I coughed as the world snapped into place. My eyes were bleary from in the morning light and the sleeping bag wasn’t as comfortable as the bold font on the box had promised.

I rummaged around until my hands found the water bottle. I guzzled the delicious life liquid and my throat thanked me by ceasing its infernal complaints.

I sat up and looked around for my glasses. Being nearsighted sucked, but that’s what old age does old chap. You slowly grind to a halt like an aging engine. Pristine and flawless in your youth, but rust and wear are inevitable.

“Wait a minute…” I whispered to myself as I stared at my glasses. I had knocked them away when I grabbed the water bottle. They sat nearly a meter away but I could see them perfectly.

My head swung around and I found myself staring at the dull and worn wall. The simple newspaper we had plastered the walls in a vain attempt at wallpaper greeted me. Most of it was faded but I could easily make out words that were legible.

I turned my head again and stared out the oversized hole in the wall. Our window into the outside world. Time and entropy had claimed it since it was easily a third of the wall now. The rot had ruined that section.

What I could do though, was see the yellow and orange leaves on the trees. Fall was in full swing and the park was aglow with the colors of autumn.

My eyesight turned downwards and I noticed how young I was again. No gnarled fingers and the various scars I had accrued in life were also gone.

I was younger… but how?

I raised an eyebrow as I turned my eyes up, to ask the heavens.

Today, the heavens replied.

Or rather, there was writing on the ceiling. This was definitely not here 5 years ago.

[Goodluck! Fort has fallen - Ao]

A for Archie and o for a ball. I snorted as a weight lifted from my chest. Old Archibald was alive!

The reason for my younger form must be because of that old coot! Or is it a young fool again? The numskull was a biology expert and we both had run afoul of that blasted organization. HIVE was many things, but a force of good was not one of them.

A small red light turned on.

I stared at it with shock. The proximity alarm.

I slid out of my sleeping bag and then moved up to the window. I peeked over and I saw several men in grey suits tiptoeing in. They all looked identical. Which meant either robots or disposable bio-men.

Hmmm. If these weren’t HIVE agents, I would eat my glasses.

I moved quickly, I gathered my sleeping bag and various Knick knacks and stuffed them all into my shoulder bag. The various goods all smoothly slid into my small bag. Old Archie wasn’t the only genius.

Where that fool had messed with biology, I dabbled in the science of space and time. My bag was the pinnacle of my study. Small, lightweight, and could hold enough stuff to rival a large moving van.

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The only downside was that my organization program still wasn’t up to snuff, so there was a lot of rummaging needed to find anything. Especially if I was stuffing in things haphazardly.

Also, biological things tended to die when they entered. The time portion of my science would preserve food, but kind of stopped all life functions in order to do it. Oh, a momentary flash of looking for stuff wouldn’t affect you, but if you were in it for over an hour, you would definitely be dead.

I took a moment to stare at our old fort. Archie and I had met here, some forty years ago. Children, but bright. We had bonded in this place of wonder and glee. We had sworn to always meet here, every 5 years.

We kept that promise until Archie died ten years ago. His lab exploded and the body was confirmed to be his. I had always wondered if foul play was involved. The deeper I dug into this HIVE, the surer I became.

Look like that old dog still had a few tricks, however. The body was probably a clone of him and or his old form. I now knew that he had a newer body somewhere out there.

I looked out again and there were easily three times more agents now. They were close enough to hear and I double checked all of my belongings. Bag? Check. Clothes? Check. Wallet? Check. Cell phone? Check.

Great, all good.

I moved to the red light and ripped off the worn newspaper to reveal a hidden compartment. I had a few things installed when I last visited. It was part boredom and part homage to our youth.

I slid open the compartment and revealed a big, red button. I frowned as Archie left another message.

[Upgraded. The landing was awful.]

I growled but pressed the button. The button went in and then popped out like a rod. I grabbed onto the rod.

The whole fort shook as the retro boosters, made from scrap I harvested from an abandoned Chevy, ignited and the fort started to fall apart as the weakened wood couldn’t take the stress.

That didn’t matter and I understood Archie’s touch as the fort shot up, leaving behind half of the wood and three dozen shocked agents.

The rest of the wood exploded outwards as the second phase kicked in and arced the fort deeper into the woodlands while forming a protective energy bubble around me.

I cursed. This bubble was beautiful and my eyes spied the crude pieces of a toaster and a George Forman grill. One of the secret treasures that we had scrounged up decades ago.

I made three improvements to the design before the bubble bounced off a treetop and skimmed into the forest proper. I ended up rolling with the bubble as the centrifugal forces kept me locked to a spot as I was spun around and round.

I landed on two feet as the bubble rolled to a complete stop and then popped. Literally. The engine popped into a dozen pieces and flew into the foliage.

I grimaced as I made 5 total improvements. There should have at least been a secondary bubble to ease the descent. Bah. Leave it to Archie to forgot about the minutia. Which made no sense since biology was all about the small stuff.

I looked around and knew that I was definitely lost. I nodded as I put my bag down and reached into it.

It took a bit to find the two pieces I wanted.

The first was my active-poncho. Designed to block me from detection. From heat to electronics, I was invisible.

The second was my super moped. The thing barely fit and resembled a suitcase. I put the thing on the floor and touched the start button. The complex device unfolded as I slung the on shoulder bag and poncho.

I got onto my moped and touched the start button again. The device gave out a loud hum as I floated up and then it quieted down as it leveled off. I grabbed the pair of goggles off the handle and put them on.

I reached around the goggle and found the power switch.

The world tinted as various pieces of data flared to life. My neat driving goggles would tell me the time, the elevation, weather, terrain, and I had already loaded on the GPS info. The Bluetooth locked onto my phone for better processing and I took off.

I needed to drive around something major so that my computer could calculate my current location. I had to be incognito until I hit something with wifi. Until then, I needed to stay off the grid.

My super moped hummed as I sped through the forest.

I knew what the next step was now. I felt invigorated for the first time in years. Both physically and mentally.

Archie was alive. I now just needed to find him and trade information. Our lives depended on this.