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surrogate family.
    Curious, I decided to open communication. I walked to a round cistern recessed in the floor and filled with a liquid matter. I picked up a control sphere and dropped it in. The nano-intelligent matter, by guidance of the control sphere, rose up and took the shape of a human figure. Its form became defined and colors bled through the substance until the figure resembled an almost perfect simulacrum of a man. It had gray eyes, blond hair, and wore a long blue coat.
    “Who are you?” I asked. “I have no brothers.”
    The simulacrum stepped out of the cistern and, moving with all the independence of a real person, shrugged its shoulders. “I had to speak with you, Theron, and I knew such a mysterious communication couldn’t go unanswered. Also, I wish to gain your permission to board the Brahman Station using this alias.”
    “Absurd! Who are you, and what do you want from me?”
    “Both these questions must remain unanswered until we can meet in person. This mode of communication can’t be trusted. The hyper-signal is poorly encrypted. All I can say is that it’s very important.”
    “What’ll you have me do? Invite a stranger aboard a secure space station that’s about to launch humankind into the next era of space travel.” I waved my hand in disregard. “One who puts blind trust in a stranger is either a fool or has nothing to lose. I assure you, I’m neither.”
    “That’s why I’m going to wait a single day for your decision to grant me permission to board.”
    “And what in that single day is going to convince me?”
    “Do you have a stylus?”
    Although puzzled by the request, I guided him to the nearest smart surface. The simulacrum seized the stylus and began sketching something onto my work table. It sketched so quickly that its artificial hand was a blur. When finished, he presented me with a complex schematic.
    Intrigued, I shifted the image to my halo-display and it was rendered in three dimensions. I examined it with interest. “My initial instincts tell me it’s a lens of some sort.”
    “You have a quick mind, Theron. You’re right. You should have few problems assembling it, since its technology shares a similar physics with your work on the dimensional gateway. In fact, your work was the inspiration for this device.” The simulacrum gazed out the apartment window to Jupiter. “When it’s assembled, observe the worlds that surround you.”
    “What exactly will I be looking for?”
    “When you see it, you’ll know.” The simulacrum stepped back into the cistern. The nano-intelligent matter deconstructed itself back to its viscous pre-form, terminating communication.

    The next day, motivated by profound curiosity, I attacked the project with determination. In my private workroom, I assembled the lens. It proved to be a complex task, since I had to custom-craft most of the parts. The lens itself was merely an add-on to the station’s existing telescope array. As far as I could determine, its function was to modify the array’s ability to analyze the eighteen dimensions of the universe.
    After an entire day of work, I completed the lens and fully integrated it into the station’s telescope array. I directed the newly modified array toward Jupiter and analyzed the data. It showed nothing out of the ordinary. Frustrated by the lack of results, I reluctantly directed the array toward Mars, and again discovered nothing extraordinary.
    I became aggravated. My time was being wasted. I repeated the stranger’s directions: “Observe the worlds that surround you!” I lifted a fist in anger. “What do you want me to see, goddamnit?”
    I finally brought Earth into the eye of the array. There, I discovered something not just extraordinary, but impossible.
    “My God, what am I witness to?”
    The Earth, by all current indications, was shrouded with a dimension not native to the natural universe. The array displayed the invisible dimension by casting a symbolic