Inevitability

Rewrite of an old story Improbable Inappropriate.

"The possibilities are endless. Friends I say to you this, cause this is not the only truth but the only truth that matters to you, as in the set of 'yous' sitting here today, listening to me or staring at their future 'one and only'." Dr Fence said, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers. The class giggled a bit and slowly as they quieted down, he began again.

"Numerous universes overlap each other, each branching out into different possibilities. Every choice you make in your life, broken down into its most basic level. It has only two possibilities, like a switch, either on or off."

A legend in the University of Gorfred as well as one of the leading physicists of the world. He was one of the good teachers. The student council revered him as one of the very few who put the fun in physics. A physics professor by proffesssion, also great story teller. He made his lectures sound like plots from sci-fi movies, with his love for theatrics and presentation he made sure everyone was interested in his lectures and interested the students were atleast most of them.

"But then there would be millions of possibilities, millions of universes, wouldn't there?" Jessie asked from the front row of students raising her hand eagerly trying to out do everyone else who might ask a question before her. There was no other hands in the air however. Jessie the girl with the horn rimmed glasses and the sunday morning mass gown. She was the one always eager to ask the questions, always wanting a little more explanation.  The rest of the class hated her. The teachers loved her. 

"Exactly my dear, there would have been millions of universes my dear, but. But, Ohh there is always this 'but', then a time would come when the numerous universes would collapse to form a single unified universe. Imagine this, you had two switches for a single light bulb in one setup and then in another setup you have just one switch for the light bulb. In the first setup you have four combinations right, on-off, off-off, off-on and on-on but you have only two results. For the first three cases, you have the light as not glowing while in the last case you have the light glowing. In the second experiment you have one case 'On' in which light glows and one case 'Off' in which the light does not glow. So, the results were same but the path followed was different. Due to a change in parameters, in first case there was 4 chances were created but 3 of them had one result i,e light on and the other, light off." Dr Fence said, the whole class sat in silence, their blank faces stating that they were tired and saturated.

Everyone, that is, except one guy who raised his hand from the last row of the class. One by one everyone's gaze shifted to his direction where he stood casually in his white tshirt and jeans. Jessie was fuming as she was the only girl who asked questions. Who was this new guy trying to steal her thunder? Whoever he was deserved her wrath. Her eyes were filled with anger and she couldn't wait to hear the question this smart mouth would come up with.

"Bring it on." she said slowly under her breathe.

Dr Fence craned his neck to look at this guy. "Yes, what is your question, young man?" He asked gently.

The guy looked a little tense now as all eyes were on him as he sheepishly muttered

"I... I think I am in the wrong class."

***

All the classes were done for the day, it was late in the evening and Dr. Fence had packed up all his books in his backpack. He checked to see if he had locked his desktop and got up to leave. 

"Good bye"  he said to his desk as if it was going to reply and wave back to him. He chuckled thinking about his class earlier that day, while walking towards where he had parked his bike. He used to ride his bicycle as he lived in the campus in the teacher's quarters. He had been living in the teachers quarters since quiet a long time. 

He reached his room in a few minutes, parked his bike and pretty much hurried inside to his apartment. When he reached inside his room, everything was the way he had left behind, perfectly ordered and clean. His expressions at once changed from the smart, happy, mature professor to that of a lonely, sad look. It was as if he took out the mask he used to wear in the public when he reached his room, the mask to make pretend that he was just like everyone else, an ordinary proffesor.

He placed the keys to his room in the bowl along with the rest of the keys laid there, hung his bag and coat at the hanger, took out his shoes and walked slowly towards his bedroom, on the way picking up an apple from the refrigerator. His face had a composed look as he entered the bed room and carefully locked it. As soon as locking the door, a soft but mechanical voice echoed and a set of fluorescent lights came to life, lightening up the whole room in a tinted blue color.

"Welcome,  Dr. Fence."

"Stats, Give me the status update" Fence asked as he took a bite from the apple and strode towards the monitor at the corner of the room. He had curtained all the windows of the room such that the only light in the room was the fluroscent and a not a drop of natural light was allowed into the room.

"The 98904B5 shows 96 percent match. Sir"

"Perfect, did you find any other Universe with a match of above 90 percent ??"

"The 56345D8 spiked today to a 98 percent match sir and then quickly declined to 37 percent."

"It's one of the most unstable universes, that we've faced." Dr Fence said as he looked over through the various monitors, going through the various logs, his eyes wandering through them searching for only he knew what.

Dr Fence had over the last couple of years carried out a single experiment, secretly in his quarters. An experiment that could very well change human history. Beneath the disguise of a normal proffessor he was a genius who deserved a Nobel prize for physics years before that day, but he kept his knowledge hidden. Had he worn a white lab coat and possessed an uneven patch of hair, he could very well would have passed for the evil scientists like Dr. Frankestien.

When he taught physics to his students in college, it was like a NASA scientist teaching alphabets to children. He didn't mind the cover he had to put up. He had a different plan in his mind. A single goal for which he strived hard day and night. The only goal he ever thought of and now, finally was so close to grasping.

He had single handedly developed a machine he had named Stats. A machine that could look beyond universes, into the various other universes existing in the multiverse, many of which were similar to ours with the same counterpart of us living there, doing things maybe a but slightly different way, or in a different place. Many of which were completely different and alien to us. Many even where the concepts of the reality known to us was different.

He however was never a guy who would dedicate his life to science, he was initially the kind of guy who would be chilling at the end of the cafe corner with an unknown book in his hand but fate as it had planned, had something different for him, and hence it brought him to this place. A place of hopeless desperation, from which rise a very powerful motivation, his motivation to discover this came from the most powerful emotion a man can ever experience. Love. 

Love for the only woman he had ever loved or we can say the loss of her love. Betsy, the girl he fell in love with, who he had met in grad school. She had become her whole universe but then his world crashed; 14th February 2010, was the day she died in a car accident. Some jerks drunk driving cost her, her life and hence his life along with it. It had left him broken. A man who chose to give his all and then witness it all taken away by the hands of fate. He couldn't fight with fate or could he? The question rattled his mind day and night. It almost drove him mad and he tried and tried and made it his one and only aim to find her and take her back from fate. 

***

"Nothing is impossible." he had said to himself on that fateful day, while everyone mourned the loss, he hadn't shed a single tear. He was determined to fight fate and from that day he moved to the teachers quarters, living away from everyone else and slowly planning and experimenting. And after years in his research , experimenting, failing numerous times and still not giving up, he finally made a break through that there were mirror universes apart from ours. A set of parallel universe which are similar to our own, where only due a single thing happening differently, have changed the complete path of the universes. While monitoring these vast set of mirror universes to his own, his only wish was to find a universe where Betsy was alive. So he could see her again. He always wondered how their life would had turned up to be if she was still with him. Maybe they would have kids, a completely different life from this lonely one. 

And hence after searching through many mirrors. In one of the universe she had left him for some other guy, in another he had left her for someone else. In yet another they had never fallen in love, never met and were happy with others. May that was best, the thought crossed his mind. There were so many, every alternate timeline spawning a different universe altogether. After searching for a very long time, he found the one where both of them were together. It was exactly the way he had imagined his life would be and that universe was designated as 98904B5 by Stats, the multiverse scanning machine.

He had been monitoring it for over a year now, seeing his other self in that universe, who was working as a professor in the same University of Gorfred along with his wife Betsy who worked as the professor of Chemistry there.

He moved the cursor to one of the screens which showed static as he clicked a few commands at the keyboard.

"Show Universe 98904B5. Subject Betsy" the command took sometime to execute and the static on one of the monitors dissolved to show a live video feed of Dr.Fence and Betsy in their house in that universe. 

He held her in his arms, giving her a hug. Both had a very pleasant expression on their face, eleven years since they were married and still the love was as good as new.

"Why does he get to be with her, while I am here alone?"  he said to himself, his hands on the screen.

"This was supposed to be me." he said, glaring over the monitor which showed his other self as he kissed her and hugged her before going out to play golf. He played golf in the other universe? God forbid if he had ever touched a golf club in his entire life time here. Not all the things had turned out to be same in that universe as he had thought. 96 percent he reminded himself, the rest 4 percent was different than his own universe.

Dr Fence looked at Betsy for a little more time on his monitor zooming in a little more on her face close enough so he could kiss the monitor on her lips.

"I love you Betsy."  he said, wishing to hold her in his arms tightly.

***

The alarm kept snoozing for a very long time. Dr. Fence had fallen asleep in his chair, leaning near the group of monitors which now only showed static. He woke and realized that he had never changed from his formal trousers and shirt since the last evening. He had got so engrossed in his work that he almost forgot about everything else.

"Good morning, Dr. Fence" Stats said with its cold mechanical voice.

"Good morning. Stats." Fence said as he started taking off his clothes and placed them in the cleaning basket.

"Start execution Crossover." he ordered to Stats and grabbed the towel as he moved towards his bathroom.

"Affirmative. Processing.... Process 0 percent complete." the texts appeared on one of the monitors, along with a progress bar.

He opened the shower and let the water spring hit his body, as the water rolled down his shoulder, he had a lot of thing on his mind.

"Will it really work? Will I be able to really reach out to her? I can. What if I can't? Who cares? I care. This is the thing for which my whole life has come up to. I have worked hard for this. For being able to hold her just one last time. I will finally be able to cross over to their universe. But is it right? I shouldn't be doing it. No, no, no, now is not the time to back off. I will do it, I have made all the calculations, this will work."

The water kept running down and into the drainage hole spiraling into a small whirlpool. He stood there for a little while more until he gained his calm composure and determination to complete what he had started. The shower calmed his stiff muscles from sleeping in an uncomfortable position all night.

He came out of the shower and quickly finished all the day's chores like cooking his lunch, putting his clothes for laundry, cleaning his room.

After he was done, he dressed in a light grey shirt, cream color trousers, grabbed his favorite fruit "Apple", took a bite and moved over to his bedroom/ laboratory.

"Stats, Show Progress."

"Process 98 percent complete" 

"Good. Show me universe 98904B5 .Subject Betsy" he said again.

One of the monitors went static and after some time it started showing the video of Betsy and Dr. Fence. They were getting ready for their office.

"I have no class in afternoon. So I will be coming back home soon. Will cook your favorite." Betsy said while adjusting her dress gazing into the mirror at her reflection.

"You are my favorite dear." Dr. Fence said as he looked at her reflection from behind her.

"When will you behave like an adult?  It's like you are still in college." Betsy said with a smile as she turned around towards Dr. Fence.

"Your love makes me young, darling." he said playfully as he came close and planted a small peck oh her lips.

She sighed and they both started to move out of their house together in their car.

"The other I is also a good romantic like me." Dr. Fence said to himself on this side of the monitor and smiled a little.

"No doubt he is there with her." he thought to himself.

"Process complete. Ready to transport now." Stats voiced echoed in the room and it brought a smile of content on Fence's face.

"Transport co-ordinates, check again." he said

"Transport co-ordinates. 100 % match." the cold voice repeated.

"OK, let's go then. Start transfer, set clock for 8 hours return back from now."  He said as he checked his clock which showed 9 A.M. . 

There was a loud buzzing noise and in almost a second it was like everything around changed almost instantaneously, he was standing in a closet. He knew he had succeeded. The closet was filled with her clothes, Betsy and her fragrance lingered in there. His senses were filled with a heavenly joy. He held on to one of her dresses and felt like she was there.

"This is so good." he thought to himself, tears of joy rolling down his eyes uncontrollably. He hugged the dress for a very long time and then he came out of the closet, he knew the house was empty and she would be back at 12:30. His other self would be in the university so he wouldn't come back till 5. He could meet her and go back by the time his other self came back.

He came out of the closet. Took the spare key and went out of the room, going over to the daily market, buying roses that she liked, roses were her favorite and some chocolate. He felt like he was meeting her for a date. He was pretty excited for her to return and he waited patiently in the cafe opposite to their house so he could see when she would come back. It was the longest wait of his life. He kept checking his watch, it was already 12:00 P.M.

"30 minutes to go." he said to himself. As the waitress came over to him.

"Planning a surprise for Missus Fence I see." she said.

"Yes dear, Susan." he said, he knew Susan was a waitress in the cafe in front of their house and sometimes when his other self and Betsy hanged there, she would make small talk and knew them well.

"How romantic, here she comes." Susan said pointing it out.

"Wish me luck." he said as his eyes sparkled with joy.

"I wish I could have someone who loved me like you love her." she said to Dr. Fence

He smiled and left her a  $100 bill as tip. Then slipped out of the place. 

Betsy was opening the door of their house when he reached behind her.

"Hello, Betsy" he whispered to her ears.

She turned around almost shocked and before she could say anything. He kissed her for a very long time, holding her tightly.

"I love you so much." he said.

"Woah!!! what happened??" she asked him.

"Here these are for you." he said to her as he handed over the roses and chocolate.

She looked at him puzzled at what had happened, blushing.

"What happened to you, what is special today?"

"You, you are special today Betsy baby." he said. He couldn't believe how even after so many years he was talking this way like they never were separated.

"Let's go in. You crazy old man." she said laughing as she turned around to open the door.

She opened it and both entered the room. He closed the door behind him and kissed her again on her forehead, tears again flowing down his cheek.

"Hey, baby, what happened? why are you crying?" she asked looking at him confused.

"Nothing, I am just so happy, I am here." he said looking into her deep hazel eyes. "How I have missed them?" he thought to himself.

"So, you are happy for abandoning your students, when the exam times are near. So evil." she said to him.

"Hahaha You are the best." he said to her, picking her up and carrying her to the drawing room.

"You seem to be in a very romantic mood today."

"Am I not always?" he asked.

"Yeah but this is different, its as if you want me more than ever today, your eyes say so." she said.

He wondered how she was able to read her mind even after so many years. She truly was his soul mate.

After that moment time went by as fast as a jet and in no time, it was 4. The alarm on his clock beeped and he knew it was time to go. She was lying by her side, resting on her shoulders.

He took out a capsule from his pocket and put it in the glass of water that was in the table in front of them. 

"Betsy, wake up." he said.

"I have to go."

"Go where." she asked still holding her arms and her head on his shoulders.

It was the hardest thing to do for Dr. Fence, but he knew what he had to do. 

"Here, have this glass of water and I will say." he said bringing the glass of water close to her lips making her drink it.

As soon as she took a sip, she went into a deep sleep, the capsule contained a drug that would erase her memory of the entire afternoon. She would never remember what happened when she would wake up. 

He placed her head on the sofa, gave her a kiss and walked out of the room, he fought hard his urge to stay but this was what he had to do. He had promised himself that he wouldn't do more than this. His goal was completed and he was ready now to go back. He went back to the closet and held on to her dress.

"Transport Back, Now." he said and by the time he was finished with the sentence, he was back to his own universe. The faint smell of her was all that came back with him.

"Shut down, stats" he ordered, his last command to the machine.

"Confirm shut down:  Y/N" The text blinked on in the monitor.

He stood there looking at the monitor for a long time and then he reached for the keyboard.

"Click"

***

"What is an alternate timeline?" Dr Fence asked his class which, as usual, was filled with students. Everyone watched with bated breathe for him to unravel yet another interesting topic to them.

"Back to the Future, Part Two!" someone shouted from the back of the hall.

"Great Scott! Marty, is that you?" Fence said, imitating Dr. Emmet Brown from the movie.

The class giggled on for some time as Dr. Fence let it go on for a bit. He raised his hand after a minute or so in a gesture for the students to start paying attention again.

"An alternate timeline is the one where due to a change in decision. For example, if I am walking in a line and if I choose to go right, it creates one time line while if I choose to go left, another one is created," he said while drawing a diagram on the board.

"Let us suppose I was walking in a line, took a right in one time line and a left in another timeline and, in some time in future, in the left timeline, I chose to take a right. I would reach the original timeline, hence that time line converges to a single future." 

"So are you saying all timelines will converge?" Jessie asked.

"Eventually, yes. I mean, of course all timelines will converge at the final point. The point when all the universe will collapse," Dr. Fence explained.

"But, some of the timelines converge at a point before the universe collapses. Now if we consider each timeline to create a separate universe, it would mean that when that alternate timeline collapses to the original timeline, it will mean that this universe will also collapse and end but it cannot happen as all parallel universes can collapse only at a single point simultaneously or they all would become unstable. Hence, all alternate timelines will not each create a separate universe. But only those timelines which will never meet again will form a separate universe and that is what we call a mirror universe." Dr. Fence completed.

He didn't realize how quiet the class had become, he looked at everyone and noticed how everyone had a blank expression on their faces. He realized that today's concept was not easy to grasp for everyone.

The bell buzzed and marked the end of the lecture. It was as if life came back to all the students as the usual noise increased in the hall.

Dr Fence quietly gathered all his books and started moving back to his cabin.

"Excuse me, Dr. Fence." It was Jessie.

"Not today, please, Jessie, can we do this tomorrow. I am a little tired." The words almost flew out of Dr. Fence’s mouth.

"I am sorry."

"It’s OK."

Dr. Fence went straight to his office. Ever since he had stepped over and met Betsy, everything had changed. He thought he could live with that " to live the rest of his life with that last hug, with that last kiss. But it wasn't so. It was even more excruciating than ever to be away from her. It was making him mad, the pain was just too intense to bear for being away from her.

He stayed in his office for another couple of minutes just sitting there trying to check certain assignments when he just couldn't take it anymore, he left for his apartment.

Upon entering the apartment it was as if he was in a trance. He wasn't thinking straight anymore, his eyes were determined to do something. Something that would change everything else from now on.

He went straight to his room and ordered Stats "Start execution - Crossover."

The computer buzzed and started the usual process. While waiting for the process to complete, he went to his closet and got the vial of anesthetic which he had used on Betsy last time.

He waited for the process to complete and as soon as it was completed he made the command to depart.

"Start transfer, set clock for 30 minutes and return back from now." 

In a flash, he was standing in front of the Fence's apartment. It was already getting dark. He was shivering with excitement for what he was going to do. This could be the thing that would make him stay with Betsy forever or would mean his death. He stood there for sometime and then, after a few moments, he took out the vial and poured it on the handkerchief and started taking his steps towards the house.

Before he could reach for the door, the door opened and from there came out Dr. Fence. He was sweating as if he had just finished a marathon or something, he didn't pay attention to the person who looked suspiciously like him and just walked straight at him who was ready with the handkerchief. He promptly put it on Dr.Fence’s face and he collapsed in a few seconds, barely putting up a fight.

When the alternate Dr. Fence was finally unconscious, he started the following commands.

"Transport Back Now, universe 98904B5 subject Dr. Fence. Truncate Data and Shutdown."

As soon as he was done with it Dr. Fence was out of his sight - transported back to the original universe and he was left here to replace him. Finally his wish of living with Betsy had come true. He had finally made it, now he would live the life he was meant to and the other Dr. Fence will be stuck there as all the data was destroyed which would enable him to come back.

With a victorious smile he entered the house of the Fence's apartments but on opening the door he couldn't believe his eyes. Betsy was covered in blood lying dead on the hallway. His legs refused to move any further. He couldn't believe his eyes, no words came out of his mouth when he tried and it all was clear now, why Dr. Fence was in such a hurry and disturbed state when he came out from the room. He tried to walk over to her and he slowly managed to reach her, she was definitely dead. 

The blood had dried around her body and it was evident that she was dead for a few minutes now. He held her dead body and, in anguish, finally burst into tears. 

"No, This can't be, not now. Not again. No! God, no!"

Far away from all this, in the original universe, when the other Dr. Fence woke up. He stood calmly and exited the room to pick up an apple. While taking a bite, he thought to himself as a sly smiled crossed his lips.

"I knew it all along. I am so glad I am out of that hell. I hated that woman, Betsy. So, I killed her."