"Hey, Richard"

"Yes, Mike, what?"

"Does this place have a security control room?"

"Yeah, it does... And that is not a bad idea."

"So what are you up to?" asked Alice.

"Well, this base has lots of cameras all around, so we might be able to find something," answered Richard.

"Yeah, we can go check the security control room after breakfast," commented Michael.

With her hands on the table, Alice shouted: "Breakfast? C'mon, let's go now!"

"What? Wait, I'm not done eating!" protested Richard.

"You can eat and walk at the same time!" shouted Alice.

- - - -

The security control room was small and only had two computers with two monitors each. Michael didn't have any trouble finding the password to access the footage from the security system.

"Okay, we're all set. So what we looking for, lieutenant?"

"Select the camera from the main gate. There are always two guards standing there."

Michael started rewinding the footage to the time when the shift to the new dimension happened. The room was almost silent, with all three of them staring at the monitor screen. Only the sounds of the keyboard and mouse could be heard.

"This is odd," whispered Richard.

"What is?" asked Alice.

"We have well over 48 hours of footage and we still got nothing. The soldiers are not there. I mean, we haven't been in this world for more than two days, right?"

Stolen story; please report.

"Yeah, not even close," answered Alice.

"So why can't we get to the time when the soldiers were there?" asked Richard.

"I think I might know the answer. Remember that our clocks are still stuck at midnight?" prompted Michael.

"Yeah, it's weird. Even analog clocks are stuck," explained Richard.

"I think we're in a dimension where time is not a thing."

"Are you saying there's no passage of time in this dimension? Then how am I able to talk to you right now?" asked Alice.

"I don't know, but that's the only logical explanation. It might be possible that, even though we're in this dimension, this world doesn't consider us as part of it and, for that reason, we're able to function like we normally would in our own world. The rest of it just stays frozen in time."

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone in the room tried to understand what was happening. The group knew that only one thing was clear: if they wanted to move forward, they would need to throw common sense out of the window. The new world was, indeed, a brand new world.

- - - -

Michael and Alice continued their work on the security room for a few hours while Richard explored the base looking for clues about what was happening, but one of them were able to find anything.

At the base's cafeteria, Alice and Richard were eating sandwiches while Michael was typing on his laptop. "Hey, are you not going to eat?" asked Alice.

"I'm fine, I ate a protein bar earlier."

"Lad, you should eat something now because we don't know what's ahead of us. Here, have some biscuits," offered Richard.

"Okay, I'll have some, thanks," replied Michael while still looking at the laptop screen.

"Interesting," noted Alice.

"Huh?" muttered Richard.

"Oh, nothing, really." The young woman was thinking about how Richard and Michael became so close in such a small amount of time. She didn't expect seeing that kind of scene considering the circumstances of their first meeting.

The three continued eating in silence for a few minutes until Alice decided to interfere: "Okay, boys, what now? What are we going to do?"

"I think it's obvious we can't stay here anymore. The state's capital is not that far and it's a much larger city. We might have a better chance of finding other survivors there".

"Yep, I agree with Richard. In fact, my father lives there so we might find something useful at his place. He has a personal lab and I'm sure his computers have all sorts of data about the multiverse. What do you say?" proposed Michael.

"Sounds like a plan, right?" asked Alice.

"It does to me," Richard said.

"Okay, so let's pack our stuff and get moving. Since there's no traffic, we can get there in less than two hours," the boy explained.

Richard smiled. "So the lad is acting like he owns the place now."

"He's the man with a plan, Richard, you've gotta give him that," joked Alice.

Even though their minds were still full of uncertainties, the three protagonists now had a plan, a goal, something they could work towards. They didn't know what to expect from this new world, but now they seemed to be ready to discover it.