My life was not all that special of a story before the Event. Of course, relatively speaking, nobody’s was really. But here I am getting ahead of myself. I suppose I should go back to the beginning first…
You see, I was a student in the closest community college to home I could find. Living at the house I grew up in was way cheaper than renting a place, even if I did have to contribute to food and utility costs a bit. It sounds weird that my parents would make me pay to live at home, but considering I was in my twenties, it wasn’t unreasonable. I didn’t mind either way.
Anyway, I went to a cheap school while I saved up for the tuition at a four-year university to get that physics degree I had always dreamed about. I wanted to explore the universe and discover its secrets and I figured a major in physics would be the best way to go for that sort of thing. Don’t get me wrong though, I wasn’t an anti-social science geek or anything like that. I hung out with friends when I wasn’t working, went to the gym, and I was even a competitive kick boxer, so I was in pretty good shape.
That was my life for a few years until I was miraculously accepted into a fairly prestigious university on the other side of the country. It was farther from home than I wanted but, hey, we all got to move on some day. Besides, it was one of the top schools for my major. How could I refuse? So that summer I packed up my belongings, said goodbye to my parents, and started on the long drive to my new home.
As I pulled up to the new student parking area after my weeklong drive, I looked up at the towering libraries, massive classrooms, and ludicrously large dorms. It was all rather intimidating for a guy who had never really been away from home before, but quite exciting all the same. Today is the first day of the rest of my life, I thought to myself with a smile. I continued to ponder the potential awesomeness in my near future as I parked, grabbed as much as I could carry in one trip from the trunk of my car, registered with the smiling student representative, and headed in the direction of the dorm I would be staying in. My thoughts drifted to my roommate, who I had yet to meet. Eventually I stood in front of the door to my room. It was unlocked which meant someone was already inside, so I took a deep breath and knocked solidly a few times. The door whipped open so fast it seemed like the grinning, sandy haired guy who stood there had been waiting with his hand on the door handle for me to arrive. He instantly started a barrage of questions that smacked me in the face like a bullet train.
“Hi there! I’m Max Cooper, are you my roommate? What’s your name? I’m studying chemistry, what are you studying? Where are you from? I live like, an hour away so I can still go home for stuff if I want.“ He stopped for a split second to catch his breath, and I took this as an opportunity to interject.
“Whoa, Max, slow down dude.” I laughed,” I’m Michael Thorson, it’s good to meet you-“
“Wow your name is Thorson? That’s so cool! Did you know that names with a son at the end come from ancient Northern Europe when people didn’t have last names and they would just say that they were the sons of whomever? That means your ancestors thought they were descended from Thor! He’s the Norse god of thunder, and he’s totally awesome. He has this badass hammer named Mjolnir and stuff.” He continued to yammer on about Norse mythology as I sighed and walked into our shared room. I looked around and was pleasantly surprised at our accommodations, which were considerably nicer than I expected. Hell, we even had a microwave and a mini-fridge.
“I could definitely get used to this.” I mumbled to myself.
“What was that?” Max asked. I hadn’t even noticed he had stopped his lecture; I was so absorbed in my own thoughts. That and I already knew everything he was trying to teach me.
“Oh, nothing.” I responded. “I was just admiring our living space.” Luckily I could tell Max was a pretty organized and neat guy, so I wouldn’t even have to worry about his crap all over the place. He had already gotten unpacked and it was clear we were going to use the “this side is mine and that side is yours” system by the strip of duct tape running through the room. He had a few alt-rock band posters up and some model spaceships on his dresser, but other than that the room was kind of bare. I set my things down and told Max I was going to my car to get the rest of my bags. He offered to help me out and the two of us headed back down to the parking lot together. I smiled to myself as he began informing me of all the things he knew about the school we were at and I could tell he was going to be a major pain sometimes, but also that he would be an interesting guy to have around.
As it turns out Max and I were in several of the same classes throughout our time at school. He was interested in a lot of the same things I was and we worked together on many of our projects. We both wanted to understand more about the world around us, but we wanted more than that as well. One night we had a conversation that would change a lot in our minds.
“Max?” I asked as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
“What’s up Mike?”
“Why are we doing what we’re doing?”
I heard him sit up and turn towards me.
“What do you mean? Like why are we at school, or studying what we’re studying, or-“
“Yeah, studying what we’re studying. Why do you think we care?”
Max was silent for a minute, which was unusual.
“I don’t know. I guess I just want to know why things happen and figure out more about our world. What about you?”
I slid out of my blankets and leaned against the wall facing him and said,
“I honestly don’t know for sure.” I heaved a heavy sigh and continued, “There’s just so much out there and I guess I just want to find out how much. I can’t believe we’re the only ones in this universe, considering how massive it is.”
Max laughed, “That would be pretty stupid.”
“Not to mention lonely.” I sat quietly for a second then said, “Max, do you think there might be other universes similar to ours with people wondering what’s out there just like us?”
“It’s totally possible.” He replied. “I mean, if Einstein is correct-“
I stopped him before he could get going, “No, I mean do YOU think so?”
“Well, yeah. It just feels wrong to think that there could only be one universe. I mean, what’s on the outside of ours?”
“I don’t know Max, I just don’t know…”