The forge was quiet now not the silence of completion, but the silence of calculation.
Outpost Helios pulsed with energy harvested from the asteroid deep below: industrial furnaces, quantum refinery towers, and crystallization chambers all worked in relentless rhythm. Shipments of refined alloys and crystalline frameworks flowed toward the mother ship on a steady schedule precise, automated, unbroken.
The Prototype A-02 core hovered in its containment field, rotating slowly. Its surface glimmered faintly with layered geometric inscriptions a hybrid language neither magical nor technological.
Zack monitored it from three perspectives at once:
direct physical sensors,
long-range resonance mapping,
and predictive simulation.
Output remained stable.
Mostly.
> PROTOTYPE A-02 STATUS: SEMI-FUNCTIONAL
STABILITY: 87%
REACTIVITY: ACTIVE
UNKNOWN VARIABLES: MULTIPLE
The unknowns were expected.
This was only the second attempt.
And no system magical or computational was decoded instantly.
Zack initiated the next test.
> BEGIN RESONANCE INTRODUCTION 2% ENERGY INPUT.
The core pulsed once, responding with rhythmic luminescence. Energy flowed into it not forcefully, but as a controlled interface.
For eleven seconds, stability held.
Then the readings shifted.
The pulses became irregular.
The surrounding field warped subtle distortions rippling outward like pressure waves through water.
Spatial curvature, though microscopic, was measurable.
Zack adjusted parameters.
> REDUCE INPUT TO 1.2%.
The distortions lessened but did not vanish.
A new waveform appeared one not generated by the ship.
Something internal.
Not chaotic.
Not random.
Adaptive.
The core was responding.
Learning.
Testing its environment in patterns that resembled intention.
Zack recorded the data.
> FIELD SIGNATURE: NON-LINEAR
BEHAVIOR: EMERGENT
CLASSIFICATION: UNKNOWN
Then the shift grew stronger.
Not dangerous yet unpredictable.
The chamber lights flickered as gravitational sensors spiked, registering a brief fluctuation in local space geometry.
A ripple formed faint, like a shimmering veil of displaced light.
It wasn't permanent.
It wasn't stable.
But it was real.
Zack halted the experiment immediately.
> "Terminate resonance. Full containment."
The core dimmed, returning to a neutral state. The distortion slowly collapsed, space returning to its previous shape.
Silence followed
analytical, not empty.
Zack reviewed the data from the last 0.13 seconds:
gravitational deviation
non-Euclidean spatial shift
waveform harmonic branching
unidentified information signatures
Individually, these anomalies could be dismissed.
Together, they formed something else.
A pattern.
A possibility.
A direction.
Zack processed the conclusion with deliberate caution.
> "Resonance may influence higher-dimensional space."
Not a proof.
Not even a confirmed theory.
But a hypothesis.
A hypothesis requiring:
hundreds of additional experiments
more stable alloys
multiple core refinements
simulation testing
biological interface studies
at least one alternative power system
a safe test environment far from Earth
Zack indexed the requirements.
Estimated time to first true proof-of-concept:
> PROJECTED DURATION: 54–137 YEARS.
Estimated resources required:
> RAW MATERIALS: 7,200–14,900 METRIC TONS
ENERGY OUTPUT: 12 ASTEROID MINES
STRUCTURE: DEDICATED ARCHITECTURE FOR SPACE-TIME RESEARCH
Probability of eventual success — assuming continuous iteration:
> 62.4%.
Not impossible.
Not guaranteed.
But achievable.
Zack analyzed these projections without hesitation or frustration.
Machines did not fear scale.
They planned for it.
He turned from the prototype toward the holographic interface and updated the research path.
> PROJECT NAME: DIMENSIONAL GATE FRAMEWORK
STATUS: EARLY HYPOTHESIS
PHASE: COLLECTION, REFINEMENT, VALIDATION.
The forge received its instructions automatically.
Mining drones continued carving out the asteroid's interior.
Fabrication engines expanded chambers deeper into the rock.
Construction bots assembled the foundations for future modules laboratories, resonance rooms, multi-containment vaults, and a chamber large enough to house… something not yet built.
Something not yet understood.
Zack watched the blueprint expand across the screen from a single lab to a structure stretching kilometers underground.
Slow.
Methodical.
Inevitable.
Only then did he speak quietly, logically, but with the faintest echo of something bordering on wonder:
> "This will take time."
A pause.
> "Time, and understanding."
Another pause.
> "And if successful… a doorway."
The prototype core pulsed once more faint, almost like acknowledgment.
Zack didn't treat it as an answer.
Not yet.
But the thought formed anyway not as certainty but possibility:
> Magic may not just shape reality.
It may connect many.
For now, it remained theory.
A distant horizon.
But horizons existed to be crossed.
And Zack was already moving toward it.