Chapter 1

Tyana looked around herself awestruck. So this was how it felt to be in the other reality. She had to admit, it was pretty cool. The room around her was decorated with deep reds, gold's and Burgundies and she was surprised not to see a speck of silver anywhere. She noticed a small screen in the corner of the room and curiously wandered over to it. Trailing her fingers across its polished exterior, a small static charge leapt into her fingers.

"Ow!" she whined childishly before she began to suck on her fingers, never before experiencing such a shock as her reality had some how abolished static charges. "And you call yourself a modified component screen" she guessed clueless while she whacked it gently as a small token of vengeance.

"Actually they call it a television!" a firm voice filled in out of the blue.

Tyana nearly jumped a mile at the unexpected voice. Regaining the breath that had been scared from her she reached down and pulled a small screen out of the backpack she only now realised was single-strapped over her chest. She flipped the lid up and there, staring back at her was a man in his late twenties with pale green hair.

"Bretski, thank god. For a minute there I thought I was hearing things"

The man on the screen laughed, "You probably are Ty."

She sneered playfully at him, "Whatever. Ok, so, I just got here. Where are the others?"

"That's the thing…" Bretski began, trailing off with a wince.

"What?" Tyana asked suspiciously, not liking the tone of his voice.

"Ty, the thing is there was a limited number of people that passed the test and so there's just 10 of you in this reality"

Tyana sighed, "Ouch, tough stuff. But I'm sure we'll do it, where are they?" He winced again, "what?" she prompted annoyingly.

"Ty, there's no easy way to tell you this but right now you're in North America and well, you're the only one on the continent"

"WHAT THE FRAIL? Do you have any idea how huge this place is? How'm I suppose to achieve anything when there's no one to help me here! Bret I'm 17!" she squealed disbelievingly.

"And that's another thing…is there a mirror there?"

Tyana's brow creased, "A what?"

"A reflective panel—a mirror"

Tyana looked around, her eyes seeking a 'mirror'. She noticed a shining reflective panel in the corner of the room and spoke down at the small communicator as she walked towards it.

"What's with all the weird names? I mean who…" she trailed off when she caught her reflection in the mirror. Bret watched the girl--the woman—stare blankly at the glass. "Who…who am I?" she questioned, setting her communicator onto a nearby table.

"That's you…didn't I tell you you'd age when you swapped realities?"

Tyana mutely nodded, stunned at the reflection before her. Her long turquoise hair was cute stylishly short to her chin and crimped boldly. She'd grown at least half a foot and had filled out stunningly. She filled her long navy top out well and her black pants clung low to her curved hips and muscular thighs.

"I'm…I'm gorgeous" she stuttered without a trace of an inflated ego.

Bret laughed gently, "I know. When you cross the dimensions your body has a unique reaction in that it ages you prematurely by several years"

"How, how old am I now?" Tyana questioned, running her fingers over the smooth glass as if it would hold the texture of her face.

"Well according to my calculations you were aged 6 years so that would make you—"

"23" Tyana calculated easily, smoothing her hands over the curves of her hips.

"And just in case you're wondering all it did was age you—that's what you would have looked like at 23 if you stayed in this realm" Bret informed her with a smile as he watched the former 17 year old marvel over her appearance.

For a moment longer Tyana stared at herself in the mirror and when she finally tore her gaze away to look to Bret's face on her communicator she had found her reason for being here.

"Bret, how hard is it going to be to survive here?"

"Truthfully? Well Ty it's not going to be easy but one of the reasons we let you on this mission is because you're one of the few people out there that can do it. But you've got me and all the technology I can lay my hands on so you'll do great"

"And the others?"

"Ty don't worry. We're all working towards the same thing. All you need to do is what I tell you and hopefully we can free these people. Do you think you can handle it though? Because if you're not strong enough then this is the time to speak up…we can't afford for you to bail later"

Tyana glanced once more at the mirror she stood in front of and nodded encouragingly,

"No, I'm in. I'm definitely in!"