Back on earth, Trent Steele was walking through the door back to his dorm. A night on the computer and a bit of work on
the machine, perhaps the rubbing of Aristotle against his leg were the best comforts he could expect for the night.
The dorm was more work-place than living space. The bare necessities for life were there, but most everything was covered
in gadgetry or blue prints. The fridge had been left open. He found this odd and very unlike himself when he noticed the slight
beam of light that it cast on an uncaring wall.
There was a noise. He suddenly realized that he was not most likely the one who had left the refridgerator open. He looked
around for a weapon and selected a bottle of soda that was sitting on the counter. Soda isn't particularly deadly, but in
a bottle thats been mostly emptied the centrifugal force of the water and the built up momentum combine to give it a good
bit of power.
"Who the hell am I kidding?" He thought to himself. "I'm no man of action. My best bet is to get out of here... but if
he found IT... One wrong move would destroy years of work. The fool will probably use my machine for a toilet or something!
The phone is in there... I could call security from there and lock the door..."
He went to do precisely this, slipping down the hallways silently. He had to move quickly as the light was on in the bathroom.
He made it into the work room just as the bathroom door swung open with a worrysome creak. He knew the invader would likely
be heading back for the kitchen now as he could hear the footsteps and peered into the dark hallway. Sure enough a tall dark
man was moving back towards the kitchen. After a moment he heard the kitchen door shut and lock.
Did his assailant know he had come home? If so why hadn't the person simply run off. It was possible that they were not
looking to rob him of his worldly posessions, but of his life. Or perhaps his virginity. He did not fancy either option.
He quickly ran through a mental file of potential enemies. There were other scholars who disagreed with his theories but
these were not violent people. And then there were the Christian right wing protesters who hung out across the way at the
laboratory devoted to DNA and Stem cell research. Had one of them somehow discovered his intent? Were his intents immoral
to a rational man? Were the Christian right wing people who protested against advances that could cure disabiling diseases
rational anyhow?
His moral examination was stopped when he heard footsteps approaching. This potential Christian fundamentalist racist was
coming towards him and there was no chance of escape. Unless of course he were to fire up the machine and use different variables.
It was a long shot, but entirely possible that he could somehow open up a gateway rather than just the window he had been
wanting.
His earlier tests had shown that distant objects could be viewed if a machine were employed to convert light's waves into
different kinds of radiation. This conversion, acheived by a series of crystals, was then reverse engineered. The effect of
this was that other forms of radiation that were able to pass through barriers were now able to be turned into light which
allowed vision.
This discovery had only been a byproduct of his research. The real plan was to apply this technology to be open a viewing
portal into other dimensions, which would vindicate a great deal of his and his colleagues ideas. He had been considering
the possibilities of realigning the crystals so that they would not convert the waves that drove the photons in light, but
cancel these waves all together.
Theorizing that existence itself is very much like a ray he had worked out that dimensions exist as waves, moving at such
speeds that all other possible wave sets are cut off. He had been hoping that by ceasing the movement of all rays he might
momentarily park otherwise incompatible dimensions near eachother at a central point, namely that of the opening or viewing
area of the machine.
He began to make feverish adjustments on the panel, working entirely out of fear. He figured he'd be able to step into
the next world and hide there until a few hours had past. By then it would be dawn and this thief ("or perhaps theives!")
would have to flee like all bad dreams. His hurried switch flipping concluded just as he heard the last footfalls that would
take the mysterious stranger into range. Surely this man must know he was here by the noise the machine made as it fired up.
His attacker reached for the lightswitch, and he reached for the button to open the portal.
Click here to find out what happens next
