Entanglement by Gregg Braden Page A

science. Perhaps because of this, many of them developed long-term secret crushes on him, though he barely noticed and never encouraged them. In fact, outside the classroom, Keller was quiet, shy, and somewhat mysterious.
    Standing behind a lab table, he now turned to his students.
    â€œLet me ask you a question. Why does a man float when you throw him into the water, but a book sinks?”
    A husky boy named Eddie Campos, who sported a blond mohawk and was the class clown, said, “I don’t float. I tried swimming once. I’m telling you, I sank like a stone.”
    The students laughed.
    â€œMr. Campos, let me put it this way, then: why does everybody except you float, while a book sinks?”
    â€œDensity,” Eddie answered.
    â€œThank you. Clearly you’re not so dense. So I have no idea why you don’t float.”
    The students chuckled again. There was an intimate, congenial feeling in the classroom.
    Eddie asked, “Isn’t density also why fancy drinks with layers work?”
    â€œYes. But unfortunately, fancy drinks with layers won’t be on the final. Any other random questions while we wait?”
    A slight, green-eyed boy wearing a hooded sweatshirt raised his hand.
    â€œYes, Colin?”
    â€œWhen do we get to quantum physics?”
    â€œAfter we finish with standard physics . . . which, at the rate we’re going, should be sometime around 2017.”
    â€œI hear that quantum physics makes time travel possible. I’d be into that.”
    Peter smiled. “Right, so did you want to go to the future or the past?”
    â€œI think the past—when things were more simple.”
    â€œReally?” Keller said. “So you’d like to read by candlelight; warm yourself by a fire, assuming you had enough wood or coal; and travel by foot or horse, so you’d essentially remain in the same area all your life. Oh, also hunt for your own food—in other words, shoot it or fish for it—or go hungry. You’re pining for that?”
    Colin smiled sheepishly and shook his head. “Not when you put it that way.”
    â€œWell, that, my friend, isn’t the way I’d put it; that’s the way life has been in most places until the last hundred years or so, and some places even now.” The teacher looked out the window for a moment, in contemplation. “Actually, Einstein’s theories do suggest that time travel is possible; however, there are a few glitches to work out, so not anytime soon. Next question?”
    Colin continued, “But isn’t it true that there’s so much space inside an atom that we should be able to walk through walls?”
    â€œTheoretically, yes. But the probability is so absurdly infinitesimal that you’d have to try for an extremely long time. You’re welcome to give it a shot. There’s a wall right back there, Mr. Morley.”
    Peter gestured to a wall at the back of the room, inviting Colin to try.
    Colin smiled and shook his head.
    Monica Bennett, a nervous, soft-voiced brunette, raised her hand. Mr. Keller pointed to her.
    â€œWhat happened before the Big Bang?”
    The alpha girl in class—the tall, angular, dark-haired Jane Sinclair—snickered. “That’s a stupid question,” she scoffed.
    Keller gave her a narrow look. “Is it a question you know the answer to, Ms. Sinclair?”
    â€œWell …” She blushed to the roots of her hair and lowered her eyes, indicating that she didn’t.
    â€œWell, neither do I,” Keller said. “If anyone figures it out, they win the Nobel Prize, and the winner has to take me to Stockholm.”
    John Segal, a jock with an impish face, leaned back in his chair.
    â€œMy older brother had you, and he said that you used to work for the government building bombs or something. Is that true?”
    â€œWho’s your brother?”
    â€œDavid Segal.”
    â€œ The David Segal who got caught