Project New Era

Chapter 1: Push To Start

Chapter 1: Push To Start

Thomas eyes' shot open, a headache pounding straight from his forehead. He reached up and touched his head and felt something wet, it was blood. "Shit," Thomas said as he stood up. He was dazed, but after a quick once over the head wound seemed the worst of it, and thankfully it seemed mostly superficial.

Thomas was a few feet away from his shuttle. It was clear that it was damaged from the experimental launch, smoke furling up from the wreckage. He looked up at the sky and noticed southern lights covered the sky. These southern lights weren't normal-they were contacting cosmic energy from Thomas's shuttle coming into impact with this... place... although this place looked extremely close to the outback of Australia. But that couldn't be... Project New Era was supposed to travel to another dimension, not just another continent. Thomas then realized he didn't have his co-pilot in sight.

"Shit! Jonas!" Thomas said, running to the shuttle to look for his co-pilot. "Jonas!" Thomas said, looking for his friend. Jonas was nowhere to be found. "No," Thomas said, leaving the shuttles. "Jonas!" Thomas shouted looking for his friend. There was no answer... Goddamnit, come on Jonas... What if he burned up in the launch? Or was in pieces somewhere else? "Jonas!" Thomas shouted again now looking outside the shuttle. Still no answer, suddenly Thomas heard a beeping sound from the shuttle. Thomas looked at the shuttle; his eyes widening as he saw that it was about to self-destruct-a feature the feds claimed would make sure it never fell into enemy hands. "Shit!" Thomas shouted as he ran away from the blast. He jumped into a ditch as the shuttle exploded behind him. After a moment the heat died down and Thomas came out from the ditch to look at the exploded shuttle. "So much for that," He lamented while sitting down in the ditch.

Thomas noticed that it was getting dark and knew he had to find shelter. "Is that a road?" Thomas asked himself looking closely at the road ahead of him. "It is!" Thomas said as he stood up and started towards it. Thomas looked at the road-it seemed normal enough, grey asphalt with yellow and white markings-similar to a road from his dimension. Thomas knelt down and felt the rough surface with his hand. "Well, all roads lead somewhere." He said as he started walking down the road. Nightfall had come and it was starting to get cold. The southern lights were shining bright as Thomas walked along the road. Thomas tried to remember everything that had happened before the crash as he continued walking.

(Flashback)

"Thomas 'Titan' Gomez?" Commander Gunner said, looking at Thomas's file, then glancing at the young man in front of him.

"Yes sir," Thomas said, doing his best to stand up straight and make eye contact with his commander. Gunner smiled and then pressed a button on his desk, making a door open to reveal another potential candidate for the research project, Project New Era. "Jonas?" Thomas said looking at his childhood friend.

"Thomas? You're applying for Project New Era too?" Jonas asked, looking at the familiar face.

"Well it was my parents' project before they died..." Thomas said, "Figure'd I carry on the family legacy..."

Gunner then cleared his throat getting their attention. Both snapped to attention and looked at their commander. "Both of you will be part of this project," He said, taking an appraising glance at the two in front of him. "Thomas 'Titan' Gomez and Jonas 'Jinx' Miller you both will be the first to use Project New Era to uncover new paths to new dimensions," Gunner said with a strict tone.

"Wait, so your parents were working on technology for dimension travel?" Jonas asked, looking at Thomas.

"Yep, and they succeeded with me finishing the project." Thomas said with a smirk.