Page 141 - The Midnight Library
P. 141
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‘Yes,’ said Nora.
‘See you,’ said Hugo, before returning – in a more hushed tone – to his
main thread. ‘ e universal wave function is real, Nora. at’s what
Professor Bisset said.’
‘What?’
Hugo held up a finger. A slightly annoying, wait-a-minute kind of finger.
Nora resisted a strong urge to grab it and twist it. ‘Er win Schrödinger . . .’
‘He of the cat.’
‘Yes. e cat guy. He said that in quantum physics ever y alternative
possibility happens simultaneously. All at once. In the same place. Quantum
superposition. e cat in the box is both alive and dead. You could open the
box and see that it was alive or dead, that’s how it goes, but in one sense,
even aer the box is open, the cat is still both alive and dead. Ever y universe
exists over ever y other universe. Like a million pictures on tracing paper, all
with slight variations within the same frame. e many-worlds
interpretation of quantum physics suggests there are an infinite number of
divergent parallel universes. Ever y moment of your life you enter a new
universe. With ever y decision you make. And traditionally it was thought
that there could be no communication or transference bet ween those
worlds, even though they happen in the same space, even though they
happen literally millimetres away from us.’
‘But what about us? We’re doing that.’
‘Exactly. I am here but I also know I am not here. I am also lying in a
hospital in Paris, having an aneur ysm. And I am also skydiving in Arizona.
And travelling around southern India. And tasting wine in Lyon, and lying
on a yacht off the Côte d’Azur.’
‘I knew it!’
‘Vraiment?’
He was, she decided, quite beautiful.
‘You seem more suited to strolling the Croisette in Cannes than an Arctic
adventure.’
He widened his right hand like a starfish. ‘Five days! Five days I have been
in this life. at is my record. Maybe this is the life for me . . .’
‘Interesting. You’re going to have a ver y cold life.’
‘And who knows? Maybe you are too . . . I mean, if the bear didn’t take
you back to your librar y maybe nothing will.’ He started to fill the kettle.
