David had lots to think about in the time between when Sinead bid him goodbye until the time he reached pack lands, and home. Knowing he was within range, even before he parked the car, he reached out for Luke's mind.
'Luke!' David bellowed.
'Yes, David?' Luke answered with his thoughts.
'I am just pulling into my driveway. Come meet me. We need to talk about something.' David told him through their mind connection.
David brought the car to a stop, put it in park and pulled the emergency break. He turned the car off and got out putting the car keys in his jeans pocket.
He walked to the back of the vehicle and leaned against the trunk, waiting for Luke to show up.
The crunch of tires at the end of the drive announced Luke was about to appear around the bend and into his view in his own vehicle. A few moments later, Luke's car was parked beside David's own and Luke was emerging from the driver's seat.
"Hey!" Luke called to him, waving a hand. "What's up?"
"Come with me." David said, walking towards Luke. "Let's go inside and talk in my office."
The two men entered the house, went down a hallway and entered the office through a doorway off the main floor hallway. It was a large, brightly lit room.
On one wall was a map of the world. The blinds on the large window were open, letting in the late morning light that illuminated built-in wooden bookshelves.
The bookshelves were a light caramel coloured wood, polished to a nice shine. They were crammed with books; hard- covered encyclopaedias, an extremely old dictionary that had belonged to his grandfather, books on history, tomes of ancient philosophy and poetry, textbooks of science and math, books on different human cultures from around the world, the latest writings on business and finance.
Here and there decorating the bookshelves were fossils, different shells, a trilobite, and some fossilized aquatic plant matter.
David stood in front of the shelving, with his back to Luke. He picked up the trilobite, as if feeling the weight of it, turned it over, looked at it for a long moment, and then flipped it right- side up. Still holding it in his hand, he turned to face Luke.
"What is going on?" Luke asked, as he studied David's face, searching for some kind of answer there.
"Do you remember this?" David asked Luke.
"Yes?" Luke answered hesitantly. Luke clearly looked confused. "That has been your favourite fossil since you were little."
"Right." David said with a strained smile. "Ok. Look at this side." He flipped the fossil to show the reverse.
"On the reverse side, there is nothing. By that, I mean nothing special. It looks flat and grey and could be the same as any common rock."
David then flipped the fossil back to the obverse, displaying the well- preserved trilobite. "But, on the obverse, we see not only is something there; but that it is an important something."
"Ok." Said Luke. "But what does this have to do with…"
Luke was cut off by David.
"I just need you to keep in mind the philosophical idea that just because we cannot see or overtly perceive something, does not mean it doesn't exist."
"Ok, I will keep that in mind." Agreed Luke.
David then told Luke about how he followed Sinead to the national park, that she somehow knew he was there, he had met her, and they had gone to a clearing.
"It was after she meditated maybe 20 minutes that things started getting weird." David confided to Luke.
"The air felt different somehow, like it was heavier, and I swear, the magnetic field felt like it started to shift. Even my perception of gravity felt off; like my entire body felt heavier than normal."
Here David paused for a moment before continuing. "All the nearby birds took to the sky and flew away, and that red fox started growling. I followed the fox's line of sight to see where he was looking. That is when something started to be visible. It was like… it was like what I imagine a black hole to look like…."
"You saw a black hole?!" Luke interjected with a large amount of surprise.
"No. It wasn't a black hole, or I am sure I would not be standing here right now. It merely reminded me of one."
David paused again, and seeing Luke's still extremely confused face, he tried again. "I saw something that looked like a swirling vortex. It was huge, and every single colour all at once all swirling into each other. But at the very center was a black sphere the size of a penny. I don't think it was a black hole, but I do very much think if you went through it, you would end up somewhere else entirely- and I don't think you could come back."
"Why do you think it takes you somewhere else if you go through it?" asked Luke.
"I… I don't know. It is just a feeling I get." David said quietly.
"So, you saw a portal to somewhere else?" Luke prompted him.
David looked up at Luke and grabbed his arm. "Luke! You are a genius. It must have been a portal to somewhere else! How did you manage to think of that?"
"It was easy." Luke replied. "That was exactly what you were describing. At least that is what I think."
David nodded. "If that really was a portal to another place, then we have a lot to think about."
"Yes." Luke agreed. "What, I mean where, is on the other side of the portal?"
"More than just that..." Stated David. "Who is on the other side? Is it somewhere else on this planet?"
"What!" Luke exclaimed with surprise. "You don't think people from a place other than Earth are on the other side?"
"At this point, I don't know anymore." Mumbled David. He placed a hand on his forehead and sighed. "I am beginning to feel the start of a headache."