THE RELIANT: DARK HORIZONS

A TRIP TO THE TIME WARP

The Reliant was docked at Alliance base 128 for some routine maintenance. While there, John, Roger, Zack and Ron decided to go check out a relic store that was at the base called The Time Warp. When they entered the store, they found they were the only ones there. Ron and Zack went off on their own while John and Roger had a look around. Though this was a relic store that was supposed to sell actual items from old Earth, which was the time on Earth before World War III, John still wondered if perhaps they had duplicated at least some of the items and just sold them as authentic merchandise from old Earth.

"Have you ever been inside a relic store, Captain?" Roger asked John, breaking his train of thought.

"Nope," John replied while shaking his head. "Can't say that I have."

"I have a query, Captain."

"What would that be, Roger?"

"Why would anyone want to purchase any of these items from old Earth when they could just as easily duplicate them on a duplicator for free?"

"That's a good question, Roger. I suppose some people just want the original items."

"Why is that, Captain?" pressed the inquisitive android.

"I don't know." John shrugged. "Maybe it holds some historical value or significance for them. Or maybe some people just like the art of collecting. I know my own mother refuses to have a food duplicator at the house because she insists on cooking all of her own food because she swears it tastes better."

"Does it taste better, Captain?"

John grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I would say so."

"Well, since I am an android and therefore unable to eat human food, that is something I will never experience for myself."

John patted Roger on his robotic shoulder, which was something he normally would not do, and said, "Well, you don't know what you're missing, Roger."

For a moment, John could've sworn Roger had a brief look of disappointment on his face. But then he dismissed it since, like Roger had just said, he was just an android who didn't even have an emotion processor like other androids serving aboard an Alliance vessel.

"Why don't we look around for a bit and see what we can find, Roger?"

He nodded. "Very well, Captain."

John looked about the store while Roger followed behind him. There were all kinds of items from old Earth from clothes to jewelry to what appeared to be various household appliances. Frankly, John wondered why anyone would want to waste their money on any of these things since it all pretty much looked like old junk to him. But, like he told Roger, there were obviously those out there who found value in these items for whatever reason.

"Have you found anything that interests you, Captain?"

"No, not yet," John replied, shaking his head.

They walked around some more. John was getting ready to leave when all of a sudden he spotted a display case over in the corner of the store. He stepped up closer to it and peered at the contents inside. His eyes grew wide when he realized what it was he was looking at.

Weapons.

"These appear to be old Earth weapons," Roger said matter-of-factly.

"Yes, Roger, I already figured that out."

"Oh," Roger replied simply.

Inside the case were a variety of weapons: guns, knives and even what looked to be grenades of some sort. Both John and Roger looked over the various weaponry until something caught John's eye.