Searching Far and Wide

[intricate_engineer]

Glen was creating a prototype for a new gate design. It was meant to be affordable and provide quick transport between individual homes. She tests several objects and a rat and everything seems to be working.

She steps through. Instead of finding herself in the room next door, she finds herself standing on a sidewalk in an empty city. The buildings are tall and perfect, colorless with doorways far too tall for any human. The roads have no straight lines and twist in on themselves. There is no life or sound.
Glen tries to stay calm. She begins to walk along the road, randomly opening doors and exploring buildings that are as silent as the rest of the world.

She opens a door that she hopes will lead onto a roof and is instead met with warmth, and soft noise, and color.

Comments

[the_very_best]

"Why are you getting this sample, then?"

[intricate_engineer]

"I know one of them, the really obnoxious guy I mentioned earlier. He knows the other two." Glen says this with more affection than irritation.

[the_very_best]

"How'd you meet him?"

[intricate_engineer]

"It's kind of a long story and I don't' really want to think about it right now."

[the_very_best]

"Okay."

[intricate_engineer]

"The quick version is that he saved me when my home world died. He's kept in touch since. I think he feels responsible for me."

[the_very_best]

Bella is curious but Glen does not want to talk about it right now and she doesn't pry.

[intricate_engineer]

Glen is grateful for this.
"It's possible he may come looking for me after a while. It's not something I can count on though."

[the_very_best]

"Would that be a good thing?"

[intricate_engineer]

"It wouldn't be a bad thing. I could ask him to take me home. I probably wouldn't be able to find this place again if he did though."

[the_very_best]

"And he wouldn't help you set something up to let you find it?"

[intricate_engineer]

"I could ask him to take me home, wait, and then bring me back here, but he's less likely to agree. If he finds this world interesting, I might be able to convince him to stick around here for a while."

[the_very_best]

"Sounds like kind of a frustrating acquaintance."

[intricate_engineer]

"Yea. He's flighty, doesn't like staying in one place and rarely keeps or even remembers appointments. I did travel with him once, and to his credit he never forgot about me or forgot that I was mortal, but we still went to places I never want to see again."

[the_very_best]

"What was wrong with them?"

[intricate_engineer]

"They were terrifying and sometimes heartbreaking. It made me realize how little power I actually had. We help a few worlds, but it really is meaningless."

[the_very_best]

"If you help somebody you still help them even if there's lots of other people you don't get to."

[intricate_engineer]

"And it could all end tomorrow, with no warning. No one would remember. And how much good are we even doing? People still die. People still hurt each other. People are supposed to be safer, but there's still corruption. Still worlds that never let go of old ideals that they let loose once our backs are turned."

[the_very_best]

"Do you actually want to have this argument?"

[intricate_engineer]

"No. No. I'm sorry. I'm being unnecessarily morbid. I'm not about to stop trying to help just because the scale intimidates me."

[the_very_best]

"Good. Me either."

[intricate_engineer]

"Anyway, have you ever worn contacts?"

[the_very_best]

"No?"

[intricate_engineer]

"Would you like to try them? I was thinking I could buy some here. In my world, a lot of people use contacts to virtually explore places or play games. I do it occasionally, but I don't have any with me."

[the_very_best]

"We do not have the kind of contacts that do that."