by Dark Icon

Created on: January 19, 2008

Through a Black Window

"Is this some kind of prank?"

"No," said Doctor Sanderson as he joined the others in the center of the lab. The Everett/Wheeler bridge shimmered silently before them... its image perfectly clear, but quite confusing at first glance. "No, this is exactly what I expected. Do you know what we're seeing?"

Doctors Duncan and McNealy exchanged glances. As Director of Research, McNealy had seen the prototype bridge demonstrated before, but this application of it left him slightly puzzled.

Without benefit of a screen or any other type of surface, a perfectly clear, focused image hovered in the center of the room, supported and framed by, apparently, nothing. The image was of the men who had gathered in front of it. The three PHDs looked at the backs of their own heads, as if there had been a camera mounted directly behind them.

But the three doctors in the image were ALSO standing in front of a picture. That picture ALSO showed three doctors gathered in front of an image of themselves from the rear peering into yet another image.

The effect was similar to two mirrors placed parallel, facing each other so that each reflected the other's contents. The doctors were looking over their own shoulders, down a rabbit hole of infinite reflections.

But there were no mirrors in the room.

"That's not us." Dr. McNealy pointed to his prominent bald spot in the image. The McNealy in the image pointed at the image in front of him, and the motion was repeated simultaneously down the infinite windows. "Not me."

"Precisely," said Sanderson. "That is a different you a different us. These are distinct versions of ourselves from an adjacent reality. The difference between our universe and theirs is trivial... the spin of a single electron can be all that separates us from them."

"So what they're looking at..." McNealy began.

"Is THEIR Everett/Wheeler bridge. And, just like ours, it's showing them an adjacent universe, in which those scientists have built a bridge... and so on."

"And because of the way we've positioned the windows, we can see through theirs as well as our own," Duncan added. He watched the infinite versions of himself speak the same words, although his were the only ones they could hear. "The differences are all trivial, but they do add up. If we could see through enough of these windows, we may find a universe where the scientists are wearing different clothing... or have different names."

"... or haven't gotten their bridge to work yet..."

"...or have placed

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