The journey to Ikti Prime was the longest Michael had spent on a single ship. Stopping by several planets and passing through a few space gates they would eventually arrive at the galaxy-renowned planet. Ikti Prime, the greatest space civilization had to offer. Michael had gotten to know Azav, Sheerya, Tiki, and Ellop so well, but was now preparing to arrive at his destination. Michael was saddened by the realization. They had filled the void of his missing family and friends back home. The ship landed on Ikti Prime and Azav had arranged to meet the client in Ikti City, the planet’s capital. Azav and Michael were going to meet the client while the rest of the crew stayed behind with the ship. Holding the box of jewels in his arms Michael walked with Azav around the city until they arrived in a quiet neighborhood full of mansions. “Here it is,” said Azav.

A guard opened the gate letting Michael and Azav in having recognized Azav’s mask. They approached the large front doors. An alien opened the door before they stepped up to knock. He had blue skin and was wearing a suit politely letting Michael and Azav in. The alien greeted Michael and Azav and walked them up to his office where they both took seats in front of his desk. “Azav, I don’t know how to thank you enough,” said the alien with the suit.

“Well, I am humbled, but really you should be thanking my assistant here,” said Azav putting his arm around Michael.

“Thank you, and what is your name?” asked the alien holding out his hand.

“Oh, Michael. My name is Michael,” said Michael.

“My name is Mr. Ermal. I am the Minister of Finance, but please call me Hiss,” said the alien.

“I brought him along because apart from his brilliant work getting the jewels back, Michael here is from the container universe, and it’s really important to him he can have a word with some of the professors at Ikti University,” said Azav.

“Of course, it’s the least I can do,” said Hiss.

“And I kind of owe you two big time. I’m not sure you know how bad it would’ve been for my career if you hadn’t got the jewels back,” said Hiss whispering.

Azav chuckled. “Don’t worry about it,” said Azav.

“Well, University of Ikti. Let’s go then shall we?” asked Hiss.

Michael thought to himself about his friends. “Actually, I’m not feeling great right now. Think we could go tomorrow?” asked Michael.

“Yeah, yeah of course,” said Hiss.

“Are you okay Michael?” asked Azav.

“Yeah, I’m okay just a stomach bug I think,” said Michael.

“I understand. Tomorrow it is,” said Azav.

Michael and Azav left the mansion and the gates were re-opened by the same guard who let them in. Michael and Azav were walking down the quiet street when Azav began speaking to Michael. “You’re not really sick are you?” asked Azav.

Michael sighed. “No, I’m not. I just needed a moment,” said Michael.

They walked back and made their way over to the ship. “Hey Azav… oh, Michael, you’re here too,” said Ellop.

“Yeah I am,” said Michael.

“Well, weren’t you going to Ikti University today?” asked Ellop.

“I was, but I’m staying here for now,” said Michael.

“Wonderful, we have another day together then. Anything you want to do?” asked Ellop.

“We could go to a restaurant. I heard the food here is the best in the galaxy,” said Tiki.

“Great idea,” said Sheerya.

They returned to the ship from the restaurant a few hours later once it was after dark. Michael was staring out into space as he often did when he felt the urge to speak. “Guys, I am going to miss you all when I go to Ikti University,” said Michael.

“I’ll miss you too,” said Ellop.

“Me as well,” said Tiki.

“As will I,” said Sheerya.

“This would be a good time to ask everyone a question. While we’re on the topic of Ikti Prime have any of you considered the possibility of staying? I mean, after all, we are living in the temporary settlement away from Zogan, ” said Azav.

Michael’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Wait, would you guys stay with me on Ikti Prime?” asked Michael.

“Can we actually stay Azav? That would be amazing,” said Tiki.

The rest of the crew were also getting excited hearing Azav’s proposition. “I think that would be great,” said Sheerya.

Ellop nodded his head in agreement with Sheerya and Tiki. “Well, looks like we’re staying then,” said Azav.

The crew cheered in excitement they wouldn’t be split up from Michael and Michael hugged each of the team members including Azav. That night Michael lay in his bed with relief he wouldn’t be separated from his friends. Tomorrow would be a big day for him. He would finally be going to Ikti University as had been his goal. Michael shut his eyes and dozed off.

Michael stretched his arms as he woke up. Today was the big day Michael would finally get to speak with the professors at Ikti University. It felt like Michael’s first day of school even though he hadn’t gone anywhere yet. “Hey Michael, Hiss called. He asked you to show up so he can take you to Ikti University,” said Azav.

“Oh, alright. I’ll go to his house right now,” said Michael.

Michael packed up his few possessions and put them into his backpack. He walked down the quiet street and arrived back at Hiss’ mansion where the guard greeted him and opened the gate once again. Hiss was already standing at his front door and greeted Michael. “Once again, thank you so much for helping me get those things back,” said Hiss referring to the jewels.

“And thank you for helping me,” said Michael.

“Of course, using my government connections for good is the least I could do,” said Hiss.

Michael and Hiss arrived at Ikti University. The campus was massive and contained several buildings as aliens of all species were walking around carrying books and talking with friends. Michael followed Hiss through the campus and they arrived inside one of the buildings where a professor was giving a lecture on the container theory. “So based on our speculations from the research we have gathered on this world we are living in we conclude that we are within a false reality. Some type of reality within another, and scientists believe that there could be some way to travel between these two dimensions,” said the professor.

The professor acknowledged Michael and Hiss as they took seats so as to not interrupt the lecture. The professor continued talking. It felt strange hearing the professor speculate on Michael’s world with varying degrees of accuracy. Once the lecture had concluded the students were dismissed from their seats and left the room. As the students were leaving the professor walked up to Michael and took the initiative to introduce himself. “Hello, I am Professor Sular,” the professor said reaching his hand out to shake Michael’s.

Hiss’ galactoband started ringing. “Sorry, I’m going to need to take this,” said Hiss as he left the room to take the call.

“Nice to meet you, my name is Michael,” said Michael.

“So, I’ve heard you’re from the container universe. Would you mind if I asked just a little about it?” asked Professor Sular.

“I don’t mind, what questions do you have?” asked Michael.

“So, how exactly is our universe contained?” asked Professor Sular.

“Well, it’s on a computer,” said Michael.

“Fascinating. Truly fascinating. Why are you here?” asked Professor Sular.

“I didn’t mean to come here, but there was some electrical surge and I ended up here,” said Michael.

“So, some type of device pulled a great amount of energy which resulted in you being transported to this world?” asked Professor Sular.

“Yeah, pretty much,” said Michael.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Well, what kind of device could pull so much energy this freak accident would occur?” asked Professor Sular who was now taking notes.

“Well, my grandma’s vacuum cleaner,” said Michael.

“Very fascinating. A device the size of a planet must have exerted such a great amount of energy it brought you here. You must have an incredibly advanced species,” said Professor Sular.

“Well, not quite actually, it was a handheld vacuum,” said Michael holding out his hands to approximate the size of the vacuum for the professor to see.

“Oh, I see, a smaller device, but one that requires a lot of energy. One that harvests the energy of suns,” said Professor Sular with excitement.

“No, really it’s not like that. To be honest, our species isn’t nearly as advanced as yours,” said Michael.

“Fascinating, and what makes you say that?” asked Professor Sular.

“Well, for starters I hadn’t been to space until I arrived here in your universe. Where I’m from only a handful of people ever go to space, and the furthest we’ve sent someone to was our moon,” said Michael.

“Well, this is unexpected. Say, what exactly did you wish to speak to me for?” asked Professor Sular.

“Well, seeing as I’m not supposed to be here I wanted to see if you would know a way out,” said Michael.

“Well, there is much that’s still unknown when it comes to interuniversal travel, but I’ve theorized it isn’t impossible,” said Professor Sular.

“It’s not because aliens from this universe have visited mine,” said Michael.

“Oh really? From which nation did they travel?” asked Professor Sular.

“Well, they were Tardigrades,” said Michael.

Professor Sular looked at Michael with shock. “No, not the Tardigrades. They’re vile and vicious, I cannot believe they made first contact with the container world and not us,” said Professor Sular.

“Yeah, I know, they began stealing landmarks from all over my planet. That’s part of the reason why I am here. You see we were attempting to remove the Tardigrades from our world. The Tardigrades arrived after a power surge, so we tried to recreate the conditions and I was brought back here,” said Michael.

“Interesting. Very interesting,” said Professor Sular.

“Also, I’ve been unable to contact anyone from my universe since I arrived. Would you know any way I could do that?” asked Michael.

“Well, we have some artifacts we found you could take a look at,” said Professor Sular.

Professor Sular walked Michael to a room containing all sorts of items. Michael looked over to a shelf to see a computer. Not like one of the typical computers in this universe on the glass screens with holographs and lacking buttons, but one that looked more like a computer that would be seen on Earth. Michael took a closer look. It wasn’t just a computer, it was his PC sitting on a desk. Michael noticed as the keyboard had letters in the Latin alphabet and he moved the mouse. “Be very careful with that that’s an ancient artifact,” said Professor Sular with concern painted on his face.

The computer asked for a password, so instinctively Michael began typing his password into the computer. “Okay, now that’s enough. That’s really fragile,” said Professor Sular getting frustrated.

Michael pressed the enter key after typing out his password and it loaded in just like his computer at home would. “Woah, what did you do?” asked Professor Sular.

“I typed the password in,” said Michael.

“You don’t understand how much of a breakthrough this is. Professors before me have been trying to crack the code for over a hundred years,” said Professor Sular.

Michael was still looking at the computer and looking around the screen noticing everything was the same. He clicked around on the applications and saw his friends were online so he typed a message. The message read Hey, this is Michael. I don’t know how but I am in Nova Galactica. I’ve been here for a month or two I estimate. I miss you all I am trying to figure out a way out. Professor Sular looked at the computer with confusion. “What is that? Some type of cryptic code?” asked Professor Sular.

“No, I just thought maybe this could communicate with my friends. I don’t know they haven’t written anything back so it didn’t even work,” said Michael.

“Well, what you did was phenomenal. I must alert the other professors at once,” said Professor Sular.

When the word had gotten out of Michael unlocking the computer several professors were now in the room talking and marveling at the unlocked computer displaying Michael’s wallpaper. Chatter was building up in the room as more members continued to enter and take a look at the commotion. People were taking pictures and documenting the event that had taken place and taking pictures of Michael, some began asking for autographs. It was surreal the amount of attention Michael had gotten over such a seemingly minuscule decision. Michael liked the attention, but at the same time felt anxious as the room continued filling with people to witness the unlocked computer. “Hey, do you think we could have some space?” asked Michael to Professor Sular.

“Yeah sure,” said Professor Sular.

“OKAY EVERYONE OUT!” yelled Professor Sular.

The professors looked for a moment but began leaving the room and standing out in the hallway. “Guess it was kinda a big deal,” said Michael.

“Hey, at least you know now how many would be interested in helping you get back home,” said Professor Sular.

Professor Sular stepped out of the room for a moment and returned a moment later. “Hey Michael, the news are here, they want to interview you,” said Professor Sular.

“I guess I can take an interview,” said Michael.

The news crew entered with two cameramen and an anchor holding a microphone. “...And here we are taking a first look at this historic moment, the device has been unlocked by this young man. Sir what is your name?” asked the news anchor to Michael.

“My name is Michael, Michael Chapman,” said Michael.

“Okay, and so Michael, how did you unlock the computer?” asked the interviewer.

“Well, I am from the container universe, so unlocking it was pretty easy since I recognized the computer and I knew the password for it,” said Michael.

Michael continued answering questions to the interviewer as she continued asking questions about Michael’s universe and the computer when a message was sent back on the computer. MICHAEL? Is that really you? We have been freaking out for like the last 15 minutes looking for you. Write us a message back pls -Ryan. Michael began typing back.

Michael: Wow I can’t believe that it worked. I am in Nova Galactica and I found this computer in a university. I am here with the professors and we are going to try and find a way out of here so I can get back home.

After typing his message Michael waited for a response but there was no immediate message sent back. The interviewer shifted her questioning to be about the messages Michael was typing. “So what are you doing typing there on the computer?” asked the interviewer.

“I am contacting my friend from the container universe,” said Michael.

Azav started calling Michael on his galactoband and Michael picked up the call. “Michael, it may not be in your best interest to disclose this information publicly,” said Azav.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” said Michael.

Michael looked toward the interviewer. “I can’t answer any more questions now, but I will answer later,” said Michael.

The news anchor spoke facing the camera. “Well, there you have it this breaking news for those of you who are just tuning in the computer at Ikti University has been unlocked,” said the news anchor before the cameraman relaxed the camera and both the cameraman and news anchor left the room. As the news crew was leaving the room government agents wearing black suits entered. “Michael, we’re with the Ikti National Police we need to talk to you,” said one of the officers.

“You too professor,” said the other officer.

Michael felt nervous but followed the officers. Before leaving the room another officer entered to take away the computer. Michael and Professor Sular were walked out to a black police ship and boarded to take seats.