The Time from Before

Twists and Turns

Allen followed his usual route through the urban maze to reach his destination: the pipe. He avoided the crowded streets and took the shortcuts that he alone knew, zigzagging through the dark and narrow alleys. He had done this many times before, and as he neared the pipe, he glanced at the Arctos Dominion Supply Units, or just boxes for short.

With a sigh, he decided to actually think about them for a bit.

...

Where did they come from? Allen got a close look at them from before, and each one has a unique serial number and supply unit number, so they aren't fake. But what's more concerning is who put those there. He hadn't taken a look inside, however. The last few times he just ignored the boxes entirely, like they weren't there at all.

But now that he was thinking about it, his curiosity got the better of him. He walked up to the nearest box and lifted the lid.

He was a little surprised by what he saw. They were brochures. Tourist brochures for Site 18.

The box, and probably the others as well, was filled with colorful pamphlets that advertised a place that was supposed to be long gone, submerged under the ocean. Tourist brochures...

He grabbed one and opened it. What caught his interest was the fact that these were not in English. The front cover was in the language that Inklings use. He flipped through the pages and saw images of Site 18 in its glory days, as well as images of how it looked now. Or at least, how it looked when these photos were taken.

He couldn't read what they were saying, but the pictures spoke a thousand words. Site 18 is still standing, and it looks to be in great shape. Now that he thought about it, so too was the outpost past the bunker.

Oh.

Putting two and two together, it looks like the Inklings rebuilt the outpost, but without a clear blueprint, they had modeled it after their own style or something similar. Seeing as they had old pictures of Site 18, they used that as a reference and rebuilt Site 18 to become some sort of tourist attraction.

Site 18, by the way, was part of a network of sites that served as refueling or recharging stations for Supply Team vehicles or other devices. The Supply Teams would reenter the Earth's atmosphere, deliver their cargo, and then refuel and leave for space again. It was a simple cycle, and that was why Site 18, and all the other sites, were located above the oceans. If you forgot, most of the bunkers were built under the oceans.

Then, as Allen was about to continue his search into some of the other boxes, he heard a sound from where he came from.

It was incredibly faint, but just glancing in the same direction yielded nothing conclusive. But, one thing was clear. He was being followed.

By whom is the largest and most prevalent issue. If it was one of the other three, he would be a tad concerned, but not outright mad. If it was someone from Marina's friend group, he would be a little more concerned, but mostly confused. If it was someone he didn't know, then hostility was almost a given.

Placing his hand on his sidearm, he moved towards the sound. As he got close and turned the corner, he found nothing.

His instincts told him that something was wrong, but against his better judgment, he decided to ignore those instincts and move on. So, he moved to the pipe, sighed, and jumped in.

...

...

"Oh, so that's how he goes through. What was I expecting?"

"Shh! Don't be so loud!" Marina shushed someone to her left.

"Why? I'm not going to be here for too long anyway." They chuckled to themselves. "So, tell me, is that him? The human you've been bragging about?"