A Matter of Time

The Community of Worlds organized a galaxy wide group of scientists from all intelligent life forms to solve the most intractable problems facing physicists. Issues were prioritized by several factors: cost, time to likely discovery, current technology available to solve the problem, and experts available in the field.

Projects with high priority were given large amounts of funding. Other projects were either sidelined for a later time or provided token funding to further knowledge until it rose in priority. Alton was assigned to a later project. Funding was light, but offered real opportunity for advancement. The project: discover the true nature of the universe.

Over a hundred theories existed with five or so likely to hold the key to the ultimate truth. Alton and his team, if they were lucky and worked hard, would find the answer to possible parallel universes, the beginning of time (and the probable end), and where the universe ends.

Alton’s team included the most intelligent beings to ever live. In a few years they discovered the nature of the universe with only a pittance of funding. Here is what they found: there are no parallel universes, but all possible universes exist in segmented time. In layman’s terms: the universe always existed and goes on forever. If you travel far enough (over a trillion times distant than the width of the visible universe) you will find another person exactly like you on a world exactly like yours.

That wasn’t the best part though. On the other end of vast distances and infinite time lived the smallest possible distance and the shortest possible amount of time called Planck distance and Planck time. Alton and his team discovered everything and every possibility is always happening but separated by the smallest amount of time, Planck time. There is a lot of Planck time in each second. In fact there are 1 followed by 43 zeros of Planck time in each second. And that is how many different versions of you exist in each second and it goes on forever at all times.

At first you might say, “Who cares?” Alton did. He knew how to jump from one Planck time to another. He could live any life he wanted for as long as he wanted. He could live forever jumping from one time to another. And Alton had a secret: he always wanted to be an athletic girl. And because every possibility existed, Alton shifted to a female version of himself in another Planck time distorted universe.

I know this all sounds so technical and crazy, but look at Alton. He shifted into a version of himself named Abigail. And she is a fighter, just as Alton is in every version of himself throughout all possible time. You can’t argue with success or a body like that.