Riley Jackson had always been a bit of a geek and a tomboy. She loved nothing more than losing herself in the fantasy world of Lord of the Rings, traveling to faraway lands to experience epic adventures and overcoming heroic odds to defeat a powerful enemy. But now that she'd entered her second year at MIT, the reality of her new life as an engineering student at one of the country's most advanced universities had set in. She'd chosen the quixotic topic of time travel for her undergraduate thesis, and while her physics professor had chided her for choosing such a 'mythical' subject, she was determined to prove him wrong.
One day while walking between classes, she stumbled upon a strange-looking smartphone resting under a bush. After looking around to see if anyone was nearby, she picked up the device and examined it carefully. It was thicker than most of the latest models and had no recognizable manufacturer name. It would have been easy for her to drop it off at the nearest campus lost-and-found depot, but the engineer in her was curious. What was the origin of the mysterious device and why would its owner be so absent-minded to leave it lying in the grass?
She tapped the surface a few times, hoping to find a clue as to its source, but the only thing that appeared on the screen was an empty box for entering a six-digit passcode and an image of a wormhole-like celestial object in the background. Realizing the odds of her decrypting the passcode was a million to one, she considered leaving it where she found it, thinking the owner might retrace his steps to recover it. But she knew it was just as likely someone else would pick it up and keep it as a souvenir. When she returned to her dorm room, she closed the door behind her and sat down at her desk, staring at the passcode box with a blank expression.
How hard could it be to decipher the code? she thought to herself. After all, most people use codes that reflect some aspect of their personal lives. The fact that the phone was left on the campus of MIT meant it likely belonged to another student or professor. Maybe the code had something to do with the university and its surroundings? After unsuccessfully plugging in familiar place names like Barker Dome, Hayden Library, and the Kresge Auditorium, she paused, pinching her eyebrows at the screen.
Could the code have something to do with the cryptic image of the wormhole on the screen? But wormhole and black hole had too many characters. She knew wormholes were based on Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, but the words Einstein and Relativity were also too long. Could it be a simple matter of entering his most famous equation? Riley punched in the formula E=MC2, but there was still one field missing. After adding each of the numbers one through nine to the last field, she began to worry that the device would lock up after too many failed attempts.
Then she realized that she'd forgotten to try one final digit – zero – and after entering the number, the phone suddenly began to shake violently in her hand. Within seconds, a swirling holographic vortex rose up from the surface, making her hair fly in every direction. Mesmerized by the fascinating light effect, she reached out to touch the edge of the apparition then she felt her body being slowly pulled into the funnel.
"What the...no!" she cried, trying to stop herself from being swallowed up by the swirling cyclone.
But it was too late.
Moments later, she was lifted out of her chair and dragged into a paranormal dimension, tumbling through a blindingly bright, ferociously loud portal like an out-of-control freight train. When the noise suddenly stopped, Riley felt her body drop onto the floor of a dank, dark room smelling of pungent vegetables. She squinted her eyes, raising herself up slowly to peer out the barred opening at the top of the entrance door, then she heard the sound of footsteps of someone walking toward the door.
Unsure where she'd landed, she glanced about her, looking for a place to hide. Finding some crates stacked in the corner, she wedged behind the boxes, feeling her body rocking slowly from side to side. Someone placed a key in the lock and when the door opened, a young woman dressed in a pirate costume peered around the storeroom, heading straight toward Riley's direction. When she picked up one of the food crates and noticed Riley hiding in the shadows, she peered at the stranger with a puzzled expression, then she drew her pistol, pointing it threateningly at Riley.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"I – I'm Riley," Riley stammered. "Riley Jackson."
"How the hell did you get on board our ship and into this locked storeroom?"
"Ship?" Riley said, hardly believing her what she was hearing. "I have no idea how I got here–"
"Well, we'll see what Captain Kate thinks about that," the girl said, pulling Riley up by her t-shirt. "We have a special way of dealing with stowaways…"
