DISCOVER THAT REALITY IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK
The documentary filmmaker realizes something is wrong when the same door leads to three different places in the span of ten minutes.
First, it's a storage closet. Mops. Cleaning supplies. Normal.
Second time, it's a gleaming laboratory full of equipment that definitely doesn't belong in a farmhouse in rural Taiwan.
Third time, it's a shimmering doorway to somewhere else entirely. Somewhere with purple sky and two moons and what looks like a very confused giraffe with six legs.
"Cut," says DIANE PARKER, director, into her headset. She's been filming for Vice Worldwide: Good Samaritans for three weeks now, documenting the Torii Foundation's humanitarian work in Southeast Asia. Orphanages. Water systems. Medical clinics. Feel-good content.
Except nothing about this farmhouse is feel-good.
Her camera operator, KENNY, lowers his equipment. "Uh. Boss? Did that giraffe just wave at me?"
"Giraffes don't have six legs," DIANE says.
"That one does."
The door shimmers. Closes. Returns to being a normal farmhouse wall.
DIANE stares at it for a full thirty seconds.
Then: "Get me whoever's in charge of this place. Right now."
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MEET THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE SECRET
INT. SITE-7 — CONFERENCE ROOM — 30 MINUTES LATER
ADMIRAL ELARA KANE sits at the head of the table, looking like she'd rather be literally anywhere else. Next to her: DR. DANIEL TEAL from ET-1, clearly pulled from something important, still wearing dust from whatever reality he just returned from.
Across from them: Diane Parker and her crew. Three cameras. Two boom operators. One very stressed producer.
KANE
Let's start with the obvious. You saw something you weren't supposed to see.
DIANE
(professional smile)
Well that's a concerning way to start a conversation.
KANE
Ms. Parker. I'm going to be direct. The Torii Foundation is not just a humanitarian organization. We're also—
TEAL
(interrupting)
We explore alternate realities through quantum fissures in spacetime and try very hard not to break the universe in the process.
Everyone stares at Teal. Eyes wide. In disbelief.
KANE
I was building up to that.
TEAL
We don't have time for buildup. She filmed a Class-3 Macro-Fissure. That's about as classified as it gets.
DIANE
(slowly)
I'm sorry. Did you say an "alternate reality"?
TEAL
Technically infinite alternate realities, but we've only documented about a few hundred. Most are pretty similar to ours. Some have six-legged giraffes. It's a whole thing.
KENNY
(whispering)
Holy crap.
KANE
Dr. Teal, could you please stop explaining our most classified secrets to civilians?
TEAL
You wanted direct. So I'm being direct.
KANE pinches the bridge of her nose.
KANE
Ms. Parker. The reality you just witnessed is designated R-MN-0821-ALPHA-G. It diverged from our Earth approximately 65 million years ago when the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs missed by about fifty miles. Megafauna evolved differently. Including giraffes.
DIANE
You're telling me you have a door. To a world. Where dinosaurs didn't die.
TEAL
Not exactly. The dinosaurs still died, just later and differently. The giraffe thing is unrelated. Evolution is weird.
DIANE
(to her crew)
Are you getting this?
PRODUCER
Every word.
KANE
And that's the problem.
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LEARN THE RULES (THEY'RE COMPLICATED)
KANE pulls up a holographic display. It shows a map of Earth with glowing points scattered across continents.
KANE
These are fissures. Weak points in reality where alternate Earths can be accessed. Most are harmless. Some are catastrophic. All are classified.
DIANE
Why?
KANE
Because if people knew the multiverse existed not just in the movies, then society would collapse. Religion. Philosophy. Economics. Everything we think we understand about reality would unravel overnight.
TEAL
Also people would absolutely try to exploit it. Imagine if corporations knew they could access infinite resources from alternate Earths. Imagine if governments knew they could spy on alternate versions of their adversaries. Imagine if your ex knew they could find a reality where you said yes to the marriage proposal.
DIANE
That's oddly specific.
TEAL
I've seen things. Bad things. Reality-ending things.
KANE
The point is: we maintain secrecy. We operate as a humanitarian NGO in public. In private, we run the only stable access point to the multiverse.
She gestures to the hologram. One of the glowing points, Taiwan, pulses brighter.
KANE (CONT'D)
This is the Meinong Fissure. Currently the only Class-3 Macro-Fissure on Earth. It's stable enough for human passage. We contain it within a Gateframe.
DIANE
The door I saw. That was—
TEAL
That was the Gateframe, yes. Or technically the stabilized access point controlled by quantum-anchoring technology we barely understand but have learned to operate through trial, error, and several unfortunate incidents we're not allowed to discuss.
KANE
Dr. Teal.
TEAL
What? She's going to find out anyway.
DIANE
Find out what?
TEAL
That we're making this up as we go. That the multiverse is held together by duct tape and hope. That every time we open the Gateframe, there's a non-zero chance we collapse both realities into quantum foam.
Long silence.
KENNY
I'm just gonna say it. This is the coolest thing I've ever heard.
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WATCH PEOPLE DO THE IMPOSSIBLE
KANE makes a decision. She stands.
KANE
Alright. You want to understand what we do? Fine. Come with me.
She leads them through security checkpoints. Past labs full of equipment that looks like it was designed by someone who couldn't decide between science and mysticism.
They reach a massive chamber. In the center: a circular frame, maybe twenty feet in diameter, humming with energy. Around it: technicians, security officers, scientists taking readings.
And standing by the frame, gearing up: four people in tactical gear.
KANE
This is ET-4. The Dustrunners. They specialize in desert fissures and cultural integration missions.
The team looks up. They're young. Diverse. They do not look like they're about to save the multiverse. They look like they're about to go camping.
Team lead AMARA OSMAN waves. She's Sudanese, late thirties, carrying a backpack that probably costs more than Diane's car.
AMARA
Hey. You the documentary people?
DIANE
Uh. Yes?
AMARA
Cool. Don't film our faces. Operational security.
HASSAN (Ethiopian, tech specialist, adjusting his Wayfinder): We're going to R-MN-0344. It's basically our Earth except the Sahara is an ocean. Super pretty. Very wet. Lots of fish.
YUKI (Japanese-American, linguist, checking her gear): Also there's a civilization there that evolved completely isolated from the rest of humanity. We're doing first contact protocols.
SANTIAGO (Chilean, medic, eating an energy bar): Try not to start any wars. That's the goal.
DIANE
(to Kane)
You're letting them go to an alternate reality. Right now. While we watch.
KANE
That's the job. They go in. They observe. They collect data. They come back. Usually.
DIANE
Usually?
TEAL
(wandering over)
There's a 14% failure rate on Wayfinder technology. Sometimes teams get lost. Sometimes they're never found. Sometimes they're found decades later having aged thirty years in three hours. Time is weird in the Nexus.
AMARA
Dr. Teal, you're supposed to be reassuring.
TEAL
I'm being honest. There's a difference.
The Gateframe powers up. The air inside the frame shimmers, warps, reveals a glimpse of a horizonless expanse of light, rippling like heat haze over water, yet threaded with shadows that move against the glow.
AMARA
Alright, Dustrunners. Standard recon. Forty-eight hours. Don't drink the water until Santiago tests it. Don't make contact unless absolutely necessary. And for god's sake, Hassan, don't try to fix their broken stuff.
HASSAN
That was one time.
AMARA
It was three times.
She gives a thumbs-up to Kane. Turns to her team.
AMARA (CONT'D)
See you on the other side.
They step through the frame.
And disappear.
The Gateframe shimmers. Closes. Returns to just being a big circular frame in a concrete room.
KENNY
(quiet)
Holy crap.
DIANE
(to Kane)
How many teams do you have?
KANE
Fifteen active. Plus support staff. Locksmiths who build the technology. Watchdogs who provide security. Surface Dwellers who maintain our cover as a humanitarian NGO, and know nothing about all of this.
DIANE
How long has this been happening?
KANE
The Torii Foundation have been around for centuries. We have evidence of fissure activity going back thousands of years. Ancient cultures knew about this. The Inca. Tibetan monks. Polynesian navigators. They called them different things. But they knew.
TEAL
The multiverse has always been there. The Torii Foundation just accidentally came across the technology to explore and document it. And boy, are we documenting it. I've written seventeen hundred reports. Nobody reads them. It's very depressing.
DIANE
So what now?
KANE
Now? You decide. You can walk away. We'll confiscate your footage. Give you a generous payment for your silence. You go back to making documentaries about normal things.
DIANE
Or?
KANE
Or you stay. You learn. You document what we really do. And maybe, maybe, we find a way to tell this story that doesn't end with societal collapse.
DIANE
You want me to make a documentary? About the secret multiverse?
KANE
I want you to help us figure out how to eventually stop keeping it a secret. Because frankly, we're running out of time. More Fissures are starting to pop up all over the world. More Fissures. More instability. At some point, the public will find out. And when they do, I'd rather it's through controlled disclosure than a Mega-Fissure opening in Times Square.
TEAL
That happened in 1883. Krakatoa. Whole island exploded. Classic Mega-Fissure. Total disaster.
DIANE
You're insane.
KANE
Probably. But the multiverse doesn't care about our sanity. It just keeps existing. And we're the only ones currently equipped to deal with it.
She offers her hand.
KANE (CONT'D)
So. Are you in?
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DECIDE IF YOU WANT TO SAVE THE WORLD (SPOILER: IT'S COMPLICATED)
Diane doesn't shake Kane's hand.
Not yet.
She walks to the Gateframe. Touches the frame. It's cool metal. Humming with energy that shouldn't exist but does.
DIANE
Let me get this straight. You're telling me there are infinite Earths? Infinite versions of me? Making infinite choices? And somewhere out there, there's a version who said no to this conversation, and a version that went home and never knew any of this existed?
KANE
Probably thousands of possible variations.
DIANE
And you think I should document this? Make it public? Tell the world that everything they know is one reality among infinite possibilities?
TEAL
When you say it like that, it sounds overwhelming. But consider this: people already believe in infinite possibilities. Religion. Philosophy. Science fiction. We're just confirming it with data.
DIANE
Data that includes six-legged giraffes.
TEAL
Evolution is weird.
Diane laughs. She can't help it. This is absurd. This is impossible. This is the biggest story in human history and it's being explained to her by a disheveled scientist and a retired military admiral in a concrete bunker in Taiwan's countryside.
DIANE
Okay. Say I do this. Say I document everything. What's the endgame?
KANE
Honestly? We don't know. Maybe we ease the public into it. Release evidence gradually. Create a cultural framework for understanding the multiverse before we reveal it exists.
TEAL
Or maybe we just rip off the band-aid and deal with the chaos. Personally, I vote for chaos. It's more interesting.
KANE
We're not voting for chaos.
TEAL
We never vote for chaos. Chaos votes for itself.
DIANE
(to her crew)
What do you think?
KENNY
I think if we walk away from this, I'll regret it for the rest of my life.
PRODUCER
I think this is either the best or worst decision we'll ever make. Possibly both.
DIANE
(turning back to Kane)
I need full access. No redactions. No censorship. I document what I see, the way I see it.
KANE
Within reason. Some things are still classified.
DIANE
Then we define "reason" together. I'm not making propaganda.
KANE
I'm not asking you to. I'm asking you to help us tell the truth. Even when it's messy. Especially when it's messy.
Diane considers this. Considers the Gateframe. Considers the fact that somewhere through that shimmer, four people are walking through a Sahara that became an ocean, meeting a civilization that never knew the rest of humanity existed.
Considers that this is happening right now. Has been happening. Will keep happening whether she documents it or not.
DIANE
Alright. I'm in. But I have conditions.
KANE
Name them.
DIANE
One: I want to go through. I want to see a reality firsthand.
KANE
Absolutely not.
DIANE
Two: I want interviews with everyone. Jumpers. Scientists. Security. The people who clean the bathrooms. Everyone has a story.
KANE
(reluctantly)
Fine.
DIANE
Three: When this goes public, and it will go public, I want my name on it. No anonymous sources. No shadow organizations. If we're telling the truth, we tell it completely.
KANE
That's dangerous.
DIANE
So is the multiverse, apparently.
They stare at each other. Two women who both know this is a terrible idea. Both know they're doing it anyway.
KANE
You're going to regret this.
DIANE
Probably. But at least it'll be interesting.
She shakes Kane's hand.
Behind them, the Gateframe flickers. Just for a moment. A glimpse of somewhere else. A world where this conversation never happened. Or happened differently. Or is happening right now in infinite variation.
TEAL
(cheerfully)
Welcome to the real Torii Foundation. Nothing will ever make sense again!
DIANE
Looking forward to it.
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THE DOCUMENTARY YOU'LL NEVER SEE (OR WILL YOU?)
TITLE CARD: The following footage was classified by the Torii Foundation Board of Directors on [DATE REDACTED].
TITLE CARD: It has been viewed by exactly ten people.
TITLE CARD: You are not one of them.
TITLE CARD: Yet.
FADE IN
A farmhouse in Taiwan. Surrounded by fields. Normal. Mundane. Absolutely unremarkable.
DIANE (V.O.)
This is Site-7. It doesn't look like much. But housed within this building is the only stable doorway to infinite realities. And the people who work here? They're not saving just one world. They're saving all of them.
CUT TO
The Gateframe chamber. ET-4 preparing for departure. Amara checking equipment. Hassan making a joke. Yuki reviewing linguistic notes. Santiago eating another energy bar.
DIANE (V.O.)
These are the Dustrunners. They're about to visit a world where the Sahara is an ocean. They do this every week. Different worlds. Different missions. Same question: What does it mean to be human when humanity exists in infinite variations?
CUT TO
Teal in his lab, surrounded by data, looking exhausted and exhilarated.
TEAL
We've documented hundreds of realities. Hundreds. And we've barely scratched the surface. There are versions of Earth where humans never evolved. Versions where we went extinct. Versions where we achieved utopia or apocalypse or something in between. And every single one of them is real. All of them. Exist at once.
CUT TO
Kane in her office, looking out at the fields.
KANE
People ask me: why keep it secret? Why not tell the world? And the answer is: because we're not ready. If we can barely even handle the reality we're living in now, then how are we supposed to handle infinite realities? How do we reconcile that every choice we make is simultaneously made and not made across countless realities?
CUT TO
The Gateframe powers up. The air inside the frame shimmers, warps, reveals a glimpse of a geometry that refuses perspective, shapes half-formed and landscapes folding into themselves, as if distance were remembering how to exist.
DIANE (V.O.)
I don't know if the world is ready for this truth. I don't know if I'm ready. But ready or not, the multiverse exists. And somewhere in that infinite variation, there's a version of this documentary that never got made. A version where I walked away. Where none of this matters."
The camera pushes in on the Gateframe. Closer. Closer.
DIANE (V.O.)
But this is the version where I stayed. Where I looked through the door. Where I asked the question that changes everything: If infinite realities exist... which one do we choose to save?
The Gateframe shimmers. For just a moment, we see through:
A city by an ocean. Children playing. A six-legged giraffe in the distance. Two moons in a purple sky.
Then it closes.
DIANE (V.O.)
The Torii Foundation's answer? All of them. One reality at a time. Even when it's impossible. Especially when it's impossible.
FADE TO BLACK
TITLE CARD: This documentary will be released to the public in [REDACTED].
TITLE CARD: Or maybe it already has been.
TITLE CARD: Somewhere.
TITLE CARD: The multiverse is funny that way.
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END
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