Raghav sat on the chair. Joseph sat beside him and started explaining.
"Last year, you were working on understanding dreams and how they interact with reality. You asked me this question, 'When you are dreaming, don't you feel everything is normal in your dream? You don't have the slightest idea that it is a dream. It is only when you wake up that you realize how weird the events in the dream were.' I perceived it to be a valid question. The events in a dream always feel very real when you are dreaming. You hypothesized that the events in a dream are actually real. Maybe when you are in a state of full or partial unconsciousness, like when you are sleeping, you are looking through the life of another version of yourself. Only when you regain complete consciousness, your brain realizes that the reality in your dream was different from the one you are in right now. So you ignore everything that happened in your dream. Your brain considers it unimportant and deletes almost all of that information. That is why you often can't remember a dream completely. And as time passes, you fully forget about the dream.
"You also theorized that every time we dream, we see a new version of our life in different realities. You named this whole phenomenon Realm Hopping. You speculated that if somehow it would be possible for us to remember the events of the dream, we could know what our life is like in the other realities. I was quite impressed by your theory. Because in a way, it can be somehow related to string theory. Do you know what string theory is?"
"It has something to do with the universe being made up of tiny strings, right?"
"Well, yeah, kinda. String theory suggests that the fundamental particles of our universe are made up of one-dimensional strings. These particles can then vibrate at different frequencies to produce different particles. So the earth, all the animals, you and me, all are basically strings vibrating at different frequencies. But string theory also suggests the existence of a multiverse. I'm sure you've read about the multiverse. Every science fiction movie seems to have it these days. Now, let's say you, as a string, vibrate with different frequencies in different universes. If you somehow happen to resonate with the frequency of vibration of yourself in a different universe, what will happen?"
"I'm guessing I will end up in that other universe"
"Exactly! You will see what your other version sees. My theory is that every time you are unconscious, the frequency of your string changes for a while and you see the life of another version of you in a different universe, where the frequency matches. Or in other words, you resonate with another version of yourself which you see as a dream"
"What does that have to do with me waking up in a different reality every day?"
"I believe, your brain is unable to discard the events of your other reality in the dream. Maybe, your brain is assuming the dream version of you is your real life"
"Wait. What do you mean? Are you trying to tell me this is my real life and everything that happened in the past was the life of another version of me?"
"It's just my theory. But it can explain what is going on with you"
Raghav was stunned. He couldn't believe it. Was his wife actually Meena and was Preeti actually married to Joseph? He didn't want to accept such a reality.
"No. No, Joseph. You are wrong. I don't want this life. I want my real wife back. I want my real life back"
"What do you mean? Who is your real wife?"
"Pre–"
Raghav didn't complete the name. He realized it would complicate stuff even more. In this reality, Joseph was able to understand his situation and seemed to have an idea about what was going on. This was his chance to fix everything.
"Forget that. Joseph, I need your help to sort this out. I want my life back. Please, will you help me?"
"Tell me honestly, Raghav. You are not acting this way to prove your theory correct, right?"
Raghav wanted to punch Joseph's face. First, you marry my wife. Then you call me a fraud? He wanted to say that but didn't.
"What the f*ck are you saying?"
"Okay, calm down. I didn't mean to say it that way. If you, I mean the other version of you was right about realm hopping, there might be one way to fix all this"
"What is that?"
***
Joseph and Raghav arrived at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS). Raghav didn't have an ID, but the guard recognized him. He registered his name on a website and allowed the two in. They then walked into the Department of Neurological Research.
"What are we doing here?"
"You don't remember, but you used to work here. This is where you developed this bionic arm and did all of your research related to realm hopping"
They walked into Raghav's lab. It was completely different from the lab in Raghav's first life. There were no wires or electronics around. The lab was filled with chemicals, test tubes, and animal specimens.
"Listen, Raghav. You had also theorized about realm hopping going wrong. You never spoke a lot about it, but if you thought it was a possibility, then you would have also thought about a way to fix it. We need to go through all your research. We might find something useful"
"Okay, where do we begin?"
"You look in the desktop and I'll search the physical files"
Raghav immediately turned the computer on. Joseph started looking through the thousands of papers on the shelves. But Raghav couldn't log in to the computer.
"Joseph, what's the password?"
"How will I know? You were the one who set it."
"I didn't. It was the other version of me"
"Oh shit, yeah. Try the password you remember from your reality"
Raghav entered the password from his old reality. He typed PREETI1206 and hit enter.
Incorrect
He thought maybe he typed something wrong. He typed the same password again, but slowly. PREETI1206
Incorrect
"Damn it. It's not working"
"What password did you type?"
"Pre–"
Raghav paused.
"Hey Joseph, do you know Meena's birth date?"
"Yeah, Fifteenth October"
Raghav was surprised about how quickly Joseph told him the date. Anyway, he typed - MEENA1510
Welcome, Raghav Basu.
Are my passwords that predictable? Raghav thought to himself.
The two searched everywhere, but couldn't find much related to the Realm Hopping theory. Joseph noticed Raghav was exhausted and sad. His face clearly depicted how much he missed his home. Joseph walked to him and patted him on his back.
"Don't give up hope, Raghav. We will figure this out together. It's already too late. Let's come back here tomorrow. I know a few of your colleagues who worked with you on the theory. Maybe we can talk to them tomorrow."
"No, you don't get it. I can't go back. I can't sleep. If I do, I won't be back in this reality. I will end up in a new reality tomorrow."
"What if you don't sleep?"
Raghav realized that was not a bad idea.
"Oh yeah, that's a good idea. But how long can I stay awake? I will eventually fall asleep"
Joseph pulled out one of the drawers under the desktop computer and started searching for something.
"It should be somewhere here. Ah yeah, here you go"
He handed over a bottle of pills to Raghav.
"What is this?"
"Modafinil. This will help you stay awake till at least tomorrow night."
"Why did I have it in my drawer?"
"You used to take it sometimes when your work required you to stay awake all night. Don't worry, you'll be fine. You only need to stay awake till we figure this out. I'm confident that tomorrow we will find a solution. Just make sure to take only one pill"