the Interdimensional Exploration Unit

The BCWPA's Interdimensional Exploration Unit is the oldest department in the agency. The IEU’s early years were plagued not only by disaster, but illness, technical failures, and interspecies brutality. Today, missions occurring in our atmosphere and our neighboring space are consistent and mostly safe.

There is much to explore. There is much to learn. There is even more to mess up.

CREDITS
This public broadcast is made possible thanks to these BCWPA Agents: Brandon Ruch, Colten Williams, Daniel Berry, Donovan Scherer, Kimberly Nichols, Layla Leutwyler, Madelynn ODell, Matthew Schang, Pyper Wilson, Lenin Roman, Ronald Miller, PHouseGames, Anthony Ferries, Dandan, Fox & Brambles, Jim Walke, Claire, Hallesy, Heather, HELGA, Kris Mitchell, Kylie Reed, Rick Belcher, Cryptid Clyde, T. Carter Ross, Agus Mercado, Ead Daniels, Elizabeth Lukjanczuk, Shelby Fulton, Veronica Mulvaney, Zodiac Gaming Industry, Mr. Blue Sky   

Lee Redmond's Slow Motion Fender Bender by  Monroeville Music Center is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. 

Makasih Abang by  Irama Gema is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. 

NOTE
In the Field and its free, public broadcasting are fictional and for entertainment only. Real life stories and events have been altered for storytelling; real life stories, myths, and legends are well-researched for each episode.  

Transcript

Here we are at a historic site atop Mt. Chimborazo: Fort Uno. Now dismantled, this was once an exciting, though bare-bones and poorly constructed, research station. The BCWPA’s first-ever team-effort occurred here, on this exact mountain, and led to many species being photographed for the first time in history. Housing agents, their gear, and notes for six months, Ft. Uno had one mission: get to the bottom of atmospheric beasts. The team set out to answer questions like, are these creatures real? Are they actually animals, or something else, like plants or bacteria? And, if real, how did they come to exist where nothing else does? In its short lifespan, Ft. Uno not only proved the existence of high sky animals like the Air Rod and Flying Jellyfish, but also oversaw the rapid development of new technology based on ancient, forbidden fae artifacts. As Uno closed, a separate department was created to continue its research. Dubbed the Interdimensional Exploration Unit, several small bunkers and bases were dedicated to traversing the Earth’s atmospheric layers, the stars, and, eventually, the universes’ different dimensions. 

A new, permanent building, the HIGH SKY SCIENCE CENTER, now resides elsewhere, on a different mountain peak with regions of restricted access. It is filled with BCWPA scientists and explorers, interns and visitors, and even has a museum dedicated to the organization’s first steps into atmospheric, outerspace, and interdimensional travel. As at other BCWPA institutions, the focus here is on rare and elusive creatures. With help from telescopes, power suits, aircraft, and window area tech, new animals are discovered around - and outside of our world - every other month.

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The BCWPA's Interdimensional Exploration Unit is the oldest department in the agency. The IEU’s early years were plagued not only by disaster, but illness, technical failures, and interspecies brutality. Today, missions occuring in our atmosphere and our neighboring space are consistent and mostly safe. The IEU, however, is particularly set on - and inexpressibly excited - to explore places no Earthling has set foot upon; in exchange, many of these expeditions are incredibly risky and unpredictable. After years of experimentation and trials, it is now only improbable that the journey from Earth to elsewhere will kill an agent.

Those within the IEU are separated into two groups: the Techies and the Realm Hoppers. Techies invent, maintain, and upgrade equipment, in addition to working with data. If Techies are thought to be more of the brains of the operation, Realm Hoppers could be considered the brawn. They use all of the IEU's creations, collect data, and physically traverse space or other dimensions. Donning protective suits called Jumpers, they take a running leap into a hollow circular device that creates or controls a window area; this machine is called the Interdimensional Portal Generator, or "Smudgemaker". 

The Ballyraven’s journal entry on the first time this device was used has been held up as proof of IEU agent’s bravery - or, to some, their brazen stupidity.

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An alarm, then a red light flashes. An announcement echoes: 

Door 32 is opening. Door 32 is opening. All non-active agents remain in the observation room. Active units switch to system 2-A. Vitals on travel mode.Door 32 opening in: 5 4 3 2 1

A terrible metallic screech pierces through the thick walls. The opening gate reveals absolute nothingness - no flickers of light, no colors, just ominous darkness. The four realm hoppers that stand before it seem to blur, smudging towards the door. My head splits, my vision grows strange, I feel my tears, my spit, my blood begging to fly away from me. Even the Observation Room seems to bulge towards the opening, every fiber of every thing pulling towards its chaos. 

The Jumpers struggle to keep hold of a handle each; the rubber coated, textured coils are attached to a large, shining, metal crate.Their other hands strain against their waist where a touch-button lies. Hearing a count-down I could not, they press the button. They, the box, and the painfully dark void vaishes instantly. The unnatural sight of so much disappearing before my eyes sends a deep shiver up my spine.

The unthinkable has been made possible: the control - no, the very creation - of a window area. Interdimensional Explorers and Paranormal researches united, now both have a vast expanse to discover and learn from. But it will be dangerous. What do these other universes even look like? What life do they hold? Will they even resemble what we know, even a little? Who are our interdimensional neighbors? It will take lifetimes to find out.

We do not yet know the answer to today’s most important question: will they even return home? And, if so, safely? No one likes to consider the possibilities. For example, they could very well bring not only harm to themselves, but here.