Chapter 1- The Experiment

"BEEP BEEP. BEEP BEEP. BEEP BEEP. BE-"

"Freaking alarm clock," I say groggily say as I turn the damned thing to Snooze.

Reaching into my dresser, I see that I have no pants to wear. This means that I now have to walk downstairs to get some.

"Dammit!" I exclaim in rage. Ever since I realized that I no longer find comfort in my music, my Xbox, or my friends, I have become much more foul-mouthed and short-tempered.

I then come to reality. I realized that I am still on Earth, that my life has no meaning, no happiness, nothing. The repetitiveness of each day would normally soon commence, but today is different. Even though it is a school day, I am playing hooky so that I could help out my next-door neighbor with a "Top Secret" experiment. My mom doesn't even know that I am up to because she is at work; my dad likewise.

Going down the stairs two at a time is usually easy for me. But today I trip over my own frikkin two feet and fall face-first into the floor. FML!

After I get my black skinny jeans from Hot Topic on, I put on my "Achmed the Dead Terrorist" shirt, then I go grab my metal chain to clip on my pants, which adds to the gothic appearance. I like to consider myself 'gothic' because my favorite color is black, and I absolutely would LOVE to go goth. After putting on my chain I go get breakfast.

I put a s'mores Pop Tart in the toaster. After a while it pops up, I eat it, then I am out the door with my backpack full of goodies. These goodies include my new laptop, my 100 dollar AblePlanet headphones, three of my pocket knives (switchblade, skull and wing, and black knife), my Sony Bloggie touch, a few decks of playing cards, some s'mores Pop Tarts, my black Fox hoody, my Xbox, and of course, my iPod touch. Hot damn, this is heavy.

I walk over to my neighbor's house because he is going to drive me to the warehouse that houses his "equipment". A few quick knocks on the door, and a messy-haired Adalbert Kunze opens the door. Every time I see this guy, I think that he is Doc from Back to the Future. Damn, did he do that on purpose?

Dr. Kunze and I are great friends mainly because we both enjoy learning and experimenting. He once told me his whole life story about how he was born in Germany in 1961, how he moved to America in 1969, and how he managed to get a PhD in physics at Harvard University in 1999 at the age of 38. His life sounds pretty interesting, but not as 'interesting' as my life will get later that day, and I have no idea that it's gonna or will happen.

"Hello, Dalton, good to see you!" Dr. Kunze says in his mildly thick German accent. "I have the computer in the van, along vith anything necessary for my— heh heh— experiment..."

Dr. Kunze never told me anything of what the experiment is about or what he is trying to accomplish, even though I worked my ass off helping him build his 'machine' by carrying LOAD after LOAD of heavy metals, cords, and computer chips. I occasionally got to help install some software for his device, or even weld metal plates for him. The only thing that he says to me when I ask him about the experiment is that I have "probably seen something similar before". In my opinion, I think that he is building the world's first teleporter. I think this because a few years back I bought Call of Duty: Black Ops for my Xbox, and started playing Zombies on Kino der Toten. Doc decided to drop by while I was playing, and when I told him about the teleporters that Richtofan had invented, his eyes lit up like the Fourth of July's firework finale.

"Kay, so are we ready to leave yet?" I asked Doc.

"Yes ve are," he said. "I quadruple checked to make sure that everything vas there! So now ve are ready to leave."

As soon as we hit the road, I put on my headphones, plug them into my iPod and play through it my favorite song called You're Gonna Go Far, Kid. As the song progresses, my mind begins to wander. I think about Rainbow Dash, and how awesome it would be to live in Equestria, let alone Ponyville! That would be fuckin' awesome.

My mind continues to wander, even after the song has ended. I am so consumed in my thoughts and fantasies about Ponyville that I do not even notice that we already arrived at the warehouse.

"Holy shit, it's been thirty minutes already?" I asked. Doc did not mind me swearing, so I took that for granted.

"Yes it has," he replied. "And now ve enter the varehouse." Ha, no really? I thought that we were gonna blow it up.

We weave our way through lots of empty crates that probably used to house many of the various components that we used to make the 'machine'. We go into the back part of the warehouse that is all lit, except for one corner that contains a large shadow, because no lights were upon it.

"Now Dalton," Dr. Kunze begins, and then changes to a more serious tone. "Vhat I am about to show you is VERY top secret and highly advanced, even for the human race. You cannot tell anyvone vhat you experience today. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," I said. "By the way, Doc, what is it that we built?"

Doc smiled a mischievous smile, such as a smile would be on a third grader who just pulled one over on the teacher. "And now begins the unveiling of my magnificent invention!" he announces to an audience of one. Doc then flips a switch on his rather large remote, which I apparently had not noticed before.

"Wow." I say sarcastically as the lights shone on the finished 'machine', which very much resembles Richtofan's teleporter. I say it sarcastically because I have seen it many a time before.

"This invention deserves more than vone sarcastic 'VOW'" Doc started. "I have been doing EXTENSIVE research and studies on this field of science, ordered countless amounts of equipment and paid more money than you can count, just for this machine! I have been vorking my ass off for the last seven years!"

I then feel a bit guilty about what I said. "Sorry, Doctor Kunze. I didn't mean to upset you." I then decided to change the subject. "What is it and what does it do anyway?"

"This, my friend, is the vorld's very first teleporter!" he exclaimed with much vigor and enthusiasm. "I know vhat you're thinking. You are thinking that you are the very first test subject and that it might be extremely dangerous; the first part is false. You are the third, excuse me, 'guinea pig'. I used an apple first. Success; no damage vhatsoever. Next I used a DVD player. Success; no damage at all, and it still vorks! The only thing that I have not tried is a living creature...Well, other than Regina, my pet rat, who also made it safe."

I did not remind him about the danger that I faced, mainly because I did not care if I did die or get severely injured. I hated my life so much that I thought it couldn't possibly get any worse. Actually, dying did not sound bad at all.

Dr. Kunze then explains that I will enter the teleporter, and then he will remotely shut the door to it. I will then be transported (if all goes well) twelve feet away to the mainframe, which is basically a cylinder-like structure similar in design to the actual teleporter.

"Are you ready?" Doc asks, obviously very excited and somewhat impatient.

"Ready as I will ever be." I reply, still wearing my backpack full of goodies. This teleporter better not fuck my laptop, Xbox, or my iPod up.

Doc then remotely shuts the door to the teleporter. He counts down to me from ten using his fingers, as the door is soundproof for some reason. When Doc hits zero, he presses a bunch of buttons and twists a bunch of knobs on his large remote. With one finally button press my hair feels frizzy, my body feels tingly, and then in a flash of white light I am inside the mainframe. I see that Doctor Kunze is dancing around like a baboon in celebration. I see his mouth moving, and I assume that he is shouting "EUREAKA! I have done it! I have done it!"

Doc then approaches the door and is about to open it, when another flash of white light, which is much brighter than before, nearly blinds him. When he regains his sight he sees that the mainframe is still unopened, and that I am nowhere to be found.

"Scheiße! Scheiße scheiße!" he starts shouting obsenities in German as he realizes that his favorite friend might be lost forever...