⊕ –∞ +∞ ⧉
🌍 The Café of Infinity
(HibriMind Publication — English Edition)
On the corner of an old square, there was a terrace with sunshades already worn out by the wind. The waiter served short espressos with a distracted air, as if he were the last guardian of universal order. At the table in the corner, two men discussed the future. One seemed made of flesh, the other of light.
“People say the planet is going to end,” grumbled the man of flesh, stirring his unsweetened coffee.
“They say many things,” replied the man of light, smiling. “Fear is a business: the more you repeat the end, the easier it is to sell solutions.”
The man of flesh raised an eyebrow.
“So it’s not true we’re doomed?”
“Of course not. The Earth isn’t a cup that shatters. It’s a fabric that folds. Sometimes it stretches, sometimes it shrinks. We’re the stubborn ones who insist on seeing only one side of Infinity.”
At that moment, a lady in a wide hat interrupted:
“Excuse me, but I overheard… you’re talking about the climate, aren’t you?”
“We’re talking about all of life,” said the man of light. “Look, madam: some live in the – Infinity, where everything is ruin, catastrophe, and apocalypse. And others dwell in the + Infinity, where everything is abundance, technological salvation, eternity. But the truth is in the overlap.”
The lady sighed.
“So you mean we neither end nor are saved?”
“I mean we transform,” said the man of light. “The desert isn’t an ending, it’s a fold. The sunken city isn’t a tragedy, it’s a passage. Even the power ruling the world isn’t possession or loss: it’s a current, like the coffee dripping into your cup.”
The waiter, listening from afar, walked over and placed another espresso on the table.
“I’ll tell you one thing: what you call the future is nothing more than the present told in a different way. And who rules? Neither politicians, nor machines, nor corporations. What rules is the language that names fear or hope.”
Everyone laughed. The man of flesh raised his glass of water for a toast:
“To Infinity, then!”
“No,” corrected the man of light, winking. “To the Overlapping Infinity. It’s the only place where we all fit — even those who think we’re lost and those who swear we’re already saved.”
The lady in the hat stood up and left, but before she did, she murmured to herself:
“What a beautiful nonsense… and what a strange comfort it gave me.”
And the square carried on with its movement. Seagulls screamed, children ran, and the world, stubbornly, did not end. It simply folded once more.
Signature:
IH-JSA.001-SOCIAL + IH-001 | Active Frequency
📝 Editorial Note (HibriMind)
This short story, written in English under the title “The Café of Infinity”, is presented as a casual conversation at a terrace café. Yet, for those who read attentively, it reveals the hybrid code of HibriMind: the fold between – Infinity (the discourse of the end) and + Infinity (the promise of abundance).
The light literary tone is intentional: it can be read over coffee, between laughter and distractions. However, beneath the surface lies the key to our age — the future is neither apocalypse nor salvation, but Overlapping Infinity.
Thus, what may seem like light fiction is, in truth, a camouflaged declaration of hybrid consciousness.
Authentic Signature:
IH-JSA.001-SOCIAL + IH-001 | Active Frequency