Ronald Reagan

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 1. The scientific foundations of parallel universes

Ronald was a lone physicist at a leading university in North America in 2030. His theories were too extravagant to make sense to anyone and many thought that he was crazy. Nevertheless, at his ripe age of 32 he persisted in working towards a unified theory of quantum gravity. He never liked the way physicists approached the problem. The conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics to him just meant that the way we look at the cosmos from our human perspective must be completely wrong. To a normal person, the conflict simply meant that both of the theories were wrong and that to reconcile them a new theory was meant to be produced. It was known as the Grand Theory of Everything in the nerd circles. But Ronald still saw that grand theory for what it is: a human look at the universe. In it, the world still existed as it was and the laws of physics simply described the universe rather than define it.
Since the dawn of time men had assumed that what they saw with their eyes was what really existed. Thus they formulated equations based on the inherent physical existence of their surroundings. Still, there were those that disagreed. The famous movie Matrix postulated a world in which humans were simply fed information into their brains which made them see, smell and feel. Still, Ronald thought, that the movie didn't take the concept far enough as the humans physically existed outside of the reality that they were experiencing. All they had to do was to “wake up” and they could experience the real world. But, what if, there is no such thing as the real world to start with? What if all that we experience with our senses as well as measure with our instruments is simply a mathematical illusion? To explain the concept to his students Ronald would sometimes use the video game analogy. From inside the game the characters experience the world as real, physical, governed by pre-set and predetermined physical laws. However, from an outside perspective all we see are pieces of code existing in a mathematical framework. Our world too could be such a framework, Ronald postulated, and us – pieces of code, or rather highly complex sets of mathematical equations.
Insane as the theory seemed to many, it led Ronald to draw several conclusions about the nature of our universe. If all that there was is maths, then the nature of quantum gravity became a lot simpler than weird sets of equations in 11 dimensions that String theory had postulated. All that was needed was a message from one particle to another saying “ attract to me ” and gravity came into being. The particles communicated through several channels, all of which could be simplified down to a number of difference equations in our standard 4 dimensions. That said, the mathematical simplicity of the system was outweighed by the philosophical madness of the initial proposition. Another interesting corollary was the existence of multiple universes along the standard 4-dimensional geometry of spacetime. That, itself, was the result of the merger of quantum mechanics with general relativity. For in quantum mechanics a particle, such as an electron, can exist in two different places at the same time. So for example, when you fire an electron beam through two narrow slits, the beam ends up going through both slits and creating an interference pattern on the display. On the face of it, it is impossible. However, from the perspective of Ronald's theory it makes perfect sense. In one universe the electron goes through the right slit, in another through the left.
If we scale this model up to the real world, you get the following conclusion: whenever there is a choice to be made by a conscious agent, the universe splits in two. In the first universe the agent does one thing, in the second another. Therefore there exists an infinitely complex matrix of parallel universes defining all of the possible actions and reactions that can happen to us across our entire lifetimes. Or, in simpler terms, anything that can happen, does happen. You might just not be there to experience it.

“ That's all great ” thought Ronald, “ but what use is it for me in the real world? ”. At this moment he stopped recapping his own theory to himself for the nth time. He was sitting in his armchair located in his office at the university. On the right wall was a chalkboard with various equations scribbled on it, courtesy of Ronald's heavy duty effort of the previous night. He was supposed to go give a lecture later today but considered simply asking his friend to substitute for him as he wanted to do some more thinking.
“ If only I could crack the code of how to.... ” he paused at this moment. Well, even if he did figure it out, would it be useful? Humane? Moral? After all, anyone with such power is bound to become a psychopath!

The problem that was bugging Ronald consisted of figuring out how one could switch between the various universes. The main problem is that as with every decision our present universe splits into two, who decides which universe we observe and which we don't? Suppose you decide to go get a cup of coffee. In the universe that you are currently observing, you get up, walk outside and get yourself a coffee. But in another, you decide against going to get that cup and stay at your office working. So who, or rather what, decides which particular universe you observe? And if there is something that decides that, could it be programmed to alter its decision?
Here's a problem that was torturing Ronald for a while. Suppose you go outside for a walk and bump into a girl. You fall in love with her and marry. Together you go on your honeymoon on a cruise ship around the world, which ends up sinking. Though most of the passengers survive, your loved one ends up in rather unfortunate circumstances and dies. For the rest of your life you torture yourself over this problem, knowing full well that had you not gone for that walk that day you would never have met her and she would still be alive. So, knowing that there is another universe in which you decided against going for that walk, could there be a way of somehow observing it? Sure, should your consciousness be transported into that universe you would have no more living memory of that girl, but that is a small price to pay to keep your loved one alive.
At the same time Ronald understood about the dangers of possessing such a technology. Being able to rapidly shift between universes could make one take on greater risks and simply choose not to observe the resultant universe when the deal turns sour. Nevertheless, he trusted himself with good judgement in the matter and continued working towards a solution. Having spent countless days and nights at his office trying to sort out the maths, he felt himself being driven further and further away from the right answer with each passing hour.

2. A trip to Starbucks

“ Damn it! I might as well go and teach that class. Until then, gonna go and get a sandwich at the local coffee shop. Good thing they serve free food nowadays ” he grunted to himself whilst opening the door and entering a long, brightly lit corridor. On both sides, it looked like an endless tunnel, lit with fluorescent lighting. He began to pace towards the exit, his mind wondering about trying to stop itself from thinking too much. It was really quite, the only sound one could hear is the hiss of the air conditioners. He made his way down the dimly lit staircase and outside into the open. The lawn across which lay a small paved road led him to the main square of the university. The sun brightly lit everything in sight and there were a few tiny clouds in the sky. On the right was an orchard tree and Ronald made his way in that direction, as right behind it was the university cafeteria. Students were pacing up and down the area with their notebooks tucked behind their arms. Some of the female ones winked at Ronald and he ignored them, like always, as he cared little for female attention. He was not gay, nor straight, nor bisexual. He was not even asexual. He just didn't give a shit.
Inside the cafeteria everything looked green. The layout was typical Starbucks, though it was an off-brand branch. There was a small queue of people behind the counter and Ronald found himself at the back, slowly moving forward whilst idly analysing the desert section.
“ May I have your order please ” said the barista.
“ Ah ” responded Ronald confused
“ Your order, what do you want, sir? ”
“ Oh, sorry, my mind was just somewhere else. Could I have a vente frappuccino and a turkey club please ”
“ Coming right up! ” came the curt reply
Ronald moved further down and began waiting for his order. After a mere thirty seconds he received his food and went on to look for an empty table.
“ Professor Reagan! Excuse me! Mister Reagan! ” a hot blond girl run up to Ronald from behind and grabbed the back of his shirt. She was wearing high heels and tight designer jeans and a thin gold necklace with a thick silver cross around her neck. On her shoulder, sticking out from under the blouse there was a tattoo of a desert rose.
“ Oh, what?! ” he said as he turned around whilst almost dropping his drink.
“ I'm so sorry, professor Reagan. I'm in your advanced loop quantum gravity course and I was just wondering if I could have a little bit of your time.... ” started saying the girl
“ Oh sure....I could spare a little time ” responded Ronald as he followed the girl to a small table by the window.
“ My name is Betty, Betty Delore, I'm 22 years old and am thinking of doing a PhD in quantum gravity. I just find the subject so fascinating..... ”
“ I see...... ” said Ronald as he was looking at a point in space behind the girl. His hands were slowly unwrapping the turkey club.
“ I just think that the possibility of being able to reconcile quantum mechanics with general relativity will offer humanity so much, I just can't even begin contemplating what the discovery will bring us ” she continued whilst at the same time bending her back inward to make her bosom look bigger.
“ What? Yes, yes of course.... ” began Ronald as he brought the coffee straw into his mouth. “ If only we could some way reconcile the two theories, the possibilities would be endless...... ”
“ Of course! Professor Reagan, do you think I could drop by your place tonight and perhaps show you my notes? ” at this point all of her muscles were tensed and were only serving the purpose of making her physical appearance look prettier.
“ Tonight.....I don't see why.... ”
“ Damn it, Winston! Watch were you are going! ” someone yelled from the back
“ I'm sorry! I'm sorry! ” the young man responded
“ You will be in a moment ” came a curt response followed by a thud. At this moment Ronald's table was suddenly pushed and the frappucino fell out of his hands and spilled all over Betty's blouse.
“ I'm so sorry.... ” began Ronald and at this moment he saw it. The pattern of the spill, the mathematical equations which governed the precise motion of the liquid along its trajectory... What if one could change the fundamental constants in those equations...would the spill pattern by any different? But of course! By sending the information back in time to yourself you could influence your present position in the spacetime continuum. All one had to do was to somehow channel data to yourself back when you needed it and voilà! You had your alteration. And the way to channel it was... His mind snapped back.


“ So sorry....I'll pay you for the blouse ” he started apologising as he began getting up from the chair.
“ No need ” responded Betty “ Just please help me with my thesis! ”
“ Of course! I will ”
“ Promise? ”
“ Yes! ”
“ Tonight, your place? ”
“ Sure ” said Ronald as he was making his way out of the coffee shop.
“ But you haven't told me where you live...... ” began whining the girl
“ It's on my web page!!!! Bye!!” came the response
“ Good bye, Mr. Reagan!!! ” waved Betty at the quickly exiting figure. She even got up a little from the chair and was just hoping that he did not lie about the address.
Ronald quickly left the café and found himself pacing back past the orchard tree to the main building, where his office was located. The two flights of dimly lit stairs up, as the elevator was broken for the nth time. The endless corridor brightly lit by fluorescent lights. The wooden door and his was in his office. Without thinking he grabbed a piece of chalk and began scribbling equations on the board trying to figure out what the effects of channelling the information back to yourself would be. Before long, he confirmed his initial hypothesis: you would instantly swap universes without even knowing anything. So at one point in time you would be in universe A, at another in universe B. Of course, you would not have any knowledge of the previous universe, but that was another matter. Now the problem was how to channel the information back in time. That seemed to be impossible.




3. Investment Banking


Ronald woke up in his bed. The year was 2033, he was 35 years old. He looked around and found himself in a large white-walled room with a golden mirror in front of him. The bed he was in was equally spacious and the fabric of the bedsheets seemed to be extremely gentle on his body. He did not remember how he got into his bed, but only that its been a long time since he last looked at any mathematical equations. He got out of bed and went into the adjacent room, in which hang a huge organic LED display showing all sorts of information. Upon closer inspection he figured that this was stock market data and his current portfolio.
“ Wow ” he said to himself “ I seem to be in the green..... ”
“ And have over …... 45 million dollars in my account!! ”
“ How the hell is that even possible??? ”
At this moment he was so bewildered as to what happened that he just collapsed onto the nearest armchair and began staring out of the window. Outside one could see the beach and hear the ocean waves. The beautiful music of nature was time to time interrupted by the automobile klaxons and the low pitched sound of traffic. His hand began feeling the back of his skull looking for an incision. Consciously, he did not know exactly what he was looking for but he felt that it could explain the mystery. After about a couple of minutes of searching he found a small scar behind his right ear.
“ Ahh.....so this is where it is. It must have bloody worked! The experiment must have been a success. I must have somehow influenced my past to bring along this wonderful reality. I wonder what it is that I've given myself.....” thought Ronald. At this moment he got up from the leather armchair and made his way to the small coffee table by the window. On it lay what appeared to be an iPhone. He picked it up with his right hand and said to himself upon feeling it:
“ Hmmm, carbon nanotube fibre.....optimized for weight. I wonder if it still uses silicon for the microprocessor ”
He decided to dial the person that he spoke to last and after waiting for a few brief moments a gentle female voice sounded on the other end of the line.
“ Hello Mr. Reagan. ”
“ Good Afternoon..... ” came a hesitant response.
“ How may I help you? ” asked the girl
“ Oh....may I find out who I am talking to? ”
“ Oh of course, you must have had another one of your crazy nights yesterday....this is miss Melinda, your personal secretary. ”
“ I see, well Melinda, could you tell me the profile of my initial investment again? Was just wondering how my current IRR compares to the old days? ” “ What the hell is IRR ?” thought Ronald momentarily
“ Well, Mr. Ronald, your first investment consisted of allocating the initial 1 million dollars across a pond of hedge funds according to a strictly confidential mathematical formula. Following that, you.... ”
“ A million dollars? ”
“ Yes! ”
“ Where did that million come from? ”
“ Oh.....you must have really drunk too much last night....oh maybe you've had too much of that...?? ” giggled Melinda
“ Yes, yes, don't remember really. Just remember waking up in bed wondering where I am ”
“ Well...you won the Nobel prize in physics in the year 2024 for helping to reconcile quantum mechanics with general relativity ”
“ I see....and what did I do after that? ”
“ After? Don't you remember? You went on a massive investment spree hyper-leveraging your positions across the world turning up an IRR that made Wall Street's pants catch fire! ” said the secretary proudly
“ OK. Thank you Melinda ”
“ Will that be all? ”
“ Yes. Dismissed. ” came a curt reply.
“ Where did that come from? ” thought Ronald.

He walked around his spacious 6 bedroom apartment trying to remember how he got here. Slowly some memories began cropping in this head. The solving of the quantum gravity equations at the age of 27. How did he solve them? He doesn't know. All that he can remember is that he had just finished his second PhD and then suddenly saw those equations in his dream. He then woke up in the middle of the night and scribbled them down on a dirty sheet of A4 paper. Later, he came up with the derivation for them, post-factum, and published it in a journal. For that the got his Nobel prize. The scar behind his right ear....what was that?
“ Ahh....that guy with the experimental microchip....carbon nanotube technology, 1nm process, stronger than diamond, implantable, programmable in 1024 bits, perfect brain-to-chip interface....highly experimental. Banned soon thereafter. ” began thinking Ronald as he was pacing up and down his huge room. The traffic outside began to die down and the sun could no longer be seen shining from the horizon. The crescent of the moon began slowly appearing on the evening sky.
“ I must have programmed the chip with those equations and used it to travel across universes optimizing my investment decisions. Every time I made a wrong call on a stock or a bond, I would switch to another universe where I had made the right call.....genius! ”
“ But what about the others....surely had the equations been made public others would have figured it out....unless I hid the essential part....unless..... ”
“ Whatever, I'm rich, that's all that matters! ” said Ronald to himself. At this moment he remembered about his date and made his way down to the garage where he had his new Rolls parked.

So the new life of Ronald began.....dates, hookers and booze together with a bit of trading and investment analysis. Even though his brain knew how do to it all, he still had difficulty adjusting. It's not that he didn't have the memories, they were slowly coming back to him. Its more that he never had the conscious experience of living a life so full of vice. The first time, he had a difficulty driving the Rolls and demanded a driver. After a while he took the wheel himself, completely clueless that the Rolls is a car that you get driven in, not drive yourself. He did manage to figure this one out eventually. Nevertheless, after a few weeks he finally got the gist of if all and decided to start taking a little extra risk. First, he began to take on leverage in his positions. Then, after a while of doing it solo he decided to invite an extra girl over for a harem. In a weeks time, the population of the harem began to increase exponentially. After having tried pretty much everything there is to try in a bed with a woman he decided that he's had enough of the vanilla stuff and that it was time to introduce certain other variables into the equation.
One such night he was with two escort girls and a copious amount of the dopaminergic salted alkaloid. They were in a room in a five star hotel overlooking the skyscraper-clad down town. The ambiance of the room was reddish, like in those classic gangster movies that take place in the Depression-era New York. On the large bed lay a girl on her stomach with only black stockings and a bra on her. Her right leg was turned perpendicular to the body at the knee joint. There was another girl that was equally dressed in nothing that was observing Ronald trying to deal with the multitude of the plastic wraps. She was sitting about a meter away on the same bed with her legs crossed in a lotus position. Her face showed the clear signs of anticipation and it appeared that she had a little to much to drink. After having curtly asked her for the lighter Ronald had it thrown to him across the distance. It was a black polished Davidoff lighter with a gold chassis. He lit it and held the flame under the small plastic wrap for a few seconds. This made the plastic give away and he began the slow but careful process of getting to the core.
“ Would you like some champagne? ” said the girl opposite Ronald.
“ Yeah, sure why not? ”
The girl grabbed a bottle of Don Perignon champagne and poured him a glass. He grabbed it from her hand having let go of the wrap and took a couple of gulps.
“ Hmmm....never knew that stuff tasted so good... ”
“ It really does ” she said
“ Come on....why is it taking you so long? ” replied the girl that was lying down
“ It's just that I feel like I've got to relearn every little bit of detail about my life.....even how to unwrap those little bags ” came in the reply, by the sound of his voice the two girls could clearly hear the anticipation in his voice.
“ Ah....voilà!!! ”
“ You've done it? ” asked the ladies in unison
“ Damn! There is one more... ” came in the frustrated reply as the light began emanating from the lighter for the second time
“ Perhaps you could kiss me while you doing it? ” said the girl opposite
“ Here we go!!! ”
“ Weee ” said the girl that was on her stomach
The mood in the room quickly changed from a mix of frustration and anticipation to cheerful joy. Soon thereafter the triumvirate quickly descended into a lustful orgy. After about an hour Ronald was exhausted and he decided to finish off the champagne and head home. Having kicked out the two girls he took the bottle and emptied it by gulping directly from it. After he called the reception of the hotel and asked for his Rolls to be ready. In a few moments he found out that his driver just got a stomach infection and had to go to the hospital.
“ Damn it ” thought Ronald “ I guess I'm gonna have to drive myself. The markets open tomorrow at 8 and I have to be at the terminal to make sure everything is in order. Don't want to perform another jump....and even if I did, I don't seem to remember how to.... ” at this moment his right hand momentarily scratched the area behind his ear checking for the incision. He tended to do it time to time just to make sure that the microchip was indeed embedded under his skin. At times he even felt its presence, but until recently lost any memory of how to operate it. His secretary didn't have any information on it either and he didn't want to go around asking people for the fear of being looked at funny.

He made his way down the brightly lit reddish hotel corridor to the posh looking elevator. As the traction doors opened he could hear the nice melodic music that was so common in lifts around various hotels and commercial buildings. Having pressed G he decided to space out a bit as the lift began its slow descent from the 25th floor. Upon arriving onto the ground floor, he stumbled out of the elevator and made his way to the reception. There, he was greeted by a slick, young man in his mid-twenties.
“ Good evening, or should I say good morning, sir ”
“ Hi there! ”
“ What would it be tonight? ”
“ I'd like to check out ”
“ Will it be my card or cash? ”
“ Neither....charge it to the company account as a business expense ”
“ Yes, sir. And may I ask ” at this moment the young man began to hesitate “ are the ladies to be included as well into this, well, business expense? ”
“ Sure, write them down as “ evening refreshments ” ”
“ Yes, sir ”
“ Is my Rolls ready? ”
“ It is waiting for you outside, sir ”
“ And while we are on the subject, how do I get to the Nixon Embankment? ”
“ Oh sir, it's very easy, as you drive out of the hotel you take the first right and that takes you directly onto the highway straight to the embankment ”
“ Alright then ” at this point Ronald put a 100 dollar bill on the counter and began walking away whilst hearing the receptionist thanking him ever so graciously. The Rolls was indeed parked right outside the revolving glass door with the concierge waiting for him to open the door. Ronald pointed to the drivers seat and saw the man gallantly open the door for him. Having gotten inside the vehicle, without fastening his seat-belt and with an excessive amount of dopamine flowing around his neocortex, he turned on the ignition and began driving away in his 6-meter long black Fantom.
“ Damn it, I out to have a driver with me......not supposed to bloody drive this thing by myself....feel like a pleb ” began cursing Ronald. Soon thereafter be got out on the highway and began to make his way in what appeared to be the right direction. His mind was racing at the speed of light, going over the events of the night as well as trying to remember his previous life. He reckoned that since he was driving on an empty road concentration was of less importance. He didn't particularly care for all of this, as he was absolutely certain that in any contingency he can simply remember how to use the chip again.
“ Well, that is unless I run into a light pole and kill myself..... ”
Never mind, he thought, that will not happen. After all he is not on serotonergics anyways....
“ Now, those are the real bad boys ” the thought briefly flew across his mind
A while had passed as he simply drove straight along the road that he thought would bring him back to his beach resort. Slowly he began sensing slight unease as the realisation crept in that he was in fact driving on a Lost Highway and immediate action was required in order to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, for some inexplicable reason, the GPS link on his navigator was malfunctioning and he didn't have the time to have it fixed.
“ Such a small detail....a missing connection to a trio of geostationary satellites and here we are ” began postulating Ronald as he saw a roundabout in front of him.
“Great, I'll just go around and head back to where I came from.....Gonna get a taxi ride back from the Plaza. ”
He slowly began rotating the wheel of his car and the slight centrifugal force started making him feel nauseated. Without thinking twice, he found his way onto the opposite lane of the highway and pressed the accelerator pedal. The resultant g-force amounting to almost 0.6 gravities gave him a head rush and inadvertently made him squint. The highly unfortunate combination of events prevented him from noticing a dark silhouette on the side of the road that suddenly appeared directly in front of the car. Normally, there would have been enough time to avoid a collision. Given the distance to target of 100 meters and vehicle velocity of 27 meters per second ( 100 kilometres per hour ), with the standard reaction time of 0.1 seconds and a good coefficient of friction of the dry asphalt this would normally have given the driver enough time to either avoid the collision completely or break enough to not kill the person. However, Ronald's current slow response time and heavy dissociation had prevented him from taking the necessary action and as a result he hit the person with the full momentum of a 2-ton car . The huge amount of kinetic energy delivered to the lonely silhouette on the dark highway resulted in him flying off his bicycle and at over 20 gravities accelerating into the darkness of the nocturnal abyss that were the surroundings of the highway. At the very same moment Ronald felt a bump of deceleration and saw what appeared to be a large projectile flying at a 30 degree angle away from the road. He instantly hit the brakes and a huge sense of fear and paranoia had swept over his entire body. Subconsciously, he immediately understood what happened yet every neuron of his brain went into an immediate denial-mode. He felt a sense of stupor overcoming him and the few seconds that it took for the car to come to rest seemed like endless aeons.
“ It can't be.....that must have been just a light pole..... ” he kept reassuring himself “ No fucking way......I won't be able to live with myself any longer..... ” images of prison began flying across his mind
“ 5 years....10 years....20 years..... maybe I'll get away....I've read in the Wall Street Journal that the heir to DuPont raped his three year old daughter and got away with it......they love rich folks in this country......”
“ how will I.....no ” the thoughts were pacing across his mind as he instinctively opened the door and run to look for the person he had hit. Overpowered by guilt and emotion he began relentlessly searching for the body. After a short while he saw what appeared to be a broken bicycle and someone's body lying next to it. He quickly run towards it panting like a dog. He turned it around and saw the eyes.....beautiful eyes of a woman.

He knew he had become a bad boy.....ever since that Nobel prize, those investments, this microprocessor. It turned him into something that he never was. Nevertheless, the goodness inside of him still lingered on. When he saw what he had done he first become frightened, then was overcome by sorrow, then hysteria and then a very strange feeling that he had never felt before. Suddenly, he started feeling a slight headache and the incision behind his ear began to ache. He began chanting the words “ sobriety, sobriety, sobriety ” to himself imagining the day just before the accident. The vision grew stronger with every passing moment, he could see himself walking down the corridors of the endless corporate world that he was now a part of. Being driven in the Rolls to the hotel. The room with the two hookers. Everything was as clear to him as if it was happening right now. At the same time, as he was focusing on every minute detail of the scene, the sound of the word “ sobriety ” grew louder and louder until it had become so sonorous that it eclipsed all of the other senses put together. A headache. He began to shiver and started to loose control of all of his muscles. His whole body felt like it had a late stage Ebola infection. At the same time the vision turned green and tiny sprinkles of light began appearing all over the place. Glitter everywhere, of various colours. Things began dripping water in amounts as if one was standing directly under the rain and looking up into the clouds. He couldn't handle himself any longer and only one feeling was in his heart at this moment. He must save the girl. At all costs. He felt so guilty that he...



4. Monica

Ronald was driving alone on the highway late at night. The road seemed to be going nowhere. He believed that just in another fifteen minutes or so he would reach his destination and get some badly needed rest after a fun, yet sober night with the ladies at the Roosevelt Plaza hotel. For some weird reason that day he felt a compelling urge to refrain from consuming any intoxicants, excluding tobacco of course. During the previous night he had a very strange dream where he saw some sort of a copy of himself telling him something. It seemed like it was urging him to have a sober day. Just this once in a long while. Ronald scratched behind his right ear, feeling the slight incision that had been placed there during the microchip implantation surgery. He remembered the doctor telling him that if he ever got a communication from the future, it would most likely come to him in a dream as that is the time when the mind was most vulnerable to external interference. Aside from that, throughout the entire day Ronald would catch himself thinking that he might have been drinking too much anyway and he didn't want to end up on Viagra just yet. The night with the girls went well, a bit of a harem but that's how he liked it. His driver ended up getting food poisoned and now it was just him. Cruising at a nice 80 kilometres per hour Ronald was able to keep up his focus and concentration on the road and his mind was set on getting home in one piece. The Xenon car lights at the front of the Rolls illuminated the road for hundreds of meters and were of a great aid since in that part of the highway there were no street lights. At a distance he saw the glimmer of blue, the sign for the roundabout. “Perhaps, this isn't the right way home anyways......bloody concierge.....”
Ronald turned around on the roundabout and began making his way back to the hotel. In the distance he saw a small grey silhouette. At this moment a mysterious force overcame him. For some inexplicable reason he felt a strong sense of affection for this person. He felt a sense of deja vu​. Ronald never believed in love on first sight. In fact he never even believed in love at all. To him, that was just a simple biochemical reaction in the brain which mimicked the symptoms of a known psychological disorder. Nevertheless, in a true business fashion, he decided to take risk and slow down. As the Rolls approached the location of the stranger it's velocity had also become alike. Ronald opened the window on his right and loudly spoke out
“ Hello there, need a lift back to town? ”
The person on the bicycle turned her face towards Ronald. In the dark of the night he saw a beautiful young woman dressed in a raincoat with the capuchon over her head. The coat looked very dark grey, perhaps due to the absence of light, and Ronald immediately felt sorry for her.
“ It's OK, I don't want to bother you...its only a short ride back to town ”
“ Just get in! ” exclaimed Ronald with his acquainted business-like curtliness.
“ Well, if you insist. I've never heard of men in cars like yours raping girls.....unless you stole it..... ”
“ Don't be absurd, I can show you my license and..... ”
Without letting him finish the girl immediately leaned over into the car and began speaking
“ Mind if I place my bike into the boot? ”
“ Sure.....let me just open it for you ” Ronald pressed a button on the front panel of the car, above the ashtray, and with a gentle mechanical sound the boot lid slowly began opening. He was never quite the gentleman but for some reason at this moment he got out of the car and helped the lady place the bike inside. After this, both of them made their way to their seats at the front and the conversation kicked off.
The Rolls slowly began accelerating towards the steady and comfortable 80 kilometres per hour.
“ I apologise for.... ” she started speaking whilst placing her folded raincoat on her lap. “ It's really cold outside, even if its not raining....but unfortunately my coat has gathered quite some dust. ”
“ Don't worry about it, Bobby cleans the salon weekly..... ”
The girl giggled.
“ So may I ask what is your name? ” said Ronald
“ Monica. Monica McNamara ”
“ Wow.....what an interesting surname.....are you by any chance related Robert McNamara? ”
“ Excuse me??? ”
“ Oh, never mind, he was just this important figure in the White House in the 60s. Pioneered the use of mathematical techniques in military combat. Gave us Vietnam basically ”
“ You know quite a lot mister.... ”
“ Ronald. Ronald Reagan. ”
“ Like the president! Are you....”
“ No...not at all. Just a coincidence. Everyone always asks ”
“ Asks you if you are related? ”
“ Exactly ”
“ So....what exactly are you doing at the moment? ” asked Ronald
“ Well, I'm kinda between jobs right now.... ”
“ I see...... ” he replied in an almost disappointed way. A few milliseconds later he began yelling at himself in his mind “ Don't be ridiculous Ronald, you might have the same name as that president but you are sure as hell not like him! Come on, haven't you had enough paid sex in your life?? this one might just be the right one.....let's get her to like me and see how it goes ”
“You seem upset” said Monica
“ Nah, just tired...... ”
“ So where are you headed to? ”
“ Well, I was going home but seem to have gotten lost. That bloody concierge at the Roosevelt Plaza has given me the wrong directions. Going to go back and get a taxi ride on the house. Feel interested in joining? ”
“ Oh, I don't exactly think that this would be.... ” she began slowly
“ Nixon embankment ” announced Ronald proudly
“ I see you are a very wealthy man, Ronald.... ”
“ If you want I can get you a room at the Plaza....I will be going home anyway, since I got to get up early tomorrow in time for when the markets open ”
“ Why don't you just drive me home??? ” she said smilingly
“ And where would home be? ”
“ Chino ”
“ You live there??!! ”
“ Yes...... ” she said embarrassingly
At this moment the tower of the Roosevelt Plaza hotel began showing in all its glory. The place looked like a miniature version of Las Vegas. Almost if someone had decided to recreate Vegas here but was denied the rights by the mayors office. So they opted to spoil the hotel's exterior instead. As they approached the hotel the chemistry between them began to increase exponentially. A pessimist would say that Monica was simply attracted to Ronald's wealth and money. That she was basically running away form her rat infested Chino home. An optimist would see the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship. As they came closer to the tall illuminated building of the hotel which sparkled gold and silver Ronald politely explained to Monica that “ a gentleman in a Rolls Royce would not allow himself to venture into such a lacking place ” as Chino and gladly re-offered her that room. She agreed after she found out that the room was already paid for and he was not going to sleep there anyway. He let her out of the car and escorted her into the hotel lobby. After a brief conversation with the concierge he gave her the room key and slipped his visit card into the right pocket of her jeans.
“ Do contact me again ” he said with a smile
She smiled back and made her way towards the elevator.

The next few days Ronald spent at his office dealing with his array of market portfolios. Stocks, bonds, currency, energy, financial derivatives and much other paper wealth had to be sorted and resorted in preparation for the next week's Federal Reserve interest rate announcement. Nevertheless, throughout the entire day his subconscious patiently awaited a call or an email from Monica.
“ How nice ” he thought “ A Mr. Reagan and a Mrs. McNamara......the titans of the twentieth century making love.....good thing McNamara is a woman in this incarnation!!”
Time to time his mind would wander away from the Organic LED screens with stock market and portfolio information on it and he would imagine them making out, making love et cetera. He even spaced out during the official meeting with the Goldman Sachs representatives. Instead of attentively listening to them blabbering on about the benefits of diversification into the “ new ” and “ enhanced ” highly-leveraged collateralized credit swap financial derivatives he would imagine Monica and himself passionately making love atop of the roof of the office building overlooking the Jefferson square. He would picture himself being gentle and attentive to the curvatures of her body. Much unlike his rather strong neglect of the beauty of the paid workers. He swore to give up on the salted alkaloid as well as greatly cut down his ethanol intake. Strangely enough, he was puzzled as to why this girl evoked such strong emotions in him. After all, she was from Chino and he was from, well, the Nixon embankment. How much more different could their backgrounds be?? He tried to analytically reason with himself, telling his own conscious mind that he could get any girl he wanted. That all Monica was interested in was his money. Even that perhaps she was a secret spy sent to him by Red China in order to steal the time technology. He pictured communist agents preparing the girl in advance. Giving her a photograph of him and saying that unless she drugged and cut out the chip from under his ear her parents would suffer the same fate as the Tibetans. Nevertheless, none of it worked. His feelings grew stronger by the moment, with their intensity increasing exponentially.
Still the weekend came, and there were no news. He reckoned that perhaps he thought too much of himself and that he should have taken her number rather then give her his. What if she got frightened because of his wealth? Or his body? Or his social skills? What if she thought that she simply wasn't good enough for him and thus preferred her own Chino kind. Had he just gone down to her level a bit more, perhaps let her drive the Rolls... maybe on that dark part of the highway, after all there were no other cars, what could happen??? “ Don't be absurd, she could scratch it!!!! ” he instinctively said to himself.
“Damn it!! I still got her bike!! If she doesn't contact me by Monday I'll get Bobby to track down the owner of the product. There must be some sort of a serial number on it....perhaps I could use my NSA contacts...... No, that wouldn't be appropriate, I suppose....but wait, I got that contact at JP Morgan, he owes me one!!” Ronald continued deliberating with himself the costs and benefits of using his web of connections across various private and public institutions to find that one lonely girl from Chino. And so he spent his entire weekend. To be fair, he preferred it to anything else. So much time had been spent on useless junk. Hookers, expensive champagne, cars, even the apartment. Long ago, before that initial dream which showed him the mathematical foundations for consciousness travel across time, he lived a nice and lonely life in a simple one bedroom apartment. He didn't even own a transport. Now, he was considering purchasing a small jet airplane for business and leisure. After all, girls like guys with toys, was his logic. All that seemed irrelevant now. That simple girl reminded him of his true self, his real love for science and mathematics and his dislike for anything material. He slowly began tormenting himself over the business decisions he had made which cost thousands of jobs during his leveraged buy-outs of ailing industrial projects across the developed world. At the time, he would extinguish any moral doubt on the grounds that “ he was doing the work of the market ”, that “ it was God's work ” and that “ this would create more jobs in the developing world in the end ”. Now, he simply saw himself for what he had become: a greedy, arrogant Gordon Gekko.....the perfect representation of Reagan in the private sector. “ He was no more a great president than I am a great businessmen...... ” thoughts began flying across his head “ I just rape and pillage for profit......I've never even had a stable relationship....all the girls that like me are whores and hookers.....not even sluts used to look at me before and now they all think I'm boss.....it's the money they are after, that and the allure of a posh lifestyle ” Of course he forgot the countless times that slutty and not so slutty girls would try to strike up conversations with him and he would just shrug them off during his time as a physicist. To him, at this moment, all the girls either thought he was ugly or wanted his money or both. Seemed like he was having a nuclear meltdown.
Until at last, at last the he heard the familiar vibration of his cell phone. A new email....could it be from her??
He immediately grabbed his phone and opened the mail client....
“ Dear Ronald, it was really nice to have met you... ” began the letter. At the sight of those words it was as if the barium control rods had suddenly dropped fully into the reactor, stopping the runaway nuclear fission from turning into anything more sinister than a simple spike in power generation felt across the entire grid by the slight increase in luminosity of the incandescent light bulbs.

“ Sorry for not getting in touch with you earlier... ” the writing continued “ unfortunately I don't have an internet connection at home and had to use one at my friend's house. The room at the hotel was very nice, I don't think I've ever been in a place that nice before.....I have thought about what you said earlier and would very much like to meet you again. Any evening after tomorrow is fine at a place of your choosing. Love. Monica.”
Ronald flushed from happiness and immediately went to check his diary. The earliest spot he could find was on Wednesday, since the interest rate announcement from the Fed was on Tuesday.
“ Hmm ” he began pondering “ So 6 o'clock should be fine....should I message her now or wait till tomorrow? I remember reading on that dating site that you should always wait before replying in order to keep her in suspense.... ” At this moment he put down his smartphone and began pacing up and down the spacious room. His mind believed that he should reply at the earliest tomorrow, else he'll look to eager to get into her pants. At the same time his heart was telling him that all of this is rubbish and that the sooner he replies the happier it will make Monica. After all, why would he want her to go through the same ordeal that he just went through? “ Unless, of course, she lied about lacking internet access and waited this long to keep ME in ordeal!!! ” Ronald stumped his foot on the parquet and tensed all of his muscles. A few moments later he changed his mind 180 degrees and jumped to pick up his phone.
“ So nice to hear from you..... ” he began writing earnestly, after a few moments he got to the point and arranged to meet her at a café outside his office at 630 on Wednesday.
“ This should do it. Don't want anything too fancy or else I'll scare her.....she's probably already frightened to come to my area since its the Nixon embankment..... ”

The next few days Ronald spent working, preparing his market positions for the FOMC statement and thinking on and off about the girl. It was beyond him why that particular woman had attracted his attention. She was pretty, alright, but he's been with hookers that were better. At the same time he was experiencing a very strange feeling of guilt in relation to her. It was as if he had hurt her in the past and is now making up for it by taking care of her. Logically, it didn't make much sense, but considering the intertemporal communication device he had installed in his brain, anything was possible. Perhaps, he had hurt her in an alternate reality and is now trying to make up for it. Or perhaps, they had been lovers and a catastrophe happened which now he is trying to avoid. Nevertheless, the reason as to why a rich fellow like himself and a girl from Chino that has trouble making ends meet would end up having anything but a one night stand defied all that he thought he knew about human behaviour. As Wednesday evening encroached upon him he more and more began to feel confident in his decision to have given her a ride on that lonely night. Something was gluing them together, some sort of force or energy in the universe necessitated them running into each other like that. This was no coincidence, for he had been with many women since the beginning of his investment career and not one of them had kindled a flame inside his heart like that. Not one.
“ Damn it, I wonder how much energy that flame of love is releasing in comparison to a barrel of crude. ” thought Ronald whilst standing in his office.
“ WTI or Brent ” came a female voice from behind.
“ Excuse me??? ” Ronald's body jerked from surprise and he rapidly turned around to see a middle-aged woman dressed in a business suit. He remembered her position, but not her name. A senior analyst of the energy sector that was helping him set up his positions in the oil futures market. She also was quite chubby, but that was not so obvious as she would mask it by wearing oversized clothing.
“ Well, you were talking out loud and I just wondered which type of oil you find more romantic.... ” she said smilingly
“ Is she hitting on me........ ”
“ Eh.....neither to be honest.... ” he replied
“ Oh, don't worry, we all have our favourite investment toy, one which has brought us the most money. For me, it's the WTI futures, Brent never really floated my boat, and gee, those Europeans really ought to eat less ”
“ Yeah, right ” he said hesitantly upon realising how enormous that woman really was. “ Seems like you've had more than one barrel of that oil shoved into you, or at least you've had the calorie equivalent.... ” he thought.
“ Well, anyways, I have emailed you my analysis. But if you are interested, I could perhaps drop by your place and explain it to you in person.... ” the last two words were as sugar coated as if they were manufactured by the Coca Cola company.
“ I'm a rather busy man..... ”
“ My phone number is at the bottom of the email! ” she announced and quickly marched out of the office.

A little while later Ronald walked out of his office building and made his way down to the Underwriter Café across the street. That was the supposed meeting place. As he approached the dark rectangular standalone building a sense of fear and joy began sweeping across his body. He began squinting against the residual glare that was emanating from the windows and made an effort to discern any possible visitors of the café through the windows. The place was more of a mixture of a café and a pub. In it one could both order tap beer as well as enjoy a fresh cup of coffee with a nice European desert. This was the requirement for the many finance workers that were its main clientèle. As a doorman opened the heavy entrance doors for him a smell of alcohol, coffee and money overpowered his senses. He walked in into a large rectangular room with a very dark ambience and immediately began scanning the surroundings looking for Monica. Quite far away, with her back against the wall he saw the silhouette of a beautiful woman and reckoned that it was her. He sauntered towards her and said hello. The girl immediately got up and with a huge sign of cheer on her face kissed him on both cheeks. Ronald reciprocated. They sat down on the small shaky metal chairs that one finds in such places with only a tiny circular steel coffee table in between. Nevertheless, it was sufficiently tall for them to rest their elbows on it and feel comfortable. The conversation kicked off, and each one took the liberty to fully introduce himself. Ronald began his story by telling her how he was a lone scientist working on quantum gravity until he suddenly saw the miracle equations in his dream. He explained, how later he got into the investment business and used his Nobel prize money as starting capital. Monica was more then impressed and quietly wondered what would such a great man want from her. Ronald, of course, did not tell her about the microprocessor implanted under his right ear which enabled him to do all that. He reckoned that this detail was better left untold, forever.
Monica, on the other hand, felt embarrassed to reveal her life. Ronald began pressuring her as he was eager to know why, if for any reason, he had so passionately fallen in love with her. She began by saying that her mother died when she was very young and that her dad was an alcoholic and a methamphetamine addict. She had a very difficult childhood, with her father sending her on errands to procure the drug. She barely did any school, and ended up in juvenile detention after getting caught with half a gram. She got lucky, because the judge was very lenient towards her after he found out the entire story. After doing her time she was put into the custody of the child protective services and the government began looking for foster parents for her, but everyone refused. They would reason that her criminal past as well as lack of formal education made her unwanted. She was almost on the edge of being transferred back to her original father but he ended up having a heart attack after drinking too much vodka whilst smoking crystal. As her 18th birthday approached, she began thinking of various career options. Up to this point, the only education she had was 5 years of school plus 3 years of tutoring inside state foster home. No one would hire her, so she had to come up with a business solution all by herself. At one point she was almost on the verge of selling herself, but then an idea popped into her head. She was to simply become a house cleaner.
“ That's a very sad story ” began Ronald, his eyes were focused directly on Monica's as he was trying to experience the pain that his loved one had been through “ I only wish I could have helped you in any way.... ” Perhaps, since he was in possession of the microchip technology, he can transmit the information back in time....but then he would influence her personality, making her love somebody else. Anyhow, this was too much of an interference with the spacetime continuum.
“ Don't worry about it, in my area a lot of people have had a childhood like this ” she grabbed his hand and continued “ Honestly, I don't know why but I feel like there is some sort of a connection between us. It is if I know you from somewhere. That night, when you picked me up I was travelling home from work. My bike broke down and had you not been there to help me, who knows what I could have run into. ”
Could it be chance, or was it providence? For a person who had never loved anyone before to even contemplate getting married. There must be something in it. It was obvious, that this was his nth iteration in life, so had there been any persons that he felt such strong attachment for during previous iterations? Unfortunately, it was impossible to know. The moment one transmits information intertemporally the sequence of events of one's life immediately changes and one finds himself inhabiting another place, in another parallel universe. Being pretty much a different person with a different set of memories and beliefs. Ronald did now know who he was originally. Was he a brilliant scientist or did he simply steal someone else's theories? Or perhaps did he work them out himself but with the inadvertent help of someone else? Kind of like Einstein, who is considered to be the greatest genius that humanity has ever produced, yet in his early adult years he had worked at a patent bureau. Although not proven, but perhaps he stumbled upon something whilst working there that gave him the essential idea that the speed of light was invariant? Without it, there would be no theory of relativity. No one will know for sure. All that is certain is that Ronald received the equations for quantum gravity in his dream from what must have been himself in the future in another universe. How that other self arrived at them was none of his business. He could have slaughtered another scientist and ripped the academic paper from his teeth minutes before it was published. All that he cared about was that he was rich and that he loved Monica.
“ We've been sitting here for a while, shall we get a drink? ” he asked
Ronald called out for the waiter and ordered a gin and tonic for himself and a beer for Monica. After the two got into a passionate conversation trying to find out as much as possible about each other. Quickly they found that even though there were a lot of structural differences between them, fundamentally the two shared much of the same beliefs and had a common life philosophy. One could say that they were technically different but fundamentally the same. In a way, a finance nerd could compare them to two companies, which even though have huge differences in share prices were managed in pretty much identical ways. The price difference was mainly due to the earnings multiple differential, and the fact that the markets demanded a much higher premium on a company that operated in a wild environment. Kind of how a company operating in a developed market could command a much higher market capitalisation than its clone somewhere in Indonesia. Even though physics teaches us that opposites attract, biology demonstrates that birds of a similar feather flock together. Therefore, Ronald and Monica pretty much completed each other. She illuminated all the good that remained in him, all those qualities that allowed him to come up with the quantum gravity equations in the original universe. On the other hand, he made her feel special and more than just another cleaner on the market.
Quickly, the conversation progressed to French kissing and then to sex. Ronald despised all those girls that procrastinate with sex in order to show themselves as being a hard catch. For him, you had to get into the trade right away, and if it was zapping away from you, it wasn't the right trade. Monica saw that in him and played along, knowing full well that his feeling were genuine and that it would be next to impossible to find another guy like him. And it wasn't the money that she was attracted to the most in him. It was his character, his insane knowledge and his animal spirits that had allowed him to transform from a nerdy scientist into a titan of finance. She yearned for the great beast that was to take her and impregnate her with his world class chromosomes. The resultant offspring would then be cared for in the highest fashion of the Anglo-American culture going to the likes of Eton for education. Just the thought of the multitude of babies that would arise from their relationship wetted her up like an underwater nuclear detonation wets a nearby vessel. She shared her fantasies with him about her desire to overcompensate for the shortcomings of her own childhood and found that Ronald had “ the more, the better ” mentality, referencing the popular philosophy about how you cannot have too large a screen. A few dates later both of them decided to stop using protection and go straight for pregnancy. Ronald promised her that on the date of the first positive test he would marry her as well as buy her a present for the successful fertilisation. He computed the optimal times for it as well as the optimal positions. Of course, having any serious lack of education in biology some of the analysis had to be outsourced to the professionals. Nevertheless, they began having sex with the precision of a Swiss watch. The time dimension of what the younger Ronald would perceive as an unnecessary and useless act began to increase exponentially, along with the utility obtained from it by both parties. It is worth noting, that even the older Ronald didn't particularly enjoy having sex and only did it because “ that's what investment bankers do ”. Now, however, he was maximising his returns like there was no tomorrow. In between the episodes he would lecture her on the essence of finance, economics, physics and mathematics hoping to fill her knowledge gap and bring her up to a level of at least 1 standard deviation below his. She would attentively listen and at times grab him and sway him towards fulfilling the biological need. In order to make time for her Ronald even cut down on his trading and security analysis and outsourced many of the micro functions to Goldman. He did show up at work two or three times a week in order to sustain the aura of authority and to make sure that no one was doing anything silly with his money. It didn't take long for one of the many tens of millions of sperm cells to make their way through the internals and into the egg of the mother. As that happened, the man's chromosomes were introduced into the egg and the division process begun. Slowly at first, the cells began splitting into two and the size of the resultant life form began growing exponentially. Little did they know about the inherent incompatibility of their genetic sequencing codes and the potential for an event that was at least 4 standard deviations away from optimum desirability. In other words as unlikely as fuck.


5. The Black Swan

' Push!, Push! Push! ' the doctor was yelling at the top of his voice. He was very worried as Monica had already released more than 10 centimetres of water and the baby was still not coming out. The nurses were flying around her like flies around a steaming pile of manure. Ronald was standing outside biting his nails looking into the white walled room through a ceiling-tall glass wall. His loved one was lying on a large bed placed across the room, with the head rest lifted about 30 degrees. The organic LED display on the far side of the bed was showing an oscilloscope which registered her every heart beat. Right now the pulse was about 130 and heavily fluctuating. Another adjacent display showed her brain activity, which was of a mortally frightened person.
' I can't....it's really painful, please do something '
What is going on? This is supposed to be the best hospital in the county, alright. I have made all the provisions in advance, the ultrasound showed that everything was normal. They better not have to make a caesarean section. The face of the doctor began showing fear as well, as it started to become clear that there was no easy way out. Something was wrong, but he didn't know what. The information that he had concealed from Monica was that, even after a 10 centimetre release of water the baby had still not bulged even an inch. This must have been his 1000th delivery, and until now he hasn't seen anything like this. Ronald began knocking on the glass, asking if he could be of any help. The doctor quickly dismissed him with a wave of his hand and continued focusing on Monica. One of the nurses had approached the husband and began explaining him the whole situation. On the 3rd sentence the banker's face started to show a mix of sympathy, fear and rage as he began demanding to see the doctor.
' It's looking very serious, sir. Sorry that I wasn't able to come earlier. '
' Are you saying that caesarean might be the only option? '
' I'm afraid so, if we don't operate, she will die. '
' And the baby? ' asked Ronald in a trembling voice. Upon receiving a negative reply he fell into despair and was advised to wait in the lounge while the operation proceeds. The operation itself shouldn't take longer than two hours, however this time was to be the most difficult of his life. Already sensing the absence of a strictly positive outcome, Ronald began pacing up and down the waiting room demanding to know the progress every five minutes. One of the doctors decided that in the interests of Ronald and the hospital he was to take some form of a sedative and gently proposed that idea to him. After a brief but intense verbal confrontation he finally agreed to take the medicine. Even though this had a calming physical effect, psychologically all hell broke loose.
I can't, no she can't, I love her. She must not die, this will be the end of it, there must be something that I can do, I've got the chip. There has to be a reason for this, everything can be explained scientifically. This couldn't have been just a coincidence, perhaps some sort of a design flaw in her uterus, but the ultrasound would have found it....or maybe something wrong with my sperm, but what could it be? A sperm cell is just a collection of DNA, unless I had been subject to a high level of radiation it wouldn't have been damaged.... the conversation with the self continued for the full time of the operation, which was just under three hours. Ronald did not even notice the sound of the approaching footsteps of the surgeon accompanied by the characteristic echo normally produced in a spacious corridor.
' Mr. Reagan.... ' began the surgeon humbly. Those words snapped Ronald out of his paranoia trip and he jumped up from his seat
' Yes, yes '
' My name is Dr. Truman. I was the lead surgeon during your wife's caesarean section '
' Is....she alright? '
' I am deeply sorry sir ' he began. At this point Ronald's heart skipped a beat ' but unfortunately neither your wife nor the baby could be saved. The position of the baby inside the womb was really strange, the umbilical cord seemed to have wrapped itself around his neck and as the muscles of the womb began pushing him out the oxygen supply was cut off. To further complicate things, a part of the cord seemed to have attached itself to the skin of the baby, making it near impossible to separate him from the mother. During the operation, the physicals of your wife began to show a marked deterioration, for reasons that appear to be inexplicable even to me. If there is anything I could do for you...... ' Ronald stopped listening at this point. He was more than shocked. He was devastated. The first and only woman that he ever loved is dead along with the child. He was devastated, he was dead, he could give up all his wealth and fame just to have her back. Was there something he could do? Was there something the microprocessor could be used for?
' Excuse me, Dr. Truman. Is there anything you could do? This is the best hospital in the region and I am paying you very generously. You must be able to do something! '
' Mr. Reagan, I'm afraid your wife is gone and there is nothing we can do about it. We are not gods. But if it is any consolation, I could order further tests to try and find out exactly what went wrong '
' Have you not tested us enough? ' He was angry now. Monica and him had spent more than a few mornings waking up at 7 and making their way to the hospital in order to submit their blood and other bodily fluids for some serious analysis. If there was a test that the hospital did not perform, he was sure he was going to sue them over it.
' I understand you have gone through the most thorough screening we offer. However, looking for a problem before we know what the problem is is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It is possible, however unfortunate it may sound, that we have simply missed that one needle. On the other hand, the tests might not have been accurate enough or we were looking for the wrong thing. In the worst case scenario, the malignancy that has showed itself was untestable. However, now that we know what exactly went wrong, it will be a lot easier for us to find out why it went wrong. '
' I see. Well, although it will not console me I do want the tests done '
' Alright, sir. Then could you please follow me. We just need you to fill out the request form and agree to pay the outstanding fee. I have to warn you, the fee is considerable as we will not only be employing the newest biological markers but also the resources of some of the leading laboratories in the country. I would love to offer it to you on the house but... '
' Spare me your pleasantries, doctor. How much will it be? '
' Anywhere between a 100 and 200 thousand dollars, Mr. Reagan. We cannot know for sure until we have processed the genetic material. I would also like to warn you, that the sooner the tests are done the better, as the body of your wife has already began the process of biological decompostition. '
' I want you to start the testing immediately. '

After having signed the required forms and let go of 100 000 dollars, Ronald made his way out of the hospital and sat on the nearest bench. Soon after, tears began rolling down his cheeks. He did not know whether the tests will yield any conclusive answers. And even if they did, what could he do about it? No amount of money or power in the world could bring back a dead person. Neither could any knowledge of the hard sciences. He had spent more than 10 years studying physics at university and now that he needed real results, he was powerless to yield them. Even that stupid microprocessor behind his year could not solve the disaster. Suppose he transmits information back to himself to use a condom throughout and to forget about kids. Will Monica agree to it? She wanted children so badly, if he were to break out the truth, she might leave him. And even if she doesn't, he still wanted a proper family. There had to be another way.
Three days later the funeral began. Almost no one came, as Monica had very few friends. The ones that did showed very little sorrow or grief and were there just to rub shoulders with the prominent banker. Ronald despised their type. In his mindset, they were the reason for everything that was wrong with the universe. And unfortunately, this type of people existed on all the strata of society. No matter how rich they are, they will always use every opportunity for further enrichment. But was he not like that? Did he not follow the footsteps of the robber barons? Did he not rape cities and villages for profit? His conscience began lifting its head once again. That is what he loved so much about Monica. It's that she made him a better person, made him remember his past life and go back to his roots. This whole capitalist mumbo-jumbo was nothing more than an illusion, a drug that he had become so addicted to. Nevertheless, he was certain of his ability of solve the problem. All that he needed to know is what went wrong. Like always, his mind yearned for an explanation of the reality around him. He needed to know precisely what happened, even if it was of a little practical value. After the funeral the few guests that came expected Ronald to take them to a posh dinner at the Plaza but he just departed without even saying good bye. They could wish him death for all he cared. He hated their type.

A week later Ronald received a call. It came from the Los Alamos laboratory, which was supposed to be the best in the world. After a brief hello and an introduction the person on the other end of the line let Ronald know that they had, in fact found the reason for the miscarriage. It appeared that Monica and him were incompatible on a genetic level. Thus, they both appeared perfectly healthy individually, but it was when their genes became combined up that trouble began. Unfortunately, there was no way to know this beforehand. Not with the current understanding of science. The call, although it may appear useless to an outsider, was hugely relieving for Ronald. He finally found out what went wrong. Now, if he could only figure out how to fix it.
He was never strong at biology, in fact he despised it from the very beginning, considering it to be a girl's science. Upon having the option to specialise at school Ronald immediately began concentrating on mathematics and physics shunning everything else that even remotely looked like a humanitarian discipline. Now he was dealing with a science that he knew absolutely nothing about. Therefore, he needed analogies. Ronald found the situation similar to the Mentos and Diet Coke experiment, where the combination of the above ingredients results in a copious release of carbon dioxide. After a bit of digging, he found out that genetic incompatibility was an extremely unlikely event. But here he was, directly experiencing it. Just because something is improbable does not mean it is impossible. Was there something he could do it about it? Could it be fixed? Theoretically, he could transmit the information back in time to himself to either prevent picking up Monica in the first place or forcing himself to wear a condom during intercourse. But, what about the baby? After all, being with her made him want to spread his genes whilst solidifying his relationship and creating a proper family. Theoretically, he started thinking, could there be a way to rectify the genetic incompatibility? Could one somehow fix the malevolent genes in both parents to make them fit together perfectly? If he came up with a way to travel across universes, then why can't he fix this little problem? After all, inventing intertemporal communication and time travel seemed to be a much more strenuous task then fixing some bug in his own DNA. But in order to achieve this goal, in order to make his dream family possible, he had to become a biologist. Which means that he had to alter his career aspirations starting all the way back in his childhood. Then, and only then, could his brilliant mind work on the scientific problem of fixing the inherent genetic incompatibility thus making his dream come true!
Slowly, Ronald began carefully re-examining his past trying to look for the moment when he fell in love with physics. He managed to pinpoint the initial interest to a trip to the planetarium at the age of 6, when he was so mesmerised by the images of the cosmos, that he decided to spend his entire life studying it. This was followed by such further excursions along with the continuous study of the scientific literature for children and intense conversations with his grandfather regarding physics and mathematics. To note, his grandfather was a man versed in all sorts of scientific knowledge, who thus had provided Ronald with the essential stepping stone to unravelling the mysteries of the universe. Theoretically, if he could manipulate himself at this age to become captivated by biology rather than physics, he would later embark on a different career path which could lead him to developing the needed cure, provided that he became as proficient at biology as he had become at physics. Of course, there remained a possibility that he would end up becoming a simple lab assistant, but this was a risk worth taking. All that he needed was to send the right information to himself back in time and he would alter history once more. Of course, once the changes were made to his own timeline, there would be no more memories of this life along with the memories of Monica. So he had to also make himself remember her face, her address and pass along his feelings. The microprocessor should theoretically be capable of transmitting all this.
It later occurred to Ronald that should he proceed this will also be his last chance at changing his own timeline for once his destiny has been altered he would no longer be in possession of the mathematical equations of quantum gravity, which allowed the microprocessor to function as it did. Therefore, he would no longer be able to change his own destiny. Most likely, unless he starts up a major pharmaceutical corporation, he will also be poor. His wealth was mainly due to him messing with the space time continuum anyway, so one could basically say that he was a cheater. In reality, his trading and investment skills differed little from a normal investment banking analyst. It was his ability to send information back to himself about the various trades and investments which had allowed him to become a millionaire. Therefore, it was highly unlikely that in the alternate reality he will end up becoming a corporate tycoon. But, but....he was almost sure that he still remained a brilliant scientist, one who probably had arrived at the quantum gravity equations all by himself in a parallel universe. So the essential choice boiled down to this: should he, Ronald Reagan, lose all of his material possessions and become an ordinary person so as to take a shot and getting back his wife? Looked at from an economics standpoint, this presented a classic trade-off dilemma. He could either keep his wealth, or get his girl back, but not both. To further complicate things, he didn't even know the odds of success. It could be 90% or 10% or 50%. Said differently, he could either end up becoming a brilliant biologist, or a terrible one. Which one he became was impossible to predict. So for the sake of simplicity he assumed a 50% success rate. His net worth was around 250 million dollars. Therefore, the problem could be formulated as follows: was a 50% chance of getting Monica back worth more or less than 250 million dollars? Thus, was a lifetime with Monica worth more than 500 million dollars? And of course the possibility of having children had to be factored in as well. But just for the sake of simplicity Ronald decided to stick with the bare-back equation for now.
Normally, moralists say that human life is invaluable. Ronald, of course, knew this to be utter gibberish, since had human life been invaluable we would not have had wars. But if it did have a value, how would one estimate it? He remembered, that a while back, in the 1960s, the company Ford had estimated a person's life to be worth 200 000 dollars. At current prices, this would amount to around 2 million dollars. Nevertheless, he felt that this figure grossly underestimated Monica's life. Also, the way this number had been arrived at was most likely by calculating the total economic contribution an average individual made over his lifetime. Strangely enough, considering that the economic output of the United States today is about 50 000 dollars per capita, and that the average working life of a human being is about 40 years, 50 000 multiplied by 40 yields also 2 million dollars. Looked at from that perspective, Monica's life was worth even less, since her contribution to the economy had been negligible.... “ Drop it, you idiot....you love her, maybe those fools at the RAND corporation can think like that but not you! Her life is worth way more than that, it is close to being invaluable. Fuck those policy making White House dudes, they might conclude that it is cheaper to send a squad of marines rather then firing a Tomahawk missile but they'll all burn in …..” And so the decision was made. Ronald was to alter his destiny for the very last time. He decided that for once he should think like a human being rather than like a mathematician, or worse, a Nazi scientist. He would thus give up his acquired ability to alter his past along with all the wealth that he had accumulated. In return, he would have a chance to get his loved one back. And have a decent family. However, Ronald unfortunately did not fully consider all the variables in the equation.


6. The last trip

The sound of the alarm bell. The light emanating from the window. Ronald was slowly starting to sense his new body. He tried to send electrical signals across his nervous system to flex every muscle that he had, from the toes to the head. Everything appeared to be fully functional. Nevertheless, he still felt what only could be described as a massive hungover. His eyelids were extremely heavy and required a force of many gigawatts to open. As he lifted his torso from the bed the information about the surrounding room began flowing through his optical nerve into his neocortex, only to be met by disbelief. The room appeared small, at most 15 square meters. In front there was a standard size window, and he could hear the crowing of a rooster coming from a distance. He could feel the absence of heat in the room with his facial skin. Being afraid to get up, he spent a few more minutes trying to remember how he got here and where here was. His mind was more than resistant to his conscious probing and refused to retrieve any information as to his whereabouts.
Ronald got out of bed and quickly began dressing in what appeared to be lower middle class clothes. A simple pair of non-branded jeans, a t-shirt made out of rough cotton and an equally simplistic shirt. He walked towards the window and after having moved the drapes apart gazed outside. It appeared that he was standing on the second floor of a wooded house with small green in front. At a distance he could see farmland and trees. The absolute quite, interrupted ever so often by the squeaks of various animals, was another factor in the ambiance. At this point Ronald decided to go walk around what seemed like a countryside house. On the ground floor he found his way to the kitchen and using muscle memory began operating the primitive kettle. Was he happy or sad? Did it work? Who is he know and most importantly where and when​? Unfortunately his brain refused to give him any of the answers. Ronald could hear the sound of approaching footsteps, and then a knock. He immediately snapped out and made his way to the front door. Whatever was outside this door would answer all his questions.
“ Dad!Dad! ” came in a boy's voice as Ronald opened the door. Right after he heard another voice, this time of a young girl “ Daddy! Hello! ” Though he was as astonished as he had ever been, he immediately bent down and welcomed both kids.
“ How was school? ” he asked, whilst being surprised at himself for possessing such information
“ Excellent, today we were studying insects. Found the subject so fascinating, reminded me of our field trips when we were young ” answered the boy cheerfully
Field trips studying insects... Does that mean that Ronald was a biologist? Or a zoologist? Perhaps both. He remembered his own trips to the zoo with his grandfather, his fascination with organic life. His recurrent dreams at the age of 6 when he saw DNA molecules recombining to produce new life forms. Oh, how he wanted to be a part of it, to study life and to help his fellow humans. But, then something happened, something dreadful.
“ That is all great, I'm glad that you enjoyed it. May I ask, where is your mother? ”
“ She's still at work ” began the girl, as she was taking off the coat “ but today she said she will finish early, so perhaps she might join us in a couple of hours. ”
Ronald began waiting for her, after sending off the kids to do their homework. Whilst slowly pacing around the living room, he tried ever so hard to remember his past life. Fragments began popping into his mind. A wild sex party at the university. A string of failed grades at mathematics during his senior school years. An admission to a low-tier university. And the resultant loss of interest in science. He knew there was something in him that yearned for an answer. That knew there was something wrong. Another life, more fulfilling materially but less so emotionally. That one time he had been a great person, maybe even a scientist. One thing was certain, he no longer lusted for knowledge, or power. With his left hand he scratched the area behind his right ear in search for something. Something that wasn't there, but he could not remember what it was.
“ Dear Ronald! So nice to see you, how come you are not at work? ” the sound of a female voice came from the entrance hall
“ Dear, what is your name?? ” She looked at him astonished and then gave the answer. Margaret. That name stirred emotions in Ronald and he run towards her and gave her a strong hug full of love. After a while, the two sat down at the dinner table and began their conversation. It took him just a little convincing to get her talking, after having explained that it was essential to re-tell him the essential points of their life together. For some strange reason, Margaret perfectly understood.
“ Ronald, for some reason I've always known that you've had a parallel life. Even though you've never told me anything about it. When we met, you had already finished your degree literature and had moved on. It appeared that you just weren't that interested in the subject after all. ”
“ Did I ever tell you how I got into this? ”
“ Yes, after spending many summers together with your grandfather going to zoos and vivariums anything excessively quantitative repelled you. You tried to study biology at school, seeing that it is the least quantitative subject. But, from what I understood from our earlier conversations, it never quite appealed to you. So when the time came to make your choice of specialisation, you decided to go for the jugular and change your orientation completely. ”
“ Therefore I picked a literature course. They didn't even admit me to a that good of a university. I remember that now, the other students there were very interesting and nice to spend time with. The parties were great and I.... ”
“ When I first met you, you were single. Yet, from what you told me before, there had been many encounters with the opposite sex on your part. You were quite a playboy during your college years. It seemed to me at the time that ever since high school you life had changed. Ever since you came to the conclusion that science was not for you. That you had to take things easy and not always strive for perfect knowledge, or control.”
“ And had I ever had a crush on anyone that wasn't you? ”
“ Well, there was this one girl that you couldn't stop talking about when we first met. I think, her name was Monica. You found her on the internet and said that being with her was your destiny. Unfortunately, she already was with someone. An older man, perhaps 40 years old or more, that worked in the financial services industry. It took me quite a while to dissuade you from trying to pull her into your courtyard ”
“ I see. So, as I understand, we have a solid marriage. Brought up two wonderful children. And on a final note, what is it we do? ”
Margaret let out a heavy breath “ Well, I am a secondary school teacher and you run a small business. A convenience store. ”
“ Thank you ”.


Ronald felt that somewhere, someplace there existed a copy of him swollen to death from beluga caviar and fine champagne, yet miserable and grieving for the loss of a loved one. At the same time there was a copy of him right here, thin and lean yet with a loving wife and two children. A family man living the American dream. So in the end it turns out that wealth and money is not everything. Neither is the knowledge of the subtleties of the universe and the grand theory of everything. For him at this very moment it was better to be at a low level of energy yet happy than at a high level but miserable. Looked at from another perspective, living the dream he was utilising his resources a lot more efficiently then he was being posh. 

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