Somewhere far underneath the arcade five figures appeared.
DTH Jon, DTH Karyn, Athena, Zoe and Prisoner Jon materialised several feet in the air. Initially all connected via DTH Jon's hand, they immediately let go before screaming as they hit the hard surface. Karyn groaned as she got up on her knees "That was further than the last time we fell. It really hurt this time." DTH Jon clambered on to his feet.
"Unfortunately wherever outcomes from a divergence are highly variable, it's always going to be a potential hazard." He informed her.
"Right." Said Karyn unsure of what Jon was talking about. She took a look round. They seemed to been inside a large structure on some kind of roadway. There was a platform near them and several roller doors were visible behind it. "Where are we anyway?"
"I presume under the mini-mall. It looks like the loading bay where the deliveries come in."
Zoe was getting to her feet now. "It burnt down though." She said.
"Not in this dimension." He looked at the DTH display. Athena was now also getting up. The only one who was still lying on the ground was Prisoner Jon. Karyn walked over to him and put her hand out.
"Leave me to die. I must have done something terrible in a past life." He said.
"Look at this positively, at least you are out of that cage." Karyn told him. He took her hand.
"I suppose." He said as he rose to his feet with Karyn's help. Karyn turned back to DTH Jon.
"Where has the DTH brought us?" She asked.
"The interesting wish timeline. I do hope it's not a dream again. You should keep an eye out for continuity errors." He told everyone.
"What?" Zoe asked. Karyn turned to her.
"This timeline was created when Jon wished for something interesting to happen." Karyn told her.
"I'm sure nothing bad happened because of that." Zoe said sarcastically.
"Yep. Last time we were here we got stuck in a dream."
"For real?" Athena asked. Karyn nodded. DTH Jon moved towards them.
"Okay, just to let you know, there are a lot of red timelines branching from this divergence. I've no idea what is causing it." He told everyone.
"Is there like a training manual for DTH travel or something?" Zoe asked. Karyn laughed.
She stood in front of everyone like a flight attendant, making crazy hand gestures while she spoke. "Let me be your guide into the wonderful world of interdimensional travel." She held out her left hand. "The red lines indicate manipulated timelines that aren't created through natural means. They are usually from a wish or device." She did neglect to mention Zoe's own world was part of a red line. She dropped her left hand and held out her right hand. "Black lines indicate timelines that branch naturally, following the laws of causality. This concludes the instructional video." She put her right hand down.
"I see." Said Zoe now comprehending the difference.
"There's more bad news, if you are interested." Jon said.
"Why am I not surprised. Do tell." Said Karyn
"That little trip we made just about completely drained the DTH of power."
"I thought it never ran out of power."
"It doesn't. Under normal circumstances that is. When it's just the two of us and assuming we don't hop too often, the power cells replenish themselves faster than we can hop. The extra power required to form the wormhole with the distortion present and the extra mass have used up all the reserves."
"So how long are we stuck here?" Karyn asked.
"I don't know exactly how long it takes to charge up. I'm guessing an hour, maybe two."
"Hey!" A loud angry voice shouted. It echoed off the concrete walls. An overweight security guard came down the steps from the platform. "You kids shouldn't be in here. Authorised personal only." He looked at them strangely. He had noticed their rather unusual attire. "This isn't some sort of prank is it?"
"No." Karyn said. She paused for a few seconds as she thought up an excuse. "We were on our way err, home from a party, a fancy dress party and we got lost." She said unconvincingly.
"Yes, well you can just go out the way you came in." He said pointing to a large ramp behind the group. The all turned and walked towards the ramp. When they reached it they could see a large opening at the top. They walked up the ramp towards the daylight.
