Some of the Travels of Sophie

A Strange Signal

Bang! The air bristled with electricity as Sophie appeared out of thin air.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, staring down at the teleport watch. There was a strange pattern pulsing across the screen.

"What's wrong with you?" Sophie fondly asked the device. It didn't answer. Sophie examined the pattern further.

"Some sort of signal." She mumbled to herself. Only then did she look up and notice her surroundings. She was in an alleyway between two buildings. Outside of the alley Sophie could see a bustling street of aliens. Checking another part of her watch, she read that the planet she was on was in the 'Cral System'. The pattern was still present on the screen.

Sophie headed out of the alleyway onto the street and noticed some fluctuations in the pattern, or the signal, whatever it was. She knew her teleport watch was set on a different frequency to most devices and could pick up signals that were more selective than others. As Sophie moved along the street, she noticed the signal was getting stronger and so decided to follow it.

Moving along, directed only by the signal's pulsing, Sophie found herself losing complete track of where she was going, and ended up walking right into someone. Stepping back she saw that it was a young alien girl, wearing a school uniform.

"Sorry." Sophie apologised quickly, before moving on.

"Wait!" the girl called after her, plainly curious. As Sophie didn't wait, the girl chased after her instead.

Catching up the girl asked, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing." Sophie replied, eyes still on the signal on the teleport watch screen.

"Is that a watch?" the girl continued, for some reason actually expecting answers.

"Yes it is." Sophie stated. She didn't want to be hindered by this girl, who was starting to annoy her.

"Are you playing some sort of game?" the girl asked. By then Sophie had had enough.

"Do I look like I'm playing a game?" she snapped at the girl. "Who are you to need to know my business?"

"My name's May." The girl answered, obviously not fazed by the way Sophie had just yelled at her. "And I'm just wondering, that's all. You don't look like you're from around here."

"Well I'm not, and you don't need to follow me." Sophie said. "Shouldn't you be getting home to your parents or something?"

"Na they don't care how long I'm out." May replied. "As long as I'm home eventually."

"Great." Sophie was tired of having this girl follow her around. "If you're not going to go away, can you at least tell me which planet I'm on?"

"Oh, of course I can." May rambled. "This is the planet Galseia, and you're in-"

"What's this way?" Sophie interrupted, pointing over to where a road led past a heap of large buildings. According to her teleport watch, that was approximately where the signal was coming from.

"Just warehouses, I think." May shrugged. "You know, for storing things and stuff."

"Um okay." Sophie stopped and moved right to the side of the street and leant against a wall.

"What are you doing?" May asked curiously.

"Calibrating." Sophie replied, showing May her teleport watch.

"What for?" May seemed bewildered.

"I need to get into one of those warehouses to find something." Sophie explained. Why was she telling the girl this? "So I'll need to make sure I can make my way in there and that's what I can use my watch for." She continued, as she pulled her scanner out of her pocket.