A Scripta

Grim and Trip heard a humming behind them and turned to see Rusty from Emerald Flight appear out of no where to stand in the middle of the two warehouse buildings. He stood amid four black metal boxes.

“Hey, Trip, long time, no see.”

“Hi, Rusty,” she said with a little blush. Rusty smiled at her, then looked to Grim. “Is everyone out?”

“Everyone alive,” Grim said.

Rusty nodded. “I already set the beacons up at the resolution point.” He pried open the box and took out something that looked like a small missile. He hit a button and a tripod popped out of the bottom.

“Where are we going?” asked Trip.

“Dimension JL-87. An alternate Aspen, Colorado, to be specific.”

“Aspen?”

Rusty was unloading the crate as he spoke. “I hear it’s beautiful there in the winter.”

“What’s the dimension like?”

“Well, there was a biological war in the 1920’s during the Great War between the US and the Soviets. People built domes around certain cities that they felt were important to keep, and the rest of the cities were abandoned. There is very tight population control, and nobody ventures out of the cities – at least they won’t until 2350, when the world starts to get resettled. The nearest city to here is Las Vegas.”

He finished unloading the box, there were ten tri-podded missiles on the ground. “I’ll start setting these up.”

Rusty walked around the perimeter of the area. Grim watched silently, still depressed over the events last night. Trip put a hand on his arm and looked at him, concerned. He gave her a small smile, put his hand on top of hers. They said nothing.

In about half an hour, Rusty had set up all the beacons that were in the boxes. He removed a small round ball from one of the boxes, and pressed a button. The tips of all the beacons glowed green. He went around to make sure they were all glowing green.

“Okay, come over here.” He beckoned them to the other side of the wall. They could still see the upper half of the warehouses. Rusty waited until they were settled, then pressed a button with his thumb. They all heard a very loud hum that only grew in intensity and volume. Trip and Grim put their hands over their ears, while Rusty remained impassive. They all watched as the top of the buildings shimmered in their view, and then popped out of existence.

The humming lessened, and Trip and Grim slowly let down their hands from their ears. Rusty closed the box, and said, “Stay right there. I’ll check and see if it’s safe.”

They all nodded, and Rusty jumped over the wall. After a short time, he called, “Okay, all set.”

Trip and Grim vaulted over the wall, and looked at the empty lot that the warehouse had stood. Rusty was picking up the relays around them.

Trip hugged herself. “This is creepy.”

Grim only ndded.

“So how do we get there?”

“You know the portals they have all over the city? You can get there through that. Your keycard is keyed to the new dimension. However, it’ll only work once.”

“That’s no help.”

“I’ve left a couple of hypos and three thousand implants in your base. You need to put the implant on the top of your head.”

“How big is this implant?”

“About the size of a pinhead.” Rusty looked at Trip. “If you want a bigger one, I can make the automatic communication implant.”

“We’ll see,” Trip said.

“It’s undetectable by this time period’s technology. It’s only a direction finder, not a teleporter. I can make one of those, too.”

“No, it’s okay,” Grim said, already feeling queasy over the thought of implants. “What about Rusty?”

“As long as you put it on his head, he’ll be okay. Sarter it to him if you have to.”

Trip looked at Grim. “Want to go see our new home?”

Grim nodded. Rusty held up a hand. “Give me a minute.” He finished packing the boxes, and pressed a button. They shimmered and disappeared. “Okay, I’ll join you there.” He pressed a button on his belt, also shimmered and disappeared.

Grim and Trip went to the portal located on the Police Station’s roof. They both took out their keycard and stepped into the portal.

They were dropped off right inside the foyer of the warehouse, Rusty stood at the desk, punching things into the computer. “You have internet and satellite TV. A lot of the shows are pretty much the same, but there are some that are different. There are no shows like Survivor, for instance.”

Trip went to the door and pulled it open. Brisk fall air breezed into the foyer. She looked outside. “Oh, my God…”

“What?” Grim went to the door and also looked outside. He gasped.

The view encompassed snow-capped mountains, and a gentle running stream just a few yards away. They went outside to get a better look. All around them were mountains; they seemed located in the center of a treeless valley. A lush green forest was just beyond the stream.

“This is…”

Rusty stood in the doorway, looking a little concerned.

“This is beautiful,” she gasped.

Rusty smiled.

“What are we going to do for a power source?” Grim asked. “The power in the base won’t last forever.”

“I’ll leave that.” He pointed to a box that looked like an air conditioning unit. “It’s an oxygen generator – takes in oxygen, puts out carbon dioxide, and creates power.”

Trip kneeled next to it. “Wow…”

Grim asked, “What if it breaks?”

“Grim,” Rusty said calmly, “it’s warranteed for two hundred years.”

“Oh…”

“By then, we’ll all be bones.” Rusty started walking around the perimeter again, gathering up the receiving relays. Trip and Grim also wandered around, taking in the crisp clean air and the beautiful natural views. They had plenty of area for a garden, a training area, expansion…

“Don’t forget the implant,” said Rusty.

“What about people who are part of a temporary team?”

“They can’t come in, sorry.”

Trip frowned.

“Unless you provide them with a keycard. Then it’s a one-shot deal.”

“We can still carry the keycards around, right?”

Rusty shook his head. “They can only be used once. Go ahead and try to come back right now. It won’t work.”

Grim asked, “Do the teleporters still work?”

“Of course they do. I’ll go test them myself after I show you where the hypos are.” They all went back in the base. In medbay, they found the hypos that looked similar to Epi-pens. Rusty held one up. “Who’s going first?”

Trip stepped forward. Rusty held the hypo and parted her hair. He pressed it onto her head, and pressed the top. “That’s it.”

Trip rubbed the top of her head. “That didn’t even hurt.”

“It’s not supposed to go very deep. There’s a hundred in each cartridge.” He took it apart to show them how to replace the cartridge and showed them where the cartridges were. “It’ll flash red when empty.” He handed it to Trip. “Go take care of Grim, I’m going to check your teleporters.”

Trip advanced on Grim. He gulped, and bowed his head. Trip parted his hair and pressed the flat end on his head. She pressed the top: he heard a click, and only felt a small pain, like someone poked him in the head. He looked up. “That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“I hope everybody doesn’t mind it.”

Grim looked at the hypo. “I’ll put a text on the comm to have them stop in first thing. I’ll take care of it.”