A MILLION MILES AWAY | xiao

- ꕤ 3: THE OTTO PROJECT

SHUT IT DOWN!

IT'S UNSTABLE.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Y/N? Y/N!

SOMEONE GET THEM OUT OF THERE!

. . .

It was a searing burst of light,
and then you were gone.

The scientist who watched the whole ordeal fell to the floor. Their chests heaved with anxiety as they tried to comprehend the situation at hand. The panic spread throughout their body, paralyzing them into a state of shock.

Nobody moved, nobody talked. It was dead silent.

Your father's eyes were wide open, too shocked to even send out his next declaration. He was the head of the operation, he created this teleportation machine. He agreed to fulfill your wishes of being the subject of the Otto Project.

And now you were gone.

They looked at the big monitor, hoping to find your signal despite the accident. Maybe your watch worked despite the blast of energy that occurred. But alas, there was none. You were in an unknown reality with no way of communication.

"...Shu, what happened to the machine?" Your father finally spoke. The thick air of quiet broke as everyone turned to look at him.

Shu, who worked the machine, quickly looked down at his monitor. He was fairly close to you and your father, you especially. He plays a lot of games with you from your father's understanding.

"There was nothing wrong, Sir." He concluded. Your father's eyes furrowed, walking up to the screen himself. He read every single piece of data, seeing no mistakes made.

The line of frequency was correct, the speed of the machine was correct, the energy pattern—

"The energy pattern was wrong, but barely. Look."

When an energy pattern is wrong, it could cause casualties in multiversal travel.

The teleportation device first creates a rift in the multiverse using the correct speed and freuquency. After, you are put into the device, becoming pure energy that will turn back to human once you arrive.

That is the correct order of business, yet your energy pattern was wrong. This could happen due to your body's constitution not matching that of the universe you were supposed to be sent to. Thus, you sent yourself to another universe. One unknown and unplanned.

With this, wherever you are now, your cells could have well been rewritten. You could have gained abilities and new talents for the best-case scenario. Meanwhile, you could die on the spot for the worst.

Whichever case, this panicked your father and all the scientists in the room.

"Let's wait for the watch. Once that reconnects with our system, let's make our rescue operation." Your father instructed, rubbing his temples in frustration.

The Otto Project.

An operation founded by your mother and father. The teleportation device was created for multiverse travel. The name of this project was suggested by you. Your father had no idea what you meant but knew it was based off a character.

Only 5 seconds has passed, yet your father couldn't help but wonder how long it's been for you. Time is a funny thing in the whole scheme of things. It could be a minute in one universe and a whole year in another.

The only way to make the flow of time equal is through a link. When two universes communicate with each other, time stabilizes.

10 seconds, everyone has stood up from the floor and sat on their chairs. They patiently waited for a blink of light on the black monitor. Every milisecond could be an hour wherever you are. Communication could come back any second now.

11, 12, 13—

"There's something blinking! It's faint but I saw it!" Someone yelled.

"Y/N must be reconnecting. Good. Try to find the universe and fix the frequencies for communication." Your father sighed in relief, clenching his fists.

"On it!" Shu exclaimed.

It was only a blink of light,
but a flame of hope ignited.