As Terri and I walked into the club room for the first time since the satellite fell, I immediately noticed the window had been replaced.
I guess they noticed the damage he did.
Eh, at least nobody complained about it. Probably just assumed it was from the satellite.
Even though the heat is on, I can feel the cold, colder than when I was here last. Winter is fast approaching.
"Alright, now that we're back, what's the agenda?"
Terri asked that as he stood over the wooden table.
"Sit down. I'll explain the plan."
He obeys as I walk over to the chalkboard and start drawing it out.
"Ok, so our goal is to do the impossible. To bring the impossible into reality. To do that, we take advantage of your powers. Now, we need to establish what impossibilities we're trying to bring to fruition. The fundamental contracts of reality. First is thermodynamics."
"You understand thermodynamics?"
"It's a fundamental class for engineering."
"Sorry, continue."
"The first law of thermodynamics says that energy cannot be created or destroyed."
"Oh, I know that one."
"Yes, but do you understand what that means."
"It means that we can't just create energy from nothing, like a perpetual motion machine, that would be impossible."
"Exactly. It's one of the most fundamental laws of our reality. This, if we break it, we put stress on reality and that stress forms into cracks."
"I think I understand. You're suggesting we make energy from nothing?"
"Yes!"
"How will we do that?"
"We won't, you will."
With that, I write down on the board my exact plan.
The chalk glides across the canvas of the blackboard and with each clack, a new word springs forth from my mind.
"Oh, oh! I never thought of that. But yet, it makes perfect sense."
I look over my writing.
Project Hunger Strike
Human bodies need energy to survive. They get that energy from food. If we starved a normal human, they would die. Presumably, you would not die. Once you've been fully starved and yet still have not died, you would essentially be creating energy from nothing.
It was a simple plan.
Simple is right, it's down right stupid. I mean, honestly, how would starving someone be the equivalent of creating free energy?
No, I think she's onto something. I mean, how else would Terri be alive if not for creating energy from nothing.
"I truly believe that this plan will work."
"I agree the fundamental concept is good, but I'm worried about one little thing. In order to do this, I would have to starve myself."
"Yes, that would be the case."
"Yuri, I don't know if I could stand something like that."
"Of course you can, and I mean that quite literally. If your body is truly indestructible, then your body can't consume your own tissue when you starve. Additionally, your organs won't deteriorate and you will be unable to die. At that point, you'll genuinely be creating energy from nothing."
"But what about the mental side of things?"
"If you want, I can tie you down again so you physically can't eat."
"No! I mean, I'd rather not."
"That's what I thought. So, you think you'll be able to stand the mental stress?"
"I guess."
"Excellent! Then let us begin immediately."
So we did. From that day on, Terri was forbidden from eating or drinking (just so we couldn't argue he was getting energy from water). At first, he didn't complain much.
"You know, Yuri, if your theory is right, I won't lose any weight."
"That's a good point. That would also mean you could eat as much as you want and never gain a pound."
"Well then, once this is over, I'm gonna eat like crazy."
That was at the start. By the end of the month, all he would do is say the same things over and over again.
"Yuri, I'm hungry. Like, I'm actually starving beyond anything you can imagine."
"You're just gonna have to withstand it."
"But I'm starving."
"Look, this is the same discussion we had yesterday, I'm not going to let you eat anything."
"How much longer again?"
"Google says it takes two months, it's already been a month, but just to be sure we're gonna go an extra month, so two more months."
I wasn't worried he would die or something like that. If he could die, it would have happened within the first week, since he was being deprived of water too.
"I need to eat…"
"Stop saying that!!!"
"I need… Eat…"
"My God, that's all you've said for the past month! Can't you distract yourself with something, or if you have to suffer, do it in silence!"
"Yuri…"
On and on this went for yet a third month. Don't get me wrong, I'm not truly a heartless monster. To some small degree I could feel sympathy for Terri's predicament. I just wish his suffering wasn't so annoying.
And we say our name doesn't represent us.
"Terri!"
"Ye… Ye… Yes?"
"It's been three months! You made it!"
"I- I did?"
"You did!"
"So… I can eat now?"
"No."
The face of the man named Terri warps into that of a truly despicable creature. I can not yell if he was angry, sad, depressed, or had just given up on life, but whatever it is, it is hideous.
"Don't give me that face. Look, there's one more thing I need from you."
"This torture isn't enough?"
"Not as long as the universe is intact it's not. No, I need you to do something that shoves your impossible nature into the universe's smug face! I need you to run!"
As Terri leans on me, we make our way into the workout room connected to the university gym. The room is filled with exercise equipment like weights and ellipticals, bikes, and treadmills. I forgot to mention earlier, but we go to a pretty fancy college.
"Come on, Terri, just a few more steps."
"Yuri, I can't do this. There's- there's nothing left of me."
"Nonsense, just a little more and you will be home free."
I walk Terri over to one of the treadmills. I made sure to book the entire room for "club activities" today, so there's no one in here but us.
"Alrighty then, now just stand here and I'm gonna start up the machine."
With a press of the green start button on the machine's control panel, the treadmill slowly comes to life and the running belt begins to move backwards. Terri immediately falls backward off of the machine.
"Come on, you can't just stand there. You have to move."
I reach out my hand, lifting Terri back up and this time he steps onto the treadmill and starts walking. At the machine's lowest setting, Terri doesn't have to put in much energy to keep up with it. That's not enough though. Sure, he's producing energy from nothing, I know that to be true, but the pressure from that might not be enough. He can't just create energy-
"You have to expel energy!!!"
I slam my finger on the speed-up button and watch as Terri's legs move faster, his face showing more and more awareness of what is actually happening.
"Yuri! I don't think this is gonna work!"
"Not if you don't go fast enough!"
Faster and faster the machine goes, faster and faster Terri's legs move, faster and faster his heart beats. As his feet slam to the treadmill again and again, I start to feel something akin to static electricity.
"This is it."
This is it. Wait, this is it?! Is it actually working?
Suddenly, a small crack appears next to me. It's floating in mid air.
This really is it!
As I speed up the treadmill even fast, the crack grows in length. I observe the crack, it's hard to describe it, but imagine the absence of anything. Like, when you look at it, that small bit of the world has no available data, it's just null. I reach out to touch it. The moment my index finger makes contact, my arm begins to almost glitch out as waves of pixilation flow over my skin. Instinctively, I pull back.
Why are you afraid of it, this is what you wanted.
This is what I wanted? Of course it is. I'm just worried-
This could be your only chance, don't be a little bitch about it, just reach out and grab what you've been desperately searching for.
I follow the thoughts in my mind and reach out again, my arm begins to glitch out as I touch the crack. I push against it and the crack begins to spread out. Now my whole palm is pushing against it and it's spreading way far out. I'm almost afraid to put too much pressure, but the thoughts in my head are screaming at me to continue. Finally, I put all my muscles into it and the crack splits open forming a whole. Before I can react, I fall forward into the opening and-
W̷̰̯̬̖̜̗̌͒̀͐̅͜h̵̢̢̨̛̛͔̥̥͉͓̺̖̄̆̒a̵̧̺͈̝͙͇͚̩̾͌̀̂͛͒͊̄̐̏̕t̴̢̲̠̪̰͌̅̚͠ ̴͉̯͙̝͕̠̞͎͖̦̤̓̽̔̋i̶̦̗͙̲̩͉̼͚̇̈́́̈́̈́̒̇̒̚s̵̭̻͚̞̺̲̾ ̵̹͍̦̯̩̝͇̮̝̎̇͋͑̄͊̍̿̂t̶̳̣̪̣̙̺͓̮̬̲̀̎̏͐̓̋h̷̨̙͎̬̥̗̽̑i̷̝͎͈̔͂̒͒͛̆͠ş̶͍͉̜̪̹̣̬̜͚̙̓̀̅͋́͑͆̕͘?̸̙̳̙̬͎́
̷̫͒̂̎̓͛͘͝
̴͍̫̄̄̀͑́̊͋͊İ̴̦̮̳͚̟̗̯̱̥̿͗͆̈͝͝͠ ̵̧̡̳̲̣̺̻̪̫̼̌ͅc̸̗͆̀͛͑̚a̷͙͉̰̹̐́̿̄͒͂̿̇̚ņ̴̨̨̠̥͈̯͐͐'̴̡̳͈̖̘̒̄̆ͅt̷̺̙̳͕̫̙̥̔̂̃̉̋̔͊̉̎̾͝ ̴̗̠̓̀̈́́̊͑̽͛̕ŝ̷̮͇̅͑̚̚͝e̷͚̣̳̗͚̞͙̓̓͑̏̊͆̓̀̀̈́͠ḛ̴̠̝̳͔̞̝͉̈́̋͑̈́͊̕͜͠͝.̵̛͎̟͙͈̳̞̤͉̯̏͌̈͆̅̈ ̷̘̜̪̙̐̄̀͛I̵̢͇̥̗͔̮͚̍̍͂̇͛͝t̴͓̩̤́̆͐̽̕ ̶̟̫̺̪̻̠̍̾̾̎̅̓̉i̶͚̗̺͔̜̰̘͖͒͊̆̽́̿̒͑̄̀̚ͅş̶͕̫͙͍͚̘̱͖̖͐͂̓̃͜͝n̸̨̙̯̩̯̥͇̳̍͒̓̑͌̔͗́̅̆͠'̶̟̦̬̞̝̮̜́̆̄̏̈́͊̾̉͌́ͅt̵̢̹͎͍̪͍̹͙͙̫̒̍̒͒̕͠ ̸̧̻̭̻͎̻͖̬̖̥̫͐͗̏́͌͠ť̵͉̬̞̳̐ͅh̵̨̧͇̘̠̖͚͒̈́̋͘̕a̸̮̜͓̟̖͚͂͑t̴̨̆̏̓̈̅̽̓̒̚͝ ̵̩̥̞͔̗̈͗̄̀̈́̽̍͐͌͘͝i̶̘̙̼̟͋̀̈́͗̉̈͒̃͝t̷͉͖͙̞̞̽̒͛'̸̢̧͈͎̘̦̀͠s̴͓͓̙̩̫̣̥̰̺̟̈̓̾̔͊̽̏̅ ̶̰̬̖̰̘̞͉͈̞̦͝a̴̢̛̠̜̘͕͍̞̿̾̆̈́͑̕̚ļ̸̨͍̗̝̝̱̈ĺ̸͖̖͉
Out.
Am I back?
I look around and can see the workout room. I can feel the floor. Every one of my senses has returned to me. As I go to look over myself, I can see-
My body-
It's null now, just like the hole. I look at my hand and see the absence of sight I saw when I looked at the hole.
What- what did I do to myself?
In the moment, everything fades to black-
As I hear the chirping of birds, I slowly open my eyes. I'm staring at the ceiling, I must be laying down. I start to look around and quickly realize I'm in the club room.
Was that- was that a dream?
As I recall exactly what happened, I remember the null sight I had looking at my own hand. I quickly lift up my hand and see that it is back to normal.
"A dream?"
"No, not a dream." Says the voice I recognize as belonging to Terri.
I sit up and see him sitting at the wooden desk, facing me.
"I don't understand. The last thing I remember, my body had become this lack of visual information, like I didn't even exist. What exactly happened?"
"I don't exactly know. I was too focused on running to see what you were doing. Eventually, I stopped the treadmill and got off, that's when I saw you laying on the floor."
"What did I look like?"
"You looked perfectly normal to me."
Did my body repair itself?
Maybe the effect from going in there was only temporary.
"Wait, what happened to the hole?"
"The what?"
"There was a hole, like a hole in the fabric of reality."
"I didn't see a hole."
"Maybe it disappeared when you stopped running."
"Anyways, I grabbed two other students from the gym and we carried you back to here."
"I guess that makes sense. Hey, why do you seem so normal? You're not complaining about a lack of food."
"Well, since I fulfilled my end of the deal and ran for you, I went to go eat at the cafeteria. I had about eight meals before I started to feel normal again."
"You do realize that eating a bunch of food after being starved should have killed you, right?"
"Well, I guess that's another thing that I'm immune to."
"Guess so. Oh, I need to thank you for suffering for my goals. I know it was hard for you to starve yourself."
"More than hard. It was torture."
"But at the same time, we managed to put a few cracks into reality. Now, it's for-"
Something's off.
"Terri, do you feel that?"
"Feel what?"
"You don't feel anything?"
"No. What am I supposed to be feeling?"
"It's like I'm sensing something, all around me. Not just something… holes."
"Holes?"
It was as hard to describe as when I fell into the hole earlier. It was as if there were thousands of tiny little holes all around me. I couldn't see them with my eyes, but I could sense them, like I felt them there.
Is this…
No, it can't be.
There's only one way to find out.
I reach out and touch where one of the holes is, but nothing happens.
"Terri, give me something. Anything."
He pulls a quarter out of his pocket and tosses it to me, the smooth piece of metal caught in my right hand. Reeling back my right arm like I'm about to pitch a baseball, I throw the quarter towards where I believe one of the holes is. Nothing happens.
"Yuri, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"There are these holes all around us. I'm trying to see if I can get something into them."
"You're sounding a little bit crazy, you know. I don't see or feel any holes."
"Maybe only I can feel them because I'm the one who fell into the hole in reality earlier."
I walk over and pick up the quarter.
I know the holes are here, now what do I do with them?
Maybe you are crazy.
No, I can feel them too. Maybe try focusing on a nearby hole?
So I do that. I focus on the hole that I can sense right where the quarter is in my hand. I can feel something when I focus on it, but nothing is actually happening. I go to focus on another hole and-
CLANG
I immediately feel the quarter disappear from my palm.
"What the hell was that?"
I look over to where I heard the noise and see the quarter sitting there on the floor.