They drove along in a shiny sports car that Phil told them was a company vehicle. So far they had been driving for a couple of hours down a seaside road that as far as Smith and Eric were concerned, led nowhere.

“Do you mind actually telling us where it is that we’re going?” Smith asked Phil.

“It should be just a couple more minutes.”

“But where is it that we’re going?” Eric asked Phil from the backseat.

“Somewhere where you can live and as you said, not exist according to the rest of the world.”

A couple minutes later they pulled up to a security gate with a woman sitting in the booth.

“Identification and rank please.” She told them. Phil pulled out a credit card looking piece of metal and showed it to the lady.

“Two guests,” She said, “how long are they staying for?”

“One is going to become a resident the other is only staying for a while.”

“Mind wipe or secrecy form?”

“Secrecy form.” Phil told her.

“Very well,” She then pushed one of the buttons on the panel and the gate lifted up out of the way.

“Enjoy your stay in Trountor City.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A man ran down a hallway and stopped at a door that was a darker grey than the rest. Catching his breath he then knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Tim.” he said, trying to keep his voice calm.

“Well, what wonderful news did you bring me today?”

“Well I thought you’d be glad to know that Phil is back and seems to be staying for a while.”

“Yeah,” the voice told him, “but that’s not everything is it?”

“No sir,” Tim said, “I'm also here to inform you that the thing has somehow managed to escape it’s containment. We’ve estimated that it’s travelled at least 13 miles inland and is running loose somewhere in the south end of florida.”

“Send out three task forces, full mind wipes and everything.”

“Yes sir,” Tim replied, “shall I inform the board of directors that you have taken action?”

“No that’s fine, I’ll tell them myself.”

“Very well sir,” Tim said before running off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Phil drove out onto a little dock without any boats and stopped at the very edge.

Eric and Smith looked around in confusion.

“Is something supposed to happen?” Eric asked.

“Yep, any second now.” Just as the words left his mouth a metal box the size of a shipping container rose out of the water and became level with the dock. Then the front opened up and Phil drove in. As he put the car in park the front closed back up again.

“What is happening?” Smith asked, as the box they we’re in started sinking back into the water.

“We are currently getting ready for the transportation to Trountor City.” Phil explained.

“One question,” Eric said, “what is Trountor City?”

“Well the name explains it really,” Then seeing their confused faces said, “right you don’t know anything. You see Trountor City was built about four hundred years ago with the help of extraterrestrials. Since no one else knew of its existence it was named the Secret City. Wurdonfor, one of the lead extraterrestrials that helped build the city, is from a species known as the Gomgurfo and their word for secret is trountor.”

Eric and Smith were quiet. “That’s a lot to take in at once.” Smith said.

“Not really,” Phil told them, “At least not compared to the city itself.”

Then the box shuddered to a halt. Somewhere a speaker cracked to live.

“Preparing for the jump to Trountor City.” A robotic voice said, “If you are new or haven’t traveled this way before, we suggest you close your eyes.”

“Finally,” Smith said, “someone who actually explains what’s going on.”

“Well are you going to close your eyes like it suggested?”

“Yes,” Smith said, “Yes I am, and I don’t care if what happens is the most amazing thing I’ll ever see.”

“Well closing your eyes only partly blocks what happens.”

“I told you I do-What did you say?” Smith asked.

“Closing your eyes only partly blocks what happens.”

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1, launch.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The english language doesn’t have enough words to describe what happened next. It was so extraordinary, it’s similar to but not at all like looking at the void of space and seeing all the stars and galaxies. Instead everything turns into that and loosely resembles its original form.

Now like I said what is actually happening is beyond the english language, so I have got a friend here who has agreed to describe it the best he can.

Surgn, Trns fryd nsy hred gsber mokw dgsd vnr dunbs cyjn kesw fexi htb pbl burtn lwz agv toq vofe.

Thank you, now if you weren’t able to understand that I’m truly sorry as that is the best we can describe it.

Anyways back to the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It all stopped and they found themselves in a blank tunnel with few lights. After a while the speakers crackled to life.

“You may continue driving to Trountor City.” It told them.

Phill continued driving, while Smith and Eric sat frozen in their seats from what they had just seen.

“Huh?” Was all that Eric managed to say. Smith however, was able to say a bit more than that.

“Huuuuuuuuuuhhh?”

“Don’t worry you get used to it, but you probably won’t have to travel that way again.” Phill told them. 

 Once they got to the end of the tunnel they passed through a gigantic scanner that signaled them to go in.

“Welcome to Trountor City, the most technologically advanced and unknown city in the world.”

The city is the most technologically advanced in the world but i'm not as sure about the unknown bit.

“So how exactly is this even possible?” Smith asked from the passenger side.

“How is what possible?”Phill asked.

“Oh you know,”Smith said, “all of this.”

“Well,” Phil said, “this city was built by two hundred and thirty four different species. So the best of all species was combined to make the most liveable city in the entire galaxy.”

They came to the edge of the city and were met by a giant campus filled with buildings of all shapes and sizes. 

“Welcome to headquarters,” Phil said, “this is where all the ‘important’ jobs are. This is also the home of the most useful piece of technology ever created, the stapler.”

Smith and Eric stopped and looked at Phil with a look you would expect to see on someone who just bought a two million dollar package and found out it was a five dollar pair of shoes.

“The stapler, is the most useful piece of technology ever?” Smith said, hardly containing his laughter.

“Not the stapler you know of course,” Phil told them, “the stapler I'm talking about is, well, a stapler, but it is also a device that you can access all of the InfoNet from any point of the universe. Now to you that is a big thing and yes it is but nowadays it’s a pretty comon thing. The more impressive thing about it is the fact that it’s an interdimensional telephone.”

Phil parked and got out of the car, with Smith and Eric following just seconds later. When they walked in they were greeted by a man behind a clear glass secretary desk.

“Hello Phil,” He said, “you already checked in?”

“Not yet.” Phil said, then placed his hand on the panel that the man behind the desk motioned to.

“Is Dr.Sinta in his office?” Phil asked the man.

“No, he is currently on his lunch break,” He told him, “but that ends in about ten minutes.”

“Ok, we’ll head to his office.” Phil told him, taking his hand off of the panel as it had finished it’s scan.

“Phil.” Someone said from behind them. They all turned around to find a man in some simple, but very formal clothes standing there.

“Jason,” Phil said, “glad to see you haven’t run off to a different galaxy as you usually do.

“Well there hasn't been any worth going to in the last couple of months.” Jason explained, “plus there are plenty of things for me to do here.”

“Like telling the scientist to stop acting like they know how things work.”

“Well, yes,” Jason said, “but in all fairness, they really don’t know.”

Phil chuckled, “And you do? I highly doubt that.”

“Remember what I told you all?” Jason asked, “that what we ‘know’ is actually what we believe, based off of what we’ve seen.”

“Yes,” Phil said, “I also remember you saying something along the lines of, ‘i’ve seen too much to be stopped by the limitations of one single universe.”

“And that’s true isn’t it,” Jason said, “my work changed what is possible in at least twelve thousand different ways.”

“I’ll admit your stapler was the greatest thing ever known to the universe,” Phil said, “but you really need to stop thinking that you are invincible.”

“Think?” Jason said, “I know, or as I said, believe, based off of what i’ve seen, that i’m invincible. I know when and how I die. Nothing can change that, you and I both know time travel doesn’t work that way. So if you want to quit, go ahead, just remember the warnings.”

With that he turned and walked away. Leaving Smith and Eric standing and more confused than they had ever been.

“Come on,” Phil said, “let’s go find Dr.Sinta.” Smith and Eric followed Phil away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason walked down the hall and opened a door that was a slightly darker grey than the rest. Inside was an apartment where he sat down on the couch and closed his eyes.

“Are you sure that this is the best idea?” A voice asked.

“Well I don’t really have a choice now do I.” Jason said.

“You always have a choice.” It told him.

“Not this time I don't, you should know that by now. Isn’t that ironic, I can do anything I want but I don’t get to choose.”

“Maybe you just need some time to think about it.” It suggested.

“No,” Jason said, “thinking is the last thing I need to do. Every time I do it just makes it worse.” He sighed, “what I need is for us to just stop arguing and think like one person.”

“Well you know where to go,” It told him, “I can’t hide that from you.”

“Fine,” Jason said, “we’ll go.” Then got up off of the couch.

“We?” It said, “I don’t want to go back there.”

“Well I can’t go by myself now can I?!” Jason yelled, “You made sure of that.” He stopped to catch his breath. “We go. Then we can settle our argument ok.”

“Fine,” It said, “I’ll tell you what to do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    

 Phil led Eric and Smith to Dr.Sinta’s office where Eric was told to sit down in the chair. After that they waited for Dr.Sinta to arrive.

Smith pointed to a metal glove-like thing sitting on the counter. “What is this?” he asked.

“That,” Phil said, turning around to see it, “is a Phaser-200. It allows doctors to remove things like bullets and shrapnel without affecting the patient's insides.”

“Ok,” Smith said, “what is that?” Phil looked at the small snow globe like machine with tubes going to the box it was sitting on.

“Honestly I have no idea.” Phil told him.

“It’s a brain container.” Someone told them from the doorway. Smith turned to look at the person who had spoken, jumped backwards and tripped over the chair that was behind him.

“Yo-y-you're a!” Smith stammered.

“An extraterrestrial?” Dr.Sinta, the blue humanoid lizard dressed in a lab coat asked him.”

“Well I was going to say alien,” Smith said, “but yeah.”

“First of all calling us aliens is like calling an immigrant different.” Dr.Sinta told him, “Second of all they will be able to understand you but you won’t be able to understand them.”

“Ok why is it important that ‘I’ know what they’re saying.”

“So you can actually respond to them,” Dr.Sinta said, “and you know when to run if you say something that they find offensive.”

“Well then how do I understand them?” Smith asked.

“Put these on.” Dr.Sinta said, handing him a pair of earpieces that fit around his ears.

“Now what?” Smith asked him after he put them around his ears.

“Hij nsu litx.” Dr.Sinta said. The earpieces turned on and said, “You just listen.” in Dr.Sinta’s voice.

“Sorry,” Dr.Sinta said, “they’re a bit delayed.” He then fidgeted with the controls for a little bit.

“This should be better.” The earpieces said at the same time that Dr.Sinta said, “Trn wfod bc tture.”

“I’m guessing I get one as well.” Eric said, still sitting in the chair.

“Are you going to be living here?” Dr.Sinta asked him.

“Most likely.” Eric said.

“Well then you’re probably going to get one implanted into your ear.” Dr.Sinta told him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason walked to the end of the hall and knocked on the pale blue door. The faint talking stopped and he heard someone approaching the door. It opened to reveal an older man in a suit and tie standing there.

“Jason.” He said, frowning at him. Jason didn’t seem to notice however.

“Mr.Kowalski,” Jason said while stepping in, “always a pleasure to see you're still with us.”

“Enough of the sarcasm.” A middle aged man sitting at the head of the giant meeting room table told him.

“What is it this time?” He asked, Mr.Kowalski sat back in his seat and Jason took one of the empty ones.

“As you are probably aware, the unknown creature you so rudely captured has escaped.” He told them. “I have sent out multiple task forces to MONITOR it, because as you so happily ignore we lost fifteen soldiers just getting it into the containment.”

“You do realize that even though you may act like it, you have no authority to send out task forces, let alone sit in that chair.”

“I am aware that you THINK that,” Jason told him, “but that doesn’t change the fact that without me this entire organization wouldn’t exist in the first place. You talk about authority when all of you combined couldn’t out rank me. And, even if I was a low level agent you think I am, you couldn’t stop me from doing anything. You try kicking me out and I'll just bring you down and take all this back into my own hands. The only reason you are here is because I can’t make every little decision for people.

So when I leave for my four month trip, I better come back to the exact same organization that it was when I left.” With that he got up out of the chair.

“And if not,” Jason said, “every single one of you are, let's say fired.”

“You can’t fire anyone.” Mr.Kowalski told him, to which Jason stopped and turned around to face him.

“Susan.” Jason said. The lights in the room grew a faint green hue.

“As of this moment, Mr.Kowalski’s position on the board of directors is to be terminated immediately. He will never be allowed to regain his position even if the rest of the board says so.”

“Understood.” The room said, “Mr.Kowalski, please exit the room, low level agents as yourself are not in higher rank rooms such as this one.”

“I'm not going anywhere.” Mr.Kowalski said, straightening his posture.

“Mr.Kowalski, please exit the room immediately. If you do not comply then I will be forced to remove you from the room myself.”

Mr.Kowalski looked up at the ceiling and sighed. He then got up and walked to the door. Before opening it he turned to look at Jason.

“You have no idea what you just started.” He told him.

“Hopefully your retirement plan.” Jason replied.