Gone, everything was gone.  We floated aimlessly in a void of pure white.  The extra-dimensional chamber that Dr. Ein had constructed had protected us from the literal worst case scenario.

He had been attempting to create a miniature black hole, stating the the force of its gravitational pull could be harnessed as a power source so great that it would eliminate energy needs for the entire planet.  He had stated that there was very little chance of failure.

“Yes, but what happens if we do fail?”  I asked, obviously concerned about the forces we would be dealing with.

“In our protective chamber?  Nothing, for us.”  He rubbed his hands together as he spoke, seeming more like some kind of insect than a scientist.

I shook my head, slumping down in one of the two chairs within the odd chamber, “I’m not talking about us.  What kind of damage could this thing do if it goes wrong?”

Dr. Ein looked thoughtful for a moment, rubbing at the gray stubble covering his chin, “Well, best case scenario, most of the equipment in the lab will overload and be destroyed, leaving us out of business and several million dollars in debt.”

I swallowed hard, if that was the best case scenario.  "Then, what’s the worst-case?“

Ein almost seemed gleeful at this, he cackled madly as he answered.  "All of reality will collapse in upon itself as space itself ceases to exist.”

Within moments of the machine starting, we could tell something was horribly wrong.  We watched from our little box of extra-dimensional space as the spaghettification effect stretched every object in the room into long, thin strands as they were pulled into the black hole.  Then there was a sudden loud shriek, a flash of pure white light, and everything was gone.  Just vanished in an instant.

I turned to stare at Dr. Ein, unable to process what had just happened.  It started softly at first, a soft chuckle, then a titter, and then a full on throaty laugh as he stared at his gold pocket watch.  I grabbed him and roughly spun him around to face me, screaming, “Just what the hell is so damned funny?!”

He grinned, his eyes wild as he answered, “Well, we.. we may have deleted all of space from existence but…”  He held his pocket watch up in front of me, the second hand still ticking away, albeit at an oddly slowed-down pace, “No worries, we still have time!”