RTU

Chapter 6 - Adrenaline Corp.

The hollow sound filled Dee's ears as the light rail flew to its destination. He awoke and felt a little dizzy from the ride. First thing he did was look out the window to see where he was. The Teleport Station Center rests in the center of Albertville. The land was cheap, and there wasn't much out there before the Teleport Station Center was built. The Twin Cities had grown immensely and over populated. The state wanted to spread out their resources to unclog the demand in crowded places. This was a win-win situation for the city and the state. The light rail provided a cheaper way of transportation for all to get to their destination. A circular timer on the window now showed five minute before arrival and counting down. Dee sat up straight stretching from the nap on the way there.

"Now approaching Albertville, Teleport Station Center. Please take all your belongings. Wait for the light rail to come to a complete stop before exiting. Have a nice day," The overhead speakers ended with a cracking sound. 

Dee had not seen the Teleport Station Before, only in pictures, but this place was massive in size. The latest ISR Droids stood by the entrance and a couple more at a counter inside. There were many people walking in and out of the station. A side walk path wrapped around the round shaped building with a beautiful garden of all sorts of colorful flowers planted along the way. They swayed and danced as the wind blew them from side to side. The top of the station was in the shape of a dome. All around this dome were spinning objects and rotating metal rings and gears that went in and out of the station itself.

As Dee approached the two gold double doors, they retracted automatically sliding into the side walls of the building. Upon entering, to his right was a receptionist's desk displaying information about the Teleportation Station, but no receptionist. The pictures and tiny displays of gadgets on the table intrigued him, so he made his way there. As he got about three feet from it, a light source from the floor shot up from behind the desk.

"How may I help you?" called a voice.

"Whoa, hello," said Dee startled.

He froze in place, and his neck pulled back like a chicken. Before him stood a hologram of a woman wearing a grey suit and skirt with a red tie. The missing receptionist. He had seen holograms before, but was just taken back that they were now using them in public places. In the gaming world, it worked well, yet it had its issues. The problem was that the holograms had to be projected somehow, and the projections would be cut off if something blocked its way. If the hologram had to walk further from where the projector was, another projector had to pick up the image. This caused an inconsistent free flowing hologram. Therefore, more source projectors had to be installed, which resulted in an expensive setup.

"Hello, my name is Kim. May I assist you in more information about the Teleportation Station or maybe direct you where to go?" offered Kim.

"Yes uh, here is my paper work," Dee pulled out a letter he had gotten a week ago with instructions. The hologram leaned over scanning it for a few seconds.

"Here it is. You are to go to dock 169 due for Adrenaline Corp. Take a right at the end of the hallway. It will curve left. Look for a sign on the wall for dock 169," directed Kim.

"Thank you," Smiled Dee, and he started down the hall.

"Your welcome," She nodded and flickered away.

As Dee rounded the hall, there were other rooms with destinations written on them as well. One said Japan and another read Canada and Dubai. It started to get louder as he continued. He had a feeling that his transport room was coming up, and then he caught the glimpse of silver reflecting from the sunlight. It was she, the woman in front of him at the ticket station. She was still hiding beneath her hoodie trying to keep a low profile. Dee thought to himself that she may have been on the same train as him after all. A big crowd had formed at the entrance of Dock 169. Reporters outside of the room were getting ready to start broadcasting soon. Die hard gamers lined the halls as well as spectators. The silver stripe woman made her way in and was now lost within the crowd of people. The inside of the room looked like the DMV on a busy day. A line zigzagged left and right from wall to wall up to the teleporter.