Is there an interesting cubic extension of the octonians?

I'm not sure what Rich means by a "cubic" extension, but there's an extension of the octonians called the sedenions, and some folks go even farther. See for instance the article math.RA/0207003 by Robert P. C. de Marrais, entitled "Flying Higher Than a Box-Kite: Kite-Chain Middens, Sand Mandalas, and Zero-Divisor Patterns in the 2n-ions Beyond the Sedenions". Abstract: Methods for studying zero-divisors (ZD's) in 2n-ions generated by Cayley-Dickson process beyond the Sedenions are explored. Prior work showed a ZD system in the Sedenions, based on 7 octahedral lattices ("Box-Kites"), whose 6 vertices collect and partition the "42 Assessors" (pairs of diagonals in planes spanned by pure imaginaries, one a pure Octonion, hence of subscript < 8, the other a Sedenion of subscript > 8 and not the XOR with 8 of the chosen Octonion). Potential connections to fundamental objects in physics (e.g., the curvature tensor and pair creation) are suggested. Structures found in the 32-ions ("Pathions") are elicited next. Harmonics of Box-Kites, called here "Kite-Chain Middens," are shown to extend indefinitely into higher forms of 2n-ions. All non-Midden-collected ZD diagonals in the Pathions, meanwhile, are seen belonging to a set of 15 "emanation tables," dubbed "sand mandalas." Showcasing the workings of the DMZ's (dyads making zero) among the products of each of their 14 Assessors with each other, they house 168 fillable cells each (the number of elements in the simple group PSL(2,7) governing Octonion multiplication). 7 of these emanation tables, whose "inner XOR" of their axis-pairs' indices exceed 24, indicate modes of collapsing from higher to lower 2n-ion forms, as they can be "folded up" in a 1-to-1 manner onto the 7 Sedenion Box-Kites. These same 7 also display surprising patterns of DMZ sparsity (with but 72 of 168 available cells filled), with the animation-like sequencing obtaining between these 7 "still-shots" indicating an entry-point for cellular-automata-like thinking into the foundations of number theory. I haven't done more than skim de Marrais' article; I'd be curious to know what others think of it. Jim Propp "Then he almost fell flat on his face on the floor When I picked up the chalk and drew one letter more A letter he had never dreamed of before And I said 'You can stop if you want with the Z Most people stop with the Z, but not me!" --- "On Beyond Zebra", by Dr. Seuss