The other side

David noticed that although he was not yet able to get a clear image through the viewer, what he was able to make out seemed almost like it was on a loop, with minor changes each time. He was always able to see the same events on each loop, it was like the viewer was drawn to them.

Something he had noticed, through pausing and slowly replaying the footage, shocked him.

At one point, the image, although barely identifiable, was something he had only ever seen in his youth. With a white five-pointed star in the center, within blue, red, and white concentric circles. It was being used by someone as a weapon, from what he was able to see, it was a very well-known shield.

David walked away from the project to take a break, something he had not done in ages. It was a bad habit of his to tunnel vision on a project when he felt he was getting closer to completing it. His mind was in a state of disbelief, this was not something that should be happening.

After taking some time to calm his thoughts, he decided to firstly get a clearer image, then to judge the situation on the other side of the viewer. Leaping to any judgments now was unscientific, he blamed the stress and lack of sleep.

10 years after starting the new project David gained an acceptable image, the concern was that the content was not acceptable to most people, he kept it hush.

He was watching a universe in high speed, a universe he knew to contain many of the comic book heroes from his youth. What made it more unreal, was that right before the end of each loop he was sure he saw the Levar invade Earth, and then, it began all over again.

The Levar he saw was not just 3 ships as they arrived on Earth, it was an armada. Thinking through it slowly, if this were a universe where god-like powers were possible, could someone, maybe something, be resetting their timeline each time?

If it was as he had theorized, then this might be the ideal solution. Many humans had gained the ability to rapidly heal themselves if he recalled correctly, all he would need was a blood sample from one of them, and he might be able to solve his worlds problem.

David considered reactivating his GCA, Gene-based Computed Assistant, to help with turning his viewer into a portal. He soon gave up on this idea, even after all his research on it he was still not sure that the Levar could see what he was doing though it.

Things seem to be going remarkably well, he had expected differing universes with differing laws to resist each other, but the portal was easier to establish than he had thought. The only issue was the power usage, he would most likely only get one chance before it was noticed by the Levar. Now the biggest question was, who could he take blood from, who would be vulnerable enough that he could draw blood from them without being noticed. This question was harder than it seemed, the portal was only big enough to allow his hand through with a gauntlet for protection just in case something grabbed him.

Creating a rather sturdy gauntlet from nanites, he placed nanite injections on the tips of each finger. It looked a bit like something out of a horror movie. Although he knew that the target he had chosen would be vulnerable, with no powers active at the time he had chosen, it was better to use the nanite injections in case they had some other form of defence.

On his chosen day and time, David prepared himself. He had sent an encrypted file with all his research and results to the science team overseeing all the experiments to help humanity. He had set the portal to close the moment he withdrew his hand, medkits to his side, and supplements just in case. Taking a deep breath David moved his hand through the portal at the time he had chosen. Although the other universe was "moving" at a faster speed, it was okay, this target would remain stationary for some time.

Lunging his hand though as fast as possible, aiming to stab the target and withdraw its blood as soon as possible. David never noticed his hand passing through the gauntlet. Almost ghostlike his hand entered the body of the target, a spirit version of him was being sucked through the portal in the same state as his hand, and into the target.

His body collapsed on the other side of the portal, his hand falling out, and closing the portal. Not far behind him on his terminal, a message popped up, "Failed to send: Recipient address not recognized!"