The roar of a jet buzzing the tarmac became a deafening blast that shook the ground as it exploded overhead. Sarah’s ears rang, as she ducked behind a concrete barrier. She could see her sister, Sophie, behind another barrier, yelling at her and pointing toward the hangar nearby, but it took a moment for the ringing in Sarah’s ears to stop.
“What did you say?!” Sarah yelled, cupping her ear.
“E.T.’s behind the hangar!” Sophie repeated, then stood up from her waist high cover and sprayed the area with her assault rifle until the chamber locked open. Sarah followed her sister’s lead, rising from her cover and aimed both of her automatic pistols at the aliens pouring out from behind the hangar. She took a wide stance and arched her back in the coolest pose she could muster, then emptied both magazines at the enemy, letting out as fierce a war-cry as she was able.
Out of the dozen aliens, Sarah was able to hit a small handful, and only one lethally, blowing off one of its mandibles. Sarah was always happy to get a kill, and felt so sexy doing it. When she dropped back down to reload, she looked at her sister, who just laughed and shook her head.
“What’re you laughing at?” Sarah asked.
“Nothing! Good job!” Sophie said with a playfully patronizing thumbs up. She finished reloading her assault rifle, then grabbed a grenade from a belt on her chest. “Frag out!” She yelled, lobbing it toward the alien cluster. A few seconds later, the grenade exploded, followed by a light rain of green and white viscera. The girls stood up to assess the damage. With one grenade, Sophie was able to take out half of the cluster, and Sarah was inspired to try doing the same.
She grabbed one of her own grenades, pulled the pin, and wound her arm up for what she thought was a powerful throw, but let it go entirely too early, causing it to drop and clatter against the ground at her own feet.
“Uh oh...” She said, looking from the grenade back to her sister, who was just staring back at her, dumbfounded. The grenade exploded and Sarah’s vision went solid red. Text then faded in, reading ‘KIA: Explosive Misadventure’ followed by a readout of her kills, assists, and total score. She pulled the VR headset off and returned to the real world that was the Area 51: Extinction booth at Charlie’s Entertainment, her and her sister’s favorite childhood pizza place. As she placed the headset and plastic pistols back in their designated spots, she could hear her sister in the neighboring booth.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Sarah?” Sophie said, knowing she wouldn’t be able to hear any response.
Sarah stepped out of her booth and walked around to her sisters, where she could watch her progress on an external display. It wasn’t great. As soon as Sarah died, more aliens spawned and had quickly surrounded Sophie. She was twisting and turning fervently, firing short bursts, and reloading every few seconds, but the enemy was quickly starting to overwhelm her.
“God Dammit! Piss off, you fuckin shit-eating cunts!” Sophie yelled just as a mother walked past with her young children. The children started giggling, and the woman gave Sarah a dirty look as she passed.
“Sorry!” Sarah whispered, blushing, just before Sophie screamed.
“FFFUUUUUCK!” Sophie pulled the headset off and nearly threw it and the plastic rifle back into their spots. Sarah leaned into the booth.
“Would you keep it down! There’s kids here, Jesus!” Sarah said with an embarrassed tone.
“What the fuck was that, Sarah?” Sophie asked pointedly, ignoring Sarah’s request. “You literally could have thrown it in any direction, how the hell do you just drop a grenade?” She stepped out of the booth, playfully punching Sarah’s arm as she did.
“I have no hand-eye coordination, you know that.” Sarah said.
“We’re twins though, how is that even possible?”
“Epigenetics, I imagine. We haven’t been the same since we were a single zygote. We only need look at your STEM scores to see that.”
“I just find that nerd shit to be so... boring. I don’t know how you do it.” Sophie sauntered alongside her sister as they navigated the gaming floor. The family-friendly pop music was interrupted by a voice over the loudspeaker.
“Donner Party, your order is ready.” A woman said with a tone that implied her abysmal job satisfaction. The girls laughed to each other as they went to retrieve their meal; a large pizza with ‘long-pork’ for the Donner Party. It was a joke that never landed with the staff, and often resulted in a pizza with extra sausage, a topping that neither of the girls particularly enjoyed. The joke was enough for them, and tonight wasn’t really about the pizza. They picked up their meal, a pitcher of root beer, and retired to their favorite booth in the corner.
They dug in, tearing the pizza apart. Sarah smothered it with parmesan cheese, while Sophie preferred it raw and hot, folding it and cramming as much of the greasy mess into her mouth as she could. As soon as the flavor was interpreted by her brain, she let out a pleasurable moan. Sarah thought she was exaggerating. It had been several years since they had been here. But when she took a bite of her own slice, she had to refrain from making the same sound.
“Mmmmmm!” Sophie cried through a mouthful of pizza. It was a minute before either of the girls finished their first bites. Sophie swallowed the last bit and let out a gasp as she caught her breath. “Holy shit! Is it just me or is this pizza really good?” Sophie took another bite as she waited for her sister’s response.
“Yeah...” Sarah said, finally. “It’s really fuckin good.”
“Is it possible, that it’s better than when we were tweens?”
“It is. I really think so. I had a hunch, and it’s why I asked you to come to this place.”
“Good idea, dude.” Sophie said, halfway through another bite. She chewed it a few times and choked it down. “How did you know? What are they doing different?”
“A few months ago, they contracted with an OTech distribution company. The pork we’re eating was slaughtered hours, maybe even minutes before it was cooked.” Sarah took another bite, but Sophie paused for a moment, then continued chewing at a slower pace.
“That’s pretty cool...” Sophie said with less enthusiasm than Sarah had expected.
“You aren’t one of those people that thinks Observer Tech gives you cancer, right? Like 5G or windmills or something?”
“No!” Sophie said with a laugh. “It’s just... you know... I like pigs.”
“They are pretty good.” Sarah tossed a piece of sausage from the pan into her mouth. Sophie pushed at Sarah’s arm and giggled. “Didn’t you go through a goth phase, obsessed with gore and stuff?” Sarah asked.
“Well, yeah... but those were people. This pig didn’t do anything to anyone.” Sophie said, taking the last bite of her first slice, save for the crust. She grabbed another piece. “That being said, you don’t have any reservations about OTech?”
“Not really, we’ve spent the last 30 years figuring it out and applying it with a one hundred percent success rate.”
“It hasn’t been one hundred percent successful though, has it?” Sophie grinned at her sister, catching her in a statistics trap.
“True, I suppose. But all the accidents have been attributed to human error, mostly math related. The technology worked perfectly in every one of those scenarios.”
“But, nobody really knows how it works, it just does. Doesn’t that bother your scientific mind?”
“Sure it does, but you don’t have to have a PhD in thermodynamics to cook some great food.” Sarah, finishing her pizza, crusts included, went for another slice. “And it’s not like we’re going to just stop researching the technology and the physics of its operation.”
“I guess I just don’t trust where the technology came from.”
“The Observers?”
“Yeah. Them.” Sophie said with a hint of acid. “They just arrived one day, ‘gifted’ us faster-than-light technology and instructions on how to produce near indestructible, light weight construction material on a massive scale, and then they just vanish, never to be seen again. What the fuck is that?”
“It is pretty weird, but if they wanted to harm us, it seems like a terrible way to do it.”
“But they did harm us though. A lot of people died. I just read a recent estimate of nearly a billion dead during first contact.”
“C’mon, that’s gotta be hyperbole, or if it is true, it’s including victims of COVID-19. People seem to forget that there was a worldwide pandemic that was already killing people by the millions, right before the Observers appeared.” Sarah paused to take a sip of her root beer. “You don’t think they caused it, do you?”
“No. I don’t need another lecture on virology and misinformation.”
“The virus is probably why they left in such a hurry anyway.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that part too.” Sophie slouched back in her seat and patted her belly with a satiated sigh. “So, they deliver the technology to cities around the globe, and basically give us a nicely translated how-to on Plasteel, and then they’re gone. Nothing about themselves as a species or culture, where they’re from, how long they’d been here, what their favorite Tarantino flick was, nothing.”
“Well, that’s what we’re both doing, right? Searching for those answers?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think outright searching for them is the safest thing to do. I think we need to figure out what their offensive capabilities might be and prepare to defend ourselves accordingly.”
“Are you talking about...” Sarah leaned closer to Sophie, obstructed her mouth from view, and lowered her voice to an overly dramatic whisper. “... OTech weapons development?” Sarah giggled as she said it, and Sophie rolled her eyes. “But, but, that’s illegal, Sophie!”
“Quiet you!” Sophie bared her teeth at her sister. “It is illegal, and for good reason. We don’t need another arms race. All of the nations on Earth agreed to that.”
“All the nations on Earth...” Sarah mockingly mimicked her twin sister’s words, paying no mind to the irony. “I find that hard to believe, and even if it were true, there are new nations breaking ground on extraterrestrial planets every day. Some of them aren’t even in this galaxy, hell, some may not even be in our currently visible universe. There’s literally no way to enforce such an idea.”
“I think the prospect of losing ties to the rest of human civilization is motivation enough.”
“The more you talk about Military Intelligence, the more it sounds like they are interested less in finding answers to the question that is the Observers, but in policing what kinds of research can be done instead.”
“Seems like the responsible option to me. Better to know what we’re dealing with before blindly searching for them, like a toddler trying to find his father’s shiny gun.” Sophie was gradually becoming more upset as the conversation continued.
“Scientists and explorers are not the ones that need regulation. At least our goal is to learn more about the Observers and the Universe at large. Most of the expeditions that have left so far have been prospectors with nothing but money in their eyes. And besides, if the Observers were dangerous or hostile, I really doubt they pose a serious threat to our species anymore. We’re in countless systems already, some of which we don’t even know about. There’s no closing the box anymore.”
“I’m not really worried about the rest of humanity...” Sophie always tried to be the tough one, the one that you didn’t fuck around with, the ‘big’ sister, even if she was technically born 6 minutes later. Sophie was worried for Sarah’s safety, and Sarah could always see through her tough exterior. Nonetheless, both girls were aware of the dangers they faced.
“Look, the Observers didn’t just appear out of thin air.” Sarah said, but Sophie gave her sarcastic look. “Well... they did, but that’s not what I mean. Observers have been a part of our collective conscious at least since the Roswell incident over a century ago, and probably a lot longer. There are plenty of reports of Observers interfering with military exercises and nuclear missile sites, maybe preventing wars in several cases. A few of the First Contact Diplomats even implied that the whole OTech Weapons Development ban was a condition given by the Observers themselves.”
“Okay, so they do seem to be peaceful. I still think there’s some ulterior motive, but I also want to point out that all the Observer’s craft that appeared during contact were of similar size and design. Before contact, we were seeing objects of all shapes and sizes. Pyramids, Giant Flying V’s, Tiny Balls of Light. None of these forms were present during first contact, and sightings have almost completely fallen off since. We decided to start calling the Aliens we met the ‘Observers’ instead of the Greys, but that seems to imply that all of the Observers throughout history were the same species. I don’t think they were, but the Observers didn’t mention anything about a Galactic, or Universal community.”
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“Yeah, I suppose I have fallen into the trap of generalizing all the Observers as just one species.”
“And you even said that they may have been observing us for a long time. There are theories to suggest that their presence may have seeded religions, and by extension, been the root of some of the most devastating wars in human history.” Sophie said, and Sarah rolled her eyes with a sigh.
“That’s not how theories work, Sophie.”
“Hey, don’t talk down to me!” Sophie snapped. “You might have higher STEM scores, but I’m not ignorant as to how the scientific method works. You can’t exactly test something that’s based on the accounts of pre-enlightened civilizations, so I ask, what kind of evidence are you looking for if those accounts aren’t enough?”
“I dunno... Something physical?”
“What, like pieces of their technology?” Sophie said with a derisive tone. “Even with the Observers giving us their technology and instructions on how to create and use it, it took us like 10 years to learn how to read it, and that’s with machine learning AI’s working around the clock, without which it would have been impossible. Then it took another 4 years to successfully build the damn stuff, and we still don’t have any idea how it works.
“Furthermore,” Sophie ranted. “Without all the photos, videos, and firsthand accounts, and obviously the tech they gave us, there would still be zero evidence that they were here in the first place. We don’t even have evidence that they were biological in nature beyond they just looked like they were.”
“Do you have a point, Sophie?”
“My point is that you shouldn’t dismiss the ‘theory’ that Observers may have been the inspiration and cause of holy wars throughout history, because there’s more evidence for that theory than for the existence of literal Gods.”
“Alright, I get your point. It’s just... It almost seems like you’re looking for a reason to be distrustful of them.”
“Well, I’d argue that you’re ignoring evidence suggesting they could be dangerous.” Sophie said. Both girls knew that if they continued, it would devolve into outright insults, and neither of them wanted today to end that way.
“How did Tim and Claire take the news?” Sarah asked after a moment of silence. Sophie crossed her arms and looked away with a hint of shame. “You haven’t told them yet? Aren’t you leaving in like... Two days?”
“Tomorrow... actually.”
“Well... are you going to do it tonight?” Sarah received no response; Sophie just sank further into her seat in an attempt to disappear. “You’ve been with them for like 2 years, and now you’re just going to ghost ‘em?”
“No! I just... uh...” Sophie nervously twirled her hair. “I’ve been trying to find a way out for a while now. Don’t get me wrong, I love them both to death, and the sex is... well, I’ll spare you the details, suffice to say that its mind blowing. But they aren’t big fans of Military Intelligence.”
“They’re not alone...” Sarah said under her breath.
“Yeah, but at least you seem to have an open mind about it and understand that MI is a huge field with tons of specializations and opportunities. Claire and Tim are hardliners though, and I really don’t want to see the way they look at me when I tell them. I’ll probably just send a text or something.”
“That seems... cold...”
“Well, you know, distance doesn’t really mean anything anymore.” Sophie shrugged. “I might be 800 light-years away, but it’s not like I can’t just pop back and visit whenever if they want me to.”
“800 light-years, huh? I thought the public wasn’t supposed to know where MI was.”
“800-ish light-years, I guess. I don’t know the system name or the coordinates, all I know is they’re calling it Athenon.”
“Greek? Real original.” Sarah laughed and shook her head. “Research and Design is calling their colony Apollon. I mean, even if you’re not going to come up with something new, there’s a couple thousand years’ worth of newer art and literature to be inspired by.”
“I’m pretty sure there’s like three prospects called Arrakis, and I stopped counting how many are named Tatooine or Endor.”
“That’s a fair point. I don’t suppose those are much better.”
“Apollon, was it? Where’s that at?” Sophie asked.
“It’s near the core of the Milky Way. A nice little star with a great view of Sagittarius A*. That’s where R&D’s base of operations will be, but I’m actually going to the galaxy’s periphery, to a space station where my expedition will be organized. The station is called ‘Hecatoncheires’.”
“Hecka-what?” Sophie asked.
“It’s Greek again.”
“Of course. And what about Steve? Is he on board?”
“Nah, I dropped that prick last Friday.” Sarah said with a shrug. “Turns out he’s an Earther. Said humans don’t belong anywhere else. I told him that humans don’t belong here either, and he got all pissy.”
“Steve is an Earther? Isn’t he an astrophysicist?”
“I know! I was a bit floored when he said it. Anyway, we got in a fight, and I said some things that I probably shouldn’t have.”
“Like what?” Sophie sat back up and leaned in. She was always one for juicy gossip.
“Like, uhh... He may have inferred that I thought he should kill himself.” Sarah said with an air of shame. Sophie was stunned. She had never known her sister to do something that callous before.
“You didn’t!”
“No, I didn’t! I was trying to say that if humanity was going to stay here, we might as well just commit suicide because the planet is dying anyway. It didn’t quite come out like that. I might have said ‘he’ instead of ‘we’.”
“Didn’t his mom...?”
“Yeah... she did... I immediately apologized and tried to explain what I meant, but he wasn’t having it.”
“Did you really say it like that? ‘Commit suicide’?” Sophie asked, and Sarah’s lack of response made Sophie chuckle in disbelief. “Dude! You know you can’t say shit like that anymore! And everyone says I’m the bitch between us.”
“Hey! I already feel like shit about it. I told him I was sorry!”
“Well, at least it seems like a clean break. Do you think you’re gonna miss him?”
“I dunno.” Sarah shrugged. “Maybe. I mean, he was really good with his tongue.” She raised her eyebrows with innuendo. Sophie laughed and nodded her head.
“I know the type.” Sophie said. “Well, I’m sure you’ll meet another guy once you get out there.”
“Actually, I’m going to be getting a Cerebral Interface pretty soon after I land. I’ve heard some pretty neat stuff about companion personalities, thought maybe I’d give that a go.”
“Oh? I’m actually going to be doing the same thing!” Sophie said. “Though I dunno about the companion part. Don’t you think that’s a little weird, and kindof creepy?”
“I mean, I guess you can do some weird and creepy stuff with it, but there are tons of benefits. You don’t have to worry about STD’s, birth control, rape, being too rough on them and vice versa. It’s also not all about sex stuff, they do all kinds of other stuff too. Saying companions are just for sex is like saying the internet is just for porn.”
“Isn’t porn widely considered one of the foundations of the internet?”
“Alright, Sophie? Okay?” Sarah said, nearly detaching her retinas from rolling her eyes so hard. Sophie laughed and slurped ice from her empty drink. Sarah glanced at the time on her phone. “Oh, we’ve got like a half hour before my ride leaves, I think we oughtta bounce.”
Sophie nodded her head, then both girls rose to clean up the table and divvied up their leftover slices into a couple of boxes. They grabbed their luggage and took one last look around Charlie’s Entertainment, relishing in the memories. Of course, the chain had recently seen a boom in popularity and already had plans for off world franchises, but both Sarah and Sophie felt like it may be the last time they would give patronage. They were 18 now, and they felt as if the moment they walked out that door, they would no longer be children.
They were about to embark on a journey as pioneers in humanities greatest, and quite possibly the final adventure in the quest for answers. They were about to head into the unknown, and if they wanted to be a part of history, they needed to shoulder immense responsibilities, and leave their childish sensibilities here on Earth. People’s lives, including their own, may very well depend on every choice they make from here on out. They stepped out the door.
Sarah used her phone to order a taxi, then waited 20 seconds until a black and yellow driverless vehicle came to a stop in front of them and opened its doors. The two women climbed in, and each took a seat on opposite sides of the cabin.
“What is your destination?” A voice said from a hidden speaker. Sarah typed an address into her device, and a short tone indicated confirmation as the doors shut and the vehicle started to move.
Sophie and Sarah spent most of the ride in silence, casually glancing in each other’s direction, but not making eye contact. They weren’t mad at each other. They weren’t intentionally giving each other the silent treatment. In fact, they wanted nothing more than to laugh and talk about boys and girls, play videogames, or paint each other’s nails, like they had done together their entire lives. There was just an air of finality about the cab. What do you talk about if you know it’s your last conversation?
Neither of them really believed it would be their last. After all, they could still have constant contact via messaging, and a visit could take all of 20 minutes to arrange. Being separated by 10,000 light years didn’t really mean anything anymore, but it definitely still felt like it. The vehicle came to a stop. Another chime let them know that their ride had ended, and the last 20 minutes had been wasted in awkward silence.
“Well, that’s me...” Sarah said. They both stepped out of the taxi onto the top floor of an old parking garage that had been converted into a platform for a large OTech transport. The object was huge, nearly the size of the parking garage itself. It hung over the side of the building, hovering in the air, anchored to nothing. The platform was extended to an opening on the side, where workers were loading it with equipment and passengers were checking in and boarding.
Sarah and Sophie approached the security checkpoint at the gate, then stood under a sign reading ‘Apollon Departure: 8 minutes.’ The two sisters turned and looked each other in the eyes. Still, no words came out. Sarah smiled, as if she was about to speak up, but was interrupted by Sophie rushing forward and wrapping her arms around her. She pressed the side of her face tightly against Sarah’s neck and held her in a grip that Sarah had never felt before. Sophie had always been the tough one of the duo and not one for sentimentality, so it was a shock when Sarah realized the moisture on her neck was her sister’s tears.
“I love you, Sarah.” Sophie says, her voice breaking and muffled by Sarah’s hair. Sarah was quiet for a moment, then met Sophie’s crushing grip with a bear-hug of her own.
“I love you too, Sophie.” Sarah said, beginning to tear up herself. After embracing for a minute or so, they pull apart, and Sophie tries to appear strong and emotionless, but the sniffle, subtle wiping of the face, and puffy, watery eyes give her away. She gripped her sister’s shoulders and looked at her, as if she were making sure a child was paying attention.
“Be. Careful.” Sophie says, emphasizing her words. “I might not be able to protect you from aliens yet, but if some creepy guy starts to get frisky, you let me know, and I’ll come castrate him without a second’s hesitation.”
“Thank you, sis, but I hope I don’t have to put a hit out on some perv every time I want to see you.” Sarah said, and Sophie laughs. They look at each other for another moment, then came together for a second embrace, this time much shorter, and interrupted by Sophie pushing her away.
“Okay! Okay! That’s enough, we don’t want you to miss your transport, otherwise you won’t be able to leave for another...?” Sophie raised an eyebrow, encouraging her sister to answer.
“90 minutes.” Sarah replied.
“Really? Well, shit! Let’s go play some shooters or something!”
“Goodbye, Sophie!” Sarah said with a laugh and a wave as she stepped past the guarded gate. “I’ll text you when I arrive!”
“Okay!” Sophie waved back enthusiastically, like a child, but noticed one of the guards giving her a weird look, and shyly put her hand down. She continued watching as Sarah boarded the craft, taking one more glance back at her, then disappearing into the hold.
As the departure time grew closer, the platform retracted and the threshold into the transports hold closed, leaving the outer surface of the object smooth and unbroken. When the departure time went to zero, the transport began to gradually lift into the sky without a sound to be heard. Once it was thousands of feet up, it stopped rising, and vanished instantly before Sophie’s eyes. She stood there, staring at the spot, part of her hoping that it would return just as fast as it had left, but there was no such luck.
Sophie turned back to the Taxi, still stopped, having stayed due to detecting Sophie’s luggage still in its cabin. As she stepped in and the doors close, she heard a chime from her phone.
>S1: Made it 😅
>S1: 10000 ly in the blink of an eye 👀
>S1: Hows that for expedience?
Sophie was surprised, but not by how quickly she had gotten there. She knew the technology was instantaneous, no matter the distance, but what she hadn’t realized was the speed at which data packets were being sent back and forth from her destination.
Because electronic communication was still limited by the speed of light, it made the technology completely unfeasible over a galactic, and intergalactic scale. To solve this problem, an innovative telecommunications company, I/O Dyne Systems, created a service inspired by the internet, using servers and packet switching, if specialized OTech transports acted as the ‘packets’. Whenever data was to be transferred to another system, it would be uploaded to a server aboard an OTech transport in orbit, then, on an automated schedule, the transports would teleport to an extra-galactic data hub where the data would be sorted, put aboard the respective transports, then teleported to their intended destination.
This process was scheduled to happen every 10 minutes once everything was set up, but it seemed to Sophie that they had reduced it down to maybe a couple. She was already feeling a bit better about seeing her sister leave. She spent all night texting with her sister like she had just met a new boy at summer camp, and when it was her time to go, Sophie boarded her transport with little fanfare. Before the departure time had arrived, she toiled with letting her partners know.
The inside of a transport, frankly, didn’t seem like any other transport she had ever seen, with exception to a glass elevator, but as large as a warehouse. She was surprised to see glass at all, considering that when the transport was sealed, from an outside observer, it was a solid white color with no visible apertures breaking its exterior visage. Sophie approached the window but saw no signs that anything was separating her from the outside. There were no reflections of the internal lights, no smudges, and there wasn’t even any visible lip where the window met with the structure.
She felt as if she could reach out and feel the breeze, but when she did, her hand met with a solid surface with a finely rough texture, and exactly at room temperature. As she touched it, she wondered if the transport’s attendants would be upset with her smudging the view, but she noticed that one of the crew, and a few other passengers, were doing the same thing she was. She removed her hand, expecting to see a big greasy handprint, and was surprised to not see any at all. She then even tried to put a smudge on it, but it remained perfectly clean.
The substance used to create the primary structure of the transport was a piece of gifted Observer Technology itself. Even though it was more akin to concrete in the way that it’s produced and molded, it was commonly known by names based on science fiction colloquialisms, like Plasteel from Dune, and Transparent Aluminum from Star Trek.
Once molded and activated, the substance was on orders of magnitude stronger and more durable than anything previously thought possible. It was also a necessary ingredient to making the OTech Faster-Than-Light teleportation feasible, in that the substance was able to constrain the field affected by the FTL drive. It could be 100% transparent in one or two directions, or be completely opaque, and any space entirely enclosed by the Plasteel was also unaffected by external changes in gravity or inertia.
An announcement came over the intercom, a woman declaring departure, and warning passengers to stay clear of the closing doors. Sophie watched as the door sealed, leaving no creases or other visible signs that there was even a door at all. Then the transport started lifting into the air, and several passengers who were looking out the window, including Sophie, momentarily lost their balance when they expected to feel movement, but didn’t actually feel anything.
Sophie watched for a moment as the city fell beneath them, and suddenly remembered to text Tim and Claire. She opened the group message and typed a short note.
>S2: Leaving the system. Won’t be coming back soon.
>S2: Love you both. Sorry.
After sending the messages, she noticed that both were already typing a reply, but before she could receive one, she left the group, and blocked both parties. It didn’t make her feel good to do it, but she thought a clean break was the best way to approach the issue. She sighed, then looked back out the window, and already, they were in the stratosphere.
A countdown to teleportation started, and the transport came to an abrupt stop at the edge of space.
“T-minus 5, 4, 3, 2, 1-”