Almost Infinity

Donald Plum and a business man he meets at the San Mateo Rotary Club – Bob Levy - decide to set up a company based on the creation and operation of a wormhole. We follow the company from its inception to its ultimate fate. Mainly because of the hiring of a charismatic, brilliant and world famous plant biologist as the company’s first recruit, most of the company’s hires turn out to be plant biologists. The start-up, Almost Infinity, acquires a major investor, the food conglomerate, All Grains. Interactions between the start-up and other potential investors are explored, as are the interactions between the start-up and All Grains. A young, British, plant cell biologist, Nigel Charlney, joins Almost Infinity and life in California and America is viewed through his eyes. Donald claims to have done the math and created a wormhole through which he retrieves objects from the future. These objects are used to plan for the research to be undertaken by the start-up. Many entities cross paths with Almost Infinity, including a tobacco company and an African country. The story carries within it an appreciation of the impact of the internet on the great questions facing modern physics. Now, it seems, everyone knows everything but truly understands nothing. The true visionaries remain concealed within the masses of smart phone clutching ignoramuses clamoring to be heard but with nothing to say. For Donald, who is an accomplished mathematician, the math underpinning the science of cosmology is an effective barrier to the hordes knocking at the gate, wanting to be let in. Venture capitalists are portrayed as modern-day shamans. Donald suffers from mental illness. He is stricken with pseudologia fantastica, which means he tells lies all the time. This and his prowess at the math are enough to ensure a very interesting life at Almost Infinity. Read the story and find out what it means to be a time traveler in today’s digital age.