Harmony's Mirror
A Sci-Fi story inspired by Jonathan's Filipino heritage and our love of the Multiverse...
🌟 Positopian Life Lessons Contained in this Short Story: 🌟
🔹 Hope isn’t found in escape—it’s built through action.
🔹 Technology alone won’t save us—mindset and community will.
🔹 Small choices create big transformations.
This story isn’t just about exploring the multiverse—it’s about discovering what it takes to create a better world, one choice at a time. 🌏✨
Years of relentless work, countless sleepless nights, and here I stand, staring at my creation. My heart pounds against my ribs as I take in the shimmering, web-like chart of the multiverse splayed across the pristine white expanse of my lab.
"It's quite the map, Ava," Mateo’s dark eyes widen as he takes in the intricate network of energy pulsating before us. I can't help but notice how the glow paints patterns across his face, highlighting his sharp cheekbones.
I adjust my augmented reality display, trying to ignore the flutter in my stomach whenever Mateo stands this close. “It's more than a map, Mateo, it's a doorway. It’s our very own multiverse miracle.”
Dr. Singh's voice cuts through the moment, sharp as a scalpel. "A miracle that could turn into a multiverse of trouble. Tampering with forces beyond our comprehension…"
"Could also lead to solutions beyond our wildest dreams, Dr. Singh." The words tumble out before I can stop them, my voice trembling with barely contained excitement.
Dr. Singh's shoulders slump slightly, and I feel a pang of guilt seeing the weight of her years and wisdom showing. “It is merely imperative that we continue to navigate this situation with a degree of caution.”
Caution. The word echoes in my mind, mixing with the chaos of my thoughts. What good is caution when entire ecosystems are gasping their last breaths? When the air in Los Angeles feels like sandpaper against our lungs?
"We started this project not to see if we could reach other realities but to save our own," I say, trying to keep my voice steady despite the storm of emotions threatening to overwhelm me.
The hum of the quantum computer seems to intensify, matching the rapid beating of my heart.
"Easy there, Einstein," Mateo's voice wraps around me like a warm blanket, his hand resting on my shoulder. The touch sends tingles down my spine, and I fight to maintain my professional composure. “If we accidentally create a black hole, we’ll go out with a big old bang but I don’t think that’s quite the bang we’re all hoping for."
"Mateo!" Dr. Singh scolds, though I catch the slight softening in her expression. Even she isn't immune to his charm.
"Just kidding, Doc," he laughs, holding up his hands in mock surrender. The playful gesture makes my chest tighten in a way that has nothing to do with our experimental physics. "But we should probably work on installing enough safety protocols here to make a supervillain jealous—"
"Hold that thought," I say as my visor buzzes against my temple, my father's name flashing in my peripheral vision. My stomach drops – Papa never calls during lab hours unless something's wrong.
"It’s my dad,” I say giving a quick glance at the group, “I'll be quick. He probably just wants to make sure I'm coming to the family party tonight."
"Does your Tito Ricardo still do his epic karaoke sessions?" Mateo's excitement brings a reluctant smile to my face despite my growing unease.
“I hear he’s been practicing his rendition of ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’—in Tagalog.”
But when the call connects, my attempt at lightness shatters.
My father's voice, usually a steady baritone, comes through as a tremulous whisper. "Ava, it's Lola Elena... she's gone. Complications from the heatwave..."
My carefully constructed walls of scientific detachment crumble. Fear floods in like a tidal wave, and suddenly I can't breathe. The world shrinks until all I can hear is the sound of my father's ragged breathing through the receiver.
Papa continues, his voice cracking in a way that makes my heart splinter. “There was nothing we could do…”
The world tilts on its axis, and I grip the edge of my workstation to stay upright. Images of my Lola assault my mind – her warm smile, her gentle wisdom, the way she always smelled of jasmine and boba. Each memory feels like a knife twisting in my chest.
I end the call, the silence in the lab almost deafening.
Through the tears threatening to spill over, I see Dr. Singh's expression, “Is it your grandmother?” My silence, or rather, my inability to move, let alone nod causes her features to soften, rippling with maternal concern. “Take all the time you need," she says.
Mateo reaches out, his fingers brushing my arm. The touch should be comforting, but right now it feels like fire against my skin. “Go be with your family. The multiverse will still be here when you get back.”
The entire lab seems to pulse with the whispers of the infinite, but my focus narrows to a single point. On my workstation, amongst the jumble of data pads and circuitry diagrams, sits a glossy-framed photograph that makes my throat tight.
The picture captures Lola Elena and me making halo-halo together.
"Now, we add the next layer," Lola's voice echoes in my memory, as vivid as if she were standing beside me.
I can almost feel the cool condensation on the tall glass as we carefully build our halo-halo. The sweetened red beans go in first, their deep crimson hue a stark contrast against the crystalline ice. Next come the cubes of jellies that shimmer and dance as they settle into place. Lola laughing as she adds one too many scoops of ube ice cream.
The memory is so vivid I can almost feel the weight of the spoon in my hand, hear the soft clink as it touches the glass. I can see Lola's smile, wide and warm, as she takes her first bite, closing her eyes in blissful appreciation.
The ache in my chest intensifies, threatening to consume me. I will never make another halo-halo with Lola again.
I find myself speaking to my lab partners. “I’m…” My throat constricts, choking on words I can't seem to form. I’m going to have to prepare for Lola’s funeral. I’m going to have to say goodbye to the person I’ve looked up to my whole life. “I’m…”
My fingers hover over the keys behind me, trembling as I reach for the multiverse map control panel. The quantum computer's hum seems to sync with my racing heartbeat.
"I'm going in," I say, my voice cutting through the air with a steel-edged determination that surprises even me. I hone in on a timeline strikingly similar to our own, yet with one crucial difference. The warning signs flash red, urgent and angry, but I ignore them. I can't lose her. Not like this. Not when I might have a chance to save her and this entire planet.
“Ava, no!” Mateo's voice reaches me as if through water, distant and distorted. His desperation tears at my heart, but I've already made my choice.
A blinding flash sears my vision. Energy slams into me, knocking the breath from my lungs. For a moment, I'm everywhere and nowhere at once, my consciousness stretched across the infinite expanse of possibility.
And then, silence.
But it isn't the peaceful quiet of a task completed. It's the pregnant silence of a world holding its breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Then darkness swallows me whole – it's like being reborn, ripped from the womb of one reality and thrust into another.
The world spins around me, a dizzying vortex of confusion that makes my stomach lurch. My knees buckle as fear, sharp and cold as an ice pick, pricks at my skin. I push it aside, clinging to the image of Lola Elena holding the halo-halo, using her strength as an anchor in this swirling chaos.
When my vision finally clears, I gasp. Gone are the sterile white walls of my lab, the constant hum of the quantum computer that's become like a second heartbeat to me. Instead, I stand on a verdant hillside, the sweet scent of damp earth and a thousand blooming flowers filling my lungs like the first real breath I've taken in years.
Below me, nestled in the embrace of rolling hills, stretches a city that is both familiar and startlingly different from the Los Angeles I know.
Towers of shimmering glass and steel soar skyward, their sleek lines interwoven with verdant vertical gardens that make my scientist's mind race with possibilities. Slick, silent vehicles, powered by unseen forces, move effortlessly through the city's arteries, their paths a tranquil dance of efficiency and grace. But what steals my breath isn't just the technology – it's the palpable sense of peace, a harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature that makes my heart ache with longing.
This is Earth, but not my Earth. The realization settles in my chest like a stone – beautiful but heavy.
"Feeling a bit discombobulated, are we now?" A bright, playful voice cuts through my awe, making me jump.
I whirl around, my hand instinctively reaching for the taser I keep tucked in my belt – a habit born from one too many late nights in questionable parts of Los Angeles.
"Whoa there!" The young woman before me holds up her hands, and I find myself staring. Her dark hair is pulled back in a slick braid, her eyes as clear and curious as a hummingbird's. Something about her features strikes a chord of recognition – she could be one of my cousins, sharing the same Filipino heritage that marks my own face.
My head swims, and I sway on my feet, the aftermath of interdimensional travel hitting me like a hangover from Hell.
“Easy now! Jump lag’s always a bit rough, even for the regulars.” Her voice is warm, tinged with a musical lilt.
I stare at her, my mind struggling to form coherent thoughts through the fog of displacement. My throat feels dry as sand when I try to speak.“Where…where am I?”
"You're in New Angeles," she says with a smile that somehow reminds me of Lola Elena's – warm and knowing. “Well, technically, you’re in a parallel New Angeles. Welcome to Earth-342, or as we like to call it, Harmony.”
The name resonates in my chest like a struck bell. Harmony. The air itself seems to hum with a vibrant energy that makes my skin tingle – a sense of balance I've never experienced before.
She stretches her hand toward me, and I notice the delicate pattern of circuits tattooed along her wrist, glowing faintly with what must be bioluminescent ink. “I’m Maya. Timeline Guide, Interdimensional Welcoming Committee, and distributor of Locally-Sourced Solar Smoothies this side of the Multiverse.”
I don't shake her hand. I can't seem to move. My scientific mind is racing, trying to categorize and analyze everything I'm seeing, while another part of me is screaming that this can't be real.
Maya’s smile remains perfectly intact as she adjusts her hair instead. “I’m a Timeline Guide, you know one of the lucky few tasked to help orient travelers from across the Multiverse.”
I continue to stare, my silence a testament to my utter disbelief. The quantum equations swimming through my head seem inadequate to explain the reality before me.
"Well, traveler, got a name? Or should I just call you Ms. 'Lost in the Multiverse'?" Her teasing tone breaks through my scientific stupor.
I take a deep breath, inhaling the peculiar familiarity of this unfamiliar world. The scent of jasmine and clean air fills my lungs, reminding me painfully of the gardens Lola Elena used to tend. “Ava,” I utter, my throat still tight. “Ava Chen-Rodriguez.”
“First jump’s always a little unstable. I’m surprised you weren’t warned about side effects like interdimensional jump lag. How long has your planet been jumping?“
My cheeks flush with a mixture of embarrassment and pride. “I, um, think I’m the first from my planet, actually.”
“The first?” Maya's eyes widen with a childlike wonder that makes me feel both special and terrifyingly out of my depth. “You know, I should have known. You’ve got that classic deer-in-the-multiverse- headlights look. Adorable!”
"Um... thanks," I say, my heart pounding with a mixture of apprehension and intoxicating possibility as Maya gestures toward the city that shimmers like a beacon of hope against the rapidly darkening sky.
"Wait 'til I tell the other Timeline Guides I got to tour around an actual pioneer today." Maya's enthusiasm is infectious, making the corners of my mouth turn up despite my lingering anxiety.
“There’s a… tour… just for me?”
Maya reaches out her hand again, and this time I take it. Her skin is warm against mine, anchoring me to this impossible reality. “Come, friend, let me hear about the worries of your world as we take a tour of mine.”
After a brief explanation of my research (met with a mixture of fascination and amusement that makes me feel both proud and naïve), we're navigating the streets of New Angeles. Maya points out the wonders all around with the energy of a caffeinated hummingbird.
The melodic tinkling of wind chimes powered by the city's breath makes my scientist's heart skip with excitement. The tantalizing aroma of street food cooked with solar ovens mingles with the cheerful chatter of residents in languages both familiar and strange. Each new sight sends ripples of possibility through my mind, making my fingers itch to take notes.
“Many come seeking solutions for their worlds’ troubles. You’re not alone in that,” Maya says thoughtfully, her voice softening as she watches me drink in every detail.
We pass by a group of children playing a game with what looks like balls of light that dance and shimmer in response to their movements.
"Kinetic energy," Maya explains, noticing how I've stopped dead in my tracks to stare. "Powers the streetlights, charges their tablets – educational and entertaining. Two birds, one sustainably-sourced stone."
"Will you help me achieve the same?" The desperate plea escapes me before I can stop it, my voice cracking with the weight of all I've left behind.
Her lips curl upward in a way that reminds me of my mother when she's about to deliver some hard-earned wisdom. "You are a tourist here on my planet and I am your tour guide."
I’m not exactly sure if that’s a warning or a promise.
She leans closer, close enough that I can smell the faint scent of jasmine in her hair – so like Lola's garden that my chest tightens. Her voice drops to a conspiratorial whisper. "But fair warning, traveler, Harmony ain't just about pretty views and clean air. We got rules, regulations, and a whole lotta cosmic karma going on. You mess with the balance, you deal with the consequences, capiche?"
"Capiche," I agree, though my voice wavers like a quantum wave function about to collapse.
She takes me to a marketplace that makes my head spin with possibility. Vertical gardens grace every building, their green tendrils dancing in the breeze. My fingers twitch with the urge to touch them, to understand their secrets.
But what really makes my breath catch are the technological marvels. Devices of such advanced design that they seem to pulsate with an energy all their own, all casually displayed, available for purchase as if they were everyday commodities. My mind races with calculations and possibilities, each new discovery making my heart beat faster.
"Can I stay forever?" I half-joke, though there's an edge of desperate longing in my voice that I can't quite hide.
"It's tempting, isn't it?" The words practically dance off Maya's tongue, but there's something in her eyes – a shadow of understanding that makes my stomach clench. "To forget about the struggles of your own world. Believe me, I've seen it happen." She places a hand on my arm, her touch surprisingly strong and grounding. "But trust me, Ava, no one can outrun their own timeline."
It’s hard to accept that, to think that way when every corner I turn in Harmony seems to hold another mind-blowing solution, another testament to human ingenuity and the audacity of hope.
My breath catches in my throat, and my hands begin to tremble when amidst the cacophony of the marketplace, I see a device so elegant, so technologically advanced that it hums with the promise of a thousand possibilities.
"HHI - Harmonic Heatwave Inhibitor." Just reading those words makes my pulse quicken. My mind immediately starts calculating the possibilities – no more deadly heat waves, no more watching helplessly as loved ones suffer...
Maya follows my gaze, and I try to school my features into something resembling casual interest. "That little guy there is able to emit precise harmonic waves that interact with incoming heat waves, disrupting their coherence and reducing their intensity. It's akin to noise-canceling technology but with thermal energy."
She must notice my expression – mouth forming a perfect 'O' of astonishment – because she just laughs and starts walking to the next stall. But I can't move. I'm rooted to the spot, staring at the rows of HHIs gleaming under the soft glow of bioluminescent lamps.
So many. There are so many of these miracle devices, being sold for almost nothing. My hands shake as I reach out to touch one, its sleek metallic surface cool against my fingertips. Their surfaces are etched with symbols that hum with an unseen energy, like equations coming alive beneath my touch.
The conflict rages within me, a tempest of fear and desperation threatening to drown the voice of reason. My heart pounds so hard I'm sure Maya must hear it. One HHI alone could solve our heatwave problems in a hot second.
"You coming along?" Maya's voice cuts through my moral crisis like a laser through fog, making me jump.
"Coming," I say, fighting to keep my voice steady as my fingers ghost over the smooth surface of the HHI. Before I can talk myself out of it, I slip one into my pocket, my heart thundering against my ribs like a wild, untamed thing.
The device feels heavy in my pocket – not just with physical weight, but with the burden of my choice. Everything I have dreamt of, everything we have strived for back in my timeline, now burns against my thigh like a guilty secret.
My palms are slick with sweat as we near the edge of the market. I can barely look at Maya, afraid my guilt is written across my face in neon letters.
“You'll need to return the device you've been, um, looking at," she says softly.
Slowly, painfully, like pulling out a splinter, I extract the HHI from its cocoon within my pocket. My voice comes out small and broken, barely my own.
“It’s just one small item. Can’t I keep it?” My voice cracks, betraying a desperation I didn't know I possessed. “My Lola is dead while I stand here holding what could have been the salvation for her and so many others.”
She puts a firm hand in mine, helping me lower the item back down where it belongs. The touch is gentle but unyielding, like a law of physics made flesh. "Universes work in tricky ways. What seems like a solution on one thread might unravel a tapestry in another." In her eyes, I see the same unbroken resolve I often see in my cousins when they're about to score a goal in the annual family soccer tournament – a comparison that would make me smile if I weren't so ashamed.
“I’m sorry, I just—” I brace myself for judgment, for punishment, but Maya's expression softens, a playful twinkle returning to her eyes that reminds me so much of Lola Elena that it hurts.
“Do you like halo-halo?”
“Halo-halo?” I repeat, my mind struggling to catch up with the sudden shift in conversation.
“Filipino dessert. Do you have it on your Earth? I’m talking shaved ice, sweet beans, jellies, fruits, leche flan—a party in your mouth. I know a great place that makes it right by here.”
I follow her, drawn as much by the promise of something sweet and familiar as by the need to escape my own shame.
“My Lola owns this place.”
It’s a quaint little cafe. The scent of ube and coconut wafts through the air, wrapping around me like a comforting hug.
When the dessert plate arrives, the aroma hits me first, and suddenly I'm eight years old again, sitting in Lola Elena's kitchen while she explains the careful art of making the perfect halo-halo.
The dessert is a sight to behold. Shimmering strands of coconut strip infused with bioluminescent ube jam that lights up with every bite. The scientist in me wants to analyze its chemical composition, but the Filipino in me just wants to savor every spoonful.
A tiny, birdlike woman approaches our table, and my heart catches in my throat. Her movements are so like Lola Elena's – that same careful grace, that same quiet strength. Her wrinkled face breaks into a smile that could melt a glacier.
"How do you like the halo-halo here?" The question hangs softly in the air, wrapped in the timeworn texture of her aging but gentle voice – a voice that makes my eyes burn with unshed tears.
"Lola Nena, this is Ava," Maya says, her tone wrapped in tenderness that makes my chest tight. "She's from out of town.”
Lola Nena settles into the chair beside me, her movements deliberate, her posture radiating a quiet strength that belies her age. The scent of ube and something ancient and wise wafts from her clothes.
"Would you like to hear how the worries of my world turned into wonders?"
I lean forward, my dessert momentarily forgotten, my heart thrumming with a mixture of scientific curiosity and something deeper, more primal – the need to understand not just the how, but the why of this impossible paradise.
"Believe me," Lola Nena's voice carries the weight of generations as she leans forward, her eyes twinkling with remembered struggles. "It wasn't always sunshine and solar-powered rainbows for us here. There were sacrifices, hard choices. And let's not forget the whole interdimensional energy crisis of '47."
She gestures toward the cafe walls, and my breath catches as historical archives spring to life before us, projected in crystalline detail. The images detail Harmony's journey—protests that her own grandparents led that created sweeping policy changes, technological breakthroughs in renewable energy, and the rise of community-based ecological management.
I watch, transfixed, as decades of history dance before my eyes. My fingers twitch with the urge to take notes, to document every detail, but something in Lola Nena's expression tells me that's not the point of this lesson.
"In the end, we learned we needed to change our mindset, our relationship with the planet. To stop seeing ourselves as conquerors, as consumers, and start acting like caretakers, like partners." Her words resonate in my chest like the harmonics of a perfectly tuned equation.
As I listen, something breaks inside me. The walls I've built around my grief, my fear, my desperate need to save everything and everyone, crumble like quantum wave functions collapsing into reality. For the first time since receiving my father's call, I allow myself to cry. The weight of grief for Lola Elena, for my dying world, for the impossible burden I carry on my shoulders, crashes over me. Tears, hot and heavy, stream down my cheeks, blurring the vibrant colors of the café into a kaleidoscope of possibility.
"To get here, I didn't create a multiverse map. I didn't even create a multiverse miracle, did I?" My voice comes out thick with tears, barely more than a whisper. "It's more like... a multiverse mirror. Reflecting back to us not what we seek to escape, but what we must find within ourselves to help make the change."
Lola Nena's smile reminds me so much of my own grandmother that it physically hurts. With a wink, she says, "Dessert is always best when shared with others."
"I'm ready to go back now," I whisper, the words catching in my throat like stardust.
"Yes. I do believe your Earth needs you too," Maya says, her eyes sparking with a radiance that makes me think of quantum entanglement – separate particles inexplicably connected across space and time.
Just as quickly as I arrived, and with a little less nausea thanks to the settling effects of the halo-halo, the quantum shimmer that had deposited me in Earth-342 reverses. The lush tapestry of Harmony dissolves around me like a wave function collapsing, reality reforming into the familiar, gritty confines of my lab.
It's good to be back, though my body feels strange, as if it's remembering two different versions of itself.
I close my eyes, take a deep breath, willing myself to hold on to every detail – the memory of clean air filling my lungs, the lingering sweetness of the halo-halo on my tongue, the scent of hope that permeates every fiber of Harmony's being. My mind catalogs it all like data points in an experiment, but my heart holds them like precious gems.
Mateo whirls around at the sound of my return, his lab coat swirling dramatically. His eyes widen as I stumble, the aftershocks of interdimensional travel rippling through my limbs like quantum fluctuations.
Concern etches lines on his face, a testament to the anxiety that has surely gnawed at him during my absence – anxiety I can measure in the tenseness of his shoulders, the way his hands shake slightly as he reaches toward me.
“Ava! You're back. Are you alright? We were so worried,” he says, his voice raspy, his gaze scanning my face.
“I’m sorry,” I say, reaching up to squeeze his hand, my heart aching at the thought of the worry I've caused him, the fear I've inflicted.
A shaky grin spreads across my face as the hum of the device softens, receding like a distant storm. The lab, usually my sanctuary of intellectual pursuit, suddenly feels stifling – too many machines, not enough humanity.
The days that follow blur together like quantum superposition states, each moment simultaneously present and absent. The funeral is a kaleidoscope of faces and condolences. The scent of almost-blooming lilies and earth mingles with the incense, creating an olfactory equation that equals finality.
Even as I mourn her loss, I find myself drawn back to the lab, to the multiverse map that shimmers like a promise unfulfilled. But something has changed in me at the quantum level. It's no longer about finding an escape, a quick fix for a dying world. It's about honoring a legacy.
Weeks blur into a frenzied montage of algorithms and equations, each one a prayer, a memorial, a step toward redemption. Mateo and I, our movements synchronized like entangled particles, work late into the night, refining the safety protocols, tightening the parameters of the multiverse map.
Our lab, once a sterile sanctuary for solitary research, transforms into an ecosystem of collaboration. Engineers and environmental scientists huddle with policymakers and community organizers. Ideas collide and combine like atomic fusion, releasing energy in the form of hope. As we work, I find myself sharing stories of Lola Elena with the team. Her wisdom, once confined to my childhood memories, now infuses our research with purpose.
Mateo's hand finds mine under the table, a silent gesture of support that sends a warm current through my body. Dr. Singh nods, her eyes bright with renewed determination.
Months pass, marked by breakthroughs and setbacks.
We don’t attempt to replicate Earth-342. We send many others through the jump to make their own observations. But the scientific community on both sides seems to collectively understand that our path, our solutions, have to be rooted in the unique tapestry of our own timeline.
Small vertical farms, like green fractals, now grace some of the barren rooftops of our cities, transforming urban landscapes into verdant oases that provide sustenance and beauty in equal measure. We calibrate the portal for those brave enough to make the leap from their realm into ours. And, deployed strategically in urban areas prone to heatwaves, the SEHM, or the Smog-Enhanced Heatwave Mitigator, enhances the natural cooling effect of smog particles to reduce temperatures while purifying the air – turning entropy into order.
It's not perfect. It's not as good as Harmony. But we're finding our own equilibrium.
Lola's seventh death anniversary dawns, her spirit singing softly in the silence. On that day, as if guided by her gentle hand, our first visitor from another realm arrives, looking just as scared and lost as I once was when I visited Maya all those years ago.
“Welcome to Earth-7633.” I step forward to the scared jumper, the pioneer. My wedding ring glistens as I offer out my hand and my most reassuring smile. “Come, friend, let me hear about the worries of your world as we take a tour of mine.”
The young woman hesitates, and then a slow smile spreads across her face, reflecting the soft glow of the portal – a spectrum of possibility made visible.
Her chin lifts in my direction, and I see in her eyes the same determination I once saw in my own reflection – a fundamental force as strong as gravity, as inevitable as entropy: the human spirit flourishing.
“Okay,” she says. “Lead the way.”
…
…
…
🌟 Chew On This 🌟
Hope vs. Escape – Ava travels to a utopian world searching for an easy solution but realizes that true change starts at home. Have you ever faced a moment where you had to choose between escaping a problem or working through it?
The Ethics of Innovation – Ava is tempted to take advanced technology from another timeline to save her world. If you had access to a life-saving invention from another society, but taking it could have unknown consequences, would you take it? Why or why not?
Small Actions, Big Impact – Ava and her team don’t change the world overnight, but their small innovations lead to real progress. What small but meaningful actions can individuals or communities take today to create a better future?
Always Remember, "Chews" Joy :)
~Mandy & Jonathan Chew
Well done. I enjoyed it