A terrified Calvin watched as the two figures strode purposefully toward him.

"Hobbes! What do we do?"

The tiger quickly sized up the situation; there weren't many options and the policemen were marching double-time. They had about thirty seconds before they were spotted for sure. Running was out of the question. If the police in 2100 were still even half-decent, they wouldn't stand a chance in a foot race. All that was left to do was hide in or under something. Nothing to hide in here. But the bench had a hollow space underneath. Far too small for an adult, but not for a young kid

"Calvin, take the papers and get under the seat, then help me get under there. Hurry!" Hobbes shoved the printed papers into his companion's hands.

Calvin looked anxiously at the approaching police. "But what about you, Hobbes?" He looked back at his companion. "How will you fit under - oh."

His tiger friend had reverted to his stuffed-animal form. Instead of a six-foot anthromorphic tiger, he was now a foot-and-a-half tall plushie with stitches for a mouth and black buttons for eyes.

Calvin shoved the printouts under one corner of the bench and took Hobbes under one arm. In a flash he'd crawled under the opposite corner of the bench, as far back from the door as he could get. He scrunched back as much as humanly possible until cold metal pressed against his spine.

The trimp-tramp, trimp-tramp of booted feet was getting close. Huddled in that little space, Calvin had time to think this wasn't what I expected to be doing in the future.

Then they were there.

Overwatch Officer Level 5 David Romsfeld kept his eyes locked on the approaching corner. There was something funny in this area and it was his job to find 'it' - if 'it' didn't find him first. "Watch out for anything unusual," he'd been told by the Level 1 himself, Commander Rabin. "A citizen with a warrant out, an alien, even some loose kid out on a little ride."

At least he knew the last one was impossible. Kid. Yeah right. What kind of kid pops out of nowhere on the scanners?

Officer Shelsky and he reached the corner. Shelsky withdrew his two Talon handguns and looked to his partner. David nodded - a blind corner and an unknown something in the area made for a dangerous combination. He snapped the safety off his own weapon, a laser pistol. They both stepped around the corner at lightning speed as a single person.

The alley was deserted.

Shelsky relaxed a little. He gave a cursory glance inside the 'net booth set into the corner of the building. It was empty and the screen was blank. "Looks like it isn't around here at any rate."

But Officer David shook his head. "Don't be too sure. There's a million objects to do some scaling on - and this factory has a flat roof."

"What's that got to do with...oh...makes it easy to walk on, doesn't it?"

Another nod. "You watch up top."

A wide-eyed Shelsky looked upwards with a shiver. "Blind alley, no image recorders, roof like a walkway..."

"One heck of an ambush point, innit? Keep those things up and ready. I'll cover any doors and equipment to make sure it isn't lurking behind something. Cover me."

With that the two officers began moving down the alley at a fast walk. One constantly watched the edge of the roof as the other cautiously eyed odd pieces of equipment and checked numerous back doors. A nearby pressure-relief valve hissed suddenly and was nearly shot by bullets and laser beams from the nervous officers as they continued down the alley in their trained, methodical way.

Calvin slowly poked his head out from under the bench. The sound of boots was gone. But were the police? He looked out the window. Nothing. He got out and looked as far down the alley as possible without opening the door. Still nothing.

"Whew! That was close. I have to get out of here fast!" He was sure the police would be back this way. But where to go? Certainly not the way they went. Staying here was risky. Where could he hide?

Behind the police cars?

It was a crazy thought to say the least. But who would look behind their own cars? If he stayed behind them until they started to take off, just perhaps he'd escape notice.

Why not. The young boy frantically started dusting himself off. Fortunately there hadn't been any gum (or worse) stuck under the bench. Then he pulled Hobbes out, who looked just fine.

Now what about the papers? There were only seven sheets, but they kept falling apart. Calvin remembered a tip from his mother and started creasing them along the corner - handy when you there wasn't a stapler or paperclip handy.

A single sheet fell to the floor. He ignored it, it just had a little text along the top and no actual map. As slowly as possible Calvin opened the door and held it with one foot.

Taking the papers under one arm and Hobbes under the other, the young boy waited a second to listen...and then dashed out the door like a cheetah on steroids.

Calvin covered the fifty yards to the hovercars in record time. He reached the group and crouched behind the back of the one closest to the railing, panting heavily. A low thrumming sound came from what he assumed was their engines.

For a few seconds he gave the futuristic cars a look-over. They were quite different seeing as he was used to every vehicle having wheels. Besides lacking any wheels at all the underside was covered in lengthwise panels that glowed a golden-red. He stuck a hand underneath and very carefully touched one of them. It felt smoother than linoleum and somewhat warm.

Out of curiosity Calvin gave the bumper a nudge. The car bobbed a little over to the opposite direction, then snapped back like a bent spring.

"Cool."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Calvin whirled around. "Hobbes!" His friend was back in his 'real' form, crouching low beside him.

"Indeed. Calvin...you do remember when your parents talked about installing a car alarm?"

"A little. Why?"

"Because most car alarms go off one of two ways: when a window or door is broken into - or when the car is moved."

Calvin yanked his hand away. "Whoa! Thanks for telling me."

"No problem." Hobbes peered around the right side of the car. "Interesting place you picked to hide. Care to tell me why?"

"Hey! There wasn't anywhere else to go! The police officers went down the alley the other way!"

"And what was wrong with our current location?"

An icy I-don't-know-stare was the only response.

"I see. Well...we're here now. What's the plan, oh fearless leader?"

"I was gonna wait until they started to take off. I bet the police will look everywhere coming back - who'd expect someone to hide here?"

"Listen, frizzletop, these are policemen we're talking about. If they don't notice someone hiding behind their own car then the police in the future are pretty darn lousy."

Calvin squirmed. "Okay! Okay! So maybe this wasn't my best idea. But where do we go now? Back to that booth thingy?"

"That's rather dangerous now. We'd have to run all the way back without anything to hide behind. What about those?"

"Those what?"

Hobbes gestured to something, and Calvin turned to follow his friend's gaze.

In one corner of the runway a small structure protruded from the landing pad, just southwest of where they were currently hiding. Two tube-like openings were set into the front. Each was about six feet tall and backlit in a soft blue light.

"How come I didn't see that before? And what are those?"

"We were looking at it from the side. Nothing but wall from that point of view. As for what they are...look closely. See those shiny thingamabobs inside it?"

Calvin had to squint to see just what Hobbes was talking about. The tube on the right had whitish sparkles floating gently in a downward direction.

"A fairy convention?"

"Funny. See how they all float down? Unless I'm wrong, it's some kind of elevator."

"No way! Elevators have doors and don't do a light show."

"Not in our time. In 2100 they might be a little different."

"A 'little' different? Well...okay...lemme see." Calvin darted over and stood by the edge. At a closer distance the 'sparkles' were much more distinct; like little spiky cotton balls wafting around in thin air. They seemed to appear from everywhere and nowhere at once, bouncing off the smooth walls of the tube as they drifted toward the ground below.

Curious, Calvin carefully stretched out one hand. In a few seconds one of the odd little sprites collided with his outstretched fingers and vanished in a silent puff of white.

"Weird."

"I'll say." Hobbes leaned over and chomped on one. "Rats. Pretty tasteless."

"What were you expecting - tuna fish? How far does this go down?"

Hobbes got down on all fours and very carefully peered over the edge. After a moment he looked up at Calvin. "About a couple stories. I think."

A knot started growing in Calvin's stomach. "How high is a story?"

"Eight to fifteen feet, give or take."

"So that goes down thirty feet?!"

"About. It could be more. It's rather hard to tell from here."

Calvin started backing away. "Nuh-uh. I am NOT going down there. No way. You were right about that booth! Let's go back and - "

A loud crash suddenly came from the back alley, followed by yells. Both time travelers froze.

"Hey! Back here! I saw something!"

Hobbes' tail frizzled out like a feather duster. "Ah, Calvin, I think we'd better move."

Calvin gulped. Take a chance on 'elevator' or the police? "But what if that thing lets us fall? We'll be pancakes!"

But his friend had already made up his mind. Standing upright, Hobbes leaped into the shaft. He hung there for an instant and began to gently sink down.

"First floor, going dowwwwn! Hurry up Calvin!" Soon he was below the floor level and going downward.

The young boy hesitated. It looked safe enough...but

More yells. Sounds of running feet. "There! Over there! Hey - DON'T MOVE!!!"

He jumped.

Officer David swore and struggled to get to his feet. "A 'coon! A &$# racoon! Where the #&# did that come from?! There isn't supposed to be one of those $&$# trash-scavengers in this whole &!# city!"

His partner helped him stand. "I guess Vector Control missed that one. You get to tell the factory manager how those holes in that cooling unit got there."

The infuriated officer retrieved his weapon and swore a blue streak at the raccon and all his recent ancestors. "I don't care. #$ thing gave me a heart attack!" Dusting off his uniform he took off down the alley like a maddened bull. "Let's go! The rest of the squad's waiting!"

"Blaaahaaahaieeee!"

The young boy felt himself falling...falling...falling through thin air with hundreds of the white sparkles all around. Frantically he tried to grab onto the walls, but they were slicker than ice.

Suddenly a familiar voice boomed from below. "Hey! Relax!"

Calvin stopped panicking for a moment. "H-Hobbes?!"

"Below you! Take it easy! We're not free-falling. Look down here at me."

Hobbes was floating in the blue nothingness, stretched out in a relaxed upright position. "See? Just relax! Act like you're in the hammock at home."

A skeptical young boy stopped waving his arms and feet. His friend was right. They were drifting down at a measured rate. Slowly he let his arm muscles relax. They floated in midair beside him, their weight borne by some unknown force. "Whoa. That's kinda neat!"

"Relaxing, too." Hobbes stretched his hind legs and let himself go limp in the weightless environment.

Calvin watched the entrance recede farther and farther above them. Sparkles whirled and dived all around his face. He tried catching one on his tongue like a snowflake. Hobbes had been right. They really were tasteless; except for a mild metallic sensation like when you licked a nine-volt battery.

The pair drifted gently on down the shaft without further comment - until Hobbes happened to notice how close the bottom was coming up. "Whoa! Heads up! Get ready to stand up again!"

Again a brief panic. "Uh-oh! Hobbes...I'm gonna land right on top of you!"

"No worries. I'll catch ya."

In another instant padded feline feet hit the floor almost soundlessly. Hobbes held his paws up and braced for the impact. But it never came. Curiously, Calvin stayed suspended in the air, the bottoms of his shoes three feet above his friend's outstretched paws. He waited...but Calvin just stayed there. Calvin was both relieved and worried at the same time. "What's wrong? Why can't I come down?"

It was indeed strange, but the clever tiger soon figured it out. "I get it! Next person in line doesn't come down until the way is clear so they don't get smashed."

"So this is a safety system?" asked the floating boy.

"I bet so." So saying Hobbes scampered out of the shaft. And no sooner had he done so than his friend came floating down to a perfect two-point landing.

"Whew. First I think I'm gonna go 'splat', and then I think I'm stuck! What a way to travel."

The two took a while to survey their surroundings. Chipped and faded block lettering on the wall indicated they had just ridden in a 'gravshaft' , which had deposited them in a dimly-lit alcove. Four dented old benches lined opposite ends of the walls. After seeing nothing of any interest they followed the walkway out.

As they came into broad daylight an incredible sight met their eyes. Calvin's eyes went as wide as saucers. Hobbes' tail did another impression of a dust broom.

"Good heavens!"

"It's...huge!!!"

They had emerged onto a very large walkway with tall clear panels lining the sides. It behaved like some kind of mutant tree; twisting and turning around things and branching off into new paths too many times to count.

And the buildings...

Until now Calvin hadn't quite noticed just how large the buildings were. Now instead of seeing them from the top down he and Hobbes on an 'eye-level' with the structures of 2100. They weren't just 'big' but also jaw-dropping tall.

"Wow-ee! Look up there! That's where we just were!"

Hobbes looked upwards and gasped. "Oh...my...I take back my statement. We're not a 'couple' stories down! We're more like five stories down!" From where he and Calvin were standing, looking up and back in the direction of the alcove they could see the platform. It looked quite small.

This made him curious. "So then how far up are we now?" He pulled himself on the top of the panels and peered over them. "Oh good heavens...don't look down, Calvin. It's a long way to the ground from here."

Calvin looked down through the clear panels and instantly got a bad case of vertigo. "Oog. Good thing these glass panels are here."

"Don't think these are old-fashioned glass, but yes, I'm very happy they're here."

"Nice view anyway."

"Oh yes."

Several minutes passed while each surveyed a separate part of the city. Calvin looked at the different buildings, uniformly colored in a neutral ivory-beige paint. Hobbes observed the many kinds of flying vehicles flitting among the cityscape like birds in a forest. Some came close enough for a cursory visual inspection, and he noted a few common traits among them.

Finally Calvin broke the silence. "So what now?"

"I suppose we had better look at that map." Hobbes sat down cross-legged to get down to his friend's level as Calvin produced the printed map. "So which page are we on?"

"This one. See? It says 'you are here' and has a red X."

"Nonono. That's where we just were. Look."

"Oh - I see! That was at the booth."

"Precisely. We're one level below that. The 'you are here' message refers to where the map was made."

"Boy do I feel dumb." Calvin turned the page. "Okay. 'Level 6'. Now what is there on level six?" The pair studied the map.

"Transportation center...light commercial area...'Class-E residential'?"

"Housing of some sort."

"Oh. There sure is a lot of it."

"Probably for the industrial workers. Hmm. I see a few 'detox centers'. Another light commercial area...and a nice-sized food court. That's about it."

Calvin's ears perked up. "A food court?! Like in a mall? Cool! I wanna go there and see some food from the future! How do we get there?"

"Go straight down from here, take a left at this corner and all the way past there...and one more left and straight as the crow flies. By the way - do you have any way to pay for it?"

"Pay? Aw nuts, that's right. I'm almost broke as it is."

"I was wondering if you'd remember that."

Calvin scowled. "Allright already smart guy. So where else is there to go?"

Hobbes studied the map again and twitched his whiskers. "It appears there isn't much else. Those places called 'light commercial' are stores of one kind or another and we certainly don't live here. That cancels out all those housing places. What's on the level below us?"

Level Five was even less interesting. The layout of the walkways and areas were far more organized, but there was little that any time-traveler would care to visit.

"Class D housing, tons of 'cyberbusiness' sectiond, and a bazillion of these little G's in squares."

"Say what?"

"Look. There are all those little rounded-edge-square-thingamabobs that have big G's and there's nothing that says what they are."

Hobbes squinted at the smallish symbols. The rectangular boxes had a letter G with subscript lettering. And there indeed was no map key anywhere. How about if... He flipped the page over. Sure enough, printed on the back was a list running down the middle. "Aha! Says these are 'replicators'. 'Fr' means 'food rations', 'cp' is 'consumer product', 'p' is 'personal products' and 'l' is 'luxury'."

"So what does that all mean?"

"I haven't got the foggiest idea."

A frustrated Calvin began madly skimming the pages for something that sounded relevant to his little mission. Finally, on the north side of Level Three, he spotted a building with a very interesting label. " 'National VR Historical Archive'. There! That's about history! And what's 'history' in 2100 will be our time now!"

Carefully Hobbes considered the words in the name. "Historical...history...that and archive...Calvin, I think that is indeed what we're looking for! Good eyes!"

"Great! Now how do we get from here to there?"

"Simple enough. There's an elevator over...here. And down by the food court there's four spaces that look like escalators. Which way do we go?"

In all of 1.3 seconds Calvin decided. "Let's go to the food court. It goes the same way and I wanna at least see what food is like in the future while I'm at it."

"Then that's the way we'll go."

Without further ado they started off. Hobbes walked behind as Calvin led the way with the map in hand and an excited grin on his face. So what about those pesky police? They'd snuck past them and were free to go wherever they good and well pleased. He was on the start of a great adventure!