Shattered Lives

Ganke To The Rescue

Penni was having a hard time cracking the algorithm. Her specialty was computer sciences and mechanical engineering, and this? This was quantum-freaking-physics. She had had enough trouble as is with the communicator, and that was just a slightly modified texting algorithm.

Noir was no help ("we could put that doctor in Miles' universe in a real pine coat, and have berries doing it.") and Peter Porker's help began and ended with a collapsible mallet. Even Gwen was at a loss, especially after she found out there had never been a Doc Ock in her dimension.

Peter and Miles were the only two with any sort of understanding of physics, and even then, Peter hadn't used his degree in over 20 years, and Miles was just not taking his first physics course.

But there was one person...

"Ganke!" Miles paced on his fire escape, his phone in his hand pressed against his ear. "I need help!"

Ganke, praise his little heart, immediately jumped into action. The sound of typing echoed over the call. "Where are you? I'm bringing up the 9-1-1 calls in the area and rerouting any major traffic from the area, I just need to shut down the quadrant you're in."

Miles blinked a couple times. "Damn, dude, you've got that on lock. I'm not out right now, I just need help."

Ganke's typing stopped. "Why didn't you start with that? I thought you were being beaten to death by the Scorpion and here you are, fine and dandy."

"What do you know about trans-dimensional travel?"

Ganke was quiet for a moment before he resumed typing. "Doctor Octavius was the first physicist to seriously consider the possibility of dimensional jumping, but her work was only ever verified through the isolated Fisk incident, and as you know, there were considerable problems. Her theories aren't too far off the stable, reliable thing."

"Wait, what?"

"I've been looking into this ever since you told me about that whole collider incident. Her algorithms were mostly correct, or at least correct enough to break through the webbing between dimensions, but she didn't calculate the ratio and conversion of matter through multi-dimensional spaces and vacuums."

"Speak English, man, I am an artist." Miles leaned against the railing.

"She messed up the stability of people coming through the portals, hence the whole glitching thing. I know how to fix it."

Miles smiled. "You're the coolest person I know. Want to help me build a trans-dimensional doorway?"

"Hell yeah."

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Despite it being the 17th of December, neither of the boys was in a mood for Christmas music, and instead, had heavy hip hop blasting through Ganke's bluetooth speakers. Miles had never been to Ganke's house in the Upper East Side, and honestly, it was a bit of a shock.

It was one of those fancy townhomes right off the main street, with high ceilings and a nice view of the city zoo.

"You sure your neighbors aren't going to be upset about this?" Miles asked for the third time.

Ganke shook his head. "They can't hear us, man, the walls are thick and we've got an alley between us and the next house."

The teen went back to work, only ever looking up when he asked Miles to pass over tools or the tomb of notes he'd written out. It was long and hard work, and this was only the second day they had been working on it. Miles' phone would go off every now and then - sometimes it was the communicator, sometimes it was his parents checking in - but other than that, Ganke was focused.

Miles' phone rang around 9:30, and he scrambled to answer as Ganke turned off the music.

"Hola, mama.... no. No, nosotros no hemos terminado todavía... Yeah, I will. Love you, mama." (Translation: No, we're not done yet.)

Miles pocketed his phone and looked up at the waiting Ganke. "She wants me to head home soon. I can come back tomorrow if you need."

Ganke shook his head and held out a small wired piece of motherboard. "It's done. We just need an old projector to install it in, but I can get one tomorrow at the Goodwill down the road."

Miles let his head fall backwards and whooped to himself, pumping his fist. "You're the coolest, man, I swear."

"They don't call me Ganke The Awesome for nothing."

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Miles had warned the others that he and Ganke were going to come get them, and his parents knew he'd be out for a while. They were adamant this was the last time Miles went out, though, so he had to make it count. Ganke, true to his word, had already gone out and gotten the old school projector, and by the time Miles got to his house at 6, they were ready.

Ganke was waiting on the porch. "Come on."

Miles furrowed his brow as Ganke got up and zipped up an oversized coat. "What?"

"We can't open a dimensional doorway in my bedroom, dude. We're taking it to the park."

Miles just shrugged and followed Ganke back to one of the subway stations near by, and they rode out towards the central park. Miles wasn't sure where they were going in the park, exactly, but Ganke seemed pretty sure of himself.

They zig-zagged through the trails, heading deeper into the trees in the middle of the park. Ganke was clearly trying to get them as far away from the prying eyes of strangers as possible. When they were finally far enough in, Ganke set his bag down and started pulling things out. A car battery. Some rigged up wires. The old projector.

Ganke connected the battery to the projector, then stuck his hand out for Miles' communicator. He checked the coordinates for the other Spiders and punched in Gwen's. "She's closer," he explained, and just as he finished the words, the park exploded in bright light, pink, green, and blue bubbles popping from the doorway being projected from the lens.

"Hey, Miles. It's good to see you again."