Chapter 3:
Michael stood in his dorm room standing next to Sam and they were staring at the wall. Michael took out the timer and shifted it in his hands.
"So... You want to go to another world?" Michael asked.
"Let's do it!" Sam replied.
"Okay..." Michael said and pointed the timer to the wall. He set the timer for 20 minutes and clicked the button. A beam emitted from the top of the timer and it was sent at the wall, becoming a portal.
"You first." Sam said.
"No, you go first, I have the timer." Michael rebuked.
"Fine..." Sam said reluctantly and jumped into the portal.
"Here we go again!" Michael shouted and leapt into the portal.
The duo drifted in the vortex and were soon deposited onto another Earth. They landed into a dorm room, same basic look as the one they left from. However it was furnished differently. They stood up and brushed themselves off.
"Do the landings ever get easier?" Sam asked.
"I sure hope so." Michael said. "Let's look around."
"Wow, check this out." Sam said picking up a piece of paper.
"Let me see that." Michael said snatching the paper out of Sam's hands. The paper was labeled, Theory of Parallel Universes By Rebecca Collins. "She sounds smart..."
"Looks like a girl lives here in this universe. We better leave before she gets here..." Sam said.
"Yeah... Good idea." Michael said as the doorknob began to shake.
"Damn!" Sam said as he and Michael tried to stand innocently.
A young woman, about Michael and Sam's age walked into the room, she was pretty and Michael and Sam noticed that immediately, looking her up and down. Her neutral face became a scowl when she saw the two sliders.
"Who the hell are you two?" she asked.
"Well... uh... ha... I'm Michael and this is my buddy, Sam..." Michael replied.
"What are you doing in my dorm? I'll call the RA, she'll get you kicked out of college." she said.
"Listen, we aren't from around here. And we'll be gone in 20 minutes, we swear." Sam said.
"I want you out of here right now. GET OUT!" she shouted.
"Sorry, Rebecca. We didn't mean to intrude." Michael said.
"Just get out now!" Rebecca shouted and opened the door, pointing outside.
"Got it... Sorry." Sam said and the two of you walked out, Rebecca slamming the door behind you.
"Well, looks like we just made our first enemy." Michael said.
"Yeah, let's see if this universe still has the student lounge, so we can watch some TV and see how this universe is different." Sam said.
"Good idea!" Michael said and they headed for the lounge.
They walked in to see a group of students situated on the couch, all with horrified expressions on their faces.
"What's wrong" Sam asked. The students pointed to the TV screen.
"This is an emergency broadcast. A meteor is falling through the atmosphere and NASA is telling us that it is about to explode, which will theoretically cause a Electromagnetic pulse to be emitted and cause all electronic technology to fail for at least two days. NASA reports that the population has about fifteen minutes until the explosion." the newscaster said.
"Dude, is the timer electronic?" Sam asked.
"Yeah..." Michael said with a grim face.
"And what happens if we miss the window?
"We're stuck here for 29.7 years."
"How much time do we have left?"
"Fourteen minutes."
"Let's get back to that dorm room, so at least when we land home, no one else sees the portal."
"Let's do it."
The sliders made their way back to Rebecca's room and frantically knocked on the door. Michael glanced at the timer, five minutes.
"Let us in!" Michael pleaded.
"We'll just go, we just need to get in!" Sam said. They heard the door unlock and Rebecca opened it and they ran in.
"Okay, what do you want?" Rebecca asked.
"There's this shockwave about to hit the earth, and it'll knock out all electronics, and we need to be in here, so that this will work." Michael replied showing her the timer.
"What's that?" she asked.
"It's a timer, it allows us to travel to parallel universes. I saw your paper, you believe the theory, well... it actually works!" Michael replied.
"Okay... One one condition. I get to come with you." Rebecca said.
"No way! We can't drag another person with us!" Sam said.
"Sure. If you'll let us stay until the window opens, you can come through." Michael said.
"Dude!" Sam said.
"Calm down. We have a few seconds left now." Michael said.
Rebecca turned on her computer and opened a news site. The reporter was frantically reporting.
"The shockwave will hit in ten seconds! God speed, viewers. God... speed." the reporter said.
"Now!" Michael said pressing the button. As he did, the shockwave hit, scrambling all electronics, and sending an electric current into the timer.
"Oh my god..." Rebecca said, amazed.
"What the hell?" Sam asked as the portal opened and they jumped in.
The three sliders fell through the vortex and out onto a dorm room floor. Michael got up to check the timer, and started going through the dimensional coordinates list.
"That was awesome! I can't believe it worked!" Rebecca shouted.
"Not quite..." Michael said.
"What happened?" Sam asked.
"It scrambled the coordinates. We aren't home." Michael said.
The three looked around to see an abandoned room, with windows boarded up from the outside. The floor was bare, the bed had no mattress.
"Where are we?" Rebecca asked.
"Well, I know we're not in Kansas anymore." Sam said.
TO BE CONTINUED