Before the first primal light of dawn graced his room, Joe woke up in anticipation of what he would be doing for the day. Don't they always say that the early bird catches the worm, right? Well, he had to be an eagle.
"Wait… Do eagles even eat worms?" Joe yawned while scratching his chest. It was still damn painful and irritating. His sleep hadn't been all cozy and roses. It had been a tormenting hell.
'I'm getting stupid, I think. Wow, that's original.' Joe furrowed his brows, clicking his tongue in irritation before hitting the shower. Moments later, he was all dressed up in a comfortable pair of pants and a plain grey shirt. Of course, Joe couldn't forget about that cup of bitter coffee. He needed that.
It was around eight in the morning when he began his work. He started by procuring all the materials required to recreate several arc reactors. That sounded easy, didn't it? From his mental calculations, Joe required about 7 miniaturized arc reactors to generate the maximum output that could satisfy the USB Drive's conditions. If one miniaturized arc reactor could yield 3 gigajoules per second (3 Gigawatts), then by utilizing seven of them simultaneously, it would be effortless to generate over one billion kilowatt-hours. They were just simple calculations. However, the subsequent work was going to be enormous and tiring. And sweaty.
First, Joe set up an almost untraceable surveillance camera system in his doorway. It connected directly to the live feed on his quadra monitor set-up. Although it wasn't as discreet as Hank's surveillance ants, Joe found it acceptable as long as it served its purpose. He didn't forget to close all the windows tightly in case someone thought it was a good idea not to use the stairs. He knew damn well who he was referring to, and that 'guy' sometimes didn't know the meaning of boundaries. The problem was Pete cared too much and after unofficially discharging himself before Joe's complete recovery, he might probably think his friend got kidnapped. Joe found it stressing that Spidey had to deal with all sorts of cockroach villains. And that's where the dividing lines between their contrasting personalities lay.
Joe knew himself well. He had looked into the abyss, and the abyss blinked first. Death felt synonymous, even though he had never killed a soul. It was just... there. Inside him, and he knew it.
Anyway, during the day, Joe had to ignore emails from his caring friends. He understood he was being heartless and self-destructive to his own health, but that's what he had to do. He had to be selfish, and temporarily turn them away for his self-preservation. If he didn't achieve what he had in mind before the day ended, Joe felt that he would really go bonkers.
Around 10 p.m., Joe finished the additional six miniaturized arc reactors, incorporating numerous heat dissipators from old servers and new superconducting materials for efficient thermoelectric management. With the setup complete, Joe had to wait another day to generate the required billion kilowatt-hours.
"Dang, who knows how much radiation I have absorbed just from staying shut inside this room? That counts as being a human mutate, eh?" Joe chuckled at his poor joke. In the meantime, as the USB Drive was being fed with energy, Joe decided to buy the gear he would need for the expedition. It consisted of a biohazard suit, safety goggles, and a multi-layered particulate respirator to filter out foreign airborne particles and other contaminants. During that time, he learned about microbiology and immunology extensively. Of course, he had to. The immune systems of the humans in Marvel had already adapted to their intermediate environment after millions of years of evolution. This genetic adaptation stemmed from the Homo heidelbergensis, our ancestors. The immune system couldn't instantly adapt to a new, completely foreign parallel universe. It had to take time.
The foreign microbes and pathogens in the atmosphere of Elysium World weren't going to pamper Joe when they assaulted his immune system.
"Cross-reactivity be damned. I can't give up my life if I have the chance to prepare." Joe feared unknown foreign diseases more than the currently known ones. Imagine an unborn Xenomorph the size of a spore being inhaled into your respiratory system. What do you think would happen next? The Xenomorph incubating in your system and feeding off your innards would finally headbutt your bloody tummy!
"Gosh, why did I watch Alien Covenant and Prometheus?" Joe shook his head with a dubious expression marring his face. "To top it off, I also watched Annihilation. Well, that's honestly gratifying knowing that I'm going to a foreign environment."
Time flew by quickly, and Joe found himself readily clad in protective gear. He looked at the USB Drive which had changed entirely. Its surface shone with hypnotizing red lights and a luster that resembled swirling galaxies and stars. It looked heavenly and mystifying. Joe cut off the power that was being injected into the USB and held it in his gloved hand. A lone sweat dropped from his forehead as he observed the USB that had now turned to its original shiny black color.
"Perfecto." Joe nodded to himself before hiding the entire set-up like before, with a bit of adjustment here and there. He knew it was lousy at best due to a lack of advanced camouflaging tech, but he had an ingenious mind to make up for it.
Plugging in the USB, Joe inhaled sharply. Elysium was a sci-fi movie set in the year 2154 at a time when overpopulation, pollution, and a lack of resources have affected the earth. With such a dystopian setting, you might have thought that the civilization as a whole would be unified under a common goal, right? But it wasn't anything like that. There was social polarization, where the rich and poor were divided into two groups. The poor and struggling 'lesser' beings stayed holed up on the dying earth while the elite enjoyed their opulence in a gigantic space station orbiting the earth. In his previous life, Joe hadn't cared for its underlying themes of discrimination and the underprivileged individuals in the society. When the video effects were excellent and the fights memorable, how could he think about other things when he was just a casual enjoyer?
At least there's someone noteworthy like Matt Damon, who was the only cast Joe knew shit about. In the film, he went by the name Max Da Costa, an infamous grand theft auto operator.
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"He's the person that took GTA seriously, like many other car thieves thriving in America." Joe smiled as he fast-forwarded the movie. The general plot of the movie was simple. When Max is working in the factory under Armadyne Group, an elitist mega-corporation managed by John Carlyle, unfortunately, he gets irradiated pretty badly. And guess what? He only has, like, five days to live, with the decaying earth not having the appropriate medical technology to heal him. So Max is forced to bet on his chances of fighting his way to Elysium, where they enjoy the best and most advanced healthcare. Diseases? Injuries? Old Age? Hunger? Those were just a myth at the Torus.
"And... Pause." Joe softly pressed the mouse, his gaze fixated on the technological marvel on the screen. The Med-Pod 3000. It was the ultimate cheat that could heal virtually any type of disease, injuries like broken bones, and could even de-age someone. Joe had another name for it: The Longevity Capsule. With MedPod 3000, living for 300 years was not a dream but a reality. It could analyze all medical conditions and devise the optimal treatment plan with its advanced medical algorithms.
"I could cure cancer, leukemia, cerebral tumor..." Joe stammered, his voice lost and somber, as he remembered one of the goals he wanted to pursue after his mother's death. It felt like a long time, but now, Joe can be considered to have already partially found the best cure for cancer. Additionally, it wasn't by his own hands and mind.
Balling his hand into a fist, Joe steeled himself for what he was about to do next as the screen on the monitor turned a deep black. It was eerily dark, like a hole that could devour any light and matter. Joe instinctively stepped back as he observed the spatial paradox in front of him.
That small black hole theoretically connected his current reality to a parallel universe.
"Quantum mechanics quantified. And I hold the key to the theory of parallel universes. What lies beyond the hole in the other shore? Is it truly Elysium? A world on the brink of destruction? Or a world full of vigor?" Joe mumbled with a deep frown on his face.
"Well, there's only one way to find out." Joe ominously touched the cool metal of the Glock secured in the sheath at his waist. His heart was pounding impudently against his injured chest, but he ignored the pain since he had returned to his 'medication.' It had limited pain suppression.
For experimental purposes, before he dared to enter the spatial paradox, Joe used a tennis ball. He carefully aimed it at the hole before throwing it. Joe watched in anticipation, the silence of the room broken by the 'whoosh' of the ball as it collided with the screen. Contrary to expectations, the ball didn't crack the screen or bounce off, but it perfectly got swallowed into the black hole and disappeared.
"Experiment #1 is a success. Items can still pass through the spatiotemporal membranous film. Experiment #2 will have to be actualized by me. My safety will be on the line, but it's worth the risk." Joe took deep, rhythmic breaths as he tried to curb the bits of anxiety hidden in his stomach.
"I hope the time there synchronizes with my present or else... Things might get loopy and paradoxical." Joe lamented the fact that many issues had to be accounted for with what he was about to do.
No longer hesitating, Joe stretched out a tentative hand, feeling the wonderful otherworldly sensation through his protective gear. Then, little by little, the space before him seemed to expand magically, accommodating his whole frame. Before long, he disappeared from the Marvel Universe.
In Joe's vision, there was only darkness, but it was a transient experience before he saw the light.
Have I truly traversed to a different dimension?
"Wow, is this what Neil Armstrong felt when he landed on the moon?" Joe's voice echoed softly in the unfamiliar surroundings. His eyes widened in wonder as he took in the sophisticated decor of the luxurious room. With his hand lingering close to the Glock on his waist, Joe vigilantly looked around for any surveillance cameras, droids, or a person. His vigilance was met with nothing but pin-drop silence. There was not even a lone fly to welcome him, but Joe doubted if this self-contained beautiful environment had houseflies.
Covertly, Joe gazed through the transparent floor-to-ceiling windows as he silently walked forward like a ghost recon op. Hiding behind blinds, Joe side-glanced the mega-structures outside and even caught a glimpse of the earth.
'There's nothing? Don't tell me….' Joe had some ideas behind the silence, however, to affirm his guesses, he would have to venture outside eventually. And there's no way he was going outside before doing what was first on his list of priorities.
'The CCTV's seem non-functional. But the...' Joe silently walked toward the state-of-the-art medical equipment. 'How convenient. I remember even in the event of a power outage, the Med-Pod 3000 was designed to have some backup power.'
'But it's clearly not running on backup.' Joe observed the slick white exterior, pausing to observe the holographic user interface that showed details of it having direct input.
'It has a clean yet feature-rich interface.' Joe smiled as he played around with the commands. 'Pretty hackable.'
'Their technology should be a century beyond my previous world's and the current Marvel. However, that's up for debate. The Marvel Universe evolves with each passing year. They can breach the gap in a matter of 3-5 years.' Joe sighed.
'I'm not a citizen of Elysium and my biodata isn't recorded in their cloud servers. So I guess, yeah. It's hackin' time.' Joe began his thing. However, after a few minutes, he let out a long, frustrated sigh while shaking his head in reluctant admiration.
It was a given that whoever created Elysium's security protocols was a damn genius, considering they were advanced by like a century.
'A good challenge's still a good challenge.' Unfortunately, even with NZT, it was almost an impossible task to hack a system that incorporated DNA at its core. The special barcode that was imprinted in the arms of the Elysium elites was what differentiated them from the low-class masses. But the guy called Spider had a special administration gun capable of circumnavigating this hurdle.
Glancing at the portal he'd come through, Joe resisted the urge to return. Cracking the MedPod's system was a monumental task, but rules were made to be broken.
Joe pushed aside thoughts of the Star Rail sibling and her bonking bat, focusing instead on the challenge of penetrating the closed-loop system. There exist flaws in everything in the universe. If the Heaven's Path Library decreed it so, who was he to counterargue?
It only took a few hours before he forcefully and seamlessly registered himself into the cloud servers, perfectly fabricating his identity. After that, Joe didn't hesitate to remove his protective gear as he lay on the soft linen bed, designed for patient comfort.
[Beginning analysis...]
A fully automated voice softly sounded in his ears as the artificial intelligence performed a complete body scan.
[Thoracic Trauma detected]
[Cerebral micro-fractures detected.]
[Dormant metastatic cerebral tumor detected]
[Radiation and damaged cells and tissues detected]
[Incipient hemorrhagic bleeding in the cerebrum detected]
"..." Joe's face went pale, his skin turning ashen as if all the blood had drained away. His hands trembled slightly, and he felt a cold sweat forming on his brow.
He was the Walking Dead!
...
[Word Count 2368]