Four years ago
It was a mid pleasant summer afternoon; when there was a knock on the door of his office, he wondered who was disturbing him at this time of the day. He left his board that he was working on and opened the door. He rolled his eyes. "Barry what can I do for you."
"Nice to see you too. Sheldon Cooper." Barry Kripke was a physicist who loved teasing Sheldon; he used every opportunity to tout Sheldon. Barry suffered from rhotacism the inability or difficulty in pronouncing the sound like r. He worked at the same university as Sheldon and Leonard. Barry was a plasma physicist but recently moved to study string theorist. He was known for his love of the good life and spending his grant money on gambling and prostitutes.
"What can I do for you Barry, I am busy so get on with it," Sheldon said. He had no time for Barry's games and had more important things to do.
"I am here to help you, Sheldon, I heard about your work with Leonard and how the project was abandoned." Barry knew Sheldon could be manipulated and could easily take advantage of his vulnerability.
"It was only abandoned because Leonard wasn't intelligent enough to finish what he started." Sheldon snapped.
Barry looked at Sheldon's board. "Wow, is that the codes and the maths for Leonards time machine?"
Sheldon quickly turns the board around. "No, it's mine I did the maths, just trying to complete the equations," Sheldon said defensively.
"That why I'm here. To help you finish the project." Barry said.
"Barry the only way you can help me is by getting your hands on some plutonium," Sheldon said sarcastically. Sheldon was not expecting any help from Barry, hoping he would leave.
"I know someone who could get you some," Barry said with a grin, at the same time biding his time.
"Barry, do not play with me. Are you serious?" Sheldon asked, and a little excited at the slight chance Barry might actually be able to get hold of some plutonium.
"Of Course, I have contacts who can get me whatever I want."
Sheldon stared at Barry and wondered if this was one of Barry's games to make him look idiotic. "So why do you want to help me, and what is in it for you," Sheldon asked suspiciously of Barry's motives.
"Just helping out a friend." Barry lied.
"Barry you know we are not friends and never will be. Now if you don't mind stop wasting my time, leave." Sheldon held the door opened. Hoping he would leave.
Barry knew he had Sheldon where he wanted him and played his trump card. "Fine if you don't want my help, I'm sure Leonard will be interested." Barry walked toward the door.
"Don't you dare, you have my full attention." Sheldon quickly changed his mind at the thought of Leonard beating him to a potential Nobel Prize. Sheldon didn't want Leonard to get the credit for inventing the time machine. "I'm all ears, Barry."
Barry hid a smile; his plan was coming together. "Okay I know a guy who can get you all the plutonium you need, and it wouldn't cost you a penny."
"What's the catch?" Sheldon didn't like where this is going. But if Barry could get him some plutonium, he was game and didn't care how he got it.
"All you have to do is build a replica of Leonard's time-jumping device, and my contact will supply the plutonium," Barry informed him.
Sheldon Lee Cooper was a theoretical physicist who was once Leonard best friend. They shared an apartment until they fell out when Sheldon stole his papers and continued the abandoned project behind Leonard's back. Sheldon was a prodigy with genius-level IQ, but displays total lack of social skills, no understanding of humor, and difficulty recognizing irony and sarcasm in other people, He exhibits highly idiosyncratic behavior and a general lack of humility or empathy.
"So when can I meet him." Sheldon eagerly asked.
"I will arrange a meeting and let you know," Barry said.
"And what's in it for you," Sheldon asked again. He wasn't buying the idea that Barry was doing him a favor.
"Like I said just helping out a friend in need." What he failed to tell Sheldon, he was getting $10.000 for his troubles.
"I told you we are not friends." Sheldon retorted.
Sheldon arrived at the meeting that Barry, as promised had arranged. He was shown to an office. A little man in a black suit, stood up to greet him. His name was Larry. He was one of the most powerful and dangerous men in the criminal underworld. His speciality was drug smuggling, human trafficking and making people disappear. Sheldon did not like the look of Larry's companion; there was something about his eyes, the scar on his face and the rigid way he held himself that made Sheldon uneasy.
"Sheldon. So glad to finally met you, I have heard a lot about you." Larry said as he tried to shake Sheldon's hand.
Sheldon declined. "I don't shake hands." He took out some wipes.
"Okay sorry, my bad." Larry turned to his companion. "Hector, leave us."
Larry and Sheldon got down to business; Larry talked about how he could get anything Sheldon needed, including plutonium to complete the project. In return, if successful he will be able to time travel with some of his friends for pleasure. The real plan was to ship convicted criminals to other universes to escape justice. Sheldon agreed to the deal oblivious to the actual plan.
Two months later, Sheldon began working in the purposely built lab that Larry arranged for him. It was very sophisticated and had all the latest equipment. Hector was now Sheldon's bodyguard and would not let him out of his sight on orders from Larry.
"So how is it going, are we close to opening up a portal yet?" Larry asked Sheldon one day.
"I'm modifying the electrometric diesel generator providing fifty kilowatts at a hundred and ten volts to deal with any radiation leak. It's still at an early stage, but we are getting there." Sheldon replied.
"So what is the delay?" Larry asked, not understanding the terminology of what Sheldon just said.
"I encountered a somewhat unusual problem, devising suitable circuits. The source of electrical energy…." Sheldon suddenly stopped talking, his face tightened, and his eyes snapped to attention. "You are kidding me." Sheldon snarled. He saw one of the workers away from his post. He went over and started yelling at him and called him an idiot.
Larry turned to one of the consultants hired to advise Sheldon and said. "He is a bit rude and heavy handed with the engineers."
"Yeah that Sheldon for you. He sees himself as the sole inventor of the time-travel machine and even with our help, I'm guessing we will not be credited." The consultant said whose name was Sam.
Sheldon joined Larry, Sam and Hector after his rant at the worker. "Larry I need more men. I'm working on a new project that could make, change the world as we know it."
"You have enough men. So how long before you complete the time jumping device.?" Larry enquired."
"I expect it would take me about three years to complete the task without more men," Sheldon said.
"Sheldon, we do not have three years," Larry was losing a lot of money on Sheldon and wanted to see some profits from his investment sooner rather than later. "You have six months to complete it," Larry warned.
"We cannot do it in 6 months. We need to build it and carry out tests. These things take time." Sam replied.
"I don't care six months and all the resources you need. Now, Sheldon, I see why you wanted to hire more men but exactly what is the purpose of this new project?" Larry asked.
"None of your business," Sheldon said. Hector gave Sheldon a little light punch to the side. Sheldon looked a bit dazed for a fraction of a second and wondered if he had offended Larry by his comment. If so, there was no trace of annoyance in his reply.
"You can have two more engineers?" Larry said.
"Thank you." a grateful Sheldon said.
Sheldon manages to build a replica of Leonard time machine within the timeframe of 6 months; he was able to replicate the original device and develop his own, using Leonards papers on time travel that he stole. With some of the maths changed, Sheldon was able to open portals whenever he liked or where, with no downtime, unlike Leonard's device which could only open portals one at a time and needed to be recharged. But there were also problems along the way. It wasn't all smooth sailing, the first tests failed. It was unstable at first, during testing they were some major incidents. Sheldon was lucky to escape with his life on more than one occasion, but some were not so lucky. The first dozen sent into the portal was killed, but gradually Sheldon figured it out. On completion, Sheldon used it for criminal activities as payments to Larry. Larry began shipping criminals to other times zones for the right price to avoid justice. A rise in the number of criminals escaping justice was at an all-time high. It was becoming a worldwide issue for countries. The government of most states began to pass Laws to outlaw time jumping. That's when the task forces were created to try and stop the influx and destroy or capture the device and Sheldon. After the success of recreating the time jumping device to create portals, Sheldon devoted his time to configure it into a time machine to go back and forth in time which would take four or more years to get anywhere close to complete.
Present Day
Leonard walks in to find Penny still on his laptop. "Hey, you," he said.
Without looking up. Penny said. "Leonard why can't I find any info or the timeline of the Penny in your world."
Leonard was shocked at the question. He wasn't expecting it and didn't know what to say.
"I can't even find her family. Are they dead." Penny said. She couldn't help thinking the same fate had be fallen them.
Leonard just stood there staring into space. Penny had a feeling Leonard was keeping something from her. Penny stared at him waiting for an answer. "Is everything okay?" Penny asked.
Leonard couldn't lie to Penny even if he tried. He changed the subject. "Penny we need to go back to your world. I just heard from one of my agents who came through a few hours ago. He was supposed to bring back Raj. Someone tried to blow up our base."
"What..., is Bernadette, Howard, and everyone okay?" She asked concerned.
"Everyone is okay, the building is a bit damaged by the explosion, and we lost a few pieces of equipment's." Leonard said.
"I bet Sheldon had something to do with this." Penny snarled.
"It wouldn't surprise me. His buddies are dangerous enough to carry out this attack and to sabotage our mission to stop them." Leonard sat next to Penny on the sofa, looking worried.
"Penny, I think we utter to be careful, they might have been targeting us after the shootout on the roof," Leonard said.
"Or to stop us from investigating them and capturing the time machine," Penny added.
"We need to find them fast, half the warehouse is damaged, and Raj escaped. I knew I should have brought him back myself." Leonard said.
"Look it's not your fault, and we will get him again and that jerk Sheldon." Penny tried to assure Leonard.
"I think we need to go back. I have a feeling Sheldon is close to completing a working time machine to go back and forth in time." Leonard pouted.
"I hope you are wrong Leonard. This is getting out of hand. We need to end this before a lot of people get hurt or killed." Penny saw the sadness in his eyes and just wanted to hug him, but stopped short when Leonard began to speak.
"Yeah, you are right Penny. But we are running out of options." Leonard was also worried about Penny; he felt it was his duty to protect her. His feelings for her was growing every day. He decided he was going to tell her how he felt. His thoughts were interrupted.
"So do know what happened to the Penny of your world.?" Penny asked again.
Leonard wondered where she was going with this. "Penny if this is about what you asked me earlier, the less you know, the better for you." Leonard wasn't sure how to tell Penny what he found out.
"What do you mean the less I know. Leonard is there something I need to know." Penny asked. Leonard looks away trying to avoid eye contact. "Leonard, what's going on?" She asked worriedly.
"Penny I don't know how to tell you this, but the Penny of this world is dead." He paused and waited for her reaction. "Penny are you okay." He asked sincerely.
Penny leaned back on the sofa, taking in what Leonard just told her. When she finally spoke, she asked. "How did it happen?"
"She was an agent and went to Australia on the same mission as you did in your world. But like you, she never made it back." He said sadly.
"So I died in one universe but survived in the other," Penny asked.
"Yes, Penny it's just the way Parallel universes work. Where whatever occurs in one universe, the opposite happens in the alternate universe but in an opposite
manner."
"She was an agent like me. So the Penny of this world's family could be alive or dead?" Penny wiped a tear that threatens to fall.
"There is a chance that they could have survived the asteroid hit in my world," Leonard answered.
Penny was ready for any bad news; she knew something might have happened to them as she could not find any information on them.
"Penny, according to space-time theory, it is assumed that time flows at a different rate in different dimensions. The phenomenon happening in one world is not definitely sure to occur in another world." Leonard tried to assure her.
"So are you saying they are probabilities that they are alive?" Penny asked hopefully.
Leonard rubbed Penny shoulder to comfort her. "The probabilities are endless. Yes, I think they could be alive. I too couldn't find any information on them, but I will keep trying. Penny rested her head on his shoulder. The sat in silence for what felt like hours but only a few minutes. "Penny are you okay.?" Leonard asked again.
There could be infinite possibilities as to what happened to the alternate family of this world. The trauma it could cause if penny met her alternate family could have consequences for Penny and her alternate family from this world. Shifting their consciousness and realities that they know little about each other.