Project Gateway

by DeloreandudeTommy

Project Gateway is GO

April 27th, 2047AD
6:00AM
Atlanta, Georgia

You wake up in your bed, your alarm buzzing at you, rain hits your window and a blast of thunder makes you fly out of bed.
One hour later, you’re driving north on I-75 to your job at MilTEC Industries, in sub basement 27.
You walk through the front door, you’re 15 minutes early.
You say hi to the security guard, show him your credentials and take the elevator down to your workplace. The first thing you notice are two armed guards standing in the elevator with you, this is no normal day at work, this is the day that you and your co-workers have waited 25 years for.
The day you cross into another universe.
Since you’re early, you decide to give the machine a look.
It’s a large machine, known as the UDA (Universal Displacement Apparatus), known by the public as “Project Gateway.” Even from the small part you can see you know that the entire machine is easily the size of a metropolitan public school (even though you know that schools now are more akin to youth detention centers with minimum educational value, you’re glad your mother sent you to a private school or you’d never have gotten this job). You see the chamber you’ll be standing in, it’s roughly the size of a phone booth (even though such devices haven’t existed in America for over 40 years).
You then hear the elevator arrive with your co-workers in it.
Show time.
You walk into the test chamber wearing your Mark 7 hazard suit, a special suit designed to help you survive the 250,000rem of radiation you’re about to be bombarded with. It’s bulky as heck, but you don’t want to be splattered all over the inside of a multitrillion dollar science experiment.
You receive your additional equipment, a specialized combination arm radio (designed to transmit to any universe in the multiverse using the recently discovered “infinium." A mineral which can make a radio with infinite range), neurally augmented telekinetic projector and life pack colloquially known as the “Armboy” as well as a “return pad” of sorts (which functions in a way similar to a snow disc, you sit on it and you will be returned to your normal dimension, it only functions if the UDA is turned on, however). You’ve been awake for only two hours and already you’re about to do something no lifeform has ever done before.
You’re about to travel to another universe.
You hear a voice over the loudspeaker begin to give a long speech.
“1492, Christopher Columbus crosses the Atlantic and finds America…”
You recognize the voice. It’s the voice of Barry Stevenson, the head of MilTEC industries, the largest company in the world.
“1969, we crossed space and landed on our moon for the first time. 1971, Randy and Kevin Lancer send a letter through time. 2025, we land on Mars. 2039, Venus. Today we’re going infinitely further. Taking a step into what we can’t see, what we can’t reach, what we can’t touch, what we can only imagine. Another universe, another ‘everything.’ This is our Moonshot, gentlemen, this is our Marsshot, this is our destiny. Good luck, and godspeed.”
You see a man in an expensive business suit walk into the chamber escorted by not two, but four armed guards. He walks up to you and shakes your hand and tells you something.
“Son, if you survive this you’re getting the biggest raise in human history, courtesy of the CEO.”
You salute each other and the CEO walks back up the stairs to the observation room.
“Ready gentlemen? Let’s do this!”
You step into the machine and close your eyes.
“Universe number chosen, #4,815,162,342. Fuel mix stability has reached 99%, generators 1 through 4 are running at 920kw, all remaining systems nominal, multiversal map determined and set, ladies and gentlemen we are go, all systems are go, let’s do this!”
A loud whirring sound surrounds you, it’s as if you’re inside a very large time displacer.
You can see a bright flash behind your eyelids, it’s as if somebody just shoved a very bright flashlight under your eyelids.
The entire world goes white.
You feel like the floor just dropped out of the room you’re standing in.
You feel as if you fall into a world of grass.

Comments

[sprettba11]

"welcome to the HEV mark V" quote from half life (one of the best games ever to be made. And you just took it to HEV 7(Hazardous Environment mark VII)

[Fireheart 1945]

Uh landing on Jupiter?

1. Jupiter is a gas giant. There is nothing to land on except the ultra hot core.
2. The gravity would be so intense you would probably die withing minutes.

Sorry. I do like where this story is going so far though.

[DeloreandudeTommy]

1337903
I can't believe I didn't realize that. I think I'll change it to Venus, since Venus poses far more challenges than Mars while still remaining feasible since it has a stronger gravitational field and a far higher surface temperature.
I'm glad you like the story though.