Traveller's Story

Memories #3

A cigarette hung in his mouth. Its light weakly illuminated the corner of his mouth. The smell of wet trash and gasoline filled the dark alley. Lights from all over the city cast shadows of different shapes and shades across the ground, lighting up the edges of trash and spent cartridges. 

The sound of dripping water and his exhaling filled his ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a rat scurry under a dumpster. 

Soon, he could smell blood in the air. The body, hidden by shadows, was shoved behind a trashcan. 

He let out another sigh. 

"Damn." 

He picked the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked it onto the body. The body immediately lit up in flames. The fire displaced the shadows and cast flickering shadows of its own. Traveller let out a slow chuckle followed by a sigh before he turned and walked out of the alley. 

Looking down at a small slip of paper, Traveller read the directions carefully. The quickly scribbled lines were messy and hard to read. It didn't help that it was in code as well. Traveller tried as best as he could to decipher the words but to no luck. That's why he needed help. He looked back at the growing flames poking out from the buildings. He couldn't risk being exposed. Not now. 

The paper was useless to him now. Its words no longer held importance. But he shoved it into his pocket anyway. 

He followed the directions he had memorized and found a dead-end road. Opposite sides of the road were surrounded by abandoned buildings. Their windows were boarded up by rotting planks of wood. On the end of the road stood a bright blue door. 

Its surface had been cleaned and polished frequently. The door handle and the hinges had been maintained and changed when they were broken. It stood out like a firework in the night. A small light stood above the door which illuminated the entire door. The two were out of place from the dark abandoned dead-end. 

Carefully, Traveller stepped forward. His footsteps echoed off the walls. He didn't know what it was, but his hand instinctively went to his pistol on his hip. He felt a surge of adrenaline and felt his muscles tense. He tried to maintain his breathing and to stay calm, but something about the door made him nervous. 

Finally, he made it to the door. With his free hand, he reached out and carefully touched the door handle. 

"You're not supposed to be here," he muttered to himself, "Why are you here?" 

He wrapped his hand around the cold handle and pulled. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as his breath was pulled out from his lungs. Traveller instinctively shut his eyes as he felt his body being pulled away. He felt his molecules being contorted and manipulated. He was being teleported.

When he opened his eyes again, he was standing in a dark room. The cold air made him choke on his breath as he was unprepared for it. Slowly, he looked around the darkroom, waiting for his eyes to readjust to the darkness. The room was silent except for his steadied breathing. 

Traveller slowly took a step forward when the lights came on. The room was flooded with brightness. He had to cover his eyes as they readjusted to the new brightness. Traveller's other hand pulled out his pistol, ready for a fight. He felt his heart pumping increasingly fast as he anticipated a fight. 

But it never came. 

Traveller slowly looked around the room. It was spotless. The walls, ceilings,  and floors were all covered in polished metals. He could see his own blurry and distorted reflection on the floor. There were no windows or furniture anywhere, but he did see another door at the opposite end of the room. 

"Another door?" He muttered to himself. 

Traveller began to walk towards the other door before he stopped himself. Why was he here? He was teleported here, but why? And by whom? Traveller looked around the room again, looking for anything in the uniform surfaces in the room. Nothing. He couldn't identify anything at all. No hidden switch or hidden button. Nothing! The only way out of the room seemed to be the door. 

 Traveller quickly walked towards the next door and opened it. 

Behind the door was a much different scene from the room. A large corridor led to a bend in the path. The corridor seemed to be from a ship. The design was elegant and carefully designed, which led to Traveller thinking it was a luxury ship, but the boxes of munitions quickly convinced him otherwise. 

Traveller exited the room and walked down the corridor. He could smell perfume in the air. Traveller glanced at the multiple boxes in the corridor, looking at the different types of munitions and explosives stored in them. 

"Illegal weapons trafficking. It seems we found 'em" he whispered to himself. 

This was no small operation. The types of ammo held within the boxes were high-end and for extremely powerful weapons. Some of which had been outlawed. Plasma cartridges, time distortion devices, even materials for hydrogen bombs. Whoever was using this stuff was packing a lot of heat. 

Traveller continued down the corridor. There was almost a never-ending supply of weapons and munitions stored. As he continued, he listened for anything. Muffled chattering or footsteps, anything to indicate life. From what he saw so far, this place was abandoned. 

Traveller rounded another corner and stopped. The room led to an observation deck. He carefully moved forward and looked over the railing to see a massive complex. A glass dome rose over the entire facility. Towers with anti-ship turrets surrounded the outside of the facility and almost thousands of shipping containers were stored within the walls. Workers sorted through the items as droids zipped around. Guards stood at regular intervals on railings and around the edges of the sorting area. 

"Is this...?" but before Traveller could finish, he heard the sound of a lift opening, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps. 

"Igor! What took you so long? The boss is waiting for you." a voice boomed. 

Traveller pressed up against the side of the observation deck walls. He pulled out his pistol and tried to quiet his breathing. The footsteps grew louder as the being got closer and closer to the observation deck. Traveller held his breath as the being rounded the corner. 

An ugly head poked around the corner. First, it looked to the opposite side of the observation deck, as it turned to look the other way, Traveller raised his pistol and fired. The bullet smashed into the being head and tore a hole in the back of its skull. Blood and bits of bone and flesh splattered against the opposite wall. The being fell forward onto the ground. 

Almost immediately, alarms began to blare as they detected the gunshot. Traveller ran out of the room and back down the corridor. He could hear the sound of the elevator opening as guards stormed out to find him. Traveller turned and fired a few rounds behind him, hitting one of the guards, before continuing down the corridor. 

Traveller rounded the final corner and saw the door he first came out of. He yanked open the door and ran back into the spotless room. Just before he ran out the last door, he quickly took out his pen and paper to scribble something. He dropped the slip of paper onto the floor before running through the last door. 

Traveller felt the sensation of him being teleported and opened his eyes to see the same dark abandoned alley. Without a second thought, Traveller sprinted out of the alley and down the road. 

Back in the room, a man picked up the little slip of paper. 

"Should we go after him?" one of the guards asked the man. 

"No. I have a feeling he'll be coming back," he replied before stuffing the piece of paper back into his pocket. 

"Sir, what did the paper say?" the guard asked. 

"Coordinates."