In a lot of ways, Sheila and Rokus were alike. Some of these ways included:
- DNA
- Atomic Weight
- Praxis
- Dislike of cranberry juice
It wasn’t until they actually met, in the reception area of The Institute, that either realised how similar they were. They were so similar, that they could not actually exist in the same physical reality. This made carrying on a conversation difficult. On the occasion of their first meeting, Sheila evaporated like a puffball mushroom, spores disintegrating in the air conditioning at 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rokus had tried to take this to his superiors, but nobody was interested. When Sheila tried to visit The Institute again a few weeks later, Rokus spotted her from the opening elevator doors and shrunk back into the mirrored steel box before she could unrealise.
Sheila and Rokus exchanged faxes for a few months, trying to figure out this conundrum. The elevator held the clue all along: a diffusing complex of mirrors enabled them both to occupy the same timeline, for a while at least. Conversation happened through walkie-talkies. There was an unexplained five second delay.
These hall of mirrors conversations finally resulted in the realisation that they were brother and sister, but with different parents. Rokus’s father had been killed in Vietnam when a horse fell on him. Sheila’s father was still alive, just. At some point, the sperm and egg crossed over into another timeline, likely due to consumption of horror films while pregnant, and the same person was born twice.
How often this happens is a mystery, but not one anyone was prepared to spend research dollars solving.