Fourth Dimensional Shifting II

The bell tolled and almost immediately, the students got up from their seats with their bags in hand, their faces expressing relief.

"When you go home class, read the next four paragraphs. We'll continue from there next week." The madam announced seriously, packing her materials into her bag.

Standing up, my bag in hand, I flung it to my back and walked out of the classroom with the rest of the students.

Mr. Bright should be in the classroom, if I hurried, I could catch him before he went to the teacher's lounge. Our conversation should be private, in case of anything...

Walking through different hallways filled with students, I arrived in front of the open physics classroom and paused. Sophomores or juniors in all types of clothing were rushing out of the door as if escaping from something incorrigible.

I stood aside as they came out and passed, chatting as they did so, and after the traffic was nonexistent, I strode into the class. Three students at the back were still packing their books as I moved to the teacher's desk.

Mr.Bright, a heavily built middle-aged man of normal height, with brown wavy hair that was receding, black eyes, heavy brown brows, and an average face decorated with a bushy brown beard, stood in front of the desk, packing his books into his case.

He wore a brown suit with a long-sleeved white shirt underneath, brown trousers held by a black belt, and polished black shoes. He had a friendly visage to him that made him seem approachable, with a perpetual smile on his face.

He turned his eyes to the side as I approached and upon seeing me, his smile broadened.

"Young Xander," He acknowledged my presence happily as I stopped in front of the desk. "How may I help you today? Do you have some mind-boggling questions for me today?" He smiled broadly, showing his white crooked teeth.

I almost rose an eyebrow at this but I stopped when I remembered the original was a physics fanatic. He probably worried the man for some guidance so his question made sense in a way. It also meant I wouldn't suffer to get the answers I craved or attract any suspicion, the original was making my life so much easier...

"Exactly Sir, I have some interesting questions today, questions only you can answer or explain." I nodded at him with a smile, my fingers twitching with excitement.

"Wonderful, what do you have for me today? Oh and please take a seat." He asked, gesturing with his hand to the table and chair behind me. He closed his case and sat down.

I turned and then pushed the table and chair closer to his, then I sat down as the remaining students vacated the room, closing the door behind them and giving me the privacy I needed.

How to start...

"Well, I read an article yesterday about the presence of hypothetical higher dimensions greater than the usual three dimensions.

"They shed some light on some aspects of the fourth dimension, namely the fourth spatial dimension and the other one used to represent time as part of the space-time continuum.

"The concepts piqued my interest but they didn't talk about them in detail so I was hoping you could kindly broaden my understanding of it. If you don't mind." I explained and he cupped his broad chin, his eyes down, nodding in thought.

He stopped nodding and rose his eyes to mind and then smiled gently at me, looking at me with an expression something akin to pride.

"I've always admired your curious mind Xander and that passion for the knowledge you have," He praised me as he leaned forward to the desk, resting his elbows on it. "Make sure you don't lose it, it'll take you far in life." He advised with a meaningful smile.

I only nodded at him in response, sighing in my head and hoping he'd just get on with it.

"Good. Now to your question," He stood up and moved to the board, taking a piece of chalk from the chalk holder extending from the board. "Tell me what you know about String Theory."

An answer came into my mind in a second, "It's a theory that hopes to unify all the forces in the universe into a single consistent framework." I answered and he nodded as he drew some lines on the board.

"You have an idea, but that's not what we are going to focus on today. The theory also suggests that all particles in the universe, like electrons and quarks, are very tiny strings, that vibrate at certain frequencies and wavelengths.

"These strings are so small that they we unable to observe them and their unique vibrations are what gives rise to particles with different properties, all the phenomena and forces we observe in the universe is because of these strings.

"It also suggests the existence of other dimensions higher than our three dimensions that are so compacted against each other that they are practically unnoticeable by we three-dimensional creatures. The fourth dimension is one of the said dimensions." He paused, connecting some lines on the board.

"The fourth dimension is hypothetical. We use it to describe the concept of time and how it ties with the universe to create the space-time continuum. Which are three physical dimensions and one-time dimension.

"Scientists have fashioned it as the representation of time and because of our three-dimensional nature, we can't perceive it, we can only try to understand it.

"The fourth spatial dimension, also known as four dimensional space, on the other hand is the mathematical construct or expression of it. Look on the board." He paused again and tapped the chalk on the board to pull my attention to it.

He had drawn one vertical and horizontal line and he had connected them, kinda like the page of a graph book without all the extra lines, and drew an isosceles triangle.

Highly intrigued, I leaned forward to observe all the things on the board with every ounce of focus. This was it, he was about to get to the main deal...

"As you know we have length, breadth, and height known as 'x', 'y', and 'z'. But with the concept of time being involved in this case, we have an extra dimension called 'w'," He labeled the axes and wrote 'w' near the diagram.

"Now, humans can move along these three dimensions, meaning they can move left, right, backward, forwards, and also jump upwards. These dimensions provide coordinates to locate objects in space.

"The fourth spatial dimension, on the other hand, we can't use because we basically can't perceive it. Why? Let's look at this hypothetical scenario.

"Imagine you live on a sheet of paper, as let's see a point. You can only move forwards and backward since they are the only two-dimensional coordinates you can perceive.

"You wouldn't have the notion or the understanding of up and down, it would be an impossibility to you as a two-dimensional lifeform. That's how we humans look at the fourth spatial dimension and the others above it, an impossibility. Is it clear to you now?" He looked at me and asked gently with a smile.

"Yes, it's very clear," I responded and his smile broadened. "I have a question though."

"I'm listening." He turned to face me, his back to the board, an interested look on his face.

"Just like we have humans, plants, animals, etc who can perceive the three spatial dimensions and move along it, is it also possible for certain organisms to also perceive the fourth spatial dimension and move along it?

"And if so, how would they perceive or interact with lower three-dimensional planes, hypothetical speaking of course," I asked, slowly, my tone casual and serious to hide any emotion. Mr. Bright's eyes lit up in surprise.

"This is an interesting question, Young Xander. In fact, it is one of the questions scientists like debating to explain the existence of God or any other supernatural phenomena," He revealed, cupping his chin up in thought. " Hmm, let's see."

He turned again and started scribbling some things on the board. I silently watched him as he did this, my heart pounding in excitement and impatience.

I wanted him to confirm my suspicions. My power had to be what I thought it was, I desperately wanted it to be...

"I'll use my previous scenario to start this explanation, the one about the point and paper. If you take that piece of paper and let's say rather than the point, there's a circle drawn on it, what would you be able to see?" He drew a circle on the board and turned to ask me.

I pictured the image in my head and after examining it for a few seconds, I let out my thoughts, "I would be able to see all its sides, angles, and even the contents inside it."

"Exactly. As three-dimensional creatures we would be able to see everything about the two-dimensional plane so if there were living two-dimensional organisms living on that paper, we would be able to see everything about them, even their internal organs if they have some.

"There would be nothing they can hide from our sight. That's how beings who inhabit the fourth spatial dimension would upon us. They'd be able to see everything about us from every possible angle." He stated and my eyes slightly widened in understanding and surprise.

Did that mean I would be able to do this? Have something like X-ray vision and see everything from all angles?

"Now, using that same analogy, they would be practically invisible to us. Just as the circle or sphere can't hope to see, hear, smell, or detect us, we also wouldn't be able to do the same to them.

"They could be standing near you but it would be like they don't exist and no machine, be X-ray, sonar, satellite, etc would be able to detect them." He paused to let it sink in and it was as if a bomb had gone off in my head, my eyes widening in understanding.

"They will be able to interact with three-dimensional matter very differently. In the same way, we can let's say poke a finger into the sphere or circle, that's the same way they could pass their limbs through us without us even feeling it and interact with our organs without us even knowing. It's also possible they can manipulate matter.

"They could probably also be able to pass through matter like it isn't there, meaning they could move unimpeded. The laws of three-dimensional physics wouldn't necessarily apply to them.

"Thirdly, just as we can look at a piece of paper and move objects through the length and width of it, that could also be how they move through our three-dimensional plane. It's possible they can travel anywhere instantaneously, be it because of how fast they are or just by moving. It's possible they would see the Earth as a full sphere from their perspective.

"Their physiology would also be vastly different from ours. They might not share the need for food, water, oxygen, or any other thing three-dimensional creatures do to live. They would also be able to understand more of the universe due to their increased mental capacities higher than ours.

"And if they could somehow project their fourth-dimensional selves to our three-dimensional world for us to perceive them, we wouldn't be able to see them fully.

"All in all, they'd be like Gods to our lower dimensional selves, beings we wouldn't be able to understand or perceive." He explained passionately and concluded with a smile.

My mind was practically frozen with surprise as he explained and when he concluded, I managed to snap out of it and relief mixed with excessive excitement drowned me, bringing a wide smile that I couldn't stop to my face.

This was it, he had explained my power in the broadest sense, but still, he had explained my power. He had even expanded it and made light of all the things I could possibly do, things I didn't even think of.

If all he spoke about was true, then my power had unparalleled potential, almost godlike. I hadn't even tapped into a quarter of it. Maybe with time and more practice, all these things would be open to me and when that happened, I would be unparalleled.

A kind of rush was drowning me, trying to break my calmness, and making me twitch my giddiness as I thought of my ability. The power it held. But something important came to mind, so I pushed it down and asked one last question...

"How would such beings interact with time? How would they perceive it?"

He looked down in contemplation and then nodded as he rose his head, turning to the board. He drew a long straight line.

"The fourth spatial dimension is still a hypothetical function of linear time. Beings who can perceive or move along said dimension would see time in a very different way," He added branches or curves to the straight line. "I can't say for certain but it's possible they'd be able to see time just as we see a path."

"They'd be able to move along it to the past or future and might be able to see all the different points in time.

"Time would also move differently for them so it's possible they wouldn't conventionally age, thus be immortal to our perception, and every way time affects our third-dimensional plane would be nonexistent to them.

"So assuming there's a change in the flow of third-dimensional time, like let's say time is stopped, reversed, sped up, etc, it would be nonexistent to them and exist or move along as if nothing happened.

"There's also a chance they could manipulate time also just like we can affect our three dimensions. The possibilities are virtually endless." He turned to me and explained carefully.

I nodded in response, the smile on my face stretching, as I got the answer I was hoping for. Everything had finally locked into place.

The bell tolled again, reverberating in my ears as it signaled the end of the break.

"Are you satisfied now young Xander? Do you understand everything?" He walked to his desk and asked gently with a smile.

"Yes, I understand everything. Everything makes sense now. Thank you very much, Sir, you don't know how much I appreciate this." I stood up from my seat and thanked him genuinely, almost stretching my hand for a shake.

"Don't mention it, this is what I'm here for. To teach and empower young minds, especially brilliant and curious ones like yourself," He waved his hand dismissively with a smile that showed his pride as a teacher." I'll always be around for you if you have any more interesting questions. Have a good day young Xander, I'll see you in class tomorrow."

"Likewise Sir," I nodded gratefully at him as I stepped away from the seat. "Goodbye." I walked to the door as students started pouring in, heaving a sigh of relief.

....I was right....