(( Closed starter for @dear-harlow ))
Work hadn’t quite been completed on re-assembling all of Lucidia’s notes on the Void, but Gaster was so eager to get started on his pet project that he could hardly wait. On the side of course, he still worked on deciphering the notes, but work on his machinery was moving at a much more consistent pace. It was one that was very working in tandem with the project that he and Sans were working on together, but a lot of the work on this one was done primarily on his own, with some help from Sans and Alphys here and there.
Gaster’s goal at present was to, at the very least, build a prototype machine that could break into the Void. Even if the portal couldn’t stay up very long, he would have at least reached a milestone goal for the project. The Void may have been a purgatory-like expanse that had no definite position within the timelines... But it still existed. At least, as far as he was concerned. He communicated with Lucidia, someone who was trapped there, and she seemed to be as real as anyone else the skeleton could have interacted with in his years...
Of course, it took a lot of work, and a lot of failed tests. More than Gaster could keep count of-his hash marks had melded together and had gotten lost on multiple notebook pages. Power had been lost to the house enough times that Sans wound up making an emergency generator as a backup while his father worked to re-route energy back to their home. There had even been a few times where the machine had worked itself so hard that it nearly exploded! Tenacious as ever however, Gaster wasn’t one to give up.
It had been a few months of work, but Gaster had finally made a prototype machine that was powerful enough to not destroy itself in the process of working. At least, that’s what he had hoped. In theory, it should work. But he had been wrong about a lot of things.
Gaster worked in silence and well into the night. He didn’t have his hearing aids in; he always seemed to work best in absolute silence. It was likely that both Sans and Papyrus had gone off to bed by now, but in the off chance that they were still awake, he still wanted to give them a warning that he was going to test the portal machine.
There were a series of switches and little lights along the wall near the stairs, each light and switch labeled with something that would help the family communicate with one another. If Gaster didn’t have his hearing aids in, his sons could tell him that dinner was ready without having to come into the lab to inform him. And if Gaster needed assistance in the lab, he didn’t have to go into the house to do the same. He flicked the switch for “testing,” and quickly retreated back to his work station.
Taking in a deep breath, Gaster took the time to double-check that everything was ready. Once satisfied, he punched in the coordinates that he had calculated, and turned on the machine. It roared into action-and actually started working!
Gaster’s eyes widened as he beamed, his breath caught in his throat. A portal slowly wavered in front of him, opening its maw like the yawn of a giant. If he had his hearing aids in, he would have heard the roar-like sound the followed suit, which made the entire lab tremble... That, he could feel. But if Papyrus and Sans were asleep, they certainly wouldn’t be now! Gaster’s chest shuddered as he managed to take in air.
However, as the portal opened, it didn’t reveal an endless black Void as he had hoped-there was color. Disappointing for sure, but... It was something! It was certainly something! More calculations had to be made-but this was a breakthrough! He didn’t even think to signal Sans to come down to join him, his mind was so abuzz with excitement. Gaster fumbled around with his papers and notebooks for a few moments, scrambling to get something that he could effectively write everything down on.
He left the portal open, waiting for it to close on its own-seeing that it did. Or until the machine was over-worked enough to justify turning it off. Gaster had to see just how sturdy this portal was-and if he could, he would even try to throw something insubstantial through it. Maybe a note for whomever was on the other side... His pen was flying across paper faster than ever as he greedily wrote his information down, being keen to describe how the portal opened, and what he saw through it.
