© 1998, Mark Swenson and Mark E. Becker
Justin MacGregor is 5'7" tall, dark brown hair, blue eyes, and strongly built. He was born in 1967 in Butte, Montana to Arlen Macgregor and Claudia Huddersfield MacGregor. His father was a rancher and Justin grew up on a farm in relative isolation where he learned a great deal about nature and grew to enjoy nature, wide open spaces, and solitude. His parents took great caution in raising him. Arlen had been eight when Germany invaded the U.S. and his father had died fighting in the resistance. Arlen and Claudia had a quiet hatred of the Nazi presence but did not dare openly expressing their feelings, even with their child, for fear that they might be found out and imprisoned by the Nazi government.
Instead they demonstrated their resistance by instilling traditional American values of freedom and equality in their son and raised him as a Christian, encouraging him to cling to values found in the Bible in opposition to those found in Nazi occultism. Also, as a subtle teaching mechanism, his father taught Justin the game of poker and took Justin to the weekly poker games he attended, after Justin had reached a suitable age. Justin became an excellent player of the game and learned how to hide all emotion and thought behind an impenetrable face of stone.
When Justin entered High School, his math teacher discovered that he had an unusual knack for the subject, and learned at a pace far speedier than his peers. His teacher reported this talent to her superiors, and Justin was sent to a special school in Portland, Oregon for mathmatics and computer science. This was done despite his less than perfect (although not exactly terrible, by the Nazi view) heritage. It was 1983, and computer science was a growing field, and the heirarchy was looking for people who would be particularly good at it.
After graduating from high school, Justin attended the University of California, Berkeley in the area of computer science. While at U of C Berkeley, Justin had his first encounter with the resistance. Justin had found the field of data encryption to be quite interesting and thrilling and wanted to learn more, although the area was extremeley classified. Justin went on occasional camping trips with some of his classmates in northern Califoria and after they had gained one another's trust (which took quite a while, I might add since they were all pretty paranoid) they began to discuss areas of interest while out in the woods, where they were sure they could not be overheard. Justin and his friends developed, in secret, several encryption schemes, and through their use of codes and encrypted data, finally one of his friends, who had connections to a resistance cell, invited Justin to join.
Justin graduated from UC Berkeley in 1991 and went to work for a small computer firm in Silicon Valley. He was not trusted enough to have even medium level access, but he did have regular access to a limited computer system, which he slowly, and carefully, hacked his way into and fed information to his resistance cell. The cell used the information to carry out a successful attack, but afterwards the SS determined that there must have been a leak, and started investigating. Fearing that he would be discovered (despite his poker ability, he sensed that there was enough evidence to implicate himself or his colleagues in the leak, and didn't want the SS to kill them all to be sure or kill his colleagues who were innocent) he set forth a really nasty virus in the system, which he made sure pointed specifically at him, and made off with some of the more portable equipment, before escaping to the cell's hideout and abandon his normal lifestyle forever.
Since then Justin has participated in several attacks and has become an effective resistance fighter. He has obtained the following equipment, both through raids/attacks, and though more traditional channels:
A Luger pistol. Highly prized among the resistance, he got this off of a dead officer. The gun holds 8 rounds, currently has 6 in the chamber, and he has 1 spare cartridge. The bullets are almost as tough to come by as the gun itself, so he uses it sparingly.
A hooked graple with 100 feet of rope, capable of holding 300 pounds maximum.
A large dagger/survival knife (you've seen the kind, like something Rambo would have) which he keeps tucked in a boot.
A digital watch. It's got a long-life Lithium battery which should last about 6 years. It's one of his prized possessions.
A cyanide pill.
A small set of lock picks. He has had some training in their use and is moderately proficient, but has trouble openning some of the more difficult locks.
A portable computer, similar in appearance to one of the old Radio Shack pocket computers, but equivelent in power to a 386. It has an interface port. It is one of the items he stole from his former place of employment and was used to test equipment and get information off of hard drives if there was a problem with the computer itself. It can hold about 500 mb of information on a bank of chips inside. All of the information inside is encrypted with the best scheme Justin can muster. Its battery is rechargeable and Justin has managed to rig a recharger out of a few solar cells he stole from the house of an official in Southern California. It can run for about 5 days (running constantly) from a single charge.
A lighter.
A few small explosives (left over from putting together the thing he's about to try to blow up).
A radio signalling device which will start a 15 second count down for the explosive device.
For missions, Justin is clad all in black, and wears a ski mask.
One day, a few years ago, his cell merged with another nearby cell, that had just been nearly destroyed during a mission. Their remaining members joined his cell, as they weren't strong enough on their own to do any good. Among them was a young man named Alvin Atwood, but had been nicknamed Kickback by his fellows for his affinity for heavy artillery. You and he ended up talking one night about life and death, and he told you some strange stories about his experiences with them. You probably thought he was nuts, but couldn't help admiring the courage it gave him a few days later, when he ran straight into a building that been firebombed, to try to rescue the civilians inside, and didn't come out.
Justin's most recent mission was to infiltrate a top-secret Nazi research facility -- Reichsoft -- where ultra-high tech weapons are beleived to be developed. The diversion created by his teammates was more than enough to distract the guards, allowing him plenty of time to rig the place with enough explosives to blow it ski-high.
He was about to leave when one of the researchers stumbled back into the room. Upon noticing him in the lab, the researcher moved to one of the work benches, and leaned over. He then started speaking into something on the table -- apparantly an intercom of some sort.
'This is not something I wanted about now,' he thought to himself. Shooting the researcher would waste valuable bullets and would do the opposite of that which is desired, which is to try not to draw attention to the situation before he could get to a safe distance.
It seemed that the reasearcher was having to stand still, and was most likely not armed, but was looking directly at Justin. Assuming that to continue raising the alarm the researcher would have to continue standing where he is, and couldn't be absorbed in another activity, Justin grabbed his knife from his boot, and lunged at the researcher, counting on the likelyhood that the researcher wasn't in as good of shape as he was and wouldn't be able to get far before Justin could tackle and neutralize him, and then perhaps cause a distraction which would attract attention away from the bomb laden room.
As Justin lunged, the researcher leaped away from the intercom, and tried to run around to the other side of the table. He wasn't entirely out of shape, but Justin was certainly in better, so he was able to catch him relatively easily.
As Justin got a hold of him, the researcher grabed his knife hand in an attempt to hold him off. The two struggled for a few seconds, then the researcher was able to break free. He ran to another workbench, and grabed a small box. As he did so, the warning signal from Justin's explosives went off, signaling that they were about to blow.
For a moment, Justin thought the researcher was going to use the box on him, as he was pointing it in his direction and was furiously pressing buttons.
Since the bomb was about to go off, and there was nothing this guy could probably do to stop it -- and furthermore, Justin had no intention of getting blown to smithereens if he could help it, Justin decided to try to get out of the line of fire, and ran towards the nearest window. They were on the 5th story of the building, but there were windows on one of the walls of this room, which he went for, reaching for his grapple as he went.
As he ran, one of the explosives detonated -- slightly prematurely. It was near the Nazi researcher, and knocked the box out of his hand. It seemed to land on one of its controls, because suddenly the lights dimmed, and the machinery nearby started to make a strange hum. A fraction of a second later, a large shimmering circle appeared in the air in front of Justin. It looked like a circular version of the distortion heat causes in the air above an object that's been sitting in the sun.
Since the rest of the explosives were about to detonate, Justin decided to jump through the portal. When given a choice between certain, instantaneous death and an unknown fate which has the possibility of granting one more time to think and live, he had been trained to always choose the latter. Obviously he has no clue that this portal won't kill him either, since it did come from the Nazis, but at least it's not being blown to smithereens by his own bomb.
Passing through the portal was a bizarre experience -- as he entered the portal, he felt a tingling sensation, like when one's foot goes to sleep. Then, once he was completely inside, it felt like something between riding a sled down a hill and being drunk -- that is, how the glass of water feels.
Then suddenly he hit the ground. As he sat up, he noticed that it was actually ground. Justin found himself sitting on a rocky hill. The sun was out, except it seemed slightly smaller than he remembered. There were mountains behind him and a road passed by to his left. As he followed the road ahead with his eyes, he saw that it ran to a city that looked like something out of a history book.
The city was made almost completely of wood and thatch, and looked like something out of the middle ages. There was no sign of paved roads, automobiles, or anything. Just horses and wagons. The air was also cleaner than it should have been -- no smog, smoke, or exhaust.
Justin was stunned, to say the least. He took off the ski mask he'd been wearing, partly since it was uncomfortable and partly because it obscured his senses, and looked around. He looked to see if there is any trace of the portal he just came from, any trace of the researcher, or any trace of anything he is used to. He did see a faint, but fading, ripple in the air, like water calming after a pebble is dropped into it. Other than that, the area seemed completely natural. He then sheathed the knife back into his boot, adjusted his clothing so as to be more comfortable, and started looking around.
The whole scene was reminiscent of Justin's happier childhood in Montana. He avoided the road, since he was still somewhat suspicious of this place and thought it possible that if the Nazis had sent him there, even accidentally, it was possible that there were some Nazis there as well, and they would likely be using the primary arteries of transportation. Instead, he walked towards the city via the countryside/woods, paying attention to the flora and fauna to see if he could recognize any of the common species he is familiar with from his childhood in Montana, or from camping trips in Northern California. He was particularly interested in locating plants which he recognizes as being safe to eat.
The general patterns of flora and fauna seemed to be pretty much the same, but there were differences in detail. He did recognize a few species from Montana, and a few from California as well; except the two aren't supposed to exist in the same areas.
He did find a mulberry tree, with plenty of ripe berries, which he figured should keep him going at least for a while.
A thought then struck him, and he looked around once more to get a feel for the season. It was early spring when the raid occurred, and the weather was clear but cool. In this new place, it seemed to be late summer or early autumn, and it was quite warm and sunny. He also noticed that the time of day in this place seemed to be late afternoon, soon to be evening. Either the time of day had shifted, or he had lost track of time, because his raid had taken place in the early afternoon, about 13:00, during a mandatory city meeting that the Nazis had instituted, and everyone was supposed attend. This made it so that the official buildings, including the lab he sabotaged, was nearly deserted. So Justin began to notice a fair amount of discrepency between his watch and the sun, not to mention the season. He began to get the distinct impression he was not in Kansas (or Montana, as the case may be) anymore.
Continuing to remain shy about encountering any persons, Justin settled in for the night, as twilight was about to fall. Since the area was mostly hilly , and there weren't all that many trees, he figured that the best area to sleep, where he'd be out of the way, would be the rocky area near where he appeared. It was far enough away from the road and the city for him not to be noticed, but close enough for him to keep watch.
At the start of the next day, he decided to head directly to the city to investigate, hoping that the inhabitants of whatever place this may be speak either English or German, being fluent in both languages. After the Nazis conquered most of his world, they forced the people that they had conquered to learn German, but few of the conquered persons were be so short-sighted as not to teach German to themselves.
As he entered the city, one of the first things he came across was what looked like an open-air market. As he got closer, however, he came to the sudden realization that it was a slave auction! Two wagons were parked in a V shape, creating a small alcove. Two large, burly men stood at either side of the alcove, guarding the prisoners. A smaller, but no less intimidating man was at the front, soliciting customers from the passers-by.
Among the captives were three young men, in their 20s; a young woman, also 20 or so; one older man, at least 40, but graying; two boys, between 14 and 17; and one young girl, who couldn't be even in her teens yet. All are thin and exhausted -- they obviously haven't been treated well. The men and the boys are well tanned and muscled, most likely from being put to hard work. They did seem to be caucasian, but with an eastern-european look to them. The older man was small and frail, but with a wise and knowledgeable look to him. The young woman looked somewhat Oriental, and was quite attractive, but moved carefully -- as if trying not to aggrivate an injury.
The one that really caught Justin's eye, however, was the young girl. Like the woman, she didn't seem to be of the same stock as the others. She had dark brown hair, but her face seemed more Aryan. She also seemed to be reasonably healthy -- aside from being a bit undernourished, she didn't seem to have been particularly mistreated. However, there wa a look in her eyes -- a combination of fear and desperate longing.
Justin took in all of this in moments, as he was walking by. As he approached, the salesman addressed him -- in English, it seemed -- and tried to interest him in a slave. At the same time, the captives looked up at him, taking stock of a potential new master. Most of them reacted indifferently or confused by his strange outfit. The little girl, however, seemed puzzled only at first, then widened her eyes in surprise. There seemed to be something about Justin that she recognized.
This was definately a striking experience for Justin. Not even the Nazis openly sold people, although in many respects a slave market would be preferable to death camps and concentration camps, and he felt that he may be able to use this to his advantage, though he was not quite sure how. He had no one he felt comfortable discussing his situation with, and if this girl had an interest in him, he figured he might be able to essentially buy her loyalty and cooperation, and possibly her friendship, by freeing her.
Consequently, he was interested in buying her, or something along those lines. He didn't have any money on him (why take one's wallet on a covert mission where one risks being shot or captured?) and even if he did, he thought it doubtful that these people would have been all that interested in U.S. currency.
Shooting his way through was an option, but not exactly ideal. He had already drawn too much attention to himself through his outfit, and committing a murder to free slaves, with a loud weapon unknown to the inhabitants would just be too much, and could have severe repercussions. As far as he knew, this was some sort of Nazi hallucination or trap and they were just waiting for him to do something stupid.
The only option that he saw left was to try to barter for this girl and hope that she was affordable. If not, then he'd have to go on without her, although he preferred not to.
Of his possessions he saw the knife, the lighter, the gun, and his clothes as being most important. He figured it was unlikely that anyone would be interested in his computer, or would even begin to comprehend what it was, so he didn't think it would be worth it to drag that out.
The ski mask, the graple and rope, the small explosives, and the watch were the primary things left. The explosives would probably have been a bit much to try to explain, although he would have minded getting rid of them the least. They were a hazard for him to carry, just wandering around, and he did not see anything worth blowing up.
The ski mask was definitely something he no longer needed, but he didn't imagine that it would be that high in demand. But it's worth a try, depending on if this place had elastic or not.
He figured the graple and rope would be more likely to be common there, and would not bring a high price, but as far as he knew, they sold slaves cheap there.
He considered the watch to be his ace-in-the-hole. He was deeply attached to it (not as much as the computer, it would, after all, have a clock in it) but it probably would not be as necessary in this place, especially if no one else had one. (What's the use of being really on time, if no one else can be?) The watch would also have a magical air to it amongst very low-tech people and then would have an incredibly high value as a status item. Also, Justin figured it could be a liability, since it was openly visible and would, along with his clothing, help to draw attention to him. It would stop working in about 6 years, but by that time he hopeed to be far from that city, and the person would have gotten a good 6 years of use out of it.
He decided to save the watch for absolute last and play it very heavily if he needed to. He decided that he had to give it up for this thing, he wanted to get the maximum value for the item, maybe getting a couple slaves for it, if possible. He preferred to trade the explosives, the ski mask, and the graple & rope for the girl over only the watch for the girl. If push came to shove, he'd trade the whole lot, but no more. If he was turned, down he'd walk away, although he would continue to watch from a distance to see who bought the girl, though he preferred not to have to follow that course of action. He was invisioning the situation as a big poker game, and he had every intention of bluffing his way to victory and taking his time in revealing his hand.
So, after having carefully thought it through, Justin was ready to act. He walked up to the salesman, and asked in a non-chalant way, "What do you want for the girl?" at the same time pointing at the girl who had expressed interest in him. The moment Justin showed more than just a passing interest in the show, the salesman was ready to make his pitch.
"Ah, yes," he saad, his voice reminding Justin of some of the slimier Nazi politicians from back home, "A fine specimen. Acquired her in a distant land, as you can tell from her complexion." Looking closer at Justin's face, he added, "Although, I suppose you would know that." With that, he grinned; it seemed to be intended to be conspiratorial -- as if he were sharing some joke with Justin -- but it came out as malicious and dirty.
He continued to give a brief description of her capture. They found her in the wilderness, all by herself. They had a hard time catching her -- in the end, they had to overtake her on horseback while she was on foot. She continuously struggled, was uncooperative, tried to escape on numerous occasions, and they eventually had to lock her in a small portable cage while they traveled. She eventually calmed down -- he describes it as they 'broke' her -- but kept a defiant spark.
"Quite a terror," he finished, "but quite a beauty she will be, eh?" His lewd grin then returned, and it was obvious to Justin what the slavers had been keeping her for.
At that point, the salesman turned to price, and named a figure of one thousand tokens -- which meant next to nothing to Justin. Not that he expected it to. Justin then offered to barter, and began showing his resources. The ski mask meant nothing to the slaver -- "A piece of fabric! What do I look like, a seamstress?!" The grapple and rope did catch his eye, but the item that really got his attention was the explosives.
"A wooden tube that explodes? You've got to be kidding," was his first reaction, but after a small demonstration, he was quite impressed. He had never seen anything of the like, but he knew something useful when he saw it. The only problem was that Justin doesn't quite have as much left as the slaver really wanted, so he ended up adding the rope & grapple to the deal.
Before closing the deal, the slaver tried to talk Justin into a few "accessories"; extra shackles, whips, a cage, and the like, which Justin ignored.
As the slaver brought the girl before Justin, he noticed that her expression had changed. She now looked wary -- as if doubt had entered her mind about him. She was calm, however, and was ready to go with him.
The slaver handed Justin the chain attached to her shackles and the key to the lock. He then wished him enjoyment of his new purchase and bade him to return soon.
Justin was so focused on the aquisition of this girl for a righteous cause, that he suddenly realized he wasn't quite sure what to do if he was successful in his endeavor. He certainly hadn't considered the possibility that this person he had just acquired might not be as happy about the situation as he thought she would be. (What happens when overzealous idealism and the classic "having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting" collide).
One thing was for sure: he had no intention of trying to discuss his intentions and situation with this girl in the town square in front of the slave market, so he decided to look for a relatively isolated place, perhaps just outside of the city where they can talk and he can try to get this girl (and himself to a lesser degree) to understand why he purchased her.
First, Justin decided to manuever himself and the girl through the crowd away from the market a bit so that they would no longer be in earshot of anyone he imagined would want to hear anything he was going to say, and then looked into the girl's eyes, held her by the hand and said, "My name is Justin. Everything is going to be all right. Please believe me. Let's just first get a little bit of privacy where we can talk and I can take these shackles off of you. They must be incredibly uncomfortable. Come on!!" The girl nodded once, and did not resist.
He led her, not harshly, back out of the city, as there was too much hustle and bustle everywhere for a private conversation. They ended up coming out of the city on a different road than Justin came in on, and they saw a small grove of trees a little ways away from the city walls. Once they were out of sight of the city, behind a few of the trees, they stopped.
"As I said briefly before, my name is Justin. I don't know what this place is; I just got here yesterday from what I think is another world. I don't want to hurt you and if you don't want to stay I won't keep you from going, but I would appreciate it if you will first hear me out. But first, to show my good will, I will keep my promise and take off these awful shackles."
He then made good on his promise and carefully removed the shackles, hoping that with this latest investment (although not an especially costly one, and not without merit independent of whether she stays or not) she would not try to run away. After the shackles were removed, the girl rubbed her wrists to restore circulation. She looked at him again, still somewhat wary, but she did not run.
"What is your name?" he then asked. The girl hesitated a moment, but then began to reply.
"I'm Cr..." Her voice was somewhat hoarse as she began, so she broke off, and cleared her throat. "I'm called Crystal," she then finished.
"Crystal," he began, "I really can't say exactly why I," he says the next word reluctantly and with deep displeasure, "purchased you back there. I guess it's partly because the place I come from no longer has slaves and slave markets. We have far worse things in many places, and I'm happy it seems I won't have to worry about them for a while, but the sale and purchase of other persons is considered rather barbaric. I guess I feared that someone who felt differently about the subject would have purchased you had I not, and my conscience refused to let that happen.
"Perhaps more importantly, back there you looked at me in an unusual way, almost like you recognized me. I know that I've never seen you before in my life, but at the moment I know absolutely no one and don't know who I can trust and who I can talk to. The fact you seemed to recognize me gave me hope that you would be a person willing to be my friend. It seems that you too could use a friend, since you too are (if that slime who sold you to me can be believed) from far away. I can try to help you get back to where you belong, or at least I can protect you from more people who would want to harm you on the way back, if you can take me to where you came from, if that is your desire."
"I now have told you a bit about myself. Can you tell me something about yourself?"
For a moment, she just continued silently watching Justin's face. Then after a moment, she smiled -- lightly, as if she hadn't done so for so long that she was out of practice. She then sat down next to one of the trees.
"We have never met," she began, "so I do not recognize you as an individual. But there is something about your appearance -- your outfit, your bearing, your complexion -- that is familiar to me. I cannot quite place it myself, but when I first saw you, it struck a reassuring chord in me. Even your accent is familiar and strangely reassuring."
Justin reflected that, while the people here had all spoken what seemed to him to be English, they did so with what he perceived as an accent. The people of the city had an accent that sounded vaguely like Hungarian or some other eastern European area, but this girl's speech was flavored more like Gaelic or old English.
"I must admit, though," she continued, as Justin's thoughts passed in a moment, "I became somewhat nevous when you approached the slaver like any other slave master. But I do believe you, that you do not mean me harm. I also believe that you are from another world. I can't say exactly how, but I believe I am familiar with it." She looked away for a moment, gazing into space.
Since it seemed to be an appropriate moment, Justin interjected, "The place I am from, we call Earth. What is your name for this place?"
At the word 'Earth', Crystal's eyes bugged out, and she gasped.
"Earth!" she exclaimed, "Again, that name is strangely familiar, but I cannot explain exactly how. It gives me a sense of 'home', like when I think of my home country, Almaisaryn."
"The slaver was correct -- I am from far away myself," she continued, at the opportunity. "They did capture me as he described. It was shortly after I had left home on a quest of my own -- one that I must get back to as soon as I can." Her gaze then fell to her feet, as she said, "It is something I must do myself," but then looked up into Justin's eyes again as she added, "but if you wish to travel with me until I reach my homeland, it would probably be safer."
Justin replied, "Crystal, I know no one here at all and really don't know what to do now that I am here. The skills I have probably aren't conducive to finding a job here. I studied the art of programming electronic machines," he had made a point of avoiding the word computer, since he was pretty sure it wouldn't mean anything, but didn't realize that, in order to describe them, he used another word probably unknown here: electronic, "and then for the past few years I've been fighting in an underground resistance movement. I have no clue what to do now that I'm here, I have a very limited number of resources, and have no money, and even if I did have money from my home, I surely could not use it here."
When he mentioned 'programming' and 'electronic', a thoughtful expression appeared on her face, but she allowed him to continue.
"I don't imagine that you have much either," he continued, "as you have just been dragged as a slave far from your home, but you do have an understanding of this place, and I expect that back in your homeland you have friends with whom I might be able to find a job, especially if you can put a good word in for me."
"I have a moderate amount of experience hunting, trapping, and fishing and I have a considerable amount of combat experience. I would be delighted to help you return to your homeland if you would let me come along, and I hope that I can prevent you from getting captured again and let you get on with your 'quest'. If you don't want me to stay on after we get you back, that's ok with me, though if you change your mind I'd be happy to help, and I'll be more willing to leave you alone on your quest if you can help me find something else to do." And with that last comment, he grinned.
"Well," she responded, "you say you have experience in combat; and you look as healthy and strong as any man," she added. "I'm sure you could join a city guard or militia, or work as a caravan guard. Perhaps even join up with the King's army." Then, after thinking a moment, she continued. "I'm not sure how much help I could be in finding you something; I really don't know many people. But I might be able to think of someone to send you to for help." And with her last comment, she seemed to be getting an idea.
"If we are agreed that we will both go back to your homeland, then, we should leave as soon as possible, I imagine. I see no reason to stay here any longer, as long as you are strong enough to leave. When was the last time you ate? I found some berries over here which were quite good. Trapping an animal or catching a fish would take longer and I don't know if that's necessary right now."
"Berries sound good," she replied, and -- like a child who hadn't been carted to a foreign country by slavers -- popped to her feet in an instant and grabbed Justin's hands to pull him up. She then followed him around the city, to the rocky hill where he had first appeared. When they arrived at the mulberry tree, she climbed right up and retrieved several handfulls of large and juicy berries.
As they sat to eat the berries, the two began planning their next move.
"Which way and how far away (days, weeks, months) is your homeland?" Justin asked.
"It is east of here," she replied, then swallowed the berries she had just crammed into her mouth. "It took the slaver caravan about three months to travel from there to here. They did stop now and then to hunt for more slaves, but they also had horse-drawn wagons, so it will probably take us longer to walk."
She then went on to explain that she knew the geography relatively well, and should have little trouble finding the way back. Her parents were traveling merchants, and knowing the land was essential for their livelihood.
Several questions then suddenly ran through Justin's mind, which he did not want to ask, but could answer from context. First of all, he was still trying to guage how different (and how similar) this place was to his home planet. He had been pleasantly surprised that English seemed to be the lingua Franca there and it persuaded him more that it was not an invention of the Nazis, although he was starting to think it might be a vivid hallucination -- at least deep down, like you might occasionally think it possible that you're a brain in a jar being fed stimuli to think that you really are a physical being. If it was an invention of the Nazis, he would expect the lingua Franca to be German, like it was on most of Earth.
The next thing he wondered was if East was East here. (He had had a dream once where he was looking a direction known to be East, but it was in dream reality West). Luckily, his survival knife had a compass, so he was able to confirm that what she called East was what he expected to be East.
Secondly, and far more practically, he wondered what kind of terrain there was to the East. He had seen before that there were mountains behind him. If the direction that was East had looked particularly desolate and unlike the territory on which he was currently standing, he would be concerned about food and supplies.
Luckily, the mountains were to the south -- as far as he could tell, their course would take them along the mountains. For a while, at least. Since they came out on the north-east side of the city, at least they wouldn't have to worry about going around the city again.
In any case, he decided to ask Crystal, "Before we leave this unhappy place, is there anything which we will absolutely need to make this trip? Any kinds of supplies which we can't get once we're out there? I would prefer not to have to visit the town again, but if there's something you think we cannot live without, I can go and try to trade something for cash or supplies."
Crystal thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it, we probably will need some supplies soon. Autumn is about to begin, and winter will probably fall before we reach my home," she informed him. "I do not want to risk entering this city again, however."
She paused for a moment, thinking. "Right now, however, the weather is good, and we should be able to forage for whatever food we need," she added. "I think we can make it to the next settlement before needing any equipment or supplies."
Then, since they figured they should be able to get along fine for the moment, the two began their trek.
As they walked, Justin thought back on the situation where he bought her, with her original quoted price of a thousand tokens, and wondered how much a token is worth. (And also how much the stuff he's got is worth here, in case of future emergency.) He decided to show her his watch, saying that he really didn't want to sell it unless he had to, but was curious as to how much she thought it might sell for -- in her opinion as the daughter of merchants. He also asked how much one can get for 1 token, 5 tokens, a hundred tokens, and how much a relatively comfortable house in suburbia, after paying off the necessary officials to get the paperwork through quickly, would run. (A bit of throwback thinking from his life til present.)
When he showed her the watch, she was amazed -- both by the item, and by her own familiarity. "Again, I cannot exactly explain, but the name 'Mickey' comes to mind." Justin's question about its value then brought her back to the present world, to which she replied, "By its novelty alone -- sold to the right person -- this could fetch a king's ransom! Easily a hundred Trade Bars."
He then asked for a translation of the local currency units. Crystal looked sheepish for a moment, having forgot that he didn't know.
"Okay, the base is the gold Card," she said, with no indication she knew anything about VISA. "One Card can buy three chickens, a good pair of shoes, a night's stay at a good inn, or simple provisions for a week."
"Below that is the silver Token; it varies, but about ten Tokens are worth one Card. (This area uses Tokens as their base coinage because they have religious taboos against using gold for money.) A Token can buy a dozen eggs, a simple hat, or a bread and wine breakfast."
"At the bottom are copper Bits. In general, ten Bits makes a Token. In fact, in some areas, Tokens are minted so they can be broken into pieces -- this is where the name Bits comes from," she commented, and Justin could see that she was very proud of herself for being able to recite all of this information that she had studied so carefully.
"Bits are for single fruits, candles, firewood, unworked cloth, and other everyday purchases. Though my mother," and she grimaced with homesickness, "always kept saying a bit 'just cannot buy what it used to.'" She sighed, obviously missing her parents very much, but quickly got back to her lesson.
"Trade Bars are made of gold, and are bigger than Cards. They vary in value from ten to fifty Cards, and are used by merchants and kingdoms for very large transactions. Like castles."
"A kick-back," she said, then looked down and to the side, a look of puzzled familiarity on her face. Then she shook her head, and continued. "A bribe to an official can run anywhere from a few Tokens to a couple dozen Cards, depending on the size of the town and the illegal-ness of your wares," she finished, with a devious grin.
After a moment, she added, "Oh, I just remembered, for the first day of minting every year, a 'limited edition' version of the Card is produced. If you can get your hands on one of them, they tend to be worth a lot of money!"
He then asked her to tell him exactly how out of place is clothing looks, and if there was something he could do to adapt it to look more normal and less alien. She looked at him again, apparently analyzing his clothing again.
"As I mentioned before, I do somehow recognize it, which at the same time makes it both less and more strange to me -- if that makes any sense," she replied. "As for others, they would probably find it somewhat strange -- the cut is different, and it is certainly more finely crafted than most clothing found here. A traveling cloak should cover it nicely, though. And we should definitely get things like that before winter falls."
"This reminds me, though," she then added, "that we should get you some sort of weapon. I do not necessarily expect to encounter trouble -- while this is a barbarian country, it is relatively peaceful. But you never know when you might encounter brigands," she said, and Justin could tell that she was quoting one or more of her parents.
"Until we can find a town and get you a dagger or some such, a staff should suffice. Can you use anything like that?" she asked.
"I have some proficiency with knives, and I have one here shoved in my boot, so I don't see a need to go an buy one," he replied. Justin then removed the knife from inside of his boot, and carefully handed it to Crystal for her to look at.
"Wow," she commented, examining the knife. "That's a better blade than I've ever seen before. I guess that'll do then." She handed it back to him, and he took it back and resheathed it.
Then, after hesitating a bit, he continued, "I also have something else, although due to the nature of the weapon and the situation that we are in it should be used only in the greatest need. This is the standard weapon where I come from, and if you in fact have some familiarity with Earth, you may recognize it."
He carefully withdrew the Luger from its holster and showed it to her, although he did not hand it to her as he did with the knife. Seeing the gun, she gasped in surprise. "I recognize it. Well, as much as I recognize anything of yours. It seems familiar, and causes me strange feelings. I remember that was a bad sort of thing."
Then, before he could begin explaining its functioning to her, she said, "Hide it, and do not draw it unless absolutely necessary. It will be taken as bad magic, and most people are fearful of that sort of thing."
By this point, the day was just about over, so they decided to camp. Before they went to sleep, they spent some time getting to know each other better.
At one point, Justin then asked if they had accountants there, thinking possibly to future occupations. With an aptitude in math and the only pocket computer on the planet he figured he could make a killing as an efficient, and accurate accountant, even if the lifestyle was rather dull. But one must remember that what people fight for in revolutions is for the right to a dull, private lifestyle. They don't necessarily fight for the adventure, the thrill, and the need to stay fit.
"Accountants?" she asked, and Justin was almost surprised that this didn't invoke some sort of familiarity. Then she seemed to make a connection. "Oh, like the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He works for the King," she commented, and seemed -- as she got tired -- to revert even more to a little girl, rather than the survivor of a slave band and mystic seer that he'd gotten to know.
"That would be a very boring job," she commented, then started to drift to sleep.
The next morning, they awakened and got moving again by sunrise. As they walked, they continued to talk about this and that, having nothing else to do.
Without trying to pry, (since he really doesn't want to be pried to much quite yet himself) he asked a bit about Crystal's history. Particularly how she ended up almost being a slave, and what her parents sell/sold. In addition, he asked where her parents were at that point, if it was not too personal. She was happy to describe her background, though.
First, she admitted that Crystal was not actually her given name. Her real name was Jodie, but she had been so fond of pretty shiny rocks as a young child that she acquired that nickname. She liked it so much that she eventually started using it all the time.
She has already mentioned that her parents were travelling merchants. They sold whatever there was to sell. They brought goods from one town or village to another, and brought special items back from the city to the rural areas. They didn't really have any particular specialty.
She explained that her parents had been merchants as long as she knew. She had grown up on the road, with her twin brother Jonah. Unfortunately, a long time ago, when she was five, her brother was lost in the wilderness, and they were never able to find him. Their parents, though it broke their hearts, gave him up for dead, and moved on. She, however, wasn't so sure.
"I believe he is still alive," she said, "because I have a feeling I would know if he wasn't. That's why I ran away, actually. To try to find him."
She went on to explain that, for the last few years, she'd been having strange dreams about other places, and people she'd never met. In addition, everyday things had been making her think of things that she was sure she had never seen before, similarly to how she reacted to Justin, but less so.
Many of the dreams and memories pertained to her brother, however, and she became increasingly convinced that he was alive. So, a few months after her twelfth birthday, she ran away from her parents' caravan, to try to find him. Shortly thereafter, she encountered the slavers, and was captured.
As far as she knew, she said, her parents were still on their trade route. However, she absolutely did not want to think about what her disappearance had done to them.
They passed the day this way, and eventually found a good place to camp. That night, the temperature started to drop, and they decided to build a fire. When they finished assembling the kindling and wood, he automatically pulled out his disposable pocket lighter, and turned it on. Crystal reacted with -- again -- a gasp of strange recognition, and watched carefully. When Justin was done, and there was a nice fire going, she asked him how many of them he had, and how long they each last.
He replied he just had the one, and she admonished him again to use it sparingly. She didn't even realize what he might have felt about being cautioned by a pre-teen. She was skilled in starting fires with flint and steel or a bow, she informed him, so for normal campfires, the lighter wouldn't be necessary, and might come in useful in more important situations.
During the course of that evening, Justin found that one thing he really wished he had was a deck of cards. He wanted to teach Crystal poker -- a game he loved -- since it would be a nice way to pass time, and also since he thought of the bluffing skills one learns if one learns to play poker well as important in day-to-day life. He decided to keep an eye out for something that looked like a deck of cards, or something he could form into a deck of cards, and asked Crystal if she liked card games.
Crystal answered that she was, though she had a feeling that her favorites might not have been his. She was willing to try to learn Poker, however; in fact, (as usual) when he mentioned it, she seemed to recognize it. The name, at least.
Crystal also said that she might be able to find materials suitable for making a deck of cards, but it would be crude, and probably would not last long. She mentioned, though, that the next town they were to stop at would probably have one that they might buy. So they decided to wait, and see what they could find.
As they approached the village the next day, Crystal began thinking about what they would need to purchase, and what they had offer. She asked Justin what he might have that he could part with. She apologized for having to ransack his belongings, but she posessed nothing but the clothes on her back (which, technically, along with herself, belonged to him, she commented wryly.)
He revealed to her most of the rest of his equipment, but she dismissed most of it as 'inappropriate' for trading -- either people wouldn't understand what the item was about, or it could be too potentially useful to them to part with. The only things that she thought would be reasonable to trade were his mask; as it was not necessary for survival, but it was made of a fabric that would astonish most folk; and his watch, though she was as reluctant to let that one go as he was. "It may not be important," she said, "but it certainly could be useful."
Wishing she could provide more herself, the next night, when they made camp, she spent some time searching the general area. Eventually, she came back with a small gemstone -- it is only a small piece of turquoise, but it would help. She mentioned again that she'd always had a fascination with gemstones, and even had an aptitude for finding them. She just 'knew' when one was around, though -- as her first discovery showed -- they were most often of small value.
Every time they campped, from that point until they get to the village -- three days -- she searched for gems, and found a few more. She even tried searching while they hiked, but that didn't turn up anything more. It did increase the amount of supplies they could purchase after selling the mask, but not quite enough.
So they ended up having to work for the rest; Crystal was fairly skilled at sewing, weaving, and the like, and Justin ended up doing some harder labor -- the village was in the process of building a mill just upstream, and by helping them out, he helped earn the rest of their supplies.
(In fact, he was able to give them some pointers that greatly increased the mill's efficiency, for which the villagers gave them some extra supplies.) Justin made sure that a deck of cards was in the package, along with the provisions, extra clothing, and survival equipment.
They ended up spending two weeks there, and by that point were eager to get on their way. As they traveled, Crystal continued searching for gems, and found a number of small stones. One of them turned out to be a particularly lucky find: a small, but nicely cut emerald, which must have been lost by someone. They kept this one as a reserve, in case of particular need, and continued searching and foraging for as much as they could.
They also began playing card games in the evening, after making camp. They began with some of the simple games Crystal had played as a child, then moved on to Poker. Crystal caught on to the basics quickly -- almost as if she had played it once, a long time ago, and was remembering -- but never quite caught on to the strategy portion. They used pebbles to represent chips, and by the time they reached their destination, she owed him two mountains, three hills, seven boulders and eighteen pebbles, by her reckoning.
Three weeks passed in this fashion. They purchased more supplies at the next town, preparing for autumn. The summer heat was starting to give way; the equinox had just passed.
They continued on, and week by week, the temperature dropped bit by bit. After about another two weeks, the first snow fell. Crystal figured they could still make progress for a while, though. The snow didn't get too bad for another month or so.
She was right, and the next three-and-a-half weeks only saw occasional flurries, which they managed to forge through. Shortly thereafter, however, there was a major snowstorm. They managed to find refuge at a nearby farmstead, and spent another week waiting for conditions to sufficiently improve.
At that point, they decided to make their way to the next fair-sized settlement, and wait out the worst of the winter there. They made their way to a large village -- almost ready to call itself a city -- where they were delighted to learn that they'd just made it across the border into Crystal's homeland, Almaisaryn.
They settled in for another two months, posing as a brother and sister pair, and found work doing this and that. During this time, they ended up needing to sell the emerald Crystal had found -- near the end of their stay, the city was hit with economic problems, and they couldn't find any more work. So they lived for the last two weeks off the profits from the gemstone, leaving as soon as the weather allowed.
As Justin and Crystal set out from the city where they had spent the last two months, Crystal, at the least, was excited to be so close to home, and so close to being able to resume her quest. At the same time, however, she was sad that they would part soon. They'd gotten to know each other fairly well over the last few months, and had become friends, but the search for her brother continued to call to her, and she had to go.
She did delay their parting, however, for almost another week. At that point, she gave him something -- a farewell gift -- something to remember her by. It was a piece of wood, about two inches in length, cut in a diamond-shape. At each point, she had embedded a small stone -- most were just pretty rocks, but one is a small semi-precious stone: a piece of Carnelian, which was said to protect the bearer from harm.
She also told him that, if she'd reconstructed her calendar right, she'd just turned thirteen. Since that was a key age, in this world, for maturity, she reassured him that she'd be alright on her own.
Before splitting up, however, Crystal gave Justin as much of a geography lesson as he could absorb, and she could remember herself. She advised him to head for the capital city, Almaise, where he could surely find a way to support himself. Then she set off on her own, to try to find her brother, giving him a big hug goodbye.
Justin made his way across the countryside, following Crystal's directions. It was mostly hilly grassland, with forested areas here and there. The capital city, Almaise, was located on the eastern side of a bay along the south-western coast. In addition to being the political center of the kingdom, it was the economic center (as these usually go hand-in-hand), since the bay was also the spot where the largest river that rans through the kingdom emptied into the sea -- and therefore where all trade coming down the river ends up.
The city was rich in opportunities -- the kingdom was doing very well at that point. Trade had been good, and many secondary activities had been springing up. One of the passtimes that had become a big thing was Drake fighting.
Drakes were animals native to this world -- the only one that Justin did not recognize from Earth. They appeared to be small, wingless Dragons -- they had been known to grow up to the size of a small horse, but were most commonly no larger than a large golden retriever. They tended to be powerfully built, but also graceful. Justin saw them as a cross between an iguana and a cat. They were scaly, but slim and supple like a feline. Their heads did extend from their bodies, but weren't quite as serpentine as most representations of dragons that Justin knew of.
If they were captured young (and the younger the better -- Drake eggs were highly prized), they could be trained for pit fighting, and these fights were popular entertainment and highly profitable for the owners -- like horseracing on Earth -- as betting was common.
There were many Drake trainers in the city; most were relatively small-time, but a few highly successful ones had large organizations, and one was in need of an accountant. Justin jumped at the opportunity. The trainer signed him on, and was quickly impressed by Justin's skills, and came to appreciate him greatly.
However, pit fighting was a fickle enterprise. About a year later, the Master's champion was defeated in a fight -- one that it should have won easily -- and never entirely recovered. The rest of the House's fighters also suddenly had a rash of bad luck, and the Master's fortunes quickly evaporated. It was later discovered that an ex-employee sabotaged the operation -- he had been a worker in the stables, and was able to smuggle bad food in to the Drakes -- but by that point, it was too late. The Master's House was closed, and all the employees had to be let go.
Justin tried to approach some of the other Drake training houses, but due to the intesely competitive spirit that permiates the sport, none of them would even talk to him, due to his past affiliation with a rival. Essentially, he was blacklisted. Their mischeif was even able to prevent him from getting any good jobs in other fields in the city -- the Drake Masters' reach was wide there. Eventually, Justin had to settle for a position in the city guard, on Gate duty -- one of the lowest positions available short of street peddler.
For four months, he spent his nights -- and many of his days -- watching the gates that provided access in and out of the city. One day, he had an interesting encounter. Shortly before the gate was to be closed for the night, a young man hastened through. This was not uncommon, but the way he was dressed caught Justin's eye, as it was extremely similar to casual clothing from Justin's homeworld!
It was the beginning of summer, but the stranger was dressed relatively heavily. Black jeans, black sneakers, and a black turtle-neck shirt; with a small, round, golden pin on the collar, and a bronze medallion around his neck. He had long, blond hair which was pulled back in a ponytail.
Justin hurried down to ground level, in an attempt to intercept the stranger, and see just how familiar he was. When he got down there, he discovered the man waiting for him. Justin approached him, and was about to start questioning him, but something about the stranger stopped him. There was something about the man that made Justin know he had to hear him out. Even after running through the encounter in his mind later, Justin was never able to quite figure out what it was, just that it was some sort of aura of presence that was at the same time awing and reassuring.
"I know what you're going to ask," he said, "but no, I'm not from the same world you are originally from. I do know of your situation, however. In fact, you could say I'm partly responsible for it."
"No, I didn't warn the Nazis of your mission," he reassured Justin, "and I didn't put the Dimentional Rift Generator there -- they were already working on that. I did arrange the situation, though, so that it would be activated, and you could go through. If you hadn't," he added parenthetically, "you probably would have been killed. Instead, I arranged for you to come here, so you could be of some help."
"I approximately a month's time," he continued grandly, though with a hint of amusement at his own pomposity, "there will be a boy who comes through this very gate, who will need your help. In a way, he is an old aquaintance of yours. You will not recognize him immediately -- it has been a long time, and he looks considerably different anyway. You will recognize him because he rides a Drake -- he cannot move very well on his own. The two will come running through this gate, shortly after dawn. He may be accompanied by a young woman or an old man -- or both. Join them -- they will be wary at first, but show them this." He removes the pin from his collar and gives it to Justin. Looking at it more closely, Justin sees that it looks like a crescent that curls around almost far enough to close into a full circle, but within the crescent is a diamond- or flower-shaped section that rises from the thickest section of the crescent.
"Show him this," the stranger continued, without pause, "and he will know you as a friend."
And with that, the man turned around and walked away, quickly disappearing from sight.
Justin returned to his post -- none of the other guards said anything about his departure -- and finished his watch. At one point, he dozed off, and when he awoke, he thought the entire encounter to be a dream, as the memory of it had that sort of fuzzy air to it. But when he discovered the pin in his pocket he knew it was real.
Exactly four weeks later, minus one day, Justin found himself back on duty at the northern gate. He had almost begun to dismiss the whole thing, were it not for the continued existance of the pin. Near the end of that night's watch, they opened the gate for that day's business. Justin was looking forward to the end of shift, when they heard what sounded like an explosion come from within the city! Looking to the south-east, he saw a cloud of smoke rising into the pre-dawn sky, and a red glow coming from a house underneith it. Being under orders to stay at the gate, however, Justin and the others remained. Soon thereafter, they did see other guardsmen hurrying to the scene, so they figured things would be taken care of.
Shortly thereafter, first person passed through the gate. It was an old man, wearing robes and carrying a satchel, but he moved quicker than it looked like he should move, for his age. Justin remembered the stranger's remarks about the boy's possible companions, but since there was no boy with him, he dismissed it.
A few minutes later, however, one of the other guards noticed a shape quickly approaching from the inside. Justin looked over just in time to make out the shape of a Drake, with what seemed to be a young boy riding on its back. Somewhat amazed that the strange visitor's prophecy came true, Justin hesitated. The shift would be over soon, and they couldn't get too far, so he would be able to catch up.
After a few more minutes, a young woman hurried through the gate. Justin felt a strange sensation at the base of his neck as she passed through and he got a better look at her. She was pretty, but not a knockout, but there was something in the way that she moved that didn't seem quite right. She was dressed in loose clothing, and carried a large pouch that resembled a waterskin. He watched her, and she moved off in the same direction as the old man and the boy and Drake had.
The shift was not yet over, though, but Justin felt increasingly drawn to follow. The guard officer currently on duty noticed Justin's anticipation, and dismissed him early. With a friendly whack on the back, however, he misinterpreted his preoccupation, and admonished Justin to, "Be careful. She's probably not your type."
Justin was on the ground before he knew it, and moving down the road. Shortly after moving out of sight of the city wall, he saw all three of the figures who had passed through the gate this morning, gathered around a tree just off the road, about fifty yards up and to the right.