How Both The Physical and The Master Universe Will End

A brief entry into the ship log

written by

Long Girl who Sleep Bare
(The "Indian name" coined by the guys who once shared an appartment with me in college)

©1997, ©1998, ©1999, ©2000, ©2001, ©2002,  ©2003

ZERO = NOTHING 

This will be my last entry, as I am now at the end of our physical universe as we know it.  The spacecraft is tired from this 118-billion year journey, tired of accelerating at 99.99+ percent the speed of light from one instant to the next.

My android companion (Arl), and I (the Long Girl),  are also tired.  It is time to blink out.  The ship and my android and I have learned so much along the way, we know almost all there is to know.  Whoever -- or whatever-- hears this recording, if anyone or anything ever does hear it, they may 
rest assured that the mission of sending self replicating synthetic humanoids to infinity has been accomplished.    I chose to remain almost
totally human; Arl chose to be almost totally synthetic.   We weren't sure which form, if either, had the better chance of survival.

I now know that "our universe" -- once an elaborate collection of trillions of galaxies -- has never been anything more than a tiny dot of particles and energy amid a vastly complex Master Universe that is endless from my perspective.

The Master Universe is endowed with countless physical sub universes similar to our own, though their structures and properties have varied widely.  Like all the other sub universes, the vortex of our sub universe accelerated for billions of years, but it's been slowing down during recent eons, the repelling forces of its entities ever weakening.

When the vortexes of ALL the sub universes finally slow to relative zero, it will be the end of time, motion, space, and all the natural forces -- and the annihilation of the Master Universe will be instantaneous.  The end is now due.  When it happens, everything that was once the Master Universe will be canceled out.  The Master Universe will revert to its original state, which was Zero. 

Not that it matters much now.  All the galaxies of our sub universe have long ago burned out, and all the other sub universes are in ruin as well, each reduced to a dark vacuum comprised of static heat, and scant subatomic particles that no longer have purpose.  The Master Universe and all that it holds is nearly dead. 

The end that the ship and the android and I face is unknowable.  We realize that the game isn't really over -- evertything we've learned about the great cosmon tells us there will be an instantaneous New Master Universe, with new physical sub universes.  This on/off thing has been going on forever, an an endless cycle of new beginnings .

What is not known is how the structure of a new Master Universe will manifest itself after the scramble occurs.  Perhaps the new universe will be endowed with new dimensional realities -- ultra realities that reside beyond the rules of any realities we know of.  If so, then it matters not, for we cannot survive the leap to an impenetrable universe that subscribes to different laws of physics -- we'd be instantly annihilated.  The ship and the android and I would thus be trapped in a destiny without a future; we'd vanish with the last whimper of our present universe.

As we wait for the end, I am thinking about the ancient Hindu and Arabian mathematicians who struggled with the "number" Zero.  Within 
their ranks arose great and raging arguments over whether Zero really existed.  Could a shepherd have Zero goats?  Could there be Zero buckets of water in a dry well?  To many of the mathematicians it was absurd to think that there could be Zero of anything.   But the number Zero was desperately needed to make accurate complex calculations.

More than a millennium after the acceptance of Zero as a "number", the nagging problems with it persisted:

Division by Zero was even worse.  All other numbers from one to a  zillion-zillion-zillion, ad infinitum,  can be divided into each other; however Zero cannot be divided into any number, not even itself.  Division by Zero is forbidden, and ancient 20th Century computers regularly crashed whenever a program glitch attempted to execute such a division.  (In the 21st Century, they finally made computers that just ignored the problem of dividing by zero, always yielding a zero.)

Therefore, the number Zero worked for Earth humans, but only within a special set of rules.  And this is where humans erred.  They ignored the need for the numerical balance of a positive Zero and a negative Zero.  Instead, they were hopelessly bound to a flawed mathematical system that would never allow them to evolve beyond their 22nd Century technology. 

By the 23rd Century, Earth humans began a gradual decline, their flat-line technology no longer capable of meeting the challenges of an 
ever changing world.  The last Earth humans died off ten-thousand years later without ever having solved the mysteries of The Universe, i. e., 
(Save for one lone person called the Long Girl, who envisioned the mathematical need for a positive Zero and a negative Zero.  But few paid 
attention to her because she was a lowly anonymous sci-fi writer who disappeared shortly after the onset of the 23rd Century.  Mythology has 
it that the Long Girl and her funny looking android were not true Earthlings anyway, rather they were castaway aliens from a planet of 
another star system.  In the year 2207 they reportedly drove to New Mexico, repaired their spacecraft, and departed, never to return.)

Okay, here we go . . . !

Hyper-realities are now forcing the 32 Dimensions of the Master Universe to rapidly close like an iris diaphragm (not literally).  When the iris 
diaphragm closes completly, the 32 dimensions of the physcical universe will cancel out each other, and everything will return to Zero.  (Nothing).
 
 

COUNTDOWN TO OBLITERATION:

The final seconds of this ancient Master Universe are counting down.  We -- my ship, my android, and I -- are curiously apprehensive.  We are not apprehensive about pain or suffering, there will be none of that at the end.  Rather, we are apprehensive about the future.  We are still alive (the only entities still alive in the entire Universe), and because we're still alive, instinct wills us to somehow survive the obliteration.  According to our model of events, it appears we will temporarily survive in some sort of suspended animation -- a frozen motion that links us to timeless eternity that lasts only a fleeting instant.  We will then promptly awaken to witness the New Universe that instantaneously pops out of the nothingness.  The question is -- what are we facing?  Perhaps we will waken, only to be immediately annihilated by a new universe structured by 
radically different laws of physics; or perhaps we will discover a new beginning in a new universe that is virtually  identical to the one we're leaving.  Whatever our fate, we shall soon find out--

X-minus three.  X-minus two.  X-minus one.

Zero.

UMPTEEN, TWO, LIFTOFF!

Deep in the jungle of Lizarb there is a river called Uginx that flows north on this greenish planet until it broadens and meets the Great 
Forever Waters.  The natives who forge an existence along the banks of the Uginx are also called Uginx, which is no coincidence when you recall 
that back on Earth (back in the old universe where the spacecraft and the android and I once existed), primitive tribes typically held themselves 
inseparable from nature.  The Uginx have a remarkably simplified mathematical world: their counting numbers consist of, " one, two, and 
umpteen."   If the Uginx ever started a baseball team, the batter would have strike one, strike two, strike umpteen, yer out.  Back on Earth 
space launches used to be preceded by a countdown that went like this: "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, liftoff!"  The word "liftoff" occurred 
when we got to where Zero should go.  Now, if the Uginx had a space program, their countdown would go like this:  "Umpteen, two, liftoff!"

This is because the Uginx only have two real numbers: One and two.  Note the absence of Zero.  Back on old 20th Century Earth binary computer systems also got by with just two numbers: Zero and One.  "Zero" meant the bit was turned off, and "One" meant the bit was turned on.  A series of binary numbers often looked something like this:  00011101, 00010101.

But that's where the similarity leaves off.  In the Uginx world, the number "One" roughly translates to mean "this item exists."  Thus, if 
they had "One" dugout canoe, they would say,  "This One canoe exists ."  The number "Two" means "this other item exists."  Thereby, two canoes floating in the river would be verbally expressed as such:  "This One canoe exists, this Two canoe exists, this One river exists."  If there 
were several canoes in the river, they would say, "The UMPTEEN canoes exist, this One river exists." 

If the Uginx hunting elder is leading a hunting band through the jungle and he suddenly announces, "This One river exists!" then it is obvious to 
everyone in the group that the river he has just spotted has no canoes existing in it at this time because the existence of canoes was not 
mentioned.  If the elder then said to them, "this Nothing canoe exists," they would find it quite laughable.  If there are no canoes in the river,
they would reason, why bother to mention it?   And they would reply, "how can NOTHING exist?" 

Obviously, to state that "NOTHING EXISTS" is to utter the ultimate oxymoron.  Which returns us to where we began -- the question of what 
nothing is.  Well, now you know.   As any Uginx can tell you, NOTHING does not exist!  In truth, that's what nothing is -- the absence of 
existence.  Which is the thesis this log entry prepared your mind to accept -- not just the blasé assertion that, "nothing is the absence of existence," but the awesome true meaning behind that assertion -- a state of nothingness cannot exist..

All of which I suppose my android friend Arl will say is arguably hypothetical.  The man just loves to be obstinate for the sake of 
obstinance.    Yet he would dare to ask -- what IS nothing?!  The question not only presumes to have an answer, but also it presumes that the state of NOTHING actually exists.

What is nothing?

The answer is -- nothing does not exist.  Which is WHY the universe (which is SOMETHING ) does exist!    The universe must exist by default. 
 

The three of us -- the ship, the android called Arl, and myself -- are now living on the tropical green paradise planet of the Uginx natives.  As it turns out the new Master Universe was compatible with our previous matrix of physics, though it also has a few wonderful additional rules of environment that make life much better than it was.  Perhaps there is some ongoing evolution of the universe -- with each new 
master universe improving on what it's "learned" from thes preceding master universe. 

Though a creature of this new world can die due to accident, no one here ever dies from bad health or old age.  That's one of the wondrous new rules of this universe -- you stay forever young and healthy!

The men of this tribe are absoultely gorgeous hunks, even though they're sort of pale green in color and have small yellow tusks sticking upwards from each side of their heads.  But get this -- for every female, there are hundreds of males in this population!  Child bearing is a once per century event for females because Uginx people (and all other creatures), rarely die.  Even so, sex is a high ticket item here; it's the supreme pleasure of life, and females not only get to choose whom they have "fun" with, but also they often choose to have more than one fun-mate at a time.   Oh-la-la.  Finally, a world built for women!

I find that I'm under great demand by hundreds of male Uginx suiters who incessantly offer me food and labor and great gifts of treasure, hoping to entice me into spending a night with them under the stars.   It's the way it's done in this primitive society.   A girl with a little initiative can live like a pampered queen around here.  And I must admit, living the life of a pampered queen has been a tempting prospect, even though I know
I shouldn't stoop to exploiting primative beings.  It doesn't help that my sex drive spontaneously soared to the nines the moment our ship entered the realm of this new universe -- instantly, I was physiologically and psychologically changed by the new environmental matrix -- which included the thrilling experience of suddenly becoming a young woman again.

Lovingmaking is sometimes done in the open here, and having observed a few such incidents, I've come to realize that the Uginx males are great lovers, much better than human males ever were.   Human males never had to compete for females the way males of this culture do; and I suspect this highly spirited competition has a lot to do with why the Uninx males possess such superior talent when it comes to wooing females and making love to them.   It's breathtaking just to watch them do it. 

The android, Arl, is my forever soul mate, and he's an excellent companion, as well as a great cook.  Albeit, he's a mite disgruntled by the constant attention I get from suiters.  Collectively, their wooing sessions have been stealing away several hours from me each day.   It's within my powers to shoo them away, but I'm highly flattered by their diligence, and I find it amusing to watch them strut around like young roosters, while attempting to seduce me with their erotic dances and generous offers of Uginx treasure.

 As an android, my soul mate has no interest in sex; so he's not jealous, he just wishes I'd busy myself with more constructive matters, and spend less time being entertained by the never ending parade of young bulls.  Yet he's getting used to my yen for spending time foolishly.   He understands that I've gone semi-native -- I'm now an honorary Ugnix princess.  Which is good, because I've made up my mind about all this, and soon -- very soon --this young female will be even more foolish with her time, starting tonight after dark. 

Meanwhile, Arl and I (and the ship), are using the daylight hours to re-invent devices of advanced technology, which makes the Uginx think we are amazing gods.  Our new lives in this new world are far more wondrous than expected.   And I find myself contemplating just how wondrous my life will be a hundred billion years or so from now when we leap to the next universe!