“Simon?!? Simon, it's working!” 

Her machines whirred and turned as the basement darkened, lit only by the blinking lights around us. Truthfully speaking, I was expecting a portal of some sort. A swirling vortex, like something out of those Jules Verne novels. I never expected to be swallowed by darkness. Completely enveloped and falling, yet standing still all the same. I knew I was dreaming when a creature crawled next me, suspended in the air by an unseen force and pushing itself forward.

 “Simon! Simon, are you seeing this?!?” 

I walked past the floating monstrosity towards Beth, climbing up onto her platform.

 “Simon… Simon, we did it!” 

I braced myself against the railing, peering out to see an aquarium of fish in the air. They swam and swirled around, yet no water could be seen near them. A moon appeared overhead, whatever ceiling space that had been there was now gone completely, replaced by an empty void. It’s light shone down on a pyramid of metal, bearing foregin alien symbols on its sides. A wooden ship docked on our shore, carrying enough animals to populate the largest jungle and easily overrun us. Stars began to pierce through the veil of darkness that covered everything in sight, our workspace now infinite. 

“Simon… The others must be informed of this…” 

I grumbled as a small mechanical beast shrank up next to me, shining a beam down on our wiring. “How do you intend to inform them? There’s no door, no ceiling, even the walls are gone. We could turn off the machine, but we might risk it never turning back on again. Not to mention, we don’t even know if the machine can stop all this anymore”. A gear fell from the wall, tumbling along the floor, one of the few structures still remaining. 

“We have an entirely new world at our fingertips, I'm sure we can find a way”. 

A metal dog bounced onto the railing, walking down its side and even crawling along the bottom faced upside-down. 

“This is beyond us, this was a mistake”. Beth practically growled at me, pushing me aside and walking towards the comically large shut-off switch. 

“Beth, no! You don't know what it will do!” 

She grinned as she wrapped her arms around the lever, gesturing to the space around her. “We didn't know what would happen when we turned it on either! This is science, Simon!” She began heaving the lever down, prompting me to begin running towards her. 

“Science?!? This is madness!” The switch swung down before I could reach them, sending Beth flying from the excessive force. “No! No! No!” I tried forcing the lever back up to no avail, watching as the stars in the distance vanished one by one. “Beth, what did you do?!?”

 She propped herself against the railing, wildly looking around as the fish drowned and the moon crumbled. The ark drove itself forward, crashing into the metal pyramid.

 “Beth!” The platform collapsed, taking Beth from my sight and sending her who knows where, I rushed over to tried and see her, met only with the sight of a massive swirling vortex. Fire and smoke spewed forth from its embrace, slipping into everything that it could meet. “Beth!” 

She clung to a metal carriage, falling down into the portal. It sucked in everyhting in sight, dragging down even the crumpled remains of the moon. “Beth!” She was pulled down into the vortex, disappearing into its infinite center and vanishing. There was a bright flash of light, and then nothing. I stood alone on a broken platform, accompanied by the destroyed remains of Beth’s lab. Whatever work we had done here would be forgotten, even by those Beth would call friends. A white flag fell on the ground next to me, bearing an orange eye to see all before it. I kicked it away, causing it to drift through the air and fall on a metal pyramid, one of the few things still intact. I turned and walked away, wanting no part in the story yet to come…