friendofthejabberwock (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
friendofthejabberwock) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomweekly2021-08-01 07:24 am
friendofthejabberwock) wrote in fandomweekly2021-08-01 07:24 am
Entry tags:
[#102] Between the Doorway (Original)
Theme Prompt: #102 - Mirror Universe
Title: Between the Doorway
Fandom: Original
Rating/Warnings: G
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 622
Summary: A void in space and time has suddenly opened thousands of kilometers above the surface of the Earth—except that it is anything but empty.
The discovery of the mirror universe is not a physics discovery like the Higgs boson, predicted for many years and then eventually located as expected. Its first sighting is far more chaotic, the musings of science fiction and speculative hypotheses come to life. It just happens, dividing time into before and after just as space has now been divided into here and there.
A much less philosophical version of events is announced on the evening news. A void in space and time has suddenly opened thousands of kilometers above the surface of the Earth—except that it is anything but a void. Both satellite measurements and on-the-ground radar indicate a whole new world on the other side, filled with the antimatter equivalent of our own universe.
Jade's phone is ringing off the hook, and emails are piling up by the second. On the left side of her desk is a stack of journal manuscripts rejected outright or requesting impossible revisions. All detail theories she's written and calculations she's performed supporting the idea that at least one other universe was not only possible or even probable, but that a collision and matter interactions were imminent. To her right is a hand-written list of everyone contacting her in the current flood, many of whom are giants in their fields.
There's little time to be satisfied, though—all the space agencies are calling, the US intelligence agencies are calling, the EU, the Kremlin, Beijing... she's fast running out of space on her to-do list. One invitation is effective immediately, though—she is to drive to the nearest airport, where a plane will take her to meet with top officials and outline her theorems and recommendations.
It is a tall order, but for once she does what she is told.
-----
A plan quickly forms. Matter and antimatter can never touch without complete annihilation, but a capsule can be sent to a safe distance outside the void—portal—door—whatever it is. Visual observations can then be made, more accurate data can be collected, and there is of course the off-chance of first contact.
Will she join the spacecraft crew? She's asked. Yes indeed. She wouldn't miss this for the world (and its twin, now, she supposes.)
-----
The astronauts' tales that inspired her when she was young didn't exaggerate the effects of liftoff. She's both shaken to her core and glued to her seat, both physically and mentally.
Attaining orbit unfolds a beautiful scene before her. The Earth becomes a glowing blue dome, laced with clouds dissipating into the black nothingness of space. There are further philosophical statements to be made about such a scene, of course, but they are not her observations to make. Instead, she must turn to another window on the other side of the capsule.
Now the void appears to lie in front of her. It's difficult to characterize—constantly molting and distorting, its image pulling in and manipulating the light of the stars behind it. But she can't dispute the basic facts of the image she sees: another Earth, another fragile blue dome floating in the vacuum of space.
One object stands between the doorway and the anti-Earth, though.
It's a capsule, nearly identical to hers, although it bears a different insignia. It spirals mechanically to the very edge of the spacetime passageway, the distortion fading as it moves closer. It seems to turn in slow motion as Jade looks inside.
Through the thick glass, through the void, through another thick glass window, she can see another like herself. Too much like herself, in fact—the same eyes, the same hair, the same mouth crooked into her trademark smile.
Jade ventures a wave.
Her opposite looks back with an impassive stare as her smile warps fluidly into a sneer.
Title: Between the Doorway
Fandom: Original
Rating/Warnings: G
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 622
Summary: A void in space and time has suddenly opened thousands of kilometers above the surface of the Earth—except that it is anything but empty.
The discovery of the mirror universe is not a physics discovery like the Higgs boson, predicted for many years and then eventually located as expected. Its first sighting is far more chaotic, the musings of science fiction and speculative hypotheses come to life. It just happens, dividing time into before and after just as space has now been divided into here and there.
A much less philosophical version of events is announced on the evening news. A void in space and time has suddenly opened thousands of kilometers above the surface of the Earth—except that it is anything but a void. Both satellite measurements and on-the-ground radar indicate a whole new world on the other side, filled with the antimatter equivalent of our own universe.
Jade's phone is ringing off the hook, and emails are piling up by the second. On the left side of her desk is a stack of journal manuscripts rejected outright or requesting impossible revisions. All detail theories she's written and calculations she's performed supporting the idea that at least one other universe was not only possible or even probable, but that a collision and matter interactions were imminent. To her right is a hand-written list of everyone contacting her in the current flood, many of whom are giants in their fields.
There's little time to be satisfied, though—all the space agencies are calling, the US intelligence agencies are calling, the EU, the Kremlin, Beijing... she's fast running out of space on her to-do list. One invitation is effective immediately, though—she is to drive to the nearest airport, where a plane will take her to meet with top officials and outline her theorems and recommendations.
It is a tall order, but for once she does what she is told.
-----
A plan quickly forms. Matter and antimatter can never touch without complete annihilation, but a capsule can be sent to a safe distance outside the void—portal—door—whatever it is. Visual observations can then be made, more accurate data can be collected, and there is of course the off-chance of first contact.
Will she join the spacecraft crew? She's asked. Yes indeed. She wouldn't miss this for the world (and its twin, now, she supposes.)
-----
The astronauts' tales that inspired her when she was young didn't exaggerate the effects of liftoff. She's both shaken to her core and glued to her seat, both physically and mentally.
Attaining orbit unfolds a beautiful scene before her. The Earth becomes a glowing blue dome, laced with clouds dissipating into the black nothingness of space. There are further philosophical statements to be made about such a scene, of course, but they are not her observations to make. Instead, she must turn to another window on the other side of the capsule.
Now the void appears to lie in front of her. It's difficult to characterize—constantly molting and distorting, its image pulling in and manipulating the light of the stars behind it. But she can't dispute the basic facts of the image she sees: another Earth, another fragile blue dome floating in the vacuum of space.
One object stands between the doorway and the anti-Earth, though.
It's a capsule, nearly identical to hers, although it bears a different insignia. It spirals mechanically to the very edge of the spacetime passageway, the distortion fading as it moves closer. It seems to turn in slow motion as Jade looks inside.
Through the thick glass, through the void, through another thick glass window, she can see another like herself. Too much like herself, in fact—the same eyes, the same hair, the same mouth crooked into her trademark smile.
Jade ventures a wave.
Her opposite looks back with an impassive stare as her smile warps fluidly into a sneer.
no subject
no subject