It takes ten minutes of tense deliberation, but we eventually convince the man of two things: we are not hostile, and we've seen him before in another universe. And somehow the former was harder than the latter.

"So you said I'm an agent of some sort in your universe?"

"That was the most Tes got out of you—him—before we were sent to Alpha Centauri. What do you do here?"

"I'm trying to save my country from the Necromancers, is what. The name's Dwight. I used to be the Cadet chief before anarchy took over."

"Cadet?"

"Yeah, police. So then, what are your auras? Both of you?"

"Are auras our powers?"

"Yeah, so like mine is positivity."

"I don't know. We didn't have auras in our universe."

"What? How? It's like one of the most basic building blocks in our—you know what, we need to take you back to base. There's someone I need you to meet."

"I'm still so very confused by everything that's happening here."

"Don't worry, we can walk and talk. In this universe, we call that multitasking."

"Okay, smartass."

Dwight gives a smile. "At least you have humor in your universe. Something we've been lacking as of late."

We walk together as a group of six through the bush maze of Maxima Park, stopping a few times for ambush spots and suspicious noises, until we make it to the end and find ourselves in a tight alley between dozens of buildings.

"So, seeing as you likely don't know anything about what's happening, I'll start with the basics. There are two groups of aura civvies: us normal folks, and the Necromancers. For hundreds of years, the Necromancers were social outcasts, solely because of the auras they have. Which, mind you, is not controllable. Three years ago, they decided to finally change that, and forced the city under their control. Carmsborough has been torn between the two sides ever since."

"Honestly, that name is the only thing I recognize," Holly says. "So what, you guys are born with auras or something?"

"Exactly. Which is why it's strange that you two claim to have never had auras. Although, I guess there could be some logic behind it. If you come from a universe where this certain atom behaves differently, or you don't even have that atom, maybe when you arrived here it mingled with your bodies, and..."

"And I thought Omega Centauri was a lot to deal with."

"Omega Centauri?"

"It's a long story."

"Well, we have a while before we get to base."

"Okay, so it all starts on a field trip to Egypt..."

It's interesting listening to Holly's perspective on everything that's changed in the past week—two weeks?—and the things that have happened to us in that timeframe. She skips the heavier parts, like losing the people that we have known for so many years, but has no problem talking about all the deaths on Alpha Centauri. Maybe it's fresh enough that she doesn't even give it a second thought.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Or maybe we've already become numb to it somehow.

Either way, the former Cadet chief eats it up, as if this were a story you tell a three-year-old right before bed. He has so many questions, like what the galvaknights looked like, about the ghosts in the Hindenburg, where Aurora fits into all of this, and how we think the technology works.

But then his last question is targeted towards me.

"So, is she Deaf or mute?"

"Mute. Well, sort of. I'm not really sure how it works. She's talked a few times, but it hasn't been any more than that."

"Maybe she just doesn't enjoy talking."

I shrug.

"No, I think it's more than that. It's almost like she doesn't have control of whether or not she's able to speak."

"Could be selective muteness. I know how that sounds, but that generally means it's tied to trauma or something of the sort."

"I think that's something Sola said, too."

"Well, fortunately, for you, we have one or two people who can help with that back at base, if you'd like. Not just the whole trauma dumping, but also the inability for anybody to understand you."

Holly and I look at each other, gears turning behind both of our eyes. It would be incredibly helpful if she could understand sign language. Not that I've really tried to teach her, to be fair. We haven't had enough time to do something like that.

"I'm not sure we'd have enough time to do something like that," Holly says, apparently reading my mind. "With all due respect, we'd like to get back to our own universe sooner rather than later."

"Oh, don't worry. It wouldn't take that long."

We round the corner and are face-to-face with a very large sewer entrance. Dwight motions for the other two with him to go in first, before turning to face us. "This is a tight-knit group of people. I believe your story, but not everyone will. Therefore, it's important that I meet with two people right away: the boss, and her second in command. Well, third."

He heads in, and we follow, still not completely sure where we're being taken. Or whether we're with the good guys. Surely the people called the Necromancers are bad, although whether they should be bad is another story. If you can't choose what power you're born with, you shouldn't be discriminated for it.

I guess they still have their own societal issues. That never changes.

"Welcome to the underground," Dwight says, smiling at himself. "This is the biggest batch of freedom fighters left in the city, but we've made some pretty decent strides against the Necromancers."

We continue further in and eventually reach an office-looking set of doors. Dwight cracks the door, peeks inside, and ushers us in. Sitting at a desk is a girl around our age writing something on some sort of futuristic whiteboard. To get her attention, the Cadet chief pulls out a flashlight from his pocket and shines it on the whiteboard. She turns around, confused at first, then smiles.

"This is Sapphire. She knows sign language like you, because she is Deaf."

Dwight signs something her way, which I don't fully understand at all, but she turns to me with a bit of a gleam in her eye. Then, she tries to sign something my way.

Hello... Is... H... Home... Friend... You.

I give her a blank stare and try to sign my name to her, but it's clear she doesn't understand me, either. She turns to face Dwight and signs something his way, which gives him a confused face.

"You're not from Carmsborough?"

"No, we're from America. We're also probably not from the same year."

"What year?"

"The 1970s."

"Try the year 3003."

"How does this keep happening to us?"

"Whatever technology your rabbit uses must be pretty unstable. I'm not sure if we'd even be able to look at that. Still, there's a way we can get both of you caught up to speed on sign language in the year 3000. But first, we have to go meet the boss herself."

He waves goodbye to Sapphire and the three of us dip out, leaving her to go back to whatever was on her whiteboard. Then Dwight motions for us to go right across the aisle, and he knocks six times on the door in rhythmic fashion. It swings open by itself, revealing a meeting room of six or seven people. At the very head of it, a woman in her mid-twenties sporting Afro puffs commands the conversation, but pauses as the three of us walk in.

"Ike, you know I don't like it when you bring randoms into the meeting room."

"These aren't just any random's ma'am," he says, "they came here from another universe."

She drops the stack of papers she was holding, which fall haphazardly on the table in front of her.

"You're sure?"

"America in the twentieth century. Didn't even have auras until today."

"Well, nice to meet you, fellow space-time travelers. My name is Luna, and I run this operation."