10:00 UTC (10:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time)

Kowalski's Lab

(Kowalski's POV)

I studied my plans for the new metaphysical engine…or as I call it The "Imagination Engine." This should allow me access to Cyberspace and well…other mythical or thought based or belief-based world, Except the afterlife of course.

"Come on Kowalski," I said looking at the parts available in my lab, "you can do this."

I looked around the lab, "now where are my tools?"

I found the toolbox, "ah! On my bench…duh!"

I pulled out my tools and grabbed a welder, "all right…first I need to build a smaller version of my anti-matter fusion reactor core…"

I cut holes using a power drill, hammered metal rivets, and screwed in screws with a wrench. I also welded certain parts together and added the core itself. I then attached a water valve to a chiller and attached it to our water supply. I built a water pipe around the reactor core itself so the cold water would cool the reactor.

"There now it has a constant supply of cold water," I said.

I then added a pipe for the steam to come out. I added a steam pump and a compressor which was then attached back to the chiller.

"Alright next," I said, "build a mini particle accelerator."

I quickly built a mini particle accelerator and a laser array and attached it to a device that I can use to control the flow of particles. I then attached the particle accelerator to the flow-controller. I then used pipes to connect the accelerators outflow back to the reactor core. Reducing the change of antimatter coming back into contact with regular matter.

The crankshaft from the accelerators turbine I then attached to a gear assembly. I also attached control systems to the reactor and the accelerator. I then built a portal-gate and a platform with steps. I made the portal-gate large enough for four people to go through. I then looked at my plans for the metaphysical engine itself.

"All right I just need some macguffium two thirty…oh," I said.

"Hey Kowalski," Marlene said, "wow…what are you working on…"

"My metaphysical engine called The Imagination Engine," I replied.

"Where's Skipper and the others?" Marlene said.

"Inside The Internet," I said.

"Good," Marlene said, "wait…The Internet!"

"Also called Cyber-space," I replied.

"And here you are building something instead of helping them," Marlene replied.

"I'm building this to get to them," I said, "since that machine the sent them there…um."

"Blew up?" Marlene said pointing to the ruins of The Defictioner.

"Yeah," I said.

"Why can't you use The Space-Time Teleport?" Marlene said.

I held up The Teleport which was still flashing the "Warning: Location Impossible!" message.

"Did you try the portal opener/closer?" Marlene asked.

"No," I said.

I picked up The Portal Opener/Closer and inputted the location data I retrieved from The Defictioner's hard drive. A portal opened to what appeared to be white space with computer code and binary digits whizzing about. And in the distance were the blurry shapes of what appeared to be buildings. I rushed into the portal only to find myself back in the base, Marlene in front of me and the portal behind me. I shot the portal with The Portal Opener/Closer and it closed.

"Marlene," I said, "care to accompany me to a lab in midtown to acquire an important substance for The Imagination Engine."

"It's a metaphysical engine," Marlene said, "why not call it that?"

"First of all, good luck getting Skipper to say that," I said, "and secondly…apparently somebody else used metaphysical engine."

"This isn't going to tear a hole in reality like your time machine?" Marlene said.

"The hole in reality was caused by a time paradox indirectly caused by the machine," I said, "it was not caused by…turning on the machine."

"Where is this lab?" Marlene said.

Shortly,

The Lab in midtown

The Jet engines died down and Marlene and I hopped out of our Jet fighters. I originally going to have us take individual bi-planes or the two-person bi-plane I built. But then I decided that it was the perfect time to test Skyfire 3 and Skyfire 4 which were just recently restored. And the two former wreaks worked perfectly even better then the two undamaged jets.

We made our way to the center of the roof and the door to the stairs. We opened the roof access and went down the stairs. We went down the flights of stairs until we reached the level for the chemistry lab. We sneaked through the corridor, entered the lab, and took out of the lone chemical scientist. He fell back on to a whiteboard that had "no accidents in 304 days" written on it. The back of his jacket erased the 304 from the board as he slumped down to the floor.

"Sorry fellow scientist," I whispered as I jumped up and wrote 0 on the board.

"He's the only one in here?" Marlene said.

"The others must be on break…or this is their day off," I said.

"Marlene make sure he doesn't wake up too soon," I said.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Marlene asked as I jumped onto a lab-table.

I avoided the split puddle of Inflatium and said, "Macguffium-239!"

"Macguffium?" Marlene said, "you mean the plot device that lazy writers use to move the plot along with out adding any real explanation?"

"No, that Macguffium," I said, "a plot device popularized by the great screenwriter, Alfred Hitchcock."

"Macguffium-239…which is an element that's in the same family as Randomium, Kryptonite, Vibranium, and Quantonium," I replied.

"And oh Kyber," I added, "and Dalekanium!"

"Some of those are fictional Kowalski," Marlene said.

"Every element even the fictional ones exist somewhere in the infinite universe of the multiverse," I replied.

"Also, there are small traces of some of those in every universe," I said, "they either haven't been discovered yet, have different names, or just in a different form."

I found the correct vial and said, "found it!"

I held up the Macguffium 239 and said, "now I have my anti-matter stabilizer."

"Anti-matter?" Marlene said.

"Back to the lab!" I shouted.

Kowalski's Lab

I hooked up the vial of macguffium to The Imagination Engine. I stepped back and admired my steampunk looking handwork.

"All right," I said, "Marlene fire up the small anti-matter reactor core!"

Marlene hit a switch and the reactor core powered up, "reactor core powered up!"

"Status on the hydro-coolant system," I said.

"Working at full capacity," Marlene said.

"How's the steam pressure?" I asked.

"Steam pressure at safe levels," Marlene said.

"Good," I said, "open the particle accelerator chamber!"

Marlene flipped a switch on the control panel and the accelerator chamber opened, "accelerator ready!"

I flipped another switch and the accelerator turned on, "accelerator on!"

"Release the anti-matter!" I said.

"Anti-matter released!" Marlene said as the accelerator lit up and the sound of machinery filled the air.

"Metaphysical engine charging," I said.

"All right," I said, "power up the flux capacitor! Ready the tachyon convertor! Activate the Huon particle feeds!"

"Check, check, and check," Marlene said turning on all those components.

"Quantum GPS ready?" I said.

"Ready," Marlene said.

"Space-Time Teleport synced!" I said.

"Synced and still saying Warning: location impossible," Marlene said.

"Fire proton beams," I said, "don't cross the streams!"

"Fired!" Marlene said.

"Activate laser array, power up portal-gate, ready the dark matter injector!"

"Activated, powered, readied," Marlene said.

I typed in the location data from The Defictioner's hard drive. The Portal opened a bright white light flashing off the open portal. I could only see a white void on the other side. I stuck my head in the portal and instead of the base I saw a weird digital cityscape. The "sky" was bright without any clouds, the sun, or the moon and all the buildings had signage with the names and the logo of various digital companies and websites.

"Success," I said, "Now we just have to go in there…find them…and come back here."

"When do you want…"

"Now!" I said, "time is of the essence Marlene…"

"Time to go into The Internet!" I said, "a place where no biological creature has gone before."

"Where do we even find them?" Marlene asked.

"I think I know where they're going," I said as I pulled Marlene through the portal.

(end of chapter four)