on my earth

My favorite Congruent is the one living on Earth-498. She’s me if I took a different job and went to art school instead, if I lived in their equivalent to Paris instead of moving to be near this job’s headquarters. Though we have the exact same genes, somehow she’s better looking than me, has well-kept hair from salon visits and clear skin from lack of stress. Her clothes are well kept and updated with every season. She avoids the Outerland Security's public access cameras, instead content with living her life on her Earth. I constantly find myself wanting to see more of her life, so I observe from my dim, poorly lit office.

I spend my free time watching her, and maybe someone is watching me as well. The security cameras installed in each person's home in this and most of the observable universes make it easy to spy. The cameras were originally installed to ensure mutual trust between the universes while making it easier to observe plots against another parallel Earth. As of late, they’ve allowed me to watch over Congruent-498.

Someone could be watching me, but all I have is an office with gray walls and a one-bedroom apartment in Omaha. A single silver medal hangs over my desk, above the dust and crumbs I’ve allowed to collect. The monitor is barely functional and the computer is verging on obsolete but I have neither the funds nor the desire to replace them as long as they’re capable enough for my job.

I always wonder what prompted me to take this job. Perhaps the government benefits and job security in an oversaturated job market were enough to make the proposal seem good enough. Perhaps because I never wanted to get a college degree and finding a job without one kept getting harder. However it happened, now I spend days staring at a screen, monitoring and recording the other universes in anticipation of threats to my own Earth. If I didn’t take this job I would be like Congruent-498, avoiding the public cameras and instead happy to live free of the Outerland’s surveillance systems.

The NSA of surveying other Earths formally known as Outerland Security or OS for short requires constant surveillance of the parallel universes that we are aware of. There used to not be an OS, back when I was a kid, or maybe even before that. The genocide of Earth-16 by Earth-3 cemented the need for one.

With an infinite amount of universes, it’s impossible to keep track of all of them so the nearest Outerworlds are of top priority. Unlike the content moderators of the past, we spend our time looking for threats to our own universe rather than becoming involved in the politics of the places we are watching. The cameras the OS has given me access to allow to watch public places as well as the interior of buildings and apartments. The protestors find it draconian but until a better solution for genocide is reached, they can never be turned off. The public is not allowed on the OS private feeds but access to public cameras such as those placed in parks is available although not widely used. While initially sounding like an interesting job, watching Outerworlds where Tony Hawk becomes president gets old after a few skateboarder coups. Even seeing your Congruents becomes repetitive, eventually you see them less as yourself and more of someone who looks like you. Occasionally you find someone so reminiscent of you that you can’t help but feel connected to them. As of late, I’ve felt this way about Congruent-498.

So far the only thing of importance to come from this job is the hanging silver medal I spend my day looking at, reminiscent of when I saved a life. Years ago, when by happenstance I was surveying a park, I noticed a man hunched over, hand on chest. As I recognized the signs of a heart attack, I quickly and courageously reached out to this Outerworld local paramedics, saving this man's life. Because my desktop applications not only allow me to report to my boss, but also contact emergency services in an Outerworld that I am surveying, I was able to rescue a man in crisis. The act of saving a life in an Outerworld is one of the highest honors of an OS’employee and letting one die is grounds for an termination. Any life, whether here or in another world is considered precious and the medal given to me by my superiors is indicative of my ability to work under pressure as well as my selflessness. It is my greatest accomplishment and that medal is my most prized possession, my only prized possession.

This was perhaps the only moment in my job I’ve enjoyed, Congruent-498 would have been proud of me, I know she values selflessness in the same way that I do.

My current assignments involve Earth-6732, Earth-9087, and of course Earth-498. And while I’m supposed to be watching their political movements and government platforms, I often watch my Congruents, after work hours of course. Over the past few months I’ve come to learn about their behaviors and habits, especially those of 498.

Infuriatingly, Congruents 6732 and 9087 seem content in their homes in their equivalent of Nebraska and at this exact moment, 6732 is working on her own Outerland Security tasks, although there it is called the OSA. While her movements and cadence may mirror my own, I find her hopelessly boring and avoid her as best I can.

Congruent 9087 has a familiar deadpan and bored look in her eye, I wonder if she’s watching me.

Today, Congruent-498 has finally finished her newest art installation, a study of renaissance pieces with a modern twist. Through the camera installed in her apartment as well as her art studio I can see the newly finished piece. Once again she has outdone herself, I think this might be her best work. The color gradient and dark imagery remind me of Goya’s, “Saturn Devouring His Son”, I’m almost positive that’s what she was going for. In her world she is not yet well known, but surely this must be the piece to put her at the forefront of the art scene. While I may not be an art aficionado like her, I can still recognize good art. In the year I’ve had this assignment, she’s booked more galleries every month, she must be close to achieving notoriety.

I wish she would repaint her walls, they don’t suit her; cream would be better.

With the monitor telling me the workday is over, I turn off my computer. Today is Friday which means I make my weekly trip out of the apartment for groceries. I hate how long my car takes to heat up, Congruent-498 rides a vespa.

The grocery store selection is abysmal, Nebraska often gets the rejects that the other states don’t want, even the name brand products often seem stale. There is an international aisle towards the back of the store, maybe I should try to make a French dish. Maybe not. I wonder what Congruent-498 would think of this place. She mostly eats take out, almost never burdening herself with the mundane tasks of grocery shopping and cooking.

She would hate it here.

There’s not much to do over the weekend, I watch movies and stare at a different screen in a different room than that of the work week. The cold here has just begun to set in, making going outside something to avoid. Living here means for ten months of the year I’m confined to my apartment with no social interaction or visitors of any kind. I wonder what 498 is doing. I imagine she’s going out and drinking or maybe visiting the Louvre or maybe going for a trip out on the Spanish coast with her new boyfriend. I think she could do better than him. I hope she’s having fun. I know the other Congruents in my assignments are mostly likely doing nothing this weekend, thinking about them makes me sad.

On Monday I return to my job, after a quick morning meeting with the team I work with, I go back to monitoring the Outerworlds. Earth-6732 has developed similar protocols to our own and their world leaders are more concerned with monitoring other universes than planning anything against ours. After careful analysis of their most prominent figures, I can report back to my boss that they’re not a threat, all before lunch. Finishing my work early means I have more time to watch over 498, just to make sure she is doing ok.

She looks nice today. Slightly more tan than she had been before the weekend, I must’ve been right about her going to the coast. Her hair looks blonder than it had before, she must have gotten it done as well. Her boyfriend sits next to her on the couch, I wish he wasn’t here. She should be working on a new piece rather than wasting her time with someone as useless as he is, I’m glad I don’t have someone like that to distract me. After a half hour of watching them do nothing, I leave before I get too upset at how unproductive she is being.

After a quick checkup on the other two Congruents, I turn off my laptop for the day. They weren’t doing anything of interest, I think 9087 is watching me.

The next day is much of the same, a potential threat is spotted in one of my coworkers Outerworld but rarely do they come to fruition. Why would they, what can we offer another world that they don’t already have? I’ve never understood that about this job. History has proven a need for this job, but nothing has ever happened since the genocide of Earth-16, at most an occasional fascist will come to power but they tend to stay on their own Earths.

498 was almost home, I could see her in the elevator. Maybe she went out last night with her friends, sometimes she does that. Her hair is more unkempt than it usually is and dark sunglasses cover her eyes. She waltzed into her living room, a cigarette in one hand. I wish she would stop smoking, it’s going to age her. I’ve never smoked, I know better. As she walked over to her kitchen I couldn’t help but notice how effortless everything she did seemed to be. The mundane seemed like major events and watching her reheat Saturday night leftovers felt like a privilege only I was privy to enjoy.

In an instant, she took one bite of her reheated Coq au Vin and choked.

Horrified I could only watch as her face seemed to turn blue and her hands clawed at her throat in a vain attempt to get air. From my vantage point in 498’s living room I could see as the panic in her eyes began to set in as we both realized that there was nothing we could do to stop the inevitable. As she thrashed about I could only think about how much those in her world would miss her, how much I would miss her. How terrible!

After what seemed like hours had passed, her fair skin turned blue and she stopped clawing at her neck. How I wish I could do something, if only stopping fate was an option. I could never have imagined something like this would have happened, not to someone like her, someone like me.

Minutes later I switched off my computer and sat in the dark. That shouldn’t have happened. Congruent-498 was perfect. Congruent-9087 does nothing, she sits in her room all day and yet 498 is the one who dies, it's not fair. 9087 has nothing, no galleries, no installations and no silver medals.

The computer screen turns back on and in the corner are my emergency operators.

I could have saved her, I must have froze.

There is no light in my room at night, the screens turned off and all that is left is me and my twin bed. I feel like I had before the assignment to Earth-498, lonely and filled with existential dread. I wonder who found her, maybe her boyfriend, he often showed up unannounced. He could never mourn her the same way that I will, after all we were the same.

There are four days left in the week, 28 until I rotate onto new assignments. Congruences 6732 and 9087 have remained stagnant throughout my entire assignment. They both sit at their desks all day and contribute nothing, I despise watching them. 498 would have hated them too. They would’ve made her depressed, thank god she never had to see the things I do, they might’ve changed her. She was mourned in her world, the newspapers had small obituaries commemorating her life throughout all of Paris. The studio, once filled with unsold paintings, was now practically empty. I’m glad she finally made it, the art world on her Earth had finally recognized the talent I had seen for a year.

Eventually I stop going back to her studio, the only person I see now is her boyfriend, even seeing him infuriates me like it has before. I wonder if he misses her, it couldn’t be as much as I do.

I have to move on and with the completion of this assignment, my reward is a new one, this time monitoring 4 different Outerworlds. Two of them contain a timeline where I was never born, one contains a Congruent that reminds me too much of those from Earth 6732 and 9087, but the last one I find interesting. Congruent-7896 is me if I went to college, if I chose to get a job in academia. She’s a professor at a prestigious university that doesn’t exist here, but I’ve heard it is one of the best on her Earth. I appreciate her sophisticated style compared to that of the other Congruents I’ve encountered, something about her is different than the others that I’ve known. We would be friends on my Earth, she would love the story about my hanging silver medal. Her favorite place to eat is the Ukrainian restaurant a few blocks away from her brownstone, I’ve never tried Ukranian but I’m sure I would like it, we have similar taste.

Today is Friday, grocery day. I wonder what Congruent-7896 would think of this place.

She would hate it here.