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Here is an excerpt from my WIP, untitled so far. Let me know what you think.Lana withdrew an earpiece and microphone from a drawer in her terminal. After inserting the earbud, she spoke into the microphone. “Commencing beta-series testing for project code A-eight-seven-zero-three-dash-zero-zero-one. Meta-accelerator energy output analysis. Previous analyses showed meta-accelerator performing at eighty percent peak efficiency. In order to induce a minute collapse in what we’ve termed the “quantum barrier”, the natural...film that separates all components of the multiverse, the meta-accelerator must perform at a minimum of ninety-three percent efficiency. To ensure this, Doctor Daley and I are installing a compressed tachyon core to replace the tachyon core used previously.” She took a deep breath, released it, and resumed speaking. “Doctor Daley?”“Hearing you loud and clear, Doctor Gates. Beginning core replacement,” Theron replied. A large, silver, bullet-shaped machine dominated the space in the closed-off room he had stepped into. Slowly, he removed an otherwise obscure piece of paneling from the side of the machine, revealing a jumble of wires and glowing parts that comprised the structure’s innards. A luminescent blue-white ball glowed in the midst of the wires, pulsing quietly. The entire room was soundless, any noise the smooth silvery machine would have made suppressed by the stark white walls. Theron freed the tuning fork instrument from its holster on his waist. Sweat began to form on his brow, and he fought to keep his hands from shaking as he stretched the instrument toward the blue glow.“Careful,” Lana whispered.“I got it,” Theron muttered through clenched teeth. “Unless, of course, you wanna come handle this for me.”“You said you got it. I have the utmost faith in you, O dexterous one.” Lana typed a string of characters in the computer. She heard a faint click over the radio.“Okay,” Theron breathed heavily. “I have the common core extracted.” He twisted his body slowly, a tiny blue ember clutched between the teeth of his instrument. Biting his lower lip, he placed it into a hollow Lucite tube. The ember floated in the vacuum atmosphere of the containment unit. He then pulled a second ember, glowing less brightly, from a separate tube nearby. With excruciating slowness, he replaced the ember in the open panel. Sweat covered his forehead, plastering his hair between his eyes. “Compressed core locked in. Run the meta-acceleration.”“With you in there?” Lana asked. Doubt crept along the edges of her voice.“There needs to be sight testing of the strain on the Shifter,” Theron said, pulling off the heavy gloves. “It’s okay. There’s no energy runoff.”Dubious, Lana typed a second string of characters into the computer. A complex array filled the screen, fluctuating colors and depth. The array shifted, and a countdown began. “I’m not sure about this, Theron...”“It’s harmless photon discharge,” He replied. “Crank our baby up, I wanna hear it purr.”Lana tapped the screen, and the numbers became a blur as they approached the zero trigger. “Ten seconds to shift. Output at eighty-nine percent and rising,” she said. Slowly, light seeped in from the heavily barricaded room. A bluish-white glow began to fill the cluttered laboratory. Lana pulled a pair of shaded goggles over her eyes. “Three seconds. Output at ninety-one percent--”Then, a thunderclap, but without sound. Lana felt as if her skull had become too big for the skin that covered it. She ground her teeth as the second pressure concussion threw the papers off of Theron’s desk and flung them around the room. Lana called for her colleague, but she couldn’t discern an intelligible reply over the ringing in her ears. She screamed, but no sound escaped her. Lana imagined, rather than heard, the screech of the dense steel door as it was forcefully ejected from its frame. White light engulfed her. The darkness followed quickly after.“...ana....wake up!...won’t believe this...Lana!...somewhere....other side!”Ten thousand needles pierced every inch of Lana’s exposed skin. Or at least, that’s how she felt. She squirmed, but two strong hands restrained her movements by holding her arms tightly. Annoyed, she began to kick and wiggle, but the arms held her tighter. She drew in her breath to scream. Pain ripped through her chest, and a large hand clamped over her mouth, stifling the sound that wasn’t going to make it out anyway. She tried to open her eyes, and swore she could hear them creaking. Light flooded her vision; slowly, the watery edges of her sight dried and she was able to make out Theron, disheveled, his goggles perched precariously on one corner of his head.“Theron...what’s....what happened?”He smiled, wide enough to nearly crack his face, and held up an apple. “It worked.”Lana sat bolt upright. “Theron, what the...?” She surveyed their surroundings. Gray brick towered above them on three sides, and sunlight beat down upon them. There was a freshness about the air that unsettled her. She felt out of place, foreign, different. Lana swallowed. “What...where are we?”“Honey, honey. Look around you.”

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