Touched - Order of Odium: Book One

Michelle - 9

"Okay," Aleksander said. "From what we have gathered, U39 is very similar to our universe, with minor exceptions. If you think about all of the possible universes, going to one universe 39 steps away is not far, right? Using the neighborhood analogy I used with Daniel, one place 39 blocks away from another can indeed be very different depending on where you are talking about, but in this case, lets talk of a more populated but somewhat rural area. Each block that you walk along is going to have extremely similar concepts. Each house will have a lawn out front, a mailbox, that sort of thing. As you walk along little things will be different, as I mentioned. On the second block, the paint colors may be different. The third, the mailboxes may change, and so on. When you reach the twentieth block, everything is still extremely similar, but instead of having just the house colors or mailboxes change, they have both changed. The house styles are somewhat different. Still no big changes.

Now you are walking on the 30th block. The houses look a little different, as do the mailboxes, but now the lawns are starting to change a little. They may be smaller or bigger, or a slightly different shape. Still no major changes. So you continue walking to block 39. Here, the lawns are shaped more different than before, as well as the houses. Maybe the road you are walking on has slowly started to change. The main thing is that while it may seem like a long distance, especially when you are thinking of it as walking along universes instead of housing blocks, but the things that are the same are exponential compared to the changes that have been made." He paused for a moment, looking to see if anyone had questions.

"I thought things were completely different in other universes? Even a universe that's 'just', next door or whatever." Daniel said, using air quotes around the word "just".

"You're thinking of alternate dimensions," Michelle replied.

"I apologize. I am trying to explain this in an easy manner, but the underlying concepts are extremely difficult to understand. Even with the technology we have here at the Warehouse, exactly how it all works is beyond us. Although many people use these terms interchangeably, especially non-scientists, I will attempt to use a common way of referring to the terms." Aleksander re-situated himself in his chair to get more comfortable. "For our purposes, we will use the term 'Alternate Universe' to mean a universe that has the same laws of physics as our own, but has branched off into different paths, our universe went left a long time ago, the universe next to us went right, and so on. I think I talked of that to both of you before a time or two, correct?"

Michelle and Daniel nodded. Steven checked his watched and gave Aleksander a pointed look. Michelle assumed they must be running low on time.

"Okay, okay, Steven. Time is short. Let me put this in simple terms and skip talking about all of the science behind it. Anyway, the neighborhood example is what we will go by when talking about alternate universes, sometimes called 'alternate realities'. To us, they are interchangeable, okay? An alternate dimension, for our purposes, means a universe that does not comply to our laws of physics as we know them. Here is an example off of the top of my head. In our universe, the laws of physics say that for a bird to be able to fly, it must be able to create lift by flapping its wings. In another dimension, that same bird may be able to just float wherever it wants to go without needing to flap its wings or use thermals to create lift-" Steven cut him off.

"Okay, Alek, enough with the science. Here's the deal. An alternate universe is like the neighborhood example Alek gave. It starts out similar and changes as you move further away from the original universe, our universe in other words. An alternate dimension is one where our laws of physics don't always apply. Have you ever wondered how we have this gigantic damn building up in the air while no one else can? We use things we acquire from other universes and dimensions. We don't understand the vast majority of why these things work the way they do, but they do, and we experiment with them to try to learn more. You would think most people down below would freak out about the fact that there's this giant fucking building floating above them, right? The military would be all over us, all that good stuff. Well, one of the things we can do using what we have acquired, is to make people think it was there the whole time."

"So you brainwash people?" Michelle said, her anger beginning to rise. "What the hell-"

"Stop," Steven said, cutting her off. "We don't have time. I just wanted to give you a little more info before you start the experiment, and stop Alek from going overboard with the science talk that will go over your heads anyway."

Aleksander frowned and gave Steven a surprisingly convincing glare.

"Sorry boss, you know you ramble. And we're out of time, so here it is. Alternate realities are what you are going to be dealing with, the same laws of physics apply and all that good stuff, but people, places, etc... may have changed, especially when you go out further. You don't need to worry about alternate dimensions because you won't be going to one or even dealing with one, okay?" He looked around the group and Michelle and Daniel nodded while Aleksander began to smile.

"I guess that means it's time to begin the experiment then!" he said a little too gleefully.

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