Glad you could join us for the next uplifting episode of Elliot’s Adventures. If you’re new here, you can catch up by returning to the beginning, and reading really fast…

From his painfully prone point of view, Elliot caught a glimpse of the underside of the overhang above the stranger’s head — there hung Cassandra, suctioned to the rock.

As the edges of her foot began to curl under, Elliot understood her plan. He had to give her time. He had to make sure the stranger stayed where he was.

Before Elliot could speak, more little green guys leaped from their circle to join the Brother on Elliot’s back. Horrified, Elliot felt them all tugging on his shell, dislodging it bit by bit, exposing his soft vulnerability.

Elliot hadn’t much time left to give.

Trying not to sound as desperate as he felt, he called out to the stranger, “Do the Brothers know you’re a fraud?”

Time stood still. The Brothers stood frozen.

His staring eyes twitching, the stranger tilted his head to one side, stiffening in anger, opening his mouth to speak, only to snap it shut in utter discombobulation. He curled the tips of his forelegs into tight little balls, visibly trying to regain his composure. After a moment of ominous silence, he spoke.

“You dare to challenge me?!”

At that moment, the air snicked in under Cassandra’s foot breaking the suction. She dropped, flipping upright, directly onto the stranger’s head.

“No!” she cried, “I challenge you!” Grabbing his antennae with her lower tentacles, she spoke in a low, menacing tone. “Now let my friend go, or I will yank these right out of your ugly, misshapen head.”

To be continued…

Previously, on Elliot’s Adventures ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Next time . . .

Today’s twofer from April 28, 2016:

The Ultimate Universes

Don’t watch the video at the end unless you’re a True Math Nerd. I put it here only to prove what I’m about to say.

“There are an infinite number of infinities, and they are all different sizes.” Me. Summarizing part of Vsauce’s video, How to Count Past Infinity

Stick with me here… I promise, I’m not going to talk about math. I’m going to share my Black Hole/White Hole Theory and the cool analogy the talk of infinite infinities led me to.

“Oh yeah, THAT’S better.” You

Confession: “I am a True Math Nerd.” Me. 99th+ percentile in math on the SAT

You “Duh.”

My son is a TMN, too. We listened to the Vsauce video together, and had a great nerdy discussion afterward. That included my observation that infinite infinities seemed to parallel the idea that there are infinite universes, which led me to share my Black Hole/White Hole Theory — which, by the way, I came up with in the early 1970s when We the People first learned scientists had confirmed the theoretical possibility of black holes.

My theory is:

“Whatever falls into a black hole comes out in a different universe with its creation force, kinda like the Big Bang.” S.T. Ranscht, Black Hole/White Hole Theory

This was back when anybody who thought about black holes thought nothing — not even light — could escape their gravitational pull. We imagined there might be one black hole, and eventually, it would swallow up the entire Universe. This was about the same time Stephen Hawking was beginning to think some kind of radiation could, in fact, escape from a black hole. But it was waaaaay before 2016, when he started thinking maaaybe black holes lead to other universes through, guess what: white holes.

“Yes, I’m more an astro physintuitivist.” Me

We know there are billions of galaxies in our Universe. Today, scientists believe most — or maybe all of them have a black hole at their center. If the Black Hole/White Hole Theory is true, each of our billions of galaxies is creating another universe which will have billions more galaxies, each with a black hole at its center creating another universe which will have… you get the idea. It’s like the Tommee Tippee Infinity cup in reverse.

But that’s not the analogy I want to leave you with. This is:

“Why aren’t there more white holes?” Brylan, my TMN son

“Maybe each universe gets only one because the Universe is like a chicken, and each chicken comes from only one egg. But it can lay billions — well, not billions, but lots and lots of eggs (galaxies) in its lifetime. And each of those fertilized eggs (black holes/white holes) can hatch a chicken (universe) of its own that will lay more eggs (galaxies) in its own Universe.” Me

“Which came first?” My wise*ss son

“You know, it really doesn’t matter.” My wise self

#AtoZChallenge A-to-Z Fictioneers: Interested in original fiction? Here’s a list of writers who are writing stories for the 2017 A to Z Challenge. The author’s link will take you to their “A” post. If you know of any other story writers I can share, please drop the link in the comments!

• Aditi’s Indian myths from a female POV at Aditi’s Pen
• Andrea’s fantasy novel, “The Impatiens Chronicles”, as writing instruction at Andrea Lundgren
• Arpan’s horror stories at Tales of Unusual Strangeness
• Atherton’s Victorian murder mystery, “Stranded!”, at Atherton’s Magic Vapour
• Debs’s song-inspired fiction at Bunny and the Bloke
• Diane’s 100-word tales at LadiesWhoLunchReviews,etc
• Dipanwita’s 100-word stories at Cocktails Mocktails and Life
• Iain’s alphabet puzzle-inspired murder mystery serial at Iain Kelly Writing
• Jo’s upbeat emotion stories at Jo Hawk the Writer
• Joe’s excerpts from his upcoming post-Civil War historical fiction, “Steel Horse Saviors”, at Fiction Playground
• John’s flash fiction crime stories with a twist at John Davis Frain
• Keith’s everyday life in fictional Amble Bay at Keith’s Ramblings
• Lenni’s speculative fiction, “What Are They” at J Lenni Dorner
• Marquessa’s short stories spun from her larger work, “Living to Die” at Simply Marquessa
• Natalie’s “Secret Diary of a Serial Killer” at Natalie Westgate
• Raven’s 100-word flash fiction at everywhere and nowhere
• Shailaja’s 100-word oxymoronic stories at The Moving Quill
• Shilpa’s 55-word crime stories at A Rose Is A Rose Is A Rose!
• Shweta’s Tiny Tales at My Random Ramblings
• Sorchia’s Gothic fantasy, “A Cold Spring” at Sorchia’s Universe
• S.T. Ranscht’s fantasy/adventure serial, “Elliot’s Adventures”at Space, Time, and Raspberries

• Vanessa’s build-a-30-word-story at Vanessence