Microstory 533: Man Claims to Know Where Flipcoats Come From

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Approximately 117 years ago, something extraordinary happened. Now historical figure, Dooney Parks became the first flipper in the galaxy. He had just gotten out of the shower when he felt a searing pain all over his upper body. At first he thought he was having some kind of delusional episode, but then the shock subsided, and he realized that some kind of torture device had been wrapped around his torso, and embedded in his skin. He couldn't remove it, his doctor couldn’t remove it, and scientists could not explain it. By the time the story became interstellar news, a second individual, Mercy Grace Hillsboro found herself experiencing the exact same thing. She too was unclothed at the time. No one knew what to make of these developments, even after more and more people unwillingly became flippers. After a while, however, these flippers began to notice some changes in their lives. One of them happened to be a gunner during a war with a rival nation on her home planet. She discovered that she could not be hurt. No matter what, her fighter jet was never damaged enough to cause a crash, not even following a direct hit by the enemy. Another won the planetary lottery twice in a row, that is, before a law was hastily passed that disqualified all past winners.

Things were just working out for these people, if only despite the constant pain they felt from their flipcoats. Still, scientists were completely baffled as to how these seemingly magical devices worked, where they came from, and why these particular people were chosen. This ignorance has continued up to today, but if we are to believe one man, the wait is partially over. Alberto Kussen is not a formally educated scientist, nor does he have any connection to a flipper, past or present. He has, however, been studying the flipcoat phenomenon for practically his entire life, and has dedicated that life to understanding it on a metaphysical level. He believes that there is some kind of shadow reality that lies just beyond our perception. This reality contains alternate versions of everyone in our reality, and they are all aware of us. Perhaps they are able to perceive events as they occur for us, and maybe even influence them. Kussen thinks that society in the shadow reality has developed some kind of merit-based reward system. Those who prove their worth to the authoritative body are awarded a flipcoat. For whatever reason, though, they are not capable of wearing flipcoats themselves, and so their doppelgänger in our reality is given it instead.

Of course this theory can’t, or has yet to, be proven. And of course, it still doesn’t explain how they operate, and why scientists are prevented even from examining one without suffering fatal consequences. It doesn’t even explain the logical reasoning behind a society that would reward alternate versions of its denizens. All it does is provide one among many possibilities that have appeared over the years. We may never know the truth regarding flipcoats, or what would happen in a galaxy full of flippers. All we know is that they hurt to wear, and it’s hard to live without one.