Page 64 of The Paradox Club

“But if the news is about the Hindenburg and Amelia Earhart,” said Pilgrim 3, “your theory is shot to pieces. With that sort of news if these broadcasts are real, they must have originated in…”

“What we call 1937,” said Harry.

“All the more proof that it’s a hoax,” said Pilgrim 3. Her comment drew a ripple of laughter from the side of the room where her followers had congregated.

“On the contrary,” said Harry. “If you had any understanding of higher-level physics, you would know that the timing is the thing that argues most strongly for the authenticity of the broadcasts. Just because a universe is parallel to ours does not mean it is perfectly aligned in time. To dumb it down for you, if you think of our universe and the universe this radio belongs to as being two trains running side by side on separate tracks, the two trains are parallel, but when I looked out the window of the car we call 2004 I was looking into the window of the car on the second train that we call 1937. I hope that explains it in a way you can understand.”

Pilgrim 3 blushed deeply and did not respond.

“The question that I bring before the Paradox Club today may be one which challenges our stated mission, but in the light of this new discovery it must be asked. This artifact is more closely connected to a foreign universe than any that has been retrieved in the nearly seventy-two years of the club’s history. The four hundred sixteen items secured in the club’s vault under the expert safekeeping of Pilgrim 3…”—here a snicker ran through that faction of the audience most loyal to Harry—“those objects are, for all intents and purposes, dead. This artifact, this radio, is alive. The pieces in the vault are disconnected from their universe of origin. The radio is connected. It gives us an unprecedented chance to attempt what many in this club have quietly whispered about for years. In short, the question I put to you is: Should a member of the club use this unique UFO to try to contact, or perhaps even cross into, a foreign universe?”

Even though many in the audience knew this was exactly what Harry had been leading up to, an audible gasp went up from the crowd. Every member of the Paradox Club had taken an oath on their induction stating that they would do everything to prevent exactly what Harry Maxwell now proposed. The purpose of the Paradox Club was to protect Earth and its universe from the dangers of contact with parallel universes. And, in the past, no one had enumerated those dangers more precisely or more eloquently than Harry Maxwell. On the other hand, no one in the club had a greater motivation to reach into a parallel universe than Harry Maxwell.

“This is a change of tune for you, Harry,” said Richard from the presidential podium. “I have minutes of no fewer than sixteen past meetings in which you have argued against exactly what you’re suggesting.”

“Maxwell’s Law of Unintended Danger,” said Pilgrim 3 with a sneer. “That’s what they call it around the club.” It wasn’t just what they called it around the club. Without revealing any secrets of the club, or even its existence, Harry had written an article for a scientific journal titled “The Law of Unintended Danger,” summarizing the law thus:

Arguments which have been made against the exploration of deep space because of possible unintended dangerous consequences for both the explorer and the explored apply tenfold to the question of whether, should the technology ever be developed to do so, we should attempt any contact with other universes. Intended harm may be a good enough reason to avoid both such probes—if we make contact with a hostile civilization, we could put our own species at risk. But much more likely is that the danger would come in an invisible form—a virus, a flesh-eating bacteria resistant to antibiotics, or some other microorganism or nanobot that we cannot even imagine, much less protect ourselves against. Equally, a simple cold virus carried by a human explorer might wipe out an entire civilization—one only has to look at the history of Indigenous peoples in North America to see the damage that can be done. For now, even the existence of parallel universes is only theoretical, but when the time comes that a door to another world presents itself, we would be wise to keep it firmly shut.

“It’s true,” said Richard. “Your eloquence in putting forth the Law of Unintended Danger seems at odds with your desire to risk the consequences of contact. What makes this situation any different from the ones you argue against?” Although Richard was strongly opposed to what Harry wanted to do with the radio, he had agreed to let his friend have his say, and to keep the debate on track, so he had asked the question that Harry had written down for him on a slip of paper just before the debate began.

“I’m glad you asked that,” said Harry. “You’re right that I have argued against unfettered explorations of either deep space or parallel universes, but the present situation is unique in many aspects. First, the universe of origin for this radio is extremely similar to our own.”

“You can’t possibly know that from one artifact,” shot back Pilgrim 3.

“The technology of the artifact, the materials used, the preciseness with which it mirrors a Philco Model 70 Baby Grand Cathedral radio in our own universe, and the vast majority of the programming it receives all point to a universe that differs from our own in small ways only. But that’s not all.”

“Oh, here we go,” said Pilgrim 3, rolling her eyes. “Harry Maxwell and his theory of the Paradox Club’s UFOs. We’ve all heard this one before.”

“But now we have astounding new evidence to support my theory,” said Harry.

“You believe that every UFO ever recovered has the same universe of origin?” said Pilgrim 3, eliciting more laughter from her followers.

“Our sister universe,” said Harry. “And this radio proves what was, in the past, simply a theory based on the similarity of all our artifacts to items originating in our universe. The timing of the radio broadcasts shows that the universe from which it originated is not synced with ours in time—what we call temporal alignment. But the difference between our time and the broadcast time is constantly changing, sometimes fluctuating a few seconds and occasionally jumping several decades. It’s taken me weeks to work out the math, but I have proven, not that you have any chance of understanding it”—here Harry glanced at Pilgrim 3, who reddened again—“I have proven that at times the two universes snap into temporal alignment and at those moments and those moments only, objects can slip from one universe to the other.”

“Even if that’s true,” said Lidenbrock 2, “it doesn’t prove anything.”

“Pilgrim 3,” said Harry, ignoring Lidenbrock 2 and turning to the keeper of the vault. “You know more about the history of the artifacts in the vault than anyone. Could you answer a question for me?”

“I could,” said Pilgrim 3 coldly.

Harry strode to the stage and pulled a cloth off an easel, revealing a chart of dates. “Now, can you confirm that these are the dates on which untethered foreign objects have been discovered by the club in the past forty years?”

“You asked me to prepare the chart,” said Pilgrim 3, “so yes.”

“Excellent. Now let’s look for a pattern, shall we?”

“There is no pattern,” said Pilgrim 3. “We’ve already analyzed that.”

“Yes, well, as I said, the math is rather difficult. And math isn’t really your strong suit, is it? I recall an election you lost because you miscalculated the number of members who supported you.”

“Now, now,” said Richard, as Pilgrim 3 lunged toward Harry. “There’s no reason we can’t be civil. If you have a point to make, Mr. Maxwell, see if you can make it without insulting the esteemed keeper of the vault.”

“Very well,” said Harry, turning to the chart. “Let’s begin here. April 1979. After a lull of six years, we found four objects over a period of two months. Then another spell of four years with no new objects located, then beginning in May of 1983 seven objects were found over four months. Then almost ten years with nothing until August 1992 when twelve objects were found in just two weeks.”

“We’ve always known the objects come in groups,” said Pilgrim 3. “There’s nothing new about any of this. And there are plenty of explanations for the clumping of objects.”

“But there is something new,” said Harry. “Because, according to my calculations, at specific moments in April 1979, May 1983, and August 1992 the universe of origin of the radio was in perfect temporal alignment with our universe.” A murmur passed through the crowd. This was the first completely new piece of information Harry had presented, and the implications were astounding. “There may be plenty of explanations for what you so eloquently call ‘clumping’ of untethered objects, but there is only one explanation that is borne out by the math—and that is that all our objects came from the same universe as this radio and that when universes come into temporal alignment, objects, and perhaps even organisms, are able to slip from one to another.”