So, like most government organizations, the city council of Esperanza isn't a very popular institution. Everyone understands the need for its existence, but nobody likes red tape when they need something in a hurry. While the council debated zoning regulations and new public work projects, if anyone had a problem that couldn't wait, they called the guy who at least projected himself as someone who gets things done. They called Ty.

One morning, while Ty sat at the head of the table in the boardroom poring over documents on the screen, a message popped up in front of him. The message read “Incoming Call from: 4629”. He tapped on the message.

“Thank you for calling the Tower. This is Ty speaking. How can I help you?”

He couldn't quite summon enough enthusiasm in his voice to match the words he was saying. He seriously wanted a secretary. The thought probably crossed his mind at least once a day, but he wasn't the type to trust people outside the family with all the details of their day-to-day operations.

“Ty?” a voice responded in his ear. “Uh, hi, this is Nikki. You told us before we could call you if we had any problems.”

“Of course. What's going on?”

“Well, a little while ago me and my brother got into a fight over something stupid, and he got really mad and ran off. I tried to follow him but I lost sight of him. He’s been gone almost an hour, and I’m getting worried about him. I was asking around, and somebody told me they saw someone running out past the city limits, and I know you told us never to go out there alone, so...”

“I understand. You were right to call me. What’s your brother’s name again?”

“Marc.”

“Do you know if he had his comm with him?”

“Maybe, but he's not answering.”

“Okay, I’m going to see if we can find him by satellite, and I'll let you know where he is.”

“Oh, that would be great. Thank you.”

“Just sit tight for a minute. I'll call you right back.”

Ty tapped a few buttons on the screen, and his documents were replaced with a map of the city and surrounding desert landscape. Another message popped up in the lower right corner with the words “Calling Deejay”. A few moments later, Ty heard his brother's voice in his ear.

“Hey dude.”

“Hey. You remember a guy we picked up a few weeks back named Marc?”

“Uh… gonna have to narrow it down a bit.”

“He has a sister named Nikki.”

Deejay audibly perked up at that. “Oh yeah, they were with the 9-A crew, right? She’s pretty cute. Remember during orientation, she was wearing those sweet low-rise jeans that just-”

“Deejay, focus.”

“Right, sorry. What's up?”

“Marc may have left the city. I'm sure he's fine, but better safe than sorry, right? Can you find out where he went?”

“Sure. I'll do a quick sweep for any comms outside city limits...” Deejay's fingers clacked away on his keyboard. With all the high-end tech in the Tower, I'm not sure why his lab still has those ancient mechanical keyboards. “Ah, I'm getting something. Give me a second, I'll send you the coordinates...”

On the map in front of Ty, the word “Searching” appeared for a few moments, and then was replaced with “1 Match Found”. The message disappeared and a red dot appeared on the map a good distance west of the Tower, near a spot that was ominously labeled “Hellview”. Ty's face grew more serious, if that was possible for him. Seeing the same thing, Deejay was the first to comment on it.

“...Uh oh.”

“Drop whatever you're doing. Get up here right away.”

“Will do.”

Ty tapped the phone icon to his right.

“Nikki?”

“Yes, I'm still here. Did-”

“Have you or anyone else left to look for your brother?”

“No, I was just waiting for you to call back. Did you find him?”

“Yes. I’m going to go pick him up myself. I need you to stay put until we get back. Understand?”

“What's going on? You sound worried. Is he okay?”

Ty quietly bit his lip. He probably felt like yelling at somebody, but figured that wasn't going to help anything at the moment.

“...Sorry, I'm not trying to worry you. Look, your brother’s fine. I'll have him home shortly. Just stay where you are until then.”

“Well, okay. Thank you.”

Ty ended the call, and the elevator doors slid open. Deejay entered and walked around to Ty's side of the table, his eyes fixed on the map. His white lab coat mostly covered the Ghostbusters logo on his shirt.

“Oh crap, he is getting way too close...”

Ty tapped another icon, and the words “Calling Malus...” appeared. He heard no response.

“Come on, Mal, we need you up here now.”

Still no response. Ty gritted his teeth.

“Mal, you stupid bastard, pick up your comm! We've got a drifter situation.”

He was wasting his breath. At that moment their demonic roommate was distracted with another of his extended gaming sessions. Mal had left his comm sitting on the table across the room, well out of his earshot but still close enough to pick up some of the gunshots and explosions happening on his television.

“Dammit.”

Ty ended the call and hit another icon, bringing up the vertical map of the Tower from the elevator. A lock icon appeared over Mal's room.

“And of course his room is locked. How many times have I told him not to do crap like this in case there's an emergency?”

Deejay shrugged. “I lost count.”

“Well, screw him. I guess it's the dynamic duo to the rescue again.”

“Hold on. This is Hellview we're talking about. If Marc makes it there before we do, they'll be out in full force. We could get overwhelmed if it's just the two of us.”

“Well, we can't afford to waste time trying to coax Mal out of his room, and we can't risk bringing somebody from the city out there. So, unless you have another idea...”

Halfway through the sentence, he knew what Deejay was going to suggest.

“What about our new friend downstairs?”

Ty shook his head. “I was afraid you'd say that. I'm not sure she's ready. Even if she's willing to help, the sunlight is going to be brutal out there.”

“Well, I think I might have a solution for her photophobia. At least a temporary one.”

“Hmm. I really wanted more time with her before turning her loose, but I guess we can't hold anything back now. ”

Ty stood up and headed toward the door to his room. Deejay headed for the elevator.

“Grab whatever you need and meet me topside.”

“Got it.” Deejay gave him a thumbs-up as the elevator doors closed.

–

To help save time as new arrivals adjusted to their surroundings, the boys put together a couple of weird little PSA videos to answer some of the more common questions and generally keep people in the know. This is a segment from one of them.

“Knowledge is fundamental!”

How Deejay got Ty to sound so lively for that recording, I'll never know.

“Welcome to Esperanza, the city of hope. Although it might look like an inviting oasis in the middle of the vast deserts of Utopia, it's important to know that this is still an alien world, where dangers may be lurking just around the corner.”

Images of the landscape faded into Ty standing in front of the fountain in the middle of town square.

“Hi, I'm Tyler Smith. You may remember me from that time I saved your life, that confusing orientation you had to sit through when you got here, and that other time I saved your life. I'm here to make sure your new home is both a safe and happy one. To help me do that, here's my brother Deejay to explain some of the dangers of this strange new world.”

Hard cut to Deejay in his laboratory, wearing his white lab coat with a pair of safety goggles hanging around his neck.

“Thanks, Ty. You know, in my travels exploring parallel universes, I've seen a lot of crazy things, but this one probably takes the cake. Did you know there are actually beings that can exist between universes? It's true! We call these beings... drifters.”

Cut to a title card that says DRIFTERS in big bold letters.

“Unlike my Warp Gate, which controls worm holes to connect different universes, Drifters can freely drift across all dimensions of reality, moving from one universe to the next at will. Drifters have no physical body, existing only as a vibrating bundle of energy, but in some cases they can interact with the physical world. If you've ever heard stories about ghosts or poltergeists slamming doors, moving furniture and attacking people, most of those incidents of paranormal activity were probably caused by a drifter. Or the people there were just insane.

“Sometimes, if a drifter's connection to the material world is too weak to interact with it directly, it can instead attach itself to a living thing, possessing it and making it do the drifter's bidding. They can even possess humans, though typically not for very long. If someone you know is ever possessed by a drifter, try giving them a pinch, or a quick slap across the face. The sudden electrical impulse triggered by the pain receptors firing is usually enough to force the drifter out. If that doesn't do the trick, try a stun gun.”

I won't describe all the illustrated visuals for this section, but they were as amusing as you might think.

“In very rare circumstances, in areas with unusually strong magnetic fields, drifters can become strong enough to manifest physical bodies out of existing matter in the area. These drifters are highly unstable and completely unpredictable.”

Cut to a wide shot of the Tower, which no matter how you look at it always kind of looks like it was just ripped from the Lord of the Rings movies.

“Fortunately, the rare mineral that makes up the Tower has unique properties that effectively absorb any major electromagnetic disruptions, which makes the surrounding area a kind of 'dead zone' for drifter activity. So, as long as you stay within the Esperanza city limits, or anywhere else close by the Tower, you'll be quite safe from drifters. If you ever have to leave the city, be sure to bring a stun gun for personal safety, travel in groups, and always read your map to be sure you stay in the areas with solid bedrock underfoot.

“Why is bedrock important? Well, that brings me to our next topic: sandworms.”