Editing Journal Archives (section)

===The Center of All Things===

'''Abstract'''

The tale of the temporary appearance, in the basement of a private residence in Argentina, of an “Aleph,” a point in space which contains universal space within it, where “all the places of the world, seen from every angle, coexist.”  By gazing up into this point, an observer will see all things, places and people on the earth at once.  The author takes great care to describe the surrealistic nature of the visions so gained and the mental exercises necessary to be able to cope with the cacophony of images and even, with a supreme effort of will, filter the universal vision down to see only particular locales or people of interest, no matter the distance and even if their whereabouts are unknown.  

The article also devotes space to rumors of similar points at the Amr Mosque in Cairo and in a tower in the lost city of Irem, and objects that can accomplish similar feats (such as a mirror given to Alexander the Great).  The piece ends with a mathematical attempt to predict where such transient points (called “Alephs” in the article) will appear next; “3X2(9YZ)4A” is the only portion of the formula to reach publication.

'''About the Explorer'''

Carlos Daneri was a patrician librarian from Rio de Janeiro.  He had been a researcher in that field office for the past three years.  This was his first published article for the Journals, and likely his last – the article was discovered on his desk after he suffered a nervous breakdown, believed to be caused by his inability to contain within his mind all at once the complex mathematical calculations he was attempting to formulate.