CHAPTER 7

  “The world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through.”

  -Tom Waits

  ...

  Royles pulled the car up to a newly painted parking spot. The warehouse that contained the rift was buzzing with activity in front of them. Royles and Carl sat in silence for a moment, watching the workers.

  "I know you've been having a tough time with...everything. I dont mean to pour any salt on that wound, but we have to face facts, you may be here awhile. I've pulled some strings and gotten some things authorized for you."

  He reached in his jacket and pulled out a small plastic card.

  "This is a one time 'personal' stipend. There's two thousand dollars on here. Buy yourself some clothing, toiletries, and kitchenware. Do not lose that card, it will also be where your paychecks go since you dont have a bank account."

  "Kitchenware? And I get paychecks?"

  "Yes, you will be compensated for your work. Also, this warehouse is now owned by the Protectorate. Because it houses the rift, it will now be Department 7's base of operations. That back building..."

  He pointed at a massive addition to the warehouse.

  "...contains six fully functioning apartments. I had the workers focus on finishing one of them so you won't have to sleep on that couch anymore."

  He held up a set of color coded round metal keys.

  "The blue key gets you in the facility, the green key is to your apartment, the red key opens the room containing the rift."

  Carl looked at the keys in his hand.

  "This is...a lot. Thank you."

  "Carl, I need you to listen now. I'm sticking my neck out here. You now have full permission to leave. Don't make me regret this. Keep a low profile, dont let civilians see your tech or your strength. For all intents and purposes, you are a foreign consultant. Are we clear?"

  "Yes sir."

  "Good. Go make yourself at home. Our operations are suspended for a day or two while we start packing up the office. The work crews estimate they should have the facility completed in a few days. Enjoy your time off."

  Carl stared at the worksite for a moment before turning to Royles.

  "I have one request."

  "Yes?"

  "Can we bring the couch from my office here, that thing was really comfortable."

  Royles smiled.

  "I think that can be arranged."

  "Thanks."

  "One final thing Carl."

  He smiled as he reached in his pocket. He handed Carl a patch with velcro on the back, it said "Department 7" across the top and had a crest with an eagle on it. Carl smiled.

  "Welcome to the team."

  "Awesome."

  Carl entered the facility, he didnt need his key, they had removed the front doors. Two thick metal doors leaned against the wall next to the doorframe. Inside it was a symphony of noise, hammers, saws, men yelling measurements to one another. Some parts of the warehouse still looked like a wooden skeleton, the frame was up, but that was it. Other areas had been nearly completed, the hallway leading to the housing unit was unpainted but otherwise finished. He knew it led to the housing units because they had signs up already. Carl approached a worker.

  "Pardon me, I was told one of the apartments was finished."

  "Yeah, last one on the left."

  "Thanks."

  He poked his head into a couple of the other apartments, just to look. They all appeared to be in various states of completion. He arrived at the last one on the left, the door was open. He entered and was hit with a strong smell of paint. Two guys were painting the walls of the kitchen. They turned and greeted him as he entered.

  "Hey, you must be the foreign consultant we heard about. Your apartment is just about done. We gotta finish painting the bedroom and I think Sully is finishing the toilet installation."

  "Uh, thanks. Anything I can do to help?"

  "Ahh, I appreciate it buddy, but if you do any work and get injured, my boss will be in a world of shit."

  "Oh, ok."

  He wandered back out to the rift, which was now housed in what appeared to be a giant metal vault. There were metal spikes protruding from the walls on either side, with grounding wires running to the floor. He watched as the electricity arcs jumped to the spikes, a clever fix. The door, a massive round steel door, at least a foot thick, sat on the forks of a forklift waiting to be installed. He watched them work on the wiring for the security system in the rift room for a few minutes before wandering outside. He had complete freedom to explore this world now, and more importantly, he had some money. He had to be smart about this though, only the essentials. He looked up and down the road, he'd been driven out here a few times but he still really didnt know the area. The site's foreman was going over some blueprints on a makeshift table of a sheet of fiberboard on two saw horses.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Hey there, I'm not from around here, I need to pick up some things from the store. Can you point me in the right direction?"

  "Yeah, head that way..."

  He pointed down the road, the opposite way of the original D7 office.

  "...you'll hit town in about three miles."

  "Thanks."

  He started walking, already making a mental checklist of things he would need for his stay. He wondered if they had Playstation in this dimension.

  The town was no different from any small town in his world. He didnt know what he was hoping for, but he thought it would be different somehow. He sighed, sometimes familiarity can be comforting. He went for clothes first, a store called Froggys. He got the basics, socks, boxers, black t-shirts, and jeans of the blue and black variety. He did notice that the styles of this world seemed to be similar to an 80s aesthetic from his world. A lot of teased hair, bright colors, lots of denim, and every store seemed to be playing synthwave type music. As he left the store holding two big bags of clothes, something occurred to him. He needed more than just clothing, but if he was walking around carrying a gazillion shopping bags without breaking a sweat, someone would notice. Royles specifically said to keep a low profile. Shit.

  "Nano, can you tap into this world's internet and find a phone number for Royles?"

  "Sure Carl, one moment."

  Carl made his way to a bank of payphones. Weird that they still have them, everything here was just a few years behind his world it seemed. He remembered the tentacle cuffs the cops used on him...Ok, almost everything was a few years behind.

  "I have a number to the office, you'll have to ask for him, its the best I can do, his cell number is private."

  "No worries buddy, that works."

  Nano projected the number above the keypad and Carl typed it in after swiping his card. The phone beeped as it accepted payment and the line started ringing.

  "May I speak with Phillip Royles please?"

  It took a few minutes before Royles said

  "Hello?"

  "Hey, its Carl...uh, I have a problem. I need a vehicle. I can carry everything I'm shopping for no problem, but it will raise some eyebrows. You said to keep a low profile."

  "I'll have Hicks pick you up. What's your location?"

  "Uh, at the payphones outside of a store called Froggys, but doesn't Hicks have, like, agent stuff to do?"

  "Hicks does what I tell him to do. Stay there."

  "Ok. Thanks."

  Hicks arrived, smiling and waving through the window at Carl. Carl threw his bags in the back seat.

  "Hey, I need to go to a department store for some stuff."

  "Hop in!"

  Carl got in the passenger seat and they drove off. Hicks was listening to something that sounded like dark pop-punk. Carl was bobbing his head and really starting to dig it when they pulled up to a huge store with a bright blue sign proclaiming it as "Kirbys: The everything store!".

  "Dude, this band is awesome."

  "Yeah, they're called The Razz. This is their second album, the first two albums are bangers, but they kind of started moving into a weird experimental phase after that."

  "I might have to get a copy of that album. How does your world consume music?"

  "Consume music? What do you mean?"

  "Like, Cds? Records? Digital files?"

  "I dont know what those first two things are, but here everything's digital."

  He hit a button on the cars stereo system and a small, slim stick ejected. It was the size of a stick of gum.

  "Here, you can have this. I own the album, I can just download it again."

  "Are you sure? I dont wanna hijack your music."

  "Yeah, its no problem, those music sticks are like fifty for five bucks. Hell, if you get some blanks, I'll get you some more music from my collection."

  "Thanks I'd like that! Uh...I assume I'll be able to find a radio capable of playing this in there?"

  "Of course man, Kirbys has everything! I'll go in with you if you want."

  "Yeah, I'd like that. I'm still trying to figure out how everything works around here. Also, I know your last name, but that feels too...I dunno, official."

  Hicks laughed and stuck out his hand.

  "Call me Steve."

  Carl shook his hand.

  "Nice to officially meet you Steve. Let's go shopping."

  Kirbys turned out to be like a mega Walmart. Carl got himself a boom box, apparently still a thing here, with Steve's help. For kitchenware he went cheap, paper plates, plastic utensils, two plastic tumblers, a frying pan and a pot. Did he really need anything else? He wandered over to electronics.

  "Steve-o, do you guys game on this world?"

  He said it a little too loud, and a passing lady gave him a funny look. Carl winked at her and she smiled at him.

  "Yeah, you wanna get a Unit."

  "A "Unit"? Is that a console?"

  "Thats THE console. It plays everything."

  "Huh. Ok. We have like, three competing consoles on my world, its really annoying."

  Steve pointed at a glass display case holding what looked like a bunch of credit cards with colorful pictures on them.

  "The games. What kind do you like?"

  "Mostly rpgs and shooters."

  Steve scratched his chin a moment before pointing out a few that he thought Carl might like. They finished paying for everything, then wheeled the cart out to the parking lot.

  "Hey, thanks for helping me man. I'm sorry you keep getting stuck driving me around."

  "Oh, you're welcome and I dont mind at all."

  Carl was loading the bags into the back of the car. Steve's smile had slipped just a fraction when he said he didnt mind. Carl liked Steve, he decided not to press him on it.

  When they pulled up Andy was struggling with a filing cabinet on a dolly. Carl ran up behind him and steadied it.

  "Thanks man, damn thing keeps sliding off."

  "You got more stuff to bring in? I can help."

  "Yeah, Penny and Matt are over by the van, I'm sure they would appreciate the help."

  Carl looked back at Steve.

  "You gotta be somewhere?"

  "No."

  "Cool, I'll unload your car in a minute. I'm gonna help them with the heavy stuff."

  Steve gave him a thumbs up and lit a cigarette. Matt passed him carrying boxes of files, they nodded at each other. He went around to the back of the van, Penny was trying to drag a metal desk out.

  "You need some help?"

  "Sure."

  He picked the desk up one handed.

  "I keep forgetting you can do that."

  "I'm an asset! Use me!"

  She gave him a sly smile.

  "Phrasing mister."

  Carl laughed.

  "Ok, but seriously, let me help."

  "Well, I've got two more desks stacked on top of each other in the back of the van, Matt and Andy got everything else."

  "No problem."

  The office area was behind the giant metal box that held the rift. Carl dropped the desks and pushed each one against the wall. He went back out and unloaded Steve's car and took his purchases to his apartment. The men had finished painting, the smell was still there, but it would fade. He started putting stuff away, the apartment was already furnished. When he was done he stood in the living room. He needed to get some art or something, the walls were bare.

  "Hey Nano, can you open the Chloe picture file, not the dirty one, the other one, and project it on the wall?"

  "Of course Carl."

  He just wanted to see them. So much had happened in a few weeks that it felt like a lifetime ago since he was home.

  "Shes gorgeous."

  Carl whirled around, he'd left his door open and Penny was standing there.

  "Thanks. Thats Chloe, my wife, and this..."

  He used the button panel on his wrist to manipulate the files until he found the one he was looking for.

  "...is my son Robbie."

  "Aww, hes a cutie."

  "Takes after his mom."

  "Bullshit. Look at those eyes, that kid is all you."

  Carl looked at his little boy. His smile faltered a little and his lip quivered. He took a deep breath and let it out.

  "Thats enough buddy."

  The picture disappeared. Carl turned and faced Penny.

  "It's hard looking at them knowing I may never see them again."

  "You will."

  "You say it so confidently, but you know Its not true."

  "Do I? I think Phillip has built a damn fine team here, if anyone can get you home, we can."

  "I hope you're right."

  She walked up to him and looked him in the eyes.

  "The key is for you not to lose hope. Believe it. No matter what."

  Her cold blue eyes held a steel to them, the scar on her face a reminder that she had also been through profound loss and came out the other side. He could see her strength as she said it. Somewhere inside himself he knew what she was saying was right, but believing was going to be hard for him.

  "I'll try."

  "Good."