'Star Trek' Twist Means Elon Musk Could Create the Mirror Universe

Boring Company and SpaceX innovator Elon Musk will clearly be remembered by future generations, but in what context? Star Trek: Discovery’s Captain Lorca implied Musk was as important as the Wright Brothers and the inventor of the fictional warp drive; Zephram Cochrane. But, we now know Lorca wasn’t from “our” universe, but instead, the evil Mirror Universe. This suddenly casts his reference to Elon Musk in a totally different light. So, what is Mirror Universe Elon Musk like? Or do we already live in that universe?

On Wednesday, Tor.com connected-the-dots between Lorca’s name-dropping of Musk in the fourth episode of Discovery, and the recent developments with both the Boring Company flamethrowers and the Mirror Universe story on Star Trek. Basically, the takeaway is this: Lorca was pretending to be from the “good” universe, and his knowledge of human history was based on what happened in the evil Mirror Universe. And in that universe, the creator of warp drive — Zephram Cochrane —killed friendly Vulcans with a sawed-off shotgun when they landed on Earth in 2063, rather than shake their hand. So, Lorca’s memory of Musk derives from a dimension where that happened.

When Inverse spoke to Lorca actor Jason Isaacs about doing character work for Prime Lorca, Isaacs said “Well, Mirror Lorca wouldn’t know any of that,” solidifying the idea that he was always playing an imposter who was pretending to know stuff about the good, upbeat future of Star Trek. So, what does that mean about how Lorca remembered Musk in his universe? Was Musk the same in the Mirror Universe as he was in “our” universe? Or, do we already live in the Mirror Universe, and this Musk name-drop just proves that fact?

When Musk revealed that his Boring Company was selling limited-edition flamethrowers, it raised several eyebrows, as did the Instagram video of Musk wielding one of the flamethrowers. There’s no reference to the Boring Company or flamethrowers in the new Mirror Universe episodes on Star Trek: Discovery, but still.

We all know that if Musk becomes evil, the human race is totally screwed, but before now, we had no idea to think that his actions (and flamethrowers) could lead to the formation of the intergalactic regime known as the Terran Empire. And until Trek canon offers an alternate explanation of what Elon Musk was like in the Mirror Universe, we might have some reason to be worried.

In early 2017, when Musk talked about re-watching the dark sci-fi classic film Colossus: The Forbin Project, he admitted it’s “not the ideal ending.” This means he doesn’t favor a future where A.I. rules the human race. But, that doesn’t totally rule out Musk being interested in researching fungi science to figure out how to cross space and time in the blink of an eye. After all, this is the guy who wants to name a real spaceship The Heart of Gold, after the fictional Douglas Adams spaceship that can basically do exactly what the USS Discovery can do on Star Trek.

Let’s just hope the next Boring Company innovation aren’t those dreaded “agonizers” from the Mirror Universe.

There are only two episodes left in Star Trek: Discovery’s first season. They will air over the next two Sundays at 8:30 pm eastern time on CBS All Access. The season finale will air on February 11, 2018, and is titled “Will You Take My Hand?”