Rift Station: Open Worlds
I am not a gambler, but if I was, I would be the type to put everything on black and spin. Life isn't any different; there is no adventure if you always play it safe. Besides, I am not about to commit the same crime that I am on death row for, nor would I ever resort to working more than a minimum amount. The rift sounds like my only option.
I open the door to my room and ask the first three people I run into how to find the rift, collecting three new wallets without even trying. They will probably be useless on the god-forsaken planet I land on, but I tuck them in my pocket just in case. A right, a slight left, and a spiral staircase later I am heading down the main corridor to the rift testing facility.
Only scientists and the occasional "willing" test subject are allowed access from what I heard. Fortunately, one of the simpletons who gave me directions is a scientist, named Phil, who keeps his badge in his wallet; unfortunately, the hallway isn't empty. Bear and Turbo see me coming and block my path.
"Hey, Turbo, look what we have here," Bear sneers.
"Two prisoners and a Bear?" I suggest before I can remind myself to not say what I think around the two large men.
Turbo laughs and says, "You two were made for each other..." Both Bear and I glare at the butting in brute, but he doesn't seem phased as he continues, "So where are you headed, Weasel? You seem like one of those thinky types that has a plan."
Still unsure of Turbo's intelligence level, I reply with a classic lie, "I was just going to the bathroom, see y'all later."
"Not so fast," Bear says, picking me up by my collar. "We have bathrooms in the hotel rooms, where are you going?"
It is a sad day when I am caught by such "astute" individuals. "I am headed to the rift," I sigh, not seeing the point in keeping it from these two.
"You have access to the rift?" Turbo asks.
"No, but my friend Phil does," I respond, holding up the scientist's badge.
"Damn, nice work, Weasel!" Turbo shouts louder than I care for. "Bear, we need to go with him!"
"What? Why?" both Bear and I hiss in unison.
"Don't you see that if we get off the station, they can't blow our fucking heads off? Plus, we don't have to come back from our bathroom break."
Those bastards were going to the bathroom; I knew I should have kept up the lie! I think to myself as Bear dangles three inches off the ground with one hand. He scratches his chin with the other, wearing an expression that tells me is brain takes a while to process things.
"Fine," he grumbles, placing me on my feet. "But if you fuck us, I am fucking you."
"You would like that, wouldn't you?" I shoot back, another classic.
Turbo chuckles as Bear shakes with rage. Our unlikely trio manages to make it down the hallway without killing each other. Things continue to go well when the badge opens an automatic sliding door to an empty control room.
Behind one more set of doors and a wide observation window, there is a massive room that looks like a catwalk with a plank into a pit in the center. An anomaly that they have been sending death row inmates through as lab rats sits ten feet below the plank. Several electro weapons are charging on a rack in the control room; apparently, not every test subject goes willingly.
"What do we do now?" Bear asks.
I am about to answer when an alarm sounds, and the door behind us slides closed.
"It's a good time to disappear!" I scream, running through the doors and onto the catwalk. Without taking time to think, I jump the railing and dive into the black and purple swirling tear in the spacetime continuum.
Bear and Turbo are right on my heels as the world stretches and distorts. Everything appears to be shrinking behind me and growing in front of me. My body contorts, but I do not feel pain. The entire experience feels like the one time I tried an unmarked pill that I lifted off of rather rich druggie. After several strange moments, the world goes black.
I wake up and look around, expecting to see a desert wasteland. Something that is crawling with dangerous beasts and unknown terrors. What I see is even stranger.
"Where are we?" Turbo says, looking up at the high-rise, glass office buildings that stretch towards the stars on both sides of a busy space station.
"Gentlemen, welcome to Intergalactic Space Station: Cara X," I say, bowing and stretching out an arm as if I am presenting them with a prize on a game show.
Now, what should I do...
I open the door to my room and ask the first three people I run into how to find the rift, collecting three new wallets without even trying. They will probably be useless on the god-forsaken planet I land on, but I tuck them in my pocket just in case. A right, a slight left, and a spiral staircase later I am heading down the main corridor to the rift testing facility.
Only scientists and the occasional "willing" test subject are allowed access from what I heard. Fortunately, one of the simpletons who gave me directions is a scientist, named Phil, who keeps his badge in his wallet; unfortunately, the hallway isn't empty. Bear and Turbo see me coming and block my path.
"Hey, Turbo, look what we have here," Bear sneers.
"Two prisoners and a Bear?" I suggest before I can remind myself to not say what I think around the two large men.
Turbo laughs and says, "You two were made for each other..." Both Bear and I glare at the butting in brute, but he doesn't seem phased as he continues, "So where are you headed, Weasel? You seem like one of those thinky types that has a plan."
Still unsure of Turbo's intelligence level, I reply with a classic lie, "I was just going to the bathroom, see y'all later."
"Not so fast," Bear says, picking me up by my collar. "We have bathrooms in the hotel rooms, where are you going?"
It is a sad day when I am caught by such "astute" individuals. "I am headed to the rift," I sigh, not seeing the point in keeping it from these two.
"You have access to the rift?" Turbo asks.
"No, but my friend Phil does," I respond, holding up the scientist's badge.
"Damn, nice work, Weasel!" Turbo shouts louder than I care for. "Bear, we need to go with him!"
"What? Why?" both Bear and I hiss in unison.
"Don't you see that if we get off the station, they can't blow our fucking heads off? Plus, we don't have to come back from our bathroom break."
Those bastards were going to the bathroom; I knew I should have kept up the lie! I think to myself as Bear dangles three inches off the ground with one hand. He scratches his chin with the other, wearing an expression that tells me is brain takes a while to process things.
"Fine," he grumbles, placing me on my feet. "But if you fuck us, I am fucking you."
"You would like that, wouldn't you?" I shoot back, another classic.
Turbo chuckles as Bear shakes with rage. Our unlikely trio manages to make it down the hallway without killing each other. Things continue to go well when the badge opens an automatic sliding door to an empty control room.
Behind one more set of doors and a wide observation window, there is a massive room that looks like a catwalk with a plank into a pit in the center. An anomaly that they have been sending death row inmates through as lab rats sits ten feet below the plank. Several electro weapons are charging on a rack in the control room; apparently, not every test subject goes willingly.
"What do we do now?" Bear asks.
I am about to answer when an alarm sounds, and the door behind us slides closed.
"It's a good time to disappear!" I scream, running through the doors and onto the catwalk. Without taking time to think, I jump the railing and dive into the black and purple swirling tear in the spacetime continuum.
Bear and Turbo are right on my heels as the world stretches and distorts. Everything appears to be shrinking behind me and growing in front of me. My body contorts, but I do not feel pain. The entire experience feels like the one time I tried an unmarked pill that I lifted off of rather rich druggie. After several strange moments, the world goes black.
I wake up and look around, expecting to see a desert wasteland. Something that is crawling with dangerous beasts and unknown terrors. What I see is even stranger.
"Where are we?" Turbo says, looking up at the high-rise, glass office buildings that stretch towards the stars on both sides of a busy space station.
"Gentlemen, welcome to Intergalactic Space Station: Cara X," I say, bowing and stretching out an arm as if I am presenting them with a prize on a game show.
Now, what should I do...