THE PIT

"Strange!"

Eric muttered to himself.

He was still staring at the chart he had made on his bedroom wall. He was pretty sure he had figured out everything there is to know about the wormhole. So was his conviction and confidence in his deductions that he planned on confronting Dr. Norton regarding his theory surrounding the existence of the wormhole. He looked at the clock on the wall, he was getting worried now.

"Katy ought to have been here by now. Wonder what's holding her up?"

"Whoa!"

Tyrell exclaimed as he stepped into the room to meet Eric.

"What's all this?"

He asked, approaching the chart on the wall. Astonishment was oozing from all over his body. He stared at the chart for a few minutes, looked back at Eric, went over to the chart again, and looked back at Eric once again.

"I don't understand all these. Can you please explain?"

Tyrell asked, with an aura of defeat.

"Yeah, would love to do that, but Katy is not here right now."

"She'll play catch-up, she's smart. No explanation would be necessary, I'm pretty sure she will get the gist just from staring at the chart."

Tyrell responded to Eric.

"No! This isn't just about her understanding it. There's more. She's going to find this info particularly interesting."

"How do you mean? And why the hell are you not scared? That wormhole guy still freaks me out. His face haunts me."

"He's not the problem."

Eric said, then continued,

"There are bigger forces at work here, just don't know which one has the upper hand."

"What?! What forces?"

"Gravity and Time."

He said, lost in thought. He was so occupied in his head, he didn't notice the indignation on Tyrell's face.

"But now that I'm thinking about it, Time is not a force, that is, as far as we know. It's just the measure of successive events and how they're linked in a particular order of occurrence, the directional flow of entropy. But then again, mathematically speaking, time stays the same whether you're moving forward or backward. That would then suggest.............."

Eric was interrupted by Tyrell's fist. A solid right hook to his face. Tyrell was finally tired of his one-man show.

"For once in your entire fucking life, get your head out of your fucking ass and start taking things seriously."

"I am taking things seriously, how the hell do you think I piece all these together, you dumb fuck? Oh! And you know I never forget a grudge right?"

Eric said as he struggled, to get back on his feet. There was a sharp taste on the left side of his lips, he was bleeding.

"I'll take my chances, nerd!"

Tyrell said as he sat on the bed., then he continued,

"Listen, Eric, I didn't mean to hit you, it's just that, sometimes, you're just..."

"I'm aware of the effect I have on people, this doesn't erase your offense though. You're gonna pay."

Eric said in a very low and calm tone. It scared Tyrell. He was unfamiliar with this version of Eric.

"The effect you have on people, are you fucking kidding me? You're a pain in the ass, a real pain. You're like that itch that I can't get to, no matter how hard I try.

"If I'm such an inconvenience to your well-being, tell me this, why then do you hang out with me?"

Eric asked, staring intently into Tyrell's eyes. It made Tyrell uncomfortable.

"Uhm, because that's what friends do. We stick through everything."

"I see. But that doesn't make any sense to me."

"Of course, it doesn't. You're a selfish prick. Robodroid 5000."

"I hang out with people because they are useful. And, my selfishness is of benefit to anyone I'm involved with."

"And here he goes again with his delusions."

Tyrell said, as he quickly glanced at the clock. He was also worried about Katy.

"It's called 'egoistic-altruism."

"Hey, isn't that an oxymoron?"

"Look at you, knowing your figure of speech."

Eric mocked.

"Fuck you, Eric."

"I help people not because I care about them, at least not the way you think. I help people so that they will stop bothering me. I help them to become independent of me. This might seem trivial in personal relationships, but imagine it on a global scale. Imagine if rich countries helped poorer countries just to make the poorer countries independent... The more independent poorer countries become, the less their dependence on richer countries and the less burden the richer countries would have to bear. All this will sum up to global growth at a faster pace."

"Bullshit. Nothing good can ever come out of being selfish."

"I'm not surprised, you have about as many neurons as an earthworm, your lack of comprehension is understandable."

"You're asking for another punch, Eric."

"You can try."

Tyrell moved uneasily on the bed.

"You know, not everything is numbers, equations, and logic bro..... We have feelings"

"You know what, I'm going to give you a very short lecture on selfishness while we wait for Katy."

"Is that what you've been reading on your phone this whole time? You've looked at the screen too many times. Are you googling for this conversation?"

There was a look of disgust on Eric's face, then he said,

"Anyway, listen...."

"Selflessness is the quality of being selfless, the quality of being unselfish, and the opposite of selfishness. Selfishness is the quality of being selfish which simply means, putting your interests first while disregarding others. A selfless person disregards himself in favor of others."

"Boring! Everyone already knows this. You're not saying anything new."

Tyrell interrupted him.

"Will you be quiet? I'm trying to stimulate those neurons of yours. Perhaps, there's hope for your thinking sponge."

"Whatever. But don't blame me if I fall asleep halfway into your boring lecture."

"Apparently,"

Eric continued,

"Society desires more of these altruistic individuals. A selfless person is kind, loving, and understanding and always puts the well-being of others above her own. But in reality, no such individual exits. The only difference between the "selfless" and "selfish" person, is the obliviousness to the agent performing the said selfless act. A selfish person is only concerned about the self with respect to self while a selfless person is concerned about others with respect to self. Both have motives but the motives have different directions. They both derive satisfaction when a goal is met, but the difference is what separates the selfless from the selfish is to who the goal is directed. The selfless and the selfish are fundamentally the same in terms of satisfaction derived from compensated motivations.

Here's an example for clarity. Let's say, a selfish man walks by a beggar. The beggar asks this selfish man a show of kindness. The money available to the selfish man is his fare back home. Being the selfish man that he is, he decides to ignore the plea of the beggar and rather use the last money he has for the intended purpose which is to pay for his fare back home. In this scenario, the selfish man put his interest above that of the beggar. He was happy that he could afford a ride back home which the beggar would have thwarted.

Now, imagine the same case for the selfless man, but unlike his selfish colleague, he decided to assist the beggar. Here comes the tricky part, the selfless man has placed his desires above that of the beggar given that the fulfillment of his desire is tied to him helping the beggar. The selfless man in this case is also selfish. He didn't really help the beggar for the sake of helping but rather, he helped the beggar to fulfill or fill up an emotional need caused by the plea of the beggar. He helped because it would justify the feeling of pathos he had for the beggar, a sense of duty to self-defined principles, god, religious doctrine, or a cultural obligation. If he had refused to help the beggar, he would be overwhelmed with guilt and other emotions associated with not living up to standards either internally or externally imposed.

This comparison can be likened to a mirror reflection. The selfish man understands that he's the one in the mirror reflection; the beggar is just an obstruction. The selfless man, on the other hand, sees the beggar as his mirror reflection. So in truth, everybody is selfish, but the consequence of the portrayed "selfishness" is what warrants the name "selfishness" or "selflessness". Selflessness in this light can be referred to as "egoistic altruism". We all know that being egoistic is synonymous with being selfish, rendering the term "egoistic altruism" an oxymoron."

"Wow! You just rationalized 'being an asshole.'"

"Nope. I just explained why we're all selfish and why it isn't bad to be selfish."

"You know what....I can't even argue with you."

"Because you lack the mental fortitude to make a reasonable refutation."

"Has anyone ever told you that you are a psychopath?"

"Katy has been kidnapped."

Eric said, curtly.

With a look of shock on his face, Tyrell responded,

"Why the fuck will you drop something like that in the middle of a conversation? And why the fuck do you think she's been kidnapped? She's just experiencing some delays."

"Nope. It's more than that. I've been trying her cell for the past two hours, no response. And given her eagerness to see what I've found about the wormhole, I doubt she'll switch her phone off. Even if she was busy or held up, she would've called to notify us. I'm telling you, something's wrong."

"Yeah, maybe. But isn't kidnapping a stretch? What inspired that conclusion?"

"I placed a tracking device on her."

"That's sick, you know. Where the hell did you get a tracking device from, and why?"

"I made one.....well, more than one."

"You know, sometimes you scare me, I'm scared of what you're capable of if you're to have your way."

"You should be."

"You're yet to answer why you'll be tracking your friends."

"Was testing an ingestible tracker. Was trying to mimic the infection pattern of HSV."

"What's that?"

"Herpes Simplex Virus."

"Wait, you infected her with herpes?"

Tyrell asked, terrified he was of what he was hearing.

"No you dumb ass."

Eric replied angrily, then continued,

"Herpes is a latent virus that doesn't show symptoms unless it is triggered. Sometimes it doesn't show any symptoms at all. The tracker I've created works on the same principle. It is ingested subsequently, for several days. The potency of the tracker determines the duration needed for the tracker to establish itself in your nerve roots, within your body."

Eric paused to observe Tyrell's reaction, he wasn't looking good. He couldn't tell if Tyrell's face was expressing fear, confusion, pride, or just plain misery.

"The tracker is a network of trackers that will sync when stimulated by an electromagnetic pulse. Once this happens, you can track it from anywhere in the world. It's just like pinging a friend."

"How long have you been tracking her?"

Tyrell asked in a troubled tone.

"By her, you mean all of you right?"

"You're one sick motherfucker, you know that Eric?"

Tyrell said, fuming with anger.

"We're your friends, not your lab rats."

"I kept it from you because I anticipated you'd react this way. But given the situation we're in right now, it's necessary."

Eric said, disregarding Tyrell's ethical and moral concerns.

"Eric,"

Tyrell said in a disappointing tone as he stared at Eric.

"I don't think we can remain friends after this."

"Understandable."

Eric said curtly.

Tyrell's face was burning with rage.

"Still, how do you know she's been kidnapped?"

"Her tracker stopped working about an hour ago, around Lemoire street. I recorded some interference before she went off the grid. She can't be found anywhere in the world. Even if she was dead, the tracker would still be reading."

"What type of interaction?"

"An electrical one, but I also suspect a gravitational one."

"Why?"

"Right before she disappeared, the tracker showed that she was everywhere at once."

"Oh no! Wait, is that bad"

Tyrell asked, looking terrified.

"Yes, it is, Tyrell."

"Remember when that wormhole guy warned us about the wormhole?"

"It was more of a threat, Tyrell."

"Warning, a threat, same thing. So, what are we going to do now? But it can't be him behind her disappearance?"

"Well, we know her last location before she went off the grid, according to the tracker at least....Let's go find out what happened."

"Oh God, I hope this isn't what I'm thinking."

Tyrell said as they headed out.

"This tracker is coming in handy, don't you think Tyrell?"

"Fuck you, Eric."

"Uhm, what the hell is that, another one of your genius inventions?"

Tyrell asked as they got into his car.

Eric was holding a device that looked like a handheld vacuum.

"Nope. Just something I found among my Dad's things. It will help us detect quantum fluctuations in the fabric of spacetime."

Noticing the expression on Tyrell's face, he decided to simplify,

"It will help us confirm if there's been any recent wormhole activity within a particular area."

"Just like a Geiger-Counter right?"

"Exactly."

Tyrell was already driving.

"Wait, but the only wormhole we know of exists in the woods. Am I missing something?"

"Yeah. Remember, that dude was able to open the wormhole and close it at will."

"Of course Eric. How do you expect me to forget such a traumatic event?"

"What if they discovered a way to open a wormhole anywhere, at any time? You should recall that time runs differently for both our universes."

"Oh! But how do you know that thing is going to work?"

Tyrell asked, his hands steady on the steering wheel.

"I read the manual."

"What?!"

"A fucking manual?"

"This is just crazy. My life has turned into a sci-fi adventure overnight. You and Katy just had to go into the fucking woods. Stupid nerds. We're all in this mess because you were just curious, right?"

Eric didn't say anything.

"You're yet to explain your great discovery. And why the hell does that wormhole guy look like your Dad, what's up with that?"

"That's because he's my dad."

If Eric hadn't been wearing a seat belt, he would have been thrown out through the windscreen.

"What the hell Tyrell?! Are you trying to kill us?"

"What did you just say? How the hell is that guy your Dad?"

"There's no time to explain, I'll tell you everything after we figure out where Katy is."

"NO! I want you to tell me now. I deserve answers."

"You're agitated, now is not the right time. You almost killed us after knowing about my Dad. It's a good thing you got good brake pads."

"What in the holy hell is going on? Am I dreaming?"

They remained in silence for the remainder of their journey. As they got closer to the street where the tracker last recorded Katy's presence, the device in Eric's hand started beeping.

"Is that a good beep or a bad one?"

"We'll find out soon enough."

They both got out of the car and followed the beep as it got louder.

"Hey, take a look at this."

Eric said, showing Tyrell his phone.

"What in the hell"?

"My tracker shows you're everywhere.."

"Just like it did for Katy before she disappeared"

Tyrell helped in completing the sentence.

"You're right. Something is wrong."

"Your Dad kidnapped Katy, but why?"

"Well, he told us to stop interfering, but we didn't listen. It's safe to say that he's watching us, keeping track of our every movement."

"You think?"

"But why take Katy? I'm the only one with detailed info on what's going on. Why take Katy, does he want us to come after her, what's going on here?"

"I'm scared Eric. What are we going to tell Katy's parents, that she's been kidnapped? Can your big brain solve this one?"

They both remained motionless as they stared at the pile of levitating dust and water droplets. There was a faint buzzing sound in the background.