Departure

Cisca leads me to the biggest section in the entire laboratory - the blue section for quantum mechanics.

There are clusters of computers all of which are running on max power, flashing and grumbling. In the center is the main desk with a computer, camera, and microphone. Beside the desk is a glass tube taller than me. There is a coffin-like container sitting vertically inside of it, and I can see a human-shaped cutout that looks to eerily resemble my own physique.

Cisca has shown me this before. This is the so-called "quantum portal", but if I am being honest, it looks more like a body preservation tank than a portal. Again, expectation versus reality is often disappointing, and in this case, terrifying.

Cisca walks over to the main desk and grabs a small circular case. She opens it and, with extreme care, takes out what seems to be… nothing, with her fingers.

"What is that?" I ask as she examines the air on top of her fingertip.

"This is the communication device," she says and holds it in front of my face.

Upon a closer inspection, I finally see the outline of the object itself. It's a transparent contact lens resting on the tip of Cisca's finger.

"Do I just… put this on?" I ask.

"That's right. Here, take it. I need to get something set up first," she says.

I lightly touch the lens with my finger, and it sticks to it. I have never needed glasses or contact lenses before, but I am pretty sure it's a fairly standard procedure. Cisca walks away to the computer, and I bring the lens close to my eyes.

With a slight push, the lens grabs onto my left eyeball. I blink a couple of times from the minute discomfort, but after a second, my eye gets used to it. It's now as if I never put anything there.

"What does this do?" I ask.

"The technology is too complicated to explain, but basically, it lets me see out of your eyes and hear what is around you, at the same time talk to you."

The thin piece with the same transparency and weight as a drop of water? How is that possible? But if Cisca says it's too complicated to explain, there is no point in me trying to ask.

"It connects to your nervous system if you are curious, but anything deeper than that it will just glide over your head," she says.

"Right."

Cisca presses a key and sits back in her chair.

"It should be online now. Do you see anything?" She asks.

As soon as she says that, at the corner of my eye, a message pops up that reads, "SYSTEM ONLINE".

"It just says system online."

"Good, that means it's working perfectly. I will test the feeds now," Cisca says and goes back to clacking on her keyboard.

A square that takes up a chunk of my vision appears, and on it is a video feed of Cisca's face. She looks into the camera and waves.

"Can you see and hear me?" She whispers into the microphone in front of her.

From the faint distortion in her voice, I can tell it's not coming from my ears.

"Yes, I think so."

"Good. Now, can you see the text and the image?" Cisca asks.

The "SYSTEM ONLINE" disappears and is replaced by "HELLO WORLD" and a picture of huge rubber ducks below the video of her face.

"Uh… yes. I can see them no problem," I say to her.

"Perfect. I can also see out of your eyes no problem. Just keep that in mind, okay? I will be watching you for as long as your eyes are opened," Cisca says as she leans into the camera until only her sinister smile takes up the frame.

I do not like the sound of that, but there is nothing I can do about it.

"That's… great. Is there anything left to do?" I ask.

Cisca pulls back into her chair and says, "Nope. You are all set. I just need to get a couple more things ready, but you can go into the portal anytime you want."

"Okay."

I have yet to get a look at myself in the mirror to see what I look like in all this gear, and I am quite curious, so I walk in front of the camera behind Cisca to try to see myself through the video feed.

There are no other ways to put it. I look like a futuristic soldier about to head into interplanetary war or something, but I am not minding the look.

Cisca is still furiously typing into a console that is scrolling quickly in what looks to me are colored hieroglyphs. Occasionally, intelligible letters and numbers pop up here and there.

I don't want to spend more time than I have to inside that coffin from science fiction, so I am waiting for Cisca to finish with whatever she is doing.

Soon, Cisca hits a button and all the windows close. "Done," she says, "We are ready to go."

She stands up from her chair and notices I am standing behind her.

"What are you still doing here?" She asks.

"Waiting for you."

Cisca tilts her head to the side and smiles. "Aww… You want to say a last goodbye before you leave our plane of existence?"

"S-Sure."

"Too bad, you are not getting one," she says and walks over to the glass tube.

She presses a button beside it, and the tube opens up with a hissing sound.

"Get in now, Kris."

"Alright," I say and step up into the transportation device.

With a little effort, I manage to fit myself perfectly into the cut out of the "coffin".

"Put your arms on your shoulders like this," Cisca says and crosses her arms in a demonstration.

I do as she says.

"Good. Have a safe trip." Cisca presses the button again, and the glass door closes shut in my face.

Everything has happened so fast that I never had a chance to properly process this, but this will likely be the last view I get of Earth, ever. While there is a sense of melancholy in my heart, it's mostly filled with hope and excitement, something I am sure we as a society have lost a long time ago, but I will be the one to bring them back.

Cisca walks back to her computer. She appears again in my video feed and presses a button.

"Quantum connection established with Eden-150," she says.

"Engaging eka-francium engine."

The glass tube begins vibrating.

"Transportation starts in T-minus 3."

"2."

"1."

"Commencing quantum teleportation."

She slams a key and my vision turns completely dark.