I was wrong.

The disheveled Dr. Hoyte paces back and forth on the stage. If you didn't know better, you would think he were talking to himself, not lecturing 50 PARC recruits.

Well, to be more acc— to be more acc— to be more precise, I wasn't wrong, but I didn't at the time realize the whole truth. When I wrote that fateful paper going on... wow, it's been 20 years ago already, hasn't it?

Anyways, when I wrote that paper, I didn't realize that not only were there multiple dimensions, but there were infinite multiple dimensions. Every single possible permutation of the last 14 billion years exists, somewhere in another universe. So there's a universe where Hitler was a great philanthropist, and one where the atomic bomb never worked, and one where we are all colored blue. Think about the implications! If we could only harness the ability to move between dimensions, you could plan your future, or change your past. Maybe you regret never asking out that special someone in college... there's a universe where you did! Maybe you want to be an astronaut... there's a universe where you are floating around in outer space right now!

The problem, of course, is that each of these dimensions is operating on different frequencies. That part of my original paper was at least accurate. And my most current research suggests that the closer another universe is to ours, the more in synch the dimensional frequencies are. What this means for you and me is that if we ever find a way to transport ourselves from one dimension to the next, it is easiest to transport to a very similar dimension, and exponentially more difficult to go to dissimilar dimensions.

The only anomoly we haven't quite figured out is the Shadow dimension. For reasons beyond our understanding, creatures from a very dissimilar universe are able to pass freely into our dimension, with no conscious thought and without any apparent expenditure of energy. Hopefully the study of these creatures will yeild clues as to how they got here, but so far even the most intelligent ones are thousand of years behind ourselves in technological advancement.

Dr. Hoyte takes a break from his speech and glances up to the clock behind the recruits.

Oh goodness, he says, much to the relief of the anxious students. I've kept you way over time. You are all dismissed; please send my apologies to your next professors, as if they aren't used to you being late already!

The class chuckles, but because they have to not because they find it funny, and hustle out of the room.