As a reporter for paranos with a pass-portal that works like a press pass, I’m granted access to government paralocations, or single buildings that are accessed from any parallel containing advanced gateways. Paralocations allow high-security staff from different paras to work together.
A virtually undetectable PPS (Para Positioning System) tracker roughly the size of a small ant was implanted into my deep body tissues to ensure the security of both me and my paraselves. The PPS ensures that I’m able to maintain the required distance of approximately 1000 miles from my paraself.
I’m briefed before each assignment, receiving the necessary identification and currency for my destination. A small device called the Quaul, a computer the size of a small cellphone, allows me to monitor the permitted geographic radius of my visit, which is sometimes fluid depending on how much a particular paraself travels.
Cellphones are an outdated relic in some paras and don’t yet exist in others, so it needs to remain hidden on your person and be easily disposable when need dictates. While technology exists for the use of networking implants that one can interact with directly by thought, it isn’t yet commonly available for journalists.
There are times I have to fly to other countries if a paraself resides in the same region. The Quaul alerts me to changes in my permitted radius and provides a means of communication with the Parajournalist Alliance Office (PAO), a department within the United Parallels of Apata (UPA), in case of an emergency.
The PAO has a network resource center on current events, customs, and a summary of each para so I know what to wear and how to conduct myself in basic social situations. I receive a bio and pictures of my paraself to ensure I remain an unrecognizable doppelganger. I also get briefed (with bios and pics) on the location of parents, siblings, kids, romantic partners, coworkers, and friends. Some I recognize.
I wear a mutate mask, a thin invisible film that fits around your face, changing your features to a slight effect by reflecting light. It can sharpen or mute characteristics just enough that you might pass as sisters instead of twins. We share the same prints and wearing gloves isn’t always an option. Using disposable false-tip fingers that resemble fine contact lenses to conceal prints helps, assuming my hands remain dry.
“Be brief, boring, and blend in.”
Such protocols are meant to keep paraselves safe – if something goes wrong and my equipment fails, there is no long-term way to hide my face and prints, so it is imperative I stay distant enough from paraselves that we don’t disrupt each other’s lives.
The most jolting aspect of this entire process was learning how many of my paraselves don’t look like me. Some weigh considerably more or less with differing hair lengths, colors, and styles. Some faces are etched with years of varying degrees of smiling or frowning. We even carry ourselves at distinct heights within an inch or so, depending on the loads we carried over the past 5 decades. I’ve seen some of the best and worst that I am capable of within the diverse spectrum of challenges life offers, and it’s humbling.
This very selective program permits any qualified Beings from our Multiverse, including humans, to report on the parallels, even though humans are not yet licensed to report for any Universal news publications since Earth humans of most paras, including this one, fall into the propagandist category.
The program isn’t perfect; I’m not allowed to visit certain Paras the PAO deems either too dangerous or different in their structured reality, obviously the most fascinating ones since they display a wide array of what humanity has wrought. The Parallel Times, in partnership with the UJO, is currently working with the PAO on a program to request case-by-case approvals for one-offs with a specialized security detail to these strange places, providing certain death isn’t the only possible outcome.
The point of parajournalism is to get a better understanding of existence by catching a glimpse of the brightest, strangest, and darkest places to not only record active history but also observe our collective response while gaining awareness of the lessons continuously unfolding beneath the surface of our lives. Even if it is just entertaining to compare dissimilar realities, these are incredible tools for exploring the diverse paths of humans.
Parajournalism is not gotcha reporting or fishing for stories to validate an established belief system. We can all make grave mistakes with the tough choices that life presents. Each parallel exists from a lineage of choices that took place in a singular moment when one thought held on tight enough to transition to an irreversible action.
To compensate for PAO restrictions, the Parallel Times connects to parajournalists via Alternate Publications, an organization that maintains a growing network of Multiverse-aware correspondents to reach as many critical thinkers as possible, like you, that crave thinking new thoughts.
On behalf of The Parallel Times, I hope we succeed in many years of uncovering what actually exists out there, with a reminder that the part of life we can’t see is just as real as the part we can.
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