It was over, but it was also just the beginning, the beginning of something both magnificent and really odd. Ironically, Kate was not a part of it. After the incident, we just drifted apart: as a few weeks passed by, we were nothing more than mere acquaintances.
After I returned to Earth from the alien planet, many people asked me to tell them about my adventure, but after a few days, I was getting tired of repeating myself over and over. The teachers were very suspicious of me and didn’t believe me. The school nurse ran some tests on me to see whether I had gone crazy, but they found that I was no worse than before. Things were going back to normal.
There was another school dance. It was on a Saturday night, so I did all my homework that morning and was getting ready to go. I wanted to go alone, and no one wanted to go with me, for some peculiar reason. Nevertheless, I was having fun: I enjoyed talking to my few friends. The night was about to end. I looked around and fixed my eyes on one girl. She was standing with a group of people near the bench. She was neither short nor tall, and had pretty eyes and a pretty face. Her brown hair fell down below her shoulders. I had never seen her before, and I guessed that she was new and did not have many friends yet. The last dance was announced, and it seemed that she did not have a date. I approached her and asked, “Would you like to dance?” She looked at me and smiled, and said, “Yes.” After the dance she whispered softly,
“Thank you.” I did not say anything in reply; I just smiled. She smiled too.
One day I was picked up from school later than usual, so I went to the school library to do my homework. In solemn concentration, I was answering some lousy question when suddenly I heard a friendly voice,
“Hello.”
I turned around and saw the girl from the dance. I asked,
“Hey, I remember you from the dance.”
We started talking. Her name was Amy. She had moved from Montana right before the dance, and so she did not know any people then. She was in the same grade as I, and was taking roughly the same classes as I, just with different teachers. She loved reading books, biking, and hiking. I enjoyed conversing with her. Time flew by, and soon she had to go. We said bye to each other and thus parted.
The next day I was picked up late again, and so I went to the library to do my homework and to talk to Amy. We chatted again when she arrived. I told her the story of being on the other planet. She was amazed at my imagination, but she thought I was crazy. Meeting a person who has been on another planet is not a common event, so I understood her. It was a difficult situation for me, but I could not deny my unusual adventure. However, luckily, she did not deny the possibility of the existence of aliens, so she could at least believe the possibility that I wasn’t making it up. Then she told me of her life in Montana: what it was like there, what her family did for fun, what she wanted to do on the weekends. Whenever she asked me a question, I could tell that she cared about my answers.
Out of the blue, I asked her, “Do you like ice-skating?”
“Most certainly, since I… Figure skate.”
“Oh. That surely would explain it… You know, I love ice-skating and roller-blading, and there is an ice-skating rink rather close to school. I always wanted to go there, but everybody was too busy doing homework, or going somewhere else. And it’s no fun having all the fun alone. Would you go there with me?”
“OK. Friday night is fine for me. What about you?”
“Friday night is perfect.”
I realized that I actually asked a girl out and she said yes. I was thrilled and filled with joy. We talked a little longer; then she had to go home. Soon I, too, had to leave.
On Friday, I was very excited about my date and could barely wait. I went home and started doing something to kill the time. I couldn’t do any of my homework, no, not on a Friday night. I played a computer game; read a bit; watched some TV. Finally, after hours of impatient waiting, it was time for me to leave. My dad volunteered to drive me. As we were driving, I was imagining skating. I was looking outside through the window of our moving car. The trees were swiftly passing by. It was dark and lonely on the road, and no other cars could be seen. Soon the air became colder and more humid, and small drops of rain began falling quietly on the roof of the car. I could see houses in the distance with dimly lit windows. We were passing a desolate stretch of land that seemed strange and alien. Then, after a turn, many lights lit the road ahead of us. We came to the shopping mall. I said “bye” to my dad and walked to the meeting place: a gazebo in the alleyway between the stores. After a few minutes of waiting under the roof and looking at the light rain, I saw Amy.
We were walking around and talking about everything, while venturing into little shops. Most of them were the stores for clothes, but in some, there were interesting things. One store contained all kinds of puzzles and educational toys. There was the puzzle where a ring had to be taken off, like in the horseshoe puzzle. I solved many of the similar puzzles in the store quickly and, to my surprise, so did Amy. She was the first person I knew who also enjoyed solving mechanical puzzles. After that, it was time to go ice-skating.
I was excited. We bought two tickets and went inside. When we were ready, we stepped onto the ice. The real fun began. At first, I was very unstable and I could fall easily. Nevertheless, after some time I was improving and remembering the old moves. I said,
“This is fun!”
“Yeah, I love ice-skating.”
She told me more about her life, I told her about my parents, friends and so-called friends, realizing that she really cared about all the details.
We skated more, then it was announced that everybody had to change direction and skate counterclockwise. We were just talking. I realized that I had never talked to somebody in person for so long. Amy seemed to know about everything except for computers. Suddenly, Amy slipped and grabbed my arm, which I did not expect from an ice-skater, but yet, no one’s perfect. She almost fell, tried to stand, and slipped again. I almost fell too, but I kept my balance. Then, struggling, Amy got to her feet. I looked at her and smiled.
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” she answered, smiling and almost laughing.
But then… I subconsciously reached for Amy’s hand, and I saw that she did the same. I perceived the softness and warmth of her small hand. I felt an exciting feeling in my stomach. We continued to skate. I looked at Amy again, and I smiled.
“Hi.”
“Hello,” she replied and smiled.
“I feel very… um… dumb now,” I said, mocking a serious expression. “You know, my dating record is surprisingly barren.”
I just wanted that moment to last for a long time. And it did. We continued to skate, but I was not skating, I was hovering over ice, oblivious of everyone but Amy. Time was flying by, but I could not keep track of it. I was captivated by the moment. Something was being announced, somebody fell on the ice, somebody was racing somebody else, but I did not heed those—I did not want to.
Next morning I woke up happy. I remembered everything that had happened the day before, and I just could not believe it. The experience was so unusual and so new. I wanted to be with Amy, to go with her to some distant place where it would be just the two of us. I entered the world of dreams, where nothing was impossible, and everything desired happened. But I had to wake up from my dreams and return to the black-and-white world. There was homework, projects, people, tasks, errands. However, that day I could not complete anything well: I was thinking about Amy. When I pictured her in my mind, there was that strange yet pleasant feeling in my stomach. It was both exciting and tiring. Strange things started to happen to me; I somehow wanted to speak poetry. “I felt something was impending, or I wanted it to be. I felt joy without ending; was there something wrong with me?” But I soon calmed down and descended to everyday life.
On Monday, I saw Amy after school, when I went to the library. We met and started talking.
“I had a great time on Friday!”
“Yeah! So did I.”
“I remember you said you like biking.”
“You’re right, I do. And you do, too.”
“I love it; although I cannot do any tricks or stuff like that, I just love to ride to secluded places where nobody interrupts me from my thoughts and dreams.”
“Do you often go on bike rides?”
“Not lately, I had too little free time, and I’ve been on the computer too much.”
“Oh. Shame on you!”
I grinned. “Do you want to go biking someday, like this weekend?”
“Well… Yeah, I do.”
Thus once again I was going somewhere with Amy. The happy feeling in my stomach was back, and I was really looking forward to the time I would spend with her. Of course there was school, but somehow time just flew by. The weekend was close, closer, and then it was already Friday. Except for the few annoying tests I had that day, everything was great. It was a sunny day with few clouds in the sky. The lukewarm wind made the weather neither hot nor cold, just perfect for a Friday afternoon. Everybody was lazy that day. Warm days of the spring are always welcome and remembered. It was the time of the blooming flowers, the singing birds, the warmth after the winter, the joy of life. Nobody wanted to be in school, so the last bell was welcomed. I merrily went home.
That afternoon, something changed about the way I saw the world. I felt confident, but at the same time I was carefree and buoyant. Not a trouble was in my mind that beautiful day. When I came home, I did not want to do anything, just bathe in the rays of light coming through the open window. Nonetheless, for some unknown reason, I finished all of my homework, of which I was oblivious. The day passed quickly, and it was already bedtime. I eagerly tried to fall asleep, anticipating the following day.
I woke up too early the next morning, and I couldn’t go back to sleep after that. I had a strange apprehension about the day. I really did feel that something was impending. For a moment I thought about not going biking at all, but then the feeling was gone and I happily began imagining myself with Amy.
Amy lived close to a canyon, and my parents would drive me to her house and we would go biking from there. I called and informed her that we were about to leave. Everything was so far perfect; the weather was the same as yesterday, the sun was shining brightly. The house she lived in was rather large with windows almost everywhere. I rang the doorbell, and her mom opened the door.
“Hi!”
“Oh hi, I’m Amy’s mom. She’ll be right down.”
The house was as nice inside as it was outside. It was a two-story house. The walls were decorated with multiple photos of Amy with her parents. After a minute, Amy walked downstairs.
“Hi,” I said to her.
“Hello.”
“This is a very nice house.”
“Thank you. Shall we?”
“For sure!” I did not know why I used that phrase, but frankly I did not care. I already felt a little awkward, so that did not change anything. We said goodbye to our parents, after deciding the time that we would return, and then we rode away.
I felt a sudden pang of apprehension, the same as in the morning, but once again, the feeling was gone as quickly as it appeared.
We were going down into the canyon. I said, “This is such a nice day.”
“It really is.” And it was. The warm breeze was bringing happiness. Everything around was lively and flourishing. Along the path I saw a few creatures that crawled away as we approached them. But the best part was that Amy smiled as much as I did. She was the first person I met in a few years who was happy just being in the nature. While my other friends seemed too busy with homework and other tasks to notice the beauty of everything, Amy was as captivated by nature as I was. She immediately understood me when I said I felt freedom in front of me as I looked into the clear sky.
The trail was just wide enough for us to ride side by side, talking about everything. We were riding aimlessly where the path led us; we were oblivious of time and everything else. There was a fork in the path, and we both decided to go right. The trail climbed higher and higher, and we crested a peak and descended into a valley. It was surrounded by mountains on all sides, and we lost sight of the trail. As we meandered and tried to find the path, we spotted a fence and a security booth.
“Let’s ask the security guards how to get back to the city,” I suggested. We knew that we could go back the way we came, up and over the hill, but we wanted to see if there was a gentler slope.
There was no one in the booth. Even more strange was how the fence curved: it appeared that the booth was inside the fenced area. I mentioned that to Amy. “Yeah, it does seem that way,” she replied, “but they probably just walk outside and open the gate for visitors.” We both turned around and started looking for the gate, and realized that there wasn’t one. The guard post wasn’t guarding anything.
Inside, the booth was empty: there wasn’t even a chair or a light switch that I could see. But a thick power cable connected the booth to the overhead power lines. I also noticed that the door on the side didn’t have a lock on it.
“Look, it’s probably unlocked,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
I approached and opened the door. “See?”
“That’s weird. Why would it be open? Why is there a guard post in the middle of nowhere?”
“I’m going to step inside to take a look.”
“Just be quick, I don’t think we are supposed to be here at all.”
“I know, you’re right…”
I walked into the empty booth and studied it. Everything inside felt awkward: the door handle was about five feet off the ground; there was a shelf built into the windowsill that appeared to be untreated wood; and the flooring had linoleum tiles. I examined the floor more closely and saw a rectangular seam going around a set of tiles. What appeared to be a loose rock on the side was a cleverly disguised handle, and when I pulled it up, I discovered that this was actually a hatch, a trap door.
“What is that?” asked Amy. She saw me opening the hatch from the outside and walked into the booth to peer down the tunnel, to look at the staircase descending into a lit room.
“What… Who could have possibly built this place,” I asked. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Let’s take a quick peek and then go,” said Amy. I agreed. We slowly went down the stairs and into the room. It was a small, circular room with a round pad in the middle of the floor. An instrument panel was curving along half of the wall, covered in strange switches and dim monitors. Amy found me confused and perplexed.
“Are you all right?” she said as she was looking at me.
“This is impossible, but I’ve seen this technology before. It’s not from Earth.”
“What do you mean? Wait, are you talking about your adventures on another planet?”
“Yeah.”
“I have to be honest. I didn’t fully believe you then. And I don’t know what to believe now.”
“It’s OK. I know how hard it is to believe my story. To most people I’d been saying that I felt like I’d been in another world, which is factually true. But now… Now this is proof that my adventure wasn’t a figment of my imagination.”
I was going to say more, but just then, the largest of the monitors lit up. I approached it and saw a message in English that said, “Emergency assistance required. Traveler selected. Begin travel?” I could type a response using the keyboard below the monitor. At the bottom of the screen there was a countdown showing approximately 11 hours remaining. I idly noticed that the computer clock was running 5 minutes behind.
“No,” I typed into the terminal.
“Travel postponed for 10 hours 55 minutes. Emergency assistance required.”
“I’m not the traveler.”
“Optimal traveler selected. Emergency assistance required.”
Amy stood next to me, reading over my shoulder. I wrote, “Why do you think I’m the optimal traveler?”
After a few seconds, another monitor lit up, showing a video from a few months ago. In the video, I was standing on the transport pad moments before the creature pounced on me. I disappeared in the last second, saved from the creature’s vicious attack.
“Is… Was that you?” stammered Amy.
“Yeah.”
“That’s… Wow. You barely survived! You must have been terrified!”
“I did everything I could, and I didn’t know if I was going to make it. I got out just in time.” I shuddered when I remembered the last few moments on the planet.
The text on the main monitor was updated to say, “Traveler completed previous mission successfully. Emergency assistance required. Optimal traveler selected.”
“And now this computer wants to send me back there,” I muttered. “This chat program doesn’t want to give up. I’ll just say that I’m going to leave.” I typed my refusal.
“Leaving is not advised. Emergency assistance required. Stand by for additional information.” A few seconds passed, after which a longer message appeared on the screen. “Emergency assistance required to disable unauthorized travel. Traveler completed previous mission successfully. Optimal traveler selected. If traveler leaves, unauthorized travel will occur in 10 hours 50 minutes. Unauthorized travel may select traveler. Unauthorized selection range approximation: 5000 kilometers.”
Amy and I stared at the text. “I think that means…” I began.
“It means that you’d be selected regardless,” Amy completed my thought. “By this so-called unauthorized transport. Any idea what that is?”
I typed the question. The chat program answered. “Malfunction in travel mechanism on planet Mlactu, location Mlactu Lab. Unauthorized travel has occurred. Probability of future unauthorized travel: 100%. Frequency of unauthorized travel: insufficient data. Traveler selection protocol: insufficient data.”
“Let’s try some troubleshooting,” I said and typed, “I’m not equipped to fix the transport device on Mlactu. There must be other travelers on other planets who have the knowledge of the system. Ask them to travel.”
“Alternative location selection is unsuccessful. The malfunction in travel mechanism on planet Mlactu, location Mlactu Lab is overriding source and destination selection. Travel is possible only from planet Earth, current location. Optimal traveler selected. Stand by for additional information… Minimal equipment needed to repair the malfunction. Planet Mlactu, location Mlactu Lab has the necessary equipment. Optimal traveler will be equipped to repair the malfunction.”
“I don’t know how to fix the transport device, even if I do find the equipment.”
“Stand by for additional information… Listing equipment needed to repair the travel mechanism: wrench. Listing instructions needed to repair the travel mechanism: disconnect the travel mechanism from the power supply. Disconnect the travel computer from the power supply. End of instructions.”
“After I disconnect the transport device on Mlactu, I will not be able to return home.” I typed furiously.
“Travel mechanism on planet Mlactu, location Mlactu Valley will become operational. Itinerary: travel to planet Mlactu, location Mlactu Lab. Repair the malfunction. Walk to location Mlactu Valley; walking distance: 30 kilometers; estimated walking time: 10 hours. Travel to planet Earth, current location. End of itinerary.”
“I may forget the instructions or the itinerary, and I will not be able to complete the mission.”
“Advisor to the traveler is available on necessary communication terminals. Confirming… Planet Mlactu, location Mlactu Lab: advisor operational. Planet Mlactu, location Mlactu Lab, wearable terminal: advisor operational. Planet Mlactu, location Mlactu Valley: advisor operational.”
“What is the advisor?”
“Confirming… Planet Earth: advisor operational.”
“Is this terminal the advisor? Where did it come from? There wasn’t an advisor the last time I was on Mlactu.”
“Stand by for additional information… The advisor was created by the Consortium of Planets. The advisor will advise the optimal traveler to achieve their goal: travel to Planet Mlactu, location Mlactu Lab, then repair the malfunction in travel mechanism, then travel to location Mlactu Valley, then travel to traveler’s home.”
“What is the Consortium of Planets?”
“Stand by for additional information… The Consortium of Planets comprises 16 planets.”
“How insightful,” Amy muttered.
“Now, to state the obvious,” I said and typed, “There were creatures in Mlactu that almost killed me. If I go back, they will attack, and I will not complete the mission.”
“Scanning all fauna on planet Mlactu… Filtering known aggressive fauna… Aggressive fauna not detected.”
“This dumb computer doesn’t want to volunteer any information without being asked,” Amy noted. “Ask it about all possible dangers.”
“Identifying traveler risks… Known aggressive fauna: not detected. Known aggressive flora: not detected. Risk of falling: low. Risk of dehydration: low. Risk of hypothermia: low. Risk of hyperthermia: low. Probability of mission success: 100%.”
We were silent for a while. After staring at the monitor and re-reading all the text, I sighed and said, “Unless this chat program is lying, I’m probably going to end up on the planet anyway because of that malfunction. I still have 10 hours. Let’s go home for now. I’ll explain everything to my parents, and then I’ll get ready for the mission.”
“Yeah, 10 hours should be enough time,” said Amy.
The computer beeped. A new message appeared on the screen. “Additional malfunction in travel mechanism detected. Unauthorized travel will occur in 0 hours 5 minutes.”
“What!?” I exclaimed. “Who will travel, and can you postpone it?” I typed.
“Estimating… Probability of selecting travelers closest to current location: 100%. Postponing unauthorized travel… Unsuccessful.”
“I’ll stay here, and you try to get as far away as you can,” I said quickly. “Tell my parents what happened…”
“No,” replied Amy. “I can’t. I won’t.”
“What? Why?”
“I just… I know that if I make the decision to stay behind and let you go by yourself, I will always regret it. I’m coming with you.” Amy walked even closer to me, and looked at me. I saw certainty in her eyes and smiled in return. There was only one minute remaining. We walked to the center of the room and stood on the transport pad. As the seconds counted down, we faced each other and held hands. There were only ten seconds remaining. Then five. Four. Three. Two. One. I heard an energy discharge and felt my stomach lurch. Bright light surrounded us, followed by an even brighter flash. Then everything was back to normal, except that we were somewhere else.
We were standing in a wide room with a high ceiling. The instrument panel looked similar to the one in the transport room on Earth, with the same unfamiliar switches and dim monitors. Again, the largest monitor in the center was the only one lit up, and now it had a blinking light around it.
“This is unbelievable,” whispered Amy. “Until the last second, I kept thinking that nothing would happen. But we’re really here.”
“I know exactly how you feel. And I’m glad that you’re here with me. Thank you for staying.”
We weren’t in the same room as the one I’d left from the last time I was here, and there was no transport pad on the floor. We walked towards the monitor. It displayed the text of the previous conversation along with the new text on the bottom that said, “Travel complete.”
I typed, “Where is the portable terminal?” We were given a short list of directions that we quickly memorized. Beyond the doorway was a well-lit hall with many doors on both sides. The hallway led into a large room, in the center of which was a round table with many chairs around it. There was a computer on the table for every chair.
“This must be the conference room,” Amy said. “Now, let’s go left.”
The door on the left led into another long hallway, again with doors on both sides. We counted the third door on the right and opened it. It led to a large and bright round room containing multiple boxes and packages. We walked up to the indicated shelf and started opening each box, and to our luck, one of them contained two portable terminals: gloves with a keyboard and a display on them. Amy and I both donned the gloves and turned them on by pressing a small switch. The displays showed our previous conversation with the chat program. I immediately typed a question about battery life of the device, and was impressed to learn that it would last for over a year.
Our next stop was the wrench. The tool shed was much farther away, and instead of following all the directions I decided to experiment. I asked the chat program if it knew where we were, and if it could give us only the next step in the itinerary instead of printing all of them. The program happily obliged.
“It’s like it’s trying to be the least helpful assistant,” noted Amy. We reached an open area with a staircase in the middle. Light was streaming in from the windows around the edges. Somewhere in the floor below us, we heard a crashing sound, sounding like metal bucket hitting the floor.
We both froze.
“What was that,” Amy whispered?
“I don’t know, but let’s hide,” I replied. We quickly backtracked to one of the rooms we’d just passed and shut the door behind us. We stayed still for a minute, straining our ears, but couldn’t hear anything else.
“It’s too much of a coincidence,” I said.
“What is?”
“We are transported into this abandoned building and immediately something falls down with a clank. We can’t be the only ones here.”
“That’s what I’m thinking. Let’s ask the chat program, maybe it knows something.” Amy typed the question on her terminal: “Is there anyone else in this entire building?”
“Person count: 2.”
“Are there any aggressive flora or fauna in this building?” typed Amy, after scrolling up to recall the phrase the chat program used before.
“Known aggressive fauna: not detected. Known aggressive flora: not detected.”
“At least that hasn’t changed—wait! Why is it saying the word ‘known’?” began Amy, then typed, “List all fauna in this building.”
We waited a few seconds, holding our breath. Then we saw the text. “Known fauna: persons. Person count: 2. Unknown fauna: 1 category. Unknown fauna category 1 count: 3.”
“The creatures,” Amy and I whispered simultaneously. Before Amy could react, I typed, “Unknown fauna category 1 are aggressive. How do we defend ourselves?”
I was playing on a hunch that the chat program could adapt to new information and would be able to help us. My bet paid off, and the chat program replied, “Classified unknown fauna category 1 as unknown aggressive fauna. Itinerary to weapons locker…” followed by a set of turns through the hallways of the building.
I carefully opened the door and peered outside. It was quiet. We tiptoed our way through a corridor, heading away from the open area. After a few more turns we ended up in a room similar to the one where we found the gloves. The boxes in this room contained lots useful equipment: we found two backpacks, flashlights, and two handguns.
Now that we were armed, I typed, “If you detect any other fauna, known or unknown, near us, inform us immediately.” After setting up this alert, I asked about other equipment we might need on our trek to the Valley location, and in the adjacent room we grabbed two light blankets. The food rations were on the floor below us, so it was time to move on.
I felt scared even with the alert set up; I saw the same fear in Amy’s eyes. Arms raised, guns ready, we walked slowly to avoid making noise. I decided to walk backwards for fear of being ambushed from behind. We emerged from the hallway and approached the staircase where we had heard the noise. I felt exposed, but there was no other way downstairs, so we went down, one step at a time. At the bottom of the stairs our path took us down another hallway. That’s when we heard another noise.
I quickly typed on my terminal, “How close are we to any other fauna? How many fauna are in this building?”
“Distance to other fauna: 40 meters. Total fauna count: 6. Person count: 2. Unknown aggressive fauna count: 4.”
“This dumb computer is the worst,” whispered Amy.
We continued to inch along our path. Cold shiver ran down my back every time we approached a corner. I kept re-checking the distance to other creatures, but it stayed at around 40 meters. Perhaps the chat program routed our path to give them a wide berth? We reached the tool storage room after a few more turns. Rummaging through the boxes, Amy found the wrench while I watched the door. We slowly made our way back through the hallways, meticulously checking every corner. When we approached yet another turn, the text on the terminal said, “Distance to other fauna: 10 meters.”
We stopped, trying to breathe as quietly as we could. My heart was beating rapidly in my chest. I could have sworn I heard faint footsteps approaching us. We both pointed our guns and waited. But nothing happened.
After a minute of tension, I decided to if the chat program could be made more helpful, and typed, “Start reporting the distance to closest fauna once every second, and don’t stop until the next command.” Surprisingly, that worked. The creature whose steps I heard was moving away from us, the distance increasing to 25, then to 30 meters, updates being sent diligently by the chat program.
I felt myself relax. We finally had a safe, well, a safer way to return to the transport pad. We had to pause in the middle of the stairs because we heard some movement in another part of the building, but the continuous updates let us know that the creatures were far away.
We finally got to the transport room. I asked the chat program for disconnection instructions. Even though there were three terminals—our two gloves and the computer in room—we didn’t know how to get the instructions and keep tracking the movement of the creatures: it was either one or the other. We quickly memorized the instructions, and Amy re-entered the tracking command while I began to detach the instruments and disconnect the wires. After a minute, I saw a thick cable that I needed to unplug. I clasped it with the wrench, turned, and pulled. The instrument panel hummed for a moment, sounding like a fan spinning down. Then quiet room got even quieter.
The computer we were to “repair” was in the adjacent room. We had to head right through a series of doors to get to it, but the process was just as straightforward. A few turns of the wrench, and the power was unplugged. The process was complete. I asked the chat program to double-check my work.
“Malfunction in travel mechanism not detected.”
“Check the status of Mlactu Valley transport.”
“Malfunction in travel mechanism in location Mlactu Valley not detected.”
“Yes!” I whispered. Then I thought of something, and typed, “What is the range of transport of Mlactu Valley?”
“Range approximation of traveler selection of location Mlactu Valley: 10 meters.”
Amy shook her fist at the terminal, while I shook my head. “Back to plan A,” I whispered.
“We’ll need some food and water,” replied Amy. “Let’s go back downstairs.”
We slowly made our way to the open area, approached the stairs, and made our way down to the floor below. Another set of turns took us to a large room. It was a different room than the galley where I had found meals during my last visit to the planet. We rummaged through the cabinets, and I saw familiar packs of food and bottles. I asked, “How much food do we need?”
“Worst-case scenario, it’ll take us two days to walk 30 kilometers. If it’s about two packs per day per person, let’s take 10.”
“Okay. Weird math calculations though. What about water?”
“I don’t know. Four bottles?”
“Yeah. That seems enough for two days, if we ration it.”
It was then that I noticed something about her, the way she walked, the way she talked, smiled. I did not know what made her so special. She just was. After assembling our supply of provision, we went out of the room and then to the floors below us. Eventually we arrived to the bottom level. I saw a familiar button on the wall. I pressed it, and after a loud buzz the door started to slide open. I squinted at the bright sunlight, feeling gentle wind on my face. “Isn’t this cool?” I said. “The door into the unknown.”
“Let’s go?”
“Let us.”
I glanced at my glove and noticed that the distance to the closest creature was rapidly decreasing. “Run,” I yelled and we dashed through the door. I pressed the door button as soon as we were out, and the door slid closed. Something slammed into it from the inside. We kept running, constantly checking behind us to make sure we weren’t being pursued, but the creatures stayed inside. The distance kept increasing, and after another minute it was over 500 meters. We stopped to catch our breath.
“Tell me again, what are these creatures?” Amy asked.
“There had been an accident there. They messed with their atmosphere by adding chemicals to it, and that ended up mutating the species called ‘derpu.’ They were trying to induce rain whenever they wanted, wherever they wanted—foolish people. So it started raining. It happened too quickly, and in a few days the communication systems broke down.”
“That’s depressing.”
“Yeah, it is. At least they must have fixed their satellites, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to use these gloves. Let’s see which way we should be heading.” Thankfully, the chat program was able to track our location and correct our course every 5 minutes. We were walking down the hill, the lab building disappearing behind us.
I felt an unusual sense of freedom. The vast land lay open before us. No barrier could be seen for miles, and the vast open space before us enthralled me and made me feel free.
We took a break for lunch. The food tasted the same as it did when I was here months ago; the liquid tasted almost like water, but not quite. The brief lunch was refreshing, but we had to move on. We started walking. Ahead of us lay the long path of finding our way home. I looked around. The “sun” was already beginning to go down in the greenish sky. Distant black mountains did not look appealing to visit. Slight wind was blowing in our faces. A few patches of dark sand lay on the road. We walked in silence. None of us wanted to say anything. We simply walked.
We approached a cliff. It was not really a cliff but the edge of the flat rock we were walking on. Beyond it, a mild slope ran down around the basin. It was not high, and I jumped down. Amy handed me her backpack with the food she was carrying, and I extended my arm to support her landing and said, “Just jump. I’ll catch you.”
“You will? It’s pretty high.”
“Yeah. Do you trust me?”
“I do.”
“Then jump!”
She came close to the edge, bent down, took my hand, and then, after waiting for a moment, jumped. I quickly pulled her close in the air, and so she landed softly into my embrace. We stood like that, looking into each other’s eyes. She slowly put her arms around my neck. As I pulled her a little closer, we kissed. A tingly sensation rushed through my body. At last our lips separated and I slowly opened my eyes. I looked at her and then at the sky. I perceived everything so differently now. The sky was of a darker color, the sun shone dimmer, but the world was sweeter.
Every moment has its ending. We had to go on. Amy put on her backpack, and we started to proceed on our journey. We now walked on large sand-colored rocks. The mountain we walked on encircled the desert below to the left; to the right was a flat plateau, bordered by another mountain, which hid the view beyond. Our path was along the edge of rocks, disappearing into fog far below us. The whole world so far was a giant ring made of stone, surrounded by flatness inside of it.
The joy was slowly replaced by tiredness. It was about dinnertime now. From time to time the wind stopped and then the heat exhausted us even more. No life could be seen around. No grass was growing, no birds were singing. I suspected that the barren land was the result of the weather experiment. I thought about Earth and its future. Would it also become a wasteland from all the ecological disasters and acid rains? It was scary to think about it, having an example right before our own eyes. We started talking about this problem, but had more important things to worry about at the moment. We walked close to each other, looking into the distance. Time was crawling by slowly. Moreover, now the rocks we walked on lay randomly, and so we had to jump from one to another. After some time Amy said, “Let’s take a rest.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty tired too.”
We sat in the little shade of a rock and drank some of the beverage from the bottle. The nutritional lunch still kept us full. Amy looked at my watch. I said,
“We should’ve been back half an hour ago. They probably started worrying about us.”
“They did. My parents, at least.”
“My mom does most of the worrying. Sometimes it’s annoying, at least I know she cares. It’s better than knowing that no one would care if something happened to me.”
“I’m glad that my parents worry about me. I have a friend, and she is allowed to do everything she wants. She told me how it feels like, and I don’t think I’d be happy in her situation. But you’re right, it is annoying sometimes.”
“At least they said they believed me when I told them about this planet. But what’s the chance of me going to this planet twice? It must be a curse.”
“Yeah, you’re cursed to suffer.” Amy grinned at me, and I smiled in return.
We rested for some more time. The sun was setting, the sky was getting dimmer, and we had to go on. The path of boulders was leading down. We were getting closer to the fog that seemed unreachable before. It was now only a mile away. The air became cooler, and so it was easier to walk, but at times we still had to jump from rock to rock. While we walked, we talked a little about everything. Our conversations started on one topic and then went on in every direction. But when we jumped, we were exchanging only small sentences to cheer ourselves up.
After half an hour, we walked into the fog. There were far fewer rocks that we had to jump, and most of the way was smooth. The fog was becoming denser. We began to walk more carefully. In about ten minutes, trees started appearing on our path: we had entered a forest. It was nearly dusk; darkness was descending upon us.
Amy yawned and said, “I’m so tired. We should stop here for the night,” she added when she spotted a flat patch of ground next to a tree.
“Then you go to sleep, and I will be on guard.” I took off the backpack and took out the blanket. It was thin and light, but surprisingly soft and warm. Amy lay down on it, and covered herself with her blanket. Her eyes were closing quickly. She said, “I feel bad when I think that you’re not going to sleep.”
“Don’t worry. The nights are shorter on this planet, and, besides, I’m not very tired yet, so I can stay up. You have a good rest, and I’ll watch out for the creatures.”
“Thanks. Good night.” She slowly closed her eyes.
I walked towards her and kissed her cheek, “Sweet dreams.” I saw her smile. The smile was fading, and in a minute, she was fast asleep.
Some time passed. Faint wind was rustling the leaves on the trees. The wind was clearing away the fog, allowing me to see the beautiful sky was filled with thousands of different stars. All the constellations were new and unknown, so I just gazed into the dark depth of the sky. A while later, there was a faint glow on the horizon. The spot was getting brighter, and soon the whole “moon” could be seen. It illuminated everything around me. The view was beautiful, and the shadows made it even more mysterious. Amy lay calmly in her sleep, while I sat and watched the beautiful sky…
Hours were crawling by, with nothing happening in the meanwhile. Gentle wind was making a quiet noise, and sometimes a chirp of a flying creature could be heard. The moon was already half-way down from its throne. In about half an hour the continent would return to its dark emptiness. I was getting exhausted, but I could not afford to lie down. Maybe that was exactly what the derpu, or some other animals, were waiting for. However, every minute I felt more and more tired. I often closed my eyes, but then I forced myself to remain awake. I thought of hot coffee or some carbonated drink to keep me awake. I remembered a trip I once took, when I drank half a bottle of Coke and couldn’t fall asleep until three in the morning. It was foolish then, but I wished I had some caffeine now. My thoughts were interrupted when Amy suddenly woke up. She looked at me and after a long pause whispered, “Thank you.”
“You must have had some interesting dream, for why would you be thanking me otherwise?”
“For watching out for me, of course!”
“Oh. Well, you’re welcome.”
“And now it’s my turn. I see that you’re too fatigued to remain awake any longer.”
“I am a little tired. Exhausted, even. Very.” I swiftly crawled onto the makeshift sleeping bag, and fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes.
“Good morning,” Amy said cheerfully, as soon as I opened my eyes.
“Hey you,” I smiled in return. “Thanks for watching me. How are you?”
“I’m all right. I didn’t want to wake you up, but I got hungry and had a snack.”
“Ooh, breakfast sounds nice. What are we having?”
“Whatever you make, dear.”
After I’d eaten from the pouch, we packed the blankets and resumed our journey, checking with the chat program that we were still headed the right direction. We were halfway to the Valley location. Sparse trees provided enough shade from the sun and a barrier from the wind, and today’s walk was a lot more pleasant. There was a darker patch of dirt under our feet, and before I could understand what was happening, the ground under us suddenly collapsed, sending us into the dark void.
I climbed out of a pile of dirt and looked around. We were in a damp tunnel, with thin rays of light streaming in from an opening above us. Amy was getting to her feet, shaking rocks and bits of dirt off her clothes.
“Are you hurt?” I asked her.
“I think I’m all right. You?”
“Luckily no broken bones.” I looked at my wrist and exclaimed, “My glove!” My portable terminal was broken, the screen lying on the ground. I checked the rest of my gear. I had landed on my back, the backpack cushioning the fall. Unfortunately, that meant that all the food pouches burst open, soaking the blanket. I had to throw them out. “I guess we both have to go on a diet,” I joked. Thankfully, the remaining water bottle was still full, and both the gun and the flashlight were intact.
Amy’s gear was in a better condition. Between the two of us, we still had two water bottles, three food pouches, two flashlights, one blanket…
“Where’s your gun?” I asked.
Amy looked in her backpack, then on the ground. “It must have gotten buried in this pile of rocks,” she said. We spent about 5 minutes digging in various spots looking for it, but couldn’t find it. After that, we decided that having one portable terminal and one gun was enough. We just had to get out of the tunnel.
“Which way do you want to go?” Amy asked. The tunnel continued indefinitely in both directions.
“On the count of three, we raise one finger if we go to the left, two if we go to the right. One, two, three.” By a unanimous vote, we went to the right.
A few similar skylights had lit our path; but after a while we were submerging into complete darkness. Piles of rocks were under our feet, making it harder to travel. My flashlight shone with a bright blue beam, easily illuminating our steps. We had already trudged for quite some time, and yet the tunnel stayed the same. We kept walking. Another hour later, the surroundings began to change. The height of the tunnel increased, the walls became lighter and more distinct. A strange warm wind blew in our faces, bringing hope and optimism. In the distance, there was a fork in the tunnels. As we were coming closer, we realized that our tunnel went directly into the new tunnel perpendicularly. Once again, light was shining through small openings in the grounds above. We were halted by a sudden growling noise. “What was that?” she whispered.
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it.” We waited. “Sounds like someone’s moaning.”
“Someone?”
“Okay, some thing. The question is who, or what.” I came closer to the opening and looked both ways. A strange shade was lurking to the right. With terror, I realized that it was approaching. I grabbed my gun and aimed at the opening. But nothing emerged from around the corner. Only shrieking roars could be heard.
We slowly walked in the direction of these piercing sounds. I stopped at the horrible sight of a derpu attacking a creature even larger and fiercer. Both of them were shrieking horrible wails, about to devour each other. As I looked closer, though, I realized that the larger creature was merely trying to defend itself from derpu’s attacks. Without much thought, I aimed at the derpu and fired a shot right at it. It limped for a second, and then fell to the ground.
I was breathless. We could barely move, so we just stood and waited for something to happen. The large creature stood on its legs and started to walk towards us. We slowly backed away. The creature stopped. However, it didn’t stop for no reason; there was something even larger approaching it. We turned our heads to the right and saw the creature’s parent—a bigger creature—run towards its child. We started backing up, first walking, and then running, into the tunnel where we came from. After a little while, we stopped and turned around. The two creatures reunited and were, what it seemed, nuzzling each other. They were looking at us, and we—at them. There was something in their expression that seemed inviting; and the fact that they hadn’t started chasing us indicated that they probably didn’t want to cause us any harm. We slowly approached them, and looked at them up close. They had brown fur and large heads; overall they looked harmless and really cute; but their huge size was their biggest weapon. They made a strange grunt.
“What do they want?” asked Amy.
“I don’t know.”
“They are not attacking us.”
“Maybe they are just as curious as we are?”
“Maybe. But what should we do?”
“I don’t know… Let’s pet them!”
“You crazy!?”
“Yeah, I am.” I walked up to the child creature and touched its head. It was afraid at first, but later, it made a purring sound.
“I think it likes it.”
“Let me try.” Amy came close to it and started petting it too. Suddenly, the parent creature walked up to us and put its nose right in front of me, pushing me upwards. I barely had enough time to react when it lifted me up and put me on its back. It did the same to Amy, whom it placed behind me. I held on to the creature’s fur, and she held onto me. The creatures started to move. For some reason, we trusted the creatures. They were walking slowly deeper and deeper into the tunnels; they made seemingly arbitrary turns; but they always knew where they were going.
Pretty soon, the tunnels started to get brighter, and I knew that with every turn we were getting closer to the outside. After two more turns, we were looking at a large opening in the wall of the tunnel. The creatures stopped, waiting for us to get down. We jumped off, petted them for the last time, and walked towards the wall. It was a short climb, and we quickly scrambled to the surface.
We were still in the forest. It felt like autumn: all the leaves were yellow, and the sun could barely be seen, but the gentle wind was warm and reassuring. We checked with the chat program that we were safe, and took a break to rest and have lunch, sharing a water bottle and a food pouch.
After resting a bit, we got up and walked around, examining the area. All the trees around us had reddish orange fruits. I walked up to one and plucked it. It looked safe, and the chat program was confident that the fruit was compatible with our biology, so I took a bite. It wasn’t as sweet as I expected, but it was certainly delicious, and somewhat filling. I collected a dozen more fruits and placed them in my backpack. We then resumed our journey.
Somehow, the detour through the underground tunnels added 10 kilometers to our path. My guess was that we now had to walk around some mountain range, but I couldn’t be certain without looking at a map. Amy programmed her glove to continuously check for the creatures and provide updates on our location, so she kept glancing at her glove while I looked at the ground, trying to avoid the dark spots. This part of the forest didn’t have any, though.
We continued in silence. It wasn’t because we didn’t want to talk; it was that the duration of this journey was starting to affect us. My muscles ached after the fall, and the detour was worrisome.
We were walking until it started getting dark. We wouldn’t make it to the Valley location before nightfall, and we certainly weren’t willing to walk in the dark and accidentally fall into another tunnel, so we stopped for the night. Amy suggested building a hut. At first, I thought she was being silly; but as the evening grew darker and colder, I liked the idea more and more. We started gathering the materials while the fading light was still passing through the thick leaves of the trees around us. I went off collecting large branches, and Amy was gathering sticks that still had leaves on them. We regrouped half an hour later and started putting everything together. I always liked building forts as a kid, and I was no less happy building one now. Amy’s expression suggested that she enjoyed the activity as well. The sky was darkening quickly and we didn’t have much time, so we worked fast. We covered the hut with as many leafy branches as we could, to protect against the cold winds and unwelcome visitors. Leaves were piled on the ground to use as a mattress. We shared another pouch and some fruits, and finished the last water bottle. I was going to take the first watch, and Amy gave me her portable terminal. I had a sudden bright idea and typed, “Can this wearable terminal make sounds?”
“Yes.”
“Beep.” The device beeped quietly. “Beep twice as loudly.” The volume increased. “Beep 2 times for 1 second, with a 1 second pause.” The glove beeped precisely as I asked it to. I grinned.
“Why is the glove beeping? You’re going to set an alarm, aren’t you!” exclaimed Amy.
“I am!” I typed a longer command and showed it to her. The glove would watch for creatures in the middle of the night, and would start beeping if they got to within 1 kilometer of our location. “I think with this, we can both sleep,” I said.
“That’s a really good idea.”
I crawled into the hut and got under the blanket, close to Amy. As we tossed and turned, Amy scooted closer to me, partly to preserve heat, partly for comfort. We faced the same direction, her back against my chest, and fell asleep promptly, me holding her throughout the night.
I woke up with a smile on my face. Despite everything that had happened, despite the impossibility of our situation, I was next to Amy and it was enough to bring me joy. And although the exertion of our trek was quickly depleting all of our strength, that little spark of joy was what kept me going. I told Amy about it and held her hand, and we simply stood and smiled at each other for a minute, putting our worries behind us.
For breakfast, we finished the last food pouch and had a few more fruits. According to the directions, we had about 10 kilometers total remaining, and we were supposed to leave the forest soon. Morning wind was a lot colder, and we both quickened our pace, trying to warm ourselves up.
We passed the edge of the woods an hour later and walked out onto a plateau. The view changed dramatically. The dark mountains on both sides seemed lower; ahead of us there was a green field. It took us an hour to reach it. It was a beautiful meadow of green and yellow grass. The wind was still chilly, and the air was damp. Amy, now wearing the glove, asked the chat program if it knew the weather forecast.
“Probability of rain at the current location: 90% in 15 minutes, 100% in 30 minutes.”
“Great,” Amy muttered. “We’d better hurry.”
“Last time I was here, the rain was pretty cold. We had to hide in a cave. Ask the program how much rainfall we can expect in an hour, and about the temperature and the wind?”
“Let’s see… It says 3 centimeters, 5 degrees Celsius, and 30 kilometers per hour.”
“That’s too much rain! We have to run!” Amy re-typed the command to display the directions and to monitor for the creatures. Far in the distance, we saw a building with a glimmering golden roof. It was about 5 kilometers away, and we had a reasonable chance of getting there in under an hour. I hoped that it would be enough time to outrun the rainstorm.
I felt the first drops when we were 2 kilometers away. They were followed by cold, strong wind that immediately made us shudder. The skies were getting darker by the minute, and even the golden cupola looked wan and uninviting. The grass we were running through was sickly brown, drenched by the rain that was now pouring down on us. 1 kilometer left.
A bright flash lit up the sky and was soon followed by a deep rumble. If a lightning storm caught up with us while we were in an open field… We started sprinting. 500 meters. By now, wind was howling and trying to blow us off our feet. There was a stairway on the left side of the building; it was the only door in sight. Another bright flash, even brighter, with thunder that reverberated in my chest. I had to blink a few times before I could see again, but we both kept sprinting. We were almost to the door when Amy’s device beeped. She glanced at the screen and saw the warning message: “Distance to other fauna: 100 meters.” Just then, I felt hair rise on my arms and on my head as another lightning strike hit the top of the golden roof. We both immediately covered our ears. After the deafening thunder quieted, I looked at Amy’s glove.
The display was off.
Amy frantically pressed all the buttons, but the device would not turn on again. The lightning strike must have shorted the electronics inside, and now we were without guidance. Rain, now mixed with hail, was pelting us as we raced towards the door. I looked back at the mountain. In the distance, the field we had run through slowly was being covered by a giant mirror: an oncoming flood was racing towards us. As we reached the door, I got out my gun and pushed the button. The door opened with a hiss—thankfully, it did not buzz—and we quickly got inside, shutting the door behind us.
We were standing in a small foyer. Everything was quiet, the door blocking the howl of the storm. The entryway at the other end of the foyer opened into a large room, filled with desks and surrounded by doors. We made our way towards the entrance to the large room and looked around. A sign hung over one of the doors on the other side. Since it was the only door with a sign, we headed towards it. We moved slowly, looking for any sign of motion and listening for any stray noises, but everything remained still and quiet. We reached the door and I gingerly pulled the handle, entering the hallway beyond.
We were startled by the sound of thunder rolling through the building. Then all the overhead lights turned off.
I quickly reached into my backpack and took out my flashlight. Amy did the same. After we made sure no creatures were near us, she whispered, “We have to come up with a plan.”
“You’re right. We can’t stay in this hallway; we’ll have to move. And if we move with the flashlights turned on, we’ll be the most visible objects in the entire building.”
“True. I have an idea. We’ll need the light to shine away from us.” There was a door to a small storage room immediately to our right. Amy opened the door and looked inside, making sure the room was safe. While I kept the door open, she walked to the end of the hallway, set the flashlight on the floor, light pointing at an angle away from us, and quickly jogged back to the room. I turned off my flashlight.
We waited in silence for ten minutes as our eyes adjusted to the darkness. We could see reasonably well by the faint light of the flashlight reflecting from the walls, the floors, and the ceiling. We left the room, turned right, got to the end of the hallway, side-stepped the flashlight, squinting to avoid losing our night vision, and quickly turned the corner, hugging the wall. We were walking as quietly as we could, listening to any signs of motion, looking around for any movement, but everything was still. Having adapted to the darkness, we could see a faint glow under the door on the opposite side of the room. We crept towards it. I was nearly there, reaching for the door handle, when the door to the hallway we’d just emerged from—the one with the flashlight lying next to it—swung shut, sending the flashlight skittering on the floor. Dark shadows jumped all around the room, until the flashlight stopped spinning and pointed at a wall, submerging the room in darkness.
Faint footsteps emanated near the door that had just shut. My heart was beating rapidly. Amy and I pressed into the wall behind us, remaining still. Amy whispered, “If it comes near us, you shoot while I open the door.” I nodded, and we waited. The tables in the room were blocking the direct line of sight, but after a minute I could spot two red eyes slowly making their way across the room, away from the flashlight. The creature stopped midway, and turned its head toward us. I squeezed the trigger and fired a shot at it. At the same time, Amy pulled the door open, and we ran inside, shutting the door closed and leaning against it with our backs. I breathed heavily.
“There might be others,” I whispered. “But they’ll probably stay out there, near the dead creature, instead of heading into this room.”
We looked around us. Even in the darkness, we could make out enough of the layout of the room to realize that it was very similar to the transport room in the Lab location where we’d arrived on the planet. The glow that we saw under the door was coming from under the instrument panels, which, like in the Lab, were covering half of the room. There was a faint circle in the middle of the room: it must have been a transport pad. I approached the largest monitor. It was off, but by now I knew what to expect of the technology on this planet. I found the power switch, and toggled it a few times. Reluctantly, the monitor turned on, showing the ever-updating message: “Distance to other fauna: 20 meters.”
Quietly, Amy typed a message, asking to transport us back to Earth.
“Travel unsuccessful. Travel mechanism offline: power fault. Toggle power switch in control room.”
“Where is the control room?” typed Amy frantically.
This time, we were in luck: there was a narrow door on the wall to our left that led to the adjacent control room. We were nearly there: all we had to do was toggle the switch, wait for the transport pad to power up, and go home. That’s when we heard a scratching sound on the door that led out to the large room. The creatures must have followed our scent and were now trying get inside.
I pointed the gun at the door and waited. There was one more scratching noise, then nothing. Then we heard scampering above us.
“We have to hide,” whispered Amy.
“We have to do one more thing,” I replied. “Ask it to install the chat program on a computer in the control room, if there is one.”
Amy was typing quickly. After a few tense seconds, she said, “Done, let’s go,” and we retreated through the narrow door. The control room was more of a control closet, with a small monitor, a large power switch, and a few instruments on the panel. As soon as we shut the door, ceiling tiles in the transport room fell on the floor, followed by a loud thump of a large animal landing on the floor. The creature started pacing, its claws clicking on a flat surface.
I pulled the switch. The instrument panel lit up; a loud hum permeated both rooms.
“Can you ask it if the transport is working?” I said.
Amy typed the question, and after a second whispered, “Yes, it is. But we can’t go to it.”
“We won’t have to. Tell it to transport the creatures outside the building.”
“Yes!” exclaimed Amy and quickly typed the command. A creature began to scratch at our door, but the scratching sound was quickly drowned by a powering-up noise from the other room. A second later, I saw a bright flash of light from underneath the door. Then it was quiet.
“Now it’s our turn.” We left the control closet and stood next to the terminal in the transport room. “Though there’s something we need to do first…”
We were enveloped by bright light, followed by a familiar flash. We were transported back to Earth, to the same strange room in the middle of nowhere. Morning twilight illuminated the eastern half of the sky. Our bikes were still leaning against the guard post.
“I’m glad we don’t have to ride back,” I said. “I’m exhausted.”
“So whose house do we go to first?”
“Let’s go to mine.”
The last thing we did before transporting from Mlactu to Earth was look for a new pair of portable terminal gloves. Valley location had plenty; we donned two and took two more as spares. I asked the terminal to continuously watch for aggressive fauna, and to transport it away from the transport pad. That way, if anyone ever traveled to Mlactu Valley location, they wouldn’t be ambushed by the creatures. Lastly, I issued the command to separate the chat programs on our gloves from all the other terminals, making each glove fully independent.
Amy and I stood next to each other and held hands. We survived the dangers of an alien planet, saved a hapless creature, and fixed the transportation network. Together, we could accomplish anything, and now had the power to travel anywhere in the world. I typed a command into the terminal, and smiled. Amy smiled in return. We were going home.