You could swear you make it to Hotland in record time. And, honestly, you probably do- with Undyne carrying Alphys and Papyrus carrying you, you think the only quicker way there would be on the Riverperson's boat. But they're on the surface, so you can't ask them to take you. Nonetheless, you make it to Hotland astoundingly fast.

In fact, it takes less time to get from Undyne's house to the True Lab than it does for Alphys to boot up the lab computer (it had been shut down when everyone moved out of the lab.) It certainly takes less time than it takes for Alphys to search the True Lab's computer database for anything containing "The Void".

Especially when you consider that "void" is a word that also means empty or without, and all those scientists writing science-y reports liked to use fancy words to make them sound smart.

And it takes Alphys a long. Time. to dig through all the search results. In fact, Papyrus leaves to go see if he can find Sans and you start to doze off before Alphys manages to find anything.

Her triumphant shout wakes you up.

You and Undyne both hurry over to the computer. For a little while, you try to read it, but it's all science jargon that makes no sense to you, not to mention how some words have been replaced by strange symbols you don't understand, and even more just seem to be glitched. Like, they're all messed up and illegible.

So you sit back to let Alphys sort through it all, and when she's finished, you ask her what it all said. She explains. Then you ask her to explain it simpler.

She lets out a nervous chuckle. "R-right. Sometimes, I forget you're still a kid."

You just smile innocently at her.

"U-um, anyway! In layman's terms, um... oh, where to start... it's all a little difficult, see, because there at s-so many words in there in a d-different language, and the computer couldn't t-translate them, and s-some of the data got corrupted and is just lost... but, um, so... so, you know how we're in the third dimension? So we have space and t-time?"

You nod. Sans was watching a documentary that talk about things like that, once, and you watched it, too. If Sans was working on this project that has to do with that, with the Royal Scientist, his interest in that stuff suddenly makes a lot more sense.

"A-and you know how, from the third dimension, we view the second dimension as a flat plane?"

You nod again.

"W-well this report says that, from a fourth dimensional viewpoint, its logical to assume that the third dimension would look like two intersecting perpendicular planes. One for space, the other for time, and the intersection our current location on both."

You frown a little, then think it over, and figure it makes sense. Kinda.

Enough sense to tell Alphys to continue, anyway.

"And, well... it describes outside those planes, outside space and time as-... as a place of nonexistence. The Void."

"So..." You frown. "The Royal Scientist is stuck outside space and time."

Alphys nods.

"But... but how did he get there?"

Alphys hesitates a moment. "Well... The l-lab reports... there was a project, where they p-planned to fold these planes to go back in time to alter the Barrier... why they didn't just try to fold across the Barrier, o-or fold back to stop the Barrier's creation, I don't know--... B-but there are lab reports leading up to the preliminary testing of the machine. And then-... then they just... stop. I think-... I think he fell out of the folds."

You frown. And then you start to voice your thoughts.

Undyne beats you to it. "But why can't anyone remember him?"

"W-well, think about it." Alphys gestures a little. "You're not on the p-plane of s-space, so you have no physical body, nothing for people to see, touch, hear, or notice. A-and you're not on the p-plane of time, so you have no past, n-no future, not even a present. You simply d-don't exist."

That makes sense. You think. "Okay, so what else?"

Alphys shrugs a little. "Well, like I said, t-the lab reports s-stop right before the first t-test of the machine. S-so I think that's when he fell in."

You frown and mull on that. "So, then... to get him back, all we need to do is build a machine to get into the Void!"

"It's-... it's not quite that simple. A-aside from being a part quantum physics, which is l-like the next level t-to the next level of the stuff that I do, y-you also have to think about..." Alphys wrings her hands. "T-this guy was the Royal Scientist, and a quantum physicist, Frisk! He was really smart, he had to be, and he still made a mistake that ended with him being wiped from existence! I-... I'd probably make the same mistake as he did, if--... if not an even bigger one."

You reach out and set a hand on Alphys's arm. "No you won't." You say. "We'll all help you. And you're a lot smarter than you realize, you just need to have more faith in yourself!" Then you look up at her and smile. "Besides. If anything goes wrong, I can just reset back to my las SAVE point, and everything will be fine! We don't have to worry about anything."

She looks at you for a long moment.

And then she smiles, a spark of hope growing in her eyes, equal to your own. "R-right! We can do this!"

And when you look to Undyne, she's grinning, too! "Of course we can!"

Yeah. Of course you can. You're determined! You can do anything if you set your mind to it!

You can do this!

§

A/N

*sneaky author laughter*

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