The Dimension Theory

It Was Just A Science Project

"No, no, no!" Snapped Ingrid, pushing Terrance's hands away from the wiring. "This one goes there, that one goes there!"

"If you'd explained it better," Terrance huffed, attempting to whack her with his makeshift screwdriver, "I wouldn't be making these mistakes! Do you even know what we're making?!"

"It's a cake baking machine," Ingrid deadpanned, "pass the frosting."

"My God," Terrance murmured, reaching for some gummy worms on the table next to them.

"You know what we're doing, Terrance. It's a dimension hopper, and I'll be damn well surprised if it works. This is only a dumbass science project, remember?"

"Yeah, one that's gonna blow our grades,"

"If I'm lucky it'll blow me up," Ingrid muttered, making sure Terrance couldn't hear her.

Truth be told, Ingrid was suicidal. After dropping several grades, quitting drum practice, and her adoptive parents getting a divorce, things were getting worse and worse. The only thing that kept her from cutting the line, was Terrance.

However, he didn't know. She had some faith in getting better, because if Terrance could, she could. For background information, Terrance had been through some sticky issues with his identity.

He was an Aboriginal, from Australia, but was part of the stolen generation, when the British army enslaved the natives there. In the old days, he would have been called a half-caste. The other thing was, Terrance had once been a girl. His name had also once been Tina.

However, after some hard thinking about female or male, and his coming to terms with his sexuality about liking both genders, he decided to have surgery.

And now he was Terrance Hardy Ford, a boy who was proud to call himself an Australian. Since his recent change, his attitude had also gone positive, after feeling more comfortable with his new body.

Ingrid Amirah Deck was the total opposite. She was an Iraqi British, and adopted too.

She had suffered from humiliation from an early age, with children in her class calling her a terrorist. It had continued for most of her life, until her adoptive parents had split up, taking her to a new school with her mother. Ingrid still had regular nightmares, from hearing the glass smashing outside her door.

However, then she met Terrance, when he had still been a girl. After becoming loose friends, a visit to Terrance's house tied the knot, and the two now confided everything in each other. Well, almost everything. It had in fact, been Ingrid who'd confronted Terrance's parents about how he was feeling, and had convinced them to let him be his rightful gender.

Ever since, the two had been inseprable, not going anywhere without each other.
And in the moment their bizzare story starts, they were trying to complete their crazy machine.

"Hey Ingrid, you done with the power coupling?" Terrance called, swinging his dark brown hair out of his face.

"Yah, huh," Ingrid answered, flicking her abnormally green eyes to the mentioned part. She tucked a strand of short black hair behind her ear, and stood up.

They both looked on at their hard work, side by side.

"Doesn't look too bad," Ingrid mused. "All it needs now, is some black paint."

"We are not painting it black," Terrance said, rolling his eyes. "Remind me again, what does it do, if it will work?"

"Well," Ingrid began, "it will transport you to a different universe of your choice. However, you can only get back if there is another hopper on the other side."

"Let's just hope it doesn't work then," Terrance laughed, before throwing a cloth over the machine.

Just then, the bell rang.

"What do we have?" Asked Terrance, as he set the object carefully on a trolley, as Ingrid checked her timetable.

A rare smirk took over her features. "Science,"

Terrance groaned, before dragging the machine out of the janitor closet, which they had been working on for the past half an hour. He turned to Ingrid inquisitively, as she shut the door quickly.

"Speaking hypothetically, what would happen if it did work, and we got sucked it?"

"Then I guess we just have to be prepared to die," answered Ingrid.

"So helpful," muttered Terrance, as they made their way to the science lab.

They were the last ones to get there, courtesy of their massive, crazy invention.

"Terrance, Ingrid," their batty old teacher said, as they walked through the door. Well, Ingrid swaggered, and Terrance shuffled, taking the machine with him. "Since you're so late," she said, pointing at the clock that was only one minute past, "you can go first!"

"Nosey old hag," mumbled Ingrid, pulling the cloth off.

"Ok guys," Terrance said eagerly, born an actor, "this is a dimension hopper."

Already the teacher was looking dejected and skeptical. She'd had a lot of crazy stuff from these two punks, but this? This was a new low.

"It will transport you to a universe of your choice!" Terrance continued. "If you please, Ingrid."

The fourteen year old rolled her eyes, before pressing a bright red button. The machine stuttered a coughed, before smoke poured from it.

"Ingrid?" Terrance asked, clearly confused.

"Hang on," Ingrid said, "maybe it's the coolent. I made sure that the Uranium was stable though..."

"Uranium?!" The teacher shrieked. "Where the hell did you get that from?! It's radioactive!"

Ingrid ignored the screaming teacher, and knelt down and opened the Uranium box.
"Let me see!" Terrance demanded, putting a hand on her shoulder, as Ingrid pulled a few wires out of the way.

"Nothing's wrong with the coolent..." Ingrid muttered, "I'm checking the Uranium. Maybe it just didn't work."

"Stand back, children!" The teacher yelled. "To the back of the class! That stuff is dangerous! Terrance, Ingrid! Get away from there, now!"

She reached a hand out, and gently prodded the Uranium. Then, just for a fraction of a second, Terrance thought her saw the slightest spark of black come from Ingrid's outstretched index finger. It disappeared into the Uranium, as quickly as it had come.

Then there was a noise that could not be described with words, a noise of such deafening power, such like one of a nuclear reactor exploding. Out came a blinding colour of white, scratching out everything in it's path, as it crawled into the room, faster than human eyes can account for.

Then Ingrid and Terrance found themselves being pulled into a multitude of rainbows, all colours, impossible to describe, some happy, some sad, some majestic, some darker. Then black took over their vision, as they spiraled down into nothingness.

Then it was blue, a blue tube of silence, which was impossible to get out of. They were both frozen, stiff like China dolls, as they were thrown down the marine passage.
Then darkness took over again, sending them into the unknown, as their unconscious bodies were carried away, and away, from the world that they knew.

The other side of the universe waited.