Chapter 1

It was a good day when our story begins. Well, by the standards of the year 2067, it WAS a good day. Days like that rarely pops up. Earth was battered completely by the force of nature, which was triggered by none other than human beings of course.

What kind of destruction? Well imagine this. The ice on the poles are gone. GONE. Coastal cities are under five-meters of sea water. Half of the animal species are extinct. More than three quarters of crops are struggling to survive. Earth is sick. Real sick. Humans are doomed.

Well then you might think, this story has a similar storyline to the movie Interstellar. But keep your mind off that thought and focus on this story. And no, the author did not copy from Interstellar even though the movie did strike inspiration in him.

The sky outside was a striking blue. The sun was shining bright, bearing it's heat on the Earth. The story's protagonist was walking towards the kitchen to grab a quick snack.

Mr. Conor Sam was a physicist of humble origins. Even though he is a physician, he is not the smartest one and not the most disciplined one. He tends to exaggerate information and data which he actually did while doing his doctorate. That very same doctorate got rejected and his credibility was compromised.

He got fired from the institute he worked, and was banned for several years from approaching physics again. Luckily, a certain professor from MIT helped him gain another doctorate, one made with honesty. His paper was published, and he was soon re-accepted into the world of physicists.

Okay yada yada yada, Conor was working from home on that beautiful day when the call from lab came. A call that changed his whole life.

'Yeah, hello? What's up? Anything new??' Conor asked as soon as he took the call.

'Yes, we need you at the lab right now. Hurry up.' The other person said. Wondering what the hell was going on, Conor wore his jacket and rushed to the lab with his old car.

'Ah, you are here. Come on, the others are expecting you.' Prof. Brent greeted Conor once Conor reached the lab. They walked silently for a while until they reached the conference room. It was filled by 5 more people.

'Hello Conor. Long time no see.' Said Dr Maria. She was a close friend of Conor. Pretty much everyone in the conference room was Conor's friend.

'Alright, cut the formalities and get to business.' Said Dr Jackson. He stood up and approached the smart board on the wall. 'Look here. This is a graph of Earth's gravitation reading generated both from land and space. There are anomalies at some places.' He continued.

'The anomaly we see here is nothing like what we can imagine. Gravity gets times more stronger around them, and time dilation is very high. We don't know exactly how much but we know it's very high.' Said Prof. Brent.

'These anomalies- they can't be detected by normal people. Only machines can work out it's there.' Dr Maria said.

'Wait, wait. Why are you explaining these to me?' Conor asked.

'Well, now you've asked that, look here.' Dr Maria said and pointed to the smart board. 'There has been many reports of people going missing around where these anomalies occurs. So we thought maybe it is a-'

'A wormhole?' Conor finished her sentence. Everybody else in the room nodded in synchrony.

'We are not very sure it is a wormhole. I think it leads not to a galaxy in space, but it leads to another reality.' Prof. Brent explained.

'Okay. Let's assume it is a wormhole. What am I here for?' Conor asked.

'In the light of science, and in the name of pursuing knowledge and excellence-' Dr Maria started but was cut off by Prof. Brent.

'We want you to go explore the place. The reality inside the hole. Can you do that?' he asked. Conor was taken aback at this.

'Wait, what? You want me to go explore an unknown reality? One that we have zero knowledge of?' Conor asked in a loud voice.

'Think about all the knowledge we can get if you go there. Who knows, you might even manage to save all those people in there.' Dr Maria said.

'But how will I get out? Aren't wormholes unstable??' Conor asked.

'We are not sure if it is a wormhole or not. It might be something else.' Prof. Brent repeated what he said before.

'We'll get you out of it, don't worry.' Said Dr Jackson, who had been quiet this whole time.

'So, when do I go?' Conor asked.

'Hold up. There are several things you should be aware of first. As I said, time dilation is very drastic around the hole. There's a high chance that it will be like Miller's planet situation.' Dr Maria explained.

'So an hour in that reality will be equal to seven years on this reality?' Conor asked.

'No. It will be more than seven years. As Dr Maria said earlier, time dilation is very high there so it should be worse then Miller's planet.' Dr Jackson spoke up.

'But then, how bad?' Conor asked. Dr Jackson just shrugged as an answer.

'Okay. So how do I get back?' Conor asked.

'Easy. You will spawn in a specific location in that reality. If the hole doesn't collapse, you should be able to come back by going back to the exact spot you spawned on.' Prof. Brent explained.

'Aight. When am I going?' Conor enquired, his eyes twinkling.