When Universes Collide

A short story

Cassiday Branham snatched her phone off her night table and answered it before the second ring. It was never on do-not-disturb. As the President’s National Security Advisor, she was the one who always sacrificed sleep for the nation. Middle-of-the-night calls came to her first, and if she deemed the matter urgent enough, she was the person who decided to wake the President. 

The process of waking up the President of the United States in the middle of the night was both simple and complicated.

Simple when you’re of the mindset of “better safe than sorry,” but complicated when you recognize that if you’ve made a mistake, you’ve deprived the most powerful and important person in the world of much-needed decision-making sleep. 

Branham kept a bottle of No-Doz caffeine pills and an unopened water bottle on her night table in case she needed to rapidly become fully awake.

She glanced at her clock; 2:03 a.m. stared back at her, the digits glowing red like the Devil’s eyes. 

The President’s Science Advisor and Secretary of Defense were on the line. Caitlin Kay, the science advisor, spoke first. “What I am about to tell you has been confirmed by NASA, Mauna Kea Observatory, and Palomar. They’ve all seen the same anomalous neutrino and photon fields. Three hours ago, we learned that our universe is about to collide with another universe—”

“What? Are you saying that the Earth is on a collision course with another object?”

“It’s not that. Our entire universe is about to intersect with another universe.” Kay inhaled a deep breath that whistled through the gap between her front teeth. “It will happen soon, so I need to explain quickly. This won’t be a collision as it’s commonly understood. We’ll feel no impact, nothing will shake or break, and the Earth will be intact—”

“That’s a relief.”

“But what’s going to occur may be far worse.”

“I thought the universe was everything,” Branham said. “Isn’t that the definition of ‘universe?’”

“The theory of the multiverse tells us that there are many universes, perhaps an infinite number. Our universe has specific physical properties. For instance, gravity has an exact force. The same for the bonds inside an atom—they not only make matter possible, but give the atoms in our universe their peculiar properties. Like water being a liquid between zero and one hundred Celcius, and neurons in the brain having the ability to transmit signals between them. In an alternate universe, there may be no oxygen, sentient beings may be made of energy, all the universe’s planets may be clustered in a single solar system, or time may run backward. Light may not exist.”

“Or it may be no different from ours?” the Secretary of Defense, Alison McQuinn, said.

“Yes, but we can’t count on that.”

Branham looked at her wife, Lacy, who was still asleep. That was one of the endearing traits that made them a perfect couple. Lacy never woke during one of Branham’s middle-of-the-night phone calls, of which there were many.

“What happens when this universe collides with ours?”

“We haven’t worked out the dynamics of this two-universe matrix, but our best guess is that our universe will take on some of the properties of the intersecting universe. As far as consequences go, the result may range from barely perceptible to cataclysmic,” Kay said.

“Where is this alternate universe now?”

“It’s not ‘where,’ but a question of when our universe and the second will rip through the time-energy barrier that separates them. This other universe will reach ours in approximately seventy minutes, unless a variable we don’t know about intervenes. Whatever the effect, it will be felt everywhere all at once.”

Branham rubbed her chin. It was now two-eleven in the morning. “I’m going to wake the President.” 

“What can the President do?” the Secretary of Defense protested. “We don’t even know what’s going to happen. If the President tells the American people that our universe is going to collide with another that will only create mass panic. It’s better to wait until we see what happens, if anything.”

“That’s the President's decision, not yours. Be at the White House in forty-five minutes.”

Branham called the Chief of Staff, talking rapidly while getting dressed. She explained the situation as best she could and said that Science Advisor Kay would be able to answer any questions. 

Two minutes later, she was in her car, speeding toward the White House. 

President Natalie Jones was already sitting at her desk in the Oval Office when Branham arrived. Her bloodshot eyes and deep crow's feet spoke to how much three years of running the country had eroded her body. A cup of coffee steamed on her desk, wafts of hot air rising chaotically. 

The Secretary of Homeland Security, Vivian Altwood, Press Secretary Chloe Zimmer, and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Holly Tremblay, had already arrived. 

Almost immediately after Branham walked in, the Science Advisor and Secretary of Defense entered the room and found seats. 

Caitlin Kay’s hands trembled. 

“There are a great many scenarios that I’ve been briefed on. As you all know, I’m even drilled twice a year on how to launch nuclear weapons.” The President slowly shook her head. “But this—two universes intersecting—that’s something I can’t wrap my mind around. Can any of you?”

Caitlin Kay spoke, “Madam President, there is no way to prepare. There is nothing we can do except wait and hope.”

“There is something we can do and have done,” the Homeland Secretary said. “We’ve moved the Vice President, Speaker of the House, and Secretary of State as far apart as we can and will continue to further separate them for the next—” she looked at her watch— “thirty-one minutes until the universes come into contact. This will help ensure continuity of government if something happens to Washington, DC. We’ve isolated the electrical grid so the major systems aren’t connected, ordered all civilian and military aircraft grounded, woken the National Guard and military units worldwide, contacted our allies, closed bridges, and released water from the country’s dams.”

“Good thinking, Vivian. If anyone else has ideas for what we should do over the next half hour, speak up. But I’m not going to address the nation in advance. There’s no point in panicking Americans until we know there’s something to panic about.”

“Our allies feel the same way,” the Chief of Staff added as she folded her hands. “For the next thirty minutes, this is the world’s greatest secret.”

Silence filled the Oval Office, for there was nothing else to say and nothing that could be said. How do you talk about the unknown when this is the definition of the unknown? How do you weigh the pluses and minuses when pluses and minuses may mean something entirely different or nothing at all? 

Chloe Zimmer and Caitlin Kay closed their eyes but did not sleep. 

Everyone else in the room just sat there, waiting. A few presidential advisors silently moved their lips as if praying.

The Secretary of Defense’s G-Shock beeped a shrill, jarring noise. 

The intersection has begun.

A creature materialized on the middle of the rug with the Great Seal.

President Jones rose. 

When others went to stand, the President motioned for them to sit, but that didn’t stop everyone from gasping.

A second creature materialized to the President’s left. 

A third stood near the door.

These beings wore puzzled expressions on their faces—faces that were very much human. But different, too. Thicker, more angular, with coarse hair covering two of the three aliens’ faces. Their arms bore more muscle than people on Earth, save for sports players.

Their bodies were similar to humans but also markedly different: narrower hips, broader shoulders, thicker chests, though without breasts—yet they had nipples. 

A brigade of Secret Service agents dashed into the Oval Office. Two agents held each of the three creatures by their arms while the other agents trained their 9mm Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns at them.  

Two agents started to drag President Jones out of the room, but she said, “No, I need to be here.”

Below the creatures’ waists—President Jones nor anyone else had seen such body parts before. There was a fleshy sack containing two round objects and flaccid thumb-sized flesh drooping in front where the vagina should be. 

The creatures shivered in their nakedness, their teeth clattering, their bewildered eyes darting from side to side. One of them spoke in a language nobody understood.

“What are—?” 

Science advisor Caitlin Kay replied, “I think these are another gender.”

“A what?”

“It’s been theorized, but it’s only ever been a theory.”

“What has?”

Kay pointed to the creatures’ anomalous body parts. “Beings in that universe reproduce sexually.”

“What?”

“They need two genders to make babies, women and not-women.”

The President cringed. Goosebumps erupted on her arms and neck. 

The Secretary of Homeland Security rested her phone beside her. “They’re all over the planet.”

“What are we going to do with them?” the President asked.

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