"Jack!" Jill screamed anxiously. Their car was heading towards the blinding flash of light too fast. Jack was pressing on the brakes hard, his knuckles were white from grabbing the steering wheel. But it was to no avail.

If they had died right there and then, their last words would have been their unfortunate screams.

But life had other plans for them.

The supercharged bolt of lightning struck their car, and it exploded into blue fire.

Jack and Jill passed out.

Jill woke up first, groggily opening her eyes.

"Jack, where are we?" she said, wiping her silky black hair off her face.

"This doesn't seem like either heaven or hell." he replied. He stood up, rubbed his forehead and took a look at his surroundings.

It was a massive hall, and they stood in the center of a metallic circle, which was connected by wires across the space. It resembled the portal machines that he had once saw in some sci-fi movie. Across the hall, he saw a short man wearing a pale, worn yellow shirt and blue pants sitting across a large computer.

"Hmm, something's not right." The man was talking to himself, and hadn't noticed them.

"Hey there!" Jack called out to him.

The man was so startled he almost fell off his chair. "Oh, who are you? Where did you come from?" He said abruptly, pausing the simulation running on his computer and quickly walking up towards them.

"I'm Jack, I am from New York." Jack said, reluctantly grabbing the outstretched hand of the weird short stranger.

"New York? Wait a second, I'll just look it up in the directory." The stranger rushed back to his desk just as quickly as he had came towards them.

"Where are we? Who are you? What do you want with us?" Jill had stood up behind him. She seemed angry and demanded answers. Jack was glad to be alive after what had happened though, even if he wouldn't have minded either way.

"I'm Robert, head scientist of Neverrest." He answered, without looking up from his computer screen. "Yes, I'm pretty sure New York doesn't exist." He mumbled distractedly, though it was still loud enough to be overheard by them.

"What do you mean New York doesn't exist? I grew up there!" Jack exclaimed, as he walked over to examine Robert's computer.

"Jack? That's what you called yourself, right?" Jack nodded, his tall, lanky frame overshadowing Robert and his computer.

"You are right now in Aimless Town, a world that you might find very different from the one you were used to. You are here because my experiment of inter-dimensional travel succeeded."

"Inter-dimensional travel? Is this a joke?" Jill said angrily, though Jack could read the uncertainty and fear in her eyes.

"You just called the purpose of my life a joke, but I'll let it slide." Robert sighed.

"I love the concepts of different dimensions, and always wanted to prove that other worlds exist beyond our own. Through my research, I found that inter-dimensional travel is most successful when there are extremely strong sources of energy disturbance at two exactly same points in space and time in two different worlds. This portal, like 4 others, has been running for the last 5 years, in hopes that the energy signature would match across dimensions to allow inter-dimensional travel."

Robert appeared to be very passionate about his research, and his previous dry tone had changed to one full of childlike curiosity and interest.

"Suppose even if I believe you. What's the next step? Two kudos for your research, but can we go back home now?" Jack said, brushing his hand over his rough unkempt hair.

"Uhm, the energy signature has been lost. So, whatever New York and your old world is, you better forget it." Robert replied nonchalantly, fiddling with his glasses.

"What do you mean we can't go back?! Can't you reopen the portal again?" Jill asked.

"The signatures matched for the first time in 5 years. The probability of finding your exact dimension is really low, but I'll notify you if such an opportunity presents itself. Though, I would recommend you don't count on it." Robert said, turning back to his computer and pressing some keys. 'Nerd' Jack thought to himself.

"So, we are stuck here??!" The moment of realization hit Jill after all.

"Yes." Robert answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "I didn't expect to receive organisms, that too similar to our species, from the portal, but I'll arrange some help from the Allbackup company. They'll help you settle in, and it'll finally give them something to do as well."

Jack looked into Jill's anxious eyes. For once, she didn't have anything reassuring to say.

Robert told them to forget their old world.

They were stuck here.