Ten Percent

Eden
By: Quid Pro Quo

“That isn’t very reassuring.”

“It’s only ten percent!”

“A lot can happen with ten percent…”

Godwin sighed; annoyed he wasn’t getting any further in discussing this with Elijah.

“Look, this is a scientific BREAKTHROUGH! We just found our closest relative in the universe! This is bigger than the moon landing, evolution, anything your feeble mind can attempt to think up to lesser the importance of this!”

“How is any of this even possible?” Elijah asked, skeptical of Godwin’s farfetched theory.

“Let me simply it for you, as we are running out of time anyway.” Godwin walked across the room to a desk in the far corner.

“I’ll just tell you the small story. Basically, you know how we can track relatives with DNA, correct?”Godwin spoke as he began working on last minute preperations.

Elijah nodded, sitting down as he figured this would take a while.

“Well, believe or not our very Earth has its own set of DNA, DNA is basically like computer code, it tells the software what to do, when to do it, and when to stop doing it.”

Elijah remembered this from his old science classes at high school, but how exactly did this justify universe jumping?

Weirder shit has happened, he supposed.

“So this, what do you call it…”

“Eden” Godwin interrupted.

“Eden, Like in the bible?” Elijah was a soldier not a priest.

“Well, if you get off your ass and decide to pay a visit, maybe it is the one from the bible, but unfortunately this is all conjecture.But, for now, it’s just what we have taken to calling it.”

“Do you know anything about this universe?”

“Other than it perhaps is nearly identical in every aspect to ours, no we don’t, why do you think you are here.”

Elijah was getting sick of Godwin’s talking down to him, he had put up with enough not to deal with some dick in a lab coat.

“Listen, I’m trying to get a better understanding of the situation, you are after all, asking quite a lot from me.”

“Well, traveling between universes wasn’t exactly my original forte in science, but I deal with it anyway.”

Jackass. Elijah thought to himself.

Elijah’s gaze returned to the portal, it was a glorified arch, but with all the lights and complex looking machinery connecting it to the lab, several computers displayed data about enegry levels, stablity, that sort of thing.

It was straight out of a cheesy sci-fi movie.

At least it wasn't a blue telephone booth or something like that.

“I bet all this shit is classified…” Elijah joked to himself, taking in all the stuff that had just been pretty much thrown in his face.

“Every nation has its secrets.” Godwin noted as he stood up, looking at a computer terminal, checking the stability of the connection.

The portal wasn’t activated yet, a couple last minute checks had to be made, most of the other science team was at several other labs scattered across the complex. They did this to ensure that just in case anything went wrong, at least eight people had a chance to hit the off button before whatever went wrong could go worse.

The science team had a contingency but as for Elijah well…

You can always find new Guinea pigs.

“Have you finally agreed, because if you don’t we’ll have to kill you.”Godwin stated, clearly agitated.

I couldn't tell if he was joking

Elijah's gaze returned to the portal, it was pretty intimidating now, like the thought that some monster was under the bed when you were a kid.

What am I getting into.

Elijah didn’t really know anymore, he had a lot thrown on his plate and Godwin’s assholery wasn’t doing much to help it.
He was a soldier, he was trained to go forward even when the odds seemed against, he doubted there were talking about universe jumping when his instructors said that, but the words still rung true.

But one question still lingered…

“So, say we do find sentient life? What then?” Elijah spoke, his eyes still staring at arch.

“That depends on them.” Godwin spoke grimly.

“Are you sure you have no idea what I’m up against?”

Godwin hesitated, adjusting some knobs on the arch.

“No, all we know is that the environment readout, DNA structure, and maybe even life on the planet are greatly related to our own, so you won’t need some space suit or anything.”

Godwin turned a final knob, and the arch burst with energy and life.

“Make sure you make a nice first impression, like a first date, except if you fail we could have our first intergalactic war instead of just not getting laid.”

Godwin stepped away from the machine; the lights flickered on and off in the lab, several papers and small objects were sent flying by the force of the machine.

And it was only powering up.

“Why just one soldier?” Elijah asked, surprised he hadn’t thought of that excellent question before.

Godwin sighed, “Let’s just say, certain people wanted it that way.” Whoever these people were, Godwin clearly didn’t agree with them.

Another blast of energy came from the arch, this one with enough force to physically push the men in the room, granted not a strong push but one that warranted concern.

“Is this normal?” Elijah shouted.

“Were probably breaking a couple laws of physics, so no, this isn’t even regulated by science!”

Pretty sure the fail factor is higher than ten percent...

Wait,I never even agreed to this

The portal ushered forth another roar of energy, its power level slowly growing to full one hundred percent.

All Elijah had was his army uniform and a M16 which didn’t exactly say “We come in peace”. Though granted at least he had something to defend himself.

What if bullets heal them?

I’m pretty sure no alien can somehow make metal projectiles tearing at your body suddenly heal you.

What if they eat humans?

What if they eat bullets?

What if they are bullets!

Elijah’s mind was asking questions so fast he couldn’t even respond to them, as the portal full charged itself, readied to begin breaking barriers.

One final blast of energy came from the portal, with this one sending both Godwin and Elijah backward.

The objects started to swirl faster now, now even some of the heavier lab was being thrown around like a small ball, larger steel doors had replaced the normal doors just in case shit hit the fan…

And then it stopped.

Just like that.

What the fuck...

Elijah stood back up, looking back in the completely disorganized lab, now everything was cast in a purple hazy glow emitting from the portal.

It had started; a purplish aura now formed inside the arch, the energy tethered to the arch by what he was guessing was magnets of some sort, just for molecules as it seemed.

If any of this made sense.

Elijah was completely dumbstruck by this scientific marvel, Godwin however was ecstatic.

“Praise Science! This is amazing! I can’t believe that worked, this is just… wow!”

While Godwin had his science orgy, Elijah was still completely awestruck by the simple fact that it worked.

A familiar female voice filled the intercom.

“Congratulations, we have lift off!”

Several cheers could be heard across the intercom; no doubt this was the moment we were all waiting for.

"They didn’t have to go in the damn thing.” Elijah mumbled to himself.

He recognized the voice as Evelyn, one of the other heads of this project, the only thing Elijah heard about her is that apparently she was the genius that came up with this theory.

A theory that he would now have to test.

“Well that’s step one, but were not out of the woods yet, good luck Elijah!” Evelyn cheered over the intercom.

“Well, if you would do the honors.” Godwin waved his hand towards the glowing ball of mass and energy ahead of him.

Clearly he didn’t get the whole risk factor of this project.

Elijah focused back on the portal now, his eyes full of determination.

Just a couple steps forward.

He was halfway there; time seemed to slow as the portal drew ever so closer.

He was on the steps now.

Fear was threating to turn him around then and there, his brain screaming at his being to turn around and not risk everything for a bunch of geeks.

He could feel the energy from the portal whizzing across his face, little wisps of energy tickling his chin.

His hand slowly motioned forward, reaching to touch the purple mass.

All eyes were on him now, it was now or never.

His finger touched the vortex and gently passed through.

For all he knew, his finger could be a small tentacle now.

He couldn’t just inch his way forward, he had to do it all in one singular motion.

The energy came to do it, but it was quickly hit by a wall of hesitation, fighting against himself he slowly urged forward.

Then he tripped and fell in the portal.

“That’s one way to do it.”Godwin remarked.

Elijah couldn’t even begin to describe how he felt going through the portal.

It was like something being melted over you as a multitude of odd molecules of energy passed over his body.One second he felt like he was floating, the other he must have been at least ten feet underground.Weird was really the only word he could use to describe it, no others would suffice for whatever happened in that portal.

After what seemed like hours, he finally hit something solid, something that felt like the ground of some sort.

He could feel grass tingle his face, maybe he was in a grassland of some sorts.

He pushed himself off the grassy surface, standing on what he could hope to be his two normal feet.

Problem was, he couldn’t see.

He hoped to god that he wasn’t blind, although the other universe could just be much, much darker as far as he knew.

Suddenly light came into being, destroying the darkness and revealing a world unseen by man.

It was just, breathtaking.

Sun flowed through over high snowcapped mountains as they shed light on large evergreen trees that bloomed with vibrant green colors that looked livelier than any trees Elijah had seen before. Below them were vibrant flowerbeds covered with several different types of flowers, all exploding with vibrant color but yet still staying in one beautiful frame just like a picture. The flowing of water and cries of animal life could be heard throughout the landscape, adding even more depth to the sight before him.

The air was pure. The purist air he could even think of, it was almost a joy to simply breathe, it smelled like it recently rained adding a crisp, moist feel to this portrait of paradise.

This was surreal, the paradise authors described, paintings captured, and photographers edited, but yet standing here, enveloping oneself in its beauty was simply overwhelming.

He took a step forward, feeling the grass crunch beneath his feet.

This was something out of a fairytale, a dream.

He must have died, that’s the only explanation.

However, a familiar voice rang in his head.

“Are. You. Alive?”

Godwin

“I don’t know…” Elijah stammered, still transfixed by what he was seeing.

“Well figure out soon, I have reports to make about all this.” A faint pen clicking could be heard across the com, emphasizing his point.

“Wait, how in the hell are we even talking?”

“If I told you, you’d probably kill me; let’s just focus on what you’re seeing.”

“That doesn’t answer my-“

“FOCUS!”

A jarring ring tore apart his ears; the voice was coming inside his own head.

“Sorry about that.”

“I have a good feeling I know how you’re talking to me now…”

“Well it’s not like we could just bring a walkie talkie, now is it? Now what are you seeing?”

Elijah looked at the surreal paradise before him, trying to find any words to capture its beauty, remembering Godwin's own words, he found his anwser.

“Eden.”

Princess Celestia looked across the horizon, an apple floating from the magic in her horn.

She took a small bite, and continued staring out in the horizon of her kingdom.

She had already felt the human’s presence in her land; she was imbued with the land, being its creator.

The Princess took another bite of the apple.

Her Majesty could only hope that her land could survive the trials that awaited it.

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Quid Pro Quo

Quid Pro Quo #1 · Nov 18th, 2012 · · ·

Well this is an experiment. I was planning to do one shots but now I find myself liking the idea of a HiE story. I know the concept is over saturated as all get it out and most people turn off at even the mention of a HiE but I still love the idea.

So, buck it. Let's do this.

Useless Machine