A Peek at the Universe Next Door

Isaac Hendrix watched intently as Alex Michaelson tuned the various instruments that made up the complex array of what he called his Dimensional Camera. Then, he hit the button that was to give us a peek into a parallel universe. Ah, nothing appeared to have happened, but Alex seemed quite happy about the attempt.

“Alex, did you get a picture”, I asked tentatively.

Alex mumbled something unintelligible, but it sounded like ‘maybe yes, maybe no’. He then seemed to drift back into the trance-like state that he was becoming known for.

Sad. The Lab was counting so much on this, as well as other important projects, to not only win international scientific creditability but also bring in a few dollars to keep the investors happy. Pseudo-Science Labs was my creation almost 5 years ago and is made up of a variety of research projects that border just on the fringe of science. In other words, the scientific community thought that we are just a bunch of quacks chasing the impossible. Case in point, Dimensional Photography.

The alarm on my wristwatch snapped me back to reality by reminding me of my pending appointment with a Journalist who fancied herself as an Investigator of Unexplained Phenomena. 

“Alex”, I said trying to get he attention. 

“Alex!”, louder this time. 

He looked up as if he just noticed that I was there.

“Alex, I would like to introduce you and your experimental theories to a Journalist that could help us a lot toward some additional funding for new equipment. Is that Ok, buddy?”

“Ah, sure”, he said. Then he added, “I just might have something to show her”.

“Holy Crap”, I thought to myself. Did I just hear that he might have a PICTURE?

As I made my way to Reception, the possibilities of something finally paying off were jumping around my brain like Ping Pong Balls caught in a tornado.   

I entered Reception and my eyes quickly zeroed in on one Miss Lisa Maxwell. She was young looking, perhaps in her mid-twenties. Smartly dressed, so she apparently made enough money to keep her up to date with the latest fashions for business professionals. Not that that meant very much since her family could be loaded. I made a mental note for a potential investment opportunity.

“Hi Miss Maxwell. I’m Isaac Hendrix. I’m so happy to finally meet you. Playing phone tag over the last several weeks was getting a bit tedious.”

“Yes, it was. I’m glad that we can finally sort through some of the rumors that I’ve been hearing about what you DO here. As you may know, I specialize in writing about speculative science theories, phenomena, and the like. If Science says it’s impossible, then I very much want to prove them wrong by rubbing it in their faces in print.”

She was right up my alley and I couldn’t agree more. 

“Interesting,” I said, “What have you heard about us? Is there anything you heard about that piqued your interest?

“No. Nothing specific.  What, if I may ask, ‘scratches your itch?”

“Well, lets see. How about we take a walk and check out a few of the ongoing projects. I think you will find some of them quite ‘impossible’. 

“ok”, she beamed. “Lead on!”

I took the ‘Guest: Escort Required’ badge from Security and handed it to her to clip on her blouse. Then we proceeded down the main corridor toward the labs where the research was being conducted. 

Halting at the first lab, “This project may be of interest to your readers. The team is developing a means of communications with dolphins, whales, and other amphibious mammals with sufficient brain power to master a new language.  We have already achieved some astounding results and it could prove to be the next breakthrough technology of the century. The possible applications for its use are off the chart.”

“No, I think not”, she said dryly. “It reminds me of a rehash of Koko, the gorilla who learned a couple of thousand words before its death.”

“Yeah, but KOKO didn’t use a computer. Our subjects use a specifically designed computer and keyboards, complete with a new language.”

“Well, what else do you have?”

We stepped further down the hallway and stopped at the next lab. 

“Here, we are investigating the capabilities of Telekinesis and Telepathy Specifically, we are developing a capability of using Telekinesis to move objects quickly across huge distances and of using Telepathy to coordinate their movement within a network, similar to the flight paths used by commercial airliners.”

“Cool. But that isn’t considered ‘impossible’, is it? I heard of many documented instances where that was done on a smaller scale. No. This is ‘juicy’ enough to sell magazines.

“Ok. I got one more that might do the trick. It’s called Dimensional Photography.”

“Really?” Then she added, “Hey, that’s not some glorified Peeping Tom gizmo, is it?

“No. This is real Science on the Fringe. Have you ever heard of parallel universes? It is a theory called String Theory, or sometimes known the Superstring Theory.

“Yes. I read about that and agree, it is far out there. Imagine, countless other universes existing alongside of ours.”

“Well…”, I paused then added the punchline. “What if I told you that we just might be able to take a picture of one of those other universes?”

“Huh?” She was at a loss for words.

“Before you arrived for our appointment, I was conferring with our lead Scientist and Investigator and he said that he just might be able to show you picture of another universe.  Do you think you can interest your readers about possibly peeking at themselves in another universe? In one, they could have made a major decision different than one they just made here or are thinking about making. 

“Yes…imagine”. I could see the gears running wild in her head.

“Seeing worlds like ours, but not the same. It would be like you ‘peeping’ on all the other ‘yous’ in all the other universes.”

“But, is it really possible?” She asked.

“Well, as Alex said earlier, ‘Maybe Yes, Maybe No’. Let’s go see!”

We moved to the extreme end of the Laboratories and stopped at a door labeled Experimental Photography. I opened the door with my ID and ushered Lisa into the Lab.

“Here we are,” I said. 

“Alex. I would like to meet Miss Maxwell, and she thinks you just may have invented the greatest thing since sliced bread, so to speak. 

Alex looked up from his computers monitors and smiled at Lisa. ‘Hi Lisa. Happy to meet you! Sliced bread, huh?”

Lisa responded, “Well, something like that. If you can do what Isaac says you can do, then it may be more like the greatest thing since the Big Bang. Can you photograph another universe?”

“Yes, I think I just did it. But, lets try something. Can you stand over in front of that blank wall?”

Lisa walked over to the wall and watched Alex expectantly. “Like this,” she asked.

“Yes. That should do it. Let’s give things time to sync, and then we will snap a photo of what you look like in a parallel universe to ours.”

Alex finagled with the controls to the equipment, and then hit the button.

“There. Now for the focus.”

Alex fiddled some more and then called Lisa over to the computer monitors.

I moved over to the monitors too and looked at the figure displayed there. 

“Is that Lisa in another world?” I asked incredulously. I couldn’t believe my eyes. And I think Lisa couldn’t believe her eyes either.

Lisa stared at the monitors, and then blurted, “Hey, wait a minute. How do I know if this is really me over there, so to speak? You know. You could have just taken a picture of me standing here in THIS universe, and then just say that’s in another one.   Where’s the proof!”

Alex paused, and gazed intently at the monitor. “Well, I think I found something that might convince you. Look here…”

He points at Lisa’s picture, and then heard Lisa gasp. 

“It looks…. It looks like I’m pregnant!”

“Yep, it sure does!”, I exclaimed.