Chapter 2

(Excerpt from "A History of the St. Wyvern Ministry of Applied Physics")

With the theory of multiple realities being elevated from a plot device among science fiction writers to being generally accepted by the community of theoretical physicists, it was not long before the concept of accessing these alternate realities was being postulated and debated. A good portion of the scientific community held that these alternate realities were inherently inaccessible. Some held that alternate realities were accessible, but that the act of breaching the barrier between our reality and a 'bordering' one would be cataclysmic, since the physical laws of the alternate reality would probably be wildly different from those of our own, and the resulting connection would create a devastating 'balancing' of these physical laws.

It was one Jason Lambeau who would discover what has generally been accepted as the governing principle of accessing alternate realities. Dr. Lambeau theorized that alternate realities might be accessed at a single common point shared with our own reality, but the odds of finding a single point accessible to another reality on the surface of the Earth was literally astronomical. Nevertheless, Dr. Lambeau theorized the properties of such a point, and how it could be detected. Dr. Lambeau discovered such a point at the present site of the St. Wyvern Ministry of Applied Physics. With the backing of several St. Wyvern venture capitalists, Dr. Lambeau was able to access an alternate reality.

The results were anticlimactic. The physical laws of the alternate reality were indistinguishable from our own, so there was no resulting mutual destruction of our respective universes. The tangent point adjoined an alternate Earth remarkably like our own, though its most technologically advanced nation-state had only launched their world's equivalent of our world's first Sputnik satellite. Trial and error showed that nothing from our reality could enter this alternate reality and, though objects could be retrieved for a limited period of time from this alternate reality, there were some surprising and unforeseen restrictions. Any dreams of accessing advanced technology, rare elements or using an alternate reality as a 'dumping ground' for our world's more exotic wastes were quickly quashed.

After the successful access of an alternate reality on St. Wyvern, there was quickly a rush to discover other Lambeau Points (as the points tangent to alternate realities were dubbed). To date, however, the only known Lambeau Point that has been successfully accessed is contained within the compound maintained by the St. Wyvern Ministry of Applied Physics.