Rob Garbin's Blog

Many people have mentioned trouble understanding what my story "Trinity" is about. Since it is still being judged in the competition for August 2009, I felt I should not put an explanation out yet. However, I am going insane wanting people to know what it is all about I wanted to put something out. This is my compromise. Enjoy.

They met decades ago when the world was crumbling and they labored together to stave off the madness that threatened to overwhelm mankind. (This is my subtle reference to the timeframe of World War II)

Even then, she was beguiling. Her mercurial nature hinted at fiery secrets no man could withstand and he had been so full of brazen youth. (This is a direct reference to the awe-inspiring powers we unleashed with the atomic bomb and how naïve we were when we let the Genie out of the bottle.)

He saw her simple beauty as nothing short of the congealed essence of stars and meant to explore every complex filament she contained. She only smiled as she led him on. (Her simple beauty is everything around us; the very atoms that make us up, which also came from star formation. Also a reference to the energies involved.)

Because the breaking of the world placed great stress on all and they sought blindly for salvation, others courted her, but she only toyed with them, reserving herself for him. (Here I am referencing that Germany was looking into atomic science but we were ahead of them)

Her moods shifted one way and then another, defying him to define her at any given moment. She would be earthy and durable one day only to blaze the next with an energy that left him gasping for breath as she turned and winked at him. (I put this line in to note that at the subatomic level, matter and energy are interchangeable. Particles can behave live energy and vice versa. Also, I am referencing E=Mc2.)

On a whim, she moved to Manhattan leaving everything behind. He was stunned until he remembered her nature. She knew he would follow. (Of course, this is how I connected the story to the Manhattan project.)

In Manhattan, they worked closer than every before. She was always there, solid and dependable, whenever his eyes grew bleary from to much work and lack of sleep. Then, when the demands of the world grew as society gyrated out of control and he needed her most, she would leave to spend time with other friends. She relished his need for her, knowing the panic she left in her wake. (Here, I wanted to refer the pressures the scientists were under to come up with a solution. The news reports of war events, intelligence on German progress, casualty lists, etc. In addition, I wanted to show how elusive the task was at the time. Again, I nod to the world around us, too.)

She knew they came from the same reality and could not be separated though he had yet to understand. (We are made of atoms and from atoms came the atomic bomb.)

The two orbited around each other in tighter circles. However, the closer they got the more complex their dance became, like the scrawl of mathematical equations in a senior’s physics class. (Again I mention how hard it was to create the atomic bomb and the amount of pressure they were under to achieve it.)

She waited patiently for him to grasp their relationship as she did by nature. (Man’s quest for knowledge of nature that, of course, nature already understands.)

The pace of the devolving world pressed them closer and closer as his need for here blazed higher. (The war pushing to its conclusion again showing the pressures the scientists were under.)

Finally, late one evening, understanding came to him. He knew why she was as she was and knew how to make her his. He raced to her with the knowledge he carried and she gave in willingly. Passion blinded his eyes to all else as they consummated their relationship. Months of pent up energies were released in mere moments. (I am writing about the time when everything came together. The moment that the scientists and engineers were able to make it work without any thought to what they were unleashing. In addition, I put in another mention of the energies involved.)

In a blinding flash, true regret entered into his life. So all consuming had their relationship been that he failed to foresee the consequences of their union. He spent decades paying for the uncensored lust of his youth. Even today, when he looks into the worried eyes of his children, he sees the poignant lose of his innocence so long ago, a weight of lost innocence borne too early on such young souls. (Here I am referring to two things. First, the realization by some of the Manhattan Project scientists that they regretted what they had blindly created. Second, I wanted to speak to the threat of mass destruction we have feared ever since the exploding of the first atomic bomb, not so much from Russia now as from terrorists.)