(Corrected edit.)

Traveler was hopelessly mired in traffic and it was pissing him off because he was supposed to be dining with the love of his life, Lisa Hole.

He was in 'City Sector 7' of Raedis' big-ass world ship. Since they had begun taking in whole racing teams and their families while following certain classes on various worlds, the sector had changed from a nice place to hang out into an overcrowded, sprawling mess of a burgh. Often Traveler would go for a drive through it and perhaps even have lunch in one of its many idyllic municipal parks. However, taking aboard large groups of people had overcrowded the city space. He definitely needed to bring this up with Raedis. His thoughts returned to the present as the high pitched hum of a punk little kid on an electric scooter whizzed passed his open window as he smoked a cigarette. It was just a normal smoke that he lit with the tiny, jet-like flame of a lighter fueled by butane. The kid waved to Traveler as he passed having recognized the distinctive car the man was trying to drive at anything faster than the pedestrian pace he was plodding along at presently.

Traveler was in his 1972 red DeTomoso Pantera and he'd be loving it if he were able to drive it faster than a kid on a scooter. He looked down his arm to his fingers which were holding the cigarette upright between them. He took a long drag and exhaled it through his nostrils impatiently then looked at it again after flicking ashes from the tip. They blew right back at him, however and landed in his lap.

"Fuck." he said aloud to the empty car. Of course he was wearing thin, black trousers that now bore a pinhole burn in their upper right thigh in the middle of a grey smear of ash.

City Sector 7 was becoming a crowded, very unmachine-like sprawl that he was definitely now going to bring up with his best friend.

Whenever he got out this traffic. A three lane river of slow moving metal crept along. Traveler looked at the cigarette burning between the tips of his fingers. The sunlight simulating lights that shone from unfathomable heights were currently throwing down a depressing flat light that cast no shadows. Traveler sighed and finished his smoke. As he put it out though, something clicked in his complex brain. He pushed the thought aside for now. The group of cars he was stuck among began to move forward.

A wave of red brake lights receded, replaced by a surge of motion. Traveler gunned the Pantera's big motor and scared two little kids in a nearby car. They were oggling his Pantera when he urged the fearsome noise from the machine. He then took maximum advantage of the opportunity to move once it presented itself and with a little skill, found a space within two groups of cars to cruise in.

He finally arrived at his rendezvous with Lisa. She was a welcome sight to his eyes which were literally sore from the drive.

She saw it on his face as soon as he climbed out of a gorgeous red machine. There was such a contrast between the jovial red of the cool car and the misery on her man's face she couldn't help but snap a photo of him as he looked at her. She raised her phone and quickly snapped a shot before he could move. She smiled when she saw that it was perfect.

Her smile was so wonderful to him that his foul mood evaporated like breath on a window.

"Why this face, baby?" she asked and turned the phone so he could see the picture she had taken. He ignored her phone and took her wrist. In an elegant sweep of a maneuver he was behind her, kissing his way from her wrist to her elbow. He bypassed the jagged scar of a racing injury knowing she did not like it to be touched.

"I was annoyed by the traffic around here. It's gotten out of hand." he finally told her. He could feel a certain kind of heat reserved for him now emanating from her body with his dance like move next to her.

"Perhaps the city needs to be expanded? Anyway, who wants to talk about the traffic? Let's go eat." she suggested. There was a delightfully mischievous look in her icy blue eyes that told him not to listen to her would be folly, so he did.

She insisted on driving and he did not refuse. She was currently wheeling around in a quick, agile little sports coupe and he also very much wanted to see how she handled the current city traffic.

They got into her slick, red coupe and she switched it on. It hummed to life with a powerful throb. Its dashboard lit up with holographic displays that Traveler watched her quick eyes look over. She appeared satisfied at what she saw. Other drivers' process when starting up a vehicle alway intrigued the man. Doubly so when he was in love with said driver.

She caught him checking her out with a sideways glance, leaned over and found his lips with great precision. She kissed him for a long time and when she finally disengaged said: "Everything is operational. Ready to see how driving in traffic is done?"

"At your leisure." was his slightly winded response. She grinned almost savagely as she floored it from her parking spot to seek out some traffic. She didn't have to drive far. Within ten minutes after leaving her place they were merging into a ton of traffic, slowly.

"Right then. Here, as you can see, is the problem. I know you've noticed it before." Traveler said.

"Of course I have. But you, of all people, have the ability to change this for the betterment of City Sector 7." she said back. In her mind she was lacing a route through the traffic. When it was set she adjusted her hands on the wheel and started her run. Traveler watched with amazement as she made leaps of intuition in spots that only seconds before she took it over contained another vehicle. The ire of many other drivers was sounded in their horns as she wove her way through the traffic. Their irritated notes seemed to fuel her skill and daring. She pulled moves Traveler would reserve for a race and his strict adherence to local traffic laws of the planets and times he's visited kept him from such bombastic displays of vehicular motion.

Lisa, however, didn't seem to give a toss about the other motorists muddled around them or the regulations that were intended to keep them from moving like they now were. Traveler tightened his safety harness as Lisa dove onto the shoulder, around a long cargo truck.

"Hey! Going off the road doesn't count." Traveler protested and yet could not stop grinning. Her style and skill were dazzling. Her bravery, was enough to make Traveler obtain an even tighter grip on his safety restraints. He also spaced then placed his feet firmly on the fairly flexible flooring of the speedy little coupé.

"It's the fastest way around that dumb, slow truck! C'mon, baby!

This isn't a race..." she said as the grin returned to her face after pulling another daring passing maneuver that caused Traveler to clench a bit in his seat. "We could get another car for our time together and go to the racing sector of the ship." she said and, having to stop behind another car, looked at him long enough to arc a thin black eyebrow provocatively over a dazzling blue eye. He loved that look and she usually got her request whenever she employed it on him. They both knew this so she didn't abuse the wiley power.

"Let's talk about it while we eat." was his reply.

"Sure!" she said. She was happy their destination was close and got them to it much quicker than Traveler thought she could given the traffic. Lisa stopped them in a vacant spot before a small café.

"Nice work through the traffic." Traveler said looking behind him at the crowd of cars stopped in the street they had just turned off of. He snapped back around to watch her egress the vehicle. This was a motion that he never tired of watching for, to him, watching Lisa Hole exit a vehicle was one of the most balletic actions he'd ever seen a clothed woman complete.

In one fluid motion the woman would guide her knees under the steering linkage and pivot. She set her stylish blue shoes on the tarmac one at a time as if to first make sure the ground and, depending on the situation, her legs were solid under her for often times, they were not. Finally, she would emerge, usually with a stretch because she was a tall woman and sports cars were crampt vehicles, at best.

Lisa knew this action of egress garnered his attention so she deliberately made a more elaborate and somewhat seductive show of it when they were alone together. Traveler never suspected that she knew he watched her do all this and she grinned when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him totally checking her out.

Lunch was served to them at the little café in a cardboard box the interior of which was stained with a bright orange grease. The contents of the box were taco-like treats accented with colorful vegetables which the pair devoured while chatting about where to go next before getting back in the car.

Overhead the lights demarcating day from night began to take on an early evening hue. Traveler was back at the wheel and the traffic was noticeably lighter. They agreed to stay at one of Traveler's favorite places. He knew how to get there from where they were. Now it was Lisa who was observing her man's wheel work. Sure they had competed against one another so she knew how he raced but their love affair contained surprisingly little time together in cars. She noted how cautious and courteous he tended to be. He was nothing like he was on the racetrack.

She also noted the amount of courtesy he was granted by other motorists and how he seemed to ease the tension of drivers around him as he progressed. This was something she would have expected more from from Raedis and she could feel the influence of Traveler's best friend in the man's amicable actions.

As Lisa Hole studied him, she was also totally going to use everything she learnt about his driving against him the next time they had to race against each other.

Red brake lights halted their progress and flooded the small car with light. It threw the two lover's features into sharp contrast as they looked at one another.

"You...are so rad." he said to her with enough time for a quick kiss before he had to roll them forward a few feet. He totally knew she had been devising racing strategies against him every time she let him drive. So, since she was gaining knowledge about him he made sure to drive contrary to how he really would were they in competition. He too was studying her just as much when she was at the wheel.

And so it went for the rest of their time together. For five days they spent driving one another from place to place each of them gearing up psychologically for the next race. When their time came to an end and Lisa had left, Traveler made sure he had a detailed talk with Raedis about his observations on the status and size of City Sector 7.

(This scene appears after a little downward scrolling in a slightly different version. Still, though...enjoy anyway.)

         Madrian looked exactly as Rædis and Traveler imagined a man with such a moniker would. Tall, whip thin, quick moving but never in a rush. His jet black hair was wet-look crazy, slicked back along the sides and hung in points well below the collar of the glossy brown leather jacket he habitually wore. The top of his do was shaped into a magnificent crest and from any angle was visible the finely spaced lines of lines of a comb one never actually saw him use.

        He viewed his world with hazel eyes shaded by amber tinted shooting glasses, the frames of which, were gold and perfectly perched, immobile on the bridge of his prominent nose. His thin face was perpetually clean shaven save for a wide set of mutton chops that were edged with laser precision.

     He was wearing a pair of tight, green corduroys that flared out over black, pointy toed boots, a white silk shirt with a wide collar done up half way with glossy green snaps ringed with silver. His wide leather belt had silver embossed holes down its length and a large buckle of brushed chrome. Around his neck hung two chains of rhodium and platinum. From one of them dangled an ornate medallion that flashed under the lights of the club they were in.

        "That's the guy we're looking for." Rædis said pointing him out from where they sat at a floating table littered with odd shaped glasses of half drained exotic drinks and small ashtrays full of colorful cigarette butts.

        "I'll bet you anything that gold 1969 Mercury Cyclone 428 Cobra Jet in the car park is his." the machine said over the terrible music thumping through the creepy, futuristic discotheque.

         Traveler hated places like this. As a master of sonic design he couldn't stand how they sounded, even if the music was good, which it almost never was. As one of the most fashionable beings, literally of all time, he could usually only scoff at the pathetic attempts at any semblance of style the denizens of these crowded, badly lit, social

hell holes attempted to pull off.          This man was different, however in that his choice of couture was in such deliberate opposition to what was considered in style where they were that he was, with the exception of Traveler himself, the most stylish person in the large room. 

        "How can you be sure?" Traveler shouted back as he tried to get a better look at the dude through the haze of various kinds of smoke, ill lighting and laser effects.

        "Seriously?" Rædis said back. He could somehow modulate his voice to make it much easier to hear over the din without having to shout. It sounded to Traveler like he was right next to him speaking normally in a quieter and smaller room. The robot's friend always found it an impressive and useful trick. "Trust me, I'm sure it's his. None of these other posers would know to ever get their hands on something that unique let alone be actually able to do it. I mean, look at him!"

         "I'm trying!" Traveler hollered. "How would he have gotten something so rare and unusual?"

         "That's what we're here to find out." Rædis answered more testily than he normally would. The awful nightclub was beginning to get to him too. "But I'm sure that's the guy." he said confidently.

         "Well shit man, works for me. Let's introduce ourselves!" Traveler yelled to which Rædis finally replied:

"You don't have to shout, Trav. I can hear you fine, you know."

        Traveler realized this instantly, of course, and understood he was only yelling because that's what one always ends up doing in such obnoxious venues.

         "I hate these fucking places." he grumbled.

        "Let's just wait for him by his car." Rædis suggested. They left the club for the car park to await the man called Madrian and marvel at his amazing automobile.

(An early short scene about a few details of Traveler's time machine...)

Traveler's time machine kind of sucked in the fact that it could move in time but not in space. He had always meant to take it some place in time advanced enough to incorporate it into some kind of cool vehicle but there was problems with this.

         One was the practical problem of building a machine around another machine that was really only there some of the time. Another was finding someone who could actually do it. For although Traveler was very, very clever and could comprehend things beyond the scope of normal beings, he refrained from fiddling around with his time machine because he didn't want to break it and strand himself in whatever when he was in at the moment.

        He had no idea when or where the incredible thing had come from. He had found it in the hold of a spaceship that was more or less given to him by a stranger he'd met after discovering his cloaked ship in a field near a city he was living in at the beginnings of his wanderings through space and time.

        The time machine looked like it had not been used in years and Traveler initial  mistook it for an unused set of small rooms before realizing what it was. On the outside, it was a featureless, uninteresting, rectangular box made of dull, tarnished metal the color and texture of cast iron. Rust streaked it's pitted surface. It was about the size of a large shipping container and had two doors at either end of it.

        Inside it was divided into three small but comfortable rooms. One was the control and habitation section the other contained bathing, emergency medical and toilet facilities. The final was outfitted as a sleeping compartment. It was luxuriously appointed in fashions that could easily be altered, added to or designed to suit the needs and tastes of the operator.

        Traveler had spent many hours trying to figure out its systems in order to safely utilize its amazing capabilities. He taught himself how to replace certain filters, fluids and circuits that periodically required it but as far as how it actually ran and what powered it had yet to be discovered. Fortunately the machine was able to communicate with great precision and clarity to its pilot even over long distances. It kept its traveler abreast of its condition and status in detail. Which is really what you want when embarking on voyages containing the unique difficulties and challenges posed by traveling in time.

(An early story featuring Traveler and Rædis that I just found. It is actually an important scene in their history together...)

"Fuck!" Traveler hollered, wishing he could slam the door of his time machine open rather have it slide open with a quiet whine. Instead he kicked the shit out of a small maintenance robot unfortunate enough to happen across his path at this moment. He destroyed the machine with his boots and scattered its remains across the deck as he stormed from his machine. The sounds of his anguished cry followed by the demise of the hapless robot echoed off the walls of the hanger space.

        Rædis had gone down to where Traveler liked to park the machine to meet him. Traveler had only been gone a few hours but that meant nothing with regards to time travel. Weeks, months, years could have passed personally for his friend in the few hours of his absence.

        Since becoming friends, Traveler was much less apt to go off on his own like this. Rædis was soon to discover why. 

 Whenever he did however, Rædis was very wary and concerned over the state his friend might return in. Traveler was not  naturally born to move freely within time and found his personal homeostasis vulnerable to the rigors of such a remarkable thing. One of the most susceptible aspects of this to damage was the man's mind and though he'd never admit to it, his heart.

         Over the years he'd spent cruising the fourth dimension, Traveler  had come to rely on a somewhat loose but substantial regime of chemicals and various drugs from times across history to sustain the life functions ravaged by traveling in time, both physical and mental. The more the man used his machine, the greater his dependancy on these chemicals. Rædis could immediately discern by the condition of his friend that he had been using the machine extensively.

        "Welcome home, Trav." was all he ventured to say. Traveler kept walking. He passed the beach chair Rædis was sitting in and the robot smoothly got to his feet and caught him up.

        "How long?" he asked of his friend eager to know how much personal time Traveler had taken on this solo trip.

        Traveler tore off his aviator sunglasses and threw them over his shoulder. They clattered to a stop on the shiny floor behind them. The left lens now cracked. He stopped and looked at his friend. His eyes were bloched as if he'd been crying recently and his pupils were so wide almost no color showed around his irises. He instantly wished he'd not removed his glasses.

        "I'll tell you later." Traveler said and went to his quarters. Rædis did not see him again for four days. When he did, Traveler looked much better. He was clean shaven and smelled rather good. He was dressed as sharp and as interesting as usual. The metallic fabrics of his clothes giving him a bright appearance, almost an aura of rainbow light surrounding him as it reflected off his suit. Rædis himself was in his natural, robotic form. His bright eyes tracking Traveler as he entered the lounge that enveloped them in spacey oppulence.

         "Hey Ræ." he said as he went to a small cube of a refrigerator for a drink. He withdrew a can of cherry Coke and popped the top. He switched one of the lounges screens on just to hear someone else talking besides himself for a change. This was a signal to Rædis that his friend was about to get serious. He had waited patiently for days to learn what had happened to Traveler. He leaned forward on the sofa he was sitting on.

       "Traveler." Rædis said in greeting but that was all.

        Traveler took a sip of his drink and lit a cigarette he had tucked behind his ear. He exhaled ordinary, gray smoke and looked levelly at the living machine.

        "Eighteen months." he said. Rædis had thought his friend's recent excursion in time would have been a lot longer given the state he was in when he first got back.

         "Tell me about it." Rædis simply said.

One of the things Traveler liked best about Rædis was he could launch into conversation with him without preamble or prologue. The machine wasn't big on small talk and had a limitless attention span. They could not speak for days and pick up conversation very easily.

        "There was a world in trouble. I have some good friends there. A cool kid, a family of local animals that lived in a tree..." he paused. "...maybe a woman."

        Rædis gave him a sarcastic look.

        "Okay, maybe two." he admitted sheepishly.

        "The point is their planet was about to get smacked by a killer comet out of deep space. Their science had seen it coming for years but they were powerless to do anything about it. They had tried to knock it off course but the thing was huge and they only managed to alter it enough for a glancing blow. It still would have destroyed their world, their civilization, everything. I knew I could save them. All of them, not just my friends." he took a drag from his cigarette.

        "And you failed?" Rædis asked, sliding an ashtray across the coffee table between them. It was musical and played the jingle of the beer brewer that was labeled on the thing. Rædis instantly regretted doing this but it didn't disrupt his friend's tale.

        "No! Of course not. It was a simple matter of celestial mechanics. Like playing billiards with really big balls." Traveler

replied.

        "I thought I worked out all the temporal repercussions. That was the hard part. But I'm good at that..."

        And he was. Really good at it. He could project his mind along multiple pathways through time. He could calculate outcomes and possibilities to exponential numbers. Even Rædis marveled at how his mind worked and the things he could do with it. As a machine, Rædis' thought processes were far too linear and logical to even begin to understand the twisted, abstract and plain fucked up things the way Traveler could.

        Traveler continued...

        "But I forgot about the cat." He sighed heavily and ashed the smoke.

        "There was a cat?" Rædis interrupted. He loved cats.

         "Yeah. There was a cat." Traveler said testily, in no mood for Rædis' cuteness.

        "It was apparently more important than I reckoned." he said, crushing out the cigarette. He took a seat next to Rædis.

        "In some way I missed, the cat needed to be in a specific place at a specific time, you know...the usual temporal bullshit that I have to take into consideration on these types of missions."

        Rædis nodded. He had been made well aware of certain fundamentals of time travel through his association with his weird friend.

        "But I didn't. And when I got back to the world, my friends were gone. Lost in the pool of time I can no longer find." Traveler's eyes welled up with tears but not a single one fell. He would not allow it. He'd been moving through time for far too long to shed tears of regret. His former tears were spilt out of anger and frustration. However he was still a man and not totally as heartless as he presented himself. Not by a longshot.

        Traveler wiped his eyes and regained his cool exterior but the mirth he usually expressed did not return to his face. He settled back into the plushness of the couch and looked dejected.

        "But you saved them all." Rædis said, offering consolation but his words seemed to bounce off his friend. Traveler said nothing, just sighed again and swallowed hard as if eating his own loathsome feelings. They sat in silence for a long time. The chatter from the screen the only sound save for Traveler's periodic, contemplative sighs.

        Rædis concluded as he had before that being a time traveler is resigning oneself to a very special and cruel kind of isolation. While everything changes around a time traveler, they alone have to continue on with the knowledge of events that now never were or never may be.

         Traveler turned just his head, met his best friend's eyes and finally spoke.

        "Rædis..." he began then searched for the words he wanted to say.

        "Yeah?"

        "I promise I'll never use the machine again without you along. I couldn't take it if I ever did something to lose you in time.  I..." he hesitated. "...I appreciate your consistency."

        As soon as he said this he realised it was among the greatest of compliments he could have paid the living robot. Rædis beamed. The lights behind his odd eyes ticked up a several levels in luminosity. He smiled and said:

        "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me, my friend."

Rædis realized it was not only because they had such fun together but Traveler needed a companion who kept the same time as him. He valued the machine's perfect memory and overall durability especially when it came to adventures in time.

         "Do you want a hug?" Rædis asked the time traveler. Traveler's lips quivered until he could contain his grin no longer. He laughed.

        "No." he stuttered through his chuckling. "I need a vacation!" He sprung up from the sofa with renewed vigor. "Let's go somewhere fun!" he said as he made for the lounge door with a spring in his step, heading for the bridge.

         "That's the spirit!" Rædis smiled and stood up to follow. In his time spent with his friend, Rædis realized the one thing nature abhorred more than a vacuum was a paradox and that it would be merciless in keeping one from happening and do unspeakably strange things to somebody who tried to, willingly or not, create one. A thought occurred to him as he entered the bridge. Traveler was already creating a particularly bawdy holiday with the ship's computer.

         "Traveler..." he said. "...you know anything is possible. You may find your friends again. And I'm sure they know it was you that saved them. They must still exist in a reality just waiting for us to discover." Traveler snapped his fingers and pointed at Rædis without looking from the monitor he was fixed on.

        "Good thinking. I like that. Thanks pal." said Traveler with genuine cheer. His relentless optimism was returning.

         "What'cha planning over there?" Rædis asked curious and relieved his friend's bouts of time addled depression were relatively short. 

          Traveler fixed him with a mischievous grin.

       "You up for a race?"

Traveler was hopelessly mired in traffic and it was pissing him off because he was supposed to be dining with the love of his life, Lisa Hole.

He was in 'City Sector 7' of Raedis' big-ass world ship. Since they had begun taking in whole racing teams and their families while following certain classes on various worlds, the sector had changed from a nice place to hang out into an overcrowded, sprawling mess of a burgh. Often Traveler would go for a drive through it and perhaps even have lunch in one of its many idyllic municipal parks. However, taking aboard large groups of people had overcrowded the city space. He definitely needed to bring this up with Raedis. His thoughts returned to the present as the high pitched hum of a punk little kid on an electric scooter whizzed passed his open window as he smoked a cigarette. It was just a normal smoke that he lit with the tiny, jet-like flame of a lighter fueled by butane. The kid waved to Traveler as he passed having recognized the distinctive car the man was trying to drive at anything faster than the pedestrian pace he was plodding along at presently.

Traveler was in a 1972 red DeTomoso Pantera and he'd be loving it if he were able to drive it faster than a kid on a scooter. He looked down his arm to his fingers which were holding the cigarette upright between them. He took a long drag and exhaled it through his nostrils impatiently then looked at it again after flicking ashes from the tip. They blew right back at him, however and landed in his lap.

"Fuck." he said aloud to the empty car. Of course he was wearing thin, black trousers that now bore a pinhole burn in their upper right thigh in the middle of a grey smear of ash.

City Sector 7 was becoming a crowded, very unmachine-like sprawl that he was definitely now going to bring up with his best friend.

Whenever he got out this traffic. A three lane river of slow moving metal crept along. Traveler looked at the cigarette burning between the tips of his fingers. The sunlight simulating lights that shone from unfathomable heights were currently throwing down a depressing flat light that cast no shadows. Traveler sighed and finished his smoke. As he put it out though, something clicked in his complex brain. He pushed the thought aside for now. The group of cars he was stuck among began to move forward.

A wave of red brake lights receded, replaced by a surge of motion. Traveler gunned the Pantera's big motor and scared some kids in an adjacent car. He took maximum advantage of the opportunity to move and with a little skill, found a space within two groups of cars to cruise in.

He finally arrived at his rendezvous with Lisa. She was a welcome sight to his eyes which were literally sore from the drive.

She saw it on his face as soon as he climbed out of the gorgeous red machine. There was such a contrast between the jovial red of the cool car and the misery on her man's face she couldn't help but snap a photo of him as he looked at her. She raised her phone and quickly snapped a shot before he could move. She smiled when she saw that it was perfect.

Her smile was so wonderful to him that his foul mood evaporated like breath on a window.

"Why this face, baby?" she asked and turned the phone so he could see the picture she had taken. He ignored her phone and took her wrist. In an elegant sweep of a maneuver he was behind her, kissing his way from her wrist to her elbow. He bypassed the jagged scar of a racing injury knowing she did not like it to be touched.

"I was annoyed by the traffic around here. It's gotten out of hand." he finally told her. He could feel a certain kind of heat reserved for him now emanating from her body with his dance like move next to her.

"Perhaps the city needs to be expanded? Anyway, who wants to talk about the traffic? Let's go eat." she suggested. There was a delightfully mischievous look in her icy blue eyes that told him not to listen to her would be folly, so he did.

She insisted on driving and he did not refuse. She was currently wheeling around in a quick, agile little sports coupe and he also very much wanted to see how she handled the current city traffic.

They got into her slick, red coupe and she switched it on. It hummed to life with a powerful throb. Its dashboard lit up with holographic displays that Traveler watched her quick eyes look over. She appeared satisfied at what she saw. Other drivers' process when starting up a vehicle alway intrigued the man. Doubly so when he was in love with said driver.

She caught him checking her out with a sideways glance, leaned over and found his lips with great precision. She kissed him for a long time and when she finally disengaged said: "Everything is operational. Ready to see how driving in traffic is done?"

"At your leisure." was his slightly winded response. She grinned almost savagely as she floored it from her parking spot to seek out some traffic. She didn't have to drive far. Within ten minutes after leaving her place they were merging into a ton of traffic, slowly.

"Right then. Here, as you can see, is the problem. I know you've noticed it before." Traveler said.

"Of course I have. But you, of all people, have the ability to change this for the betterment of City Sector 7." she said back. In her mind she was lacing a route through the traffic. When it was set she adjusted her hands on the wheel and started her run. Traveler watched with amazement as she made leaps of intuition in spots that only seconds before she took it over contained another vehicle. The ire of many other drivers was sounded in their horns as she wove her way through the traffic. Their irritated notes seemed to fuel her skill and daring. She pulled moves Traveler would reserve for a race and his strict adherence to local traffic laws of the planets and times he's visited kept him from such bombastic displays of vehicular motion.

Lisa, however, didn't seem to give a toss about the other motorists muddled around them or the regulations that were intended to keep them from moving like they now were. Traveler tightened his safety harness as Lisa dove onto the shoulder, around a long, cargo truck.

"Hey! Going off the road doesn't count." Traveler protested and yet could not stop grinning. Her style and skill were dazzling. Her bravery, was enough to make Traveler obtain an even tighter grip on his safety restraints. He also spaced then placed his feet firmly on the fairly flexible flooring of the speedy little coupé.

"It's the fastest way around that dumb, slow truck! C'mon, baby!

This isn't a race..." she said as the grin returned to her face after pulling another daring passing maneuver that caused Traveler to clench visibly in his seat. "We could get another car for our time together and go to the racing sector of the ship." she said and, having to stop behind another car, looked at him long enough to arc a thin black eyebrow provocatively over a dazzling blue eye. He loved that look and she usually got her request whenever she employed it on him. They both knew this so she didn't abuse the wiley power.

"Let's talk about it while we eat." was his reply.

"Sure!" she said. She was happy their destination was close and got them to it much quicker than Traveler thought she could given the traffic. Lisa stopped them in a vacant spot before a small café.

"Nice work through the traffic." Traveler said looking behind him at the crowd of cars stopped in the street they had just turned off of. He snapped back around to watch her egress the vehicle. This was a motion that he never tired of watching for, to him, watching Lisa Hole exit a vehicle was one of the most balletic actions he'd ever seen a clothed woman complete.

In one fluid motion the woman would guide her knees under the steering linkage and pivot. She set her stylish blue shoes on the tarmac one at a time as if to first make sure the ground and, depending on the situation, her legs were solid under her for often times, they were not. Finally, she would emerge, usually with a stretch because she was a tall woman and sports cars were crampt vehicles, at best.

Lisa knew this action of egress garnered his attention so she deliberately made a more elaborate and somewhat seductive show of it when they were alone together. Traveler never suspected that she knew he watched her do all this and she grinned when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him totally checking her out.

Lunch was served to them at the little café in a cardboard box the interior of which was stained with a bright orange grease. The contents of the box were taco-like treats accented with colorful vegetables which the pair devoured while chatting about where to go next before getting back in the car.

Overhead the lights demarcating day from night began to take on an early evening hue. Traveler was back at the wheel and the traffic was noticeably lighter. They agreed to stay at one of Traveler's favorite places. He knew how to get there from where they were. Now it was Lisa who was observing her man's wheel work. Sure they had competed against one another so she knew how he raced but their love affair contained surprisingly little time together in cars. She noted how cautious and courteous he tended to be. He was nothing like he was on the racetrack.

She also noted the amount of courtesy he was granted by other motorists and how he seemed to ease the tension of drivers around him as he progressed. This was something she would have expected more from from Raedis and she could feel the influence of Traveler's best friend in the man's amicable actions.

As Lisa Hole studied him, she was also totally going to use everything she learnt about his driving against him the next time they had to race against each other.

Red brake lights halted their progress and flooded the small car with light. It threw the two lover's features into sharp contrast as they looked at one another.

"You...are so rad." he said to her with enough time for a quick kiss before he had to roll them forward a few feet. He totally knew she had been devising racing strategies against him every time she let him drive. So, since she was gaining knowledge about him he made sure to drive contrary to how he really would were they in competition. He too was studying her just as much when she was at the wheel.

And so it went for the rest of their time together. For five days they spent driving one another from place to place, each of them gearing up psychologically for the next race. When their time came to an end and Lisa had left, Traveler made sure he had a detailed talk with Raedis about his observations on the status and size of City Sector 7.

(I don't know if it is because of the update or the 'new look' or whatever but all of my posts have all been left justified for whatever reason completely doing away with any form of proper syntax. For a website for and about writing I find this to be a most heinous violation of the rules of writing. Not to mention it's fucked up all my stories.

The following short is my literary protest to this bizarre left justification of the text.)

Because of the emmence size of Rædis' worldship, he avoided traveling within the glittering space lanes that connected the developed systems of the greater galactic community. Also, the tolls for such a vessel would be astronomical.

      It was while circumventing a stretch of these galactic highways the worldship encountered a region of space that neither Rædis nor Traveler had never experienced before. The effects of this space on the giant ship and its inhabitants were quite profound, inconveniencing and ridiculous.

      Traveler and Rædis were preparing excellent new suits for wear to an awards ceremony they had been invited to by their friends, racing drivers Jenny Gumballs and Lisa Hole. The women had just won a series of races resulting in a first place championship within the particular division they were currently participating.

      Traveler was, of course, absolutely elated to see the love of his life and Rædis was happy to be there to celebrate the triumph of their exceptional friends.

      Rædis was happily going through a selection of patterns and colors to the holographic tie he was wearing as Traveler was doing up the laces on a shiny new pair of boots he was eager to wear.

      "What do you think about this pattern?" Rædis asked as he double checked it against the vest he was wearing.

      "Looks great." said Traveler without bothering to look.

      All of a sudden and without warning everything in the large dressing room they were in that was not bolted down or secured in some way was all gently but abruptly shifted to the left. Rædis and Traveler found themselves flattened against the left wall of large, mirrored room along with hundreds of small, loose objects.

      "What the fuck!" hollered Traveler in alarm.

      "Computer!" hollered Rædis.

      "Rædis." it said.

      "What in all hells is happening right now?" he asked it.

      The ship's computer anticipated this question and had already begun working out an answer.

      "I'm not quite sure yet. I do know that this is a ship wide occurrence and seems to have only affected items up to a certain mass."

      Rædis and Traveler were pressed up against the left wall of the dressing room. They weren't held there too hard and were able to slide their limbs and bodies about but they could not, despite all their physical effort, free themself from the smooth, reflective surface of the mirrored wall. Even Rædis with his greater than human strength was unable to push himself off the wall.

      He wisely decided not to give it too much effort in the event it would crack the surface and cause even more problems. Traveler, whose head was facing his friend said to him after sliding a jar of pomade out of the space between them like moving a magnet on a refrigerator:

      "Well...this is something new."

      Even his breath on the mirror lingered longer than it normally would before eventually evaporating. Rædis' head was turned away from Traveler but he was able to move it to face him with some effort.

      "This is bad. I really hope whatever is going on doesn't fuck up the ship in any detrimental ways." he said. His bright eyes reflected off the mirror. "Computer. What is the greatest mass effected by this weirdness?" he asked it.

      "Nothing greater than ninety kilograms is effected by the phenomenon." the computer replied.

      "Well that's good. At least we don't have to worry about our vast collection of various vehicles all piled up against one another among their parking places." said Traveler but no sooner had the words left his mouth than he was struck by a terrible thought. "Ræ! The other people aboard the ship! There is no doubt injuries and accidents. We should dispatch whatever help we can right away."

      "Shit, man. That's a great idea except if this 'left shift' has effected the whole ship than I'm not sure what kind of help we can render." said Rædis. "Computer, give me a damage and injury report. Like, is anything on fire, did anyone die, stuff like that."

It was odd having to issue such orders. In all his years of travel aboard the magnificent vessel, never was there such a bizarre or down right emergency of this magnitude to deal with.

      "There are no major fires and all cooking activities have been suspended for the duration of this..." the computer actually hesitated as it looked for the right word to explain what was going on. "...event." is what it went with. "It is definitely due to the region of space we have entered because outside of where the ship is currently located this 'left shift' does not seem to be happening. I have launched several probes in various directions to confirm this.

      As far as injuries are concerned, there are many. Most of them more inconveniencing than life threatening. The majority are concentrated around City Sector Seven."

      "Well, do what you can, computer and if possible, reverse us out of this 'left shift' and back into normal space." Rædis instructed.

      "Got it." the computer confirmed.

      While his friend was dealing with the computer, Traveler  had worked his phone out from his waist pocket and was slowly sliding it up the mirror so that he could place a call. Once it was in a workable position, he rang up their chief racing mechanic, Mr. Bright. It took several tries before Traveler heard the voice of the man through the phone. He was rightfully alarmed.

"Trav! What in all the hells is going on!? Everything is a mess down here!"

Before Traveler filled him in he asked a very important question.

"Where is little First Light and is she okay?"

Mr. Bright's daughter had come to mean a lot to Traveler. He had taken the form of a super cool uncle to her who let her get away with things the other adults in her life would frown upon. He delighted her with unique gifts from his journeys not just around the galaxy but from different points in time.

Whenever he presented her with one of these little temporal trinkets he always told her the tale of its acquisition. Her young imagination would soar as she pictured in her mind what he described for Traveler was very excellent at telling stories.

"She is okay, yes. She was in her room with her tutor when whatever this is happened. She and Mr. Spacemin, her tutor are currently stuck to the left wall of her room. They are uncomfortable but safe." said Mr. Bright.

"And you and your wife?" Traveler asked after breathing a sigh of relief knowing the child was safe.

"We are okay too. We're stuck against the living room wall along with a variety of small items oh...and the cat."

"The cat? Cripes, it must be freaking out." Traveler said as he tried to picture the small animal stuck to the wall of the Bright's living room.

"Actually, it's asleep." Mr. Bright reported. Traveler laughed.

"Okay well, you all hang in there. Me 'an Ræ are trying to figure out how to fix whatever this phenomenon is ." Traveler's wordplay was not lost on the mechanic.

"Ha ha... Hang in there. You're very funny." he then ended the call.

While Traveler was checking on the Brights, Rædis had the computer dispatch emergency services to the ship's population. As the Left Shift only affected items up to a certain weight an army of service droids above the limit were able to move freely about the ship to tend to those that needed help.

"Okay. I've done what I could to help the city sector, now we need to work our way out of this weird part of space. How are our friends?" asked Rædis.

"As good as can be given what's happening. First Light is okay." Traveler reported. Rædis breathed an electric sigh of relief then got back to the problem.

"Okay, let's first see if we can move off of this wall and work our way around the room." he proposed.

"Right. Good plan." said Traveler and began to slide himself along the mirrored wall towards the nearest corner of the dressing room. It was easy enough but upon reaching the junction of the two walls he found that when he reached out to try and touch the other wall his hand was drawn gently but inexorably back to the wall he was stuck to.

Rædis watched this. His expressive face went through a series of looks from confused to intrigued and concluded with frustrated.

"You try." Traveler suggested. They then began a complex series of motions to switch places. It involved Traveler working his way up and over his friend while Rædis slid under him. Rædis then also tried to reach out and touch the other wall. His efforts, despite his great strength, produced the same effect.

Both friends looked at each other. Rædis' bright eyes gave off a light of frustrated confusion. Traveler shrugged. Both were at a loss for ideas.

"Well. This certainly is one of the more stupider things we've ever encountered." said Traveler unhelpfully.

"Hey computer..." Rædis called. "What do you make of this space? You said you launched probes. What else have they found out besides the boundaries of this left shifted space?"

Before the computer could answer, however, Traveler reminded his friend of the shipwide announcement he had yet to make. "Oh! Yes, of course. Ummm...what should I say?" he asked.

"Tell 'em like it is, man! And let them know we're doing what we can to normalize whatever this weirdness is." Traveler said to Rædis as if it were obvious.

Rædis thought for one of his mechanical moments then instructed the computer to activate the shipwide intercom. He had never used it before because he never had a reason to.

A tone signified that he could now address the ship at will.

"Um...hello everyone." he began. "This is Rædis speaking. You may have seen me around the ship before hangin' out mostly in City Sector Seven with my friend Traveler. Uh, you also may have noticed we have encountered a unique and rather inconvenient problem. We think it has something to do with the region of space the ship is currently passing through..."

As he launched tentatively into his announcement Traveler rolled his eyes next to him but did not interrupt.

Rædis continued...

"We are working to return to normal space as quickly as possible and I'm asking everyone to please be patient and try to remain calm and not panic. Service droids not affected by this weird problem have been dispatched to assist the wounded and help out as best as they can.

Again, I promise you all me, Traveler and the ship's computer are working to restore normality as quickly as possible."

He concluded his announcement and instructed the computer to repeat it two more times. Traveler rolled his eyes after Rædis' address.

"Very reassuring, Ræ. I'm sure that put everyone's mind at ease." he said sarcastically. He then imagined what it must sound like to hear his friend's voice throughout the giant ship. He then got the irresistible urge to make an announcement of his own. Rædis could tell by the look on Traveler's face that he really wanted to.

He sighed an electric sigh.

"Fine then. Make your own announcement.Go ahead. Say what's on yer mind." he told the man. Traveler grinned a happy grin.

"Awesome. Thanks!" he said to Rædis then instructed the computer to switch the intercom back on. Once it did, Traveler began his own speech to the small population of the worldship.

He said: "Hi everyone! Traveler here. Listen, I know there's a bit of weirdness currently going on but all of you stay calm. Help is on the way. Stay chill. Like Rædis said, we are making for normal space with all haste."

Feeling satisfied that his voice had been heard throughout the populated portions of the vessel, he told the computer to switch the intercom off then looked at his friend. "Right. Now what?" he asked.

"That's pretty much the same thing I said. You just wanted to hear your voice broadcast around the whole ship." Rædis said. Traveler smiled.

"Duh dude. Of course!" Despite their situation they both laughed. When they were done Rædis got back to business.

"Computer. Have you determined the boundaries of this bizarre left shifted space?" Rædis asked it.

"Yep." answered the computer. "I have also engaged the engines to drive us out of it as fast as we can move as well as dispatched a whole bunch of warning markers out to said boundaries for other ships so they don't fall victim to the same problem."

"Good thinking computer!" Traveler said, commending the machine on its foresight and initiative. If the thing could smile it would be.

"Thank you, Traveler. Now, let me get your collective asses out of this strange space as fast as possible before you people have to piss or something. It is going to take enough time to clean up this place as it is without having to add biological mess to the problem." said the computer. Traveler laughed at the remark.

"Good point." he said. Both friends then heard the worldship's massive motors engage and ramp up to their maximum speed as the computer began to drive them out of the 'left shift' and into a more rational region of the galaxy.

"What difference does it make?" asked Rædis. He eased the back of the driver's seat of the car he and Traveler were currently in to a relaxed angle, stretched his long arms and readjusted his grip on the steering wheel. He was happy, comfortable and excited to arrive at their destination.

Traveler looked over at his friend a little surprised.

"Really? After all our adventures together, you're going to ask a question like that?" he asked.

Next to Rædis, among a mess of maps, sat Traveler. He held one against the dashboard before him, attempting to figure out how to get to where they needed to go from where they were.

The problem was that he wasn't entirely sure where they were.

The maps he was not using were stacked on his lap in a loose structure of zig-zag folds. Rædis took a tight corner fast enough to cause them to slide across the center console and onto the floor at his feet. Traveler would have been irritated by the maneuver but at that moment his mind made sense of their position thus allowing him to plan excactly the route he required.

"It's a perfectly reasonable question to have asked. What's the problem?" queried Rædis. Traveler was refolding the maps he didn't need. He didn't have the time to redo the tidy oragami in which they came in so he simply creased them closed against their seams resulting in a stack that was twice as thick as when he first obtained them. Upon tossing them into the back seat they nearly all sprung open again anyway. He ignored them and focused on his friend's question.

"You're referring to the last set of directions I gave you, yes?" he asked just to be clear.

"Yes." confirmed Rædis. "You said the last two exits would further us along to our destination even though neither would add to the length or time to our next navigational point yet you specifically told me to take the first exit and not the second so like...what difference does it make?" Rædis reiterated.

Traveler loved moments when he got to explain the inscrutable workings of higher dimensions to his friend. He took a sip from his can grape soda through a bent orange straw and began...

"Yes, while it is true either exit would have been satisfactory there were a few key factors in play."

Rædis turned the radio down as he got into Traveler's explanation. The man continued.

"One, and the most important being I had yet to work out the remainder of our route. Secondly, taking the other exit may have lead to a whole new set of circumstances that could have changed our plans for better or worse. Since we're off to have a blast I opted for the one exit over the other."

"Based on what?" Rædis asked, skillfully passing a slower sedan. There was a bored looking little kid in the back seat who watched their slick looking touring car pass with wide-eyed wonder. Rædis performed a brief light show for the kid with the car's ground effect lighting. The kid smiled and waved at him. Rædis gave the kid two friendly chirps of the car's horn, sped around the sedan and back into the proper cruising lane.

Traveler caught this brief little exchange and waved as well before answering.

"Based on my experience and finely honed temporal intuituon." Traveler said, definitively. Rædis considered this. He had come to trust his friend when it came to things like the interconectedness of time and space. He chuckled at him.

"So basically, changing direction changes everything. Anything could happen." he said, amused.

"Of course!" Traveler said as he traced the completed route to their destination with an expensive pen he helped himself to from the woman who rented them their car. "This works both ways, obviously, but I feel our current direction limits the amount of weirdness we are subject to on the way to where we're going."

Rædis' chuckle turned into a full-on laugh at this.

"It is because I know you that the potential for weirdness we are subject to is relatively high no matter which route or how much time we waste."

Traveler laughed across at his best friend but his eyes retained a serious look. They had a good sigh when their laughter had subsided.

"Ahhhh...if you understood time as well as I did you wouldn't talk about wasting it."

This was a quote from Lewis Carrol's 'Mad Hatter' that Traveler always wanted the chance to employ and eagerly jumped at the moment to do so when it finally presented itself.

Rædis searched for a witty retort but failed to find one. Smug with literary cleverness, the following thing he said was to tell Rædis to make the next left turn. Rædis did this then turned the music back up.

The following tale chronicles how Rædis and Traveler came to meet one another...

After he had completely failed to save a world from totally annihilating itself, The Traveler took himself and his time machine off the now dead planet and back to his own time.

The ship in which he found the time machine was the only one he possessed at the moment and he was currently sitting in its bridge deciding what he should do next with his life. He thought about returning to his racing career which did hold a certain appeal since he was Earth’s youngest world champion in his particular division but his heart and mind were still too brutalized by his recent failure to be able to seriously focus on racing.

Instead, he searched for a peaceful and prosperous planet to spend some time on and recover from the horror of the war he had involved himself in. He was still quite novice at using the time machine and, not naturally born to travel in time, the copious amount of drugs he required to do so was highly taxing on even his formidable system.

He returned himself only a week after he had left his own time although he spent eighteen of his personal months in the war that had sterilized the planet he thought he could save.

After a few hours of searching various systems with the help of the ship’s computer, twelve of his favorite grape flavored sodas and an entire pack of cigarettes he finally found the kind of place he was looking for.

The planet was part of a system containing five others although only one was able to sustain humanoid life. It was the third planet orbiting an Earthlike sun at roughly the same distance. The place had very slightly less than one G of Earth’s gravity and a similar if not a bit more oxygen rich atmosphere. The oddest thing about it was that it rotated very slowly. When compared to his homeworld the hours of daylight lasted about thirty with the nights, of course, lasting just as long.

Other than this strangeness, the place otherwise fit what the Traveler was looking for. It was a largely agrarian world who’s few large cities were well planned out, clean and beautiful.

“This place will do.” said Traveler aloud to the empty room.

“I did not copy that.” the ship’s computer said. It was not as intelligent or fun as computers he would come to know and enjoy.

“I wasn’t talking to you.” The Traveler said to it, annoyed. “Plot a course for that planet and go there.”

“Are you talking to me now?” asked the computer.

“Yes!” said Traveler testily.

“Roger that.” replied the computer.

The Traveler then stalked off the bridge to go sit on the observation deck so he could watch the stars streak by as his ship entered the space lanes that would take him to the world he wanted. His ship was pretty fast for its size and he smiled his thin lipped smile whenever he overtook a slower moving craft. However, he himself was often blown past by sleeker, faster ships that caused a slight twinge of envy when it happened.

“One day I’m gonna have a collection of cool ships like that to gad about the galaxy in.” he thought to himself. He then told the computer to tell the ship’s only service android to bring him a cheeseburger, a cold cola (no ice) and a fresh pack of smokes. After twenty three minutes the droid arrived with his order.

“The items you requested.” it said to him. It presented his requests on an aluminum tray then touched a button on the side of it causing four stick-like legs to unfold from underneath it turning it into a table. The droid placed the table next to the plush chair the Traveler was sitting in. He looked at the perfectly made burger. Its smell filled the air around him.

“Perfect.” said the Traveler. The droid simply stood there awaiting instructions. The Traveler looked up at it. “Uhh...go away.” he told it so that’s what it did. The man then grabbed the cheeseburger and devoured it. The thing was delicious. “Computer, how long until we get to the planet?”

“At our current speed, seven days.” it said. It’s voice coming from speakers placed around the observation deck. The Traveler sighed.

He decided to spend the week learning as much as he could of the dominant language of the planet. He also figured knowing interesting and enlightening bits of its past and any other pertinent information may help ingrain him into the culture of the place.

This endeavor lasted two days. He spent the rest of the trip getting very stoned, playing guitar and pitting his gaming skills against the ship’s computer in his favorite racing video games. He even spent an actual twenty-four hours playing a Le Mans simulator. He finished in second place then slept for the remainder of the trip.

“We have arrived in the system.” said the ship’s computer, prompting him awake as he had instructed it to. He showered, shaved, picked out a fine and unique suits, dressed himself and prepared to meet the people he would now live among until he could forgive himself and move on from the holocaust he blamed himself for failing to prevent.

“Computer, contact the leaders of this planet or hell, who ever is listening and tell them when and where we’re going to land after you’ve worked out a really sweet place to do so.” he said as he styled his brown hair to perfection. The mirrors in his bathroom allowed him to view his head from all angles. When he was finished, not a hair was out of place.

“Done.” said the computer twenty-two minutes later. This surprised the Traveler.

“Wow. Really? That took less time to set up than I thought it would.” he said happily.

“They are super chill people. I asked them if they would like to speak to you prior to landing but they declined, preferring instead to be entertained by your arrival so like, make it count.” the computer told him. The Traveler grinned.

“Oh, I’ve so got that covered. Take us down computer. And, put on a little show. Nothing to fancy. Perhaps just a little entrance music.”

“Right on. Good idea.”

As they descended through the atmosphere the computer broadcast one of the Traveler’s favorite songs across the radio spectrum and blasted it out of the ship’s external speakers. The song was an ancient tune from Earth called ‘Pacific State’ by a group called 808 State.

As his ship descended through a cloudless sky on a lovely afternoon the sound of the beats he was transmitting could be heard around the globe and everyone was digging it.

Part 2

Apparently, the landing of an alien ship had caused quite some excitement among the populous. A large group of dignitaries, press and spectators had all gathered in a very short time to greet the visitor. This was a bit more than the Traveler had expected but never one to shy away from an audience he decided to make the best of it.

“Wow computer. Looks like we really got their attention. Let’s give ’em a good show for them, shall we?” he told it.

“Got it. Hold on.” it replied. The Traveler, who was already securely buckled into the command seat, gripped its arm rests rightly as his ship plunged towards the surface of the planet. The computer executed half a dozen corkscrewing barrel rolls while releasing a colorful spray of flares that shot from the ship in beautiful patterns. It then cracked a sonic boom above the crowd before regaining enough altitude to perform a graceful loop in the air. Once level with the ground again it slowly lowered itself onto the designated landing pad of a small spaceport, rotating slowly laterally so that everyone watching and recording the event got a great view of the bulbous looking craft from all angles.

With a low, subsonic throb of its engines it gently touched down on the pad and shut off. As the Traveler watched and listened to the crowd outside he could see and hear an impressed applause from the gathering. He smiled.

“Well done computer. Well done indeed.” the Traveler said.

“Yep!” said the computer, once again with its smiling tone of voice. The Traveler unbuckled himself, stood and smoothed out the purple crushed velour suit he was wearing. He straightened the collar of his silver shirt and slid his favorite pair of aviator style sunglasses onto his face. He ran his fingers through his spikey brown hair and was now prepared to exit the ship.

“Open us up computer. Time to meet the locals.” His spirits were higher then that had been in a long time as he walked to the door of the ship he was going to use to exit it. As it opened a ramp extended to the landing pad below. The bright light of a beautiful day flooded into the airlock as he walked into it. The warm, stagnant air of the ship was replaced by the cool, oxygen rich air of the planet. He took a few deep breaths before walking out of the ship onto the ramp.

A small gang of press members awaited the rare off-worlder’s first words to the people as tiny cameras hovered next to them, broadcasting what had become an event, around the globe. The crowd around the landing pad had fallen silent anticipating the same thing.

Among the crowd stood an unusually tall individual. He was easily a head higher than the others that surrounded him. He had a friendly but curious expression as he watched the newcomer step from his craft. His skin was tanned, his hair was a dusty blond and his eyes were an unusual shade of green that the females he associated with found very attractive. His build was lean and strong and he wore a casual almost kid-like ensemble of denim pants, red sneakers and a t-shirt bearing the logo of a band he liked.

To anyone else he was simply a tall, good looking inhabitant of the planet. A man in his late twenties come to enjoy the spectacle of an alien ship and its crew. However, the reality of what this individual really was much more extraordinary.

The Traveler was impressed at the attention his arrival had drawn and he briefly wondered if he should have made a more discreet landing somewhere more remote but their excited welcome really did help improve the dour mood he had mostly been in since leaving the ruined world behind.

He raised a hand in greeting.

“Wassup everyone?” he said with his thin smile. The crowd at first looked a little befuddled as translators struggled to decipher his first words to them. The Traveler knew this would be something for them to work on and it delighted him. He let the translators chew on that for a bit before he spoke his next words.

The Traveler executed a few test hops to sample the planet”s gravity. His smile widened at the pleasant feeling of lightness.

“You’ve got a really nice place here.” he said. His second statement was much easier to understand and when the translation came through the interpreters smiled and broadcast it to the world. The people around him smiled and gave him a light applause. The tall man in the crowd chuckled. He immediately caught a good vibe from the well dressed stranger.

“So...hello everyone. This is all a bit more than I expected but it’s nice to meet you all. I’m called The Traveler.” he said and with a spring in his step made his way down the ramp of his ship into a crowd of reporters and a few dignitaries that had come to greet him. He noticed no military presence but could see a few burly individuals interspersed among the dignitaries who probably concealed weapons. Still, he was unconcerned by this as everyone around him was smiling and seemed happy and eager to make his aquantaince.

An attractive, dark skinned woman with glossy black hair stepped up to him. With a very thick accent of the language spoken on this world she said to him in his own:

“Welcome to our world. It is very rare that we get a visitor such as yourself. We are curious as to why you are here and...” she struggled with the next few words but forged ahead nevertheless. ”...anxious as to your purpose for your visit. But please, make yourself at home. My name is Orphi.” the woman said and then made their planet’s gesture of greeting. The Traveler duplicated the greeting and the crowd chuckled slightly. The Traveler instinctively knew that there must be a different response to the greeting.

“Uh, please excuse my ignorance of your ways. I’m new here, ya see?” he said with a smile. Of course they understood what he meant once the translation came through. The tall man in the crowd got a kick out of the newcomenr’s attempt, however and appreciated his effort at civility. He decided that once this visitor got himself settled he would make it a point to introduce himself to the strange space visitor.

“Why are you here?” Orphi asked the Traveler.

“Hmmmm...call it an extended vacation. I need a nice place to settle down for a bit and your place looked an ideal world for such a thing. Do you mind?” he asked with a hopeful and humble an expression as he could summon up. Orphi turned to her fellow delegates and conversed with them for longer than the Traveler thought was good but when she turned back to him with a smile he felt positive they would allow him to stay, perhaps even fix him up with some decent accommodations.

“Provided you are peaceful and prove of some good use to us, you may stay on our world as long as you wish.” said she more easily as her comfort with his language increased.

The Traveler was delighted by their decision though he wondered what she meant by ‘of some use to them’. Nevertheless, he shrugged and was happy they would host him.

“Thank you so much! That is terribly kind of you all. So, then if you could direct me to a more permanent place to park I’ll get on with the business of getting myself settled in.” said the Traveler to everyone and once again waved to them all. The delegation directed him to follow them and began to walk off the landing pad. The Traveler followed them and the small press corps followed him.

The people gathered around the pad applauded the decision for him to stay and began to disperse and return to whatever it was they were doing before his arrival to await more news on their wondrous, off-world guest. The tall man in the crowd also went back to his work which, at the moment, was working at a large library in the city by the space port. He liked the city for it also sat on the shore of a small sea or very large lake, depending on how one chose to think about it.

The Traveler was led to a nice looking vehicle with long, smooth lines and an impressive set of driving lights for use during the long nights on the planet.

Orphi opened a door for him.

“Get in. We have some questions for you while we get you situated.”

The Traveler shrugged and crawled into the vehicle. The inside of the machine was well appointed and comfortable. The Traveler was flanked by two of the burly guard type men while Orphi sat across from him alone in her own seat. The Traveler was then subjected to an interview of sorts about why he was here and chose their planet as a place of refuge.

He told them of the war he was in and what it did to him psychologically. He was honest and open with Orphi when answering her questions and told her pretty much the truth about everything omitting, of course, the fact that he was a time traveler. She seemed to accept all of his answers and by the time they reached their destination the interview was over. On the way to where she took him he saw little more than vast fields of a golden grain growing on either side of the road to the place where their journey ended.

The place turned out to be a large flat topped building. Solar cells were arrayed along its top and in large numbers around the land surrounding it.

“You people seem to be into solar power in a big way.” said the Traveler as he was escorted from the vehicle.

“It is the main source of power for our world.” Orphi said. “We have also developed battery storage cells that can save the power during our long nights with a near zero loss in capacity .”

“Now that is impressive.” he said in ernest. In all of his journeys in time one of the main goals of any society intent on harnessing the power of their suns was developing a battery that could store the power with maximum efficiency. “Near zero loss, you say? Not bad. Not bad at all.”

“Other than our farming techniques it is our planet’s biggest achievement.” Orphi said with a fair amount of pride.

“And you do not export or trade this most sought after technology with the rest of the galaxy?” asked the Traveler.

“We do not.” Orphi replied. “To do so would invite much unwanted attention to our planet that our leaders for generations have deliberately avoided.”

“Why?” asked the Traveler.

“Because over the generations our world has achieved a near perfect environmental balance with our planet. To open ourselves up to the rest of the galactic community would serve only to disrupt that harmony. Or, at least that has been what is agreed upon by our leaders for a thousand of our years. Oh, there have been dissenters and movements to do otherwise but they have always been in the minority and so we continue as we have.”

During Orphi’s brief history lesson they had made their way into the impressive building. The Traveler looked around the interior again, impressed. The architecture was exquisite. Modern, like he liked it yet still retaining an ancient element to the design that was well blended with the newer design.

“Wow.” he said again as he craned his head around, taking it all in. Orphi turned to him with inquisitive eyes.

“You have not asked where we are taking you. Are you not curious?”

“Well, I reckoned you’re taking me to meet your leaders or bosses, the next people up the chain of command, so to speak. It’s okay. I’m cool with that. Can’t wait to meet them, really.” replied the Traveler with a smile. “I mean, I got all dressed up and everything. It would be a waste to not show off this suit to some higher ups.”

Orphi had some trouble with his dialect and some of the words he chose but got the gist of what he meant.

“Yes. You will be meeting with our world governing council. Some will be present but most will be through holographic projection from the few other cities around the globe.” she explained pretty much what he thought. The two guards peeled off and went away as Orphi and the Traveler approached a large set of doors that swung open at their presence. Orphi motioned him in ahead of her. As he passed she said:

“Simply introduce yourself and state your intent. Be as direct and brief as possible.”

“What? You’re not coming in with me?” The Traveler asked Orphi.

“No. My job is done. You’re own you’re own with that lot. Good luck, the Traveler.” Orphi said, turned and left him to enter the chamber alone. He adjusted his suit needlessly and walked into the room with a jaunty step in his stride. Inside he was presented with three actual figures and five holographic ones. Two of the three present were female and wearing suits that almost rivaled his own in fashion while the third was male and wearing what to the Traveler looked like an ornate bathrobe.

Of the five holograms, two were female wearing dresses that flattered their shapely figures while the other three males wore robes similar to the one that was actually present wore but all of different colors. The Traveler initially took the colors to represent their rank but soon surmised that they really represented the regions which were under the charge of the representatives.

“Hello everyone.” he said. “Mind if I smoke?” he asked as he withdrew a thin square metal case that he kept his normal smokes in.

“If you must.” one of the holographic females said so he extracted one from the case, lit it with a bite on the filter and drew on it.

“State your name and your purpose here.” the non-hologram male told him. Keeping in mind what Orphi had told him he basically told the same story he related to her in the car. The leaders all looked at one another for quite some time as if deliberating. The Traveler began to get a bit nervous as he awaited their decision but when one of the females that was actually there smiled at him he felt instantly at ease. He had been collecting the ashes from his cigarette in his palm during their wordless conference and when the female approached him he rubbed the ashes into the pocket square of his suit. He also crushed out the butt on the sole of his shoe and after wrapping it in the square of fabric, tucked it back into his jacket.

The woman who approached him spoke.

“We have decided, based on your sad but heartwarming tale that you may remain on our world for as long as you like. You will be given a modest dwelling outside of a town near the city where you landed. You may park your ship next to your house if you wish. It is a fine looking craft. Very modern compared to the last interstellar visitor we had. That was nearly a hundred years ago. We also like its color so that’s a plus in your favor, as well.”

Her words and their decision made the Traveler very happy and he was excited to get settled in.

“Well then...thank you all very much. This means a lot to me and is something I really need after the horrific experience I related to you.” he said to them.

“We understand this.” said one of the male holograms. “Rest on our pleasant planet and heal the pains you have endured. You may go now.”

Not wishing to stay any longer before the group the Traveler spun on a heel and made a hasty exit. Outside Orphi was gone. He would not see her again until later when his troubles began. He walked out the way he came and found the car he was taken to meet the world leaders in waiting for him. A single man stood next to the vehicle. The Traveler looked around but saw no one else. The man opened a door for him.

“I am to take you back to the space port so that you may bring your ship to the place that has been selected for you to live.” the man said.

“Excellent, good!” said the Traveler but instead of getting in the open door he walked up to the man and introduced himself.

“How ya doin’, mate. I’m the Traveler.” he said.

The man, who was as proficient in his language as Orphi said:

“Yes. I know. Everyone knows. My name is Kazmeyer.”

“Pleased to meet you Kazmeyer. Listen, this may be unorthodox or whatever but I have a request.”

Kazmeyer raised a black eyebrow over a dark green eye.

“Yes?” Kazmeyer said. “What is it?”

“Can I drive?” asked the Traveler with a hopeful look.

Part 3

Kazmeyer briefly wondered why the Traveler would want to but with a shrug walked around to the passenger side of the long car and opened the door.

“I suppose so. If you’d like.” he said and got in.

“Oh I very much do.” the Traveler said and got in the driver’s seat. He automatically reached for a seat belt or restraint of some sort but found none. He looked over at Kazmeyer who was sitting casually in the passenger seat.

“You, uh...may want to hold onto something.” the Traveler said as he switched the car on. Kazmeyer gave him another puzzled look. The Traveler examined the controls and almost instinctively knew how to operate the luxury vehicle. He then gripped the wheel and to Kazmeyer’s surprise, launched the car from a dead stop to a speed the man didn’t know the car was even capable of. The look on his face was priceless and the Traveler laughed when he saw it. Within a few hundred meters the Traveler had the vehicle doing its maximum speed down the straight road that lead from the building he had met those higher ups in.

Kazmeyer was gripping the door handle with white knuckles. His eyeballs were comically bugged out of his head as he stared out of the windshield as they approached the first bend after the straight.

“Relax, Kaz man. I used to drive like this for a living.” said the Traveler as the bend rapidly approached. With no other traffic to worry about on the road, the Traveler swung the long car into a graceful arc and expertly drifted it around the bend and brought them straight again to regain speed. The sound and smell of tortured tires filled the car’s cabin.

“That was...” Kazmeyer began only to be interrupted by the Traveler.

”...fantastic. I know.”

“No! It was reckless lunacy!” Kazmeyer said as he slightly relaxed his grip on the door handle.

“Are you kidding me? You’ve never driven this machine as fast as it can go before?” asked the Traveler.

“No. Why would I do such a thing?” the other man asked.

“Uh, for fun. You don’t have auto racing on this world?”

“No. We do not. ” Kazmeyer told him bluntly.

The Traveler pondered this and found it odd.

“Really? Well, what do you race then?” the Traveler asked the man whose color began returning to his face after the Traveler’s artful slide ’round the bend.

“It is not something we really do here. I mean, we have sports of all sorts but none of them involve vehicles.” Kazmeyer explained. The Traveler thought briefly about perhaps changing this aspect of their planet and introducing them to the joys of motorsport but then remembered why he was here to begin with and shoved the idea from his mind.

“Do you know the way back to the space port?” Kazmeyer asked.

“Yes, of course. I have an excellent sense of direction.” the Traveler told him. Since his travels in time began he actually had developed a near superhuman sense of direction. Which, he discovered, increased the more he used the time machine. To ease Kazmeyer’s tension, he slowed the car down to a more civilized velocity and eventually returned to the space port. His ship was just as he left it with no one around

“Thanks for the ride Kazmeyer. Umm...what do I do now?”

Kazmeyer got out of the car onto slightly shaking legs and walked around its front to the driver’s side. The Traveler hopped out and Kazmeyer gave him a small, rectangular tablet.

“There are coordinates in this tablet that will take you to your new place. I believe it is just outside a town near one of our smaller cities.” the man said.

“Ah...so like, the suburbs. Sounds delightful.” said the Traveler. Kazmeyer did not know what ‘suburbs’ meant and was merely happy to have delivered his charge to the space port.

“Good luck, the Traveler.” he said and got back into the car. He pulled away very slowly and with great care. The Traveler watched the car vanish into the distance then boarded his ship. He switched on a few screens to see what news his arrival had made around the globe.

The Traveler grinned as he watched footage of himself exiting his ship to greet the gathered crowd. He decided that the suite he chose to wear to introduce himself was an excellent choice. After he got bored of looking at himself he went and changed into something more casual but no less unique or stylish. Upon returning to the pilot seat of the bridge he showed the tablet to the ship’s computer.

“What do ya say, computer? Wanna check out our new place? I mean, we’ve got like, at least fifteen hours of daylight left before a thirty hour night so I might as well get all moved in while it’s bright, right?”

“Sounds like a good plan to me. I will alert the port authorities that we will be taking off then hop us over to those coordinates.” the computer said.

“Roger that ’puter.” the Traveler said and lit a cigarette in the meantime.

The port authorities consisted of two rather bored people. A man and a woman sat opposite a table playing a complicated and lengthy board game to pass the time while images of the Traveler’s ship filled the four large screens around them.

“Have you decided on your move yet?” the woman said as she stared at the game board. Before her over varying terrain lay a battalion of holographic war machines. She had them strategically arrayed in a clever pincer maneuver to destroy her opponent. The man opposite her studied the board in the same manner he had been for the past forty four minutes. The smoldering wreckage of most of his own little holograms littered the battlefield.

“I’m still thinking.” he said, irritated.

“Thinking about the nicest way to surrender?” the woman asked with a smirk. The Traveler’s transmission broke in at this point.

“Hello? The Traveler to space port. Anyone awake over there?”

Grateful to have something to do other than make another hopeless move, the man answered.

“Space port officials. What’s up?” said he.

“I’d like permission to take off. I’ve got a set of coordinates to follow to the dwelling I was given by your officials.” said the Traveler.

The woman responded.

“You are clear to take off at your leisure. Have a safe trip and enjoy your new place. Space port out.” she said and ended the transmission. She then turned back to her coworker. “C’mon. Make your move.”

The next thing they heard was the throb of the Traveler’s motors as he fired up his ship. They rose in oscillation before growing faint and disappearing entirely. The man at the gaming table finally made a move. His forces were then decimated by his co worker’s next move.

“Ha! Drinks are on you after shift change.” she said triumphantly. The man grumbled. He had yet to ever beat the woman and wondered why he even played her in this stupid game.

The Traveler’s ship rose smoothly into the practically empty skyways above his position. Most of the vehicles he found himself among were large transport craft for hauling the grain around that the planet grew in abundance. It truly was the main staple of mostly everything produced on the planet from food stuffs to cloths and biofuels for anything not electric or solar powered.

These transports stuck to their own designated lanes so the Traveler pretty much had the regular travel lanes to himself. This allowed him to reach his destination in less time than he reckoned. There was still ten hours of light left before the long, cool night began. This was great because he was excited to see what he was given while it was still bright out.

He exited the skyway and watched as the computer flew them to their destination at an altitude low enough to get a good lay of the land as he progressed. However, all there really was to see was endless fields of golden grain flowing over gently rolling hills to a horizon unbroken by either forests or mountains. The sea, as he noted before was in the opposite direction now well behind him.

“Uh...wow?” was all he could say aloud.

“Were you talking to me?” the computer asked.

“Since you were listening then, yeah.”

On the screens the Traveler saw a road that ran straight into a small town.

“That must be the town my house is near. Slow down computer and follow the road through the town to my place.” he requested.

“Yep.” the computer compiled. As they flew over the town he zoomed in on various shops, buildings and people doing their thing. Many of them stopped and looked up at his ship as he passed over then. He smiled when most of the ones not carrying items waved at him.

Following the road a short way out of the town led him to a turn-off where he saw another, more narrow strip of gray tarmac that lead to a property. It was cut in a large circle out of the sea of golden grain and contained a house, another building about half the house’s size and a landing pad for his ship.

“Well, computer. I guess that this must be the place. Let’s land and have a look about, shall we?”

“Yep!” the computer said and three minutes later he was standing in the ship’s doorway as its ramp extended. Still delighted by the slightly less than Earthlike gravity, the Traveler skipped down the ramp. He walked around the ship as it made its series of shut down sounds and looked at the house.

It was a long, rectangular building with a flat roof made of solar cells. The color of the house was a vibrant green that stuck out wonderfully against the golden background of the endless fields. He made a circuit around the house. Its windows were narrow, rectangular save for two floor to ceiling square ones. The first was to the left of the front door and the second was around back and looked into the kitchen. He would later discover he could tint the windows from merely shaded to totally black should he choose which was a nice touch.

He then went to the smaller building and found out that it was a garage and workshop.

“Fantastic!” he exclaimed aloud. His word bouncing between the two structures but not much further. He entered the garage before the house. In it he found a small electric vehicle for himself so that he could get into town when he needed. He shook his head approvingly. “Oh this is definitely gonna get tuned up.” he said, grinning at the machine. Also within the garage was a full compliment of tools and other supplies he would need to maintain the property.

He looked around for the power cells that stored the energy from the sun but could not see them anywhere. This, though, he decided was a curiosity for another time. Finally, walked to the front door of the house. He was not given keys or an access code to get in but neither did he see a lock or keypad of any sort. He reached out and grabbed the ‘L’ shaped handle of the door.

“Welcome!” said a friendly androgynous voice. The Traveler let go of the handle and jumped back a meter.

“Holy shit!” exclaimed the startled man.

“Everything okay out there?” asked the ship’s computer through the vessel’s external speakers.

“Yeah. It’s cool.” the Traveler said and stepped forward to grip the handle again.

“Welcome!” the house said once more.

“Uh, hello.” said the Traveler. “I am your new resident.”

“Your biometrics have been stored. You now have access to the house and all within.” the house said.

“Nice.” said the Traveler who pushed the door fully open and entered. The first thing he noticed was the pleasant, clean smell. The next thing that hit him was the decor. It was all very sleek, modern and comfortable looking. The color scheme of the interior was cheerful and bright. He liked it. “Nice.” said he. “Very nice.” and walked around the place. There were only four rooms to the house. The first was a large main area that included the kitchen and seating area. The second was a main bathroom, the third a big bedroom which contained the fourth which was a large master bath.

“This will do nicely, I think.” the Traveler said to himself. He was now excited to move in his few personal items from the ship and make the place his own. He spent the rest of the day doing this before the onset of the long night.

Part 5

Once the sun had set the darkness that emerged was all encompassing. The Traveler could just barely make out the lights from the far off city and the nearby town had no effect on the night sky at all. What was revealed, however, was a starscape that was extraordinary to behold even to a man who had traveled extensively in space.

The Traveler looked up and craned his head around in all directions. The planet did have a small moon within its orbit but it was not visible on this particular night of the slowly spinning sphere. The Traveler was amazed and happy. His heart already began to feel lighter after the horror of the war he alone survived. It already began to feel as if it took place ages in his past. In reality though, it would be ages before it ever began.

He went back inside to experiment a little with the house.

“House?” he called aloud.

“Yes?” it answered him.

“Switch some lights on.”

It did. Within the interior, pleasant lighting slowly faded up from darkness in key places. The Traveler smiled and opened the front door. He stepped outside. “How about some exterior lights.”

The house did the same. The drive from the road became outlined on both sides by lighting built into the edges of the road. Under the eaves of the house more subdued lighting shone downward, outlining the building. The same type also illuminated the garage, as well.

“Excellent.” the Traveler said and went back inside. The house then began to explain the features of the lighting to him.

“The lights can be set to any visible color and designed to alternate in any desired pattern. All one needs to do is explain how one wants them set. Multiple settings can be stored.”

“Far out! Party lights!” the Traveler said giddily and spent two hours designing a variety of colors and patterns for possible situations that he thought may be amusing in the future. After doing this he set up a bit of his extensive wardrobe in the bedroom’s large closet then fell asleep on his new bed for the next ten hours.

Upon waking it was a little odd to have slept for so long while on a planet and still have it be dark outside. He quickly learnt to set the house lights to a day/night mode that better suited his physiology then decided to give the shower a try.

The master bathroom was a visual wonder of tile and chrome. The entire back wall of the room was a mirror. There was also another of much more conventional size above the sink which was a large bowl of green tinted glass. A single adjustable tap rose from the side of the sink and emptied into the bowl. The shower, however, was always the Traveler’s true test of a quality bathroom.

This shower was a stahl type that was large enough to comfortably fit two grown adults. There were four shower heads, two in the front and two at the back that could be angled at will or set to oscillate automatically. The Traveler set the water to a steamy temperature and stepped into the streams after stripping from his sleeping clothes.

“Oh yeah...” he said happily as hot water caressed his body. The water had a soft, slippery texture to it and it was hard to work up a good lather on his thin body with the soaps he had brought in from his ship. Still, the shower was satisfying enough to earn his approval. Afterwards, he exited and donned his favorite thick, towel-like robe before going to decide what to wear for the rest of the night.

He picked an outfit that contained thin lights along the seams figuring that if it was going to still be dark out for a while he might as well stand out in it. The lights lit up a soft blue that matched the gray shark skin of the outfit. On his feet he wore black ankle high boots with pointy toes and silver zippers up the sides. He checked himself out in the bathroom wall mirror, ran his fingers through his brown hair to mess it up a bit. Once satisfied with his look he went to the kitchen area.

The Traveler had plenty of stores on his ship and thought he would have to transfer some over to the house, however, he found the kitchen’s pantry stocked with local goods. The fridge and freezer were also well stocked.

“How hospitable.” he said to the house.

“Those who arranged the house for you thought it would be good for you to get used to planetary cuisine since you have planned on an extended stay.” said the house. A smiling Traveler summoned the service droid from his ship and introduced it to the house.

“You two get together and make me something like breakfast. Got it?” he asked them both. The droid and the house both acknowledged his request and got to work. The Traveler moved to the sitting area and switched on a large wall screen to a local news channel to begin to get a feel for what kind of shit went down on his new home.

Twenty two minutes later, amazing smells began wafting from the kitchen. The Traveler remained seated, choosing to be surprised by what he was brought. Thirty minutes after that, he was. The service droid brought him a bowl of stew and grilled meat on a plate in a spicy green sauce. It set the items down on a table next to the chair the Traveler was in.

“Awesome! Perfect, you two. Good work.” he said to the android and the house. He then enjoyed the hell out of the meal. Afterward he wondered what people did at this particular time on this world. He then remembered the transport that was left for him in the garage and went out to play with it.

He first walked around the machine. It had four wheels. Its tires had thick sidewalls and a proper tread for travel off road if needs be. He opened it up. The doors were scissor type and slid upwards rather than out.

“Nice.” thought the Traveler and stuck his head inside. It smelled new.

“Nicer.” he added to his thoughts. The interior color scheme was black and the seats were some sort of glossy faux leather. Easy to keep clean. He sat in it and pressed what he assumed was the starter. It wasn’t. It was the horn. The machine chirped a cheery beep which he didn’t like at all so he never pushed it again. When he did find the power button and switched the vehicle on he was pleased to see its displays light up mostly red.

There were blue and green indicators spread here and there the function of which he would explore later. He got back out. The roof was composed of solar cells and the rest of the machine was a boring gray color. This he would definitely change.

He retrieved its manual from a storage box in front of the single passenger seat and read the entire thing through. As he did so he began to form in his mind precisely how he was going to modify the machine to make it faster, more powerful and high performance. The Traveler grinned. He had discovered his first project and thing to occupy his time for a while.

The requirement of parts, paint and tools would be an excellent way to get to know the populace of the nearby town. He went back inside to watch more news, a large majority of which was still about him and his arrival. He found some paper and a pen and began to sketch out his designs for the vehicle as well as make a list of parts and equipment he would need for his project. He remained at this task until the first rays of dawn poked out across the horizon from a slowly illuminating sky.

Despite the long nights of the planet the people on it still marked the beginning of a new day with the rising of the sun. He would soon adapt to the schedules people kept. At this hour, however, this side of the world was waking. He ordered up some more food from the house and his android and switched the house’s screen to a music channel to get a listen to what was popular. Finding it mostly rubbish to his ears he went to his ship to grab his stereo equipment and set it up.

Once having done so, the sound of the Traveler’s favorites from across time could be heard from outside his place. The bass of which stretched the furthest into the fields surrounding his house.

He also had his ship broadcast the music around the globe and out into space on an empty frequency just on the chance someone may be tuning around the dial looking for something awesome to listen to. He deemed it a courtesy to his new host planet.

The house also contained a computer so the Traveler sat at it and began to search for places in the town or the nearby city that may have the stuff he needed for his car project. The problem was he had yet to learn the local language. Fortunately the house was able to translate for him all that he needed. The more active he became, the happier he felt and even after only a day on this great planet the stain of war on his heart began to fade.

With thirty hours of daylight to get things done this was a perfect chance to learn the schedule people keep with such lengthy days and nights. He got into the machine in the garage and switched it on. He clicked the door closed with the touch of a button on the car’s dashboard and set off for the small town to see what it was all about.

The place was unremarkabaly like any other small town in the suburbs of a city. It was pleasant, well maintained and the people were open, friendly and kind. As he was somewhat of a celebrity at the moment everyone knew who he was and everyone welcomed him with a friendliness and curiosity that he thoroughly enjoyed.

He established himself at the town’s single automotive shop and dealership and was able to obtain a few of the things he needed for his project. However for the paint he wanted he would have to venture into the city to find what he wanted. When it came time to pay for his purchases the owner of the shop offered him a line of credit until he was able to come up with some the currency that was used around the world.

However, the Traveler had no shortage of precious metals and unusual and interesting objects to pay or trade with. When he presented the owner with a small but substantial amount of gold the the man was happy to except it as payment. It’s value could be easily authenticated and the shop owner was delighted when he found out that it was worth many more times than the items the Traveler had bought.

The Traveler then toured the town for a bit and learnt its layout. He got several waves from passers by and smiled at everyone he met. He then returned home and after changing into a grey set of coveralls, began work on his machine.

Part 6

What the Traveler did not notice while in the town while enjoying his minor celebrity was a tall chap dressed in local clothes who was watching him from a distance with great curiosity. This was the same tall man who was present in the crowd during the Traveler’s arrival and easily learnt where he was settled by tracking where the Traveler had flown his ship to from the space port.

The tall man observed him buy the car parts for the conveyance he had been provided and recognized that they were to make upgrades in the performance of the vehicle. This interested the man and made him smile with childlike enthusiasm. It made him want to meet the visitor from space even more than he did when the Traveler landed.

All he required was the proper moment to introduce himself. He didn’t want to just ‘pop by’ the man’s place as that was not a customary thing to do on this world. In the meantime he listened to the music on the frequency the Traveler was broadcasting from his ship on his drive back into the city near the town to the place where he lived. He had never heard such fantastic music before and discovered he loved every beat of it. The music made his drive exceedingly enjoyable. In fact, he had never enjoyed driving so much and found himself pushing the speed limit many times on his drive as he was compelled to speed by the amazing sounds coming from the speakers of his car. Speakers he turned the volume up on several times.

Within a fortnight the Traveler got used to the long hours of night and day. He came to some loose sort of sleep schedule for himself and learnt the hours the populace kept for their daily lives.

He made more trips into town for project parts, supplies and food. He also exchanged an amount of his precious metals for local currency and was enjoying becoming ingrained with the local population. He journeyed into the city a dozen times but kept his visits brief and limited to auto part supplies and equipment to paint his ride with. He also augmented his garage to better facilitate a clean and professional paint job as well as other more in depth mechanical and bodywork.

The more he worked on his car the more into it he became. What first began as just a project to make it a little faster had evolved into transforming it a full on, high performance vehicle. It wasn’t long before he built himself another. As his off-world celebrity status waned he started to gain a new reputation as a fabricator of amazing, one-off vehicles. The more his cars were seen around the town and in the city, the more curious certain citizens became about them and wondered if he could make them one of their own.

When he first sought refuge on this planet he had no plan involving how his life would progress or what he would do with his time. He only knew he wanted to rid himself as best he could from the horrors of the war he had survived. As more time passed he discovered that this new direction his life was taking was extremely satisfying. He still had no idea he was being observed but the tall man finally had a good way to introduce himself to the Traveler. He would have one of these amazing vehicles built for himself by the man.

The Traveler had set up a way to be contacted via the planet’s world wide network and this became the means by which one could contract him for work on a vehicle. The tall, curious observer sent him a message indicating his desire for a vehicle but to ensure he got the Traveler’s attention, he included detailed specifications and design schematics on precisely what he thought would work well along with his wishes.

When the Traveler received these designs, he was at once intrigued by the design and who could have possibly created it. Much of what he saw was beyond even his considerable comprehension and mechanical expertise so he called up his ship’s computer for some help. As the computer was now connected to the house, the Traveler didn’t have to go to the ship to show it what was both perplexing and befuddling him about the design.

“Hey computer...” he called to it.

“What’s up?” it asked.

“What do you think about these schematics I’m looking at?”

The computer took a second to examine what he was talking about before returning its reply.

“Wow.” it said. The Traveler had to laugh at this so he gave a little chuckle.

“That’s exactly what I thought. Care to elaborate on what could elicit such a response?” The Traveler asked as he got up from the desk he was sitting at to retrieve his cigarettes. Upon finding them he struck one up and awaited the computer to elucidate on its exclamation.

“Well...I mean, it appears to be more advanced than the level of technology that is common on this planet.” the computer told him. The Traveler already knew this but that was not quite what was astonishing him.

“I already could tell that, computer. However, this planet made interstellar contact through space transmissions quite some time ago. A generation or two at the least. It’s not so far fetched that someone somewhere may still be in contact with a more advanced group that is sharing information with them, yeah?” asked the Traveler.

“That could be...” began the computer. ”...but these designs are...” its voice trailed off as if were searching for the right way to put what it was processing. Which it was. Eventually it continued. “These designs are extraordinary. Revolutionary, really. Even the information we have gathered together in our travels is nothing compared to this design. I can tell you one thing for certain.”

“What?” the Traveler asked it.

“You don’t have the facilities or the materials to produce such a vehicle here.” it said.

“What? You mean here at the house? I already knew that, computer.” the Traveler said with a roll of his sparkly brown eyes. “C’mon, I’ve been making these great vehicles for months now.

“I don’t just mean at the house. I mean on the whole planet.” the computer said. It added a touch of awe to its voice for effect. It worked.

“Wow.” the Traveler said, bringing them right back to where they started. He looked at the name of the person who sent the designs. There was only one.

It read: Rædis

The Traveler sat back in the comfy chair he was in and lit another cigarette. He blew a couple smoke rings and as they floated up before him he shot a stream of smoke through them, emptying his lungs. He drew a breath of the clean planetary air and muttered aloud.

“Rædis, huh? Well, this is definitely someone I want to meet. If anything, I’m going to need their help just building this remarkable design...”

“Were you talking to me?” asked the computer. The Traveler leaned forward, absorbed by the schematics on his screen.

“Nope.” said the Traveler, cocking his head a little to one side as he rotated the diagram he was studying. “Cripes, this is going to be one mother of a fast car. And, it’ll look totally bad-ass.” He took another drag off his smoke then looked at it. He crushed it out and got up to find something he could get high off of instead. When he sat back down with a joint wrapped in purple paper he lit it, got very stoned and cranked up the tunes. He typed a reply to the sender that read:

‘Cool design. We should discuss this together. Send me the name and place in town where we can meet and a time. Not too early. Sometime around early evening.’

“House!” he called out.

“Yes?” it answered.

“You and the android make me some breakfast.”

“You got it.” said the house. A few moments later he could hear the service droid moving around in the kitchen, preparing his food. In the meantime he went out to the garage to work on one of his own creations for a client. He felt inspired by the radical designs he had just seen. He had no idea what time it was other than it was daylight. He worked until the house told him his breakfast was ready.

The Traveler then went inside, ate and then fell asleep on the couch in the lounge area of his house.

Part 7

The Traveler awoke several hours later with a stiff neck. The long dark had begun to descend on his side of the planet. He went to the bathroom and took a stinging hot shower after eating a few pills to make it more interesting.

In the city near the town the tall man called Rædis read the message that the Traveler had sent him. He knew his design would get the man’s attention. He searched for a good place to meet in the town and selected a small cafe he knew served good food and great drinks. Rædis then returned his reply along with the name and location of the cafe.

He then dressed himself in customary casual clothes and waited for the Traveler to accept his invitation. Rædis grinned knowing the man from space would not be able to resist fabricating the design he had sent him. He sat with machine-like patience as he waited and listened to more of the music the man was broadcasting around the globe.

Every song that came on was fantastic and he began recording them and organizing them into playlists to enjoy at later times. He couldn’t wait to learn more about where they came from and hear more of what he was listening to.

It wasn’t long before a message from the Traveler popped up on the screen he was looking at. The man had accepted his invitation and said he was looking forward to meeting Rædis at the designated time. Rædis smiled and went off to tend to and play with the cat like animal that was his pet until it was time to go. When that time had arrived, he said good bye to his pet and walked out to his garage. His car shone an azure blue under the lights when he entered.

Rædis’ car was a small but quick little machine. It lacked many of the comforts and amenities people usually enjoyed but it did have a great sound system. Upon getting into it and switching it on, he tuned the radio to the Traveler’s station and set out for their rendezvous. When he reached the cafe he saw, among the vehicles parked around it, a sleek looking, bright red, very sporty looking car that he assumed must be the Traveler’s.

Exiting his car, he walked up and examined it. It was superb. A near perfect example of form and function even if a bit over the top style wise. It’s paint job was so glossy Rædis could easily check out his own reflection on one of its flatter panels. He ran his fingers through his blond hair then went inside.

The Traveler was not hard to identify as he was easily the best dressed patron in the place. The dark green suit he was wearing was made of a material that Rædis could not identify and had never seen the like of before. It did not wrinkle or crease anywhere no matter how one moved in it. Rædis raised a curious eyebrow over a blue eye before putting on a friendly face then went to greet the man.

“Hello.” he said, approaching the Traveler. The man looked around from the cute waitress he was flirting with and looked at Rædis.

“Hi!” he said and patted the stool next to him. “You must be Rædis. Have a seat and order whatever you like. Brightness...” he said to the waitress. ”...bring this man whatever he wants and put it on my tab.”

“Sure thing sweets.” the waitress said with a flirtatious wink of one of her pretty eyes. “What can I get ya?” she said to Rædis but leaned on the counter in front of the Traveler to give him a tantalizing view of her cleavage.

Rædis ordered something like a club sandwich and a soda that was this world’s version of cherry flavor which tasted exactly like a cherry soda would on Earth.

“Comin’ right up.” Brightness said and zipped off to alert the chef of the order. When she returned she stood by to attend to anyone else who may require her but stuck close enough by to the Traveler to trade flirty glances with him whenever he happened to look her way.

“And you must be the Traveler. I must say, that is an amazing suit you’re wearing. I’d love to know how it works but another time. So...what did you think of my vehicle design?” Rædis asked with a sly smile. The Traveler instantly liked the man.

He got right to the point without bothering with customary greetings, formalities and complicated or even simple hand gestures or shakes that typically accompanied introductions across the galaxy. The Traveler was grateful for this because in his journeys, he didn’t like touching people or things he did not know. He had learnt after a nasty and itchy bout with an alien virus transmitted after a simple high five that this was often for his own safety.

“I am astounded, Rædis!” exclaimed the Traveler. He produced a tablet from a blue plastic bag that was sitting on the stool to the other side of him and switched it on. When the screen lit up it revealed the schematics for Rædis’ car. “I love it and I very much want to build it. The problem, however, is I have neither the tools nor the type of workspace required to fabricate most of the components to construct such a machine. Honestly, I don’t think they even yet exists on this world.” The Traveler omitted the fact that, as clever an engineer he could be, building such a vehicle may be beyond even his considerable skill.

Rædis smiled a smile of annoyingly perfect teeth. He took the tablet from the Traveler and rotated the schematic slowly so to view it from various angles.

“What if I could take you to a place where you would have all that you needed to do the job?” asked Rædis. To which the Traveler frowned and shook his head.

“That would mean leaving this planet which is not something I’m prepared to do at this time.” he said but still gazed at the rotating plans on the tablet. The vehicle Rædis had designed was precisely the type of conveyance he wanted to start a collection of. He sipped his soda and imagined a fleet of such cars with which to drive for days, drift around a racetrack in or even race competitively. Rædis could feel the conflict in the man next to him as their orders arrived. The Traveler’s attention snapped back to the cute waitress.

“Your food boys.” she said with a bright smile directed mostly toward the Traveler. The look he wore rapidly changed to something more merry and flirtatious. Anxious to make conversation with the Traveler she lingered for a bit after sliding them their plates. She looked at the tablet.

“Ooh, what”cha got there? Looks like a design for a pretty bad-ass ride.” Both men were impressed by her observation.

“Indeed it is. Very good miss.” Rædis said. Traveler too was impressed.

“You like cool cars, huh?” he asked her and slid the tablet around so she could better see it.

“I do. And the men that drive them.” she said with a wink at the Traveler. It was then, after thinking back several months, she realized who he was. “Hey! You’re the man that arrived from space a few months ago. Wow! Do forgive me for not recognizing you earlier. The Traveler gave her his tight lipped smile.

“Don’t apologize Brightness. I’ve been keeping a low profile since I arrived.”

“You look different than when you first got here. I’m not sure what it is. Happier perhaps?” she offered. As the very excellent server she was she was good at reading people and once she remembered who the Traveler was she was able to recall minute details about him that others would miss. “That’s probably why I didn’t recognize you right at first.”

She would have lingered longer but a group of five young people entered the diner and she left to attend to them. Rædis returned his attention to the Traveler.

“I remember your arrival. It was quite spectacular for this backwater world.” he said, chuckling a bit.

“Yeah, I was going for something a bit more subtle but y’know...once you have the attention of a planet ya might as well go with it.” the Traveler said sheepishly. Rædis’ chuckle broke out into full on laughter.

“Somehow I don’t think subtlety is really your thing.” he said.

The Traveler shrugged his shoulders as he tried his sandwich. It was incredible.

“What can I say? I can’t ever refuse an audience.”

“Why did you come to this planet?” Rædis finally asked him.

The Traveler sighed. He knew this question would be asked eventually but he liked Rædis enough already to answer it. Rædis could tell by the sad and faraway look that suddenly shadowed the man’s sparkling brown eyes that this was a sensitive query.

“You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to. I can see that it is a sensitive subject.” said Rædis, prepared to drop the issue. But the Traveler found his new friend remarkably easy to open up to and after months of living on this world, mostly keeping to himself and dealing with the pain of his past, he found it kind of relief to finally tell someone about why he was there.

He took another sip of his soda, drew in a breath and began to tell a very brief version of his self imposed exile.

“Well, I tried to stop a terrible thing from happening on another planet. I thought I knew what I was doing and had the learnt enough skills to prevent the thing from happening but I was wrong and I didn’t.” The shadowy look of remembrance took on a definitely painful aspect. Rædis could easily tell that whatever the Traveler had failed to do hurt him very deeply. He continued. “So after the catastrophe I sought out a place like this to sort of put myself back together and well...heal, I guess you could say. I am on a retreat, if you want to look at it that way.”

“Do you mind if I ask what this catastrophe was?” Rædis asked carefully after a pause. The Traveler did not answer at first. His food, the waitress, his entire surroundings were forgotten as his four dimensional mind recalled the war that completely wiped out an entire civilization. He sighed and met Rædis’ blue eyes.

“It was a war. A world war. It killed everyone. Nobody survived. No one except me and just barely at that. I did the best that I possibly could. First to prevent it entirely. Then to save at least a large enough portion of the populace for them to rebuild and eventually move on and finally, anyone at all. But in the end, I was the only one left. Out of billions...only me.”

When the Traveler finished what he was saying Rædis found he had no words to reply with. His eyes were wide with both incomprehension and sympathy. The Traveler had yet to know of Rædis’ formidable mind and how hard it was to stupify but he had just done it.

“Will you excuse me for a moment.” the Traveler said and stepped outside the diner to smoke. Rædis let him go and stayed on his stool at the counter until the man returned and sat back down. “I’m sorry. Y’know...you’re the first person I’ve told that to since it happened.”

“Are you okay?” Rædis asked.

“Yeah. I’m...fine.” said the Traveler as the sparkle returned to his eyes. “It actually felt good to finally share that with someone. Thank you, Rædis.”

Rædis very carefully smiled. Both men suddenly found that they liked each other even more.

“You’re welcome, friend.” Rædis said. The word sounded so natural to them they both suddenly felt like they had known each other for years. With the tension passed and the reason for the Traveler’s presence on the planet out in the open, Rædis felt he could talk more freely about what was just shared between them. “So, are you still opposed to leaving this planet for a bit? Not long, I promise. I want to show you where you would be able to build the vehicle I speced out for you.”

“It’s not a different planet?” the Traveler said.

“No. It’s my...er, ship. If you want to call it that.”

The Traveler looked surprised.

“Oh! You’ve got a space going vessel too? Awesome. I didn’t think anyone from around this world traveled in space leave alone for a citizen to actually have their own ship.” the Traveler said quite surprised.

“They don’t travel in space. Save for a half dozen satellite launches to establish their world wide network and a few brief explorations of their moon a generation ago, they kinda lost interest in space exploration. The space port you landed at was leftover from their short lived space program.” Rædis said.

“So, how do you have your own ship?” Traveler asked Rædis, now very curious about the man. It was Rædis’ turn to look slightly sheepish.

“Well, to be honest with you, I’m not actually from this planet.”

The Traveler raised his eyebrows in surprise and nearly choked on the bite of sandwich in his mouth.

“No shit! How ’bout that. Well then...what are you doing here and where are you from?” he asked.

“That’s why I want to show you my ship. I think it will explain a lot.” he said but then thought a second and added: “And, probably raise more questions than it answers, now that I think about it.” He then ate some of his own food. Both men sat, silently chewing and looking at one another until they both broke out laughing.

“Well hells bells, Rædis. Ya piqued my curiosity. We’ll take my ship to yours.” the Traveler offered.

“Umm...that would be best, yeah.” Rædis said with a look that the Traveler couldn’t tell was smart-assed or just smart. “Let’s finish eating first. I think you’re gonna need a full stomach for this little excursion.”

“If you say so, mate.” Traveler said around a mouthful of food. It was the first time the Traveler ever called Rædis his ‘mate’ and he liked it. Rædis never had a best friend before and the way the two of them were getting along made him feel like he finally found the kind of friend he always wanted. Little did either of them know that they would soon be as close as brothers before this adventure was over. When their meal was finished the Traveler reached for the tab Brightness the waitress slid to them. On the back of it he saw she had written her name in fine handwriting of the letters of her language. Under her name she left contact information. Rædis paid for their meal but also noticed Brightness’ info on the back of the check and handed it back to the Traveler.

“You might want to hang onto this.” he said with a smile. The Traveler tucked the check into the inside pocket of his amazing suit. As he and Rædis turned to leave, Brightness caught his eye and mouthed the words ‘call me’ to him and added a wink. The Traveler nodded to her with a smile he reserved for just such interactions. The girl blushed and carried on with her work.

“Awesome.” said the Traveler. They walked to their vehicles and before parting the Traveler gave his new friend the location of his place then told Rædis that he ‘drove fuckin’ fast’ and to try and keep up. Rædis laughed and challenged the Traveler to do his best.

“Okay, if you say so pal.” said the Traveler. They shook hands and got into their cars as quickly as they could. And with that they were off. It became the first of countless times they would race against one another.

The race to the Traveler’s place was great fun. The Traveler had the faster car but Rædis had better luck catching lights and in traffic yet even though he could have won the impromptu contest he always slowed down to let the Traveler catch up and often take the lead. The Traveler thought that this was his new friend simply making the race more interesting but he had yet to learn that Rædis had such a poor sense of direction it bordered on legendary. Had he not let the Traveler frequently take the lead he would have easily lost his way on the route to the man’s house.

This would later come as a dual source of amusement and frustration once their racing career with each other began. Still, upon their arrival, the Traveler had to tell his new friend how impressed he was with his wheel skills.

“Damn dude! That was some pretty impressive driving. Even in a slower vehicle you had me quite a few times. Not bad at all, Rædis.” he said to his friend. “Your timing with the traffic lights was either very lucky or extremely clever.”

Of course the Traveler had yet to learn that Rædis was actually a living machine and he had been timing the patterns of the lights to his advantage for the whole trip to the Traveler’s house.

Part 8

After rolling up the drive and exiting their respective vehicles, Rædis took a look at the Traveler’s house. Its exterior lighting was slowly shifting through a pleasing pallet of colors.

“Nice place.” he said.

“I think so. The locals fixed me up with it shortly after I arrived. Suits me just fine.” the Traveler said. Rædis then spied the Traveler’s garage and workshop. The Traveler saw him checking it out.

“That is what I really want to see. Where you work and how you make such excellent vehicles.” Rædis said, nodding towards the building. The Traveler was delighted that his new friend found his vehicles to be excellent.

“Well then... Let’s have a look, shall we?” The Traveler said with a smile.

“Lead the way.” said Rædis with a gesture.

They walked to one of the doors and the Traveler clicked it open with the push of a button on a key fob he had in his pocket. As the door rose the lights automatically switched on. He and Rædis walked inside.

“Well...here is where I work. Soda?” said the Traveler as he walked to a refrigerator and pulled out two cans of fruit flavored pop. “I gotta say. One thing I love about this planet is the excellent array of carbonated beverages one can obtain.” he said and tossed a can to Rædis who snatched it out of the air without bothering to look at it. The Traveler blinked. “Nice catch, man.” he said.

“Uh-huh.” Rædis said as he opened the can and checked out the Traveler’s latest project. He examined it with a critical eye. One that could see things in much greater detail than the Traveler was aware of yet. Still though, even with enhanced vision Rædis was impressed with the Traveler’s work. The tolerances and precision with which the parts were fitted together were amazingly precise.

He then walked to another example in a paint booth the Traveler had built and looked at another vehicle with a critical eye. Again, he was impressed with the smoothness and richness of color that had been applied to the work in progress. The Traveler watched him look over the cars as he sipped his own soda.

“Well? What’cha think?” he asked Rædis. The other exited the paint booth with a look that made the Traveler smile his tight lipped smile.

“I think you are a fantastic craftsman and fabricator of fine vehicles. What did you do before you came to this planet?” Rædis asked.

“I was a racing driver.” the Traveler said proudly.

“A very good one, I assume. You certainly understand the mechanics of what makes a good machine.” complimented Rædis. The Traveler lit a cigarette.

“I was the youngest world champion on my homeworld in the division I raced in, actually.” said the Traveler proudly.

“Very cool.” Rædis replied. “And then you went to war? Damn dude. How did that all come about?”

The Traveler felt a slight twinge of pain when Rædis asked him this. Since coming to this planet he had made great strides in healing the post traumatic stress he had suffered since leaving the dead planet behind but his new friend’s question prompted him to remember the catastrophe once again since their meal together. The Traveler sighed.

“I can show you, actually. But first, you said you had a ship to show me. You first.” he said.

“Fair enough pal. You ready to go right now?” asked Rædis. The Traveler liked that he called him ‘pal’. It came out of the other man so smoothly like they had known each other for much longer than they had.

“Will we be gone long?” the Traveler asked. Rædis found this hard to answer. After a moment’s thought he said:

“I suppose that depends on what you think of it.”

More curious than ever to now see it, the Traveler shrugged.

“Hells, I’m ready. Let’s go!”

He patted himself down for cigarettes, lighter, keys and a few other odds and ends he usually carried and walked out if the garage. Rædis followed and the Traveler closed up the garage.

They boarded the Traveler’s ship and Rædis was once again looking around with wide, curious eyes. The Traveler caught what he thought was a flash of light behind those blue orbs. He thought he saw it as they entered his garage before the lights came up but dismissed it as perhaps an after effect of something he smoked.

“Interesting ship, this.” said Rædis as he ran his fingers along its interior surface.

“Isn’t it?” replied the Traveler. “In all my journeys I’ve never seen anything else like it. There are no manufacturer’s markings or anything to denote where or who made it.”

“So it’s a one-off then. Like one of your cars.” said Rædis with a shrug. “Where did you get it?”

As they made their way to the control cabin they passed through the cargo hold. In it was what appeared to be a large shipping container only Rædis could not identify what the metal of its exterior was. He knocked on it with his knuckles. The thing was, of course, the Traveler’s time machine but he was not prepared to reveal that just yet.

“What’s this? Rædis asked.

“Just a shipping container.” answered the Traveler. “In response to your first question, the ship was left to me by an alien after I found it in a field one day with an old friend. It was cloaked at the time.”

Rædis turned around and looked at the Traveler with an amused grin.

“How did you know it was there?” asked he.

“Well, first I crashed into it on a rented scooter and then I sort of reconfigured my friend’s mobile phone into a detector of sorts and found it for real. Inside it was an insectoid creature who, after having us in for tea asked me if I wanted the ship. When I said yes, he packed up a few things and left.”

“Wow! Neat.” Rædis said as they entered the control section and took their seats. After strapping himself in, Traveler fired up his ship and prepared for take off. He looked over at Rædis.

“Secure your straps.” he said to him. Rædis looked at the harness hanging off either side of the seat he was in.

“Oh. Yes, of course.” he said and obliged his strange new friend. Once he was strapped in the Traveler eased them off the ground and began their ascent into the sky and off the planet. He didn’t bother asking anyone for clearance or permission as their was really no one on the planet to ask for such a thing.

“Okay...so, where am I headed?”

Rædis gave him a set of spacial coordinates. “You got those, computer?” he said to the ship.

“Yep!” it said back with its cheerful female voice. This too made Rædis smile and almost laugh.

Once in the blackness of space Traveler put some tunes on and sat back to enjoy the ride.

“Artificial gravity. Nice. This is a pretty advanced vessel.” he said.

“You got that on your ship too?” wondered the Traveler to him.

“I think you’ll be surprised at what I got on my ship.” Rædis said. The Traveler raised his eyebrows once again. Who was this strange man? He was clearly not from the planet and yet had apparently been living there for some time among the populace. He supposed he would find out soon enough.

“This thing go any faster?” Rædis asked. The Traveler rolled his eyes.

“I’m pushing it as fast as it goes. We would have to enter the galactic space lanes to go any quicker but they aren’t on our route. Just relax and listen to the music. We’ll be there in an hour.”

Forty-seven minutes later the ship’s computer chimed in with some info.

“Hey. There is a pretty large object sitting at our designated coordinates. It’s not like anything I am familiar with. Just a heads up.” it said. The Traveler looked over at Rædis.

“Are you expecting this or should I raise the shield or something spacey like that?” he asked him. With a grin Rædis said:

“It’s cool man. Proceed on course.”

“Proceed on course then, computer. Apparently it’s cool.”

“You got it.” it said.

Part 9

As they neared the coordinates provided by Rædis, nothing could be seen through the front window of the Traveler’s ship. He checked his instruments for whatever it was the computer said was there. The scans returned a huge object. It was roughly spherical in shape and emitted a ferocious magnetic field. Traveler slowed his ship down and flipped through more of the screens arrayed around the cabin.

“Something is definitely out there.” he said. “It isn’t cloaked or anything fancy like that it’s just too dark so far out where we are to illuminate it for us to see visually. If it’s a ship, it’s the biggest damned ship I’ve yet to see, that’s for sure.”

Rædis offered up a little chuckle that amused the Traveler.

“What’s so funny?” he asked his strange new companion.

“Watch this.” Rædis said and motioned towards the front window. Then, with a command that he sent from his mind to the computer on his own ship, he told it to switch on its lights in spectacular fashion.

When it did, what the Traveler saw blew his mind. Across the front window an enormous vessel suddenly appeared. Dramatic lighting highlighted some of its more spectacular features such as long spires terminating in observation and astronomical view points, places to dock both along side of it and within, grids that resembled both city streets and circuit board patterns and so on.

The Traveler, rarely at a loss for words, simply sat in his seat and stared at the spectacle in space before him. Rædis then lowered the magnetic field as the vessel loomed larger the closer they got to it. The Traveler knew what he was looking at though he could hardly believe it actually existed.

Throughout his voyages in time and space he had heard legends and tales of an ancient and reclusive machine race. The tales told of how they evolved to such a high degree that they were even able to render their homeworld an actual spacefaring vessel of its own and that they traveled the galaxy exploring, learning and improving themselves.

He knew by its size that this was not their mobile homeworld but rather a ship that they had built to send off a portion of their populace to infiltrate inhabitated worlds, disguise themselves as people from those planets and ingrain themselves into their societies to gather more detailed information in secret. After a long time he very slowly shifted his gaze from the machine ship to the smiling man sitting next to him. Eventually, he regained the ability to speak.

“Rædis...” he began. ”...are you a member of the ancient and legendary race of machines?”

Rædis drew a cigarette from a pack he had seen in one of the cubby holes of the dashboard of the ship. It was the kind that self lit with a bite on the filter end. He squeezed it instead, sparking it to life and took a couple drags from it before placing it deftly between the Traveler’s parted lips. Once done, he answered:

“Yes. Yes I am. And that, my new friend, is my home. I call it my ‘worldship’.

The Traveler took a drag off the smoke and watched as Rædis’ eyes lit up a silvery glow that, in his glee, he could suppress no longer. The Traveler’s gaze shifted back to the enormous vessel.

“Holy hells, I can see why.” He then looked at Rædis again. So you’re really an actually living, sentient machine? From a race of other sentient living machines? This is unreal.” he said as the cigarette dangled from his bottom lip.

“I shit you not, pal.” said Rædis, still smiling.

“I’ve only heard of your lot in legends. Well, I’ll be damned. How come you look like a human?” asked the man.

“I am in disguise. It’s what we do. Well, very few of us. Very, very few. In fact to date, I’m the only one of us I know of that has separated themselves from our collective consciousness. Others have tried but eventually all returned.” explained the living machine.

The Traveler had dozens of questions on tap but the only one he was able to get out was:

“Why?”

“None of them could cope with being apart from the whole for very long. Personally, I found being connected to an entire civilization of minds rather obtrusive.” The Traveler laughed at this.

“That’s awesome Rædis.” he said once he settled down.

“So, the machines built me this ship so I could travel in style, wished me the best and sent me on my way. As it is rather difficult to keep a ship the size of a small moon hidden all the time, legends began to spring up of the machine race and their traveling planet. Of course our actual planet is much, much larger but still, many a space farerer had caught a glimpse of it over the years. Enough to propagate the stories you’ve heard in your journeys. Pretty cool, huh?” said Rædis, still smiling his perfect smile.

“It’s the coolest thing I’ve seen yet. Well, perhaps the second.” Traveler told him.

“Only the second?” said a slightly deflated robot.

“I too have something to show you that I think will equally blow your machine mind.” Traveler said. This time he was smiling his own, thin lipped smile. “Can I land in it?” he said of the worldship.

“Of course! That’s why I brought you here. For a little tour, if you will.”

“Oh, I definitely will.” said an excited Traveler.

“Okay then. May I take us in?” Rædis asked.

“Of course!” the Traveler said as he turned the control of his ship over to Rædis. With expert pilotage Rædis glided the ship into one of its numerous landing bays. It closed behind them and the entire area pressurised as they unstrapped themselves and made their way back through the cargo hold.

Rædis once again paused by the shipping container and touched it.

“I’ve never seen or felt metal like this. You said it was left on the ship by the alien that gave it to you?” he asked.

“Yep. We’ll get to that later. I want to see this ship!” the Traveler exclaimed as the rear ramp lowered and he began to almost skip down it. Rædis watched him with delight. The Traveler looked like a kid who was just taken to the coolest place he could imagine. Also in the large bay where they landed were several other ships of various designs from bulky, long haul cargo transports to sleek little pleasure craft built for speed and possibly racing.

The Traveler’s head was on a swivel as he checked out all the vessels.

“Oh man, this is sooo cool, Rædis.” he said in an almost reverent tone. The robot beckoned him toward a lift.

“Come on. This way, man.” he said with a wave. The Traveler followed him after tearing his attention from the various vessels.

Part 10

The cargo bay transitioned into a wide corridor with smooth decking for floors. The lighting was a pleasing subdued shade of blue but Rædis turned it up to a brighter color that more resembled natural daylight.

The Traveler looked all around him as they progressed along the hallway. They passed many doors and lift entrances to places that, even after much time together would pass, he would still have yet to enter. When they finally reached the end of the corridor they entered a lift that would take them to the most oft used bridge by the living machine.

“Is the ship sentient, like you?” asked the Traveler on the way. He could feel them change direction many times during the ride.

“No. Its creators felt that one sentient machine was enough to handle this mother of a ship. Its main computer is the only other thing aboard that resembles a living machine only it merely mimics sentient responses. Too much for my liking, if you ask me.” Rædis said with a disdainful tone and expression to match. The Traveler studied his face. Upon closer inspection he realized it was too perfect. There wasn’t a wrinkle or blemish upon it and its symmetry was alarmingly perfect. Again he caught a glimpse of light behind his pale blue eyes.

“What do you really look like?” the Traveler asked him, cocking his head to one side as he looked at the tall thin machine in man form.

“Well...like this.” said Rædis. Then, before the Traveler’s eyes, Rædis’ human disguise morphed into his true form. Patches of silver were revealed as the human flesh receded until a shiny silver robot with seamless metal yet manageable skin now stood before him in the slightly shabby clothes of the people of the planet. His blue eyes had changes to bright mechanical orbs that did in fact emit a dim light. The Traveler would come to realize the level of lighting changed depending on the robot’s excitement.

“Well, what do ya think?” Rædis said, presenting himself.

“That, my friend, was awesome. Can you adopt any disguise you like?” asked the Traveler.

“Pretty much. Well, as long as it is within similar mass to my own and I can hold it as long as need be.” said the robot.

The Traveler couldn’t resist reaching out and tussling Rædis’ spikey fiber optic hair. It shifted from a colorless white-ish/clear to a pink hue. The Traveler laighed.

“Hahaha! Fantastic! Change it to blue. That would look cool. Rædis complied and after checking his reflection out in the shiny surface of the lift door, agreed. “Now all we need to do is get you into some proper clothes and you will look absolutely killer.”

Rædis smiled at this suggestion. He had been admiring the Traveler’s suit since they first met and realized he would very much like to have one. Little did he know yet that his new companion was a paragon of fashion with a wardrobe of fine outfits that spanned the ages.

They finally arrived on the bridge and the lift doors opened. Rædis motioned for the Traveler to step out first. When he did, he was treated to what he thought to be the most proper spaceship bridge he had ever seen. It contained lots of screens and readouts, inscrutable flashing lights and displays, many comfortable looking chairs to sit in that were arranged in key positions and an enormous view screen at the front that was easily one story high and wrapped a quarter of the way around the front of the room.

Rædis walked up next to him.

“Like it?” he asked.

“Oh yeah.” the Traveler said, once again, at a loss to say anything more. When he regained control of himself the first question that came to his mind was:

“If you’re the only one aboard then why all the extra seats?”

Rædis laughed. In his natural form the sound was tinged with a slight electric static.

“I have a crew, so to speak, of androids to man the stations in case I should need additional personnel.”

“For what?” the Traveler asked as he walked around the bridge touching things with his long, thin fingers.

“For anything. Space is a big, weird place man. Who knows what one could run into at any given time. As someone who chose ‘The Traveler’ as a moniker, and just landed in a super huge spaceship with a living machine I would expect you to already know this.” Rædis said with just the right touch of sarcasm that only a living being could get right. The Traveler looked around at him.

“Damn dude. You really are sentient.” he said which made Rædis smile. “A sentient smart-ass.” he added. Both of them laughed.

“I’ve learnt a lot since I left home.” said Rædis.

“Well mate, get ready to learn more than you ever imagined.” the Traveler said. “I could spend the rest of my days exploring this amazing ship but I’ve got a thing to show you that just might pop that mechanical mind right off the top of your head.”

Rædis raised an eyebrow over a luminous eye.

“Really?” he said, very interested.

“Really.” repeated the Traveler. “And, I believe I have finally found the perfect person to not only show this to but to perhaps, if you’re up for it, to come along with me on my journeys. Back to my ship!”

The Traveler spun on a heel and headed back to the lift. On the way down to the hanger Rædis asked:

“Journeys to where?” Rædis asked multiple times on the way back to the hanger.

The Traveler didn’t say a word until they had returned to the cargo hold of his ship next to the shipping container looking thing. He only grinned and sort of giggled to himself every time Rædis asked. He leaned against the long rectangular container at a jaunty angle and, after lighting a heavily drug laced cigarette, finally answered his friend’s question.

“Journeys to when is a more apt question.” he said and patted the thing upon which he was leaning. “You see this...” he paused for dramatic effect. ”...is a time machine.”

Now it was Rædis’ turn to stare wide-eyed in disbelief as the Traveler had done upon approaching the worldship.

“Really? Nooo... Like, actual back and forth time travel, not just forwards because of say, the oddities of near lightspeed travel?” Rædis asked, touching the mystery metal of the time machine’s exterior again.

“Seriously. For real. If you want to go forwards a thousand years, backward a thousand seconds or whatever the interval, this machine can do it.” said the Traveler proudly.

“How?” wondered Rædis to his now, even more compelling new friend.

“I have no idea what makes it work. Perhaps you could be able to make more sense of its mechanisms and drives than I, having access to a billion years worth of your race’s knowledge. Your lot were able to unmoor your homeworld from your star system to travel around the galaxy, I reckoned you must have dabbled in time travel attempts.” the Traveler said.

Rædis shook his head negative, however.

“Actually, no. Time travel never interested my people for some reason or other. Most probably because it was deemed impossible. Forwards in a way, sure but backward...no way. Then, of course, all the questions about causality and the order of events and all the other paradoxes that arise when messing about with time.” Rædis told him.

“Yes, yes...of course. But, since I began using the machine I’ve gained a whole different perspective on time. C’mon...I’ll show ya.” the Traveler said and pressed his palm against the back of the machine. A door slid open to reveal at first, a small airlock section. He stepped in and the machine’s lights came on a bright red. Rædis followed and the Traveler shit the door. After a second the lights of the airlock changed first to blue then to green. After this they were granted access to the rest of the time machine.

Rædis acted much as the Traveler did when first entering the worldship. He looked all around, examining everything with his unique eyes and enhanced vision. The Traveler watched him doing this with childish delight.

“So I take it that airlock section was to detoxify us to prevent bringing any microbes or bacteria from time to time.”

“Very perceptive, Rædis.” said the Traveler as they proceeded further into his time machine. The next section they passed through was the living quarters which the Traveler kept extremely tidy. What Rædis could not see were souvenirs from various times the Traveler kept stored in various lockers and drawers. Also stored away were a variety of excellent outfits suitable for wear across the ages. All of which were every bit as fantastic as the one which he currently wore.

Finally, they reached the control section at the opposite end from the entrance. Rædis’ keen bright eyes examined everything he saw.

“The interior of the time machine can be switched around to suit a variety of operators. I suspect not all of them were proportioned like you and me.” the Traveler explained.

“Like the insectoid who gave you the machine.” Rædis stated.

“Precisely.” said the Traveler. “Once I realized what this was and that it could be done, I rearranged the entire interior to suit myself.”

Rædis was mystified as he played his hands over the control surfaces and various other components.

“Where did it come from? Who built it?” he said almost to himself with a nearly reverent tone in his voice. The Traveler shrugged.

“I wish I knew. I plan to somehow find out one day once I get better at using the thing.” he said.

“And how does one actually use it?” the robot asked.

“Ah. Now that will take some explaining and, because I think you’re awesome, a demonstration.”

Rædis grinned a shiny, silver grin.

“I was so hoping you would say that.”

The Traveler looked at his new friend with some surprise.

“Well of course I’m going to show you! I would never have even revealed its existence to you if I didn’t think that you and I have a future together.”

“Have you seen this future?” Rædis asked.

“A very good question and the answer is no. To know one’s future is to become trapped in it. Or at least I think so, anyway. Have a seat.” he said to Rædis and motioned to the second of the two seats at the controls.

“I see you have this already set up for two. Have you had other passengers before?” the robot asked. The Traveler would come to enjoy Rædis’ insatiable curiosity for it would lead them to many adventures together as well as quite a few mishaps but he found it as hard to resist as Rædis did the Traveler’s enthusiasm, fearlessness and overall charm.

“Nope. You are the first. Please, sit.” he said again. Rædis did and asked more questions.

“As one who is not naturally born to travel in time, how did you even begin to figure out the complexities of such a thing? Did the machine teach you?”

The Traveler sat in the pilot’s seat and proceeded to get very high off of an alien drug of some kind or other that he inhaled via a device that atomized a crystalline form of the drug with a push of a button on its side.

As the drug took hold of his mind he explained to Rædis how he had to learn to think four dimensionally. He also had to change the way he viewed the progression of time itself from a linear perspective to a more fluid, multidimensional point of view that he equated to a vast bubbling pool.

Each bubble in the pool of time was a particular, individual point in its movement through it. Bubbles could change direction, merge with others or pop completely. Using the time machine was like gaining the freedom to move through this pool of time unattached to any of the bubbles. With the time machine one could alter the path of individual bubbles, cause ones to join with others or end them entirely.

Rædis found the analogy to be adequate and insightful.

“Why the drugs though?” he asked.

“They help me pilot the machine with greater accuracy as they open my mind to the unnatural patterns of thought required to navigate this pool of time. There are significant drawbacks to this of course, as you can probably imagine.” said the Traveler. His sparkly brown eyes became bloodshot and his pupils opened wide.

Part 11

“So you pilot a time machine around this...pool of time, while high off your ass on all sorts of weird drugs.” said Rædis suddenly feeling considerably less intrepid than he did moments ago.

“Basically, um...yeah. It’s the only way I can expand my mind enough to perceive the fourth dimension with any degree of accuracy.” the Traveler said as he gripped the two shiny control sitcks that stuck out of the console he sat before. He looked over at Rædis with a manical grin. “Ready?”

Rædis gripped the armrests of his seat.

“I reckon so.” he said.

“Fantastic! Off we go!” the Traveler said and engaged the time machine’s engines. On the monitor in front of them the image of the cargo hold of the Traveler’s ship blurred out of sight and an instant later, reappeared. The sound of the time machine’s motors shut down.

“That was it?” Rædis asked sounding slightly disappointed.

“Yeah sure. What did you expect? I only took us a year into the future.” said the Traveler. “C’mon, I’ll prove it to ya.” He got up and left the time machine the way he came. Rædis followed. When they walked down the ramp of the Traveler’s ship he looked around. Everything looked exactly as it did before.

Nothing in the landing bay of the worldship had changed.

“Computer!” Rædis called out to his ship’s computer that he hated. In a lethargic, boring voice it answered.

“Rædis.”

“How long has it been since you last logged my presence onboard?” he asked it.

“It has been precisely one year and three seconds.”

The Traveler smiled.

“Told ya. Want to go longer? It is a lot more interesting when more time passes, either forward or back and we are somewhere more interesting than a hanger. First, I will take us back a minute after we left though.”

As large as Rædis’ mind was in capacity and scope, he still found it difficult to wrap his head around what he just did with his weird new friend. They reboarded the time machine. Before he took them back though, the Traveler issued a slight warning to the robot.

“Once we return you may want to avoid this hanger at that moment a year from our return.”

Rædis thought he understood why, as not to run into his past self but then asked:

“Yeah, but a year from now me and the whole ship will probably be someplace else entirely. What happens to the selves that are here now?”

The Traveler shrugged.

“Pool of time, mate. Who knows? Those bubbles we just created may pop while what we are now continues doing what we’ll be doing. Ya follow?” he said and lit a normal cigarette.

“Nope. Not at all.” said Rædis with what the Traveler thought was a priceless look of befuddlement for a robot to be wearing. He would learn that Rædis had one of the most expressive faces of anyone he ever would know and always would get a kick out of making it do expressive things.

“Ah well...doesn’t matter. You’ll get the hang of it.” he encouraged and nudged the living machine with his elbow. “Okay...back one year and a few minutes.”

The Traveler did the same things with the controls and the time machine’s engines made the same noise only in reverse. They had arrived. This time upon exiting the Traveler’s ship Rædis asked the computer again how long he was gone. In the same bored voice it told him six minutes.

“Where did I go and how did I leave the worldship?” he then asked it.

“You didn’t say where you were going and how you left...” it paused as it tried to answer that question. ”...You entered the guest known as The Traveler’s ship and after that I could no longer detect you.”

“Weird.” Rædis said, his eyes all aglow. “The time machine seems impervious to scans.”

“Yep!” said the Traveler. “And a hell of a lot of other things too. It’s been through a fucking war, fer cryin’ out loud and who knows what else before I took possession of it. Its former pilot wiped all of its logs.”

“Good thinking on his part. So the next user can’t interfere with the places and times they had gone.”

“I thought the same thing. Tricky thing, messing around in time. Didn’t work like I thought it did.” the Traveler said. “You want a soda?”

“Sure.” answered Rædis so the Traveler went into his ship and brought out two cans of cold cola for them. They popped the tops and clinked the cans together. Rædis was full of questions. His next was this:

“So, does it travel in space as well as time?” To which the Traveler replied:

“No. It’s not a time ship. If I want to go to a place in time I have to take it to that place in the present or whatever when I’m in and make the trip from there.” Anticipating Rædis’ next question he said: “However, it does seem to move itself enough to compensate for universal motion and to avoid things like materializing into objects that may be in its way when I arrive at the times I choose. I don’t know how it works out those things but it does.”

Rædis said nothing for a while until he could summon up a ‘wow’.

“Wow. What a curious thing.”

“Absolutely.” agreed the Traveler. “Especially when I get it right. I had a few temporal mishaps in my initial attempts to use it.”

“I bet.” said Rædis after another sip of soda.

“What i need is someone to travel with. Someone with a long and perfect memory who can withstand the vigorous oddities of time travel with an insatiable desire to explore...” the Traveler said, very obviously insinuating himself. “How ’bout it Ræ? You wanna say, team up and tackle this mother together?”

It didn’t take much to persuade the living machine. He already had the coolest exploratory ship ever built and now a cool new friend that he liked from the off with an equally unique thing of his own to add to his adventures.

“You bet I do. It’s basically a no-brainer.” said a very pleased robot.

“Well...that was easy. I got another question for ya.” the Traveler said.

“What is it?”

The Traveler smiled his most persuasive smile.

“Do you like racing?”

Rædis stood there holding his soda and looked around at some of his faster ships.

“Y’know...I think I might.”

The Traveler was elated. He was completely over the post traumatic stress of the war that he alone survived and was filled with excitement fueled ideas he had not been since.

“Come with me. I’ll show you more of my worldship. After all, yer gonna need some quarters of your own and I want you to have whatever suits you best.” said Rædis with a welcoming smile. He knew when he first saw the Traveler upon his landing that their was something extraordinary about the man and his intuition served him well. Up until now, he too was alone in his journeys but no longer. He had just made a friend for life.

The two would go on to experience things that no other beings had ever dreamt were even possible. They would form a new racing team together and become fearsome top competitors within the galactic racing community and, of course, explore the roiling pool of time with much greater success than anyone could on their own.

As they walked form the hanger together Rædis turned to his new best friend with a look that gave the Traveler pause.

“What?” he asked. Rædis sighed an electric sigh. It was a unique sound the Traveler had never heard before and one only Rædis could produce.

“Well...it’s about your name.” Rædis said.

“What about it?” the Traveler asked, a little perplexed.

” ‘The’ Traveler? Really? I mean, I can’t seriously introduce you to people with such a prefix. It’s...” he searched for the right words. ”...pompous, silly, I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem to fit. I’m certain not going to call you The Traveler. Just Traveler suits you just fin. Trav, for short. You just called me ‘Ræ’. No one ever did that before and I like it.”

Now it was the Traveler’s turn to sigh. He always thought the ‘The’ leant his moniker a sort of mystique that he liked. His real name was Brian and no one would take a time traveling Brian seriously he always figured.

“Traveler, huh? Trav...” he said, trying the shortened version. “We’ll talk about this later. Show me more of your kick-ass worldship.

Together the two walked on to a lift and into the future of their new lives.

(This story was meant for a new challenge I spotted about writing a cliffhanger but for some reason would not post on it. The 100 word limit may have something to do with it but seriously, I really couldn’t compose a decent, readable cliffhanger in only 100 words. Shame, that. I suppose I’ll have to wait and see what others have come up with to get a better idea. Still...I think this little scene ended on a pretty decent cliffhanger. Which was the whole point of it.)

One day Traveler was in his studio occupying himself by mixing up some fat new beats. He had spent the better part of his day smoking pot and playing around with sounds, creating short but awesome little tunes then beaming them into space across a variety of frequencies. As he was rolling himself up a fresh joint he got a call from Rædis who was on his favorite bridge of his worldship, just chilling and watching the space ahead of them on various displays. He had Traveler’s new music playing across the sound system and was sitting in comfortable chair sipping soda as space passed by on their way to their next destination. Before retreating to his sound studio Traveler asked him where they were going. All Rædis told him, however, with an enigmatic smile was that it was a surprise. Cool with that, Traveler went off to do what he was doing. Suddenly Traveler got a call from his friend.

“Hey man. You should come up here and take a look at this.” he said over the studio’s comm line. “Sure. I’ll be right there.” Traveler replied. Rædis, knowing his best friend, knew he had at least forty minutes or so before the man would appear so he simply sat back and watched what had just appeared in the space in front of them on the huge screen at the front of the bridge. Since Rædis’ worldship was so big, he avoided traveling along the established galactic space lanes opting for more rural, off the path routes to their destinations. This led them through some of the stranger, less explored sections of the galaxy and it was on their current route where the thing he had never experienced before appered. He brought the ship to a sudden stop. Forty-four minutes passed and Traveler was still not on the bridge. Rædis switched on the ship-wide intercom and hailed his friend. “Are you coming or what? There’s a weird thing in our way that you really should see.” he said. His voice echoed throughout the rooms and corridors of the ship. The small population of inhabitants that also called the worldship home such as their racing team members and a few space wanderers that would occasionally hitch a lift on it had learnt to ignore these calls for Traveler to join Rædis. They weren’t very frequent but the people knew to disregard them when they were made. Traveler walked to a comm panel and pressed a button on it to open a channel to the bridge.

“I’m on my way, okay! This vessel isn’t exactly small you know. I’m boarding the second tram now.” said a slightly irritated Traveler. The trip from his studio to where Rædis was actually involved three tram rides and a short drive to the bridge in a small but fast little coupe that was left there for just such a purpose. “What’s the rush anyway?”

“Some sort of hole has appeared in the fabric of space/time and would be drawing us into it if I hadn’t stopped the ship. The engines are holding us away from it but it’s putting a bit of a strain on them.” came Rædis’ answer through the comm. “Right on. I’ll speed it up a bit.” said Traveler and boarded the second tram. He sat down and buckled himself in then the pill shaped transport shot him through a tube like a bullet. He exited on slightly shakey legs, got into the final tube tram which brought him to a bad-ass looking little coupe he designed special for this part of the trip to the bridge Rædis was on. He shoved a helmet down over his head, buckled himself in and with the instant acceleration of an electric car, took off with barely a squeak of its wide tires on the smooth decking of the ship. Ten minutes later he burst onto the bridge holding his helmet. “A hole in space you say.” he said. What kind of hole? “Black? Worm?” Rædis pointed to the huge view screen. “More of a...colored hole, it seems.” Traveler stepped fully onto the bridge and looked at the screen. On it was a large, swirling vortex that changed colors like a kaleidoscope as it spun. At it’s very center was a tiny black dot. “Wow! You never saw anything like that?” asked Traveler.

“Nope. You?” said Rædis as he stared at the psychedelic vortex as if hypnotized by it.

“How far away is it?”

“Two and a half thousand miles from us. It’s been there for an hour and three minutes now.” answered Rædis.

“Did you ask the computer what it was?” said Traveler. He looked at Rædis like he already knew the answer.

“No. Why would I ask that piece of junk anything?” Rædis said, narrowing his bright eyes. Rædis hated the ship’s computer. It was an irrational thing for him to do. The computer had been programmed with a billion years worth of his races’ knowledge and was a terrific resource for learning about things exactly like they were faced with at this very moment. “You ask it.” he told Traveler who loved using the thing. Traveler cleared his throat and moved to the center of the bridge in front of the view screen.

“Computer!” he called to it.

“What’s up, Traveler.” it responded. Its voice and personality were currently set to imitate a Twentieth Century rap artist Traveler liked, especially when working in his studio. The rapper was a member of a group called The Wu-Tang Clan and spoke with a heavy Brooklyn accent.

“Do you know what the colored hole is out in front of the ship?”

The computer scanned it and thought for half a second.

“Nah dawg. I ain’t never seen nuthin’ like dat before. It ain’t no wormhole or Einstein/Rosen bridge or anything like dat. It emits only a mild magnetic field, low gamma radiation and this sound on the following frequency.” It then said what the frequency was. “Want me to play it?”

“Hells yes!” Traveler said excitedly, now anxious to hear the sound. A moment later the computer broadcast the sound the colored hole was making over the bridge speakers. It sounded like a choir singing a madrigal and was beautiful. Traveler’s brown eyes opened wide and Rædis’ electronic ones lit up an even brighter silver.

“Computer. Record this!” Traveler told it excitedly. It began doing so. The boys looked at one another each one knowing what the other was thinking but it was Rædis who posed the question.

“Wanna go into it?” he asked.

“You know I do.” answered his friend.

“It could take us anywhere, maybe even kill us.” cautioned the robot.

Traveler briefly pondered this then asked the ship’s computer a good question.

“Computer. Can the ship withstand passing into the colored hole?”

The computer thought about this for a second then returned an answer.

“Well, it’s not anything that would atomized us or effect us like a black hole would. Perhaps launch a probe into it first.” it suggested. Rædis snapped his fingers.

“Good thinking. Do it.” he said. After a few moments they saw a small metal ball of a probe appear from the bottom of the view screen and continue forward towards the colored hole. Telemetry from the probe appeared framed around the image on the big screen. As the probe approached the colored hole, nothing about what it reported was out of the ordinary. At the speed it was moving it reached the anomaly within twenty minutes. Both Rædis and Traveler’s eyes were fixed on the screen and the probe’s information. Then, as it entered the colored hole, it was gone. Both watching blinked. Traveler watched the telemetry that they were still receiving only now with a short delay.

“It made it through. Or, into it, at least.” he said. They looked at each other again. Rædis then tried to obtain some visuals from the probe but no imagery was returned. “Wow. I wonder what’s in there?” he said, stupefied.

“Or on the exit side.” Traveler added.

“If there even is one. I know you really want to go into it now and so do I but there’s no guarantees of anything after that, pal.” said Rædis. His eyes still shine bright with excitement. “What do ya say? Should we risk it?”

Almost without hesitation Traveler answered.

“Hells yes. We definitely should.” Rædis was slightly more cautious, however.

“Man, I’m not as enthusiastic. What if we get stuck in...well, whatever that is? That would be really bad. And boring.”

Traveler scoffed at his best friend.

“Rædis. How many times have we thought we were stuck or doomed and yet with our typical style, bravery and skill have gotten ourselves out of weirdness and/or doom? Remember the ‘alternating universe’ or when we discovered how the Ikdid works just before crashing into that city building machine?”

Rædis thought back, remembering these things.

“You make a good point. So...we should take the worldship into this colored hole, huh?” he asked as he adjusted a sleeve on the fine suit he was wearing. The image of the colored hole on the screen reflected off the seamless shiny metallic skin of his face as his fiber optic hair turned an excited pink.

“Yes. We should.” Traveler said with no reservations.

“Well then. Computer!” he called to it.

“Rædis.” it answered.

“Take us into the anomaly.” he ordered it. And so in they went. What happened next was extraordinary.