There...
by Technician Brynhild, VRDET R&D
"As soon as a still-to-be-finished computer task becomes a
life-or-death situation, the power fails."
- Wood's Axiom[1]
Surprisingly, Mal's briefing didn't take as long as I thought it
would. Perhaps it was because I was paying more attention than I'd ever
paid to anything, before or since: [Katze's been kidnapped? To another
dimension, even? And we get to hop through a possibly unstable beta
device just to get there, THEN we get to attempt to rescue her? Guess
I'm too far into it now to say 'Nope, sounds a bit dangerous, think I'll
stay home.']
Once the briefing was over, Mal led us to the gate. The sucker
looked like something beta out of VRDET R&D, all right: there were gobs
of flashing lights, multi-colored buttons, and DO NOT PUSH/PULL/SWITCH
notices. All in all, it looked like the exact kind of thing to come out
of an overstressed VRDET R&D lab. [Good thing keeb's nowhere in
sight...otherwise, no way!]
Now it was time for things to go to work. Mal, in a distinctly
mad-scientist type manner, began to push buttons, flip switches, and
light consoles. Before the waiting cohort of Jihaddi, equipment in
hand, a circle of pinkish light opened, crackling with odd power. It
was the actual gate itself, a kaleidoscopic portal of light and plasma,
reminding me of too many late-night sci-fi movies. [Whoa. I'm NOT
going first.]
[Have a little faith in your R&D, Bryn. If Mal can honestly
recommend it, it won't explode...at least not seriously.]
[Still, I'm not going first!]
We filed down the line of Jihaddi, with the bravest and most
sure of the R&D team's stuff going first. I found myself near the end
of the line, directly behind Red. Behind me, for whatever reasons they
may have had (time to work up some nerve? Just being late?), were
several troopers from Explorations I didn't recognize, as well as
Kapella.
Finally, I saw Red jump through the gate and disappear. Now I
was directly in front of it; it hummed ominously. My stomach was not
particularly happy with the situation, but I realized I really couldn't
stall. Quickly, I muttered a prayer to St. Dino, and stepped up to the
jump-off point.
"Here goes nothing!"
Before I could work up the nerve to stop myself, I jumped
headfirst through the gate.
The next thing I knew...
*THUD*
Maybe some people have seen beautiful sights in interdimensional
ether; perhaps for them reality-hopping can actually be graceful. Not
for me, that's for sure. I found myself, disoriented, on unfamiliar but
pretty solid ground.
To borrow an old cheesy line, I picked myself up and dusted
myself off. To my relief, the area around me was filled with my fellow
Jihaddi, setting up camp and attending to personal matters. [See?] the
rational side of my mind scolded me. [You jumped into that giant bug
zapper, and you're fine. You've got all your stuff] - I glanced down to
notice myself carrying two backpacks, the standard issue VRDET survival
pack and my normal junk-filled one - [and you're even in the right
place.]
With some relief - for the first time in VRDET history, an R&D
device had worked completely correctly, without anything exploding - I
went to fraternize with my fellow troops. Most people were idling
around, playing Solitaire and talking, because the setup for the
temporary camp was finished. As I talked, I learned that the people
directly behind me hadn't come through the gate yet. Nobody knew what
had happened, but most supposed there were last-minute duties, or that
they were just running late.
Red had entered the gate right before me, and I found him
easily. He was looking around nervously.
"Umm, Bryn...weren't there some people behind you in line?"
"Yeah. What about them?"
"They haven't come through yet..."
"Oh, well, they probably just got caught up with something at
the camp. If something did go wrong, it's prolly just some routine
malfunction. Mal will have it up and running again in no time.
Prototypes do this."
Red nodded. Although we were nervous, as only true R&Dites who
know how often a machine can break can be, we managed to make small talk
for a while.
As if she'd overheard our conversation, Nexxus - the most
seasoned dimensional traveler of any of us - stood up. "Yeah, yeah,
something weird's happening, but that's normal. Just chill out, and
don't wander around and get eaten by the local fauna." The crowd
murmured and continued with its activities; I doubt anyone really
planned to leave in the first place.
Finally, Calculus, the leader of the group, stood up to make an
announcement. "I know that nobody's sure what the other group is
doing. However, we will be leaving in fifteen minutes, regardless of
whether the other group is here or not."
I sighed. [Well, I hope nothing's wrong on the other side...]
Still, I didn't worry. After all, I had gone through perfectly, and
they'd come just after me...but anything could have happened to the gate
in a second.
Still, even with matters of malfunctioning dimensional portals
weighing heavily on my mind, I had time to take stock of the scenery. I
realized that, for a place controlled by the minions of the Hellwyrm,
Marraketh was a pretty nice place. [Yeah, and it'll be even nicer once
the B'harnate forces are gone. Have fun, but remember...you're on a
mission. Try not to get killed.]
[Welcome to Marraketh, Bryn. Have a pleasant ride.]
[1] All right, so this wasn't technically a life-or-death _computer_
situation, but the general theme of complex electrical devices is the
same. %)