Arrival
This place looks, fees and smells like London, but is anything but.
Looking down from Tower Hill, to the Bridge on their right, not a car is in sight. Buildings are reproduced in a detail that beggars belief, and whilst they feel very solid none can be entered. Chris had suggested trying to climb one, but Ami’s gut is telling her to remain on the ground, at least for now. Knowing every move is being assessed from above by unseen beings should feel more stressful than is currently the case, but it isn’t. They’re here on good faith, because a request was granted as another was given. As soon as the door to the Cafe closed, there was no way back in. The canteens give them water for a day, no more, and that’s about as much food as they have between them.
This has been a test since the moment they woke up.
‘I wonder if this is intended or an accident.’
Chris stands, hands in pockets, looking across to the Tower and down to the Embankment. It is time to see if they are thinking alike.
‘You mean the location, yes?’
‘The coffee bar was a lot further back into the City than we are now. When we emerged, it wasn’t at the same spot we entered.’
‘Fuck, you’re right. That’s a dry cleaners normally… we must be at least a quarter of a mile closer to the river than we were.’
‘So, the question stands. Why are we here, exactly?’
‘Well, we can’t go back to where we came, presumably that exit is now blocked for good.’
‘Agreed, and having been given equipment to travel with one presumes that’s what’s expected of us. But where do we go?’
‘We don’t know what’s been tested here, apart from our ability to be mouthy and ask for help. That’s me, by the way, not you, that speech to our captors was very impressive.’
‘You still think we’re prisoners? We’ve just been given the means to travel -’
‘Indeed but I assume this scenario is finite. So, where would you go?’
‘Where’s your hotel from here?’
‘About half a mile that way, but why -’
‘If our theory is right, that we were abducted into this scenario at different points… you said your hotel room was where it probably happened. It’s closer than where I was taken, which is a good mile an a bit in the opposite direction. Considering our water and food supplies, and because there’s no idea what might happen next, I’d examine the closer location first.’
The smile Chris gives is a genuine boost to morale: not only does he agree with the plan, it makes him happy she’s on top of this. The backpack is on and he’s already walking away, taking the lead. There’s no issue with following, or that he’s not 100% in the game.
Ami wonders, not for the first time, if their observers are happy with what they’re seeing.
The Internet of Words 
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