There was a small device that sat on the desk. It resembled a D-88 Sony Walkman, but with a few differences. It was twice the size, the disc that rotated was made out of pure obsidian, and the color scheme was orange and black. A large power cable snaked out the back and into an industrial wall plug, which next to it a poster hung.
PolyCube Dynamics!
Building the future for all, young and old, you have a place with us.”
It held an array of modern-looking buildings and parks with people having very joyous times.
Isaac rubbed his hand through his hair and then adjusted his glasses as he moved over to a small pyramid that sat on a small stool just a few feet in front of the device. The pyramid was made out of a special polymer that he had developed. Supposed to facilitate a reaction of some sort.
“Okay,” he walked back to the device on the table and moved over to his computer on the left side of it. He brought up a couple of screens, checked the alignment, and then clicked a large button that said, “ launch.”
The D-88-looking device started to spin and click. A small hum of pleasant sound emitted from it and filled the room with a dense feeling. Isaac bit his lip, leaning forward, his hair now starting to glide in the current that was forming in the room.
Then it all went dead.
The hum stopped, and his hair went static.
He let out a heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair, taking the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
“Damn,” he stood up, turned off the device, and moved to the small break area. A coffee table with a shaggy couch and a loveseat that accompanied it, an old 1950’s fridge, and a table with a small radio on it. He switched the radio on and crashed into the couch.
“A once-in-100-year event, the stars aligned!” The radio rang out, “Tomorrow-“
Isaac switched the channel.
“Isn’t it funny? We saw the world change before our eyes, but we didn’t do a single thing about it, not a damn thing. Chancey, you know what I mean?” A female voice acted.
“You’re right, Julie. It just never seeme-“
He switched it again.
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac played. He smiled and closed his eyes.
He racked his brain for a solution. His calculations were correct, and the theories were also correct, even though they had never been proven or actually worked. In theory, it should work, so why was it not? He had the material, the symbols, the power; what was missing? He opened an eye and spied the device. The table that it sat on was a shoddy card table, one he stole from the campus attached to the plant. It held a machine that could change the future, if only he could get it to work.
His lab, which was just a rented utility basin at the edge of a power plant, was large enough for him; it allowed him to work unbothered and isolated from all the craziness, but it was damp, cold, and a bit dingy. The door entered a platform that had some stairs that led to the main floor a couple of feet below it. The ceilings were thirty feet, giving him clearance and the power hooks-ups that he needed. He was grateful the power plant was partially decommissioned. He set up the break area, and the whole thing fell into place; he could build, power his inventions, and push his dimensional space theory.
Isaac drifted. He dreamt of a faraway land. An odd sense of things being stuck in place, but not how they were, but how a dream thinks them up. He tried to use his dreams as pointers to what he should be doing next, but this time there was nothing, just an odd lonely feeling that something was coming for him. Yet, even when it caught up to him, he would still be all by himself.
The static in the radio lulled him from his sleep. He looked at the clock, then jolted up.
He slept the whole night away. It was now ten a.m. He rolled off the coach and creaked up to his feet. The device sat on the small table, watching him, like it had been for months. Again, he went to his computer, adjusted slightly some variables, and before hitting the ignition, stopped.
What happens when it works? In all his time that he had been working, maybe somewhere in the back of his mind, he never thought it would actually happen, but this time, a feeling in his chest told him.
Get ready, you don’t know how long it will last. The door will be opened, but for how long, what will you do with that time, are you prepared?
He backed off from the computer.
“Those unprepared are prepared to fail,” he whispered to his reflection in the computer screen.
He had the sudden sense to slightly organize his workspace. He then showered, ate breakfast, and then gathered some items that he put in a messenger bag. A small journal, pen, video recorder, some instruments to measure radiation, oxygen, and other light spectrums. He set it down next to the table and now hovered his mouse over the button.
He clicked.
The disc started to click and spin, the hum of pleasant vibrations filling the room, and his body started to feel light. He stood and walked towards the line that was drawn on the floor to a circle that stood about five feet away. In the circle was the stool with the pyramid. The lightness feeling kept growing. His heart started to beat out of his chest. He had never gotten it to power on for this long. The disc spun at incredible speed, turning so fast that it looked like a solid object standing still.
Then a crack of lightning shot through the air. Immediately his ears rang and his head felt like it split open. Crack, more lightning spat out from the device, hitting the walls, sparks bouncing from impact and then in a burst of light. Where the pyramid and stool were, a mirror appeared. The sound was deafening as it materialized, but as it stabilized, it emitted a calm, low-pitch sound. Isaac was on the floor, sitting up, staring at the mirror.
Yet it wasn’t a mirror. He stood up and moved in front of it. Cascading rolling green hills moved into infinity. Pure blue skies with billowing white clouds cascaded above. He moved closer. There was no heat, nothing that even indicated it was there. His hand went to touch its surface.
His hand passed through it.
It was no mirror. Reality itself had been cut in an oval. A door hung in the middle of his workshop to another place. He withdrew his hand quickly and stared wide-eyed at it.
Prepared, aren’t you? A voice came to him. He snatched his bag from the side of the table and shouldered it.
He stepped up. His hands shook, his heart drummed in his ears, his eyes were wide as they could to take in everything.
He lifted his leg through the portal and stepped into a new world.
While Isaac takes a back seat to Ada most of the time, he is a very accomplished person and the catalyst of this story. He is a bit laid back and a loner, but always respectful and plays things mostly by the books. I imagine him being from the valve universe (I feel that Portal , Half-life and the game they have been encapsulate a feeling an idea of science very well) He’s a bit aloof, very bright, and just loves science and exploring stuff.
I feel like Dream by Fleetwood Macwould be one of Isaacs favorite songs. More for the melody.
Lately when I have sat down to write, the liminal characters keep coming up, new scenarios and building upon their world. They have their own adventures planned and there is a mystery behind the scenes, drama, horror and all that contained in the story. I will keep committing it to reality.
Till the next time, enjoy the ride~!