In The End

Section 1: Chapter 14

The scientists had been locked in a lab for the past few hours. They could tell it was a lab by the archaic fume cupboard, squatting in the corner. Most surfaces were covered in a layer of dust. They'd spent most of that time tied to chairs. It wasn't like they'd been bored. They were too scared to do anything but occasionally look at each other. They were all scarred with the experience of being stripped, showered, and bundled into ill-fitting camo.
Just when the first pangs of hunger were showing, and they were beginning to despair, the door swung open. A soldier threw a wad of papers at Cherenkovsky's head, A couple other soldiers walked in behind, bringing in cardboard boxes. They opened them, roughly emptying the contents of the scientists' lab onto the floor with a crash. From the sweet, synthetic smell, Cherenkovsky could tell that one of the bottles of chemicals had spilt.

"Well? You're here now. Might as well make yourself useful,"

One of the soldiers held up a small device that was mostly composed of tinfoil, wire and glue. It had obviously been treated with more respect, but areas had been crumpled and crushed in ways that made the scientist want to cry. The soldier put a small laptop on the floor,

"I see you made this device, to try get into her world,"

"We're not getting anywhere. There's so many technical problems," said Doctor Cherenkovsky, trembling.

The soldier grabbed the doctor's chin, lifting both him and the chair off the ground. He pulled the small man into his face. The doctor began to let out little choking noises.

"Then fix it," he said, "That's what you scientists are supposed to do, right?" 

He let go of the doctor and the chair hit the ground with a clatter. The doctor was wheezing and looking at the soldier with pleading eyes. As the others pointed a gun at all the scientists, the soldier began to untie their trembling bodies.

"We're being kind to you. You worked against the war effort, something easily punishable by death. If you can figure this out, that would be a breakthrough greater than the girl herself. We'll let you go, back to your normal lives." 

"And the girl?" said the youngest scientist.

"Classified information. Do you really think you have the clearance?"

The soldier smiled, and started to walk off. "So we're on the same page? You do what we want, we give you what you want?" 

The four scientists nodded. The soldier walked out and the door closed with a bang. There were a couple beeps as someone typed in an access code, and then a clang. The three older men looked at each other, each noticing that his comrades looked as hopeless as he felt, but the youngest, a thin man with red hair, immediately knelt down on the floor and started to repair the damage to the machine.

"We might have made a mistake in the Fermi equation," he said, without looking up.

"No can do, Max." said Cherenkenovsky, brushing his fringe out of his eyes, "I solved that equation myself. No chance of mistakes."

"Maybe," said one of the scientists, a tall, dark, stocky man, "God just didn't intend for us to go to another universe." 

"God didn't intend for us to fly, either, George" said Max, fiddling with the wires, which had gotten disconnected during the journey. He hooked up the laptop as he had done many times before, and plugged the whole thing into the mains.

"Might as well test it."
 
He flicked the switch, and a massive pulse of energy flew through the air. The four scientists were knocked off their feet. Somewhere, maybe inside their heads, they could hear a strange, metallic swirling. As they got up, they noticed a spot on the floor, no bigger than a hand, lying there like melted metal. Max looked at it, and then back at the machine.

"I swear it was in that exact configuration when we tested it in the lab,"

"Experiments tend to do that," said Cherenkenovky. He paused, thought for a bit, and plugged the webcam they'd prepared into the laptop. He fiddled with both the computer and the camera until a grey, flickery image of the lab was on the screen. He then took a deep breath, and put the webcam down the hole.

For a while, the screen fizzed with static, and then an image of a forest slowly began to form on the computer. The only difference between this forest, and forests they'd seen before, was that the trees were covered in fronds which sprouted white flowers. Some moss was visible on the bases of the trees, and Cherenkenovsky couldn't tell if it was glowing or whether the camera was broken. They watched as a strange creature, that was vaguely pig-shaped, but with soft, downy fur, snuffled about in the woods. There was no moon, but the sky was studded with stars.

"Silvana mentioned her stars once," said the youngest scientist, drawing his finger across patterns in the sky, "Look, that's the Bow, and that's the Scythe, and the Demon's Head, and the Serpent.." 

The image on their screen flickered and darkened, and the image dissolved into static. The doctor pulled the wires, and as the camera came through the hole, there was a flash of white light, and the camera flew out the hole and smashed on the floor, smoking.
For a while, the scientists looked at each other. not believing what they had just done. The soldier was right. This was bigger than the girl, and even she was enough for the world to tear itself to pieces over.

"Well, let's get that girl home."

...............


Naoki struggled to walk with Charles down the hallway. Thankfully, the medication was wearing off fast. With every step, he could feel himself getting stronger. After a while, they were no longer leaning against each other, but their hands still sought each other's support. They finally got to a locked room with a large metal door. Charles spent a minute typing something, and the door opened and closed as soon as they had entered. Naoki immediately spotted Silvana lying on a bed, connected to a mass of tubes. He wondered if the way they'd strapped her down had been necessary. Her eyes were open, but Naoki doubted she was awake. Naoki stumbled as he let go of Charles and walked over to her. 

"Silvana, don't worry about it. I've got it. You'll get home. You'll see." Naoki looked at Charles,
"There's four scientists who've been trying to get her home,"

"I know," said Charles, looking at his hands, "They're here. They're helping us with our research"

Naoki nodded. He wasn't quite sure what to think. He had nowhere to run, really. If they were doing research, there was a chance, a vague chance, that they would have the equipment to help them.

Anyway, it was his fault they were in here.

Charles stepped over, and helped Naoki disconnect her from the machines. After Naoki pulled one tube out, he realised too late that Silvana hadn't been breathing. The machines immediately began to make various sounds of alarm. Charles stepped over, and tried to mess around, but nothing seemed to be working. Naoki could see the panic written on his friend's face. He grabbed a syringe, and injected her with the golden liquid with shaking hands.

"What happened to her?"

"She used too much magic. Now, we need to go to a proper lab,"

Naoki wanted to ask more, when his friend looked him in the eyes. Naoki could see Charles, begging for forgiveness, behind that gaze.

"I'd been doing some experiments with her cells, though. I managed to make a medicine that would reduce the worst of the side effects, so she should be okay."

He said and Naoki stood up and took a deep breath.

"Let's save those scientists."

He grabbed her small body and held her close as he paced to the door, seeming to change dramatically. Two minutes ago. he could just about walk. Charles was amazed.

"Let's go, time is everything."

Naoki was struggling to carry her. His arms felt like they weren't quite working. When Charles pressed the button that opened the door, he tried to run, but his stiff limbs forced him into an awkward walk. The girl was starting to turn blue, and her chest was making strange hitching noises. Charles was trying to go at Naoki's pace.

"Get them! They have her!"

They couldn't even look back to see who that was. The two immediately started running as fast as they could, towards the lab.  They had to hope the soldiers wouldn't come until later.
They were being chased. It just couldn't get any worse.

..................

There was a bang outside, and then a bleep from a walkie-talkie. 

"We have an incident at the medical rooms. Repeat. Incident at medical rooms."

The scientists heard a deep voice outside, "Roger. I think we have something here. I'm just going to check." 

Dr. Cherenkenovsky replayed the conversation they'd had before, and swore. "Shit. They could hear us" They'd been so quiet outside that Cherenkenovsky didn't think there'd been anyone posted at all. 

It was a long shot, but maybe that incident in the medical rooms was linked to Silvana. She did have magic powers, after all. Maybe she'd finally decided to use them.

"Okay," said Doctor Cherenkenovsky, looking at the three other scientists, "There's almost no chance of us getting out of this alive." 

"God will save us," said George, the tall, dark scientist, 

"I think this one is beyond the divine..." said Cherenkenovsky, "Max. We need your skills. Hack the combination, please." The young man immediately set to work, smiling. 

Poor guy, thought Cherenkenovsky. So much potential as well. If anyone deserved to live, it was Max. In the meantime, he hunted around the lab, finding anything he could use as a weapon without messing up the portal. The other two scientists were still working on it, trying to increase the power and widen the portal. 

Oh, perfect. The idiots had brought over their chemistry set. Of course, they'd checked it to make sure they couldn't make bombs, but the industrial grade sulphuric acid was still there, and Cherenkenovsky sighed and shook his head. He called over to George, 

"Hey, Mr. Chemist. You don't mind fixing us some stuff?" 

"My pleasure," said George, walking over to the bench and beginning to mix together chemicals, smiling all the while. In the meantime, Doctor Cherenkenovsky continued to look for a weapon.
There was a beep, and the door opened. The guard entered, carrying a shotgun. "Hey, what's all the.." The doctor smashed him on the back of the head with the first thing he'd picked up, which happened to be a conical flask. The glass smashed and the guard, although not too badly injured by the thin glass shards, was surprised enough to stop for a moment, and that gave George 'the chemist' enough time to throw a beaker of sulphuric acid in the guard's face. The guard let out a scream, and Max tackled him to the floor. The fourth scientist helped Max restrain him, as Cherenkenovsky grabbed the spool of leftover electrical wire. They then dragged the guard, still screaming, over to a central pillar, and tied his hands around the back of the pillar. Cherenkenovsky then stopped, and took the guard's ID, walkie-talkie, gun, and stun grenades. He thought for a moment, and then grabbed the helmet and put it on his head. Part of him was tempted to strip the guard of his armour, but the man was writhing in pain, and Cherenkenovsky didn't want to get too close/

"I don't like this.." muttered George, looking at the beaker of acid in his hand.

"Sometimes," said the doctor, loading the gun, "We all have to do things we don't like."

This was taking him back to voluntary service. At the time, it had seemed like hell, but now, he was starting to realise how much it had helped him.

"Let's get Silvana home." 

Cherenkenovsky glanced behind him. George was holding a beaker of chemicals in each hand. Max was armed with a wrench and a screwdriver, and Cherenkenovsky had seen what Max could do with both. He looked up, and noticed a sign for the medical bay. Initially, he was suspicious. Then, he remembered they'd been imprisoned in a lab.

"Let's check out the incident in the medical bay," He pointed to the fourth scientist, "You stay here. Look after the prisoner. Make sure something bad doesn't happen," 

"Yes, sir."