The Multiverse Adventures

Eureka

 “ Damn it! I might as well go and teach that class. Until then, gonna go and get a sandwich at the local coffee shop. Good thing they serve free food nowadays ” he grunted to himself whilst opening the door and entering a long, brightly lit corridor. On both sides, it looked like an endless tunnel, lit with fluorescent lighting. He began to pace towards the exit, his mind wondering about trying to stop itself from thinking too much. It was really quite, the only sound one could hear is the hiss of the air conditioners. He made his way down the dimly lit staircase and outside into the open. The lawn across which lay a small paved road led him to the main square of the university. The sun brightly lit everything in sight and there were a few tiny clouds in the sky. On the right was an orchard tree and Ronald made his way in that direction, as right behind it was the university cafeteria. Students were pacing up and down the area with their notebooks tucked behind their arms. Some of the female ones winked at Ronald and he ignored them, like always, as he cared little for female attention. He was not gay, nor straight, nor bisexual. He was not even asexual. He just didn't give a shit.

Inside the cafeteria everything looked green. The layout was typical Starbucks, though it was an off-brand branch. There was a small queue of people behind the counter and Ronald found himself at the back, slowly moving forward whilst idly analysing the desert section.

“ May I have your order please ” said the barista.

“ Ah ” responded Ronald confused

“ Your order, what do you want, sir? ”

“ Oh, sorry, my mind was just somewhere else. Could I have a vente frappuccino and a turkey club please ”

“ Coming right up! ” came the curt reply

Ronald moved further down and began waiting for his order. After a mere thirty seconds he received his food and went on to look for an empty table.

“ Professor Reagan! Excuse me! Mister Reagan! ” a hot blond girl run up to Ronald from behind and grabbed the back of his shirt. She was wearing high heels and tight designer jeans and a thin gold necklace with a thick silver cross around her neck. On her shoulder, sticking out from under the blouse there was a tattoo of a desert rose.

“ Oh, what?! ” he said as he turned around whilst almost dropping his drink.

“ I'm so sorry, professor Reagan. I'm in your advanced loop quantum gravity course and I was just wondering if I could have a little bit of your time.... ” started saying the girl

“ Oh sure....I could spare a little time ” responded Ronald as he followed the girl to a small table by the window.

“ My name is Betty, Betty Delore, I'm 22 years old and am thinking of doing a PhD in quantum gravity. I just find the subject so fascinating..... ”

“ I see...... ” said Ronald as he was looking at a point in space behind the girl. His hands were slowly unwrapping the turkey club.

“ I just think that the possibility of being able to reconcile quantum mechanics with general relativity will offer humanity so much, I just can't even begin contemplating what the discovery will bring us ” she continued whilst at the same time bending her back inward to make her bosom look bigger.

“ What? Yes, yes of course.... ” began Ronald as he brought the coffee straw into his mouth. “ If only we could some way reconcile the two theories, the possibilities would be endless...... ”

“ Of course! Professor Reagan, do you think I could drop by your place tonight and perhaps show you my notes? ” at this point all of her muscles were tensed and were only serving the purpose of making her physical appearance look prettier.

“ Tonight.....I don't see why.... ”

“ Damn it, Winston! Watch were you are going! ” someone yelled from the back

“ I'm sorry! I'm sorry! ” the young man responded

“ You will be in a moment ” came a curt response followed by a thud. At this moment Ronald's table was suddenly pushed and the frappucino fell out of his hands and spilled all over Betty's blouse.

“ I'm so sorry.... ” began Ronald and at this moment he saw it. The pattern of the spill, the mathematical equations which governed the precise motion of the liquid along its trajectory... What if one could change the fundamental constants in those equations...would the spill pattern by any different? But of course! By sending the information back in time to yourself you could influence your present position in the spacetime continuum. All one had to do was to somehow channel data to yourself back when you needed it and voilà! You had your alteration. And the way to channel it was... His mind snapped back.

“ So sorry....I'll pay you for the blouse ” he started apologising as he began getting up from the chair.

“ No need ” responded Betty “ Just please help me with my thesis! ”

“ Of course! I will ”

“ Promise? ”

“ Yes! ”

“ Tonight, your place? ”

“ Sure ” said Ronald as he was making his way out of the coffee shop.

“ But you haven't told me where you live...... ” began whining the girl

“ It's on my web page!!!! Bye!!” came the response

“ Good bye, Mr. Reagan!!! ” waved Betty at the quickly exiting figure. She even got up a little from the chair and was just hoping that he did not lie about the address.

Ronald quickly left the café and found himself pacing back past the orchard tree to the main building, where his office was located. The two flights of dimly lit stairs up, as the elevator was broken for the nth time. The endless corridor brightly lit by fluorescent lights. The wooden door and his was in his office. Without thinking he grabbed a piece of chalk and began scribbling equations on the board trying to figure out what the effects of channelling the information back to yourself would be. Before long, he confirmed his initial hypothesis: you would instantly swap universes without even knowing anything. So at one point in time you would be in universe A, at another in universe B. Of course, you would not have any knowledge of the previous universe, but that was another matter. Now the problem was how to channel the information back in time. That seemed to be impossible.