by P. S. Power
“Are we all ready to go?” The bag she had with her was actually a rather efficient seeming pack, which looked very new. There was no discoloration to show it had been left outside, or used to carry a load for any length of time.
Her own things were sitting in the back of the place. She had the food as well, as well as tents for everyone. There were only three of them, but they were big enough for a lot more people to sleep in them than they were taking. The gear wasn’t heavy. Not for her.
“You’re the first one to get here. We can go in now, if you want? Just… Don’t touch anyone in the small town we’re going to. The camp area will be safe for that, but people will be offended if we get that wrong. It sounds like most of the other places have very open rules that way, however.” She worried for a second that the words would be offensive to the other line walker.
There was just a head shake though. One that didn't seem to be negating anything in particular.
“Different places have different rules. I’ll be fine. I mean, you and your friends might have to put out each day, but that shouldn’t be a problem.” There was a bit of a wicked grin then, as if it really would be.
“That’s probably true, actually. Shall we get the first of the gear in?”
That didn’t take long, just two trips. The others all came at one time after that, and by pushing as hard as she could, Avery got everyone in place without it taking hours. In either world.
Will wasn’t there, so they staged their gear to the left, away from the building that they’d come in by. Eventually a good looking man walked out of the place, holding a tray with rolls on it.
His words were in Standard, but carried a pleasant tone to them.
“Hello! My son, Will, mentioned that strangers would be coming. I’m Tal Baker. This is my place here, so I figured I’d try to make you all feel welcome. We have some sweets for you. I can also bring out some cider? That or water. We have a nice clean spring here.”
Avery blinked, having not considered that part of things before. She was going to be fine from disease, but the Humans and some of her friends might not be as strong that way. Vince and Alan, while not strictly regular people, didn’t have powers that would defeat strange pathogens. Not that Vince had come. That was a good thing, though. He was moving up in the world.
Tarsus opined in her head that cider would probably be fine for them, since the man speaking meant hard stuff.
“Perhaps some of that cider? Just a little, we have to walk to the camp. Stumbling all over the trail won’t be a good plan.”
The man acted like she’d won a prize, handing her the tray of goodies. They did smell nice. Not as sweet as what she was used to, but very fresh. Passing them around, about half of the people took one of the things. Terra didn’t get one, but smiled at the tray when it came by her. She was, unusually, dressed like a normal teen from her world. In jeans and a t-shirt.
“I probably shouldn’t. I don’t want to get fat. That takes work for me.” She glanced at Kait, who was perfectly trim looking.
Alan took one though, his thin frame hidden inside all black clothing. His dyed black hair matched, but his green eyes stood out a lot.
“This is good. Are we… Staying here?”
Avery shook her head.
“Nope. We’re waiting for the rest of the people coming, then we’ll go to the bivouac area for the night. I have tents for us. We might end up sharing with the other people coming in. I don’t know for certain. I’ve been to their world before. The people I met there seemed nice.”
As she spoke, the first person, carrying a pack, while wearing a tan IPB uniform, stepped out of the red hut. Quickly. In body language she seemed like a Bat Shifter. Her short red hair seemed right for that as well, but the face wasn’t anyone she’d met before. Above her left breast pocket was a name though.
Chambers.
Waving, Avery walked over with the tray of rolls.
“Hello! I’m Avery, I can introduce you to everyone? Would you like a roll?”
The small woman, and she was tiny, being about four and a half feet tall and very thin, grabbed one of the things from the tray and ate half of it before speaking.
“Thanks. I’m Bridget. Um, physical, mainly. Super strength, speed, invulnerability. I tend to be a bit impulsive. That’s my first mode, so…” She stopped, going very still. It didn’t last long, but it was startling to see. “That means nothing to you, does it?” Her voice was high pitched, but not too annoying or anything.
Avery tilted her head, to show she was thinking. If that carried over to the new people at all.
“Um… I’m pretty strong, I guess. Dragon Shifter? So the physical things sort of fit. The First Mode… I missed that one, I think?”
Before they could go into it, the next person came. This one was a man. He wore the same kind of outfit as Bridget, but was of normal size. A little taller than Avery was, in fact. His skin was golden tan, and he looked Asian. His name said that he was Yi.
Walking over, he looked at the tray of food that was held out toward him, made a face, then took a roll when Bridget snagged one and handed it to him.
“Eat. You have orders from medical for that. This is Avery. She’s really cool. A Dragon Shifter. I don’t know if that means she changes into a Dragon or just moves them around as part of her job? Either way sounds pretty awesome.” The phrasing was cute and clearly meant to be that way.
The man smiled at her, then took a bite of his food.
“I change into a Dragon. I also have a half form…”
The girl, bouncing in place, her roll already gone, clapped a few times.
“Neat! We can do that later? I don’t want to weird out the normies here in Will’s home town. He’s my partner. I mean, in the IPB. We aren’t dating or anything.”
Terra moved over, her face interested.
“Oh? Is he cute? I’m single…” She looked at Yi, as if she were sizing him up for that role, even if the man was a good ten years too old for her. At least at home he would have been.
To his credit, the man didn’t flirt back with the girl, even if she were attractive enough. He did blink when Kait walked over. Then he smiled.
“Kaitlyn? I’ve met you, I think. Well, I’ve met two of you…”
The woman jumped the poor guy, hugging him a bit tightly, for some reason.
“Brian! I’m the new line walking Kaitlyn. So, I finally get to meet some of your friends? That’s fantastic!” The man wasn’t released, but she turned to look at Avery while holding him. “Brian is a line walker. He actually does it differently, but he can go between worlds, so close enough.”
When he was finally released, Avery reached out, to shake his empty hand. That got the man to smile at her.
“Avery Rome. I’m also a line walker. So we can move people if we have to, from here. It seems friendly so far. The man from the shop here, Tal, he’s off getting some hard cider for us. I can handle the water, but we should probably sterilize it first, for most of the people here. Terra and Debbie are Humans, so are susceptible to things like that.”
She didn’t think it would sound mean, until after it came out.
Alan moved in, waved at the new people and spoke instantly.
“I’m in the same boat. My people are Rubber Men… That… I’m basically very flexible? Which means I can’t carry a lot of weight, or my bones will bend. It won’t help with disease though.”
The man who had come, Yi, made a soft snorting sound.
“I’m with you then on that, Alan. Only without nifty powers like that. Bridget, you should be fine, regardless, right?”
That got a bounce in response, but she was distracted watching the front of the red box node. Another person came out, being a woman who looked dried and leathery. Like a mummy from an old tale. She had on a uniform however, and waved at Bridget.
Avery did it back, since being friendly was going to work better than being shy would. It generally did.
“Hello! I’m
Avery, these others are Alan, Kait, Terra, Debbie and Brian. You clearly already know Bridget…” It wasn’t a good attempt at humor, but the lady, strange looking or not, smiled at them all.
“Hey! I’m Nan. Nice to meet you. Willum mentioned that there would be some interesting people here with us. Nothing against these two, but they’re always hanging around. You know, when you live and work in the same place… This is the first real vacation I’ve had since I’ve popped Infected.”
Before anyone could worry about the word, Brian spoke, his voice relaxed and a bit too calm. As if to influence them into not worrying.
“We just call it that. You can’t catch it or anything. We don’t really know what it is, to be honest, but we’re pretty good on what it isn’t.”
That got nods from everyone and no one seemed worried over the idea. Just as the fourth person came out of the box, several minutes later, Tal the shop owner came back, carrying another tray, with mugs on it, as well as a ceramic jug that had a real cork stopper in the top.
“Ah! I was right to bring the extra drinking vessels. Here we go. I don’t know who can understand me here…”
The person that had come from the red hut was young seeming, having long dark hair and tan skin. Her eyes were a brilliant green, that nearly matched Alan’s.
“I can? Lydia too, a little, but she had to stay back, in case we needed to talk to anyone there.”
Brian gestured toward the new girl.
“This is Sara. She’s in charge of communications between worlds for us.”
Speaking in Standard, Avery smiled at her.
“I’m Avery. I’ve been trying to learn Standard.”
The girl, sounding young, was very serious. Her reply came in English, so that everyone could understand her.
“You’re doing very well. I should meet everyone. Oh… Cindy told me that I had to let everyone know that I’m only eight. I change shape, so tend to use this one most of the time. In case I have to fight anyone. I’m really strong this way. Like Bridget.” She looked at everyone as if they might not believe her, and that claiming to be as strong as a woman who was nearly eight inches shorter than her made any sense. No one denied it, however. It was different, so doing that would probably mean being wrong.
Alan smiled at her.
“That is so cool. That means you can help me carry my stuff to the camp site?” He wasn’t really kidding, since having more than thirty pounds of gear was going to be hard for him to handle. He’d gotten his pack into Yoghurt World, but there had been some dragging involved in the process, she thought.
They didn’t all drink the cider, though she had some, since getting drunk wasn’t going to be as easy for her as it would be the others. She could do it. Her memories spoke of that, but a half cup of cider wouldn’t do it. To her the drink was rich and complex, even if unfamiliar. Sara had some as well, but made a face when she took a sip.
That got Tal Baker to laugh at her, if in a friendly fashion.
“It’s an adult thing. I could get some fruit juice, for the children?”
Interestingly, he didn’t look at anyone except Sara, who had announced being very young, and a very small woman, who looked identical to the Mistress of Souls, except that she was under four feet tall.
Sara shook her head then.
“I like juice, but Felicia is old. Almost thirty. She was changed using magic. She used to look different. Timon Baker did the work?”
That got the man to bow, toward Felicia, and a humble sounding apology, even if the woman didn’t understand him. Still, she bowed back, and came over to them, even as a lot of other people started to come out of the box. More than Avery was going to recall in one meeting.
The shop owner stood back up when Felicia did though.
“Timon is my brother. One of them. He should be around here, at some point. At least he contacted me to speak about doing that. Ah, here we go, Willum is back. Will, come and help me collect up the mugs. If everyone has had enough? Quickly, before I insult them again and start a war all on my own.” He made a sad face, over the whole thing.
Will went wide eyed. Then he spoke in standard.
“What did you do? I know that some of the new people are slightly different looking, but I warned you all about that. They’re still just ordinary people.”
Smiling, Avery chimed in, since only she or Sara had the skills to do that, so far.
“It isn’t a big thing. He simply thought that… Felicia? Was young. He offered juice to her and Sara? I don’t think she understood him, though.”
The dark haired, pale man went stiff for a moment, the relaxed.
“Oh. We can deal with that. Later though. We should get off to the camping spot. It’s earlier than I figured on it being. We can set up, and then work on dinner? I think that Mark, Denis and Kerry are planning to shoot a scene for their cooking show. That’s on television. You have that where you come from, right?” That was addressed to Avery, directly.
In Standard. She replied in English though.
“Yes. I’m starting on a new program when we get home. It’s on cable. Um, HBO?” She didn't know if that was going to mean anything, but Brian, who was picking up his own pack and putting it on, whistled softly.
“That’s impressive, then. Can you cook over an open fire by any chance? I know that Mark was worried about that. We don’t have anyone that really knows how to do it and he wants to try it out pretty badly.”
They started walking then, Willum taking the lead, his hair changing from black to purple for some reason. Perhaps to make him easier to see in the distance. Brian gestured for her to go first, then moved in directly behind her.
They weren’t the last people in the line or anything, being closer to the center for some reason.
She had about a thousand pounds of gear with her, which was going to be tiring over two miles of walking, but was fine so far.
“I can cook over a fire. Yes. That’s the plan for the camp out, so...” She stopped, not wanting to bore the poor man with her story. Still, part of it seemed to be in order, really. “I was raised on the road, and my people cooked that way most nights. The women and girls learned how to do that kind of thing fairly well.”
He sounded impressed at her words, even if she hadn’t meant to brag about herself.
“Really? That’s useful then. Get with Mark when we make camp? Or I’ll get with him on it. It might not be an on-screen thing, if that’s all right?”
She nodded. Either way would be fine, as long as it was playing in a different reality. It wasn’t like anyone back home would see it.
Chapter ten
The camp was set up in a different fashion than she would have done the same thing. For instance, her very first thought had been to dig a latrine. Will, being from a world of magic and wonders, had put up tiny magical buildings that had restrooms in each space. She could use them, she found. As long as she didn't try to press through the walls, it all worked for her, since she didn’t have to interact with it really.
They were still in tents for sleeping, though a small building had been set up, looking like it was made of stone with bright shutters on the windows, just for bathing. That had a stream of water flying from the creek, in the air. It was probably four inches in circumference, but was a stream of perfectly clear water. Flying through the air.
It sort of earned her attention.
There was also a large fire going when they got there. The only issue with it was that it wasn’t real. It looked right, but wasn’t very warm, really. That meant they’d need another one for cooking.
After Avery put up the three tents that she’d brought, all next to one another in a flat meadow about fifty feet from the water, she got Alan, Terra and Debbie to help her start collecting fuel for that.
“Just the sticks on the ground. Try for things that are mainly dry. I don’t know what time it is here, but it looks like we have a few hours left, as far as light goes.” She sounded commanding, for her. That wa
s just due to the fact that she was used to camping out. It had, for three years, been how she’d lived about a sixth of the time. Most often without a nice fire for making food. This was different, but nice, she decided. Especially not having to relieve herself over a reeking hole in the ground.
Interestingly, several other people came over when Avery and her pals started working on getting the night’s wood in. One of them was Brian, though there really were about ten people who came to help, once they had their own smaller tents set up. The styles were similar, though the colors were all different. They seemed to be using the same fiberglass rod technology however, making the tents look like domes. Except for three larger ones that were more like old fashioned ridgeline military tents.
Those were covered in heavy canvas that had been treated with something, instead of being waterproof nylon.
Which made sense, once she noticed a huge man walk up, his face familiar and grinning.
“Prince Gerent?” Avery used the Standard word for prince, getting the man to bow in her direction. He was dressed in a plain brown outfit. So were some of the others there. The ones, she guessed, that were from the world they were standing in.
“Yes. You’re Ambassador Rome? The line walker?”
Avery was about to tell him that wasn’t exactly true, not being an Ambassador at all, when Brian came over, looking slightly baffled. Clearly, he hadn’t made a clever bargain with a Greater Demon to help him learn languages faster. It was actually pretty useful, if hard work to make happen at the time.
“Brian Yi, this is Prince Gerent. Of the Moon.” She started in English, then shifted over to Standard, since she didn't know how well the Prince spoke her language yet. It was clear he had some down. “Prince Gerent, this is Brian Yi. Um, he’s a line walker as well. So is Kaitlyn. Speaking of which, you should…” She felt awkward for a moment, then went ahead anyway. “If it’s allowed under your rules, you should have sex with her. Daily. So should everyone else that can. She needs that kind of thing.”
Then she repeated that in English, picking up a small log at the same time. It was solid, but dry all the way through. Too big for the fire she needed for cooking though. Grabbing the top, where it had fallen from the tree that had given it life, she tore it in two, then broke the pieces into something useable. Brian just gave her a funny look.