Now, just like the Solar System, its only inhabitants were going to die because of Silas too.
But he had no guilt about that. Instead he was elated, because he had succeeded.
This was the riskiest move Silas had made in his life. If the machine failed, he will have no future left. This machine was the result of 30 years of relentless effort by all of humanity.
So, Silas wasted no further time and activated the machine.
------
"Hmm…" Silas muttered in excitement. 'did i succeed!'.
Ignoring his splitting headache. Silas took notice of his surroundings, he was in a dark alley lying in a heap of garbage.
He stood straight in the mound of garbage with great difficulty and started observing his body.
Seeing his now young skin, he was beyond excited. It seemed he had succeeded.
But catching his reflection in a puddle of water left Silas shocked. This was not his face.
"Hmm, it seems there was a complication. I seem to have switched bodies with someone. Is that even possible?"
All of Silas's research indicated that it shouldn't be.
In that puddle of water he saw his current appearance. The face that stared back at him was of a young man with disheveled hair and gunk on his face.
"What else has changed?", he wondered. He tried to move out of the mound of garbage but he stumbled trying to take control of his body.
Smelling the strong stench of alcohol and seeing the bar sign to his left. He figured that the original body got too drunk and was thrown out of the bar.
Finally, after great effort he got out of the dark alley. He traversed through the streets while ignoring the gazes of contempt and disgust from the people around him and picked up a newspaper from a nearby stand.
He didn't really blame them. He was wearing patched clothes with an unkempt beard and hair. His body was dirty and he smelled like sewage.
Taking in the unique atmosphere, the shiny cars, the chaos and, the gritty and alive city that seemed to be pulsating with its own unique culture, he instinctively knew that this was New York in the 90 s. A time he particularly enjoyed.
Looking back towards the newspaper, he noticed the headline 'New Roman Empire declares war on the White Crescent Empire', his eyes widened in disbelief.
'it seems i am in a different world. But how and why am i here?', he thought.
He had to get to the bottom of this.
"Let's list out all the reasons i can be in this universe:
There was an error in my calculations or i didn't take all variables into account... There could have been an energy surge or an instability in my quantum displacement engine that caused the quantum tunnel to collapse".
"That makes sense, so this all could just be an accident", Silas thought. But what if there is more that what meets the eye.
"Maybe, i died and this is some sort of illusion in hell where i will continue to torture myself. Eternally, torturing myself with my own delusions. Who knows maybe this is not even the first time I've said this", he thought.
It could be possible, after all Silas never found any proof of a hell dimension but he never found any conclusive proof of its absence either.
"Or maybe some omnipotent god liked me or hated me. So he sent me to this universe to fulfill my goals", he mused.
But he was more inclined to believe the next possibility though, simply because he didn't want to imagine the ramifications of being involved with such a being.
"By time traveling, i should have broken the laws of the universe. So maybe, while time traveling i was expelled from my universe and arrived here".
"Well whatever…", whether real or false, he couldn't do anything about it currently. With time, Silas was sure he will find out.
Even if this was an illusion. If i succeed in my pursuit of quantum mastery i should be able to break out. Perhaps the process will be far more complicated in that case.
Suppressing this line of thought. He thought of something else.
Knowing that he had chosen to believe he was in the another universe, what should be his future plan. Did he have a golden finger? It wouldn't make sense but what if?
He called aloud with barely hidden glee, "System, open, status, open sesame" but much to his disappointment nothing happened except, a young couple crossing the street to the other side.
He stepped on a passing rat. But the result left him disappointed.
The rat did not give him experience points or life essence. It seemed he didn't have a cheat.
So, he started thinking again while quickly finding a quiet corner and sitting down.
He had no advantage here, so he thought of all his current skills and tried to formulate a plan around them.
''i have decent martial arts skills but there effect will be almost inconsequential with my current weak body. I also have good hacking skills especially for this era and a good foundation in science, technology and bio-engineering".
Well considering he managed to achieve matter-energy conversion and teleportation. Maybe, good is already being modest.
Plus, he still had an eidetic memory. This surprised Silas, one would assume that when his brain changes, its capabilities will change too...
"This is very interesting, it seems I am missing a key piece of biological studies" Silas said in excitement.
He was naturally excited because he found another flaw in his understanding. To Silas, each flaw was equivalent to a new venue of study. Since, he knew that his understanding of mind was wrong so he can theorize again.
If he never knew his understanding was wrong, he would never have the opportunity to learn the truth.
His core ambition had always been the same - comprehension. He needed to understand everything about everything. Silas had found that he didn't always have this obsession.