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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 2 of 2))
Ibai nodded with understanding. "I suppose that would be a problem, wouldn't it?"

'Yeah. But anyway, it sounds like listening to anything else that book had to say would just make me angry, so what about the other one you mentioned?'

"Oh, The Theory of Empty Worlds by Hamish Harundel," said Ibai. "That one was kind of neat, but I have a feeling you might hate it, too."

'Oh? And why is that? Does it include more crackpot conspiracies, pseudoscientific musings, or idiotic historical takes?'

Ibai pursed his lips and avoided looking at her. "Maaaybe..."

The reaper gave a small laugh. 'Well, I'll try to keep an open mind this time.'

"Heh, okay." He took a second to consider how best to begin. It was a pretty weird thing to try and explain, he was suddenly realizing. "Um. Basically, the book was trying to put forth this idea that the physical world as we know it is, in truth, comprised of many 'sub-worlds,' so to speak."

'Hmm.'

"Another way of thinking about it might be alternate dimensions, but not in the sense of parallel realities. When I think of parallel realities, I think of alternate versions of myself and everyone else roaming around, living slightly different lives 'n whatnot, but that's not what the author was getting at. In fact, he went on a rather long tangent about how frustrated it made him when people mistook his theory as something like that. That part was interesting. You could really feel his exasperation. It seemed like his theory wasn't very well-received by his scholarly peers."

'...Are you sure you only "skimmed" this book?'

"Yeah, why?"

'Doesn't matter. What made this theory of his different from more conventional ideas of alternate dimensions?'

"Oh, because his versions of alternate dimensions are directly connected to and affected by one another. And most importantly of all, our dimension is the only one with people in it. The only one that's not 'empty,' in other words."

'Ah. So that's why he called it the Theory of Empty Worlds.'

"Yeah."