Future Journeys

--Gatix—

--Two weeks later--

“You all set, Nev?”

“Yes, Agent. It can't be compared to our technology, but the repairs to your armor should protect you against environmental radiation.”

“Swell.” I banged my fist against the patch of plates over my chest, satisfied with the noises it made. “And Scythe?”

“Ms. Queen's mages have removed the tendril from its barrel. Your weapon should fire without error.”

“Will test-fire it a couple times just to make sure.” I picked the weapon up from the table and clipped it to my back. “Fang?”

“Only a few scratches.”

“Excellent.” I completed the arming procedure by clipping the final weapon to my hip.

“I will remind you of my previous warning, Agent. The outer shell has been fixed, but your armor was severely damaged. Several sensors are either damaged or disabled.”

“I heard you the previous time, Nev. Fail-safe is working, trisortium scanner is broken, nutrient reserves are damaged, but you can replenish those in this world, energy scanner only works half the time, and the right leg stabilizer is damaged.”

“You are omitting the important one.”

I sighed. “Broken locator beacon.”

“Yes. The fail-safe is the only way you can return to our world.”

“Both of us know what that means.”

“Yes, Agent.”

“Have to ask, Nev, why didn't you teleport me back? An injury like that would have been what the fail-safe was made for.”

“Ms. Queen asked me not to.”

“No, she didn't. She was too far away.”

Nev stayed silent for a few seconds after that. “No comment, Agent.”

“Uh, huh. Well, I appreciate it, buddy. Shall we get this show on the road?”

“That depends on where you're going?” My horned hostess asked from the door.

“Ah, Ms. Queen. How long have you been standing there?”

“A few minutes.” She grinned as she stepped into the room. “Are you ready for your trip?”

“Yup. No journey starts without a single step, and you said this is a big one.”

“Shiriki is one of the most difficult places you could travel to. It would be foolish to do it alone.”

“Is that an offer to join me?”

“Well...” She stepped closer until her face was centimeters away from my visor. “Since my castle is still under repairs, and the engineers won't allow me to use my sleeping quarters, I'm as much a vagrant as you are. The only question is, where our vagrancy should take place. Hmm?”

“A sound argument, Ms. Queen. An extra pair of eyes might do well for my life expectancy.”

The purple lights dancing on the ceiling betrayed the spinning circles around our feet. “I'm sure Boss wouldn't mind either.”

“Boss would want me to undergo years of therapy while they try to fix my head.”

“Then let's keep him waiting, shall we?”

Boss had been right. This world was a harsh, uncivilized place. Dangers unknown to our world lurked around every corner, many of which focused on eliminating the creature busy curling the tip of her tail around my leg. But you know what, Boss?

“Hey, Ms Queen? Did you really ask Nev not to teleport me?”

The smile she gave back would forever leave my question unanswered.

There's no other place I'd rather be.