Call for help
"Someone help!" he shouted in vain as he began to run towards the abort switch, only to feel his momentum cease as his body felt like it had begun to float. His cries grew quiet as his body shimmered and shifted, losing cohesion as the dynamos on either side of the machine glowed a bright white. When the countdown reached zero all the lights in the lab flickered out as an intense flash filled the room, followed by darkness. A few minutes later the power flickered to life, which revealed a completely empty platform as the computer screen chirped with the words 'Transfer Complete' flashing on it.
Daniel found himself floating, his consciousness slowly returning to him as his mind rebooted. Very quickly the events that had transpired came back to him and he realized he had just been transported somewhere other than the platform that was only few feet away from his origin. It was also possible, he realized, that he could be nowhere at all. Luckily no matter where he was it wouldn't be for long, part of the failsafes that had been built into the machine was that after eight hours if nothing appeared on the other pad the transferred matter would return to its original destination in the condition that it left. Of course he had no idea what that meant for him at the current time, especially as he felt a burning sensation in his lungs. When it grew more intense he also realized that the nothingness he floated in felt very... wet, and when he twisted his body around in sudden realization he could feel the water he was surrounded by shift around him.
After a few seconds of frantic looking around he saw a shimmering light and decided that was the best place to go to and began to swim, bubbles escaping him as he made a frantic push towards what he hoped was the surface. When his head finally broke into the air he let out a deep gasp and filled his lungs with fresh oxygen to abate the burning in his chest. When he finally got his breathing under control he looked around as he treaded water and when he saw a moonlit shoreline not too far away he started to paddle towards it. As he continued to move he was surprised at the ease of his movements through the water, normally he was not a very adept swimmer and had trouble treading water but at the moment he easily kept his head above the surface as he made his way to land.
When he finally reached the shore though he flopped onto his side and panted heavily from the exertion of the swim. The cold water seemed to have numbed his skin, he thought to himself as he laid there, as he felt the smooth stones of the beach press against him but not uncomfortably so. His mind raced with questions as he regained his composure; how did the teleporter send him somewhere that wasn't quantum entangled, and where exactly was he now? Wherever he was it was further then they had ever gone before, especially since there were no large bodies of water near their lab that he could think of.
As Daniel contemplated his situation he suddenly heard the crunch of footsteps coming towards him and he breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of someone coming that he could ask about his location and whereabouts. When the sound stopped only a few feet from him he slowly opened his eyes and looked up, only to have his eyes grow wide as he saw what stared down at him. An ear-piercing scream shattered the otherwise silent air as Daniel shifted backwards as fast as he could, landing on his back and causing him to cry out in pain as well as the creature looked at him with bewildered confusion until he finally stopped shouting and pointed at him. "It's a... a... you're a..." Daniel stammered before it interrupted him.
Written by Serathin on 28 January 2017
