Parallel Universe

When a high-precision physics experiment at CERN goes catastrophically off-script, the result is not an explosion but something far stranger: the experiment creates a portal to another universe. The receiving chamber brings back a fine dust from a parallel Earth - the first physical evidence that another world exists at the same geographical coordinates as our own.

To understand what they have found, the team at CERN builds a new machine designed specifically to study this parallel universe. Their first attempts at remote observation are cautious. Drones are sent through the portal to gather information, but one is shot down by an angry farmer on the other side.

With the remote approach no longer viable, the team sends one of their own - Max Rivette - to cross the portal and discover more about this alternate world. His assignment is straightforward: observe the differences, report what he finds, and return. Instead, Max is arrested and jailed, and the mission becomes something far more complicated than anyone intended.

Parallel Universe blends grounded physics, political tension, and human-scale drama to explore what happens when a scientific breakthrough becomes a story about the machinery of state power, and how the world we live in is fundamentally flawed. It follows the beginnings of Max's transformation into an agent of change - someone who challenges our assumptions about what is possible when our most familiar power structures are turned upside down.

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Parallel Universe

When a high-precision physics experiment at CERN goes catastrophically off-script, the result is not an explosion but something far stranger: the experiment creates a portal to another universe. The receiving chamber brings back a fine dust from a parallel Earth - the first physical evidence that another world exists at the same geographical coordinates as our own.

To understand what they have found, the team at CERN builds a new machine designed specifically to study this parallel universe. Their first attempts at remote observation are cautious. Drones are sent through the portal to gather information, but one is shot down by an angry farmer on the other side.

With the remote approach no longer viable, the team sends one of their own - Max Rivette - to cross the portal and discover more about this alternate world. His assignment is straightforward: observe the differences, report what he finds, and return. Instead, Max is arrested and jailed, and the mission becomes something far more complicated than anyone intended.

Parallel Universe blends grounded physics, political tension, and human-scale drama to explore what happens when a scientific breakthrough becomes a story about the machinery of state power, and how the world we live in is fundamentally flawed. It follows the beginnings of Max's transformation into an agent of change - someone who challenges our assumptions about what is possible when our most familiar power structures are turned upside down.

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Parallel Universe

Parallel Universe

by Bert Ernie
Parallel Universe

Parallel Universe

by Bert Ernie

Paperback

$24.99 
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Overview

When a high-precision physics experiment at CERN goes catastrophically off-script, the result is not an explosion but something far stranger: the experiment creates a portal to another universe. The receiving chamber brings back a fine dust from a parallel Earth - the first physical evidence that another world exists at the same geographical coordinates as our own.

To understand what they have found, the team at CERN builds a new machine designed specifically to study this parallel universe. Their first attempts at remote observation are cautious. Drones are sent through the portal to gather information, but one is shot down by an angry farmer on the other side.

With the remote approach no longer viable, the team sends one of their own - Max Rivette - to cross the portal and discover more about this alternate world. His assignment is straightforward: observe the differences, report what he finds, and return. Instead, Max is arrested and jailed, and the mission becomes something far more complicated than anyone intended.

Parallel Universe blends grounded physics, political tension, and human-scale drama to explore what happens when a scientific breakthrough becomes a story about the machinery of state power, and how the world we live in is fundamentally flawed. It follows the beginnings of Max's transformation into an agent of change - someone who challenges our assumptions about what is possible when our most familiar power structures are turned upside down.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780648551416
Publisher: Iridium Peach
Publication date: 02/02/2026
Pages: 352
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.96(d)

About the Author

Bert Ernie is an Australian artist and author working at the intersection of speculative fiction, science, and political imagination. His debut novel, Parallel Universe, blends hard science with an examination of power, surveillance, and post-capitalist social structures. Developed over more than ten years, the book reflects his long-standing interest in how advanced technology might enable radically different ways of organising society.
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