Jason was currently daydreaming. While he understood that it probably wasn't a good thing that his daydreaming had become a habit while driving through his daily deliveries, it was the one thing that got him through the day. Being a delivery driver at the age of 24 wasn't exactly Jason's childhood dream. Despite having left the area to obtain a bachelors degree, Jason found the he was not a good fit into the nine to five work force grind.
Jason was currently on his third delivery of the day on his way out of Destiny. Destiny was one of three towns in the area that Jason delivered to and around. Jason grew up in the town just to the southwest seven miles away by the name of Rutherford. Aside from Rutherford and Destiny, the third member of his little tri-town delivery service and by far the largest was Moutain City. Being located in an elongated basin between a few mountain tops belonging to the Appalachian Mtn. range meant that there was plenty of community mingling between the towns. Being mid-June naturally Jason's windows were down on his red beat up delivery truck while some random music was playing on the radio.
Jason had just gotten on the highway to head to the outskirts over Destiny to make a delivery of grains to one of his regular farms. Before he was even a quarter way to his destination a sensation washed over him causing him to snap out of his distracting thoughts and focus on his surroundings. Despite this new attention to his situation Jason could not identify the cause for his unease.
Muttering to himself "I knew I shouldn't have eaten lunch at that mexican restaurant with Tony...".
Despite the discomfort he continued down the two lane road till he came upon a slightly unnerving sight. A couple of vehicles had pulled over to the side of the road ahead and had their emergency blinkers on. Due to the communities being fairly familiar with each other Jason recognized one of the vehicles up ahead. The vehicle belonged to the daughter of the farmer whose grain delivery was in the back of his truck. Pulling up his truck behind Catherine's, the farmer's daughter, vehicle and turning his own emergency blinkers on.
Jason approached the seen with caution but also with a little bit of haste. Catherine was currently kneelying on the passenger side of a green sudan with another woman. Approaching the pair Jason could see that there was a boy currently between the two, and the other woman was speaking to Catherine in a close to hysterical state
"... was fine, then all of a sudden he started complaining about his stomach and then passed out in the back seat. All of a sudden he just fell over, he was fine I'm telling you!" Noticing the woman's eyes move to me at my approach Catherine turned to address my arrival. After squinting her eyes for a couple of seconds a flash of recognition dawned in her eyes and as I arrived at the trio I spoke."Hey everyone, whats going on? Is there anything i can do to help?"
"Your the delivery guy that brings supplies to my dad's farm right?" Catherine inquired.
"That's me," I replied a little miffed "Name's Jason, and again what happened and how can I help?" Raising her eyebrows at my curt response Catherine looked like she was going to respond when she was cut off by the apparent mother of the uncocious child. "We were on our way to Moutain City to spend the day shopping when all of a sudden he was complaining about feeling weird and then just passed out! Tell me you can help!" she pleaded.
"No mam, but I can give you some advice. I'm not sure what seems to be wrong with your boy but he seems to be alright on the outside. My advice is to get him back in the vehicle and head to the nearest emergency room, which is back in Destiny." I stated.
Turning around feeling like my contribution to the situation was appropriate and seeing no way to contribute further I began heading back to my truck intending to continue on my delivery. Before I could get halfway back to my vehicle I heard Catherine calling out behind me..
"Is that it, your just going to up and leave...?"
Looking back over my shoulder I made eye contact with her and responded simply.
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"Yes, is there something else I should be doing?"
"Well you could help us..." Catherine stated in exasperation.
"And how would you suggest I go about doing that?" I replied mentally shaking my head.
"I don't know you could do something more than just leaving!" she said while glaring daggers at me.
"I am not a doctor and have no way to tell what is wrong with the boy, I gave my suggestion on what is a reasonable course of action for the mother to follow and see no other reason for me to stick around. Sitting around fretting over the unconcious boy is acomplishing nothing but delaying the boy's treatment." I replied trying my best to keep the irritation out of my voice.
Finding no words to respond to my statement Catherine turned back to the situation at her feet. The boy's mother at this point had taken my advice and was attempting to get the boy loaded back into her vehicle. As Catherine assisted the mother with her task I loaded myself back into my truck. Driving off I couldn't help but notice Catherine's incredulous look as she helped the mother load her child back in her car.
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The rest of my delivery to Catherine's father's farm went smoothly. Luckily today was a short day and this was my last delivery of the day. Due to this I was able to set my mental gps to home and once again lost myself to my mind driving back. Fortunately, the farm was on the far side of Destiny from Riverton meaning I had to back track on the highway which was ideal for my state of mind.
Having driven for nine of the eleven mile journey back to Riverton I was somewhere between the two towns. Suddenly, I felt the truck stall out in the middle of the highway. Correcting the truck which had veered into the other lane due to the sudden lack of torque. I heard a pinging sound that I assumed emanated from the dashboard that had stopped working some time ago. Having pulled over I got out and began a cursory inspection of the truck and could see nothing physically wrong other than the few bumps and scratches old red had gotten over the years. I assumed it was something under the hood. After checking most of the places I knew to check like oil, water, battery, blinker fluid, etc. I was pretty comfortable that the stall was not due to something wrong with the engine. Moving to restart the vehicle and finish the drive home, attributing the stall to a fluke and the age of the vehicle. I turned the keys and all that could be heared besides the incessant pinging was *click click click click*. 'Okay so I'm not some genius mechanic or anythiing but randomly stalling in the middle of the highway is not a normal occurrence. I just went and had the yearly check up at Frank's a couple weeks ago so there shouldn't be any reason I am not getting an ignition. And for the love of all that is holy where the hell is this beeping coming from!' Removing the keys from the ignition and throwing them in the passenger seat I brought the palms up to my eyes and rubbed them in frustration. It took me a few moments to register that the pinging noise was still sounding off despite the keys being removed. Sitting there I tried racking my brain trying to figure out where this noise was coming from, and that is when my life changed.
Warning: Incoming Transmission
*Proceed to a safe location to receive incoming transmission. Once you are ready you will receive this announcement.*
Humans of Earth, Welcome to the System.
Due to recently achieving max population capacity for your planet and its dwindling resources. Your planet has been deemed acceptable to be admitted to the overall System of Galaxies. Earth was previously in a stage of developement with the designation of Larval Phase. Due to said phase, the system prevented interference from outside entities and allowed the Earth to develope along the most natural course possible after being seeded with multiple species. Earth is now going to be entering its next phase of developement known as the Cocoon Phase. The Earth will be experiencing an abnormal growth in mana during this time due to its admission to the System. This influx of mana will have varying effects on your ecosystem and the species that inhabit them. Humans will also be affected by the influx of mana but as the dominant species you will be able to harnass it as well as be immune to the majority of its side effects. During this phase any City or Town with a population currently exceeding 10,000 people will be encompassed in a mana dome for the period of 1 month. The dome will allow entry of the dominant species while excluding all other species in an attempt to allow some adjustment to your new evolution. Doubtless many of you have already noticed the increased of mana for your planet in one way or another. It is highly advised that you seek shelter in a domed city or town as soon as possible. Non-dominant species tend to suffer from increased forms of aggression and evolutions with increased exposure to mana rich environments. Good Luck Humanity, you will need it.