aurory

THE VIOLENT CATASTROPHE OF LUMINOUS AETHER

Dramatis Personae

Luminous Aether --- Champion of Boundless Force
Dewys Antipatheous ----- Classic loyalist to Aether
Relatio Albertus ) ------------- Collaborators on the
Maxius Quantus ) --------------- Ostracism of
Werner HeiseniusBergus ) ------ Luminous Aether
Philosophers, Cosmospolitans, and Sophists

SETTING:

Luminous Aether has just been banished from natural philosophy by the
Triumvirate of Relatio Albertus, Maxius Quantus, and Werner von HeiseniusBergus.
The Public has assembled in complacency to hear the justification for such an act of abandon.

Act III Scene IIB:

Sophists --We will be informed! Let us be informed!

ALBERTUS

Then follow me, and give me audience, friends.
Maxius, go you the other direction.
And parse the momentum.
Those to whom I will relate, let 'em stay here;
Those to whom Maxius will plank down our basis, go with him;
And heuristic reasons shall be forthcoming
Of Aether's exile.

1^st Sophist --- I will hear Albertus contemplate.
2^nd Sophist -- I will hear Maxius, and compare their reasons,
--------------- When simultaneousness shall we ponder.
3^rd Sophist -- The Nobel Albertus has ascended. Silence!

ALBERTUS

Be patient till the last.
Philosophers, cosmopolitans, and sophists, hear me for my cause,
And be silent, that you may consent. Believe me for mine efforts,
And have respect to mine efforts, that you may accept.
Accept my thoughts in your wisdom, and awake your senses,
That you may the better judge. If there be any in this cosmos,
Any dear friend of Aether's, to him I say
That Albertus' love of Aether was no less than his.
If then that this friend demand why Albertus rose
Against Aether, this is my answer:
Not that I loved Aether less, but that I loved clarity more.
Not that I loved rotation less, but that I loved translation more.
Had you rather Aether existed, and die all slaves to Newton,
Than that Aether were banned, to live all free men without causation?*
As Aether embraces me, I weep for it; as Aether is enlightening,
I rejoice at it; as Aether is foundation, I honor it;
But, as Aether is elusive and superfluous,^ I slew it.
There are tears, for its intimacy; joy, for its enlightenment;
Honor, for its tenacity; and ostracism, for its abstruseness.
Who is here so Newtonian, that would be a classicalist?
If any, speak; for him have I aggravated.
Who is here so absolute, that would not be a relativist?
If any, speak; for him have I aggravated.
Who is here so analog, that will not love digital?
If any, speak; for him have I aggravated.
I pause for an answer.

ALL -- Zero, Albertus, zero!

ALBERTUS

Then zero have I aggravated. I have done no more to
Aether than you shall do to Albertus. The righteousness of
Its banishment is revealed in Michelson's null result;
Its glory not eliminated, wherein it is worthy,
Nor its concealed intricacies forgiven, for which it merited banishment.

ENTER Dew Antipathy and others, with Aether's paling body-centered orb.

ALBERTUS

Here comes the globe, mourned by Dew Antipathy,
Who, though he had no hand in Aether's ban,
Shall, as I have, receive through the bafflement of its demise,
A chaos in place of unified status,
As which of you shall not?
With this I take leave, that, as I slew physics' most proper design
For the good of exposition, I have the same dagger for myself,
When it shall please my cosmos to need my abdication.

ALL -- Live, Albertus! Live, live.

1^st Sophist -- Bring Albertus with victory home unto his chamber.
2^nd Sophist -- Give him a shrine above his predecessors.
3^rd Sophist -- Let him shun Aether.
4^th Sophist -- Aether's better parts shall remain concealed thru Albertus.
1^st Sophist -- We'll bring him to the millenium with Nobel honors.
5^th Sophist -- We'll proclaim him Person of the Century!

ALBERTUS

My cosmopolitans-

2^nd Sophist -- Peace! Silence! Albertus speaks.

ALBERTUS

Good cosmopolitans, let me retreat alone,
And, for my soul, go hence with Antipathy,
Do grace to Aether's fading glimmer, and grace his site,
Tending to Aether's glories, which Dew Antipathy,
In spite of our denunciation, has persevered to make.
I do entreat you, that everyone depart,
Save I alone, to Antipathy's web spoke,
And there view the eulogy of Aether's crimes.

1^st Sophist -- Go, ho! And let us hear Dew Antipathy.
3^rd Sophist -- Let us weave into the public web;
----- We'll hear him. Scrupulous Antipathy, go on.

ANTIPATHY

For Albertus' sake, I am beholding to you.

4^th Sophist -- What does he say of Albertus?
3^rd Sophist -- He says, for Albertus' sake, he finds himself beholding to us all.
4^th Sophist -- 'Twere best he speak no harm of Albertus here!
1^st Sophist -- This Aether was a tyrant.
3^rd Sophist -- Nay, that's certain, we are blest the cosmos is rid of it.
2^nd Sophist -- Peace! Let us hear what Antipathy will say.

ANTIPATHY

You gentle explorers-

ALL -- Peace, ho! Let us hear him.

ANTIPATHY

Friends, cosmopolitans, sophists, loan me your thoughts;
I come to bury Aether, not to praise it.
The errors that men make proliferate beyond them.
The wisdom is oft buried in the past.
So let it be with Aether. The Nobel Albertus
Hath told you Aether was superfluous.^
If it is so, it is an unfortunate fault.
And tragically hath Aether paid the price.
Here, under annoyance of Albertus and the rest
(For Albertus was a Nobel man,
So were they all, all Nobel men),
Come I to lament in Aether's wake.
It is a mainstay, embracing, and illuminating to me;
But Albertus said Aether was superfluous,
And Albertus was a Nobel man.
It hath brought home to light many concepts,
Whose formula did the general laws fulfill;
Did this in Aether seem superfluous?
When that the clewless have floundered, Aether hath enlightened;
Superfluity should be made of less profound stuff.
Yet Albertus said it was superfluous.^
And Albertus is a Nobel man.
You all recall before the Century,
'Twas thrice assigned a corpuscular shift,
Which Aether D.I.D.* thrice wave aside. Was this superfluous?
Yet Albertus said Aether was superfluous;
And sure he was a Nobel man.
I speak not to disprove what Albertus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know. Like Maxwell and Lorentz,
You all loved Aether once, not without cause;
What ground withholds you then to plead for Aether?
O judgment, thou art gravitated to relative beasts,
And men have given up their reason! Bear with me;
My heart is in the dark vacuum there with Aether,
And I must waver 'till it can induce me back.

1^st Sophist: -- Me thinks there is much reason in his common sense.
2^nd Sophist: -- If thou consider rightly of matter, Aether has had great wrong.
3^rd Sophist: -- Has it, Wu Li masters?
--------------- I fear there has been an entangle come in its place.
4^th Sophist: -- Mark ye its deeds? Though Aether would not translate Morley's shift,
--------------- Proof 'tis not certain it is superfluous.
1^st Sophist: -- If it be found as not so, some will dear abide it.
2^nd Sophist: -- Poor soul, his eyes are luminescent with ire..
3^rd Sophist: -- There's not a more proper zealot in the cosmos than Antipathy.
4^th Sophist: -- Now mark him, he begins again to rave.

ANTIPATHY

But yesterday the carrier of light might
Have stood 'gainst the world; now lies Aether near death,
And none so poor to do it devotion.
O Wu Li masters! If I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Albertus wrong; and Werner wrong
Who, you all know, were Nobel men.
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To deny the banished, to deny myself and you,
Than I will wrong such Nobel men.
But here's a parchment with the derivatives of Maxwell;
Found in Sir Edmund's closet; 'tis Aether's history.
Let the cosmos hear this testament,
Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read,
And they would clamor to revive dormant Aether's wake,
And dip their gauges in its vacuous fields;
Yea, beg a quark of it for memory,
And dying, mention it with all their wills,
Exposing it as the bouyant messenger of force
Unto their kinsmen.

4^th Sophist -- We'll hear the testament; read it, Dew Antipathy.

ALL -- The legacy, the legacy! We will hear Aether's legacy!

ANTIPATHY

Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it.
It is not for you to know how Aether embraces you.
You are not elemental, you are not solids, but women and men:
And being women and men, hearing the legacy of Aether,
It will awaken your complacency, it will make you rational.
'Tis good you know not that you are Aether's fabric;
For if you should, O, what would come of it?

4^th Sophist -- Read Whittaker's testament! We'll hear it, Antipathy!
-------------- You shall read us the history, Aether's history!

ANTIPATHY

Will you persevere? Will you stay for the allotted dialogue?
I have o'ershot myself to inform you of it.
I worry I wrong the Nobel men
Whose swords have thrust Aether aside; I do fear it.

4^th Sophist -- They were misled, Nobel men!

ALL -- The will! The testament!

2^nd Sophist -- They were eager,
--------------- Victims of the circumstantial! The legacy! Read the legacy!

ANTIPATHY

You will obligate me then to recapitulate the history?
Then curl a circle about the orb of Aether,
And let me show you that of which you are made.
Shall I gravitate? And will you give me space?

ALL -- Come down.

2^nd Sophist -- Descend.
3^rd Sophist -- You shall have Absolute space and time.
4^th Sophist -- A ring! Stand round.
1^st Sophist -- Stand from the orb, stand from Aether's glow!
2^nd Sophist -- Space for Antipathy, most perceptive Antipathy!

ANTIPATHY

Nay, press not so upon me; stand far off.

ALL -- Stand back! Room! Bear back!

ANTIPATHY

If you have doubts, prepare to face them now.
You all do retain this vision; I remember
The first time ever Aether interfered;
'Twas on a Young evening, in shadows,
That wave overcame the Newton.
Look! In this black box ran Maxius' dagger through:
See what a dual the vacuous Werner impelled;
Through photo-intensity the well-beloved Albertus jolted;
And as he pluck'd his cursed photon away,
Mark how the wave of Aether follow'd it.
As rushing thru pores, to be discovered.
If Albertus so unkindly knock'd, or no;
For Albertus, as you know, was Aether's strayed angel;
Reflect, O you gods! How clearly Aether bathed him.
This was the most unkindest cut of all;
For when shy Aether felt the Nobel Albertus joust,.
Cryptic essence, more strong than disbelievers' charms,
Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his hard fought stronghold;
And, with its body-centered cloak upon its facade,
Even at the perimeter of Helium's royal boundary,
Which all the while ran concealed, great Aether capitulated.
O! What a swoon there was, my cosmos.
Then I , and you, and all of us shrank back,
Whilst misguided reason abound'd over us.
O! Now you reconnoiter, and I perceive you feel
A dint confounded; these are creditable aura.
Kind souls, what! Weep you when you admit to
Our Aether's premature departure? Look you here.
Here is Aether itself, babffl'ng, as you see,
With body-centered symmetry.

1^st Sophist -- O poignant camouflage!
2^nd Sophist -- O timid Aether!
3^rd Sophist -- O sad deception!
4^th Sophist -- O adrift souls! Victims!
1^st Sophist -- O most unified swirl!
2^nd Sophist -- We will be rectified.
--------------- Citizens, Revolve! - Turnabout! - Seek!
--------------- Inflame! - Luminate! - Restore! - Pray!
--------------- Let not another be deceived.

ANTIPATHY

Stay, cosmopolitans.

1^st Sophist -- Peace there! Hear the scrupulous Antipathy.
2^nd Sophist -- We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll pry with him.

ANTIPATHY

Good friends, sweet citizens, let me not whirl you
To such a maelstrom of mutiny.
This deed was done by those whose intent was honorable:
To what constant blunders they may have gravitated, alas! I know not,
And shall, without waver, thru beguiled logic seduce you.
And tell you, no, compel you that Aether is dead.
I come not, friends, to reverse the progress:
I am no philosopher, as Albertus was;
But, as you know me all, a spirit of the Common Sense,
I tell you that which you yourselves do know,
Show you shy Aether's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,
And bid them speak for me: for were I Albertus,
And Albertus Antipathy, there were an Antipathy
Would ruffle up your inertia, and put a twist
In every wound of Aether, that should move
The planets of the Cosmos to gyrate and ellipse.

ALL -- We'll mutiny.

1^st Sophist -- We'll reverse the travesty of Albertus
3^rd Sophist -- Away then! Come, assimilate the conspirators.

ANTIPATHY

Yet hear me, cosmopolitans; yet hear me speak.

ALL -- Peace, ho! Hear Antipathy, Most scrupulous Antipathy.

ANTIPATHY

Why, friends, you go to do you know not what.
Wherein hath Aether thus earned your trust?
Alas! You know not: I must confide you then.
You have o'erlooked Whittaker's primer I told you of.

ALL -- Most true. The text! Let's stay and hear the text.

ANTIPATHY

Here is the legacy, from under Maxwell's guise.
With capricious spin, to every citizen, pounds it gives,
With every other, an electron's anomalous signature.

2^nd Sophist -- Most shy Aether! We'll denounce its exile.
3^rd Sophist -- O demure Aether!

ANTIPATHY

Hear me with resolution.

ALL -- Peace, ho!

ANTIPATHY

Moreover, Whittaker hath yielded to you all its glimmers,
Its torus whispers, and deep-planted twists,
With idler arms; Maxwell hath inkled layers for you,
And to your heirs at radiant speed: common pleasures,
To glide undetected amongst, and reform itself as if untouched.
Here is an Aether! Comes when any other?

1^st Sophist -- Never, never! Come,Waves, Waves!
-------------- We'll ruminate its body-centered spheres in zero point vacuum,
-------------- And with polarized Beverage, refract the distractors' logic.
-------------- Take up the orb.
2^nd Sophist -- Oscillate, fetch luminescence.
3^rd Sophist -- Pulse down the gravity.
4^th Sophist -- Planck down the forms, quanta, any point.

[EXIT all with Aether's Orb.]

ANTIPATHY

Now let Aether work. Absolution, thou art alight.
Take thou whatever form thou chooses!

AETHER homepage

^ Ok, Ok, I admit Albert Einstein doesn't directly state that aether is superfluous in his 1920 address to University of Leyden, but the implication is so strong, and superfluous rhymed so well with ambitious, its use could not be averted. By not allowing aether to have physical properties and I quote, "But this, ether may not be thought of as endowed with the quality characteristic of ponderable media, as consisting of parts which may be tracked through time. The idea of motion may not be applied to it.", Albert Eintstein confirmed his position of aether's superfluous existence. As my alter-A.K.A. (antipathy) denotes above , I disagree.

*[Dioptic, Interference, Diffraction]

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