The Assignment

The Assignment

Emma sat at the lab table staring through the microscope. The universe was beautiful but still wasn’t quite right. She kept turning it around, looking at the shifting patterns inside. She had been working on this universe since she had started at university and she hated to throw it out and start over. She had a meeting with her advisor the next evening to discuss the matter. 

Emma sometimes still had a hard time believing that she was really here, studying at the top universology program. Emma was not the usual student. She hadn’t gone to the best schools or had private tutors, but had come to the university’s attention through a competition they had put on to find prospective students. Her family had been shocked when she had been one of the ten winners to receive a full scholarship. She had been at the university for three semesters and still found it hard not to be intimidated by the other students and professors. She only had a couple of friends, other students with backgrounds similar to hers, and usually spent her evenings either in the lab or alone in her room. 

She turned off the microscope and left the lab. As she walked out of the building she peeked inside other labs, seeing students examining their own universes. Students were only allowed to work on one universe at a time, otherwise it became too difficult for the professors to keep track of them. 

When Emma had first started her project she was sure that her universe was unique. She had even dared to think that it was the best one ever created. She had used every scientific theory she had learned to make sure it was technically correct. Once she had achieved the structure of the universe, she spent the rest of her time on more minute issues, such as the atmospheres of the individual planets and the constellations of the stars. She even seeded several planets with the beginnings of different forms of life, watching them develop, and giving little nudges to make them move in the directions she wanted. That’s where she was having the most trouble. The planets with life were unpredictable and their behavior affected the universe as a whole. Her hypothesis was that the life forms on the planets were making them diverge from their expected development. She was working with the psychology and philosophy departments to get more data, but so far nothing they had told her had solved the problem.

The next evening Emma arrived at her advisor’s office exactly on time. She hated to be late.  Professor Wustern was sitting at her desk with her glasses pushed up to her forehead, studying data printouts. Professor Wustern had been Emma’s advisor since she had started at university. She had once told Emma that she had specifically requested her as an advisee because of the work Emma had presented in the competition. Professor Wustern was considered the best universologist in the program and while she had a brisk manner, Emma found her easy to work with.

She looked up with a slight frown as Emma entered the room.

“I was just going over your data,” Professor Wustern said. “I have some concerns.”

Emma nodded nervously. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’m not sure whether I should continue with this universe or start over.”

Professor Wustern nodded in agreement. “Do you think you could build a better one, knowing what you know now?”

“I think so,” Emma said. “I think the main problem is the planets with life forms. They’re the reason my results are so unpredictable. I’ve seen what some of the other students are doing and the ones who didn’t use life forms aren’t having the same kinds of problems.”

“That’s true,” Professor Wustern said, “but their universes are also much less interesting,” she said, giving a slight smile. “How do you think you could fix the problem?”

“I was studying the new work of TIII,” Emma began excitedly. “They’re doing cutting-edge work on integrating life forms into various environments with some very interesting results. They seem to have solved the predictability problem by adding in some feedback loops that keep the life form behavior within the proper parameters.”

Professor Wustern smiled. “I like where you’re going with this.”

“I was trying to figure out whether I could make some changes without having to completely start over,” Emma said.

Professor Wustern looked at her kindly. “I know it’s hard to throw out all the work you’ve done, but it wasn’t wasted. You’ll use what you learned from the first universe to make a better one.”

“I guess you’re right,” Emma said. “But if I start over I don’t know how long it will take me to finish it.”

“Don’t worry,” said Professor Wustern. “Your scholarship will last as long as you’re doing good work. Most students don’t get their universe right the first time. I know I didn’t,” she said. 

Emma was surprised. She supposed that she had assumed that someone like Professor Wustern didn’t have the same problems she did. Emma decided that she should follow Professor Wustern’s advice and start over. 

The next day Emma went to the lab and gently picked up her universe. She turned it over a few times and looked at it from all angles. Then she put it under the microscope and zoomed in on her favorite planet. It had swirling colors of green and blue. The equipment was so accurate that she could even see individual life forms moving around. But the atmosphere was beginning to get a little clouded, making it harder for her to see all the details. Some of the life forms on the other planets had already died out but the ones on this planet had survived for much longer than she had predicted.

She said a soft goodbye, brought the universe to the disposal unit and put it inside. A few seconds later she heard a whump as the universe exploded. She sighed, went back to her lab and started outlining a new universe.