The Wonders Of Vast Emptiness

Chapter One: The Familiar Feeling Of Monotony

Sam Nightun was looking out the window of his dorm room. He had only started school 3 days ago, and yet somehow he had already felt bored of college. Sam noticed a quite large fly had flown in front of the window, or perhaps it was just perspective. He rolled up the daily paper and hit the fly. He then suddenly heard somebody coming in. Turning around, he soon just realized that it was his roommate, Mack. "Got any classes soon, Sam?" he asked.

"In about 30 minutes," Sam replied. "Yeah, me too. I had to pop over to Mrs. Ploun's class to pick up my homework. I may have to pull another all-nighter." Sam continued to gaze out the window, and then he saw a policeman putting up some security tape. "Do you know what that is?" asked Sam, pointing to the tape. "Oh, that man? PC Willy. Complete bloke. I jogged around the area to get some exercise, and couldn't even do one lap before he dragged me right back to class...." Mack explained, but then was cut off by Sam. "No, I meant the tape. Any idea?"

"I don't know. Judging by the IQ of Willy, I'm guessing he probably dropped a donut down a sinkhole or something." Sam thought something more sinister might have occurred. Sam, without any warning, darted out of the dorm room, and headed outside. PC Willy was busy inspecting whatever was being covered by the tape. "Oh, it's you! Tell your bloody friend if he comes one more step towards this area, I will lock him up, I will."

"Sir, I was actually wondering what this area is," Sam told the PC. "Sorry, lad, I'm afraid I can't tell you even a word of what's going on 'ere. Strictly business of myself and my other fellow colleagues. Now, run along and get to class." Already, Sam knew that Mack was right about the PC not being the sharpest tool in the shed. "But I just want to know what happe-" Sam began, but was quickly interrupted by Willy. "If I tell you, will you let me get back to my duties?" Sam nodded, and then the PC told him.

"Complete idiot decided it was "cool" to throw some thingamajig in the muck. Some weird, glowy thing. I'm not going to touch it, after an unfortunate accident happened to my great Aunt Pearl. NOW LEAVE ME BE!" Sam was taken aback by this sudden change in tone, and then the PC spoke again. "Sorry.... My blood sugar gets low quite often." He then liberated a quite large donut from his pocket, and began munching on it.

Sam decided to leave, and he also saw in the corner of his eye an old woman walking quite fast up to the PC. "I'm sorry, I've seemed to have lost my way. I want to get to the market, but somehow I've ended up here." The PC looked at this old woman, and said, "Well, love, unfortunately I have a very important job involving strict matters, so I'm afraid I cannot help you." The old woman's face became very upset. She then pushed him over, and this was quite an amazing feat by any standard, as the PC was quite rotund.

"OI! Oi! None of that, love! I should lock you up for malfeasance!" The old woman chuckled and walked away. "STOP THAT BLOODY MADWOMAN!" screeched PC Willy. Sam smiled to himself, thought nothing of the fact, and then went to Chemistry class.

Due to this unexpected and also entertaining few minutes, Sam thought today was going to be less monotonous than usual. After maths, Sam went back to his dorm. He heard the noise of footsteps, and he thought that Mack was pacing around their room, as this was regular. He then opened the door, only to find out that Mack wasn't there. It was the old woman that had toppled the PC over.

"Hello there, young man," she said. "What are you doing here?" asked Sam. "I just wanted to apologize for that idiotic PC's irresponsible behavior." "Oh no, it's fine. And also, how did you do that? The PC isn't known for being a paperweight." "Actually, that's what I have come to talk to you about. You see, you've been invited." Sam was very confused by this. "Where, to another college?" he asked very thickly.

"No, you have been invited to take part in an experiment with humankind." Sam did not like the sound of this. "Listen, if you want to test things on me, you can forget it. I doubt my parents would be very pleased if they found out my career was a test subject." "No, not that either. You see, we are testing out a gateway that can discover beyond the world. The vast unknown. We may find cities, towns, countries, even other people."

A gateway? Sam was still very put off by this entire thing. "I mean, I suppose I could." "I am good friends with someone who happens to know the leader of this school. You will be excused from all lessons until we get back." Now this made Sam ponder the matter. Should he put all of his trust into this old woman, whom he didn't even know? Or should he go back to the life that he knew, the life that was so easy-going?

He decided to put his trust into this woman. "Ok, I'll do it." The old woman looked very pleased. "What's your name? I'm sorry, I didn't pick it up." "Sam. Sam Nightun."

"Nice to meet you, Sam Nightun. I hope we become very good friends. My name is Edna. And now let's begin....." she said, taking a glowing thing out of her pocket. It looked very much like the thing that had been described by the PC. She tapped it once, twice, and then they were gone.