CHAPTER ONE
Aiden, Aria, and other armed rebels were taking cover behind a truck early in the morning. Aidan had his crosshairs aimed at the President, standing on a twenty-foot platform alongside his arm security detail, General Fagans in another fellow.
"Aiden, this is your chance. Take out the President now. "Aria said.
Aiden focuses crosshairs on the President's head.
"Aidan now!" Aria shouted. "We're missing our window of opportunity."
"I can't do it," he spoke.
Aria lowered her weapon. "What!" she asked in disbelief. "Why?"
* * * * * *
MONTHS BEFORE
Aidan sat in his lab, four levels below the earth's surface, approximately a block long and wide. The walls were transparent; used for projecting screens. Inside the ceiling were dome lights that shined bright, and in the center of the room was an oval pit fifteen feet deep; it had double barred railings going around it, and the steps were adjacent to one another.
The clear door in the front of the lab slid open, and two of Aidan's closest friends entered; Chloe Barness, who's also his assistant, and along with his childhood friend Jason Dietrich, who's also a Captain in the United States Marine Corps at the age of twenty-four.
Jason and Aidan were both studs, having graduated high school at sixteen. Soon after, the two of them obtained bachelor's degrees. Finally, they separated; Jason attended Officer Candidate School while Aiden continued graduate school and received a master's degree at Temple University.
After hard work and dedication, Aidan is now the CEO of the most prominent technology and cyber security company (AIMS TECHNOLOGY). This landed him significant contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense, private militaries, government contractors, and many other companies.
Aidan was standing and typing in commands at a clear desk workstation across from the pit. He looked at the sound of the door opening and branded a big smile at the sight of Jason.
Jason shared the same emotional smile, "Aidan Aims," he said, walking over to him and extending his arm, "how long has it been? Four years?"
Aidan accepted the handshake and said, "That sounds about right." He then released his grip, "what brings you home?"
"I was told your parents recently passed away and your fiancé soon after. I'm sorry, brother, you must be going through trying times."
Aidan exhaled slowly and sharply. "Thank you for that... However, I'm hanging in there—I keep myself distracted with work. Sorry I haven't reached out to you," he said, "though I'm a bit curious; how'd you find out?"
Chloe made a small gesture and said, "I told him."
Aidan looked surprised, "you two know each other?"
"Not only do we know each other, but We're also dating," she said shyly.
"Uhm...wow—when did this happen?" he asked, taken aback.
Jason was also surprised. He thought Chloe had already mentioned their relationship status to Aidan because they'd been exclusive for a few months. "I see you haven't told him yet, Chlo."
"Well, I was," she looked to Aidan, "but so much was going on with your family—I was waiting for the right time to tell you."
Though Aidan found her reasoning legit, he was still curious about their affair, "so how did this happen? How did you two hook up?"
Chloe exhaled sharply, "Jason called a few times when you were unavailable, and things kinda got serious between us."
"You never told me Jason called."
"That's because I put it in your logs like I do with every call you're unavailable for."
Aidan made a small gesture, "right, I haven't checked my logs since Aria passed away. I've been so busy down here—anyway, I'm happy for you two."
"Thanks," Jason said, feeling empathy for him—he hated to see his friend feeling down and disconnected from the world, so he decided to change the subject. "What are you working on?"
"I figured out a way to see my parents and Aria."
Chloe and Jason stood there flabbergasted.
Well, so much for changing the subject—my friend is losing his mind, Jason thought. "Hey, Aid, should we be worried?"
"C'mon Jay, of course not," he said, patting him on the shoulder.
"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Chloe asked.
Aidan smiled, "I'll show you...follow me."
They followed him to a workstation behind the railing near the pit, and he picked up
an object that looked like two black sticks stuck together. He then spread it apart, turning it into a tablet resembling a piece of glass. He started typing in commands, and seconds later, a big black machine shaped like an egg appeared in the middle of the pit.
Jason walked down the steps into the pit and touched and observed the machine. "So many questions," he said, "where did this just come from? And is this a time machine?" he asked in amazement.
Aidan smiled and shook his head no, "but that is what I was trying to build. I Couldn't quite get the math right. However, I built this by chance, and it's just as good." he said walking into the pit, "this baby here, will allow me to cross over onto a parallel universe."
"Parallel universe? what's that?" Chloe asked.
"It's an alternate universe, parallel from our own, where we exist but different versions of ourselves."
"That sounds crazy," Chloe said.
"I know it does, and most people couldn't possibly fathom the idea of existing in an entirely different universe."
"Uhm...have you tried it?" Chloe asked.
"I've only sent the machine over a few times. I didn't physically go myself—see the cameras?" he said, pointing to the top of the machine, "I recorded it and just finished looking at footage where the machine landed in the woods before you two arrived."
Jason continued rubbing and admiring the machine, "why haven't you gone yourself?"
"I had to run more tests and diagnostics to see if I could physically cross.
Everything checks out perfectly. I planned on going right before the two of you showed up."
"To do what exactly?" she asked.
Aiden had told them that he just wanted to see his loved ones one last time. Furthermore, it had broken his heart not getting the chance to correctly say goodbye to Aria because he was on a business trip in California when Aria's mother called and told him that her illness had worsened. While on his flight back to Philadelphia, he received the bad news that she had passed away.
Jason patted him on his shoulder and told him he was on leave for the next few weeks; in the meantime, he was willing to go with him.
Chloe thought the entire idea was crazy, and she wondered how he would find his family in another universe? "Do you even know where they're at?"
He typed in a few commands on his tablet, and a hologram display of a map appeared, hovering over the table. "I don't know where my parents are; however, kind of where Aria is but not her exact location. By looking at this map, the geography is the same as ours, so she's in Michigan."
"How did you figure that out?" Jason asked.
"The few times I sent the machine over, I used the program to hack into their satellites and servers. I ran a facial recognition program with a photo of Aria and got a hit pointing to
Michigan."
"Wow, that's impressive— Since we were kids, you've always been very good with
computers and technology. We should go check this out." Jason said.
Aidan appreciated that Jason was willing to go with him. However, Aiden didn't know what he was getting himself into. All the while, he didn't want to put his friends in jeopardy if something were to go wrong.
"So, what do you say?" Jason asked.
Aiden shook his head no, "I—I Don't know, Jay. I don't want anything to happen to you."
Jason hissed, "I'll be fine— I'm a Marine."
"I'm going to," Chloe said
Jason Smiled, "Why not... we're going on a real adventure."