Timmy and Melanie continued to stare at the... well, whatever the hell it was that was occupying what was normally Timmy's room for another couple of seconds before either of them could muster any more words. It's doubtful anyone could do anything but stare for a few seconds upon seeing what they saw. Eventually the initial awe passed and they started trying to process what they were seeing.
"So, just to be sure," said Timmy, "You're seeing this too, right? This isn't just my head going into la-la land?"
"Yeah," said Melanie, "I'm seeing it too. Now, question is, what exactly is this?"
While the door frame and the door itself were still looking fairly normal, the room on the other side had been replaced by... for a lack of better words to describe it, a colorful swirly energy... bit of space. It was hard to tell from here if there was any shape or bound to the... room? Area? Interdimensional Hyperspace Pocket? It wasn't even clear if it had a ground, or a ceiling. It looked like it was possible to enter, but it wasn't really easy to tell how to actually move around inside of it.
Timmy stared at the key for a second, which was still in the door. It didn't take a big leap of logic to figure out that it was probably responsible for opening the door to this... place.
"Just... just what the hell IS thing? How does it work, how does it open a door to this Swirly... Acid-Trippy..... place, for lack of a better word, instead of to my room? Is it, like, magic or something?"
Melanie thought for a second and then said, "I'm trying to think of a non-magical explanation for this and I can't come up with anything other than top-secret government... thing... that somehow ended up on a sidewalk for you to find, or aliens. Currently leaning towards aliens, magic seems about as likely. Maybe... magic aliens? Or something?"
"What exactly is this, anyway? Some kind of portal?"
"Your guess is as good as mine... I can't really think of any way to find out without actually going in there and looking."
"That sounds a bit dangerous, we don't have any idea what could be in there..."
"You're telling me! Think we should... tell anyone else about this? Like, is there anyone else who might be better-suited for exploring weird... dimensional portals or whatever this is?"
"Is ANYONE well-suited to exploring dimensional portals? This sort of thing doesn't exactly just pop up on street corners every day."
"True, but surely someone out there is less poorly-suited than us. I mean, we go in there, we probably get eaten by ghosts or something."
"I guess... but who exactly could we tell? It's not like you can just call anyone up and say 'Hey, there's this swirly energy place where my room used to be, can you help me?' Anyone we told would think we were just messing with them or totally tripping balls or something."
"Good point... we could try to get someone to come here for some other reason, but we're still not sure how this thing works. Maybe it returns to normal after a few minutes, maybe the key doesn't always open to this place... we really don't know how all of this works."
"I was thinking that too... and that I kind of want to figure out how exactly it works, through trial and error if nothing else. And, besides, while I know this... thing... could be dangerous..."
"You kind of want to see what's in there?"
"You took the words right out of my mouth."
"Yeah... I kind of want to see what's in there myself..."
They continued staring at the place on the other side of the door. It was... cool-looking, if nothing else, and it didn't immediately look like there was anything that could kill them in there, although maybe there were invisible ghosts that would eat them, or something.
Timmy decided to poke the box containing his sandwich into the place a bit, just to make sure it wouldn't vaporize or anything. It did look a little bit weirder when it was partially in there, and it also felt like a lot lighter, almost weightless, but after pulling it out, it looked completely untouched. The sandwich also looked just fine.
"Well, it looks like it's okay to at least walk a few steps in there and have a quick look around... what do you think?"
"Yeah... but, just in case, I'd rather not spend too much time in there, at least not now... maybe take a quick look now, a slightly longer one tomorrow if it looks reasonably safe?"
"Sounds good to me... but just in case we need a quick escape, do you have anything we could use for a rope, or something?"
"I guess I could go tie some bedsheets together..."
"Couldn't hurt, could it?"
Melanie agreed, and went back to her room to go get some bedsheets. Timmy spent most of the time waiting for her to return by eating his sandwich, finishing the last of it right around the same time she had come back with a makeshift rope made out of bedsheets.
"Think I should throw this box in and see if something eats it, or something?"
"Assuming this weird place doesn't have any kind of littering problem, and it sure doesn't look like it, couldn't hurt, could it?"
Timmy threw the box into the swirly energy place as hard as he could. It went for a while... then kept going... and going... and going... and going, fading off into the distance, seeming to move more or less in a straight line.
"Well, that's good to know- apparently there's no gravity in there. We're probably going to need that bedsheet-rope. It's tied together well, right?"
"Yeah, I think so..."
"So... who goes first?"
"Flip a coin, loser goes in first?"
"Sounds good to me..."
"So, just to be sure," said Timmy, "You're seeing this too, right? This isn't just my head going into la-la land?"
"Yeah," said Melanie, "I'm seeing it too. Now, question is, what exactly is this?"
While the door frame and the door itself were still looking fairly normal, the room on the other side had been replaced by... for a lack of better words to describe it, a colorful swirly energy... bit of space. It was hard to tell from here if there was any shape or bound to the... room? Area? Interdimensional Hyperspace Pocket? It wasn't even clear if it had a ground, or a ceiling. It looked like it was possible to enter, but it wasn't really easy to tell how to actually move around inside of it.
Timmy stared at the key for a second, which was still in the door. It didn't take a big leap of logic to figure out that it was probably responsible for opening the door to this... place.
"Just... just what the hell IS thing? How does it work, how does it open a door to this Swirly... Acid-Trippy..... place, for lack of a better word, instead of to my room? Is it, like, magic or something?"
Melanie thought for a second and then said, "I'm trying to think of a non-magical explanation for this and I can't come up with anything other than top-secret government... thing... that somehow ended up on a sidewalk for you to find, or aliens. Currently leaning towards aliens, magic seems about as likely. Maybe... magic aliens? Or something?"
"What exactly is this, anyway? Some kind of portal?"
"Your guess is as good as mine... I can't really think of any way to find out without actually going in there and looking."
"That sounds a bit dangerous, we don't have any idea what could be in there..."
"You're telling me! Think we should... tell anyone else about this? Like, is there anyone else who might be better-suited for exploring weird... dimensional portals or whatever this is?"
"Is ANYONE well-suited to exploring dimensional portals? This sort of thing doesn't exactly just pop up on street corners every day."
"True, but surely someone out there is less poorly-suited than us. I mean, we go in there, we probably get eaten by ghosts or something."
"I guess... but who exactly could we tell? It's not like you can just call anyone up and say 'Hey, there's this swirly energy place where my room used to be, can you help me?' Anyone we told would think we were just messing with them or totally tripping balls or something."
"Good point... we could try to get someone to come here for some other reason, but we're still not sure how this thing works. Maybe it returns to normal after a few minutes, maybe the key doesn't always open to this place... we really don't know how all of this works."
"I was thinking that too... and that I kind of want to figure out how exactly it works, through trial and error if nothing else. And, besides, while I know this... thing... could be dangerous..."
"You kind of want to see what's in there?"
"You took the words right out of my mouth."
"Yeah... I kind of want to see what's in there myself..."
They continued staring at the place on the other side of the door. It was... cool-looking, if nothing else, and it didn't immediately look like there was anything that could kill them in there, although maybe there were invisible ghosts that would eat them, or something.
Timmy decided to poke the box containing his sandwich into the place a bit, just to make sure it wouldn't vaporize or anything. It did look a little bit weirder when it was partially in there, and it also felt like a lot lighter, almost weightless, but after pulling it out, it looked completely untouched. The sandwich also looked just fine.
"Well, it looks like it's okay to at least walk a few steps in there and have a quick look around... what do you think?"
"Yeah... but, just in case, I'd rather not spend too much time in there, at least not now... maybe take a quick look now, a slightly longer one tomorrow if it looks reasonably safe?"
"Sounds good to me... but just in case we need a quick escape, do you have anything we could use for a rope, or something?"
"I guess I could go tie some bedsheets together..."
"Couldn't hurt, could it?"
Melanie agreed, and went back to her room to go get some bedsheets. Timmy spent most of the time waiting for her to return by eating his sandwich, finishing the last of it right around the same time she had come back with a makeshift rope made out of bedsheets.
"Think I should throw this box in and see if something eats it, or something?"
"Assuming this weird place doesn't have any kind of littering problem, and it sure doesn't look like it, couldn't hurt, could it?"
Timmy threw the box into the swirly energy place as hard as he could. It went for a while... then kept going... and going... and going... and going, fading off into the distance, seeming to move more or less in a straight line.
"Well, that's good to know- apparently there's no gravity in there. We're probably going to need that bedsheet-rope. It's tied together well, right?"
"Yeah, I think so..."
"So... who goes first?"
"Flip a coin, loser goes in first?"
"Sounds good to me..."