Bridging worlds
I’ve always believed that there’s no problem that can’t be solved and that extends into the very goal I have now. When I woke up in the early morning, I had an idea and my natural instinct was to act on them as soon as possible… so I did. I’ve been working on a device that helps me traverse/observe from our home-earth of 618 to the countless others that span across the entire fabric of reality. I have reason to believe that other Earths have seen to solving their struggles and if I can see what exactly they did differently, they could serve as potential ideas to solve everything with enough revision.
People tell me that my mind is a gift or that there’s nothing I can’t do but the real truth is that I need to make the world a better place, and while I’ve failed countless times in the past, this is the chance to finally provide that. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone for, space-time inside the Bridge moves at different intervals so hours inside could mean seconds or minutes in the real world but, hopefully, I’ll only be gone for a few moments. With the harness on, I take the steps towards the veil of the great unknown and grab the console that’ll let me peer behind the curtain.
Computer, begin scanning in accordance with pre-selected parameters…
Engaging the visualizer.
VARIABLE SPACE-TIME.
VARIABLE SPACE-TIME, COMPRESSING…
COMPRESSING…
SCANNING COMPLETE.
Good.
Now, tell me how many of those realities, similar to our own, have enacted some type of plan to “fix” the Earth’s problems during, roughly, the same period of time.
12,435,018.
Of those, how many resulted in a conflict within nations worldwide?
3,008,296.
And of those, how many resulted in a peaceful resolution?
418.
Please feed them into my brain.
Once I put on the helmet, images of Earths like ours flash everywhere and I couldn’t help but be astonished at a fraction of the sheer vastness reality holds. Sprawling from Earth-155, Earth-3490, Earth-26 and so on, but from just these modules alone, I’ve noticed there was one constant in them: I acted alone. Yet, it can’t be simple enough for any one man, let alone me, to solve it by his lonesome but it can’t be that simple, can it?
I dived deeper and deeper into other worlds to see if collective efforts would result in better outcomes, however, the results only seemed to grow worse and worse. Worlds where I see allies fall fighting a greater evil, worlds where the ambitions of others cause the planet’s demise, worlds where I see the ambitions of my alloes are too much and I have no other choice but to…
ENOUGH!
I toss the helmet in frustration, billions of worlds are in my brain and most of them end with unacceptable outcomes. My conclusion is ultimately the same, it’s too late to change what’s passed…
…But there has to be a way. Various thoughts rush to my head and my mind comes back to the one constant in my original search. What if… I could solve everything on my own, what if I didn’t need to compromise for inferior ideas, what if I didn’t need others to interpret my 100 ideas?
Is this arrogance…
or is this honesty meeting responsibility?
I sit alone in the silent beyond, coming to terms with that perhaps I don’t need anyone else. The truth of the matter is clear to me, there’s only one person who has the intelligence capable to answer all the difficult questions. I’ve hidden behind a curtain of humility all of my life and as a result, I’ve hidden away from my responsibilities and duty as the known universe’s most brilliant man.
Computer, begin powering down the bridge…
I’ve failed everyone in the past, but now, I’m going to fix it.
Switching off the visualizer…
…Wait.
Computer, one final projection before we shut down.
Eliminating all previous parameters, how many other instances have there been requiring similar technology to your own…
How many other bridges have been built?
PROCESSING…
PROCESSING…
PROCESSING…
141.
The Bridge opens once more, three figures stand before me with their visage obscured. They don’t seem to be hostile, so I approach them slowly.
“Let me guess, you want to fix things.”
“We can help you with that.”
Who are you?
“We’re just like you, Reed.”
“And we’ll be waiting when you’re ready.”
“But don’t take too long, there’s no telling how much worse things can get.”
Then suddenly, they disappeared, leaving me in the darkness of my lab. I ponder on dismantling the machine but I ultimately don’t. A few moments later, I enter my idea room and begin writing in the walls, the mere existence of other like-minded people finally made it seem that a perfect world wasn’t so distant. The world we inherited is full of problems but now I know what I have to do to finally make things right...