the aircraft, David saw a lean suntanned young man wearing khaki cargo shorts and a white tee shirt standing next to the hut waiting for them. It took a moment before David recognized him as Planck. Planck looked younger than David would have thought and more like a California surfer than the bookish pale skinned nerdy student he had known ten years earlier.
As they approached him, he came forward too and everyone said hello and David introduced Dr. Wheeling and Gabriela, who David said was his girlfriend. Gabriela was quick to add that she too was a physicist and for a rare moment David wanted to be able to say that he was too.
In the next moment Planck stated without preamble that he was sorry to disappoint them but as he had said to David on the phone call, he was not the one everyone was looking for. Then he just looked back at each of them. For the moment David was at a loss as to how to respond.
Clad in white slacks and a multi-colored, floral patterned Hawaiian shirt, looking not at all like a famous physicist, Dr. Wheeling smiled back at Planck and nodded his head several times. “Planck … may I call you Planck? For that is how David always has referred to you.”
Planck nodded.
Dr. Wheeling went on, “Well Planck, if I were in your circumstances I would say exactly that. Good for you to be wise enough to want to stay anonymous – to hide away in fact. But I’m sure you are the one and more importantly I know why you are.” The professor held up his hand when Planck started his denial. “Planck, once David told me about you, I did a little research on your work while you were a doctoral candidate at Columbia. I ignored your actual work that earned you your PhD but looked at what you had originally submitted – that which your advisors were foolish enough to discard. With the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge that The Object’s appearance substantiates…. And then what appeared to happen with respect to the course changes of the hurricanes ….well, obviously, you are not only the one everyone is looking for but quite possibly you might be the only one who understands how it is that The Object is here now.”
Planck looked past the three of them for a long moment and then turned back to face Dr. Wheeling. The seriousness of his expression put the lie to his tanned beach boy looks. Then with his mind apparently made up, he said, “Dr. Wheeling, I am on the frontier of the most important physics discovery since Einstein. Honestly, I could use some help.”
Wheeling just nodded as if he had known that all along. “That is why I am here,” he said.
The three of them gathered up their bags and squeezed into a jeep that Planck had parked nearby. He drove them a few hundred yards to what once had been a 50 room resort hotel sitting almost in the sand of a white sand, coconut tree enclosed beach. To their surprise it did not look run down and it was not deserted. There were a number of people around looking very much like they had been there awhile. No one had funny drinks with umbrellas stuck in them, no one was sunburned, and no one was sitting with their legs in the pool, though the pool looked great. Rather they all looked like they had a purpose for being there. There were several small study groups meeting under the roofed porch or where there were clumps of shade. These people tended to be in shorts and a tee shirt. But there were more sitting alone or in quiet conversation with one or two others who had shaved heads and were attired in monkish robes, robes that had to be hot in the summer heat.
To their questions Planck explained that his island really was a Zen Buddhist retreat where a very deep meditation was practiced and he looked forward to introducing them to the Zen Master who led the group. But there were also some physicists who had been invited to come once sworn to secrecy. And some of the
As they approached him, he came forward too and everyone said hello and David introduced Dr. Wheeling and Gabriela, who David said was his girlfriend. Gabriela was quick to add that she too was a physicist and for a rare moment David wanted to be able to say that he was too.
In the next moment Planck stated without preamble that he was sorry to disappoint them but as he had said to David on the phone call, he was not the one everyone was looking for. Then he just looked back at each of them. For the moment David was at a loss as to how to respond.
Clad in white slacks and a multi-colored, floral patterned Hawaiian shirt, looking not at all like a famous physicist, Dr. Wheeling smiled back at Planck and nodded his head several times. “Planck … may I call you Planck? For that is how David always has referred to you.”
Planck nodded.
Dr. Wheeling went on, “Well Planck, if I were in your circumstances I would say exactly that. Good for you to be wise enough to want to stay anonymous – to hide away in fact. But I’m sure you are the one and more importantly I know why you are.” The professor held up his hand when Planck started his denial. “Planck, once David told me about you, I did a little research on your work while you were a doctoral candidate at Columbia. I ignored your actual work that earned you your PhD but looked at what you had originally submitted – that which your advisors were foolish enough to discard. With the benefit of hindsight and the knowledge that The Object’s appearance substantiates…. And then what appeared to happen with respect to the course changes of the hurricanes ….well, obviously, you are not only the one everyone is looking for but quite possibly you might be the only one who understands how it is that The Object is here now.”
Planck looked past the three of them for a long moment and then turned back to face Dr. Wheeling. The seriousness of his expression put the lie to his tanned beach boy looks. Then with his mind apparently made up, he said, “Dr. Wheeling, I am on the frontier of the most important physics discovery since Einstein. Honestly, I could use some help.”
Wheeling just nodded as if he had known that all along. “That is why I am here,” he said.
The three of them gathered up their bags and squeezed into a jeep that Planck had parked nearby. He drove them a few hundred yards to what once had been a 50 room resort hotel sitting almost in the sand of a white sand, coconut tree enclosed beach. To their surprise it did not look run down and it was not deserted. There were a number of people around looking very much like they had been there awhile. No one had funny drinks with umbrellas stuck in them, no one was sunburned, and no one was sitting with their legs in the pool, though the pool looked great. Rather they all looked like they had a purpose for being there. There were several small study groups meeting under the roofed porch or where there were clumps of shade. These people tended to be in shorts and a tee shirt. But there were more sitting alone or in quiet conversation with one or two others who had shaved heads and were attired in monkish robes, robes that had to be hot in the summer heat.
To their questions Planck explained that his island really was a Zen Buddhist retreat where a very deep meditation was practiced and he looked forward to introducing them to the Zen Master who led the group. But there were also some physicists who had been invited to come once sworn to secrecy. And some of the
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