Page 8 of Bite for Sore Eyes

The matchmaker led them inside the power plant's entrance, her heels clicking against the concrete with the rhythm of someone who had never doubted where she was going. The security guard at the front desk looked up as they approached, his face breaking into a grin.

"Morning, Ms. Wilder. Another match coming through?"

"Yes, the very best kind, Charlie."

They passed the security checkpoint without pause, moving deeper into the building's utilitarian corridors, and Lana's analytical mind cataloged the details—the institutional lighting, the hum of electrical systems, and the way Gerri navigated the maze of hallways with absolute certainty. At the end of a particularly long corridor stood a service elevator that looked entirely ordinary except for the way Gerri approached it with reverent anticipation.

"Ready for the adventure of several lifetimes?" Gerri asked as the elevator doors slid open with a soft chime.

Lana stepped inside, her heart hammering with an excitement she hadn't felt in two years. "More than ready."

Gerri pressed the button marked 'B' and the doors closed with mechanical finality. As the elevator began its descent, Lana felt her stomach drop as they plunged far deeper than any basement should reach. The digital display showed floor after floor disappearing above them—B1, B2, B5, B10—until she lost count of how far beneath the earth they were traveling.

"Just how deep does this go?" she asked, fascination overriding any concern.

Gerri's smile held secrets and starlight. "Deep enough to reach the places where impossible things become inevitable."

The elevator finally shuddered to a halt, and the doors parted to reveal a corridor that belonged more to a research facility than the basement of a Maryland power plant. Sterile white walls stretched ahead, illuminated by panels that cast everything in clinical brightness, and at the far end, a single door waited like a period at the end of a sentence.

Gerri stepped out first, her heels echoing against the polished floors as she maneuvered one of Lana's suitcases with practiced ease. The sound bounced off the walls, creating a rhythm that seemed both foreign and oddly comforting, and Lana followed, wheeling her second bag behind her.

The silence between them carried significance and Lana's mind processed every detail—the seamless construction of the walls, the absence of visible ventilation systems, and the way the lighting seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere at once. None of it made sense according to any physics she understood, yet here she was, walking through impossibility with a woman who treated miracles like routine appointments.

Questions bubbled up in her throat, but something about Gerri's purposeful movement suggested this wasn't the time for explanations. The matchmaker navigated the corridor as if she'd walked this path thousands of times before, and that confidence became a strange anchor for Lana's racing thoughts. If Gerri had done this countless times, if other people had made this journey and survived to tell about it, then perhaps the impossible was simply another word for unexplored.

They finally reached the door, and Lana's eyes fixed on the gold nameplate mounted at eye level. The elegant script read "G. Wilder" in letters that seemed to shimmer slightly in the artificial light, as if the metal itself contained secrets.

"This must be your office," Lana said, though the words felt inadequate even as she spoke them.

Gerri's laugh tinkled like wind chimes. "This isn't my main office, dear. Just a wormhole station—one of many, actually."

Wormhole?

The word hit Lana's consciousness like a key turning in a lock. Quantum mechanics theory made manifest. Einstein-Rosen bridges that existed only in mathematical equations suddenly becoming as real as the suitcase handle beneath her palm. Her pulse quickened, not with fear but with the electric thrill of witnessing science fiction transform into science fact.

Gerri opened the door to reveal a space that defied every expectation Lana had formed. The room contained nothing but a single desk positioned against the far wall and one chair tucked neatly beneath it. No windows, no decorations, no hint of personality—just functional emptiness that somehow felt charged with potential.

"This is… sparse," Lana observed, stepping inside.

"Function over form for travel stations." Gerri moved to the desk with confidence and pulled open the single drawer, withdrawing what appeared to be a small metal egg. "The real magic happens in the center of the room."

Lana watched, fascination overriding any lingering skepticism, as Gerri moved to the exact middle of the space. The matchmaker held the egg close to her lips and began whispering words too soft for Lana to distinguish. The sounds seemed to flow together in patterns that felt almost musical, as if Gerri were singing instructions to the universe itself.

Then suddenly, the egg began to levitate from Gerri's palm, rising slowly at first, then with increasing confidence until it hovered at chest height between them. Its rotation started as barely perceptible movement, then accelerated until the metal became a blur of motion that shouldn't have been possible without visible machinery.

Within seconds, a shimmering blue circle materialized in the air where the egg spun, growing from pinpoint to doorway. The portal's edges rippled like water disturbed by wind, and through its transparent surface, Lana glimpsed a world that redefined everything she thought she knew about beauty.

Purple trees swayed in alien breezes, their leaves catching light from twin suns that painted everything in hues Earth had never imagined. A pink ocean stretched to the horizon, its waves lapping against shores of pale yellow sand that sparkled like crushed diamonds. Blue mountains rose in the distance, their peaks touched with gold that seemed to pulse with its own internal rhythm.

"It's breathtaking," Lana whispered.

Gerri's eyes flashed gold with obvious pleasure. "I'll see you in a few minutes, dear. Enjoy the ride."

Without hesitation, the matchmaker stepped through the portal with one of Lana's suitcases and vanished as completely as if she'd never existed. The portal continued to shimmer, waiting with infinite patience for Lana to make her choice.

Well, Lana thought, gripping her suitcase handle with determination, this is certainly the biggest adventure I've ever attempted.

Then she wheeled her bag forward and stepped through the threshold between worlds.