Multiple worlds are involved then. And multiple worlds had been accessed by Retrospec when they sent people to fix their reality problem before. Maybe it the tears were more than a quick form of teleportation between planets. Maybe it was dimensional travel. The fact reality instead of space had been mentioned made it all the more suspect.

"Could this be... proof of a Multiverse? Do we have any reason to believe the Other Selves aren't alive and well in their own worlds right now? In simplest terms, another version of each of us from a different dimension."