it's been a while holy duck nuggets -------------------------------- “Actually,” I cheerfully cut in, “There is a possibility that an interdimensional rift opens underneath the room/possibly town/possibly the world and we all fall into an unknown and potentially fatal area in space, so hypothetically speaking--” “Besides that, is there anything that could actually happen?” Erin abruptly cuts me off, a hint of irritation in her tone. “No, there’s not. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Besides.” She glances through the window, where Sam is already typing in coordinates. “Better all of us to do it than just Sam.” Chris’s posture shrank, his gaze falling to the floor. “...You have a point.” He reluctantly mumbled. There’s a moment of silent debate in which all of us internally question whether or not this is a good idea. There’s a little too much waiting for my taste, though, so I walk out the door, not waiting for anybody to follow. I hear a shuffling behind me, quickly followed by a door opening and three people following. Of course, they couldn’t last long. Our group doesn’t do well when we’re separated. Especially in a work environment. It’s strange, but the five of us have become such a tight-knit group that we just work better together. So maybe this experiment won’t completely fail and kill us all? …hopefully, I muse as I pass through the cleaning chamber and adjust the safety glasses on my face. Sam is still typing in coordinates as the rest of the team arrives, each individual scientist looking more nervous than the last. Sam finishes the coordinates, pulling goggles over her usual wire-framed glasses. Nobody is sure why she wears the goggles, as they’re not required for the type of experiment we’re conducting, but nobody is stupid enough to try to tell her not to wear them. “Alright.” She smooths out her lab coat, straightening to full height. “Only thing we have to do now is start it up.” I open my mouth to speak before Chris cuts in. “Did you check the stabilizers? And the program diagnostics? And-” “Yes, Chris, I did.” She interjects. “Triple-checked. Along with the statistics, availability, time, and date, yes. Everything that could go wrong has been checked and verified, so there’s nothing to worry about. We’ll be absolutely fine!” Her tone is beginning to lean into manic, so I carefully pull the computer away from her and check the program she entered. Sam doesn’t notice, which is probably more concerning than anything else that’s happened. I take a step back from her, allowing the cords connected to the laptop to slacken. “She’s on edge,” Erin murmurs under her breath, indicating Sam’s mood. I can’t blame her for saying that- Erin’s been with this group for a while, so she knows Sam’s ups and downs. He[ck], Erin’s been around since before the coffee machine incident (in which Sam passed out while attempting to make decaf for the first time and caused a fire). She’s aware of Sam’s strange ideas, and complete lack of self-care, and Erin does the best she can to help. I nod in response to Erin’s observation as Carl slowly walks over to the laptop in my hands, checking it for himself before nodding in approval. “Everything looks fine from my end. Might as well just start it up.” He affirms. “Alrighty. Here we go.” I take a slow breath, preparing to press “run program”. This could be it. A huge breakthrough. Everything. If this works. Five long years of tireless work, underpaid overtime, and thousands upon thousands of cups of coffee have led to this. And now, I click the button. There’s a moment of silence. The suspense is agonizing as the hum of the machine fills the air. All five of us hold our breath in a moment of complete stillness that seems to last forever. And then, the already completely white room lights up. I can’t see anything in the brightness of it. I’m surrounded by both nothingness and everything at the same time. I close my eyes, and even then, I’m blinded by the lights. Until all of it stops. I slowly open my eyes, blinking the dark spots out of my vision. “What the hell just happened?” Erin groans, rubbing her eyes. “I’m not sure, I just know the only thing running through my mind while that happened was that stupid The Weekend song,” Chris grumbles. I nod in agreement-- oh, come on, don’t pretend you weren’t thinking of that. “...Guys,” Carl slowly says, pointing towards the Goose. The Goose that never worked, the Goose that was only finished yesterday, the Goose that nobody understands as well as us-- that Goose is no longer a simple circle. Oh no. The inside of the circle is filled with a cloudy, swirly-looking liquid. It’s not quite just clear; it looks like one huge bubble, reflecting every color on its surface. However, if I squint, I can see the wall behind it. Just barely.
Sam’s jaw drops as she slowly walks up to it, pulling her safety glasses off of her face and slowly pulling out the apple. “I didn’t think it would actually work,” she murmurs, almost in awe of her own creation. “The apple.” I quietly remind her. She shakes herself out of the stupor, raising the apple in her hand. She hesitates for a moment, then takes a breath and winds up for the throw. And there the apple goes-- flying through the air until it reaches the teleportation circle. Carl screams “YEET” at the top of his lungs, which startles us all. The Goose then sparks and shuts off, and the cloudy center disappears. “Huh. Strange.” I muse. “How would that’ve happened? There’s no way it completely overloaded, that was just an apple.” Chris asks, his tone (for once) not covered in anxiety. “You never know with women.” Carl solemnly replies, as if giving advice. Sam, Erin, and I simultaneously glare at him, which gets him to shut up. “The point being,” Erin slowly replies, bringing her gaze back to Sam, “the Goose shouldn’t have overloaded from a simple apple.” “Yeah! It wasn’t even a fancy apple! How in the seven known and civilized worlds would it have broken?? It’s just not logical!!” I add, my voice heightening in pitch with every word. I could almost taste the confusion in the room-- arguments began to spring up from everybody, almost immediately causing volume to rise and rise and- FWEEEEEET!!! Sam’s loud whistle fills the room. Everything else quiets. “NOW LISTEN UP, PEOPLE. All of us have worked for YEARS on this ONE GODDAMN PROJECT.” Sam huffs. “Are we going to let ONE spark mess us up this much??” Murmurs of “No,” “Probably not,” and “I like tortillas,” pass through the room in agreement. “Then let’s. Do. This.” Sam defiantly finishes, walking out of the room and into the hallway, leaving the four of us-- Chris, Carl, Erin, and I-- alone, once again. “...what are we waiting for?” I declare, leaving the room as well. I walk into the work room, the room that we supposedly teleported the apple to, the room that we started in. Sam is standing right next to the doorway, her mouth covered with one weathered hand. Her gaze is fixed on something on the table, so I follow her line of sight, and-- Oh. Wow. I’m almost immediately pushed over by three more people rushing into the room. Carl shoves past me, nearly knocking me to the ground. I brace myself against the table, one knee hitting the floor. That’ll bruise. Thanks a lot, Carl, I think as Chris shoots me an apologetic look before running past me as well. I’m not sure why-- the room’s rather small-- but I’m not one to judge. And finally, Erin enters, offering me a hand to help me stand up. She has class, at least. And, there it was. The apple. The ordinary, organic, slightly boring apple, was placed on the wooden table. With a huge chunk of it missing. “What the he[ck] happened to our apple?” Erin’s slightly angered voice echoes through the room, breaking the previously impenetrable silence. “Don’t ask me, I didn’t touch it.” Carl nonchalantly replies. Chris looks as though he desperately wants to slap Carl’s bald noggin, just to knock some sense into that empty brain. “None of us did, obviously! Maybe it was just a… a glitch?” I reply, unsure of even myself. How would the apple-- the one that nobody touched-- have a bite taken out of it?? Sam, surprisingly, is completely calm about the whole situation. She strokes her chin, observing the apple as arguing continues in the background. It was mainly just Erin and Carl, with Chris muttering anxieties to himself and wringing his hands nervously. “Alright. Let’s think logically, people. We’re scientists, after all.” Sam calls to the group, immediately causing silence to fall over the room. It was as though she had some sort of magical quieting powers, despite how difficult the rest of us made it for her. “Maybe the apple went through a series of changes when it was trying to pass through the fabric of time and space. That can’t be too unusual, can it?” Sam adds, observing the apple with careful interest. “Maybe a chunk of it just… fell out??” Chris pipes up, sounding unsure. That was a possibility-- maybe when things broke reality, they fell apart a bit? This was the first time anything along the lines of teleportation had been experimented with, so nobody had any solid theories. Erin folds her arms over her chest with a glare at the apple, as if it had taken a bite out of itself. Wait. What if…. “Okay, stay with me here.” I begin, my colleagues turning to me as I inhale in preparation for the speech I’m about to give. ------- hahahahahaaa cliffhanger before Mia launches into a whole crazy explanation--
