Dr. Nia Eze stood in the center of the hallowed halls of the workstation, her heart was beating rapidly in her chest as she stared at the computer screens all around her. She could hear the hums and mutterings of the scientists around her as they hurried about in preparation for the big opening.
She closed her eyes for a few seconds, drowning the noise out as she focused on her raging heartbeat. When she opened them again, her palms were sweaty and her fingers were trembling. She shifted on her feet, using two of her fingers to adjust her spectacles but that did nothing to calm her frayed nerves.
Then, as if from another planet, she heard a shrill announcement through the mounted speakers; “Berlin’s Hub will be live in fifteen minutes.”
This only seemed to make her feel even worse as she felt her chest tighten and her breath ceased in her throat. When she felt a tap on her shoulder, it took all her strength not to scream out as she spun on her heel. She let out a breath as she saw that it was only Brian, her assistant. He was smiling nervously at her as he clutched a notepad with one hand and a pen in the other. His tie was askew and his labcoat looked way too big for him.
“We’re finally here,” he said to her. “Anytime now, the hub will be live and all the pain and sacrifices will pay off.”
Nia heard him but she could just tell that he was trying so hard to hold in his fear. Unable to say anything in response, she smiled weakly and turned away, hurrying off as fast as her legs could carry her.
“Nia! Where are you going?” Brian called after her looking perplexed. “Nia!!”
She ignored him as she hurried into the hallway and burst through the first door she found open. Thankfully, it was empty because everyone in the lab was at the workstation. She gently lowered herself into the chair as she massaged her chest, forcing her breath back under control. She took in slow breaths, one after the other and soon, the trembling of her fingers reduced and she finally felt like she owned her own body.
At the desk she was sitting, she stared at the blank screen of a 3D monitor. She saw her reflection stare back at her, and she remembered just how she came to be in this situation, carrying the future and ambitions of The Organization on her shoulders. This was her first time handling such a task, and even more, it was the first time anyone was trying such a task.
For the first time since humans made Mars habitable, they were looking to create a more affordable means of communication between the planets. So far, communication has been done via thousands of satellites hovering in space with the International Space Station acting as a Central Office for all interplanetary communications. Operators on the ISS then forwarded said calls to Mars. It was a long and expensive process and it was no news that whoever provided the cheaper method would own the Telecom industry forever.
Now, The Organization decided to be the first across the finish line. Many companies had tried, but they all failed woefully, and billions of dollars went down the drain. Soon, it seemed like a pipe dream, until Dr. Nia Eze theorized that having both planets connected via the internet would be a better solution. This was more ambitious than what every other company had tried. And as expected, her plans were turned down almost immediately. She kept fighting to convince them and running experiments, she was so sure that it would work and promised to resign if she failed.
Soon, her persistence paid off and the Berlin Project was greenlit. Nia was given all the funding she could ever need and she put it to good use. She bought large expanses of land in select countries all over the world and mounted satellite dishes the size of rockets. There were thousands of them scattered all across the globe. The same act was repeated on Mars, placing high-capacity satellite dishes there as well. Next, they built a Space Station that was orbiting around the two planets. This was more tricky because they had to go against several world powers to achieve this feat.
Now, seven whole years after she started it all, it was finally time to connect to Mars through the internet. Their satellite dishes on Mars were ready and Earth’s were ready as well. Once the countdown time hit zero, they would test the project and she would know if she would go down in history as the woman who wasted billions of dollars, or the woman who made interplanetary communication easier.
She heard a knock on the door. She turned to see Brian poke his head in, “Three more minutes Nia, you don’t wanna miss this, do you?”
She sucked in a deep breath and nodded. It was time she stopped being so scared. She had already come so far, panicking at the finish line was not going to change anything. She adjusted her spectacles and smiled at Brian, then she stood up to follow him.
“Berlin’s Hub will be live in two minutes.” The automated voice said through the speakers.
She walked back into the workstation, feeling more confident than before. She was ready to test out her creation, ready to handle however it went. The countdown went on to less than a minute… and then five… four… three… two…
“One.”
Nia pushed the button and for a split second, the lights in the workstation flashed. Then, the computers all lit up as satellites all around Earth began to transmit to the main hub in Berlin. They watched everything on the screens mounted all over the workstation.
“Berlin is on!” A scientist said feverishly, his fingers flying over his keyboards. “All satellites are locked in and ready.”
Nia waited a beat and then nodded, “Do it.”
The signal was transmitted at once to their Space station where they had scientists ready and from there, it was reconfigured and sent down to the Mars Hub.
Everyone waited a beat…
“The internet is up and running!” Brian said.
“Now, for the moment of truth…” Nia said as she took out her phone and punched in a few keys. Everyone in the workstation looked at her as if she held the key to life itself. She placed a video call to one of her scientists on Mars. She stared with bated breath as she watched it try to connect, her free hand bunched into a fist as she muttered prayers under her breath.
Suddenly, her phone’s screen was filled with the face of her colleague on Mars.
“Hello Nia,” her colleague said, to the hearing of everyone. “Congratulations, you did it!”
All around her, everyone erupted in cheers as they clapped and encouraged her. It had been seven backbreaking years of hard work, but it had finally come to an end. She was about to give a speech to thank them when she noticed something odd. A bright light was coming from the plant, outside the workstation. Somewhere in the middle of all the satelite dishes.
Her first thought was fire. She wondered if the satellites she mounted had been unable to withstand the workload. Feeling her terror come back in full force, she ran outside to the plant and stopped dead in her tracks. It was not fire, she had never seen anything like it before. It seemed to be made purely of light, swirling and swirling in the air, giving off different colors.
“What the hell is that?” Brian asked as he came up behind her.
Nia’s mouth fell open as she finally understood what it was, “it’s a portal.”
Connecting to Mars via the internet seemed to have created a form of interdimensional rift.
“A portal? To where?”
Nia looked at him and smiled, she suddenly knew that however the project went, this was a huge win for her and the Organization. Who cared about taking the internet to Mars? She was going to find out what lay on the other side of the rift.
“I’m going in.” She said.
“I’m coming with you,” Brian told her and hurried over to grab some tools.
This was going to be one of the greatest discoveries of the universe. None of them knew it yet, but they had opened a doorway into the parallel world hidden deep within the internet. A world that would shake the earth and change everything as they knew it. A world that would come to be known as The Pixelverse.
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