49
" - that's when I suddenly thought of converting gravitational energy to generate the required kinetic energy. In layman's terms, that means dropping the ship from somewhere high enough so it slams through reality! I'm compiling a report on this topic right now!"
The air shimmered with her vibrant voice, and Reginald sighed in contentment. Susan's always so enthusiastic when she talks about her work. Almost drowning in his thoughts, she pulled him out of stasis by reminding him that he had to clock in by nine.
He silently slurped his soppy heart back up and continued with his breakfast.
He strode confidently along one of the countless hallways in the ship. He'd often take strolls around this space just to bask in the glorious admiration his subjects have for him, but today was different.
There was tension and uncertainty clinging to his uniform, and he didn't like this one bit.
"Hey Reg, you had your breakfast yet?" A mellow, instantly recognizable voice rang across from behind. He didn't have to turn around to know it was Jonathan, the lead scientist from Zero Five.
"Yeah, I did. Is there anything going on today? Something feels off."
"Oversight personnel just reported an impending Switch. They're still trying to figure out the guest's identity. Population's at max, which means someone's bound to be axed." He pointed at the big screen, filled with the mugshot of a dazed man.
Shivers galloped down his spine. Regan had a bad, bad feeling about this.
He sauntered down the path leading to the Alta Classe, white toque in hand. As he walked, he couldn't help but gaze towards the GCS Prisma, where Susan worked. It was a ship made entirely with prismarine, one of the materials discovered to be capable of piercing through reality while remaining intact.
Twenty years ago, in light of staggering discoveries that the world had overestimated the number of resources left to consume, the greatest nations formed the Global Coalition to worm its way out of their own mess. The pioneering solutions involved using the GCS Prisma to explore and borrow resources from other realities.
Reginald was so absorbed in his thoughts that he did not notice the pulsating crack above the pavement, nor the increasing sensation of lightness. The next thing he knew, was that he was falling.
He crashed, as silently as possible, into the pile of cardboard boxes stacked in an interstice along the hallway. This specific hiding place was close enough to a public announcement speaker, and he intended to stay here until the figurative coast is clear.
"The guest has been identified as a Re instance. Based on past analysis of Re instances, this particular instance has been determined as above average. His mild demeanour certainly beats our current cocky lead scientist." Oversight Captain Suzie's obvious dislike for Regan seeped through every corner of the ship.
He could already hear the solid, steady march of the Cleaners, as they always do during a Switch. Although too proud to admit it, the crackling sound that their menacing prismarine batons made when they slammed into flesh always made him shudder. Only this time, he won't be watching.
"Let us welcome our new guest aboard the UWS Prisma!"
It's him they're coming after... and no one ever escapes the Cleaners.
Faced with this fact, Regan felt oddly calm. The calm before the storm, he thought as he took off the prismarine belts along his body. The air coiled slightly, not unlike the waters around a reeling, rising anchor.
He rose spinning along with the world around him. Eyes darting around to make sense of his twirling surroundings, his legs eventually gave in and he collapsed to a kneel. It didn't take long for him to realise that something has gone terribly wrong.
For starters, he was in a clinically white room - though it couldn't be a hospital room due to a lack of medical equipment. He didn't recall losing consciousness, but what else could explain this sudden change in scenery?
Before he could begin pinching his cheeks - perhaps that could have worked - a segment of the wall slid off silently, revealing a glass panel. A gathering of mist behind the glass returned his stare intently, then condensed into a decent face of a human.
"Sorry about that, got to make sure I had the right facade on. You're a human, correct? Not a mimic or anything else?" Said a calm voice, while the face made a poor attempt at pretending to be speaking. He could only reply it with an utterly confused gaze.
"Yeah, probably a human. Only humans react like that, as if this whole shebang wasn't their idea. State your name, please."
"My name is Reginald... pleased to meet you? Wait, what do you mean by our idea?"
"Ah. Captain, we've got a Re instance. Don't you know? You're abroad the UWS Prisma, the ship that solved every problem ... apart from the problems it created."
His jaws could make an audible slam as it dropped to the ground if it wasn't for the deafening crash that erupted from the outside of the room.
The room rumbled, and a few other voices voiced their surprise. The mist-face fluttered uneasily. "Yeah. In case you came from a wildly different reality, the Prisma is a ship that - "
" - is supposed to cut through reality to bring us salvation," continued Reginald.
"Great, you know that. To power it though, we needed a crazy amount of velocity, so we used gravity - "
" - dropping the ship from somewhere high enough so it slams through reality..."
"Right! But something went wrong in the calculations, and we entered the rift a few seconds too late. From our experiments, we knew these rifts would send a shockwave... so when we ended up too close to the ground before we could reach terminal velocity, the city's foundations - "
The mist was cut short as the wall behind it blew apart. An enormous entanglement of arms flowed into the chamber behind the panel.
An intrusive heY7yYy oversight pers0nalsSSss yall are invited to REGGGGAAAAAANSSS RETIREMENT PARTYYYYYYY skewered the screams and chatter of various beings as they were smothered to death.
The mist, although dissipated into a fine spray, managed to fumble around the controls. Another part of his confinement slid open to a hallway.
"Reginald... go find yourself some prismarine item to stabilize... the Gary constant... 5.37 minutes or you'll..." The voice weakened until he could no longer pick them up.
He paced down the hallway, looking for directions and finding none. The mist's ominous orders bore down his neck, the thread holding him together thinning with every second that slipped by.
It seemed a futile attempt forward, and a waazzzya name, boiiire renaul regiii reennee regin reginal REGINALD REGINALD COME BACK here YOU YOU YOU if he ever stopped to catch his breath. The plattering of palm-on-surface seemed to die down, further and further away, but the fear lingered in his mind.
The clean, even march of someone's heavy boots slowly grew louder, punctuating his thoughts. He used the steady, comforting tempo to keep time, a sanctuary that he might reach in time - and at last, he found someone else.
The woman had an average stature, but carried with her an aura of superiority.
"Umm... I just arrived here, and I don't know where's the prismarine item I'm supposed to find and wear..." Reginald spoke meekly, like a child facing the principal.
Her stoic demeanour melted away and she regarded him with maternal pity.
"Ah, you're that Reginald! You must be very confused at everything that's going on, especially with that madman flopping about. I'm Goyo, a Cleaner. Here, you can take my pris." She handed him the prismarine cuffs, necklace and anklets she was wearing.
"... you don't need them to st-stabilize?"
"Hah! Everyone needs them to stabilize. I'm one of the experimental Cleaners though - we have pris implants in our brains, so if anything causes trouble, I can let reality roll me some changes without affecting my mind. I was going to take them off later anyway."
She glanced at Reginald's blank and dazed expression - something he had been doing since boarding the ship - and sighed.
"I've got to wait for the Gary constant before I can start getting changes anyway - might as well brief you on some info you'll need to live here. Any questions?"
She never got her answer.
A massive blur caught her surrrrprizzz CaPTT goOoYO0Ooo im HERE to CCCCLEAN yeu AAAPP head in a frenzy and swung it hard into the side of the wall. The impact sent cracks racing along the hallway as splinters of prismarine embedded beneath the wall shot out at every direction. Reginald raised his hands to cover his face just in time before the shards peppered his skin and dug right deep. seseserVVEE sss dee IMmpposTTER RAAAAAiigaht yelped in pain before his right arm got twisted into the reGAAAAAins altiiIIYm888 FUUUURRRmrurrjm.
fiarwyelll reGGIINADALDA flashed into his mind, and he was thrown away.
Reginald sped across the long hallway. The scenery around him was too fast to register in his mind, and his eardrums began to rupture. All he could smell was his own metallic tinge. As such, he was forced to be aware of the prismarine shards scattering within his body.
And then all was black.
President Renault laid on his desk, frustrated beyond measure. It was already 50 hours, and yet the solution showed so signs of following through with his invitation. He sloppily downed his 20th mug, disappointed. Disappointed as a researcher, and disappointed as the leader of his country.
That is, until the bloody man collapsed onto the empty seat opposite him.
Reginald glanced around, shocked and surprised. He was back. Back... but not home, he realised, when he found himself face-to-face with a sleep-deprived humanoid reptile. He mumbled an apology and shuffled to the 30th storey window, and jumped.
The president eventually recovered from his shock and wondered how this mysterious fleshy creature materialised in his room. He searched the floor, and found broken pieces of a blue-green crystal.
This might be it...
Reginald was on the verge of despair. He was shown the light - with the prismarine shrapnels in his body, he could travel between realities one Gary constant at a time - but he never once reached his own world.
Oh, Susan... if only you knew...
He steeled his resolution and leapt once again.
I will reach you.
I know I will.
After tearing through the unfathomable black with his eyes closed, he felt the air breeze through his face as he fell. His raw skin tingled with pain, but after bouts of sensationless travel within the limbo, it was a welcome, wake-up shock to him.
He opened his eyes and realized he was still falling... and before he knew, he was submerged. The cold embrace of the sea stung his mind, and he began to panic.
There was nowhere to jump off from. He could only sink.
And sink he did, towards the ruins of a city ravaged by the Dive. Death approached the lone traveller, lost from his own reality. Tenderly, he severed Reginald's journey to right a probable wrong.
Oh, Susan. Susan, if only you knew about the chaos aboard Prisma.
And sink he did.
The air shimmered with her vibrant voice, and Reginald sighed in contentment. Susan's always so enthusiastic when she talks about her work. Almost drowning in his thoughts, she pulled him out of stasis by reminding him that he had to clock in by nine.
He silently slurped his soppy heart back up and continued with his breakfast.
He strode confidently along one of the countless hallways in the ship. He'd often take strolls around this space just to bask in the glorious admiration his subjects have for him, but today was different.
There was tension and uncertainty clinging to his uniform, and he didn't like this one bit.
"Hey Reg, you had your breakfast yet?" A mellow, instantly recognizable voice rang across from behind. He didn't have to turn around to know it was Jonathan, the lead scientist from Zero Five.
"Yeah, I did. Is there anything going on today? Something feels off."
"Oversight personnel just reported an impending Switch. They're still trying to figure out the guest's identity. Population's at max, which means someone's bound to be axed." He pointed at the big screen, filled with the mugshot of a dazed man.
Shivers galloped down his spine. Regan had a bad, bad feeling about this.
He sauntered down the path leading to the Alta Classe, white toque in hand. As he walked, he couldn't help but gaze towards the GCS Prisma, where Susan worked. It was a ship made entirely with prismarine, one of the materials discovered to be capable of piercing through reality while remaining intact.
Twenty years ago, in light of staggering discoveries that the world had overestimated the number of resources left to consume, the greatest nations formed the Global Coalition to worm its way out of their own mess. The pioneering solutions involved using the GCS Prisma to explore and borrow resources from other realities.
Reginald was so absorbed in his thoughts that he did not notice the pulsating crack above the pavement, nor the increasing sensation of lightness. The next thing he knew, was that he was falling.
He crashed, as silently as possible, into the pile of cardboard boxes stacked in an interstice along the hallway. This specific hiding place was close enough to a public announcement speaker, and he intended to stay here until the figurative coast is clear.
"The guest has been identified as a Re instance. Based on past analysis of Re instances, this particular instance has been determined as above average. His mild demeanour certainly beats our current cocky lead scientist." Oversight Captain Suzie's obvious dislike for Regan seeped through every corner of the ship.
He could already hear the solid, steady march of the Cleaners, as they always do during a Switch. Although too proud to admit it, the crackling sound that their menacing prismarine batons made when they slammed into flesh always made him shudder. Only this time, he won't be watching.
"Let us welcome our new guest aboard the UWS Prisma!"
It's him they're coming after... and no one ever escapes the Cleaners.
Faced with this fact, Regan felt oddly calm. The calm before the storm, he thought as he took off the prismarine belts along his body. The air coiled slightly, not unlike the waters around a reeling, rising anchor.
He rose spinning along with the world around him. Eyes darting around to make sense of his twirling surroundings, his legs eventually gave in and he collapsed to a kneel. It didn't take long for him to realise that something has gone terribly wrong.
For starters, he was in a clinically white room - though it couldn't be a hospital room due to a lack of medical equipment. He didn't recall losing consciousness, but what else could explain this sudden change in scenery?
Before he could begin pinching his cheeks - perhaps that could have worked - a segment of the wall slid off silently, revealing a glass panel. A gathering of mist behind the glass returned his stare intently, then condensed into a decent face of a human.
"Sorry about that, got to make sure I had the right facade on. You're a human, correct? Not a mimic or anything else?" Said a calm voice, while the face made a poor attempt at pretending to be speaking. He could only reply it with an utterly confused gaze.
"Yeah, probably a human. Only humans react like that, as if this whole shebang wasn't their idea. State your name, please."
"My name is Reginald... pleased to meet you? Wait, what do you mean by our idea?"
"Ah. Captain, we've got a Re instance. Don't you know? You're abroad the UWS Prisma, the ship that solved every problem ... apart from the problems it created."
His jaws could make an audible slam as it dropped to the ground if it wasn't for the deafening crash that erupted from the outside of the room.
The room rumbled, and a few other voices voiced their surprise. The mist-face fluttered uneasily. "Yeah. In case you came from a wildly different reality, the Prisma is a ship that - "
" - is supposed to cut through reality to bring us salvation," continued Reginald.
"Great, you know that. To power it though, we needed a crazy amount of velocity, so we used gravity - "
" - dropping the ship from somewhere high enough so it slams through reality..."
"Right! But something went wrong in the calculations, and we entered the rift a few seconds too late. From our experiments, we knew these rifts would send a shockwave... so when we ended up too close to the ground before we could reach terminal velocity, the city's foundations - "
The mist was cut short as the wall behind it blew apart. An enormous entanglement of arms flowed into the chamber behind the panel.
An intrusive heY7yYy oversight pers0nalsSSss yall are invited to REGGGGAAAAAANSSS RETIREMENT PARTYYYYYYY skewered the screams and chatter of various beings as they were smothered to death.
The mist, although dissipated into a fine spray, managed to fumble around the controls. Another part of his confinement slid open to a hallway.
"Reginald... go find yourself some prismarine item to stabilize... the Gary constant... 5.37 minutes or you'll..." The voice weakened until he could no longer pick them up.
He paced down the hallway, looking for directions and finding none. The mist's ominous orders bore down his neck, the thread holding him together thinning with every second that slipped by.
It seemed a futile attempt forward, and a waazzzya name, boiiire renaul regiii reennee regin reginal REGINALD REGINALD COME BACK here YOU YOU YOU if he ever stopped to catch his breath. The plattering of palm-on-surface seemed to die down, further and further away, but the fear lingered in his mind.
The clean, even march of someone's heavy boots slowly grew louder, punctuating his thoughts. He used the steady, comforting tempo to keep time, a sanctuary that he might reach in time - and at last, he found someone else.
The woman had an average stature, but carried with her an aura of superiority.
"Umm... I just arrived here, and I don't know where's the prismarine item I'm supposed to find and wear..." Reginald spoke meekly, like a child facing the principal.
Her stoic demeanour melted away and she regarded him with maternal pity.
"Ah, you're that Reginald! You must be very confused at everything that's going on, especially with that madman flopping about. I'm Goyo, a Cleaner. Here, you can take my pris." She handed him the prismarine cuffs, necklace and anklets she was wearing.
"... you don't need them to st-stabilize?"
"Hah! Everyone needs them to stabilize. I'm one of the experimental Cleaners though - we have pris implants in our brains, so if anything causes trouble, I can let reality roll me some changes without affecting my mind. I was going to take them off later anyway."
She glanced at Reginald's blank and dazed expression - something he had been doing since boarding the ship - and sighed.
"I've got to wait for the Gary constant before I can start getting changes anyway - might as well brief you on some info you'll need to live here. Any questions?"
She never got her answer.
A massive blur caught her surrrrprizzz CaPTT goOoYO0Ooo im HERE to CCCCLEAN yeu AAAPP head in a frenzy and swung it hard into the side of the wall. The impact sent cracks racing along the hallway as splinters of prismarine embedded beneath the wall shot out at every direction. Reginald raised his hands to cover his face just in time before the shards peppered his skin and dug right deep. seseserVVEE sss dee IMmpposTTER RAAAAAiigaht yelped in pain before his right arm got twisted into the reGAAAAAins altiiIIYm888 FUUUURRRmrurrjm.
fiarwyelll reGGIINADALDA flashed into his mind, and he was thrown away.
Reginald sped across the long hallway. The scenery around him was too fast to register in his mind, and his eardrums began to rupture. All he could smell was his own metallic tinge. As such, he was forced to be aware of the prismarine shards scattering within his body.
And then all was black.
President Renault laid on his desk, frustrated beyond measure. It was already 50 hours, and yet the solution showed so signs of following through with his invitation. He sloppily downed his 20th mug, disappointed. Disappointed as a researcher, and disappointed as the leader of his country.
That is, until the bloody man collapsed onto the empty seat opposite him.
Reginald glanced around, shocked and surprised. He was back. Back... but not home, he realised, when he found himself face-to-face with a sleep-deprived humanoid reptile. He mumbled an apology and shuffled to the 30th storey window, and jumped.
The president eventually recovered from his shock and wondered how this mysterious fleshy creature materialised in his room. He searched the floor, and found broken pieces of a blue-green crystal.
This might be it...
Reginald was on the verge of despair. He was shown the light - with the prismarine shrapnels in his body, he could travel between realities one Gary constant at a time - but he never once reached his own world.
Oh, Susan... if only you knew...
He steeled his resolution and leapt once again.
I will reach you.
I know I will.
After tearing through the unfathomable black with his eyes closed, he felt the air breeze through his face as he fell. His raw skin tingled with pain, but after bouts of sensationless travel within the limbo, it was a welcome, wake-up shock to him.
He opened his eyes and realized he was still falling... and before he knew, he was submerged. The cold embrace of the sea stung his mind, and he began to panic.
There was nowhere to jump off from. He could only sink.
And sink he did, towards the ruins of a city ravaged by the Dive. Death approached the lone traveller, lost from his own reality. Tenderly, he severed Reginald's journey to right a probable wrong.
Oh, Susan. Susan, if only you knew about the chaos aboard Prisma.
And sink he did.
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