Working with the multiversal scanner is really rewarding. There's a pretty steep learning curve, but once you master the basics it's a really powerful tool for understanding the alternative realities all around us.

I'm mostly self taught. I was kicked out of Ms. Lambert's Multiversal Engineering 101 because of "continual refusal to adhere to fundamental ethics." That's just because what we were being taught was too basic and I couldn't help but push the envelope. REALLY understanding Multiversal Engineering means not just observing but, when we can, making a difference.

After making my observations in 723xb9 sub-G (poor thing!) and doing initial recon and prep in 7892ooZ sub-J, it was really late and I was ready to hit the hay. I'm lucky I have a single -- no roomie! You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get that.

But that night, something was off. I always shut a hair between the door and the frame to make sure nobody's been snooping around, and that night it wasn't there.

I called security and had them check my room. Under the bed, in the closets. It was clear. But it kind of ruined my night's sleep.

Who had been in there? The hair couldn't have just fallen out, could it?

My ghosts were extra murmury that night.

So I dialed up adjacent reality 723xb9 sub-G. Which was the last one one I'd looked in on.

And oh dear, sure enough, I'd been in a car wreck and was in a coma. Brain dead. We'd both gotten our licenses about the same time, but looks like something went wrong with her brakes. What a shame. That put me up to 73.

I turned the channel to 7892ooZ sub-J, the next one with the highest probability of another Tammy Hammer and started my usual reconnaissance.

"Five minutes, Tammy," Herbert hollered.

"Thanks Herbert! No problem! This will only take me a minute."

Getting a slot on the multiversal scanner is hard. They're booked out for months with research projects, but really it's about who you know.

"Hi Herbert," I said, super friendly like.

Herbert looked up from the computer and closed his eyes. Nobody else was around in the research labs at this hour.

"You can have 30 minutes," he said. "We're between appointments. Just make sure you put everything back like you found it."

"Don't I always?" I smiled. "Thanks Herbert!"

Finding out you’re brain dead in every adjacent reality might seem like a creepy thing. And it is! No doubt about it.

But it beats having to share your identity with a bunch of strangers. This way I’ve got my a whole sector of the multiverse to myself.

There’s an ongoing background murmur from my ghosts, but I barely notice it.

I’m brain dead in 72 different realities, but not this one. So it is very special to me.