Free Multiversum by Leonardo Patrignani Page A

Marco’s path had deviated sharply ten years ago, because of that car crash. Everything that could have happened later in his life had been hijacked onto an entirely different route on account of that tragedy.
    â€˜Now try to think,’ Marco went on, ‘that in a hypothetical reality I wasn’t left paralysed in that accident, that my parents weren’t killed in a heap of twisted metal. Where would I be now?’
    â€˜I don’t know. You’d be at home with your family, you’d be able to walk … Why are you asking me these questions?’
    â€˜What if this scenario actually existed?’
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    â€˜Somewhere, I’m with my family, I can walk and I can run, and you’ve probably never met me.’
    â€˜Somewhere where?’
    Marco took a deep breath before launching into the central theme of his research. ‘In an alternative space-time continuum.’
    Alex sat in silence for a few seconds. On the horizon a ship was gliding away, vanishing little by little, almost as if it were being swallowed up by the ocean. Alex watched it until the last black speck disappeared into the distance.
    â€˜Marco, what does all this have to do with anything? What the hell is an alternative space-time continuum?’
    â€˜A parallel reality. A world exactly like the one we live in now, with an infinity of things in common with this one, but where we might have followed … different paths.’
    Alex looked up, gazed at the sky, and paused for a moment at the shape of a cloud. It looked like the profile of a wise old man, with a long beard and a cigar in his mouth.
    â€˜Both you and Jenny,’ Marco went on, ‘might have done a certain thing, in the past. But you also might have done the exact opposite of that thing … in a parallel universe. A dimension in which you exist, just as she exists, but where her life headed in a completely different direction, as did yours.’
    â€˜Marco, I don’t even know how you could think of such a thing! And I don’t know how this stupid theory of yours can even help me right now. I talk to Jenny, but only in my damn head, and that’s the problem! The reason is simple: I’m crazy.’
    â€˜Alex, listen. Two days ago, you left on a journey that was supposed to take you to her. She was the one who told you where to go; she gave you specific directions. She was there this morning on the pier, just like you were. You were standing right next to that lamppost. She was standing right next to that same lamppost. But she was in a parallel dimension.’
    â€˜A parallel dimension … okay, Marco, I get it. It’s a good story. Well done, this time you’ve really outdone yourself in terms of imagination.’ Alex’s voice was sarcastic and resigned at the same time.
    â€˜I’m not making anything up, my friend!’ Marco exclaimed, getting more and more excited. ‘There’s a massive amount of scientific proof: tons of books and research papers on the topic. I’ve been looking into this for years, ever since the day of the accident, ever since I asked myself this question for the first time.’
    â€˜What question are you talking about?’
    Marco didn’t reply immediately. In his head, thousands of data points were clustering in search of order.
    â€˜Is there a world where we stayed home that day, where I can now walk like a normal person? A world where my parents are still alive?’
    â€˜And did you find an answer to that question?’
    â€˜Yes, I did, and then some.’
    Marco’s voice was shaking. The emotion of it all was too powerful. He’d never confessed to anyone that he’d thought about this. He’d never told anyone, not even Alex, that it was the accident that had pushed him to pursue this research for the very first time.
    â€˜That world is the Multiverse, Alex.’

12
    After that short, ridiculous