> April 3077. 07:30.
As Kiri rowed, she managed to grasp a clumsily executed rhythm. She could only imagine the few video clips she had seen of people rowing. (They did it backward for whatever reason). However, she was doing something right, as the little island slowly edged closer and closer. A light morning mist that had made it appear blurry began to fade as the distance closed.
She could now see that the artificial structures were abandoned. A little past the island and in the sky flew lines of hovering… trains and ships? They seemed to be disappearing into a circular structure nested at the top of two tall metallic towers, perhaps about the size of skyscrapers in the last city she had visited as a child. She could barely see what was going on, where the vehicles were going, let alone who—or what—was controlling them. But she nervously gulped at the prospect that this was not, in fact, just a dream or a hallucination.
She considered rowing to the big island, which appeared to be inhabited, but it was so far away that her arms felt like burning jello.
Upon reaching the small island, she positioned the boat between two concrete slabs that had broken off from one of the decimated buildings. She carefully snapped the oars back into their original positions and then hoisted the boat as far as she could onto the rocks. She carefully climbed over the unstable rocks and toward the crumbling road. Its edge hung down precariously over the water as if the weight of a pin could’ve sent it tumbling. She hopped onto the road, avoiding the edge. Started to meander inland.
“Hello?” she said quietly.
Immediately, she slapped her hand over her mouth. She hadn’t considered that maybe there were beings that weren’t humans on this island. For all she knew, she could be brutally abducted and tortured for 10 days straight. Or maybe she would be poked, prodded, and cut into for their scientific experiments.
Was this worth possibly not starving? She hated games of chance. No wonder she had never made a real effort to leave her boring old town.
“I’m really doing this,” she grumbled.
She continued down a cracked paved road, which probably couldn’t fit more than the width of a car and a couple of pedestrians, and meandered between the spooky abandoned buildings. Upon further observation, this area must have once been a little village. It looked like it must’ve been modern from how much concrete there was, which was a surprise considering how remote this island seemed. She glanced around with wide eyes as if something might jump out at her any moment. She could swear she saw movements within the decaying buildings through the windows with no glass, though logically, she knew nothing was there. The graffiti on the old walls and slabs of fallen building materials left the impression that something human must still lurk around occasionally, and zei recalled the area under the freeway bridge in Goldtown. If this was anything like that area, she could expect unsavory people. At the same time, she could hear the birds chirping and warbling cheerfully in the tree canopy above, and there was something comforting about the morning sunlight painting the ground through the leaves.
Kiri took a deep breath. It wasn’t enough, so she took another for good measure. “Okay…” she mumbled just barely over a whisper. “I’ll just take a small peek into this street. You know… just in case.”
She walked a few more paces when suddenly a voice started talking from only a little way ahead, just around the soft elbow of the road. A building that looked like it had once been a small cafe obfuscated the source of the voice, but Kiri could see the shape of a person from behind the warped windows of the building. She startled backward. Strained her ears trying to listen.
The voice was definitely human, but its words didn’t belong to any language Kiri recognized. This was somewhat of a relief. However, she hadn’t considered that she might have to deal with a language she didn’t know.
She continued to inch forward even more cautiously. Her brain knew it was less risky to stay put. Her stomach insisted otherwise. It growled incessantly now. Might as well have been handed a microphone and amplified times 20. She clutched her stomach and winced. “Please shut up…” she whispered.
The voice started to yell out foreign words in quick succession, agitated, like the person was arguing. Definitely sounded human. She flattened against a broken pillar on the building between her and the stranger, then peeked around the corner.
It should have been a comfort that the stranger looked human, but she was several centimeters taller than Kiri with a thick frame and an overall muscular physique. She appeared rather intimidating as she leaned back against the trunk of her scarlet-colored car, arms crossed irritatedly over her chest. From the earpiece she wore while talking animatedly to an invisible entity, Kiri assumed she must have been talking on the phone. But despite Kiri’s familiarity with that, she noticed how unusual the stranger’s car looked. It had a windshield stretching far back over the ceiling and even partially under it like it was made to see above and below, not just left and right. Apart from that, it had four regular-looking wheels. Was this one of the vehicles that were flying into that circular structure? It had to be if it was sitting on this island.
“Jit. Tchin’a sli accha!” the stranger snapped as she forcefully tapped her watch and removed her earpiece, presumably ending the call.
Kiri’s tentative “um” emerged from her throat unintentionally. She clapped her hands over her mouth.
Too late. The stranger looked up and spotted Kiri.
Both of them paused.
With wide eyes, Kiri waited, frozen. She knew she didn’t look much different from the stranger; the two were shaped as human as they could be. Still, she latched onto the chance the stranger was nevertheless hostile.
The stranger raised her eyebrows. Craned her neck as she angled for a better view of Kiri while Kiri shuffled awkwardly behind the pillar, unsure whether to hide, run, or emerge to meet the stranger.
“Uhn aa… Dai rokei?” the stranger asked in a mildly amused tone, also indicating confusion as to why someone was hiding behind a building and acting so obviously skittish. She waved awkwardly and made a half smile as if entreating Kiri to socialize.
Kiri loosened slightly but still swallowed a lump of nervousness that had gathered in her throat. Ah, screw it, she thought. At least she looks friendly. Just go, you dolt.
Kiri and the stranger met halfway between the car and the decimated building, the stranger confidently while Kiri edged forward. The stranger had undoubtedly picked up on Kiri’s nervousness and kept two arm lengths away. “Kahtn yono,” she said, seemingly politely. It was hard to tell from the language alone. “Maryoi sa nakot?”
Kiri hesitated with her mouth open agape. “Oh, um.” She cleared her throat and waved awkwardly. “Hello. Um, I don’t speak—uh, your language it seems.”
“Ay, ay, cortuumo ashi kon.” The stranger sounded understanding and nodded. It was strange how normally she reacted to the fact they couldn’t understand a word each other was saying. She walked casually around the strange vehicle and reached through one of the open windows. As she took out a black leather purse, Kiri stepped back. The stranger snapped open the purse and fiddled around inside it. Kiri considered running away but ended up standing there frozen.
At last, the stranger clicked her tongue triumphantly and whipped out a simple black cube. Looked at Kiri again and smiled. As she approached Kiri, she held out the cube toward her.
Kiri looked down at it hesitantly. Seeing this, the stranger gestured for her to take it. Kiri lifted one shaky hand. Slowly reached for the cube, then took it.
What am I doing…? she thought. I’m gonna die, aren’t I?
The stranger pressed a button on her digital watch and a hologram appeared out of thin air. It looked like a phone screen because of the various symbols Kiri could only assume were applications.
Kiri nearly gasped when the stranger touched the hologram as if touching a physical object. The stranger tapped on one of the applications, then tapped various other buttons labeled in the language Kiri didn’t understand.
Something seemed to pop inside Kiri’s brain. Like an actual pop.
Words got jumbled around in her head. Huir head. (Zei now could relate enself to a genderless pronoun).
For a moment, it even seemed like zei had blacked out for a split second.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
And then…
“See?”
Kiri jumped and looked into the stranger’s eyes. Huir own (the first person’s own, or Kiri’s own) eyes were wide and huir mouth gaped open. Nei (the second person mentioned by name, or the stranger) took back the cube and pressed neir watch. The hologram disappeared.
“Now you understand me for the most part, right?” nei asked.
“Not possible…” zei whispered, now in the language zei didn’t know existed until a few seconds ago. Zei covered huir mouth with huir hand. “I—speak a other language now. I—I mean, how?!”
It was like the words had altered huir worldview in the most literal sense. Was this what learning a language was like? Except… not in three seconds?
“Congrats! You’ve now got the Ajhingen language in your brain. They have these cubes in many languages. I’m sure they could easily make one in yours based on your neural configuration.” Nei tossed the cube up in the air. It spun around rapidly and nei caught it gracefully as it fell. “Kinda expensive and rare. Very sturdy, though. It translates pretty darn accurately, but might take some time to fully grasp everything.” Nei smirked.
Kiri looked dazed. The stranger’s casual demeanor was somewhat jarring, almost like Kiri had known nem for years already. “Ah, is that so…?”
“Anyway, the name’s Sage,” the stranger said coolly. “You?”
“Oh, ah. Right, um—I am named Kiri.”
“Cool name!” Sage said. “Sooo, how did you get on this island? I was supposed to meet my friend here, but zei kinda ditched me, it looks like.”
“How I got here…” Kiri mused. Huir brain felt like it was churning. How could zei possibly say that zei had rowed here from the middle of the sea, possibly after being transported from an entirely different world? Then again, did it actually matter if this was all just some dream?
“I was just sleep in a random boat in this—these plains. Er, please ask not why. Where I lived, there was no water or anything. But then I woke and I was here in this big water—uh, the sea? Ocean? And, um, there were these islands. So I moved boat to this island.”
Sage looked confused. “You… rowed?”
Kiri nodded.
Sage also looked like the gears in huir head (Sage’s head, as zei is now the first subject mentioned in the sentence) were turning as zei scratched huir neck with a distant expression. Zei mumbled to enself, saying things like, “So you rowed here but you weren’t in the sea just earlier… You speak an unfamiliar language not programmed into the language cube…” Zei stopped when a look of realization struck huir face. “Wait. By chance, have you seen any—um—like various people dressed in blue uniforms?”
“N—no? Why?”
“Huh. That’s really odd.” Sage glanced at huir watch. Let out an exasperated sigh. “Dude, why is zei not—”
Suddenly, Sage’s watch began to chime. Upon closer look, Kiri could see it was similar to smartwatches that affluent people wore in huir hometown. Sage placed huir earpiece back in, then picked up a call. Zei immediately chided, “You! What in the world? Why haven’t you been answering my messages and calls?!”
Zei stood there in silence for several heartbeats. Kiri thought zei could hear the faint sound of another voice over the earpiece, but the birds’ singing overpowered it.
“You’re kidding…” Sage responded to the person on the other end of the line. “So you make me wait 15 minutes, text me to tell me to wait 20 more minutes, and now you’re bailing?!”
Zei paused again to listen, then rolled huir eyes. “Okay, okay, I get it. Well, it doesn’t matter now because I have a new friend, anyway. Zei’s already a better friend than you’ll ever be.” Zei winked at Kiri and neir body made a tiny jolt of surprise.
Zei hung up and took out huir earpiece again, shaking huir head and sighing with some mix of irritation and amusement. “That was the friend who bailed. Looks like zei really isn’t coming, that little xollt…” Kiri wondered which translation of “xollt” was correct—troll, goblin, or gremlin?
Sage sounded more solemn as zei changed the subject. “Sooo… back to your situation. Did you need some help? You seem a bit lost and quite frankly, anxious.”
Had Kiri really made it that obvious? Zei looked down at huir feet, huir expression deflated. “Probably. No. I mean yes.”
“Can you tell me how I can get you home?”
“Home…” zei trailed off.
“Like, you said you were not in the sea before, so you probably came from another planet. Which one?”
Kiri tensed immediately and shuffled backward. “How did—how did you know?!”
Sage smiled cluelessly. “Hm? I mean, that’s kinda the first thing people guess when someone accidentally comes to the SSR out of nowhere and doesn’t know the language. Usually, people like you accidentally stumble through a portal that just opened up. Although, I am surprised since most people interdimensionally have at least two or more languages in their heads, including Carsenten.”
So people getting transported to this world from other worlds wasn’t a surprise to these people. Kiri noted this. Zei looked stumped, wondering what zei should let spill about huir situation that wouldn’t get en subjected to becoming a lab rat.
Sage placed huir hand on huir chin thoughtfully, then asked, “So, which of the big five did you come from?”
This was already a bad sign for Kiri. If zei made it obvious that zei didn’t know what the “big five” was, the closer zei would be to revealing that zei was an alien here—quite literally. Zei treaded carefully. “Big five? I don’t know what is it translation to—” zei said.
“Oh, sorry. Just slang. I mean, the five planets that are connected to the SSR. It’s pretty common knowledge here throughout the Network, but I won’t judge if you’re from somewhere isolated and didn’t know.”
Thankfully, Sage had already given Kiri an option nei hadn’t even thought of—nei could simply pretend nei was from one of the five planets, but from an isolated society. Then again, what did that mean about neir chances of getting home? Nei stared off into the thicket of trees behind Sage, fighting with nemself on what to say next.
Nei ultimately decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask questions as if nei were, indeed, from an isolated place. “What is SSR? And, uh… Network?”
“Oh, uh. SSR is an acronym for ‘Sooted Star Realm.’ That’s where we are right now, where all the portals and islands are. The Network is just the nickname for the Sooted Star Portal Network, and it’s the SSR and the five planets combined,” Sage explained. “Just think of it like the SSR is the center, which attaches five planets by way of portals.”
Kiri looked like huir brain was boiling over.
Sage chuckled. “Sorry, it’s a little confusing, but I’m sure visuals will help.” Zei paused for a bit, lost in thought, then tilted huir head. Stared at Kiri as if analyzing nem. “Huh… There’s also the possibility you could come from an entirely new planet. They have mentioned portal activity with unfamiliar coordinates going on recently, which implies new universes.”
Kiri slowly turned huir eyes back to Sage and wore an expression like zei had been framed for murder. This person caught on way too quickly and Kiri wasn’t prepared to defend enself. Zei briefly considered sprinting away back to the boat, but then zei saw Sage’s expression become genuinely concerned.
Nei said, “Um, Kiri? You seem like you’re overloading a bit, there, buddy.” Zei realised zei had been squeezing huir scratching huir forearm rather intensely and red marks had begun to show. Nei waved neir hands reassuringly. “Look, you don’t have to tell me where you’re from, but I seriously do want to help you get home if that’s where you’re going. It doesn’t have to be me, even. There’s folks who specialize in interdimensional travel, you know?”
Kiri shifted uncomfortably as zei considered huir options. Zei knew that whatever zei said at this point, it was en versus the world. If zei lied, it would catch up to en eventually if zei ever wanted to get home. If zei told the truth, the risk was different but no better.
As zei stood there brooding, Sage continued, “Well, I know you don’t necessarily want to say where you’re from, and you don’t have to, but for safety’s sake and also due to the law, you have to be scanned to make sure you haven’t brought in any deadly diseases. Vice versa, too—we wouldn’t want you catching anything from around here. I don’t think you’d have a fun time if that happened.” Nei chuckled. “Oh, and I have to bring you to the hospital, too. The hazmat holo can only do so much.”
Zei looked like zei visibly shriveled. For some reason, huir vision was beginning to blur.
Nei waved neir hands again with a more emphatic reassurance this time. “I assure you! It’ll be okay. Because of AG7 laws, doctors of all types are prohibited from harming a subject, even if zei happens to be a new species or is from a new planet. Unless you happen to be super dangerous or something… Are you?”
Kiri couldn’t bring enself to look at Sage. Zei could tell that Sage was attempting to make en feel better from the way nei kept a cheerful bounce to neir voice, but zei could feel enself shutting down again like zei always did in stressful situations. Zei could feel huir body become numb as the world looked like it was warping around en. As zei spiraled down into the dark depths of huir thoughts, zei could see that thin blue line of huir fate once again, emerging from huir chest—only this time, it didn’t lead en back to those warm, familiar days zei spent in Goldtown. This time, it led straight into the void.
----------------------------------------
Kiri woke up again, stomach rumbling. Zei wondered if zei had finally woken up from the dream. Perhaps zei was still in the boat out in the middle of the plains. It wasn’t ideal, but zei felt relieved to think zei was back home.
That relief was short-lived, though, when zei heard a familiar, yet new voice singing in a language zei had only recently learned. Instead of the hard wooden frame of the boat against huir back, zei felt a soft leather cushion. Zei stared up at a view of a car ceiling. In huir ears played a soft, whirring hum and some low-volume pop music on a radio. Zei could feel the faint movements of a steadily moving vehicle, minus the road bumps.
The delirious Kiri sat up slowly. Huir stomach ardently protested now and dizziness consumed en for a short time as zei adjusted to the upright position.
“You’re awake!” Sage exclaimed with an excited kind of relief. “I’m sorry, I just ended up taking you because I thought I should get you to the hospital as soon as I can. Though it seems you may have fainted from being hungry. Probably thirsty.”
Kiri clutched huir stomach embarrassedly as it continued to scream at en. “Ugh… looks to be so.”
Sage burst into laughter. “You looked just about ready to die back there! I’m sorry if I stressed you out by talking so much. I don’t know if you can eat foods from around the SSR, so I think your safest shot is a comprehensive scan at the hospital.”
Kiri briefly recalled, The SSR. What was that again? The Sooted Star Realm? Zei didn’t know how to feel that Sage was speaking like nei was assuming the possibility that zei was an alien. As huir gaze fixated out the backseat window, zei realized: this was happening whether zei liked it or not. Zei knew, for sure, that this wasn’t a dream anymore. It was like fate had made the choice for en, and the harbinger of that fate was huir own stomach.
Sage peeked at Kiri through the rearview mirror. “Um, so I ended up using the hazmat holo to quickly scan you and it looks like overall you’re in good shape. You’re not carrying any deadly diseases, at least.”
Kiri didn’t respond. Zei was back to overthinking again as zei stared intensely at nothing in front of en. Sage looked like zei wanted to speak, but zei smiled and went back to driving. It was an unnaturally smooth ride, but Kiri didn’t pay much attention to that.
After a while, zei said, quiet and resigned, “It’s true.”
Sage perked up. “Huh? What’s true?”
“I’m not from any of the ‘big five’ as you mentioned. I’m from a planet called Aerth. My town was in grassy plains much like this one, but without sea.”