5. [video]

[pompous_today]

Who: Simon Tam and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: N/A
When: August 13th

I have a rather strange question. Twice now, people have arrived here who look nearly identical to people I knew back home- and yet, they are clearly not those people. They are close in looks, but in personality... not so much.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is it just something I should chalk up to alternate universes and time travel? It's rather unsettling, to tell the truth...

Comments

[video]

[geonomy]

[Now. Clay could be truthful and talk about how there are TV shows on his world with radically different characters that are played by the same actor, and how that's probably why Simon's seeing these familiar-yet-not people.

But what would that cause? Would it really be worth saying something like that? Besides, Clay has another theory in mind, one that could work well with introducing to people. So, he decides to go with that instead.]

I can't say it's happened to me, but I think I understand. What do you think about it being related to the multiverse theory? In one reality, one of those persons you're talking about is the one you know. And yet in another one, where the branches of reality went in an entirely different direction, that person isn't the one you know at all. Their body structure could be the same, but they grew up in different circumstances, different worlds, maybe even different parents.

So, basically, alternate universes?

[video]

[pompous_today]

That could make sense, yes- or they could be distantly related somehow. But the problem with that theory is I know one of them, at least, is from hundreds of years before my time- I came from 2517, she was from 2009.

[video]

[geonomy]

Wooow, that's pretty far apart. [Oh, Firefly. You and your future thing.] It could still apply, though! With that theory, a person who was born at one time in another world could've been born at another time in a completely different one. I'd have to look into it more, but that's my guess, at least.

[video]

[pompous_today]

It's enough to make one's head spin, really. I suppose that is possible, though- or something like reincarnation. Or it could just be random genetic chance, as improbable as that is.

[video]

[geonomy]

Everything about all the possibilities and theories of the universe is enough to make one's head spin! Heck, we could be way off the mark, but that's why we need to keep theorizing, even when we're this close to the truth! [Someone thinks this is the coolest thing ever, apparently.] Nothing is improbable when it comes to this!

[video]

[pompous_today]

[Simon smiled.]

I do find it fascinating, even if it is unsettling. I'd like to be able to know for sure, but I doubt I ever will. Maybe I'll get to meet my own face some day, even.

[video]

[geonomy]

[Man. Meeting your own face sounds more unsettling than all the other stuff they were talking about, and Clay can't help giving a shudder.]

Well. At least you'd be prepared for it, right? Maybe you two could be like... twins, or something!

[iamawaited]

There's someone on my ship like that. Looks like-- like someone from back home.

[Not actually in the way Simon means. He has yet to see anyone truly identical. It's uncanny how close Syeira and Capable are, though.]

[pompous_today]

It's very strange to experience, isn't it? They seem like perfectly-nice people, just... not my people, if that makes sense.

[iamawaited]

It's not the same.

Threw me real good for a minute, though.

[pompous_today]

Agreed. Hearing the same voice, seeing the same face... but realizing as soon as they talk that it's not them. I actually work closely with one of them, so I am starting to get used to it, but I think I will still be startled every now and then.

[iamawaited]

Were you...

Was the other person important?

[pompous_today]

Yes. My colleague bears a very striking resemblance to my girlfriend, to be specific.

[touchofrogue]

Does your universe have the song, 'It's a small world after all?'

[pompous_today]

[Simon chuckled.]

Must be from long before my time, but we do still have such a saying.

[touchofrogue]

Then just think about how that applies to the multi-universe.

[Mysteries of the universe...]

[pompous_today]

So it may be quite likely to happen again, then. I would not be surprised if Atroma found it amusing and did it on purpose.

[touchofrogue]

[...well, that was one way of lookin' at it.]

If you wanna give them that much credit, sure. You're right, though. No reason why it won't happen again.

[pompous_today]

I would not put anything past them, to be honest. Of course, to be fair, I am not sure they do have that much control over who gets brought here.

[goldenglasses]

Could it be alternate realities!? I read about that in a book once, but the book wasn't real. Then again, a lot of things I didn't think were real are becoming a bit more real these days.

[pompous_today]

That is the only explanation I can think of- or perhaps they are distantly related somehow. Except... they're very, very close in looks. Closer to twins, rather than siblings or family members.

[goldenglasses]

Not that all twins have to look or act like each other. [It's an almost automated response. He hasn't had good experiences when it comes to twins and it's left a bad taste in his mouth.]

But I understand what you mean. They don't have any of the same memories or personalities then? I really can't say I've experience things like that before.

[pompous_today]

[Simon smiled.]

Indeed. But yes, that's right- different occupations, different memories, having lived in different places. I am not even from Earth at all, but I know one of them- my colleague Dr. Keller- is.

[goldenglasses]

Huh, that is really strange. So you know this Dr. Keller here, but you also know someone just like her back home? Or well, someone who looks just like her. Right?

[pompous_today]

Yes- my girlfriend looks almost exactly like Dr. Keller, to be specific. They are very different in personality, though, and Kaylee is a mechanic, not a doctor. I think that's part of why I'm so fascinated, that they could have walked such different paths in life.