Late in Era-0, shortly before the signing of the Treaty of Kepler, something highly unusual happened in and around the city of Waxahachie, TX, on Earth.  A bubble of shimmering energy appeared, with its edges on the proposed ring of the never completed Superconducting Super Collider.  Waxahachie, and the surrounding countryside now reside in inter-dimensional space.  Apparently, someone in another dimension actually completed the particle accelerator, and used it to open an inter-dimensional rift.  

A military perimeter was set up around the town, now re-named Supercollider, (that being the name of the entity that came about from the mixing of several different versions of Waxahachie between dimensions).  Occasionally, alternate, but recognizable versions of people emerge from the rift, and those who dare enter rarely return in recognizable form.  On rare occasions, more outlandish people, aliens, robots, or animals will emerge from the rift. . .