Author's Note

Hey there, I just wanted to say that these first couple of chapters are really slow, and are more for slowly getting into the story. Don’t be so quick to judge, I promise you won’t be disappointed. Thanks for reading!

Prologue

You and five others began your prep for the “big test”, as everyone on your team called it. Put on your hazmat suit, went through decontamination procedures, etc. You proceed down a long tunnel and end up in a gigantic room with a very intimidating machine housed inside. You stared in awe as you took the IDGC (Inter Dimensional Gateway Creator) and it’s entirety into your field of vision. It’s crazy to believe that in only six short months, you and only a few others achieved this big feat of possible inter dimensional travel. Just imagine what the U.S. military was gonna do if we discover that the other side has oil, heh heh. You are snapped out of your thoughts by Dr. Harper’s voice over the loudspeaker.

“Alpha, begin phase one.” Dr. Harper commands. You and your squad mates begin the initiation phase. You begin by running a machine evaluation and carefully looking over all the parts to make sure that nothing is out of place or flawed. You and one other had the midsection, while others examined the rear and the front ends. You checked the reactor slots and made sure nothing was obstructing them, examined the energy cultivation unit and looked for anything out of place or any loose parts, basically checking if everything matched the written requirements on your clipboard. Thankfully, everything looked good to you. You and Ryan, the other member examining the midsection, gave Dr. Harper a thumbs up and waiting for the other examinations to finish. Once the rest of the exams were checked out, we were given our next command. “Alpha Squad, man your stations.” Says Dr. Harper. You and the rest of the squad attend to your assigned stations on the sides of the IDGC. You were responsible for keeping the temperature low and the energy concentration levels high, so the colossal machine doesn’t overheat and collapse on itself. That would end up in a fat 56 billion down the drain, thank the lord that the majority of taxpayers don’t know what happens here. You proceed over to the small computer station built into the side of the machine and look over the programming while the other members do their tasks. Once the nuclear reactors are put in the slots, the machine is oiled up and all systems are good to go, it was time to begin the second phase.

“Alpha, begin phase two.” Said Dr. Harper. You punch a few commands into the computer, and give a nod to your teammates. Two others then begin to pull levers and flip switches, powering on the energy beam unit. The remaining three observe progress at the front with clipboards in hands.

“Harper,” you say over the radio with a dramatic pause. You turn around to the giant window behind you, give Dr. Harper a classy smirk, and finish your sentence. “We’re ready.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “Okay, you are clear to begin phase three.”

“Starting energy beam in three, two, one,” you say to the rest of the team. With the push of a button, you begin to see light particles form at the end of the colossal machine. After a few moments of gathering energy, a giant, bright blue beam shot from the end of the IDGC and began to strike the hole that was excavated into one of the walls. From your computer, you could keep track of all the units that were overheating and needed immediate cooling. This was done by your teammates, which sprayed said units down with a controlled amount of water, just enough to cool the unit down to a safe temperature. It sounded simple and easy enough, but it was actually more like constant manual labor. You had to constantly scan and callout any flaws in the IDGC, while two members used heavy hoses to spray down a specific area as the final three recorded everything. This includes what overheated, how fast it happened, etc. Not to mention the gateway you aimed to create required a massive amount of energy to bring to life. It required so much energy that even with the amount that the beam is creating now (which puts out a year’s worth of sunlight roughly every thirty seconds), it is still expected hours before we see any results. How nifty.

-Six Hours In-

You are extremely fatigued. The hazmat suit is hotter than hell, you’ve done nothing but tend to this damn machine for hours on end, and so far you’ve seen no progress. It’s safe to say that you’re at your wit’s end right now.

“Harper,” you say with a clear hint of exhaustion. “How much longer are we gonna wait? It’s been at least six hours!”

“Yeah,” said Matt, one of the men manning the hoses. “My arms are killing me and it’s like a fucking furnace in these suits!” Everyone then agrees with a commotion that they were all severely exhausted.

“Sigh, I suppose you’re right.” Says Harper with disappointment. “That’s enough for one day, begin th-“ she paused suddenly. “Alpha, look!” She exclaims, pointing a finger towards the wall with the hole excavated into it. You and your team turn around only to face the first sign of success.

“Holy shit.” You said in awe. Several light particles of many different colors began to form in the excavation site, swirling around in a circular motion.

“Don’t just sit there and stare!” Shouted Dr. Harper frantically. “Keep working! We can’t lose this!”

Without hesitation, you and your team followed orders. Over a short span of time, the particles grew in number and speed. You were excited. Not only that your hard work would shortly come to an end, but to also see what the end result was. However, your happy thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud rumble coming from the light particles.

“What’s happe-“ BOOM. Mindy, one of the members at the end of the machine recording and observing was instantly cut off and thrown back by a massive energy burst from the portal. Her and the two others that were up there with her were knocked out-cold from the sudden burst. That wasn’t the only consequence, unfortunately. The massive force from the blast also happened to crack the six nuclear reactor cores powering the IDGC, as well as throw out a few gears from inside of it. This was bad. Really bad.

“Shit!” Exclaimed Ryan. “Harper, get us the fuck out of here now!”

You, Ryan, and Matt ran over to the entrance to the tunnel in which you entered the room and began prying at the metal doors in an urgent attempt to escape.

“I’m trying!” Shouted Harper. “The controls are down! You’ll have to wait until I can get them back up!”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” You think to yourself. With all the radiation leaking from the reactor cores, you’ll surely be dead within minutes. But as it turns out, that wasn’t your only problem. You totally forgot about the machine needing to be tended to in order to prevent it from collapsing, and it was already glowing red from the heat. You quickly sprint over to the machine and spray down the interior with water. Ryan comes over to help you, but is interrupted by Harper over the loudspeaker.

“The door systems aren’t working!” She says with panic. “You’ll have to find a way to pry them open!”

“Fuck!” You scream. “Ryan! Help Matt with the door, I’ll keep the machine cool!”

Ryan nods and runs over to Matt and aids him. You were scared to death, were you really gonna go out like this? Hell, you were only 23. Too young for anyone to die in your eyes, especially in some freak accident like this. To make matters worse, you soon begin to realize that your efforts aren’t enough. The hoses are only an aid to the main cooling unit inside of the IDGC and you suspect that the cooling unit was damaged or completely broken from the blast due to the fact that the machine wasn’t cooling down.

“Anon!” Screams Ryan. You look over and see Matt sprinting down the tunnel and Ryan struggling to keep the door open for you. You look at the machine and see that the machine is only seconds from collapsing according to the thermometer on its side. You couldn’t make it to the door even if you tried.

“Go!” You scream at Ryan.

“Anon, I can’t lea-“

“FUCKING GO!” You scream, this time with some force. Ryan just nods and runs off, doors resealing behind him. Just as they closed, the machine collapsed in on itself. The reactor cores didn’t cope well with the energy beam and began to fill the room in a thick mist. You look down and see that your fingertips are slowly dissolving into your surroundings. “Crazy,” you think to yourself. “I can’t physically feel anything.” You chuckle and begin to shed tears.

“You won’t be forgotten, Anon.” Says Harper over the radio. “You did a very noble thing.”

“Heh heh, thanks.” You reply with a sniffle. “It was a pleasure working for y’all.” Those were your final words before everything slowly went black.