ALTERNATE UNIVERSE©️

Let’s stretch our imaginations together for a moment—step outside the confines of conventional cosmology and dare to envision something wildly different.

What if the vast expanse of the universe wasn’t a seamless, Einsteinian bubble inflating uniformly, but instead a mosaic of similarly charged or not, accessible “slates” stacked, side-by-side containers if you will, each one an entirely independent realm? Picture these slates not as our familiar galaxies swirling in cosmic soup, but as self-contained universes, packed with utterly alien components: alternate laws of physics, bizarre matter, and realities that defy our theories of stars, planets, and black holes.

These slates stretch into infinity, like an endless cargo ship of cosmic boxes—perhaps square plates, round disks, or irregular shapes, neatly layered up, down, and all around in a grand, organized architecture. They’re contiguous, touching at their edges, mere whispers apart despite spanning unimaginable distances in our limited perception.

Now, here’s the mind-bending part: portals. Gateways hidden between these slates, allowing instant traversal from one to another. Zoom through a portal, and you’re hurled into a neighboring world with radically different rules. Universes, if you will,where time dissolves, space folds like paper, the speed of light is irrelevant, and even the periodic table might be obsolete, different or not at all. Humanity’s entire framework could shatter; no more rigid elements, no more predictable physics. Adjacent slates become playgrounds for exploration, nullifying the barriers that chain us to our tiny corner of existence.

WOW—does this blow your mind too? And friend or foe, friendly/unfriendly play into this? And what about GOD?

Thousands of “miles” evaporate into nothingness as you pop from slate to slate, like Ride Sally Ride rocketing through the stars, but faster, freer. Portals could be the key to everything: total knowledge, infinite adventures, jillions of realities stacked like chessboards where a king leaps to bishop four in a single, reality-warping move. Einstein’s E=mc²? Hogwarts-level misdirection, steering us away from the truth.

But how do we access them? Are portals yet to be discovered, or did visionaries like Oppenheimer, Einstein, or Galileo glimpse them—perhaps even stepping through into madness? Maybe we need to think differently: not just walking through, but evolving, dissolving, revolving, or reversing our very matter to align with the portal’s essence. What if passage requires a shift in consciousness, a dissolution of self, to merge with the infinite adjacent gateways brimming with unknown elements, new sciences, and wonders beyond our grasp?

Perhaps the real key is this: to find difference, we must become different. Dare to think of universes in varied shapes, sizes, and compositions. Portal transportation awaits—pop through one, and ride into the unknown. The box universe calls; all we need is the courage to negotiate those thresholds and redefine everything. Brave new worlds waiting to be discovered.

tom tenbrunsel

Poet Laureate of Alternative Universes

Author’s Notes: A lone amoeba wandered through into an alternate universe and . . .

“There are more things in this world than dreamed of Horatio.” Let’s me you and interested others enjoin a worldwide discussion on ALTERNATE UNIVERSE in the Comments Section below.