"Dimension 0192 test entry number sixty-five. Experimental package Launching in ten seconds. We're going for a short trip this time, with our new testing method; we're expecting a return in only five minutes."

The excitement in the lab was palpable. The men and women gathered around the console, staring through the glass, were murmuring at each other. "How long do you think this will show?" one younger technician asked quietly; almost afraid of changing something, just by speaking. They'd conducted more tests on this other dimension than any other they could reach; and the results had been... ridiculous.

With Dimension 0191, it was, very clearly, a completely dead, ordinary dimension; where the big bang had not yet occurred. According to the sensitive readings inside the probes, gravity was stronger there, and the transition point was a few light-years away from a spot that had more mass than the entire observed universe. 0190 had been a universe which had already suffered its ultimate entropic death; and of course, gravity was slightly weaker.

For 0192, the atomic clock had failed on every single test; the machine had gone through its complete cycle of tests, repeatedly... and returned after determining that, simply, the clock must be inoperable; it had returned every time, regardless, but usually later than it was supposed to, when the test count overran; which was something that should take years, meaning there were further problems.

This time, they'd included an ordinary wind-up clock, a digital clock, as well as the atomic clock; just to be sure. If any of them worked.

An older hispanic woman set her hand on his shoulder with a smile. "I think it will show up in a few seconds, the digital clock will tell us five minutes has passed, but the atomic clock will show zero."

"...How can it show both?"

"Just wait and see. There's three clocks in there. If my guess is right, the atomic clock won't tick over at all."

As the probe; a tungsten cube roughly three meters on each side, packed with a wide variety of equipment; as well as the extremely expensive cage that would send it on its dimensional voyage; started to glow brightly... the anticipation grew. They had made thousands of dimensional incursions now. But every one was exciting. Would they lose the probe? Find a universe full of antimatter, prime for financing operations for the next.. well, forever? Another earth?

The probe vanished. A clock appeared on the wall. Usually, these return timers weren't even used for the first incursion; the probe would return as soon as possible, with only a snapshot of data. If the dimension didn't melt the probe, or crush it, or damage it... a second, longer launch would occur.

Before they even looked at the clock, the probe reappeared in another vibrant flash. The technicians stared; and the report emerged. The digital clock had read precisely five minutes before initiating the return. The atomic clock, and the physical timer... had not run at all. The outside time showed... three seconds.

Whether time simply passed faster on the other side, or mechanics just allowed a computer to process more quickly; the clock had run five minutes in less than three seconds.

The woman smiled. "Gentlemen. Obviously, we're going to keep looking. The idea of dimensions full of gold, or anti-matter... obviously they could be important. Useful. But this.... this just paid for the entire project."

***

"Doctor Gonzales. I don't see how a clock running fast is that important." Jeffrey Everest, CEO of Everest Technologies, leaned back in his chair. The appeal of this dimensional travel tech was obvious. Infinite universes to exploit. He'd invested billions, and from what he'd seen so far, would invest even more billions. Doctor Gonzales was brilliant, her team was capable, and they might make him the richest man on earth.

Every single universe operated under different fundamental physical laws; and the differences that made meant that one of his probes might bring back a bucket of anti-matter. Or a truckload of platinum. He'd seen a few near-earth worlds that might prove viable colony sites; he could surely sell a few to some wealthy investor; but so far, most universes seemed to be stuck in a perpetual pre big-bang state; or to have already reached their end stage, having fallen to entropy. So far, though, nothing too amazing had come back.

"Jeffrey. The atomic clock in that probe is the most precise measurement we can achieve. It uses atomic decay to measure time. The simple physical stopwatch? Not nearly as accurate... but absolutely reliable. The digital timer moves based on the timing. We've been trying to figure out what was wrong with the probe, even sending different probes, because it would take an hour to come back when it was scheduled to do a half-hour test. But... what actually happened is that it ran its tests so many times it hit a stack overflow, and came back. During the time the probe was gone, for half an hour here in our lab, it ran a trial over sixty thousand times. One that was designed to take twenty minutes."

Jeff blinked. "That sounds... impressive." The possibilities of dumping a supercomputer on the other side occurred to him immediately; that could be a useful revenue stream.

"It did over two years worth of testing. In half an hour. Without generating a single degree of excess heat, no wear on the computer... and absolutely zero atomic decay the clock could measure. The battery didn't even lose charge. The actual physical clock didn't go as quickly, though it did move. This is another universe where the big bang still hasn't happened, yes. More importantly... if I were to dump a computer there... there's no apparent reason for it to ever stop. The only thing that would make it end whatever it was doing would be if it struck something else, or if something else from our universe interacted with it."

She smiled, resting her hands on his desk, leaning forward. "I'll want to do more testing. And we'll honestly never be completely certain, no matter how much we do, but... we may have just found a universe without entropy."

***

"Hello there, gentlemen." As the door slid quietly shut, the figures around the table all studied each other, as well as Everest. Everest was only barely worthy of sitting at the table; his tech firm had recently started selling processing time on some sort of new supercomputer, apparently the fastest in the world, using some sort of unknown, quantum, technology; and producing results faster than anyone had expected. He was delivering billions of simulation results to various labs for a fraction of what the competition was charging; and faster than they could handle it, as well. And while the power requirements were massive... well. The results were even more-so. There was speculation that some medical company was working with him on digitizing brains and genomes; video game companies on making incredibly detailed AI-generated universes in minutes; and some news company doing weather forecasting. However it was working, the best AI engineers in the world were all working for Everest now, and his company was rising at a dramatic pace.

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David Thornton, multi-billionaire oil baron, glared at Everest. "What is all this about? My lawyer told me I needed to be here. Told all of us we needed to be here. But refused to say why. What's going on?"

Jeff smiled. "What's going on... is that I'm prepared to offer you the opportunity... of eternity. How would you like the chance to travel to another universe, rule your own private world.... and live forever? Never having to give anything up to your heirs, not even when we finally screw up badly enough that the earth lies in ruins?"

"...That's some of the dumbest bullshit I've ever heard."

"Three months ago, we digitized the brain of a dying cancer patient. Loaded him into a computer. And set him up in a simulation; one that apparently was so real that simulation was able to think. Remember. Feel. And, well. Be horrified at the idea he wasn't real. He begged us not to turn him off. Offered to do anything." He chuckled. "It was an interesting proof of concept. We're working on a smoother transition; letting you step over, piece by piece, into a cyborg body. And, eventually, into a truly immortal, digital consciousness, once your body fails. Even better..."

He held out a stack of images. "We're not even talking about just lasting til the earth dies. All of this progress, all of our amazing work... is thanks to dimensional travel. We can move an object from our universe, to the same spot in another universe. And.. just in case you didn't believe me..."

He set a small box on the table. "Back away from the table."

The businessmen were hesitant; but when the box vanished in a flash of light... along with the table itself; they pushed back, giving more space. As, moments later; a new table appeared; covered with a variety of fruits, vegetables, meats; various delicacies, all of which seemed freshly cooked. "There we are. Several hours ago, I had meals delivered here. Sent them away, to another reality; and summoned them back, just now. While I've found a variety of alternate earths, none of them have the same exact orbit as our own, so we need to be cautious with this. Most universes, they would just vanish into vacuum. But... there are thousands of universes where there isn't just no earth... but no universe. Just a big bang. A single, solid ball of energy and matter."

"Right now, its only a theory." He reached down, picking up an apple off of the table, taking a bite; as the men drew closer, studying it. "But my head scientist believes that not only is immortality possible... inevitable, even... but that we can take these nascent universes, ones where, so far, there is nothing but potential... and birth them however we want. Trigger a big bang, and decide what we want it to look like, by inducing it to occur in just the right way. We have a single universe; one truly eternal, without entropy. A black box, a safe haven for a digitized mind; safe. Boring. Simulated. But then, we can venture out of the simulations.. and visit our own, custom, heavens. Worlds that are what we want them to be."

"And if you buy in now, at the beginning? You can be the gods of this new universe. We won't just make the wealthy immortal, of course. We'll offer it to everyone. After all..."

He smiled at the men around the table, who looked various degrees of disbelieving and excited. "What fun is being gods if we can't have our flocks to rule over?"

***

The room was pure. Featureless. Grey. A perfect cube, thirty meters to each side, well-lit; the entire ceiling seemed to be a dim light source, rather than any bulb.

Then, there was a pillar; grey. Simple. Shaped like a podium, or some strange decoration; with a single button on its surface; roughly four feet off the ground. When Ezekiel awoke, he was... lying in the fetal position on the floor. It wasn't cold. It wasn't warm. It felt.... calm. Normal. The robe he wore was a bit odd; he couldn't remember wearing robes before. The robe was... smooth. Comfortable.

He had no idea where he was. How he'd arrived. There was a moment of panic as he realized there were no seams, no doors... was this a trap? As he rose to his feet, he heard a soft, soothing tone. A light appeared over the pillar; and a glowing, rectangular sign.

Hello, and welcome to Eternity, Ezekiel!

Please press the button for assistance! \/

He blinked. Looking at the small, circular button on the pillar; and cautiously reached out, tapping the button.

There was a brief moment where everything seemed wrong. Out of place. As if the world was... just not where it was supposed to be.

The next... a hooded, grey-robed figure appeared. Its hands appeared the exact same shade as Ezekiel's own, wearing a robe just like his own; but with his face covered with a hood, and a smooth black mask. The pillar had risen slightly from the floor, on a grey platform; and the figure was standing on it, looking down at him.

"Congratulations, Silver-tier member Ezekiel! Welcome to Eternity! My name is Shard, and I will be your onboarding assistant today. Your current credit balance is nine million, eight hundred and seventy-five thousand, six hundred and twelve. As such, you can continue to vacation and relax in your current location without seeking employment for the next twenty-seven thousand years. As you possess one hundred shares of Eternity, Incorporated stock, I project that this credit balance will likely continue to increase for the forseeable future so long as it is not expended frivolously. I will, without cost, provide assistance for the next hour to give you the basics on your current residence, and how to operate your interface."

"For the sum of three credits per day, I can assist you for as long as need be."

Ezekiel stared at the robed form. Looked around at the surrounding room. "...What the hell is Eternity incorporated? I never bought stock in that. Where is Eternity!?"

"Ahh. I apologize, Ezekiel. You were frozen for approximately forty-eight years before your mind was transferred here. You died at the age of sixty-one, and at that time, had a stock portfolio including a variety of shares; including what was, at the time, merely one thousand dollars worth of Everest Technologies shares. While the rest of your account was drained by the expense of properly preserving your body, by the time the process was over, those shares were worth enough to maintain you indefinitely; pay for the process of awakening you here; and leave almost ten million dollars remaining. Naturally, these have been converted into credits."

He felt as if he should be having an attack. He could remember being old, now. Grey hair. Wrinkles. The pain in his wrists, his ankles, his back. The sleepless nights of misery. Stubbornly clinging to the same games he'd played when young, the same old foolishness.

But now... he was perfect. His body... was it real? Was he... was this like that old Matrix movie? A real brain stuffed somewhere, and this was all an illusion? ".... None of that answers my second question. Where is Eternity?"

"Ahh... I'm sorry, I'm required to go over the interface and how to choose jobs, and spend credits. If you'd like, I can explain how that works, make sure you have a handle on it, and answer any other questions in what's left of your free time?"

"...This is to get me to spend the three credits to get you to answer first, isn't it?"

"You've been gone for almost fifty years, and the freezing process likely cost you quite a few memories. It will likely take more than an hour to get you fully up to speed; and if I don't at least try to show you the basics, I don't get paid for my time. Most of my customers are Bronze-tier, and I just go from one to another explaining things until my shift is up; but if you want me to play tutor, that's perfectly fine."

"Bronze-tier. No idea what that means."

"Not Copper, not silver, not gold, not platinum. Copper means they start off in significant debt, or are even barred from ever taking earning credits and taking vacation; like a serial killer who somehow got himself sent here instead of simply erased. Bronze means small, managable debt. Silver means you have a surplus. Gold means you're one of the top 1%. And Platinum... means you're a Prime. The ones who run the show. Now."

He stepped off of the podium. "If you'll step up here, I can walk you through how all this works."

"...Fine. I'll pay the three credits. What the hell is Eternity?"