Double Cross Read Free

nothing?
    â€œSomething what?” I asked. “Nothing where? I thought we were going to work on calculus.”
    It was midafternoon. We sat in an open area near the gardens, with the giant curved ceiling of the dome stretching in all directions. It was quiet here, with only the occasional conversations of passing scientists or techies to interrupt us.
    â€œCalculus.” Ashley made a face, as if she’d tasted something awful. “More fun to daydream.” Pointing to her handheld computer, she continued, “And I was getting tired of the teacher. That monotone voice is enough to drive you crazy.”
    I nodded. I knew what she meant. I’d learned most of my school stuff through DVD-gigarom too. When I was little, I’d actually talked in a monotone for a while because I thought the voices on the computer were from real people.
    â€œSo you began to daydream,” I said. “About nothing? Or something?”
    For years, I’d envied Earth kids because when they went to school, they could talk to someone. Now, finally, even though it was only a classroom of two, I was in school too. Even if the conversation didn’t make much sense.
    â€œThis universe,” Ashley said, pointing upward through the ceiling of the dome. “Solar system. Mars. Earth. Sun. Why should all of this stuff be here? Why not nothing?”
    I peered closely at her. With her short black hair and a serious look on her face, she appeared older than 13. And because her dark brown, almond-shaped eyes could be very unreadable, it was sometimes difficult to figure out if she was joking.
    Like now. I waited for her to light up with a big grin, which, when it happened, would change her from mysterious to tomboyish.
    â€œWell?” she said impatiently. She pressed her lips together and squinted at me. “I’m waiting for an answer.”
    So she wasn’t joking.
    â€œTry to picture nothing,” Ashley said when all I did was scratch my head.
    â€œSure,” I said. I thought for a second. “Done.”
    â€œNo,” she said. “I disagree. You didn’t picture nothing.”
    I held up my hands in protest. “You can’t disagree! You don’t even know what I was thinking!”
    â€œWhatever you were thinking was wrong,” Ashley said. “You can’t picture nothing.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œYou can picture an empty jar. Or maybe a big room with nothing in it. Or even all the space between the stars. But whenever you picture nothing, don’t you picture something that’s holding all that nothing?”
    â€œWell, maybe I—”
    â€œSo why should there be something instead of nothing? You know, all the stuff that makes the stars and the planets. Why can’t there be nothing? And where did the something come from? Did it exist forever? But how can something exist forever? If first there was nothing, how did it suddenly become something? I mean, you don’t make rocks the size of a planet from empty air. Then think about all the stars and planets in the entire universe. Those came from nothing? Ha! And—”
    â€œAshley!” I said. “You’re making me dizzy.”
    Finally she grinned. “I’m making myself dizzy.”
    â€œAt least we agree on something .”
    She nodded, and her tiny silver cross earrings flashed. She reached up to touch them. “I think it’s cool to spend time wondering about God and why we’re put into this universe.”
    I returned her nod. It was cool. There are so many mysteries that science is far from figuring out, yet God knows about them. A person could spend a lifetime thinking about God and everything he’s done and never get bored.
    Ashley closed her handheld computer. “I’m done for the day. How about you?”
    I thought of what Rawling had asked me to do. How he’d made me promise not to tell anyone except my parents.
    â€œMe