Tales of the Courier – A Stitch in Time
It becomes obvious with time. Time, does a lot of things, except rewind. One of the favorite games of time is irony. And time always plays for keeps, no do overs. He is out of time. Moved fast, but not fast enough, and ran out of time. Several things happen in fast motion, the rest is a blank. He leaps for the package, the whiskey barrel spins faster. He connects with the floor, hard. Darkness falls.
Maybe in another universe happy endings are the norm. There are many universes, so the odds are in favor. The universe 1courier awakens in, is still the same one, it has a lump on his head, and stars in his eyes, but it’s the same one. The damn trees are still purple, for starters.
He is being dragged. The wet ground, squelching and adhering to him, as he is dragged. Bound by his feet and hands, he sees a robot is pulling him through the forest like a sack of potatoes. Now he’s pissed off, too. The bot is a service model, a relic from times past, it’s age and hardware outdated, more drone than anything else. And it’s dragging him like a sack of potatoes.
Tales of the Courier – A stitch in time
Moving his hands up, he fumbles in his coat pocket and removes a mini EMP cartridge. Triggering the pulse, he watches the bot slow to a crawl and stop. Kicking free, he rolls to his side and loosens the ties at his feet. Once mobile again, he examines the old relic robot, no package here. Time to go.
He moves fast, following the backtrail left by the dragging bot. There wouldn’t be much time before the package was moved. If it was getting moved, it would be moved by 1courier. Running now, past purple trees and other weird purple things, he sees the old fairytale cabin ahead, and doubles down on the pace.
Two robots are stationed on the old worn down porch, as another exits the structure with the package. Thumbing a second EMP cartridge, and triggering it, he avoids the killing strike and grabs the package, as the robots shut down. Immediate proximity emp capsule, cool stuff. And effective. He moves away from the shack, scanning the horizon for further threat.
Now time has moved quickly. This world has three moons already high in the sky. The atmosphere has tinted amber, and taken on a reddish hue, as he shoulders the package again and skirts around the cabin, moving southward. There was less time now, reinforcements would follow. Quick stepping into a jog, he hustles into the forest.
A stitch in time
The package has begun that humming sound again. He understands the thing a little better now, as he avoids the dragging purple underbrush of the forest. Many questions remain, but one thing is certain, the oddly shaped and slightly heavy package was sentient. And purposeful.
He thinks back to some of his conversations with the AI, should have listened more closely. Was it possible the AI had known of the sentient nature of this – key? Startled, he looks around for the owner of the unknown voice, as he simultaneously realizes the voice was thought, traveling across his mind.
Another question answered, with many new ones forming. And the humming sound intensifies. He slows into a brisk walk, as all things begin to take on an ethereal shine and glimmer. One step more, he blinks, and opens his eyes onto a broad, and brightly lit, desert expanse. He knows it’s his world from the highway sign ahead – Slower traffic keep right. Nice.
Checking the m-com and confirming that the link had been re-established, he walks along the side of the highway, waiting for the ride to show up. It wouldn’t be long, and he was looking forward to some chat time with cheeky. Also, they had a delivery to make, and 1courier needed the AI on this one. The timing was going to be everything. -to be continued-
