I'm rummaging through the second drawer of a desk I found in one of the new rooms. In addition to a building, Naecken seems to have been able to organise us some furniture and stationary and things... gotta be happy with that.
Although I'm still not sure where exactly all this stuff comes from. Including my new clothes...
Black t-shirt. Leather jacket. Leather pants. Black boots.
That's all well and good... and rather stylish, if I do say so myself... but I still have no idea where it all came from.
Ah, well. Living with a group like this is bound to be an adjustment.
I find what I'm looking for. Scissors. Big ones. With an orange handle.
"Perfect," I say quietly.
I slip off the jacket and drape it across the desk. I then take off my new t-shirt, feeling the soft material with my fingers. I almost feel bad ruining it like this... but it'll be much easier like this in the long run.
I take the scissors, and stick them into the back of the t-shirt. I jerk my arm upwards, leaving a slash about five inches long across the right shoulder blade. I create a second slash on the opposite side of the shirt.
I hold it up and look at it.
Not really as neat-looking as it was before. But much more practical, Hal says.
"Right," I say, nodding. It occurs to me that a second brain inside my own head can't really see me nodding. I do it anyway.
I slip the t-shirt back on, and put the jacket on over it.
Moments later, I'm in one of the building's many hallways. I walk slowly and hesitantly... I have no idea where I'm going.
"...hello...?" I say.
No one responds.
"Hello?" I say again, slightly louder.
"Danny?" Naecken says, turning a corner ahead of me, with Nowhereman in tow.
"Hey. Uh... I've gotta ask you something..." I say to him.
"Yes?" Naecken replies.
"You said that there's a... time space portal thingie... somewhere over the ocean. That it could take me back home. Is that still there?" I say, softly. I almost feel like I'm betraying my new teammates just asking the question. As if going home would be abandoning them, in the midst of the crisis they've found themselves in.
It's as much my fight as it is theirs.
Naecken's head drops slightly.
"I'm sorry to say, Danny, that it has since closed. These things are unpredictable... unfortunately, we were attacked before you could take advantage of the opportunity," Naeken answers. His usual relatively expressionless voice betrays a certain measure of sympathy.
"It's... gone?" I hear myself asking.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Is there another one? Anywhere?"
"Not that I know of. It could be years before another one appears. As I said, these things are-"
"...unpredictable, right..."
I'm nodding again.
"I'm sorry, Danny," He says.
Nowhereman listens to this exchange, remaining silent.
I walk off, slowly, leaving them to the tour.
It suddenly hits me.
I'm stuck here. Forever. No more home. No more two thousand eighty-three.
That sucks, man.
"Tell me about it, Hal..."
I decide to follow the others to the training room. I promised them I'd meet them there. Even though I'm not in the mood to train...
