The Creation of Magic

   In the year 28XX, humanity’s reach extends to the stars via generational ships, and long-term space flight.  Colonies in other solar systems are each, essentially, completely on their own.
   Unhappy with those terms, humanity decides that research into interdimensional travel is the next step. While short-range teleportation is common-place, being able to traverse the light-years of distance between stars is a large-scale project.
   A research vessel in high-orbit around Earth (later named the SV Infinitum) begins the attempts to punch holes through our dimension into others. After some of the usual complications getting large portals to open, the space station expands until it is a large torus, with beams firing into its center opening.
   Years of slightly fiddling with laser frequencies and power, a portal opens...to empty space. Years of fiddling further, thousands of portals have been opened into complete voids where the base values of physics prevented any matter from forming. As the station became more refined, the computer started making the small frequency changes, and testing portals every couple of minutes.  
   Then, one day, a portal opened and fire poured out from inside of it.  The world rejoiced. The first step had been completed: an alternate dimension had been discovered and verified. It happened to be completely made out of fire, but proof of one was enough proof to continue searching.
   The fire dimension was harnessed as a source of limitless energy.
   Humanity progressed rapidly. As did the progress finding more dimensions. A dimension of water and ice, a dimension of clouds and lightning, and one time the portal opened and rocks floated out into space.
   The director of the science vessel, Charlie Wilkins, was lauded and celebrated as a paragon of human capabilities. He maintained, time and time again, that he was simply an administrator and his teams of hundreds of scientists and engineers all worked tirelessly.
   Corporate liaison, Lisa Ogden, made sure the patrons of this galaxy-changing project got their due recognition.
   Security Lead, Benedict “Benji” Morton, was put in place after harnessing the fire dimension had caused a couple accidents.

   Then the SV Infinitum exploded.

   Portals opened to different dimensions across the Earth. Monsters and nightmares poured from them in seemingly unending numbers.  Humanity fought back...for a few millennia.