With just a few hours to go before Stuart voluntarily stepped into a machine designed to strip him down to his bare particles and suck him through an immeasurable expanse of space, he was asked to decide whether he would like to wear a white or black tracksuit for the transfer. To the annoyance of the agent presenting this choice Stuart struggled to decide. He would never normally choose to wear a tracksuit at all but clearly the scientific team felt this to be appropriate attire to start his trans-universal journey. Then it occurred to him, the garments would not actually be leaving the Harmoniser with him but would just end up in a pile on the floor of the booth. He thought back to the bright white light he had witnessed radiating from the booth when the team had demonstrated the Harmoniser using a guinea pig. The booth itself was predominantly white also so he eventually informed the agent he would go with the white tracksuit. Catherine regarded Stuart’s behaviour with interest. There was no precedent to draw upon in order to counsel him in preparation for what he was about to encounter. Any words of reassurance would seem forced and futile. Since arriving in the recreation room, she noticed he regarded everything with a childlike fascination. He stroked the different surfaces of the wall, the table and the windowsill feeling their texture. He lifted up objects, weighing them in his hands before replacing them carefully back where he found them. It was like he was experiencing everything in the room for the first time and was trying to understand its makeup and configuration. When she asked him what he was thinking about his answer was profound. He said he was thinking about a saying from his universe she may be familiar with that asks “if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?”

“Yes, we have the same saying Stuart. It’s asking if the unobserved acts the same as the observed?” she offered, “What does it mean to you?”

“As far as I’m concerned the answer is no, it doesn’t make a sound, because if my ears, or any other ears, are not there to convert the vibrations to sound, all the tree produces is vibrations.”

“Pragmatic as ever Stuart, but why you thinking of that now?” she asked. He told her he had been grappling with the meaning of his own existence. Wondering if the man materialising at the other end of the wormhole would be him or a carbon copy of him. He suggested, like the falling tree, the influence of his actions at any given time were determined only by the reactions of those perceiving them. If those close to him could not accept him as the man he was before all of this happened, was he the same man? Catherine considered this for a moment before replying. Stuart was clearly struggling with his own identity as a result of all he had been through. She felt largely responsible for this due to her attempts to convince him his whole perceived existence had been the result of an emotionally induced, delusional episode. She had neither the time nor the desire to patronise him with a textbook explanation of self-consciousness. His quandary warranted a more measured response. She advised him that any preconception of what awaited him on the other side was futile as there were too many unknowns. She asked him to think back to how he had dealt with the conflicting information he had encountered on arrival in this universe. How, despite all that had been presented to him, he had clung on to his own interpretation of his existence. She advised him to show the same resolve on return to his own world. She reiterated what she had told him in the library, that he should plead ignorance regarding all that had happened since his departure.