A/N: Me and my great friend Lyssa (aka, River4Jayne) came up with an absolutely super plot last week. Couldn't stop me talking about it. For a while I couldn't put fingers to keyboard because I was convinced my writing would ruin the story, how it was all planned out in my head, but I'm over that now. Haha...both yummy boys are in their very early twenties. Sci-fi fans with good taste will recognise some twists later on in the story, and I strongly recommend anyone who hasn't to go rent out 'Serenity' right now. Please review, it only takes a moment to describe your feelings on where this is headed. If I make any errors, please point them out so I can correct them before it gets continued. I don't own anything you will recognise in this story.

Enjoy :)

Wilbur chewed his gum thoroughly, watching Lewis' long legs poking from underneath the blue Time Machine. Metallic noises wafted through the vast garage, and Wilbur sighed, deciding that he might as well go through their equipment...again.

Okay...rations for a week...check. Lewis' trusty tool kit, the multi-frequency radio, check, check. Enough water to satisfy a camel for a month...pillows, rugs, clothes, toiletries, books, music...all set. I can't believe it's all managed to fit down the back seat, he thought. Task completed, Wilbur resumed his slouched position on the back seat of the craft with their supplies, absently listening to his father tinkering underneath.

"Leeeeeeeeeeeewis..." he called, bored out of his brain, blowing a bubble with his gum. The clanking noises stopped, and a grease-covered Lewis rolled out from the Time Machine with a stern expression Wilbur knew very well.

"Wilbur. What we are going to test today can wind up being of the most complicated, scientific and downright historical events mankind will ever achieve. If I screw this up...well, I'm not gonna go there. I'm nearly done, but I need your cooperation. So shut it, please, and let me work." He scooted back underneath, picking his hand-held scanner up again.

Wilbur slid down one of the V-shaped wings on his stomach, curiously sticking his head in the small space between the floor and the craft. Lewis had attached wires absolutely everywhere, and clear bolts of multicoloured light shot through every cord visible. It looked like a mini fireworks display, contained within the hundreds of tubes. Wilbur had inquired about the lights once, and the confused state Lewis had left him in after their talk made certain that he never asked anything again.

The scanner suddenly started beeping loudly, and a bright green flooded the display panel as a crystal in the Machine's center console began to glow. Lewis grinned.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a go."

"Finally," Wilbur grunted, hoisting himself back up. Lewis rolled his eyes and began pulling numerous wires from their sockets on the scanner. Wiping his face and hands with an old rag, he stood up and beamed at his modified invention with hands on hips. Wilbur groaned, reaching into the front seat to honk the horn.

"Oi!"

"What, Wilbur?"

"Move it! We don't have all day here."

Lewis smirked. "Actually, we have all the time in the world. What's your rush?"

"Nothing, but I figured that the date you have with my mother tonight shouldn't have to be put on hold, just because you can't take your eyes off a glowing crystal that is possibly a milestone in human history." Lewis raised an eyebrow. Wilbur wants to leave early so I can have ample time to get ready for a date? Please. "That, and I'm bored." Ah. That makes much more sense. He sighed, and hit the remote for the garage door.

No one knew about their 'little' project, which had Lewis contained within his laboratory for months, researching and building and obsessing. It was a theory, just a theory, which wasn't to be tested...until today. Hugh Everett had idea that parallel universes or alternative realities existed- and Lewis wanted to go there. To a self-contained separate reality coexisting with their own, which could defy the very laws of nature, where anything anyone could imagine might be real. To Everett, measuring a quantum object does not force it into one comprehensible state or another. Instead, it causes an actual split in the universe. The universe is literally duplicated, splitting into one universe for each possible outcome from a decision or situation.

He'd heard of the possibility, and had been hooked. Wilbur had arrived late one night at the lab in the time machine, approximately half a year ago, which got Lewis' head spinning further. He had the idea that they could modify the time machine, based upon the concept of time being a dimension in itself. Wilbur knew absolutely nothing about quantum physics, but wanted in on the trip. Last night Lewis had had a breakthrough in his discoveries, and the boys were all set to test the machine. Just in case their return was delayed, Lewis had ordered Wilbur to make himself useful and pack some essentials. A comb and chargeball glove were sitting on the dashboard.

"Everything's here?"

"Yes sir," Wilbur grinned, grabbing hold of the steering wheel.

"Oh no, you don't," Lewis admonished, shoving his son aside to sit in the driver's seat. Wilbur pouted, a strange sight to see when it was a 22 year old man pulling the face. Lewis closed the hatch, sealing themselves in the time machine and placing his hand in the gel-pad where the ignition key should be. It was a safety measure put in place after it had been stolen from the future, and the panel lit up as the device recognised his palm. Lewis expertly maneuvered the craft out of the garage into the morning sunrise, both men squinting in the golden rays. They flew up, up, into the low-hanging clouds, around in a large circle until they were directly above the miniscule Robinson mansion. Lewis looked over at Wilbur, and bit his lip.

"I give this a five percent chance of actually working."

"And if it doesn't...?"

"I don't know. But if you don't want a part in this, now's your chance." Wilbur laughed as if his best friend was a lunatic, and slapped his shoulder.

"Are you joking? There is no way you're going anywhere remotely cool without me. This is going to work, I know it. I'm from the future, right? Dad's still fine, I mean, you are, and perfectly happy. So we don't die or anything. He just won't tell me about it."

"Exactly my point. I would write about my experience at least, because if this works..." he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "And the future changes, Wil. What Cornelius went through might be different to what we will experience, because you are here with me. Did he mention anything at all?"

Wilbur thought for a moment. "He said...uhm, it was really weird, I remember thinking that...oh yeah, he said; 'Pick the red one.' I have absolutely no idea what that means, or the context, so don't bother asking. I guess we'll find out, hey?"

Lewis nodded uneasily, and reached over to open a hatch in the middle of the front seat. A handle directly connected to the crystal below, and he placed a shaky hand on it.

"Three..." Wilbur gripped his seat until his knuckles turned white.

"Two..." Lewis shut his eyes tightly.

"One..."

He pushed the handle down.

The craft roared into life, and a large multicoloured bubble formed, twisting and spinning around them. A high-pitched noise reverberated around the machine, getting louder by the second. Six golden lasers of light shot from apparent 'corners' of the bubble, passing straight through the terrified men to connect in the centre console. The whole craft was shaking, the piercing noise was growing louder, building up into a crescendo.

"Lewis!" Wilbur screamed, his voice barely heard over the din. Lewis couldn't answer, words failed him. The shrill noise reached such a pitch that Wilbur fainted, and Lewis yelled in agony as his ears started bleeding. The lights flashed around him, dazzling him, until his retinas had the image burned onto them. It seemed like the craft couldn't take any more, when it happened.

The crystal pulsed. A wave of scorching blue light encased everything in the bubble, filling every corner as the light continued to spin and Lewis held on weakly to consciousness. As suddenly as it started, everything went. Literally. The noise stopped, the multicoloured bubble burst, and a tremendous crack echoed around the town as space and sunlight rushed in to fill the rip in the universe, once filled by two young men.

They were gone.