CHAPTER ONE

[perturbator]

[The video comes in rather unfocused at first, until some noisy fiddling brings a pair of 80s style Air Jordans into view.]

There's probably other things I should be asking first, but I only have two questions right now. One: How's the weather in California this time of year?

[If this place really is different, the forecast won't be nuclear fallout. People will be there again. America might be whole again.

Quickly, the camera shifts to a small coffee table with several different newspapers strewn all over it, but with a DVD copy of Terminator 2 on top.]

Two: How the fuck do you rewind this thing?

Comments

[huntergames]

Mmm...

[ As she pulls the pizza away, she winds up with a long string of cheese herself. She wraps it around her finger, not allowing a drop of it to go to waste. ]

Since last May, so over a year. I lost around nearly a month once so I don't know if that counts or doesn't.

[perturbator]

[Lost a month? That brings him back to his coma, the source of the visions that had been far too prescient. Even now his head throbs from time to time. With a mission, he hadn't noticed as much as he does now.]

You get hurt or something?

[huntergames]

[ She sets down her pizza a little so she can look at him properly. ]

This is going to sound weird, but it happens a lot here. Sometimes the Porter -- glitches is the word, I think -- and it sends you back home for a little bit before bringing you back here. I went home for a couple of weeks and when I came back most of July had passed.

[perturbator]

[As if his perception of reality needed to become more warped. He narrows his eyes at this new information. People could take vacations from this place? Switching dimensions sounded pretty final when he arrived. Maybe that had been wishful thinking.]

Glitches or fucks with us?

[A glitch happened on his secondhand NES cartridges. This was more than a few steps above that.]

[huntergames]

[ The thing is, Sasha hasn't decided after all this time if she's bought the whole "sentient machine" explanation. She screws up her face at first, pensive. ]

I don't think the Porter does it purposely. Wouldn't it try to keep us here if that were it?

[ Because this world "needs" heroes or so the soldiers on the base have said. Why send imPorts back to their world when it risks them never returning to this one? ]

[perturbator]

[No one seemed to know much about this thing, but honestly, should he really be looking a gift horse in the mouth? Of course, whether this is a gift at all remains to be seen.]

If it's so powerful, why doesn't it fix its own problems?

[And leave him the fuck out of it.]

[huntergames]

[ She can only shake her head. ]

I dunno... maybe it's not that powerful?

[perturbator]

Hm.

[Dimensional travel isn't a thing where he's from, so he can't really agree.]

Just dunno why the commies are a problem if we have something like that.

[He continues to eat his pizza, though now staring blankly out the window. Conversation has never been his strong suit.]

[huntergames]

I don't understand why they're a problem at all.

[ She'll admit that much, even if she can recall coming face-to-face with one of the spies who sabotaged that shuttle from last summer and how he had drawn a gun on her with zero hesitation. He was more than willing to blow her brains out -- kind of a scary thought. ]

[perturbator]

They want us all dead just because of what our country stands for. Even if you aren't in the army, they're taught to resent anyone from the West, because we stand united and they can barely keep the countries they've taken over together with masking tape.

[A bitter fervor enters his voice, that he quickly swallows down with the soda he ordered.]

All that, and they can barely keep their own people alive.

[huntergames]

[ Nobody has ever put it like that before. This is clearly brand new information to Sasha, who chews on the crust of her pizza quietly before setting it down on her plate and wiping her mouth with her knuckles. ]

Is that what this is all about?

[ She leaves a mental note for herself to pay better attention in her history class in school if she wants to understand why this Cold War has been going on for years and years. ]

I didn't know they were taking over other people's lands.

[perturbator]

[He just nods and takes another slice of pizza, which he found preferable over political discourse.]

There's a Hawaii here, right? ...That's where I fought them.

[huntergames]

[ She nods again, picking up her pizza and devouring as much of the crust in one go as she can. ]

They came onto American soil?

[ Though she doesn't sound too surprised considering the spies who have been here before. ]

[perturbator]

Yeah. Still don't know why.

[Hawaii wasn't exactly a strategic lynchpin. Either way, the thought of the islands still fill his nose with smoke and blood.]

[huntergames]

They've been here before.

[ In spite of Rich being from a different world, it's possible some events that occurred might happen here. That's worrisome. ]

They sabotaged a shuttle last year.

[perturbator]

[If he looked tense before, he's practically rigid in his seat now. He sets down his drink and wrings his hands.]

Fuckers-- [He mumbles, more to himself. What sort of wing clipping did the reds have in mind for America in this world? And could he take the same measures to stop it?]

What for?

[huntergames]

I don't know the exact reasoning.

[ She begins to break apart the leftover crust. ]

The shuttle had imPorts and um... people who worked on it going up in it. They probably didn't want it going into space.