“My feet hurt,” complained Kat as she and her friend Jesse meandered through an alley way between the old university buildings.
“Been standing all day?” Jesse asked sympathetically. Kat nodded.
“Five hours of physics labs and new shoes is never a good combination.” Kat was a well dressed young woman compared to the average science student. Her shirt was ironed, her pants were clean and her shoes were polished. Her dyed red hair was contained neatly in a ponytail and her face was accented with thick-rimmed burgundy glasses.
“Physics,” Jesse scoffed, “Why do you want to major in physics I’ll never understand. All that theory with no use, trying to decide whether things do or don’t exist.” Kat looked almost offended as she shifted the weight of her backpack.
“But Jesse, all science is finding out whether things do or don’t exist. It’s seeking the truth.”
“That wasn’t what I meant,” she said, clutching her computer programming book to her chest. Jesse was dressed rather more casually than Kat, in comfy blue jeans, a Buffy T-shirt, a black jacket and sneakers. Her black hair floated freely around her head and displayed a single blue streak. “I meant like what’s his name’s cat, everything and nothing at the same time. Until you look, which then defines it. It’s a silly, egotistical theory.”
“No it’s not,” insisted Kat, “It’s a clever theory. Things can be in any state until they are observed to be what they are, which is the most likely probability.” Jesse shrugged.
“Are the others coming for coffee or not?” University exams were but a few weeks away, and the academic pressures were already starting to affect the behavior of the students. Libraries and pubs were filling up at 3 in the afternoon.
“Mel is coming across campus, you know she’s going to be late as usual,” Kat replied. “Steffi said she’d meet us at the café. I assume Torri’s coming, but I haven’t heard back. She probably doesn’t have any credit.”
That’s us students for you,” laughed Jesse, “No job, no credit, no direction.”
“That’s just art students,” scoffed Kat. “My direction is up. Up there.” Kat pointed upwards to the top floors of the towering physics building.
“A physics PHD and a discovery to change the world. That’ll be me,” she continued.
“Yeah, well you do that,” said Jesse, “And I’ll make a fortune selling magazines stories about your mischief as a teenager!”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“I would!” The two friends laughed together as they reached the street at the edge of the University campus. There were few cars, but trams rattled back and forth along their tracks. Kat swung her backpack off her shoulders and rummaged through it, looking for her wallet.
“So, you were saying everything must be observed to exist as it is,” mused Jesse as she fetched her own tram ticket from her handbag. “Then what happens to all the other ways it could have existed?”
“They still exist, in a parallel, unobservable way,” replied Kat as she stood up. “For example, my lab coat could have been in my bag, until I observed it to be empty. In another version of this universe I didn’t forget it and I wouldn’t have to go back for it.”
“Do you want me to come?” Jesse asked.
“No, you wait here in case Mel manages to meet us here on time,” insisted Kat, grabbing he wallet and identification card. “Can I leave my books with you? I promise I’ll be back as quick as I can.” Jesse nodded,
“Sure, but hurry. If Mel gets here before you’re back then we just might go without you.”
“You’d better not,” Kat laughed as she jogged back the way they had come.

Jesse dragged Kat’s bag around the corner and leant against the back of the physics building, facing the street. It was an unusually quiet moment with no cars driving by, only a lone tram picking up a wandering person and continuing on its way. A light breeze picked up and pushed along various pieces of rubbish in the gutter. A rare moment of quiet in the city, thought Jesse, so rare and almost unnoticed. Almost not existing. The breeze gained strength and suddenly became cold. Jesse could hear the sizzle of electricity. She looked around to see the traffic lights flashing erratically.
“I guess we’ll have to walk,” she sighed. She peered down the alley between the buildings as the electrical sizzle grew louder. Uneasily she noticed lights from the physics building also starting to flicker.
“Stupid physics.” The wind grew stronger, whipping Jesse’s hair around her face as she stared at Kat’s backpack leaning against the wall of the physics building. The wall was glowing. What are those crazy physicists doing now? She thought as she reached forward to drag the backpack away from the suspiciously glowing wall. Suddenly the wind pushed her off her feet and she landed ungracefully on her back.
“What the?” Jesse asked of the universe in general. The universe responded with a ripple in the glowing wall. Jesse lay on the ground, dumbstruck. She had heard media propaganda about physicists trying to split the atom when it shouldn’t be split and destroy the world, but she never thought they’d manage to do something real.

As she was thinking this, a huge reptilian head emerged from the centre of the ripple. Jesse could see that the head was slightly bigger than her own, covered in dark blue scales that reflected the light from the erratically flickering traffic lights. The head pushed through the rippling wall, and Jesse felt that perhaps the world had suddenly become darker. The reptilian head was attached to a long elegant neck, a cylindrical body with four long legs, two bat-like wings and a surprisingly lengthy tail. It stood regally on the pavement, turning its head to survey the streetscape. Jesse was frozen in shock; things like this just didn’t happen! The creature trilled to itself, tilting its head to one side in a bemused way. Then it finally noticed Jesse, still lying on the ground. She could feel her heart pounding as it crept up to her, its head low and wings back. Her throat was dry as it stood over her. They were face to face. She could see her own petrified expression reflected in its dark eyes, and feel its warm breath on her face.
“Please don’t eat me,” Jesse whispered, trembling. Suddenly the creature jerked backwards, as if it had been hurt by her simple words. It scampered to turn around and gallop back to the glowing wall of the physics building from which it came. It leapt into the wall and vanished into the ripple. The wind was even stronger now as Jesse struggled to her feet, clutching Kat’s backpack and her own belongings. She struggled against the wind, but it seemed to be pulling her in towards the rippling wall. The more she struggled, the stronger it seemed to pull.
“Help!” she cried as the wind swept her off her feet and towards the ripple. Jesse saw a flash of light, and then was gone.

The traffic lights changed at their own pace. Trams rattled back and forth along the street on this boring afternoon.

Photo (C) uwadjedi of flickr