"Do you have any ideas?" May looked at Aaron. "How can we safely rescue Simmons?"
"I don't have any good ideas, but I do have one bad one." Aaron stroked the dragon in his arms and smiled mysteriously. "Send someone in."
"What?" Coulson instinctively frowned. "Maybe I misheard. You're saying we should send someone else through the portal to another world?"
"You heard right, Agent Coulson." Aaron spoke with complete seriousness. "This is the best method I can think of."
"It's also the worst method."
"But it's definitely more reliable than firing signal flares." Aaron neither agreed nor disagreed, patiently explaining, "The worst outcome of sending someone in is simply losing another person. Uh... actually, that's not quite right. It just means adding one more name to the missing persons list."
"But the benefits are obvious.
"First, they can find Simmons, explain the situation here to her, and give her more hope.
"In an extreme survival situation, what a person needs most is hope. Otherwise, it's no different from waiting to die.
"Second, two people can look after and support each other.
"Of course, it would be even better if you could send an entire expedition team into the other world.
"Finally, they can bring enough supplies—food, water, medicine, clothing, tents, weapons and ammunition, even transportation. That would provide much greater security.
"Most importantly, they can bring scientific equipment with them. Simmons is a genius scientist. As long as she has research tools, she may be able to calculate where the portal will open."
"I admit your reasoning makes sense." Coulson let out a quiet sigh. "But no matter how much sense it makes, it's still a gamble. What if..."
"When it's time to gamble, you have to gamble. If you keep delaying, you won't even get a seat at