The afternoon was gloomy as the sky was covered with rain clouds and a gentle cold wind blew through the city of Techtonia. Ethan & Tony were walking through the midtown district of the city as they were about to begin their investigation.

“So what are we looking for Detective Ethan?”

Ethan felt a weird sensation of vertigo but shrugged it off, “From what I’ve surmised so far, the people who disappeared have vanished from reality itself since they are not found anywhere in the world so far. I think that something supernatural must’ve happened or something unknown to us happened, so I believe that we’re looking for something unknown to our world.”

“Unknown you say, you mean aliens and that stuff?” Tony asked.

“It’s a possibility but an unlikely one to me at least, we’ll find out as we investigate. For now, let’s look for unknown elements, I’ve brought us to midtown because a lot of people were gathered here for the music festival and a lot of them disappeared here so I assume that this is where we’re most likely to find something. I've been feeling dizzy ever since we got here so maybe it has something to do with it. ”

“Alright, so an unknown element could be affecting you right now?” Tony asked.

“Yes, that is a possibility, so let's scan the area for any unknown elements using my special contact lens, I’m sure we’ll find something.”

Ethan and Tony activated their special contact lens with a circular hand gesture and scanned the area.

“Oooooo”

Marvelling in awe, they saw the world through a different lens as they saw large & small luminous emerald green tears in the fabric of reality throughout midtown.

“What is all this?" Ethan asked.

“Quantum rifts,” Tony replied.

“Quantum rifts?!... Wait Quantum…. Quantum teleportation! That actually makes sense, Quantum is not unknown to us but it was always just a theory.”

“Yes it’s supposed to be just a theory but it seems to have found its way into our world,” Tony said.

“But how though?” Ethan asked as he felt dizzy again.

“I don’t know, someone may have tampered with the Quantum realm causing rifts to occur in our world,” Tony suggested.

“I wonder if the quantum energy being emitted from the rifts is causing me to feel vertigo, it could be a side effect of the energy...This opens so many possibilities... Can we access the Quantum realm?”

“It’s possible, we’ll need a device that can give us access by slipping us through Quantum rifts,” Tony suggested.

“Does such a device exist?” Ethan asked.

“No, you and I will have to make one,” Tony said.

“Technology, now this is my expertise,” Ethan said.

“It’s our expertise,” Tony said. 

“Nah, your expertise is physics, mine is engineering or anything technological. We both just dabble in each other’s expertise,” Ethan said.

“True, but I'd say you more than dabble in physics,” Tony said.

"I guess."

They went back to the mechanic workshop and began their brainstorming to create the quantum device, “Now let us first design the quantum device, what are the components needed for a quantum device?” Ethan asked.

“A quantum processor, photonic & superconductive qubits, and a refrigerant unit. These are the basic components of the quantum device that we need,” Tony said as he showed an augmented hologram of the components.

“Will we need any special machinery to make these components?” Ethan asked.

“Yes but you already have all of the machinery in the basement lab,” Tony said.

“Perfect, now I just need to design the quantum device and make it,” Ethan said.

“Easier said than done," Tony said.

“Yeah but you know me, the harder it is the more fun it is. Now regarding the design of the quantum device, the best design I can think of is gloves,” Ethan said.

“Gloves?? Why gloves?” Tony asked.

“You’ll see when I’m done. For now, let’s order the materials we need from the e-market,” Ethan said.

They ordered silicon, phosphorus, germanium, gallium arsenide, graphene, silicon carbide, fiberglass, fabrinium, and other materials. “Bruh, why are some of these materials so expensive? 750 Strix for 250g of germanium, 2800 Strix for 22.5g of gallium arsenide, and 4000 Strix for 1kg of Fabrinium! That’s half my life savings gone,” Ethan said as he cried for his poor wallet.

“Well it could be worse, but don’t worry you’ll make it all back in no time when you’re done with this case,” Tony said.

“Yeah I guess,” Ethan said.

An hour passed and their materials arrived at their window via drones, “Let’s get straight to it then. To the lab!” Ethan and Tony rushed to the basement where the lab was while carrying the materials. 

When they reached the lab, they put the materials down on the table and began the construction process which Ethan excels in, as he understands technology and the engineering behind it so he was looking forward to building the device. Ethan first constructed the quantum data plane refrigerant units using silicon carbide, fiberglass, germanium, and graphene then forged those elements into two thick wrist-sized rings with the quantum data plane refrigerant units within the rings. 

Once he finished the quantum data plane refrigerant units, he used fabrinium which is one of the softest and most flexible metals in existence it felt like fabric but it becomes extremely solid when experiencing a certain level of resistance or pressure, it is used to make violence-proof clothing in the world of Techtonia.

Due to its insulative ability and other properties, Ethan uses fabrinium as a fabric to make the gloves. He heats the fabrinium to its melting point which is 127 degrees celsius then in its liquid state, he put it in fingerless glove moulds and lets it cool down. While the fabrinium cools down, Ethan uses his nano-fabrication machinery to create quantum processor chips. Once the fabrinium cooled down to body temperature, it was still malleable so Ethan implanted the quantum processor chips on the wrist of the gloves then he used the nano-fabrication machinery to create qubits within and throughout the gloves. The qubits connected the quantum data plane refrigerant unit which is at the sleeve of the glove to the quantum processor chip then Ethan cooled the gloves down to 0 degrees celsius and did a few finishing touches to the quantum device as the construction process took Ethan 4 days to finish. When he had finished with the gloves, Ethan & Tony marveled in awe of what Ethan created.

“You never cease to amaze me, Ethan. The fact you built this all by yourself amazes me even more. Although why did you make the gloves fingerless?”

“Because it looks cool and I like the design,” Ethan said.

“Hopefully it’s cool enough to work,” Tony said.

“Let's find out,” Ethan said.

"Don't you want to rest before we continue this case, you haven't slept in 4 days," Tony said.

"No I'm fine, just need caffeine then I'll be good."

"Luckily I knew you would say that so I bought you a Caramel mocha latte with a double shot of espresso."

"Thanks," sipped his drink. "Aah you know me too well Tony. Now let us go tesh-"

SPLAT

Tony caught Ethan before he fell to the ground. "Sorry Ethan, but you need to rest, for your own sake," as Tony carried Ethan to his bed so he could rest comfortably.

While Ethan rested, Tony decided to go through the list of victims they were tasked with finding, "There are 31 missing people that we need to find, the majority of them are children which is bad. Hopefully, they're all okay wherever they are. Usually, it would be best to do these cases as quickly as possible, but Ethan won't be useful if he is completely sleep-deprived. If the quantum device works and we teleport into a different world, there is a possibility that Ethan may never get a chance to sleep in that world, so he should get as much sleep as he can. Plus he must be stressed about Alyssa and Jessica. Until he wakes up naturally, please stay safe until we find you guys."  

The following day in the early moonlit morning, Ethan woke up abruptly from another nightmare, "Every night, it's the same damn nightmare... I guess it's my cursed punishment for my past, even though it wasn't intentional."

Ethan got out of bed and dragged himself to the bathroom where he showered, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair then dressed up in his detective outfit and admired his reflection in the mirror, "Not bad, could be better though, but that doesn't matter right now."

He made his way downstairs, grabbed an apple from the kitchen, got the quantum gloves from his lab, and left the house while texting someone virtually. Tony was awoken by a message alert, "Meet me in Midtown and be quick, I'll leave my location on."

Crunch

Tony looked at the time and realized that it was 3:17 AM, "Bruh, do you know what time it is??? The Solaris is not even peaking over the horizon."

"Reality waits for no one so get your butt out of bed and meet me in Midtown."

Crunch

"Fine," Tony murmured as he got dressed and rushed out of the house.

"So how did you sleep?"

"I was drugged, what do you think?"

"Oh... so you know... you're not angry about that are you?"

Crunch

"Tony, I know you did that for my good since I am stubborn when it comes to sleeping, so no I'm not angry at you."

"Phew, thank goodness. I'll make it up to you by bringing you a Caramel Frappuccino."

"After my last experience, I'll never drink a beverage from you ever again,"

"Lol, don't be like that, remember it was for your good."

"Riight, just get here already."

Crunch

"I'm already here."

Ethan felt a hand on his shoulder to his surprise, he almost choked on his apple, "Took you long enough."

“Hehe, I see you brought the gloves, so how do these gloves work?” Tony asked.

“The gloves are self-sustainable, there are sensors on the gloves that absorb and convert photons into usable energy for the gloves so they can never run out of energy. Those very same sensors can detect quantum energy, so the closer the gloves are to quantum rifts or energy the more the gloves will react. Then once the gloves are fully activated, we just need to touch the quantum rift then the quantum processor in the gloves should connect us to the quantum realm or something like that,” Ethan explained.

“Interesting, seems simple enough,” Tony said.

“Hopefully, it is that simple."

They put on their gloves as Ethan wore the right one and Tony wore the left one. “Are you ready?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” Tony said.

"Then let us begin," Ethan said.

They stood before a quantum rift and reached out their hands. Ethan was feeling the vertigo effect as he got closer to the rift, the gloves activated and glowed emerald green as they got closer to the quantum rift, when they made contact with the quantum rift, the quantum spread and engulfed Ethan & Tony.