The Dead Scout's Handbook of Afterlife Survival

Chapter 39: Goodbye, I Love You

Buzzing and sharp crackles leaped under a metal gangway hanging above a sleek, chrome track. In the center of the room, a fifty foot portal opened to the sky. Under the portal, a cone-shaped ramp rose, such that enough momentum up it would lead through the roof, in the direction of choice. Sergei fumbled with a pair of heavy, metallic shoes, his clumsy fingers shaking as he tied the laces. Cayden squinted through the fluorescent lighting, exacerbating a now crippling headache. On the shining circular floor below, an occasional spark hopped into the air.

"What is this place?" Sarah asked.

"It is transporter!"

"This doesn't look like any teleporter I could imagine," Sarah said.

"Well, it is not. It is transportation not teleportation. Teleportation sound fancy enough for newcomers. The real power is dope kicks!" Sergei pointed at his footwear.

"Wait, what?"

"I run fast and I jump high!"

"What did he say?" Charlie asked.

"I carry you. We leap fast and high. We land where we want. The kicks soften the fall and save energy for return trip. This energy is how speed users move fast when heavy."

"That's insane. We're trusting shoes?" Sarah screamed as Martha giggled.

"They are very nice shoes!" Sergei snapped.

"Do we travel in something?"

"I hold you. You believe you get better for complimentary ticket? It is free! Riding in a vehicle for free..." Sergei said while shaking his head. "But do not worry of the safety! I jump high and good like the basketball player, like the em, the Larry Bird."

"Oh my god no!" Rebecca wailed.

"I... I'm so disappointed..." Sarah stammered.

"There was actual teleportation," Martha explained. "They stopped using it as it requires disintegrating your body and rebuilding you elsewhere."

"So if the process stopped at disintegration or reconstruction then... you're gone? No wonder they didn't continue using it."

"Sarah! You are 21st century woman!" Sergei's exclamation bored through the clanging of his feet on an iron staircase leading to a lower gangway. "You know importance of backing up data!"

"He is correct. They didn't stop the quantum teleportation due to disappearances. If there was a breakdown, they could reconstruct that person later. For some reason, travelers didn't embrace the idea of being torn to pieces and rebuilt elsewhere."

Below, Sergei grunted and hopped the railing, forgoing a ladder extending to the reflective floor. A solid clang reverberated off the walls upon his landing and it reverberated back to Cayden, banging on the inside of his skull. Clang. Static saturated the air as Sergei's feet hissed among the sapphire and white lines shooting from the track into the soles. Clang.

"A minute longer!" Sergei's footwear glowed bright white, highlighting a blue arrow adorning each side. "This is the best brand!" he gloated, pointing at the arrow.

Clang

"Oh God." Rebecca buried her face in her palms.

"Come!" Sergei beckoned. "Who goes first?"

Martha shrugged at the nervous expressions around her and shrugged. She smacked Rebecca on the back and Charlie on the rear, much to Charlie's astonishment, and scampered down the steps to slide down the ladder into Sergei's grasp.