Playing God With A New World

A Light at the End of the Tunnel

Lying in his chemically induced intoxication, Brian saw the door open to the room. Through the haze he saw a blonde haired lady. She had a glow about her that reminded him of an angel. As his eyes focused in on her, he realized he knew her. It was Dr. Simon. Before Brian could say a word, she spoke.

"I am sorry Brian, I believe you. I read your notes, I couldn't rationalize how you knew all this stuff. I thought I was the only person in the world who had discovered this method of nuclear fusion. Your notes are exactly what I have been working on, exactly the same theories and equations I have dedicated my life too. I am ready to listen to your story."

Brian went on to explain everything, the nuclear fusion reactor, the chaos he caused, his attempt at making it right and how this used to be his lab. Dr. Simon sat and listened. She no longer was scared of him, her eyes lit up with curiosity as Brian went on and on. She couldn't believe he had endured so much, and was grateful that she was able to help him in a past life try and make the world right again. By the end of it, she admitted that she had immediately felt a connection with him the first time they encountered each other. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she had always thought they somehow had known each other.

She asked if he wanted to come in and see what she was working on. He agreed, but first he needed to be unstrapped from this hospital bed and get discharged. Dr. Simon agreed to speak on his behalf to the medical staff, and would make sure the charges were dropped. Brian began tearing up, overwhelmed with joy and happiness, this was the nicest thing someone had done for him in who knows how long. Within a few minutes, a nurse followed Dr. Simon back to Brian's room. The nurse began unstrapping Brian from his restraints, disconnected the IV's and monitors and Brian embraced his new found freedom. He regained him composure and requested his clothes so he could start getting ready to leave.

When Brian got outside the psychiatric hospital, Beth was there waiting for him with her car. Surprisingly there was not much talking between them. Brian had thanked her a handful of time for rescuing him, but Brian was just excited at the possibility of getting his old life back. Soon enough they were pulling up to Brian's lab. Deja Vu kicked in of their last adventure of going to his lab. Where they were so close to making things go back to how they were. Somehow Brian had a second chance, and he was grateful. He followed Dr. Simon into the lab he used to occupy. It was eerily similar to how he had it set up. In the middle of the lab, exactly where he had it, was a nuclear fusion reactor. Brian stared in awe, this was exactly what he had done, everything was identical to how he had set it up. His first attempt with Beth to make things right had somehow resulted in Brian waking up to a different life that he had never truly lived. It was at that moment that Brian proposed his theory to who Dr. Elizabeth Simon might be.

"Does anyone call you Beth?" Brian inquired."Of course, that is what I go by in my personal life. Why do you ask?" responded Dr. Simon."This is going to seem farfetched, but I think I met you before when the world was very different" said Brian.

From there, Brian explained everything he went through during the last week, every situation he encountered, as well as the day he spent with a theoretical physicist named "Beth". There was too much irony for Brian finding a lady that goes by Beth now occupying his lab and replicating the same experiment that he had spent his life devising. Somehow through all the insane stories that Brian told, Beth stood there and listened. She did not look at him like a crazy person, but actually pondered the possibility of this being true.

"I have to tell you something. What you described about this lab and your life working up to proving that nuclear fusion was and is possible, is my life story. I shouldn't, but I believe you." said Dr. Simon.

"I think you are the Beth that I met a few days ago in another world, you were a man and I was a woman, and you helped me try and make things right again." Brian said, as he felt an overwhelming feeling of happiness.

He had not lost Beth, and as far as he could tell the only things different in this world from real life is Beth now had lived Brian's life, she now would get all the credit and glory for the discovery, and Brian was a nobody. Brian expected to feel anger and frustration from all his years of hard work going out the window, but he was just glad that he had not lost Beth, and they somehow are intertwined once again in this new world.