“Quantum Choice” Jon Edward Edwards 11/17/14 The last memory Dr. Dean Maxwell had of his universe was the event that triggered his quantum leap. He, his wife, and 11-year-old daughter had been traveling from their home in Chevy Chase Maryland to a camp he had just acquired on the Virginia side of the Chesapeake Bay. An Alberta Clipper had swept though bringing wet and icy conditions to the DC area. Regardless, he wanted to scout the new ducks that would be migrating south in front of the weather system. And his wife and daughter were excited to see the new place. His attention drifted for a split second, his thoughts consumed by Sam, his block headed Chesapeake Bay retriever, and the upcoming duck season. The big Audi 800 hit an icy patch on the bridge crossing the Potomac River. The sedan slid across four lanes of empty traffic and careened into the concrete barrier leaving half of the car hanging over the edge. He told his two passengers to be still and that everything would be ok. He unfastened his seat belt and slowly made his way to the back of car, hoping to displace the weight. His wife frantically unfastened her seat belt as well, a ghastly mistake. The movement tipped the front of the vehicle and it tittered and rocked for several seconds. The car began to steady, Dean thought they were ok. Then a strong northern gust swept over them sending the car over the bridge and into the Potomac River. The incredibly strong Dr. Maxwell braced himself and managed to remain in the backseat upon impact, unscathed. His wife, however, had been slammed into the front windshield where she laid battered and motionless. The windows of the car, brittle from the freezing conditions, shattered immediately flooding the car as if a damn had burst. Fueled by nothing more than an atavistic instinct to survive and save his family, the Dr. dipped his shoulder into the rising water, unbuckled his daughter’s restraint, and swam out into the icy darkness with her in his arms. They finally broke through the surface of the water gasping for the oxygen their lungs had been deprived of. His daughter, having inherited her father’s strength and courage, began swimming towards the bridge. He yelled at her to hold on to one of the huge concrete pilings that supported the massive structure. He took a deep breath and dove back into the hell in which he had just escaped. He swam thirty feet to the bottom but with absolutely zero visibility he couldn’t find the car that had become his wife’s frozen tomb. He repeated the process time and time again until he became hypothermic. He didn’t know how much time had passed but when he called out to his daughter there was no response. Oddly, no one had stopped on the bridge; there was no one in sight. He swam in the direction he thought he had seen her go. She was gone. He screamed in terror for help until finally someone heard him, stopped, and called 911. The first responders arrived and plucked him from the river. He described the events in hysterics; pleading with the fire fighters who had him wrapped him in blankets to continue the search for his family. Euphoric from the hypothermia, he dashed for the bridge attempting to dive back in. An officer at the last minute stopped him. The police became skeptical when they found no evidence of a vehicle crashing into the side of the bridge. There was no indication that what the Dr. was telling them had occurred. When he looked back across the bridge into The District of Columbia he wondered if he was in the middle of a horrible nightmare. Maybe he was hallucinating from the hypothermia. But he was experiencing neither of the two. As a matter of fact, Dr. Dean Maxwell had ever been more awake in his entire life. He squinted to see through the darkness and freezing rain. The Washington Monument was gone. Now, three years later, he and the brilliant physicist Dr. Theodore Naftel, had finally finished the centrifuge that could, theoretically, catapult him back into the world from which he came. Utilizing the properties of quantum physics and the unlimited resources of Duke University, Dr. Naftel had build a device that he believed could briefly open a small window into a parallel universe. However, Dr. Naftel had never waivered from his hypothesis that there was little chance of human tissue and bone, and live organs and nerves withstanding the exposure to the incredible energy the centrifuge would have to displace in order to split dimensions. Nor was he sure that this window would even lead Dean to his destination. There was no way to know, there could be unlimited universes. But, through quantum theory, it was possible. Dr. Dean Maxwell had never lost faith and had never wavered from his goal. He had done everything humanly possible and was willing to risk everything, for he had nothing. But that was then. He could visualize very few scenarios in which his daughter had survived. There was a possibility, depending on how long she had been in the harsh conditions, but the probably was miniscule. He was absolutely certain his wife had perished in the crash. He had seen her body, mangled against the bloody windshield Dr. Maxwell had an unfathomable decision to make. Should he risk death and attempt a leap through the space and time continuum only to find that his wife and daughter had indeed perished on that fateful frigid night? Or accept his fate and remain in this new world with the beautiful and gifted red headed artist he had fallen in love with? He was torn as he thought of her; she had the prettiest blue eyes he had seen in two universes.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:06:40 +0000
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