It had been a long night. The bar was large, crowded, and noisy. He’d met some people after work and had a few drinks with them. Lots of talk about their various jobs, babies, and the pains of modern life. Everyone else in his group had left an hour ago, but he’d stuck around to have a few more. And now it was time to go. He wasn’t really drunk drunk. Just a nice high combined with Friday night end of the work week fatigue and relief. He looked forward to a hot shower and a warm bed.
He exited the club and turned left to head home but as he passed the alley that ran along the side of the club something distracted him from the corner of his eye. He glanced down the alley and saw nothing but the dark shapes of what he assumed were a couple of cars and some dumpsters. There wasn’t much light so he couldn’t see much. He could have sworn that he had seen something in his peripheral vision. As he stood thinking about it he thought that he also perhaps heard some sort of sound. Thinking that it must be the booze or fatigue, he turned to continue his walk to the subway when he was startled by something in the alley.
At the far end of the alley a rectangle of bright multi-colored light had suddenly appeared, accompanied by a very low buzzing sound. The bottom of the light was about two feet above the ground and it extended up about eight feet. The panel of light was about five feet across.
He was mesmerized by the sight of it. The colors seemed to shift subtly in slow moving patterns that couldn’t really be discerned as patterns. After getting over his initial shock and realized that what he was seeing was actually real, he walked hesitatingly down the alley toward the light.
As he reached the light he stood staring into the colored field as thoughts raced through his mind. What was this? Where did it come from? He looked around at the surrounding rooftops, searching some kind of light generators or projectors, thinking he might be part of some kind of guerilla art event or a practical joke. There was nothing. Nobody else seemed to notice the light, though it was late and he didn’t really see anyone about. Finally he felt compelled to reach up and touch the light, to see if it was normal light. As he placed his palm against the light field he felt an odd, tingling sensation in his hand. Simultaneously, the sound lowered in frequency. He pulled his hand back quickly and examined it. The tingling had stopped and the sound had returned to its former pitch. His hand appeared to be intact there being no marks or pain. He raised his hand to the light again and poked his forefinger about one quarter inch into the light. He noticed that his fingertip disappeared as if crossing the face of the colored panel meant actually entering another space as if through a door. He slowly pushed his finger forward until half of his hand had ‘entered’ the color field…..and disappeared. If someone had been there to observe the eventy, they would have seen him quickly disappear as if being sucked into the field from head to toe.
It started with faint sounds swimming around in the backwaters of his consciousness. Quiet murmurs like voices muted, with all of the high frequencies removed. Periodic beeps. His head hurt. The sounds became gradually louder and he realized he was conscious, but had his eyes closed. He opened them. He appeared to be lying in a bed in a hospital room. There were the requisite IV tubes and beeping monitors, and several people watching him intently. One male, two female. The male was wearing blue hospital scrubs as was one of the women. The other woman appeared to be slightly older than the other two and was dressed in skirt and blouse over which she wore a white lab coat with a stethoscope draped around her neck.
The woman in the lab coat moved to the side of the bed, bent down and asked “Are you in pain?”
“Just a headache, I think.” he replied
“We’ll get you some ebaphendrine for that.” she replied. “Tell me, what’s the last thing you remember?”
He had to gather his thoughts for a moment before his memories came clear.
“I was outside a bar and there was a field of colored light in the alley. It was beautiful. I put my hand into it and that’s the last thing I remember.”
“Did it cause you any pain or trauma?” asked the woman.
“None that I remember. Everything is a blank after I put my hand into the light. Where am I? Who are you?”
“I’m sorry, My name is Dr. Janda Tralenta and you are at the Centerside Medical complex. May I ask your name?”
“My name is Harold Story.”
“Well I’m glad to meet you Mr. Story. I’d like to check just a few things if you don’t mind. I know you probably have a lot of questions, but I’d like to ask you to hold them and try to rest. Once you are on your feet you will be meeting with some people who will answer all of your questions, allright?”
Harold recognized her question for what it really was - a statement for how things were going to be. Given his headache and situation, he decided he would be patient. The Dr. did a cursory exam, eyes, nose throat, heart and then asked him to rest, adding that some food was on the way. He rested a while and then an orderly brought in a tray of food and set up the table for him. He suddenly realized he was famished and took the lid off of the tray in anticipation. Something was odd. He didn’t recognize anything on the tray. Nothing looked familiar and the containers were shaped differently than he’d ever seen. It was like getting a first meal in a foreign country that one has never visited. There was a square of something that looked like some sort of casserole. It was bright orange and had blood red liquid oozing out of its sides. There was what appeared to be a green veg that looked like very small bansai trees. There was another substance that was a gray sludge-like material with black specks in it. He had seen a bowl of poi in Hawaii once. It had looked better than this stuff. There was a small container of liquid that was in the shape of a triangle. It came with a loop of clear plastic tubing about three feet long. It seemed to be designed for the drinker to stick one end of the tube into a hole in the carton, then use it as an elongated straw instead picking the container up. None of this was like any food he had ever seen. Where the hell was he?
The next day Dr.Tralenta visited him mid-morning. After another cursory exam and checking to see if he was in pain or needed anything she gave him some news.
“Tomorrow you will have a meeting with some people. We hope that these folks can answer your questions and about what has happened to you. As far as your health, you appear to be fine. I find no abnormalities and as far as I can tell you should be fine. I’ve brought a Uni for you to wear. If you’d like to get up and wander around a bit that would be fine. There’s a solarium at the end of the hall and a small garden downstairs. Just ask anyone for directions.”
“Thank you.”
After she had gone another meal arrived, consisting of another set of unknown dishes. He couldn’t avoid the meal, having not eaten for almost two days. Some was good. Nothing really horrible, but he had no idea what he was eating. Next he showered and put on the ‘Uni’. It was a single piece garment, like a mod jumpsuit from an episode of Star Trek and came with a pair of lightweight slippers. The rest of the day was spent wandering around the hospital and sleeping. The next morning the Dr. came to get him and took him to a conference room two floors above. There were four people in the room. At the head of the table was a middle aged man and sitting on one side were two young men and a young woman. The older man was wearing a suit coat unlike anything Harold had ever seen, a cross between a Nehru jacket and some sort of modern half wrap around affair. The young men were both wearing black trousers and tunic like tops in bright colors. The young woman was wearing white slacks with what appeared to be a black close knit sweater.
Dr. Tralenta made the introductions.
“Harold Story, I’d like you to meet Dr. Phino Brously and his team. That’s Dr. Panto Grif, Dr. Dinar Solfa, and Dr. Pela Jartu.”
“Please Mr. Story, come in and take a seat.” said Dr. Brously. I am happy to hear that you are not damaged or ill. I’m sure you have a million questions. I would like to ask your patience for just a few more minutes Mr. Story, so I can tell you what has happened to you, and then I will be glad to answer any questions I can. Would that be satisfactory?”
Harold nodded and waited for Brously to begin.
“First of all, I am a scientist and I work for the government with my team here. We have been working for years to understand the structure of the universe and how to apply the knowledge we gain in practical ways. A few years ago we stumbled upon a huge discovery quite by accident. What we discovered is that the universe is verifiably multi-dimensional. We engaged other teams and between us, ran thousands of experiments to detect other dimensions, measure them, predict them, in short to learn all that we could about the dimensions and their nature.The next step was to develop instrumentation that could actually let us see into other dimensions or allow us to possibly travel to and from them. It was decided that our first major project would be to develop an instrument that we could transport briefly into another dimension for the purpose of measuring that dimension’s attributes. The power requirements for doing so are enormous, We would gather information on atmospheric composition, soil composition, and communications. We wanted to deploy these probes to as many dimensions as possible and gather these data in the hope that we might someday communicate with them or even possible visit them. What we did not anticipate was that a person might see one of our probes and stick his hand into it!” he said chuckling. “When you stuck your hand into the field, you were detected by the probe to be an atmospheric anomaly and transported back to our dimension. We are not exactly sure how it happened. And here is the part you are not going to like. We do not know how to reverse it!”
Harold’s mind was whirling. Multi-dimensions?!? He sticks his fucking hand in a colored light and now he is stuck in another fucking dimension? He wasn’t even sure what that meant! He’d never see his friends or family again. What would he do in this dimension? How would he survive? He felt his heart pounding in his chest. It was too hot in the room. He broke out in a cold sweat. Suddenly he felt the familiar prick of a hypodermic in his arm.
“Calm down Harold. BREATH. Relax. Can someone get him some water?” she said as she opened the front of the Uni he wore and applied her stethoscope to his chest. “That’s it, just relax!”
After a few minutes Harold had calmed himself and sat staring ahead, saying nothing. Dr. Brously and his team had moved to the chairs on either side of him.
“Harold, I know this is a great shock. It’s why we waited until you were checked out and rested before telling you. I cannot tell you how sorry we are that this happened. I know that does not help much, but we are committed to doing everything we can to make your future as meaningful as possible. Our government has authorized a lifetime pension for you and your own homepod. Once your skills are assessed you might go to work, or to school if you prefer. And you can travel and meet new people.”
“How will I survive here alone?” Harold asked.
“You won’t be alone. You know me, you will meet others. You will be assigned a small team, Dr. Tralenta, Me, a Psychologist, and social workers who will help get you started with our world. I promise that we will do everything we can to help.”
“Thank you Dr. I guess I will just have to make the best of it.”
“That’s the spirit Harold. Now before you go, we wanted to ask you a few questions about your world. Would that be okay?”
“Sure Dr. I guess so. I’ll answer anything I can.”
“Good good. Now, what can you tell me about your military capabilities…..?”
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