The Teleporter Ch. 05

The alarm went off at 4am and Rhys blinked as he realized where he was. He knew he was in his apartment and remembered that in the span of two days his life had been turned upside down. He had gone to work two days ago and was told he was fired. He had been caught teleporting himself for personal gain and was fired on the spot. He really wasn't using it for personal gain. He didn't gain anything from doing it. He actually lost something. Well that something was actually a someone, his girlfriend Dana, who had been fucking his boss behind his back. In any case, he had tried to teleport himself one more time and was caught. He was put into jail, which is where he met Angie. Angie had a similar, but more complicated problem. Her problem was that she had teleported herself more than a thousand years into the future. Angie was sleeping soundly, curled up against him. Her red hair had fallen into her face and as Rhys began to move. She slowly woke up as well.

They both got up and quickly got dressed. They had to make their way to Johnston before the sun rose. Rhys led Angie through the city. She tried to keep up with everything she saw, but her mind was ready to explode. The cars were different, the buildings were taller. When she looked up, she saw the moon and was relieved to see it looked the same now as it did in 2003. There was no one on the streets, but since it was the middle of the night, Angie didn't think much about it.

They turned a corner and entered a dark ally way. This was the sort of area that normal people stayed away from, but she wasn't going to question Rhys' actions. She trusted him with her life and followed him closely. One thing Angie thought was that other than a few minor changes, earth was pretty much the same now as it was in 2003. She had only been on the spaceship and that first planet a short time so knew that there were definite advances. The idea of planets being used as prisons was mind boggling to her, as was the idea that aliens existed.

Rhys stopped at a rusty old door and opened it. He held Angie's hand tight as they made their way down four flights of rusty old stairs. At the bottom was another door, wooden, with cracks running up and down.

"This is Johnston's home and office. He keeps to himself now, but we went to elementary school together. He's friendly to me. He is absolutely brilliant and will have a solution to get you back home safely. He knocked once and entered.

"Johnston?" Rhys looked around. He gasped when he saw Johnston lying dead on the floor.

"Fuck! Damnit. Damnit!" Without saying another word, he grabbed Angie.

"Teleport us now Angie. Just do it." Angie blinked and closed her eyes. She was scared to death and had no idea why he was being so demanding. She imagined a nice calm beach setting. She felt the rush of air and then felt sand in her hair. She opened her eyes and was lying in wet sand. Rhys was a few feet away standing in a foot of water.

"Thanks. When I teleport us I land on top of you. When you do it you put me in the water."

"Sorry. Where are we?" Angie looked around. The sun was much closer in the sky and very hot.

"Good question." Rhys pulled out his cell phone, which had thankfully not gotten wet. He pressed a button and looked at the screen. "We are on Datalus. It's a planet two solar systems away from earth. Happy place. Always hot, but that's cause it's a newer sun."

"So your friend, Johnston. Who killed him?"

"C.I. probably. Someone probably spotted us leaving my apartment. I tried not to think about where I was going, but the big brains have excellent psychic power."

"Psychics? Those aren't real. The next thing you're going to tell me is that unicorns are real too."

Rhys grinned. She was very cute when she argued. "Yes, people really do have psychic ability. You can even major at it at the university I went to. Of course, you have to be handpicked like I was, but still. And yes unicorns are real. They live on a few planets, but not in this solar system."

"Oh sure." Angie rolled her eyes. "So what are we supposed to do now?"

"I really have no idea Angie. It's too dangerous to get you back to 2003. Johnston was our only hope, but now he's dead."

"What if I don't want to go back to 2003?"