"The EC Umbra." Vanessa, Anthony, and Kevin followed the young boy, 'Sam,' along a long corridor. There were yellow lights overhead and the sides of the ship were sleek, metal, and lined with various, encased tubes. "She's my one true love." He stopped for a moment and kissed one of the walls with an exaggerated, 'muah!' Kevin held onto his girlfriend's hand and stared at the boy with a perplexed expression.
"What does EC stand for?" Vanessa inquired softly and adjusted her glasses with her free hand.
"Exploration Class."
"And Umbra...- that's Latin. Shade, a shadow. Something unseen, or an apparition."
"Very good! I like you, you're pretty smart." As they entered what appeared to be the main command center up towards the bridge, there were chairs lining many walls with dozens of people sitting in them, working away upon holo-consoles: holographic screens that they were able to touch and communicate with.
"I told you that this is something out of Star Trek..." Kevin mumbled as they made way to what appeared to be the captain's chair. It was there that Sam took his seat and crossed one leg over the other. The teenage boy pressed a small button on his goggles, which made a glass visor-lens appear over his eyes.
"Hey, Sammy!" A yell was heard as a tall woman bounded down from a nearby corridor. She had outlandish, purple hair that was tied up in pigtails, although even while pulled up, each tail was very long. Looking to be in her twenties, she had a black vest on over a leather tunic that criss-crossed against her torso and revealed most of her stomach, and a lengthy black skirt with a slit on one side that draped loosely over shorts with knee-high boots.There was something in a fairly large case that was strapped to her back and looked severely heavy, although she carried the burden with ease.
"Sup, Elsa? Oh, right. You didn't make it to the briefing of our guests! Guys, this is Elsa, she's our artillery specialist." The woman stops in front of them and salutes.
"I prefer -Sergeant- Elsa." She gives a girlish giggle, before shaking her head. "Sammy dear, it's all done. It's so sophisticated- surely, I get to pilot it?"
"Yeah, Elsa. You get to be the diversion. Viper's infiltrating."
"Fantastic! What about our guests? Have you figured out a way to get them home?"
"Listen, I don't think it's going to be so simple, getting us back to where we need to go..." Anthony spoke to them in earnest, but Sammy quickly interjected.
"Ah, right. Some explanation is in order. See, funny story..." He rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his short hair. "It's actually our fault that you're here in the first place. We were experimenting with a newly-weaponized displacement drive and you guys are sort of a..., side effect."
"But it's all done now!" Elsa adds. "No more side effects..., hopefully."
Vanessa took her glasses off and rubbed them against the fabric of her pajama top before putting them back on. "What can you tell us about this place? About..., West City. And the tower."
Another voice was heard, and it was much deeper. It was the tall, muscular man: Jed. "The less you know the better." He sat on another nearby chair. "We can't have you going back into the past and messing with events of history. That's too dangerous." He cracked his neck and stared at the trio, which made Kevin shudder.
And then another smoother voice, from the man in black known as Draziel. "When we activate the core of the displacement drive, we can open up a rift that'll send you back. However, you won't remember any of this to begin with..." He looked to Jed with a serious expression. "So no need to make threats."
"Easy, guys. Easy. They're under enough stress." Sam nods at them. "Sit down, relax. Things will be back to normal for you guys in no time. Elsa, why don't you take them to the cafeteria and get them something to eat?"
"Roger roger! This way, this way..." She began to lead them along a corridor. However, Vanessa felt a pang of wanderlust, and subtly split from the group and walked along another pathway. Finding a door with a wheel-opening mechanism, she used what little strength she had to turn it slowly and make her way inside. However, as she took a step inward, she found herself face-to-face with the golden-eyed woman, Viper.
"What are you doing?" The woman stared down the mousy brunette with a slight look of displeasure.
"Ah- I was just..., they wouldn't tell us anything, so thought that I-..."
"Would find out for yourself?" Vanessa saw the other woman move a hand to her leg, and she gulped audibly, beginning to feel the sweat of panic creep on her. Was she going to die? Get incinerated by that gun she saw the blonde use before? Instead, the tall woman pulled some sort of key from her belt and tossed it at the girl in glasses. She fumbled with it until her hands steadied. "Use the console, in here. Put the key in the surface slot and ask it anything you wish to know." Her voice was cold, steady.
"Y-You don't think it's a bad idea for me to learn these things?"
"Learn what you want. It doesn't concern me." With that, she stepped around Vanessa and made her way back down that metal hallway, boots tapping against steel. Despite still feeling incredibly uneasy, the key-holder made her way into the room and found the aforementioned console. The key looked like a small pillar of stone, which glowed as it came in contact with the device. She found the slot and inserted it, which made a large screen light up. Viper's words rang through her head: ask it anything you wish to know.
Meanwhile, Kevin, Anthony, and Elsa had found their way to the cafeteria. "Uh, Tony. Where did Nessa go?"
"She's occupied. Leave her be and eat." Viper walked by them and spoke curtly before heading into another room at the far side.
"Who is that woman? She's kind of bad ass." Anthony said as he watched the blonde walk away.
"I don't like the sound of that..., occupied." Kevin said with a nervous tone.
"Don't your worry your heads off. Sit." Elsa gestured at the tables and waited for them to sit as she had directed. Once they did, she brought over two trays from a nearby counter and placed them in front of the two. There was a bowl on each that looked like it had something akin to oatmeal inside of it, some sort of rubbery looking substance that resembled jello, and strange, alien-plants that must have become the future of vegetables. "Viper's one lean, mean, killing machine, but she wouldn't hurt one of you guys. The truth is, we don't know much about her. She's new. But Sam is convinced that we need her- and to be honest, our mission success rate has gone up since she joined the team.
"I know you guys aren't about supposed to tell us anything, but-..., what do you guys do? What sort of missions?" Kevin inquired and began to roll his food around with a fork. Apparently, cutlery hadn't changed much.
"It's pretty simple. We stop the bad guys!"
"Who are the bad guys?" Anthony asked as he took a bite of what looked like a blue celery stalk, which he actually seemed okay with nibbling on.
"Now that..., that I can't tell you! Can't risk it! Time paradox and..., whatnot. I don't know, Sam and Draziel know the most about that stuff, they're super smart. I just build and fire the guns. But our next mission, the one you'll be able to hitch a ride home on..., if everything goes right, we're going to make a major blow against the enemy!"
"And when's the mission supposed to be?"
"Tonight!"
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