…

"Everything is teetering on the edge of everything."

(Spec Ops: The Line)

…

Unknown, unknown, unknown, unknown

Dr. Sean

…

After about ten minutes of following the signs, we finally found some kind of marketplace. There was an abundance of aliens here, more of the ones we saw earlier, but there were a few others as well. There was a pint-sized round kind that wheezed every few seconds, a huge one with large arms that spoke in a constant monotone, and what I could only describe as a floating jellyfish.

Dan had actually become excited as we walked through the market, looking for a vendor that sold these "omni-tools". He had that wide-eyed look, the same look that he had when I got him hooked up with a custom computer back in high school. If he was happy, I was happy, but I didn't want him to go overboard. He has done that on more than one occasion.

We eventually found a vendor run by one of the round, rotund-looking suited creatures. According to the sign, he was selling these so-called "omni-tools."

"*wheeze* Hello, Earth-clan. What are you looking for on this fine day? *wheeze*" The stout creature asked, looking up at us as his suit made a pronounced pneumatic sound.

"Um, we're looking for new omni-tools, my old one broke, and my best friend here is getting his first one." I stated, looking at the small devices inside of the glass case.

"Oh, you have come at an opportune time, Earth-clan! *wheeze* I just received a new shipment of the Nexus omni-tools, *wheeze* a simple, yet durable and versatile brand, depending on what customizations you have installed." The creature explained, looking up at us with what I could only assume was anticipation. "*wheeze* What model would you like?"

"Um, just your baseline model please, we don't have much money right now." I quickly urged, holding my hand up.

"Very well, Earth-clan." The creature agreed, looking on its computer. "Two of the Nexus tools will cost about 20 credits."

"Here you go." I agreed with a quick nod, taking the chip device the bird alien gave us and handing it to him.

"Thank you." He confirmed, scanning it for a moment before handing the chip back to me, along with two omni-tools.

"Um, if it isn't too much… much trouble, can you explain how to turn it on?" Dan asked, looking down at the creature inquisitively as he attached the device to his arm.

"Oh, it's quite simple. *wheeze* All you have to do is wave your arm like this." He demonstrated, holding his arm out at a simple angle. "You can customize what gestures do what, but the factory setting *wheeze* is to hold your arm up to your chest."

"Thank you." I nodded as the two of us walked off, eager to find a spot to properly examine our new toys.

I could tell that Dan was itching to try this out more than anything else, and I wasn't far behind. We found a secluded spot below the market to get our bearings, turning on the devices and going through them. Despite it being a three-dimensional interface, it was surprisingly easy to wrap my head around once I got used to the menu navigation.

"Huh... apparently those sp-spikey Sarris-looking aliens are called "Turians"... strange." Dan remarked out loud, shaking his head as he scrolled through a Codex of some kind. "Look at this. They've got naturally-grown plate ar...armor with trace amounts of metal in it."

"That's great Dan, but I'm a little more focused on when and where we are right now." I dismissed, getting him to shrug and roll his eyes.

I wasted no time figuring out the basics. All I cared about was the time and date. With any luck, they used conventional dating like we did back on Earth. Barely thirty seconds had passed before I had a number.

2180. That number ran through my mind like a bucket of ice-cold water. I checked it twice, making sure it was right and I hadn't poked something I hadn't meant to. Surely enough, upon a second search it came back as 2180 once again. Oddly enough, not only was it 2180, but it was October 13th as well, the time matching my wristwatch perfectly.

I leaned against the wall, taking this all in. The date would suggest we had gone forward in time, but there was still no way to determine if this was still the same dimension. If it was, then how could the machine have compensated for time dilation relative to the two points? How did it pinpoint a habitable, non-obstructed location right in the middle of a moving space station, hundreds of lightyears from home? If I could just get my hands on better information, some lab equipment…

My racing thoughts were immediately cut off as two of the "Turian" aliens walked towards us. They didn't look very friendly, to say the least.

"Those are some nice omni-tools you got from Sindlo there, humans." One of them remarked sarcastically with what I was assuming to be a smile. They were wearing rough, ragged-looking clothes, and one had dried blood on the corner of his collar.

They were obviously not here to help us like the officer from before.

"Why don't you hand those over and we can all be on our way?" The other one threatened, both pulling knives and inching closer to us as Dan's face shifted.

"We're not giving you a thing, assholes." Dan shot back as his tone changed. He pulled his two pocket knives out, handing one to me.

My heart filled with dread as I recognized what was happening. Dan became… incredibly dangerous, for lack of a better term, whenever he felt he or someone he liked was being threatened. Last time something like this happened, we were still Freshmen at MIT, and the police ended up getting involved very quickly.

"Ooh, we have a tough guy here." The second Turian mocked as we stepped further backwards. "Human thinks he's going to hurt us with that little toothpick of his."

"Sean, remember Oasis?" Dan asked as he flicked open his knife, snapping it in place.

"I remember it not going too well." I shook my head, knowing what he wanted from me.

I understood the situation, but I wasn't going to stab anyone.

After the Turians moved in for the attack, I dodged the first Turian's swing, instead slamming myself into him as Dan dashed forward past me towards the second. I forced him down to the floor, straight onto his back with a loud bang, causing him to drop his knife as a side benefit. I took advantage of his dazed state, getting on top of him before he could get back up. I unleashed a quick succession of punches on the Turian's face as he clawed at my lab coat, jamming my knee into his arm socket for good measure. I must have hit something important with my last punch, because I eventually knocked him out, his body going limp. I stood up, stuck in an almost trace-like state as I could feel my chest thump up and down from the adrenaline.

Only then did I look over at Dan, who had handled the situation way worse than I had.

Dan killed him.

He sat there on his knees, staring at the body, knife stained with bluish blood, said blood gushing from the Turian's chest where Dan had stabbed him several times.

"Dan!" I shouted, shaking him out of his trance. "Come on man, we have to go."

Dan silently obliged, nodding weakly as I helped him back up. I swiped the credit chit from the Turian I had knocked out and we ran away from the scene as quickly as possible, getting as far away from that place as we could.

…

The Citadel, October 13th, 6:45 PM, 2180

…

Dan and I sat silently at a Human-run café, drinking cups of coffee. Well, at least I was. Dan stared at his cup blankly, keeping his hands folded under the table as I shakily ordered a third cup. I couldn't even imagine what must have been going through his mind. I tried a few times to get him to speak up, but he wouldn't relent.

"Come on, drink your coffee. It'll make you feel better." I urged, trying to get some kind of reasonable response out of him. All he did was close his eyes as moisture formed around his eyelids. "Come on, don't do that here."

"I don't… they…" He tried to say, as he laid his head on the table and sobbed quietly.

I sighed, knowing there was nothing more I could do. I silently drank my coffee as I let him vent. I began going over the implications of this in my head, thinking of possible defenses for ourselves if these "C-SEC" people found out who had killed that Turian mugger. The most obvious was self-defense, but then you have fleeing a crime scene, which probably didn't look on a court document.

I had upped our odds internally, confident in the thought that we were safe. It was highly unlikely that C-SEC had any of our information, biometrics or otherwise, especially if this was a different dimension. I tried to reassure Dan that we would be alright, but I think he was still too shell-shocked at the time to even listen to what I was saying.

The waiter filled my cup again as a thought suddenly flashed through my head.

"Excuse me, do you know if there are any cheap apartments for rent around here?" I asked, knowing that we would surely need a place to stay.

"Hm… there are the Fiji Apartments down the street owned by Jin Kysaki." She answered, pausing as she thought about it. "His place is pretty cheap, about 90 credits a week."

"Thank you... for the coffee, I mean." I said as she walked off to serve her other customers. "Fiji Apartments…"

"Sounds like we'll ne…need to acquire a source of income." Dan remarked, causing me to flip around to face him again. He already looked better, though his eyes were still red from all the tears. He was holding the coffee cup with both hands by the sides, taking small sips.

"Are you gonna be alright?" I inquired, feeling better now that he was responding to what was going on around him. "You seemed really out of it for a while there."

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me." He reassured, holding his hand up to stop me. "So, we...we're going to need income."

"Yeah, it looks that way." I agreed, scratching the stubble on my chin. "My thought is we take a break, go out on a search tomorrow, then…"

"Then what?" Dan asked while dumping packets of sugar into his coffee, wanting to hear the end of the sentence.

"I don't know." I answered with honesty, picking up my coffee and taking a big gulp. "I don't have the slightest clue what to do. All these races seem to have intelligence similar to us… if we start going up to people and start blabbing about how a wormhole dumped us here, we'll be committed to a nice padded cell before we know it."

"You have a good p-point." Dan agreed, mixing his coffee with a small metal spoon. "What if we approached this… Alliance? They might believe us."

"I don't know, I don't know…" I said in frustration, rubbing my temple as I pondered all our options. "I mean... the United States don't really exist anymore, who has that command structure anymore? Who do we turn to? No U.S. embassy to look towards for diplomatic protection, no passports or photo ID... I think we should just lay low for a while, see if anything else happens."

"I su…suppose so." Dan gave in, drinking all his coffee in one swig. "Still hard to believe home isn't re...really home anymore, huh?"

I didn't reply, instead staring blankly at the coffee cup in front of me. So much had changed, but far more still lay ahead for us. There were hundreds upon thousands of questions that needed answering, and I had my doubts that any of them would be answered anytime soon.

"Let's pay up and leave, I need to get my mind off of this." I urged as the both of us got up, paid, and left for the Fiji Apartments.

…

The Citadel, October 13th, 7:21 PM, 2180

…

This place, the Citadel... it really was amazing the more you looked at it. As far as I could tell without actually looking it up, the place was at least comparable to five New York Cities strapped to a giant ring.

We stopped inside of a convenience store, buying some food. We had decided that we were going to hole up inside of an apartment until further notice. We needed to gather information, process it, and use it to find out just what the hell happened to us.

After a long walk, we eventually found the Fiji Apartments. I had to admit, I was not impressed in the slightest. The place looked like a slightly more futuristic, run-down Miami motel. Still, I don't think it really mattered to us at this point, the woman at the Café was right. This place was cheap.

We paid the owner 90 credits for the week and dragged ourselves up to Room #7. It was an OK size, but it only had one bed. I was thinking the same thing Dan was thinking.

"I am not sharing that b-bed with you." Dan said before I could, completely serious in his tone. "I'd rather die."

"Agreed. I'll flip you for it." I challenged, pulling out my trusty 1995 quarter.

"I call heads." Dan agreed, as I flicked it into the air. It landed on the floor, still spinning on its own. After spinning for about five more seconds, it did something I hadn't expected it to do.

It stopped on its side. Neither head nor tails won.

I looked over at Dan and let out a loud sigh.

"Well, either you're going to die, or you're swallowing your pride until further notice." I remarked blankly, unable to think of anything wittier than that to say. Dan's face took on a deadened tone, both of us sighing in resignation.

Damn coin.

…

I was sitting on my front porch, quietly staring out at the sunset in the distance through the trees. It was always a beautiful sight this time of the day. I was still wearing my robes from graduation, and I clutched my mortarboard and high school diploma tightly in both hands. I closed my eyes as I felt the wind blow gently past me, thinking about everything that had led up to this moment.

The silence was broken when my father came out onto the porch, looking at the sunset before taking a seat next to me. My dad was an imposing man without the police training, even when he was happy. He had steel-colored hair and awesome facial hair that I always dreamed of emulating since I was a kid. We were both quiet for a few seconds before he spoke up.

"There were sure a lot of people in there, huh?" He remarked casually, his hands folded as he looked over at me.

"Yeah, hundreds." I agreed, thinking back to that auditorium at UMBC. "I'm surprised so many people managed to fit in there."

"It took a while, but your mother and I eventually spotted you." He said, putting his arm around my shoulder. "You have no idea how proud your mother and I are."

I simply smiled, as he hugged me tighter with his arm. "When you walked onto that stage and got your diploma, your mother began to cry she was so happy."

"I know, Dad." I replied, having looked up at my mother at the time to see her wiping off her face with a tissue. "I told you I would do better. I told you I would get through this."

"And you did." He said with pride, giving me a big hug. "Here, take this."

He handed me a ring that had a brilliant sapphire gemstone in the center of it. On one side it had the year 1978 engraved, and the other it said Curtis Bay High School.

"That's my class ring from when I graduated high school." He explained as I stared at the ring. "I want you to have it."

"But Dad, this is yours." I protested, confused by his gesture.

"It's time for me to pass it on." He said with a smile wide on his face as he looked at my hand. "One day you'll give your ring to your son."

I smiled, thinking about how much my parents wanted me to have kids one day.

The air suddenly got much colder, as the sky darkened around me and rain began to fall. I looked over at my dad only to see he was gone. I stood up just as two faceless paramedics carried a covered stretcher out the front door, followed by my mom who was sobbing uncontrollably.

"Dad? DAD!" I shouted as I dashed over to the paramedics who were loading him into the ambulance. The sidewalk grew longer as I ran faster, trying to stop them from taking my father away.

I fell down on the edge of the sidewalk as they sped away, unable to stop them. I laid there, crying out in agony as the world collapsed around me.

…

I let out a sharp gasp as I woke up, looking around to see the apartment Dan and I had purchased. I sighed deeply, annoyed but thankful that I was just having another bad dream. I looked at my hand making sure my father's ring was still there. Sure enough, the sapphire sheen put my fears to rest.

I laid on the very edge of the bed, trying to avoid all contact with my "bedmate." Luckily, there were separate blankets, so we didn't have to worry about sharing that. I looked at the bedside clock, seeing it was 6:44 AM. I let out a small groan, knowing that it would be near impossible to go back to sleep with Dan making sounds comparable to that of a locomotive.

I slowly got up, entering the small bathroom. It had actually been the first time since my birthday I had taken a good look at myself in a mirror, and I immediately regretted it. I looked like shit. My hair was unkempt and oily, my face was covered in stubble, and I had large bags underneath my eyes. I was actually slightly repulsed by my condition, and wondered why Dan hadn't said anything about it.

I winced in pain, looking down at the knuckles on my right hand. The skin had broken on the index and middle knuckles, and the rest of them were turning various shades of purple and yellow. My father's old ring might have helped out too, considering how pointy the gemstone was.

Those Turians had hard faces, but nothing stops the kinetic force of the punch. I thought back to high school when I had gotten into two different fights in the same week. The first happened on a Tuesday, when some idiot in the back of the class thought it was funny to throw a foam ball at the backs of people's heads while they typed. After it hit me for the second time I picked it up and spit on it, throwing it in the trash. The little guy didn't like me ruining the fun and decided to sucker punch me in the back of the head while I was walking to my next class.

He didn't last long after that. Being both taller and stronger than him, I clocked him twice in the face before a teacher came and broke it up. That fight was… really satisfying, to be painfully and brutally honest. I wish I could say the same about the second fight that week.

That fight occurred on Friday, and during our last period of the day of all things. This fight, unlike the last one, had been brewing over a long drawn-out period. This guy and I hated each other, and were about matched in terms of strength and height. When I made a comment about how shit he was in the class that was the end of the line for him.

While I worked on my geology paper, he snuck up behind me and punched me hard in the side of the head, knocking my brain to the side and my whole body out of the chair. He then pinned me to the ground, punching me hard several times in the face before the teachers could pull the bastard off of me.

I had one hell of a bruise the next week. I instinctively rubbed the side of my head, remembering the pain afterwards. I became determined to never lose a fight like that ever again from that point on.

I actually chuckled at that, despite how negative the memory was. I always found the human body interesting in how it reacts to blunt-force trauma. Initially during the fight, all I felt was something hitting my face, then my face just felt warm. Only ten minutes after the fight had ended did I start feeling any actual pain. Adrenaline is one hell of a drug.

I smiled slightly, looking at the scar on my left cheek. I locked the door to the bathroom, taking off my clothes and hopping in the shower. The shower was one of the few good things in this place, it ran nice and hot. I sighed, letting the steaming water run down my face as I stress rolled off my shoulders.

"My nightmares are getting worse." I thought to myself, opening up my eyes and staring down at the drain. I thought back to it again, realizing how vivid it was. "I need to get my head back where it belongs."

I shut off the water, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my waist. I looked in the mirror, pondering the stubble on my face. I took the knife Dan had given me, checking its sharpness. I found it satisfactory, and used it to carefully shave my neck and face. I decided to leave the goatee, discovering I liked it and would let it grow. I lazily "combed" back my hair with my hands as I threw my lab coat back on. I plucked off my ID and tossed it in my pocket, knowing an Area 51 ID might look strange, or worse, suspicious to the average passerby.

I left the bathroom to see Dan sitting on the edge of the bed, looking intently through the Codex on his omni-tool. He was so immersed that he didn't even notice me come out of the bathroom.

"They offer room service here?" I asked indirectly, looking around the room again. Dan flipped around to face me with slight surprise. "Scratch that, the food is likely similar to the condition of the rooms."

"Heh, maybe so." He replied with a smile, turning back to his omni-tool. "I'm thinking I'm going to sit here and see how much of this information I can absorb."

"You know, I had the same exact idea." I smirked, sitting on the room's lone chair. Just as I opened my omni-tool, something shattered the window, flying through and landing on the floor. I barely had enough time to see what it was.

A flashbang.

Dan and I yelled in pain as it went off a split second later, blinding and deafening both of us. Within seconds, I could feel my center of balance immediately shift as I was shoved to the floor. Handcuffs of some kind were thrown on, and I was pulled back to my feet just as my vision cleared up.

Dan and I went without protest with these people, whoever they were. They were all humanoid, heavily armed and wearing full black armor suits. Dan couldn't do anything to them if he tried. They carried us into their shuttlecraft and secured us to the seats as they sped off as quickly as they had arrived.

"You motherfuckers! Who are you?!" Dan shouted, fury dripping from his words. None of them replied, making both of us angrier than we already were.

"Hey assholes, how 'bout some fucking manners?! This is illegal, whatever you're doing!" I yelled as well as one of them yanked really hard on my arm. Trying to gauge a reaction from the silent figures was impossible, their faces were covered and we couldn't hear a word they were saying to one another.

As I laid on the ground, one of the armored figures took out a syringe and stuck me in the neck, much to my extreme discomfort. Spots began to form in my vision as everything got blurry, darkness coming seconds later.

…

Unknown, October 14th, unknown, 2180

…

I began to stir, unable to properly focus on any single thing around me. The only thing I could pinpoint was that we were in some kind of small room with a large metal table, and that I had some kind of heavy metal cuffs on in front of me. Dan was sitting next to me, half-drugged and half-conscious as he rolled his head around.

Focusing more on the room, it looked like an interrogation room of some sort. To our left was a large one-way window, and above us was a barely noticeable camera.

"Hey, wake up!" I said out loud, elbowing Dan in his ribs. "Wake the fuck up!"

"Ugh… where did…did we end up this time?" He asked with a slight slur, whatever serum they had given us still wearing off for him. He looked down at his hands in confusion. "I don't remember these."

"Wake up, you klutz!" I yelled, as his eyes opened all the way.

"Damn it… shit!" He exclaimed in annoyance at our current situation, pulling his head back and taking a deep breath. "First muggers, now some kind of paramilitaries… I seriously ho-hope this doesn't become a regular occurrence."

"You're right, I seriously don't want these events to become a regular occurrence." I shot back out of frustration, taking the piss out of him.

"Forget I said anything then." He said with finality, looking at my cuffs for a moment before turning back to his. "I don't think a b-bobby pin is going to do the job for these things."

"Is that your educated opinion, Dan?" I continued, emitting a weak smile as he narrowed his eyes on me. "This has to be some sort of intimidation tactic, I'm sure of it."

"If they're waiting for us to st...starve to death, I'm well on the right track." Dan complained like a child, his stomach managing to growl almost on queue a second later.

"Quit your belly-aching, I think I hear someone coming." I quickly refocused as someone could be heard on the other side of the door.

Said door slid open, revealing a woman wearing some kind of blue dress uniform with gold trimmings. She had black hair that was tied into a bun, and had skin that was somehow paler than Dan's. That last characteristic alone scared me more than it should have.

"Hello gentlemen." She greeted in a friendly tone, sitting down in front of us as the door she had entered through slid shut. She placed two worn manila folders on the table as she folded her hands. "My name is Lynda Embry, and I'm here to debrief you two and offer you a job."

…

A/N: Cliffhangers, you gotta love them. The story is progressing well so far, and I already have a full synopsis set up for the story. It's bare on details, so I can still keep it interesting as the story goes on.

I'd like to thank all the people who faved and put my story on their watch lists, It makes me extremely happy knowing there are people out there who are already interested in my story. Also, special thanks go out to everyone who posted a review, I always enjoy reading them.

I'd love to read any reviews, I'm always up for suggestions or constructive criticism. Stay tuned.