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143 Dutch Street...
Boulder, Colorado...
4 PM...
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In the basement of a small house in Colorado, set far up into the nearby forest, close to the mountains, a young man feverishly works. He is youthful, no more than twenty, but he works like a man possessed on the device in his basement, testing and connecting wires. His brown eyes are lined with rings, the evidence of many sleepless nights, and his dusty blonde hair was tousled. Yet despite his obvious fatigue, a wide grin was on his face. His work was almost completed.
Mounted on a steel base is a massive, circular machine, a great ring of metal and circuits, wide enough to let an eight-foot tall man through. Wires connected the ring to a portable generator, visibly modified to produce more wattage, and series of computers with readouts displaying numbers and figures only the creator of this machine could understand.
Finally, the last connections were made. The machine shuddered, and glowed brightly, coming alive in a flash of light, circuits and LED screens blinking on the ring. The man chuckled softly, and stood up, grunting as his muscles stretched, sore from kneeling for so long. He went over to a table and wiped his hands off, picking up a small tape recorder. He pressed the 'record' button, and began to speak.
"Finally, after months of work, it's completed. It took me a while, and a lot of money, nearly all of the inheritance from my parents, but my Gating technology is finally completed," he said, pausing briefly before continuing, "On a personal note, I should probably go visit them at the cemetery. It's been a while."
The young man sighed, and sipped from a nearby water bottle, continuing. "It's strange, really. After my parents died and left me their fortune two years ago, I drifted for a while. I went to college, and admittedly I was average in my grades. But who could ever guess, that in the midst of a boring Physics class that I'd begin to figure out that dimensional travel could very well be possible! The professors at the university weren't that supportive, but I knew I was right. I expanded on my formula, purchased the technology I needed, and finally built this: my Gate."
He smiled at the massive mechanical ring. "With this, I'll be able to travel between dimensions. I'll be able to bring the gifts of other worlds to this one!"
His face fell, as he added, "If the damn thing actually works, that is." He frowned, and then shook his head, grinning again.
"Well, if it doesn't work, I'll just keep trying. And when it does work, then the world will remember my name, the name Jim Scott forever."
He picked up a small device on a table, a rectangular device that looked like a modified remote control, with a few less buttons than the usual and a number readout. It was attached to a chain, so he would be able to wear it around his neck. He flipped a few switches on the massive computer setup near one side of the wall, and activated the remote device around his neck.
With a shuddering wail of screeching metal, the machine came alive. Electricity flickered inside the ring, swirling and coalescing into a massive spiral of energy, one that filled it up completely. Jim stared at the spiral as it stabilized, and shuddered.
"This is it… If this works, I’ll be in an entirely new reality. And if not… then I’ll probably be shredded into sub-atomic confetti. I will leave this record here in the hopes that whomever finds it can correct my mistake if something goes wrong. There’s so much that can be learned from this… Wish me luck…"
Jim stopped the recorder, setting it down on a nearby table. He stared into the vortex, swallowing nervously.
"I better do this before I totally lose my nerve," he said, chuckling weakly. He walked to the far end of the room, and got a running start. When he got the edge of the machine, however, preparing to make his dramatic leap, he tripped, and fell face first into the machine.
His face was the first thing to come into contact with the portal, the energies sucking him in and sending him spinning around. Jim screamed in fright, a feeling of his body dissolving overcoming him as he spiraled down into the center of the vortex.
To add to the embarrassment of the situation, the whole sensation was reminding him of how water disappeared down a toilet bowl…
With a final spin, Jim was sucked into the vortex… and vanished…
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Another reality…
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A vortex of energy appeared in midair, dumping Jim roughly out of it. He landed on his side, wincing as he felt a sharp pain go through his shoulder blades. Groaning, he picked himself up off of the ground and looked around.
His eyes went wide, all pain forgotten, as he stared at the little houses, each one no more than 10 inches high. From what he could see of the inhabitants, they were all basically human in appearance, save for a green tint to their skin. They stared at the stunned Jim fearfully, and ran back into their houses.
Jim laughed wildly. "I… I did it! I’m in another reality entirely!! HAHAHA!"
His laughter was quickly cut off as a thin laser beam struck him in the foot. He yelped, and looked down at the smoldering hole in his boot. He then turned, looking for the source of the blast. When he saw what shot at him, however…
"You’ve GOT to be kidding me…"
Riding what looked to be a motorcycle made entirely of vegetables was a four-foot tall stalk of broccoli. It had a pair of tentacle-like eyes that waved about and a wide mouth filled with sharp-looking fangs.
"YOU! Food source giant! Get back to your containment crisper!" the broccoli creature said, waving around a rifle that looked like it had been carved from a carrot.
Jim was not impressed, but still felt the need to be diplomatic. "Look, there’s been a mistake. I’m not a food source, I’m just visiting…"
The broccoli creature snarled. "Insolent buffet special! You dare challenge a superior race?!!! Prepare to be broiled!!! EZ RIDERS, ATTACK!!!"
Before Jim could react, tanks rolled up behind the broccoli creature. They turned their guns on him… and began spraying him with EZ Cheese…
"You have GOT to be kidding me," Jim said.
The broccoli creature grinned, and then said, "Now… CONVERT TO STEAM GRILL MODE!"
Jim gulped, and slowly backed away from the tanks, which were growing in size and splitting apart, beginning a transformation into something else.
When cannons with barrels roughly twice the size of Jim’s head appeared, he decided it was time to run away.
"GET BACK HEEEERREEE!!!" the broccoli creature roared, gunning his bike, which fortunately for Jim, had decided to stall out.
Jim fumbled with his portal device, setting it to close IMMEDIATELY after he went through it. The problem was, the damn thing needed time to charge UP first!
"Come on… COME ON…" Jim said, hearing the telltale sound of the broccoli creature catching up with him. The broccoli creature laughed viciously, licking its lips as it closed in on Jim.
"I don’t wanna die here… Come on you stupid… FINALLY!!" he shouted, the portal device powering up. He pointed the device at the air in front of him and activated it, a swirl of energy forming in an instant. Never losing a step, he kept running, flying through the portal. The broccoli creature tried to follow, but could only get the front wheel of his motorcycle through the portal before it shut.
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Back in regular reality…
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Jim never stopped running as he came through the portal, frantic to get away. He crashed hard into the wall of his apartment and bounced off, landing hard on the floor and kicking up a cloud of dust. He groaned and clutched his face, his nose bleeding from the impact, and slowly got to his feet.
"That went well," he said, dusting himself off and chuckling weakly. He looked at the wheel that had come partially through the portal and shuddered. He walked over to his desk and looked at the world number listed on his portal control. He pulled out a notepad and pen and wrote "Worlds Never To Visit Again" at the top. He wrote down the number setting of the world and wrote "Land of shrunken people and killer broccoli from hell" just underneath the title.
He coughed, grabbing a Kleenex and holding it up to his nose. He then grabbed the tape recorder and picked it up again, pressing record again."
"Okay. The good news, is that my gating portal works. I actually went to and came back from another reality. The bad news… Heh, the bad news is that my idea of just entering a world code at random was a stupid idea. I nearly got killed on my first encounter."
He turned to the gate and smiled. "But I can learn from my mistakes. I’m going to rest for a while, and then conduct a new experiment. There are so many possibilities… This is just the start. I’m gonna change the world with this tech, I just know it."
TO BE CONTINUED….