Universe Overlap

Universe Overlap (pronounced: YOO-nih-vurs OH-ver-lap) is a temporary coupling state between two adjacent universes, arising where a flexure has narrowed the Interval between their membranes into coupling range. Two Concordant Zones of the same universe cannot overlap: there is no Interval between them to narrow.

During overlap, measurable interaction across the shared boundary becomes possible while distinct local rule sets are preserved on each side. The two do not merge — their respective constraints remain in effect — but their edge conditions interact.

Extent is set by the flexure, not by the mechanism. An overlap window reaches as far as the Interval stays inside coupling range and no further, which is the footprint of the flexure itself. Readings are correspondingly local: dual-valid measurements come from instruments a short distance apart, and constants stay position-dependent within the window because the flexure's profile varies across it. No figure is quoted in the survey record, each flexure having its own. A station can sit inside an overlap domain; a civilisation does not.

Overlap is lawful geometry behaviour. It is not magical convergence.

Example: During an overlap window at a boundary zone, instruments can briefly register activity originating in the neighbouring universe — a signal, a light source — without either side's physical constants shifting to match the other. When the window closes, the interaction stops; neither universe was altered by it.

(Older filings write "the other Concordant" here. That is the loose period usage in which "Concordant" stood for a whole universe; overlap and folding operate between membranes, and the current term is the one used above.)