Coin #2 - Quantum Coin

by E. C. Myers

  Cliff took out a silver case and offered each of them a cigarette. They both refused, and he lit one for himself with a match.

  With any luck, Cliff's counterpart had ended up near a hospital in whatever universe he'd been swapped into, or he might not have lasted long with those injuries. It was a good thing they hadn't already begun the surgery when he shifted out.

  “I thought the Charon device was supposed to protect this universe,” Jena said. She looked up from the eReader, spun around, and looked toward the center of campus. She checked the screen again and smiled to herself.

  “Nathaniel's theory is that it's less effective when it's divided over long distances,” Ephraim said. He didn't mention that Nathaniel was also worried that bringing the device to this universe in the first place had made it more vulnerable to whatever was happening to all the others.

  “I get it. So the coin and controller protected us because we were carrying them, but no one else,” Jena said. “If Nathaniel hadn't insisted I take the controller…”

  “What are you doing?” Ephraim asked. “We need to figure out how to find him.”

  “That's what I'm doing. If I'm right, Nathaniel's still here,” Jena said. “Somewhere. Originally there were two proposed locations for the Graduate College. Woodrow Wilson, who was president of Princeton at the time, wanted the College to be in the center of the university campus. But the dean, Andrew Fleming West—”

  “There was a statue of him in the courtyard,” Ephraim said.

  “Yes. West wanted the College away from campus, in its own separate location.”

  “Is this really a good time for a history lesson?”

  “History is everything right now,” Jena said. “Eph, in our universe's history, Andrew Fleming West won that fight, and the College was built away from the undergraduate campus.”

  “But in other universes, he didn't?” Ephraim asked.

  She pointed in the distance. “Doesn't that building look familiar?” she asked.

  Rising amid the campus buildings in the distance was a tower he realized he had seen before.

  “Cleveland Tower?”

  “I don't know what it's called in this newly merged reality, but it's very distinctive, isn't it?” She showed him a holographic image of it on her eReader screen. It was the same building.

  “But that was over at the Graduate College…” Ephraim said.

  And Nathaniel's video camera had caught a glimpse of the tower's quantum phantom at the main campus. It had moved, just like FitzRandolph Gate had.

  Jena tucked her eReader away with a smug expression.

  “You think Nathaniel might have gone with the dining hall when the Graduate College shifted here?”

  “I hope so,” Jena said.

  “Then let's go find him,” Ephraim said.

  “Ephraim. No, we can't.” Jena looked stricken.

  “What are you talking about? He's probably looking for us.”

  “Then let him find us. We still have a mission and we only have thirty minutes before the next window opens.”

  “We need him,” Ephraim said.

  She shook her head. “We have the coin and the controller. We should find Hugh first and bring him back to Crossroads.”

  Cliff had been listening intently to everything they said, but he perked up at that. Ephraim ignored him.

  “I can't believe you're suggesting we abandon Nathaniel,” Ephraim said. “He might have saved your life by giving you that controller.”

  “Not abandoning him. We'll come back for him when we can. I don't want to do this, but it's the most practical thing. It's what he would want.”

  “Zoe—” Ephraim stopped.

  Jena narrowed her eyes.

  “Zoe what?” she asked.

  Zoe would never leave one of them behind.

  “Zoe won't be happy if we come back without him,” Ephraim said.

  Jena made a dismissive sound.

  “So we're off then?” Cliff asked. He stomped his cigarette out on the sidewalk and looked at the two of them eagerly.

  “Excuse me?” Ephraim asked.

  “Ms. Kim says that my roommate can explain what happened to me and help you sort the mess you're in.”

  “Really,” Ephraim said. “Who's your roommate?”

  “Hugh Everett,” Cliff said. “Brilliant fellow. Always leaves his dishes in the sink, though.”

  Jena winked at Ephraim. “Small multiverse, huh?”

  “I could kiss you, Jena,” Ephraim said.

  “Permission granted.”

  Cliff opened the door to his apartment, in the same building Ephraim had visited earlier. It was in a different location now, where Jena's map said the School of Architecture had once stood. He wondered where all those students had gone after the last dimensional shift.

  A man at the window slowly turned. Ephraim instantly recognized Hugh Everett from his photo. In real life, the man's hair was reddish-brown, almost fiery in the light from the window. He was about Ephraim's height; he'd looked taller in his picture, and more…black-and-white. It took Ephraim a moment to adjust his concept of Everett into the physical person who was standing right in front of him.

  “Hugh?” Cliff said. “You'll never believe what just happened to me.”

  “Who's your friend?” Hugh asked. His piercing eyes were on Jena. She smoothed her wind-blown hair self-consciously. Ephraim stepped in front of her.

  “Dr. Everett, I presume?” Ephraim said. “We have to talk.”

  “That's the second time I've been addressed that way today. I like the sound of the title, but I haven't earned my degree. Yet.” He sipped a dark liquid from the glass in his hand.

  “The second—?” Ephraim asked.

  “Ephraim!” Nathaniel rose from the couch. “Jena. You found me. How?”

  Ephraim swallowed his guilt and embraced Nathaniel. “You never shifted out of this universe. It rearranged itself and you moved across campus with the rest of the Graduate College.”

  “Fascinating,” Nathaniel said.

  “You're all right?” Ephraim asked.

  “I am now.” Nathaniel noticed Cliff. “Isn't that—? Aren't you…?”

  “Cliff Marlowe,” Cliff said. They shook hands.

  “I'm Nathaniel Mackenzie. You look pretty good for an almost-dead guy, Cliff,” Nathaniel said.

  “I'm aces,” Cliff said. “But I understand that another me may not be so fortunate,” he said with a thoughtful expression.

  Ephraim took a deep breath. “Nathaniel, this isn't the Cliff from the car accident. He was swapped with his analog during the last quantum disruption.”

  Nathaniel paled. “Oh, that sucks.”

  “Yeah,” Ephraim said.

  “But I can't believe you're Everett's roommate,” Nathaniel said to Cliff. “That's a hell of a coincidence.”

  “If you're right about these multiple worlds of yours, there are no coincidences,” Hugh said. He stared at the bottom of his glass. He raised his eyes and looked at Jena. “I'm Hugh. And you are?”

  “J-Jena Kim,” she stammered. He took her hand and brushed his lips against the top of it. Ephraim wrinkled his nose.

  “A pleasure to meet you,” Hugh said.

  “I'm Ephraim Scott,” Ephraim said. Everett hesitated before shaking his hand. His palm was cold and wet from holding his drink.

  “Your friend Nathaniel told me an incredible story at dinner,” Hugh said. “He says you're all from other universes. Is he as insane as I think he is?”

  Hugh sat on the edge of the couch, his eyes lingering on Jena in a way that made Ephraim want to punch him in the face. Jena leaned back against the door and flipped on her eReader, eyes focused on the screen self-consciously.

  “He was telling the truth,” Ephraim said. “We're from the future.”

  “The future,” Hugh said. “Time travel is impossible, according to Einstein.” He glanced at Ephraim. “That's Albert Einstein. He's a genius.”

  “I know
who he is,” Ephraim said. “He's famous where we come from.” Unlike you, he almost added.

  “It wasn't time travel, exactly,” Nathaniel said. “We're from two possible futures, two different universes. Ephraim and Jena are from one where it's 2012. I'm from 2037.”

  Hugh's face didn't show even a glimmer of recognition. “How interesting.” Hugh drained his glass. “I'll need more sherry,” he said.

  “You haven't heard of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics?” Ephraim asked.

  “No, but I know what Mr. Mackenzie suggests is ludicrous. According to Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg's Copenhagen spirit of quantum theory.”

  “You haven't heard of it because you haven't come up with it yet,” Jena said. She pushed off from the door and handed Hugh the eReader. “Here.”

  “Jena,” Nathaniel said.

  “We don't have time for this,” she said.

  Ephraim checked his watch. They had ten minutes before the next window opened.

  “She's right,” Ephraim said.

  “What is this?” Hugh turned over the eReader and examined it from every angle.

  “Just read it,” Jena said. “You can turn the pages by waving a finger at the top of the screen.”

  He gazed at her for a long moment, then turned his attention to the device.

  “You aren't showing him his autobiographies, are you?” Ephraim asked in a low voice while Hugh turned pages.

  “That would be cruel,” she said gently. “I pulled up a scan of his original paper on many worlds, which he won't start writing for around another year.”

  Hugh's hand was shaking. “These notes are in my handwriting,” he said.

  “Bingo,” Jena said.

  Hugh looked up at them, his face pale and his eyes very bright. “The man who wrote this is either mad or a genius.”

  “Modest, isn't he?” Ephraim muttered.

  “Shh,” Jena said.

  “I should have figured this out myself,” Hugh said.

  “You would have,” Jena said.

  “May I see?” Cliff asked.

  “You'd never be able to understand this.” Hugh sneered.

  “And he's kind, too,” Ephraim said. “Can this guy help us if he hasn't even come up with this theory on his own?”

  “He gets it though,” Jena said. “Look. It usually takes people years just to wrap their brains around it, but not him. He got it right away. His mind came up with it, and that makes him most capable to understand what's going wrong.”

  “This isn't all, is it?” Hugh asked.

  Jena smiled. She slipped the eReader from Hugh's hand. He snatched at it, but she tucked it close against her chest and folded her arms.

  “There's more where that came from, back home. Think of it: the accumulated knowledge of the next eighty-three years.”

  Hugh frowned. “In the future, in some alternative universe?”

  Jena nodded.

  “It's hard to believe, even after reading the theory. I'd have to check the calculations—”

  “That'll have to wait,” Ephraim said. “We have to go. Now.” He pointed at his watch, and Nathaniel moved toward them.

  Jena leaned forward. “Come with us, Dr. Everett,” she murmured. “You're needed.”

  “Anywhere you like, Miss Kim,” Hugh said. He looked slightly dazed.

  “It's Jena,” she said. “Call me Jena.”

  “Jena,” he said gently. “And I'm Hugh.”

  “I know exactly who you are,” she said.

  “It's time,” Nathaniel said. “Coming, Everett?”

  Jena pulled out the controller and flipped it open. Ephraim slipped the coin into it, and she set it spinning. Hugh stared at the floating coin.

  “I'm with you,” Hugh said.

  “You're leaving with them?” Cliff asked. “You're going to…another world?”

  “The paper this young woman showed me, The Relative State Formulation of Quantum Mechanics, is far more enticing than the military game theory I'd been planning to work on this summer. Do I win the Nobel?” he asked Jena.

  “That would be telling,” Jena said.

  “Should I pack anything?” Hugh asked.

  “I think you'll find we have everything you need,” Nathaniel said.

  Hugh smiled at Jena. “Indeed.”

  Ephraim clenched his teeth. He didn't like Hugh's fixation on Jena, but they had to do whatever it took to bring him back to their universe. And it was a good thing she knew how to play Hugh to get him to join them.

  Ephraim wondered if she had ever used her wiles to manipulate him?

  Definitely.

  He also hoped she was only acting with Hugh.

  “Excuse me,” Cliff said. He glanced at each of them. “But, if this is all real…if it isn't a dream, and I'm actually lying on some table in hospital somewhere, then this isn't my life, is it? Can you switch me back? Can you send me home?”

  Ephraim stiffened. He looked down at the floor.

  “We can't,” Jena said softly.

  “I'm sorry,” Nathaniel said. “We don't know where you came from and unfortunately, we don't have the time to help you.”

  Ephraim looked up. “Cliff, what happened to you…it's happening to a lot of people. You probably wouldn't have known the difference if we hadn't told you.”

  “But I do know,” Cliff said. “I don't belong here.”

  “Oh, it's all the same, Cliff,” Hugh said sharply.

  “No, it isn't,” Ephraim said. “Cliff, if we succeed in fixing things, if I can, I'll come back here and get you home. I promise.”

  Cliff looked at him intently. He nodded.

  “Now how does this gadget work?” Hugh asked. He drew closer to the Charon device. “Theory is one thing, but nothing in my research or our understanding of physics should allow for interdimensional travel.”

  There was a prolonged silence as Hugh looked at their awkward expressions.

  Nathaniel cleared his throat. “Actually, we were hoping you could tell us.”

  “Me?” Hugh said. “I've only just seen this contraption for the first time.”

  “One of your counterparts invented it. We understand how to use the technology, but we need you to explain the deeper concepts,” Nathaniel said. “Specifically, what side effects it might have on the multiverse.”

  “Multiverse?”

  “The continuum of other worlds,” Jena said. “Multiple universes. Multiverse.”

  “Catchy. But why don't you just ask the me of one your futures for assistance?”

  “It's complicated,” Nathaniel said.

  “Naturally. If we can use this device to actually visit other dimensions…this changes everything,” Hugh said.

  “That's kind of the problem,” Ephraim said. “The controller there, Jena uses that to set the dimensional coordinates. And then all I have to do is grab that little disc when it stops spinning and it transports all of us in the blink of an eye.”

  “So that disc is the key component of this device?” Hugh asked. “It must serve as some sort of gyrocompass.”

  “Exactly,” Ephraim said. He had to hand it to Everett, he was a quick study. He might be able to solve this problem after all.

  “And without the…controller, did you call it? The disc would work at random, I imagine. According to its orientation?”

  “Yes,” Ephraim said, surprised. How long had it taken Ephraim to grasp the concept, even after he'd been using the coin for a while?

  Hugh nodded as though he was confirming some private thought.

  “Cliff, don't rent my room out,” Hugh said. “This shouldn't take more than a couple of days. Then I'm coming back here to claim my destiny.”

  Cliff stifled a laugh.

  “You have the coordinates, Jena?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Yup,” she said.

  The coin slowed and stopped. Hugh peered at it curiously.

  “Why, that's a quarter,” he said. “But it's odd. Why does it h
ave the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico on it? It's not made out of silver, either.”

  Ephraim shrugged.

  “Okay, everyone link hands,” Nathaniel said, eyes on his watch. “The window's about to open.”

  Hugh grabbed Jena's free hand immediately.

  “What makes the coin levitate in that fashion? A quantum field? The Meissner effect? That hasn't even been tested yet…” Hugh reached for the coin with his free hand. Ephraim felt a twinge of panic.

  “Grab them!” Nathaniel rushed toward Jena and Hugh, reaching for the controller—just as they vanished with a soft pop of air. Something thudded to the hardwood floor.

  Ephraim's stomach twisted, and he collapsed forward onto his knees. Nathaniel made it to the couch and slumped sideways with his head on the armrest. They waited out the now-familiar quantum reflux. It seemed to go on forever.

  When it was over, Ephraim crawled to where Jena and Hugh had just been standing and picked up Jena's eReader. The screen was cracked down the middle.

  Ephraim heard a strangled whimper and realized it was coming from him.

  “What…where did they…?” he asked.

  “Back to my universe,” Nathaniel said. “Without us.”

  “Are you blokes all right?” Cliff asked. “That was stunning. This is all really happening, isn't it?”

  “I wish it weren't,” Ephraim said.

  “Damn it,” Nathaniel said. “Why'd you let him touch the coin?”

  “I didn't know he could use it,” Ephraim said. It came out sounding whiny.

  “He invented it,” Nathaniel said.

  “Yeah.” Ephraim leaned back against the couch, his breath coming in gasps. “It's my fault. I should have stopped him when I saw him reaching for it, but I froze.”

  “No, I'm sorry. I should have warned you.”

  Ephraim stared at the broken eReader. Hugh Everett's bisected face peered up at him, smirking. Ephraim switched it off. Half of the screen blanked, but the other half still showed a faint image of Everett.

  “It's broken,” he said.

  “Everything's broken.” Nathaniel sighed.

  “They'll come back for us, won't they?” Ephraim asked.

  Nathaniel checked the time. “The window's closed.”

  “In an hour, then.”

  “Maybe. But if Jena's smart, and I know she is, she'll take Everett straight back to Crossroads. They can't waste any more time on retrieving us, especially if they can't be sure we're still here. Without the coin or the controller, we're completely vulnerable here.”