ... God is Omnipresent.

Yes., he repeated as others in the committee nodded in assent.

... and that God is the one who determines the outcomes of all events, even (and especially) the
ones that Science says are random, and that that is the true meaning of Omnipotence.

Well, that's an interesting idea. But I normally think of Omnipotence as meaning the ability to do
anything.

But what more is ability than merely an expression of what might be, or could be, or ought to be?
If every outcome is determined there are no might be-s, or could be-s, or ought to be-s, only what
will be or won't be. As the Muslims would say: the will of God be done. And even more, your definition
contradicts itself. It leads to the paradox of the Irresistible Force versus the Immovable Object. So it
says nothing and means nothing. Mine gets to the true meaning behind the concept. Even in English
we call random or unexpected events Acts of God. So the idea is deeply ingrained in us.

Yes, that's a very interesting point. That's something I'll have to think about, as I'm sure all the
other members of the committee will too., he reiterated, as a few members cautiously nodded once
again in agreement.

It's just a paraphrase of the old idea of God as the Prime Mover. To go along with that is the idea
that absolutely everything that happens or exists must therefore fall within the purview of God: in
other words, God is Omniscient. So that's four qualities: Eternal Existence, Omnipresence,
Omnipotence and Omniscience. And further, by virtue of including Omnipotence, these qualities can
only be descriptive of a single Being. No two Beings can be Omnipotent, as I defined the word, without
completely coinciding in their Wills, and therefore in everything that could make them different. She
paused for a dramatic moment to give the members of the committee time to think it over.

Then came the clincher: I can name at least one entity, which falls within the scope of modern-day
Science which has all four of these qualities. So I ask you: is that all of what God is?

Surely you don't believe science can provide an answer to this issue!

2
 What actually happened when Palmer asked Ellie if she believed in God

Oh no. Quite the opposite. Science is the answer at least half of it: the Laws of Physics. Add to
these Laws a complete list of the outcomes of all random events past, present and future and what do
you have? An entity which is not in space and time, but is about space and time, existing over and
above it. Everything that happens is completely determined by it, and therefore everything that is,
was, or will be is implicitly contained within it. So it has all four qualities, which as I pointed out,
uniquely identify God. Therefore, God exists.

But that's not all of what God is!

But what more is there that you can say about God which will, at the same time, be agreed to by
everyone else that claims to believe in God?

God forgives our sins. He is the perfect embodiment of Good, and Loves each and every one of us
unconditionally.

I don't know. That sounds more like my father to me. a snide remark which created a few
muted laughs in the committee. Seriously, aren't the extra notions of All-Forgiving, Perfectly Good,
Infinitely Loving merely allegorical elements that distinguish one religion from another, but not
universally agreed upon? And, where is this He business coming from? There's nothing in my
description that even remotely characterized either gender or any concept of gender at all. It sounds to
me like you're still stuck in the ancient mode of thinking of God as some sort of male mountain or sky
deity with bolts of lightning. I mean, if you're going to do that, wouldn't it at least be more appropriate
to regard the Supreme Being as a Goddess, as the majority of the Old World had done for tens of
thousands of years up until the last few thousand years?

Well, I don't know about all of that. And it is true that we have this habit of looking up when
praying or referring to God, as if the Earth were some sort of Cosmic Floor and the sky above the
Abode of God (in the process, ignoring the fact that the sky is also below us). Nonetheless, I believe
God to be a personal entity, much like us, but with all of these qualities: the four you described, as well
as the last three so-called allegorical ones.

But not everyone in the world agrees to the last three. Some religions believe in deities that seem
to have an indifference to our dispositions. Some describe a God who allows for or even causes eternal
suffering upon some of us. Which of these religions is right, and which is not? If you can't all agree on
a single concept to attach to the word God, then exactly what is it you're asking me? As best as I can,
I just answered the question: that is it not a matter of belief, but a matter of fact, that God exists!

But surely there is more to it than that. I guess, then, what I'm asking you is whether you believe
in my concept of God, which I like to think is the one shared by other Christians elsewhere.

Do you believe? And if so, how and why?

Absolutely! My belief rests on my faith, which was established by a deep spiritual experience
which completely changed the course of my life and caused me to become who and what I am today!

But what is faith other than the marshaling of resources borne of deep experiences to quell the
lingering doubt, no matter how small it may be, that perhaps it is all just a delusion? Can you be
absolutely sure that you are not just plain mistaken and deluded?

No, but if someone is to go on this mission, I cannot in good conscience vote for a person who
believes that the rest of us 95% are delusional.

3
 What actually happened when Palmer asked Ellie if she believed in God

Delusional about what? What I just got through proving exists? Or the extra allegorical elements
that the rest of you 95% do not even agree on amongst yourselves? It's not 95% if you don't all agree!
So now, are we going to select a member of this mission based on which faith they have? Instead of
unifying the world, this selection process will just spawn deep, divisive world religious conflict. Is that
what you want? I freely admit that the notion of God I gave seems rather empty. But we're mere
mortals. Maybe that's all we're equipped to handle, and maybe Mysterious is another attribute I
should add.

Palmer had to let a brief smile slip. But he went on: I just want to know if you believe in my God.

But you've just expressed doubts yourself. And I am sure that most of the people on this
committee will agree that you, of all people, are one of the most ardent believers there is in God, the
God that you described. So if even you have doubts, no matter how small they may be, then so much
more for the rest of the world, such as they agree with your conception. So I will answer your question
as honestly as I can: I just don't know whether the God I just defined by my four attributes is an All-
Forgiving, Perfectly Good, Infinitely Loving personal being. I won't even venture a guess on what I
don't and probably cannot know: it seems to me like a fruitless gesture. I am an Agnostic.

But not only that, I am a Radical Agnostic. That means I believe that all people are, in their heart
of hearts, Agnostic. Your mere notion of faith betrays your lingering doubts, and therefore your
underlying agnosticism, which confirms my belief. Like it or not, I think I represent 100% of the
world.

Now that is not fair!

Fair? Look, you have been blessed (as you would say) with an experience that not too many of us
get to have within our lives. That experience has practically closed in your own mind the issue that
you raised. You can still have doubts, but even with them, you express an absolute belief in the God
that you described. But most of the rest of us do not have the fortune of having undergone such a deep,
and dare I say even mystical, Revelation. That's one of our central purposes in life and perhaps even
our main quest in being here. So now are we to restrict our choice for this mission to those in the
clergy or those who have come into a state of Enlightenment, to use a Buddhist concept? Those, that
is, who seemed to have largely rounded out that quest? If so, then that's what's not fair.

I've spent my whole life, she went on with a quivering voice, looking out there for answers. This
is my quest! That's why I am here and why I want to go on this mission. Please ... please don't deny me
what I've spent so long looking for, just because you've already found what I'm still seeking!

Perhaps even the question you raised can someday be brought into the scope of Science, and
perhaps there will come a time when we will know, on account of what we understand about the
Universe, or of the language of Science itself, that there is and must be a God, as you conceive of God.
Or perhaps we may find that it's all just a crutch whose need we will eventually outgrow.

With a brief pause to allow the deafening quiet of the stunned silence to diminish, she rounded out
her stirring speech: Now that I've thought about it, I'd like to amend the answer I gave to the
previous question. If I only had one question to ask to whoever (or whatever) I meet, it will be this:
What do you know of God?

But Palmer was not quite finished. He began to ponder quietly aloud, not realizing the impact of
his remarks until it was too late: How come you never discussed any of this when we were in bed
together? Immediately, like a clap of thunder, came the uproar.

Needless to say, Palmer was kicked off the committee and Ellie was not chosen.

4
Part 2
What actually happened to Ellie on her voyage ...

The proceeding was as solemn as someone on death row being led to their execution. Ellie was now
being guided along the catwalk, overhanging the eerie sounds of this alien launch bay, toward the
strange pod at the end. The pod, shaped like a sphere, was itself enclosed within a frame made up of
metal supports locked to one another in 20 triangular faces that surrounded it evenly an
icosahedron. Both it and the chassis hung over a set of rings that formed what looked like a giant
slowly spinning gyroscope. The motion of these rings was what was making the eerie sounds.

Guided by 2 Japanese mission specialists, Ellie slowly enters the pod, and only then does the truly
daunting prospect that lies ahead of her begin to fully weigh upon her. But the fear quickly leads to
wonder. What kind of machine could this possibly be? It is so simple in form, yet its deeply resonating
power is so intimidating. As her mind wandered, she could not help but return to the mystery that lay
behind the First Contact.

It seemed so long ago, but not even a year had passed between then and the mission she was about
to undertake now. After all these decades of people searching the skies, after it had long since seemed
to all be a fruitless gesture, something unusual came from the direction of the star Vega.

It was no mere fluke, nor was it like any of the other interesting things she would pick up from
time to time whenever she listened over her headphones to the signals coming from the skies.

The headphones were what set her apart from everyone else. While all the other professionals had
come to rely on computers to do the searching for them (her too), she still used good old fashioned
headphones to eavesdrop on the music of the skies every now and then. And it was probably why she
was the first to discover the signal when it came.

She could hear it clearly. One minute she had been half asleep, her mind having wandered off to
another place and time, almost entranced by the static, and then suddenly ... whoosh, just like the
pounding of a large wave on a beach. Her attention became riveted on the moment. Then, after a brief
pause, it went whoosh, whoosh. Then came another brief pause, and the pattern repeated itself once
more whoosh, pause, whoosh, whoosh.

Meanwhile, she was thinking 1, 2, 1, 2, ... a rather strange pattern for a natural celestial object.
Then came more: whoosh, whoosh. Wait a minute! 2?!

Practically asleep from the hypnotic static, and just beginning to take notice of what she just
assumed was just another celestial object, she definitely woke up, upon hearing it: 1, 2, 1, 2, 2?!

But then the pattern repeated: 1, 2, 1, 2, 2. The excitement was starting to creep into a looming
feeling of disappointment. Another false alarm. But just as she was about to turn the radio receivers to
another part of the sky, the third repetition was coming back: whoosh, pause, whoosh, whoosh, pause,
whoosh, whoosh ... 1, 2, 2? Wait a minute!

And there was the mystery. What was it? Each time, just when the pattern seemed to materialize,
it was broken. Yet, clearly it was supposed to mean something. And so it went on like this for about 4
hours before stopping for a long pause of about 10 minutes. Then it started over.

5
 What actually happened to Ellie on her voyage ...

People tried different things: binary, coded pictures, pixels for a 3-D image. Nothing worked.

Eventually this was found to be nothing more than a beacon on top of which was superposed a
much more substantial message which, when decoded, revealed the very plans for the alien ship Ellie
was about to step into. So, with all efforts focused on decoding that message and constructing the
vessel, the mystery of the beacon remained on the back-burner and nobody paid it much mind.

What was most intriguing of all about the beacon was that the ratio of 2's to 1's was eventually
found to be about 1.618 to 1. She knew that that was the Golden Ratio which is the same ratio that
describes some of the ratios between the dimensions of the chassis surrounding the pod she was about
to enter.

And so Ellie's attention returned to the present, as the 2 Japanese men finished escorting her into
the pod and strapped her to the seat inside. After they left, the circular door was sealed shut, and the
crevices on the door's periphery just disappeared like that. It was as if a cocoon had just been encased
around her. For all she knew, this could be the last she'd ever see of this world or of the people in it she
knows and loves ... of Palmer.

Palmer Joss. The man of the cloth who, yet, stayed away from the trappings of organized religion.
It was he who had confronted her during her interview with the selection committee with that one
simple question: Do you believe in God? He knew her ambivalence. They spoke about it sometimes
during their long nights of intimacy. He knew it would be the perfect question to put her on the spot.
Was it to disqualify someone he thought would not suit as a candidate spiritual enough to serve as a
delegate for an entire world? Or perhaps ... just to keep her from leaving possibly never to come back.
And so it was that someone else would qualify, in her stead, for the previous mission, just when it
seemed inevitable she would be the one to go.

As Palmer stands beside a monitor watching Ellie seat up in the peculiar ship, he begins to ponder
the inevitability of her departure and the possibility he's tried so hard up to now to avoid confronting:
that he may never see her again.

Under the pod, the mysterious rings of the alien launch bay are whirling around, their eerie noise
getting yet louder, appearing to set about an unexpected tremor in the pod. She notes the problem over
the comlink, but the mission crew calms her concerns, pointing out that this also occurred during the
prior mission. But that mission failed ...

The whirling rings go yet faster, and soon something else unexpected happens: the inside of the
pod suddenly becomes translucent and beneath it all manner of bright lights could be seen, as if a fire
had just sparked underneath.

With the turmoil near critical and with the mission crew literally on top of the abort button, the
transmission from Ellie barely made it through the growing interference from the raging lights and
activity below the pod. Barely comprehensible, with fear and trepidation pervading her words and her
voice now shaking, she could be heard repeating I'm still go, like a mantra. At first, the only one to
make it out was a blind astronomer: her partner who had remained by her side throughout this entire
venture. Trusting Ellie's assurance of her well-being, the mission crew allowed the process to go on.

And then, just as the rings reached full power, it was as if a nuclear detonation had been triggered
but a detonation which stopped in mid-course. The blast was so powerful that it violently rocked the
ship in the ocean channel which was holding the mission crew near the launch bay. But everything
was still go. So, the pod was dropped into the violently whirling rings.

6
 What actually happened to Ellie on her voyage ...

Before she even had a chance to note or record what had happened, the lights beneath her
suddenly gave way to what appeared to be a long sinewy tunnel a tunnel whose walls themselves
were translucent showing a starfield beyond. It was a wormhole: a direct connection, or bridge,
between two points in space and time that otherwise would be separated by light-years distance and
possibly even eons of time. She was quick to recognize it as one, but nobody ever considered wormholes
as anything more than theoretical.

The pod appeared to emerge out into space directly in front of what looked like the Vegan star
system, itself, and there she was right in the middle of it! Then something even more mysterious
happened: the rings reappeared as if they were poking through a veil on which lie the scenery of Vega
and the starfield beyond. The long tunnel reappeared, and again she fell through it, this time
emerging near the nighttime side of a world in which she could see the shining light of cities. But the
arrangement of cities was totally unlike that on Earth. The world was inhabited, but this was clearly
not Earth!

Again, the rings poked through and another wormhole appeared, which she fell into. This time she
emerged from the tunnel and found herself peering out at what looked like it might be the center of
our own galaxy. Almost intoxicated by the panoramic vision, she slowly slipped into what appeared to
be a deep and long sleep amidst the reverie of her wonder.

When she woke back up, she found herself on a beach. It was a beach that looked so familiar, yet
its colors and sounds were stark. It was as if a childhood drawing had been brought to life. In fact, it
looked exactly like the childhood drawing she made of Pensacola, the first long-distance contact she
ever achieved during the time she had spent playing with shortwave radio as a child. How that had
made her father so proud, to see her little scientist making yet another small step forward.

And she always thought about her father. She could reach 1000 miles to Florida, in later years
even make contact with Voyager, and then she even made First Contact from the stars that lie beyond.
Yet, no matter where she looked and no matter how far she went out, her father was nowhere to be
found ... not since he was lost to her in the tragedy of a sudden fatal attack of a chronic illness when
she was only 9.

It did not take long for her to discover that she was still within her pod, while exploring around she
bumped into the walls of her pod which were now completely translucent. The images she was seeing
were somehow being projected.

Nor was the scenery static. It didn't take long before she noticed something starting to subtly
change. It was a form slowly materializing out of nothing as it was walking on the beach steadily
toward her, with its image gradually assembling itself and coming into focus. Within a breath's
distance of her it became fully recognizable. And what she saw so completely overwhelmed her that
she fell into its arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

It was her father.

But slowly, her wits came back as the realization dawned on her: You're not my father. You're not
real., and their embrace was broken.

That's my scientist., he said, now looking deeply into her eyes. We thought it would make it a
little easier to appear to you this way. You are an interesting race, with dreams so beautiful, yet
pervaded by sadness so profound. A young species, new to the universe, and so lost. You think about
your father a lot, don't you?

7
 What actually happened to Ellie on her voyage ...

Her eyes were cast down and the shaking in her voice still apparent, I miss him.

Ellie, he said with a hand gently caressing her face and moving her long hair aside, he impelled
her to turn her eyes upward to meet his: Ellie. Do you believe that your father exists?

Standing in front of him with the appearance of the very man whose very existence she now had to
confront, it was as if a stake were being driven through her heart. Again, she broke into tears, falling
back into his arms, Why? Why did you have to go and leave me?

Where did he go?

This was too much for her. Grief-stricken, she couldn't even utter a single word.

Ellie., he said once again, gently bringing her head up, Ellie. Look at me.

Slowly, her grief subsided.

He's still there.

I don't understand.

Ellie, the moments you experience don't just go away when you experience them. They were
always there. They are still there: everything that is and everyone that was. Your father too.

But he's not here anymore!

What is here?

Now! He's not with me now, is he?

Do you exist?

Yes, of course I do!

But what do you exist as? At a single point in time, living a life experiencing each moment one by
one moving about as if flowing on a stream, never again to see each place as you pass it?

All I see is one moment at a time.

Who sees only one moment?

Me!

But which you? Is the you at that instant you first arrived any less real, any less now and any
less a part of you than the you that stands here on the beach before me? Everything you perceive of
yourself is already past by the time you perceive it. Yet, you still call it real. When does it cease to be
real or a part of you?

I still don't understand.

8
 What actually happened to Ellie on her voyage ...

You, Ellie! You are equally much at every moment you experience, not just one. It is only you that
appears to move in time as a point along a line, but you are on the whole line! You're 4-dimensional,
not 3! When you think of yourself as at a single point moving in time, you ignore the rest of what you
are: all those other parts of you which lie at different times, each part of which is just as real and just
as now as the you that is here.

But I can't go back to my childhood!

But you are there! And here! And everywhere in between, as well as those points that have yet to
come! No now is any more now than any other, nor less. If the past is not real and equally now, nor
the future, then what is?

The present.

So then does that mean that nothing is real except the here and now? Even then, by the time you
notice it, it's already past. So what's left to be real or now, if not the past, as well? If not the future,
too?

The future?

Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there. It is true that you have a tendency to
remember the past, but not the future. We have been monitoring your transmissions for a very long
time. Whenever a memorable event occurs, almost always what you will find is that the references to
the event come after and not before.

Almost?

Sometimes an event is so poignant it leaves its imprint on memories not merely following the
occurrence, but prior to it as well, and sporadic references are found in your transmissions predating
the event.

What?!

Were you to do a search on your USENET for the phrases Towering Statue of Saddam and
Collapsing, limiting the search to the day before that event (2003 April 9 in your calendar), you will in
fact find a single reference to it. If you do a search on the USENET for the phrase Nobody is getting
elected, Bush and Gore, limiting the search to the day before the election (2000 November 3), you
will also find a single reference to that. Indeed, both references were made by the same person.

That doesn't mean anything.

Or ... consider the transmission we picked up from your USENET dated 2004 July 26 in your
calendar from what you called misc.misc under the header How will this thread end? (also originating
from the same person)

This thread will end late on December 31, 2004 ... For hours on end, a home video will be piped in
the TV airwaves ... the people on video hurriedly making preparations ... Someone will make a
comment it's rotating every 5 seconds about something, shortly before the wave is seen
approaching ... The video will stop abruptly just after someone makes the comment it's coming! or it's
almost here!

The tidal wave? But that didn't happen until ...

9
 What actually happened to Ellie on her voyage ...

Yes. The end of 2004. Home videos of it dominated your television coverage all the way to the end
of the year and beyond. There are dozens of such occurrences just from this one person, alone, and
numerous others from elsewhere to be found amongst your transmissions which show the ability of
some to sporadically remember the future as you do the past, and which show the reality of the future
as something already there. In the same way, more so, does the past exist and is just as real.

So what if the past exists? That doesn't bring back my father!

If the past exists, then everything that is in it exists including your father. He is still there. Not
as a platitude, but literally. That means there really is some place some When still there to travel
back to, if only you had a way to get back to there. The Past didn't disappear, or quit being its own
now.

Exist, Ellie, does not just mean to be, now, it means to be. Existence is timeless. It is not will
exist, does exist, or did exist, but only exist! Do you understand my question now, when I ask you,
Do you exist?

Gradually, as it began to dawn on her, her eyes lit up and she began to smile.

Yes, Ellie. Go back. Go back all the way, beyond your first memory. Do you see it?

And as she pondered the implications of his remark, her smile broadened.

Yes. You were once part of your mother. And before that, your mother and father were united in a
physical bond. Those connections are in the past, but they are still there. Do you see it now? All of
what you are is merely a branch that is connected to a larger web of life which includes your mother
and your father. In the four dimensions of space-time, there is but a single entity: the Web of Life.
When you take a cross-section of a web, it is true that all you see are large numbers of tiny but
separate circles. Yet that does not make the web's unity any less real! Likewise, just because you are
separate from each other when you consider yourself (wrongly) as something going in 3-dimensions
through one moment at a time, that does not make your unity any less real!

But what about the two of us?

In all of our searching, discovering other races, other civilizations, the one thing that we have
discovered is that we are bound to each other in the very same way. All of us are on a common web of
life. The life that began on your planet, like that which began on ours, was spawned by the same seeds
which even now pervade the space between the stars. We share common ancestry, even though we are
from different worlds.

How could that be? Life on Earth began in a spark and it all evolved from there.

No, Ellie. That's only part of the story. It's much more complicated. The seeds of life pervade the
cosmos. The tiniest spores can survive forever out in the vacuum of outer space. All it takes is one
comet smashing into a world that already has life on it, and they can go flying off into space, drifting
for long ages, some of them finding their way to other worlds. Given time, it's inevitable that some
will, just like it's inevitable that comets will go crashing into worlds and blast seeds of life out into
space. All of our worlds have been exchanging life with one another in this way for all these eons.
Hardly a habitable world in the skies can be found which has not been planted by the dormant life
roaming the cosmos.

Other worlds have life?

10
 What actually happened to Ellie on her voyage ...

It's everywhere. And we're all on the same web of life.

Amazed, Ellie could only look with bewilderment.

Isn't it arbitrary which parts of that web you decide to label you and which parts you decide to
label not you? Where does the boundary lie, if you're all merely branches off of the same physical
structure? So, is it such an illusion for me to take on the appearance of your father, if that which he
was survives in your memory to be projected onto THIS part of the Web? By what right do you have to
say that this part is NOT your father, but that some other part IS when the boundary is nowhere to be
found in between?

What are you saying? Are we all one?

Not only is the real you the timeless being that encompasses the entire line which comprises every
moment of your existence, but that line is but a part of the larger Web. That is what you exist as. So
yes, we are all one.

And slowly Ellie's father began to change before her very eyes, slowly transforming into someone
so close and so immediate to her. Someone she had just left behind: Palmer.

Ellie, Ellie. You still don't understand what you are, do you?

No.

Do you consider yourself a personal entity? A sentient being?

Yes, of course I do.

When you decide to do something, is it you making that decision?

Yes, she cautiously added.

But when we confronted each other in the selection committee, you defined God as the one who
ultimately determines the outcomes of all events. Yet, everything you do and decide to do defines who
you are. So your very own will the nexus of all you consider to be yourself is just an expression of
this entity you call God, it is merely an expression of God's will as it appears through your own body.
The very thing you use the word I to refer to is therefore nothing but a localized expression of God:
your God, the one you defined!

I don't understand your point.

If you can consider yourself a personal sentient being, then is it such a great leap to attribute to
the larger whole, which you are just a localized expression of, these very same qualities? If not, then
why do you even consider yourself to have these qualities at all?

I think I understand now.

Slowly, Palmer began to transform into the Hindi woman who presided over the selection
committee where Palmer and Ellie confronted one another, Even among my people, she interjected,
we have the concept of the Greater Self: which is God, and the self: which is that part of God as
expressed through your body for which you use the word I. But it is merely a veil, which is shed when
you die, to reveal what lies underneath: the Greater Self the ultimate root of your existence.

11
 What actually happened to Ellie on her voyage ...

But then what about the other qualities Palmer mentioned at the meeting when describing God?.

Slowly, she changed back to Palmer, It is entirely a matter of faith that the events which transpire
in the Universe provide for you a meaningful, fulfilling destiny. That is, after all, the issue you're
really seeking to answer on your quest, isn't it? Isn't that the point of ascribing to God the qualities of
All-Forgiving, Perfectly Good and Infinitely Loving?

She could only look at him with eyes ablaze in wonder.

The nature of my deep Mystical experience (as you call it) is that suddenly and decisively I came
onto an understanding that yes, indeed, our ultimate destiny transcends any doubts and worries about
the existential issue that each and every one of us has to confront, and transcends each of the
impediments that arise from such doubts and worries. If you didn't even have the faintest glimmer of
hope to this end, then what was the point of your even pursuing this quest? Just what is it that you're
really looking for? What is it that you hope to find and why are you here?

But I still don't understand something., Ellie went on, If God exists, and has all of these
qualities, and is the ultimate root of all that exists, then what created God?

At this point, the image of Palmer disappeared with his voice trailing off God, Ellie ..., and
gradually the scenery along with him, and all that was left to be heard was the calming, soothing
sound of the waves crashing on shore of the beach. whoosh, and then a moment later, two more waves,
whoosh, whoosh. Again, it repeated itself, whoosh, pause, whoosh, whoosh, pause, whoosh, whoosh just
like when she was awaken by the signal of the First Contact. This time, though, she didn't awaken but
lapsed into unconsciousness.

The next thing she knew, she was lying on the bottom of her vessel, which had just splashed into
the ocean, with the waves loudly buffeting against her pod. She could hear the animated discussions
by the crew over the comlink. But what she heard completely surprised her: they were arguing over
what went wrong and why the alien transport pod fell straight through the rings without doing
anything or going anywhere.

Through the commotion, it was Palmer's voice she heard the most clearly over the comlink: God,
Ellie, please answer! Are you all right?

12
Part 3
What actually happened at the investigation committee and afterwards ...

Even amidst the crowd in the packed committee room, facing the eyes of the world, she had never
felt so alone as she did now. Not even when watching the crevices of the door to the pod she was
enclosed in simply vanish, closing her off to the rest of the world, possibly for the rest of her life, did
she feel as isolated as now.

Her entire voyage, all that she saw, all that she experienced, each and every word spoken to her, by
her: it never happened. Or so it was, as much as any sound or video recording device could determine
even the ones she took inside with her.

Before the shining lights of the press, before the Senatorial investigation committee she had
related her entire account of what had happened. With each word she spoke, she could feel everything
slipping away: stares beginning to avert, even muffled laughter, press crew slipping out the door, and
an increasingly growing sense of indignation in the committee itself.

We have 35 independent video accounts of what happened. Look, the leader said, just as the
footage of the pod falling through the rings from one vantage point played out, In every case, all we
saw was the pod fall straight through. Your entire voyage consisted of nothing more than the few
seconds it took for you to drop straight into the ocean!

But I was gone for at least 18 hours, my time, not Earth time! I believe that the rings in this
device opened up a wormhole a portal to another place in space and time and that I returned both at
the place and time of my departure. So what was a few seconds Earth time, turned out to be a few
seconds plus 18 hours my time.

Doctor, we have read your account in its entirety. I think I speak for the other members of this
committee in telling you that it would be a serious understatement to say that it strains your
credibility. Isn't it true that wormholes are merely a theoretical construct? That to create one and keep
it open, requires exorbitant amounts of energy, and not just any kind of energy, but negative energy?

Yes, she painfully conceded, it is true.

Then what possible objective evidence can you give that would provide us with even the slightest
indication that your experience was anything more than a dream, possibly even an effect of who knows
what went on inside those rings? A delusion!

Shaking, Ellie was on the verge of tears with this accusation. The committee leader was not quite
yet through, though.

Let me offer you a simpler explanation. Are you familiar with the Golden Ratio?

Yes. It is the number that starts out 1.618 ...

Are you aware of the fact that it has been found to occur in large numbers of natural situations,
such as the description of the spiraling of a snail's shell?

13
 What actually happened at the investigation committee and afterwards ...

Yes, but ...

Yes, that's all I needed to hear. Then might I suggest that the beacon you received from the star
Vega was nothing more than the product of some natural phenomenon, and that though it may have
looked like it was created artificially, like the first pulsar signal when it too was discovered, it was in
fact not?

How?

And then came the surprise: Our decryption team has discovered the pattern behind the beacon.,
and up the projection of a formula. Look, and you can see it for yourself
A n =[ n 11.618 ][ n 1.618 ] ,
where [R] is the largest integer not bigger than R.

This is the formula that describes the pattern in the beacon you found. Isn't is possible then that
you were the unwitting victim of some hoax, in which the extra signal carrying all the details of the
engineering designs were fraudulently attached to this beacon signal?

That's not likely.

Not likely, but possible! Are you familiar with the Sherlock Holmes mysteries?

Yes.

What is the famous dictum attributed to the fictional detective?

That when all other possibilities have been excluded, then whatever is left, no matter how
unlikely it may seem, must be the truth.

So here we are. We have a choice between an incredible account of a fantastic voyage involving
wormholes which Physicists throughout the world virtually agree are conjectural at best involving
18 hours of your time, in which you somehow come upon someone looking like your own father, who
has been deceased for more than 2 decades. And then when it's all done you return to the very point
and even the very time of your departure! Against that, we have the notion that maybe, just maybe,
this beacon is the product of a natural phenomenon, that the extra information was nothing more than
a hoax and that the machine we spent so much effort, so much money and so many lost lives bringing
into existence did not work because it was not meant to work! I don't think there's a difficult choice to
make here, do you?

I admit that everything I reported might have been nothing more than a dream. Even before she
had a chance to fully articulate this concession, there was already an uproar swelling in the committee
room. Yes, I will grant you that.

Then why even bring to us this report?! A report that sounds more like the confused ramblings of
someone on the verge of a breakdown than any kind of account of a space mission??!

Because it happened! Yes! I admit there is no objective evidence that my experience was real! Yes,
I admit that I may have dreamt the whole thing up, and that this entire mission may have been
nothing more than the product of a hoax! But with every fiber of my being, I know that it was real,
that I was there, and that these things did happen!

Are you telling us that we should accept what you say on faith, Doctor? There was nothing more
to be said at this point that hadn't already been hashed out. And so ended the meeting.

14
 What actually happened at the investigation committee and afterwards ...

By now she was completely in tears. Palmer, who had been standing by her in this whole meeting,
whose eyes lit up as she spoke her final words, took hold of her. Together they left the meeting room
out the door.

Together they arrived back at her home, now after nightfall. At length and in depth they talked
about her experience. Particularly intriguing was what happened at the very end. Was it the alien as
Palmer telling Ellie the answer to her final question, or was she just hearing Palmer's voice through
the comlink upon awakening from what seemed to be a dream?

Together they stayed that night, even to sleep holding one another. But sleep only came onto
Palmer. Ellie was continually haunted by the doubts, the questions. What did happen? The lingering
doubts kept growing. And she still could not get the mystery beacon out of her mind. What could it
possibly mean?
1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, ...
Was there something she was missing, that everyone else at the committee had been missing?
Something which lie just beyond their ken? Perhaps it had to do with her final question. Who created
God?

It was late at night. All she could do now was wander aimlessly about on the Net, completely lost,
without a beacon. Eventually her wanderings turned to the more refined areas of philosophy and
metaphysics, and as she browsed through some of the older logs of the USENET, she came upon
something that completely captivated her attention: The Untold Story of the Unwritten Book. As she
pulled the story up she was positively enthralled by what she saw:

The Untold Story of The Unwritten Book

Who was its author? A mystic, perhaps? Philosopher, maybe, that she had never heard of?
Strangely enough, it appeared to be the very person the alien entity had been describing. She found
even more intriguing passages from this mysterious entity. Four listed under November of 1991
were:
Through a progressive series of restrictions, cigarette smoking will be outlawed.

California will go bust by the end of the decade.

Japan will go bust in ten years [from 1989].

Women will take over the planet by 2020, enslaving the male population.

Another, mysterious passage

missed the bird and hit the pedestrian.
was planted inside an article that was dated one day before the then-Vice President accidentally shot
his hunting partner while aiming for a bird.

So enthralling, so compelling ... So mysterious: the name attributed to the Unwritten Book was
Enigma, who was described in a directory file as a mystical entity from a world far beyond, in the
direction of the star Vega..

As she paged through the adjoining index, she was utterly amazed by the content and breadth of
the writings of Enigma:

The Untold Story of the Matriarchy

(along with a non-fictional version, too: The Fall of Mankind)

15
 What actually happened at the investigation committee and afterwards ...

Hmm...

The Untold Story of Genesis

A rewriting of the Bible, perhaps? Light speed, it said, was actually meant to be infinite, but God made
a mistake and infinity accidentally turned out to be 299,792,458 meters per second?

The Untold Story of The Force

Wow. The 'Force' in George Lucas's Star Wars is actually David Bohm's 'Implicate Order'??! And then,
paging down, she came onto it:

The Untold Story of the Creation of God by God

So she did hear it! That's what the Alien as Palmer was saying! God was created by God. But how
is that possible? As she read the account, she began to think more and more of the beacon.

What was it about this beacon? It was sitting there right under her nose. Then finally, as she
browsed back up the index, lo and behold:

The Untold Story of Contact

How familiar this account seemed, how poignant, bringing about an interminable feeling of deja
vu. Upon closer examination, she was dumbstruck: it wasn't just familiar deja vu. Whoever this
person was, who wrote this, seemed to have written an entire account of everything she went through
years before, back in the late 20th century! And then, perusing the story, the feeling of haunting
spookiness became especially strong, as she neared the end of the story and saw a the description of
her very act of reading the story, itself! (Hi Ellie :))

Oh, now this is just getting too weird!

But then came the climax: the answer she had been seeking. The beacon was sitting right there!
But it was written down twice, backwards, at the very end of the story with one copy formatted
beneath the other in a peculiar way. What could that possibly mean?

Then suddenly it dawned on her. It was there all along, so perfectly clear to see, how it all came
together at the very end. The sequence was entirely self-created and self-generated! This was The
Golden Sequence: the answer to her riddle, nothing less than a glimpse into Absolute Infinity ...

... 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1

... 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1

Go back to the index to The Unwritten Book (2005 Version).

16