In a post-apocalyptic world, a young man named Jan, characterized by his physical prowess and nomadic lifestyle, encounters a mysterious glowing square that causes objects to vanish. After chasing a deer, he witnesses its disappearance over the square and experiments with a stick, confirming its strange properties. This leads to a confrontation with a grotesque figure, a man from a different time or universe, who threatens Jan with a weapon. In a struggle, Jan kills the man, who falls into the square, leaving Jan wounded but intrigued by the implications of the square's existence. Meanwhile, in a different setting, a dictator named Hute Hitle and his scientist, Carl Grinch, plot to use a device that allows travel between parallel universes. Hute, facing defeat in a war, plans to escape to another universe where he can return as a ruler after a catastrophic event wipes out his enemies. Carl explains the scientific principles behind their device, which involves manipulating time and space through a cubic equation that connects their universe with two others. As Hute prepares to execute his plan, he grapples with the moral implications of sacrificing billions for the sake of future peace. He ultimately decides to proceed, believing that his actions are justified for the greater good. Hute and his staff step through the tri-matter slab, vanishing into the alternate universe. Carl, left behind, reveals to a tribunal that he deceived Hute. Instead of allowing the destruction to occur in their universe, he ensured that Hute and his men would face the consequences in an imaginary universe, effectively neutralizing the threat to their own world. He explains the mathematical underpinnings of his actions, emphasizing that true conquest is an illusion, represented by the cube root of conquest, which is ultimately imaginary. The narrative explores themes of power, morality, and the nature of reality, suggesting that attempts at domination may lead to unintended consequences and that true understanding lies in the relationships between different dimensions of existence. The story concludes with Carl's assertion that the real victory is not in conquest but in the recognition of the complexities of existence and the interplay of imagination and reality.
By Robert Silverberg · First published 1971 · Genre: Science Fiction, Philosophical Fiction, Dystopian Fiction