The unruly wind blew in his face. Buildings and streetlights blurred into a streak of colors as he raced down the numerous street, gravity pulling him faster. The branches crunched and trees created intimidating shadows that made him shrill. People were sitting at their homes having a cozy relaxing evening, while an alien man was hurrying only God knows where.
“Ah…I should catch my breath”, the criminologist started panting and collapsed on a bench. He was in a some kind of park. Having looked around, Cullen recognized the park where he adored hanging out back in his old days. It looked way different than in 2024. The remnants of concession stands and rest areas stood like skeletal remains of a forgotten civilization. Tattered banners, now mere shreds of fabric, flapped in the wind, bearing slogans that spoke of a time when happiness was a commodity to be bought and sold. The air smelled of dampness and decay, with the occasional creaks and groans of dilapidated structures adding to the eerie ambiance.
“I thought the society has advanced since 2024.Kinda delusional of me”, pondered the lost man. “I don’t even know where to go. This Detroit is outlandish for me. I reckon there must a hotel near here though”.
He got up and then realized that he doesn’t have money to pay for even one night at any hotel.
“Maybe someone will be sympathetic enough and lets me in for at least a little while. If not, I’ll just have to sleep on a some kind of bench. Not an appealing prospect”.
***
Gwendoline Gull was in a total despair. She tried to switch the computer on, but it was absolutely uncontrollable. Feeling she was going to die of anguish, the detective decided to call Brandon MacCauley. He was the only person she could turn to.
“Brandon! I’m a total prat !”
“What happened? Is Gillean still with you?”
“That’s the catch that he isn’t already”.
“Is he in the time machine?” the man heard his companion sniffing. “Are you crying?”
“I doomed him to die in the time loop! I should have gone there instead of him!”
“Wait, wait ,wait. Slow down. I’m coming to you. That’s a lousy topic to discuss on the phone”.
“Thank you. I owe you one already”.
“Forget it”.
***
Gillean had to get up from the bench and go look for somewhere to sleep. He was walking in the late evening gloom deep in his thought, when he spotted someone. It was a girl. She looked as if she had all the might in the world.
“Hey, kid ! It’s already late, why aren’t you home?”
“Why? They don’t care about me anyway”.
“Your parents?”
“Guardians. My parents died a long time ago”.
“What’s your name?”
“Asteria”.
“Such a beautiful name”.
“You seem to be astray”.
“I kinda am”.
“Wanna me to help you with something?
“Sort of. I don’t have anywhere to sleep”.
“No problem. You can live in my apartment”.
“But your guardians?”
“I’ve been living alone for a long time already. I asked them to let me live in a college dorm, which they didn’t mind and I started renting a flat and I keep in secret from them”.
“Will you really let a stranger in? What if I’m a maniac?”
“Ha-ha-ha, you maniac? I’d spot a felon even if there were thousands of people in front of me. Believe, I can do it. You certainly aren’t a maniac or whatever”.
“OK”.
“So let’s go?”
They left the dim place and went into another poorly-lit street.
***
“Make yourself at home”, she said kindly.
“It’s so cozy in here!”
“Thanks”.
“A strange question, but can you give me some clothes to get changed?”
“It’s not weird. Of course I can. I always wear oversize clothes and they’re mostly from men’s section. You can wear anything you like”.
“That’s so kind of you”.
Asteria went out from the living room and came back with a bundle of clothing. She brought a black T-shirt and navy blue sweatpants.
“Come on .I’ll show you where the bathroom is”.
“OK.I need to refresh”.
She gave him a tour around her apartment and led to the bathroom. All the rooms were spacious and bright. The wallpapers there were of an exquisite grayish color. The place had a cinnamon smell. It felt really warm to be there. Suddenly Gillean remembered his childhood in Scotland.
“Hey dude. I’m pooped already. Let’s just go and sleep”.
“I’m already drained too”.
She went into the corridor and the man followed her. The bedroom she had prepared for him was so appalling that he couldn’t wait and just get some rest there.
“So…Here is a bed, a drawer and a closet. By the way, I didn’t notice any suitcase or even backpack with you. Have you escaped from somewhere?”
“No, not really. Don’t you mind if I explain everything tomorrow? I can’t think clearly already, I need at least some sleep”.
“Gotcha. Good night”.
“Good night”.
Gillean Cullen closed the bedroom door and then collapsed on the soft double bed.
“Oh…Such a relief after this couple of days”, he thought and dropped off momentarily.
***
“Wake up, sleepyhead!”
“Uh, what? What time is it?”
“1 pm already!”
“Can you brew a coffee?”
“Yeah, of course”.
Asteria left the room. Gillean had a sort of derealization . Everything was blurry ,he couldn’t remember how he got there. The puzzle was gradually regaining the missing pieces. The recollection of meeting the girl in the run-down park flooded back to him. The man got up, stiff from the deep and long sleep.
“You know , girl ,I don’t even have a toothbrush or anything”.
“ I noticed it yesterday. So I decided to go to the supermarket near us and bought some essentials for you”.
“Holy crap, thank you. I’m in dept already”.
“No, you aren’t. I did it as a way to show kindness, not as something to demand to pay off later”.
“Your soul is so innocent and pure”.
“Probably”, the girl replied and shrugged her shoulders.
“I thought there are no such people like you anymore. I mean, like, so selfless. You have the alacrity to help others no matter what”.
“Oh, don’t flatter me! You’d better tell where you are from and what has happened to you”.
“Of course. But I need to pull myself together”.
“All right! Take your time”.
“Hm , let’s start…I’ve been a resident of Detroit for more than 15 years, but I live not in this version of the city-I’m a person that came from the past”.
“But how?..”
“My job is criminology. Recently I got a case to solve, it was a ferocious murder in a scientific lab. The culprit conducted experiments on an innocent woman, as a result she died of stroke. The villain vanished into thin air but left something whimsical to test-a time machine. I had an array of strange events and I got a key for the time machine afterwards. We arranged the experiment and I agreed to be the pioneer, so to say. The whole system broke down and that’s why I’m stuck in here”.
“You’ve somehow convinced me, but can you show some evidence?”
“Yup. basically, there was a computer system wired to the machine so it could be controlled remotely and someone could adjust your travel in time. But you need to wear a special bracelet with a chip inside it for this to be possible. Here it is”, the man rolled up his sleeve and showed the bracelet that resembled the fitness tracker from the first sight.
“Holly cow!”
“I know that it sounds kooky, but that’s the truth without any sugarcoating or exaggerations”.
“Is Detroit so screwed up in your timeline?”
“It is a pretty good city for living, though the crime rate might be disconcerting for someone”.
“Wanna go out for a modern city tour?”
“Yeah. It would be cool to reminisce about the past and compare the city in my timeline and here”.
“I have a burning desire to guide you through this journey and help you get back”.
“Hm…are we friends then?”
“Yup!”
The two people shake hands and went on the balcony to check the weather.
***
“Gwen! Are you there?” the new detective MacCauley was scurrying to his colleague and almost ran over a few people on a pedestrian crossing while getting to the lab. What a shame! But it was over already. He had another cause to cower before. The man could sense a rhythmic sound beneath his ribcage, echoing in silence. His breath quickened, coming in shallow rapid gasps. Brandon was prepared to discover anything. How could all of that stuff have happened in a matter of days?
“I’m here!” it was clear from the girls voice that she was already on edge, trying hard not to break in hysterics.
“What’s going on?” he asked and looked in her eyes with an expression of quandary.
“I’ve betrayed him…” the Head detective burst into tears.
“Whom? Do you mean Gillean? Whatever has happened isn’t your fault at all”.
“Oh, thanks for your support and assurance, but I still feel sort of guilty for getting him go there”.
“Is he testing the machine?”
“Kinda yes”.
“Kinda?”
“I think it’s a trick of some kind cuz we can’t be so unfortunate. As soon as we got there I sensed something was gonna go wrong. And it did! At first everything was completely fine, but when he did all the registration procedures like specifying the chronology and so on, the whole computer system affixed to the machine started glitching . He had already transported in the future when I got a notification that someone unauthorized had hacked the system and the time machine is not under my control since then. Gillean is stuck there for an unknown time period and it’s absolutely uncertain that he’ll ever be back at all”.
“So now we can’t even observe him?”
“Most probably no”.
“Let’s check it out. If it’s true, then I’ll come up with how to wire another computer to it and ways to protect this one from being blocked”.
“OK, let it be the way you say. I don’t have any energy left for carrying this out “.
The agile detective went down and headed fearlessly to the machine.
“A true evil created by a mortal devil. This Marcus Bell will definitely be revenged some day”.
The detective sat down at the desk and had a first quick look at the comp.
“Doesn’t look so complicated though”, he thought to himself.
Brandon had been attempting to log in for more than an hour when he eventually succeeded. The computer’s interface was odd and someone had changed the settings and deleted some things for sure as it was almost empty.
“What was reason for blocking this thingy and how to track down the person who did it?” the young man was dwelling on these two questions and looking on the wall, when he suddenly spotted something on the screen with his side vision. He turned and started staring at the screen waiting for something to occur.
“Is this Gillean ?” the man gulped in shock.
Brandon MacCauley observed his colleague standing on a balcony with a girl.
“I have thousands of questions and no answers. As always. But at least I can see him”, the young detective sighed and had a slight feeling of hope inside. He got up and ran out from the room in a desire to tell the detective Gull about it. The man found her asleep on the moldy couch.
“Oh ,poor girl”, he picked her up gently and carried into the car. She was sleeping on a back seat of the police car, when Brandon came back to look at his colleague travelling in the future at least from afar.
“Break a leg, bud!”
Gillean couldn’t even guess how valuable he is for his department and friends. People realize that they miss someone when it’s already too late.
***
“A beautiful view out there, is it?”
“Yeah. Looks like a sight for sore eyes after what I’ve seen in the city so far”.
“It’s our poor reality”.
“Don’t you have cigarettes by chance?”
“Here you are”.
“Thanks a million”.
“My pleasure”.
“Still wanna guide me around the city?”
“Yep. Let’s go!”
The two people went outside. Gillean looked around. Everything appeared to be way more intimidating than in 2024.A quiet hush enveloped the narrow thoroughfare, where echoes seemed to have long abandoned their posts. Buildings stood like silent sentinels, their facades weathered by the passage of time, bearing witness to the solitude that draped the street in a melancholic shroud. A gentle breeze whispered through the empty alley, stirring forgotten debris that danced in a spectral ballet, the only audience being the desolate structures on either side. The occasional flicker of a distant lamppost cast fleeting shadows, revealing the absence of bustling footsteps and the stillness that clung to every forgotten corner, turning the once vibrant street into a canvas of solitude.
“Hey , dude! You going?” the girl tapped Cullen’s shoulder.
“Hm, sorry ,kinda zoomed out”.
“We’ll take a porto cab to get to the city centre”.
“What’s a porto cab?”
“They are boots that stand on every street corner. You need to go inside and choose a direction you need on a special monitor. Then there’s a vending machine that gives you a tablet. You tap a button on it and the gadget delivers you to a requested location”.
“That’s terrific!”
“Prolly . I’m simply used to it”.
They approached a first porto cab they came across. Gillean Cullen was totally gobsmacked . The booth looked much more sophisticated than Asteria described. The cabin’s interior was the very picture of our elevator. The alien man stood in the corner while his companion indicated the street they wanted to get to.
“Go and take out the tablets from the vending machine. Don’t be so preoccupied. You should learn to live in this reality”.
“OK”, said the traveler coldly, but butterflies in his stomach made it arduous not to break down.
The machine’s door opened and gave away the two tablets with a plop.
“See ,it’s not so frightening, Gillean”.
“Yeah. BTW, you can call me just Gill if you want”.
“OK”.
“Should we go outside for teleporting?”
“We can do it from here .Just push a button and don’t let it go. You’ll get on a packed vibrant street. Stand and wait till I transfer cuz otherwise you’d get lost”.
“Roger that!”
“Good luck !”
He tapped a button on a small black tablet, inhaled deeply and closed his eyes in anticipation of something offbeat. His new friend did the same. It was in a matter of a second when he got to the congested and tumultuous street.
“This one is better than the suburb. It looks more lively, like the very Detroit where I live, or used to …” the man immersed into this thought and waited for his ally to teleport to him.
“Here I am!” she exclaimed.
“A pretty good ride”.
“Not a ride, but something way more exciting!”
“Yeah”.
“Feeling dizzy?”
“Sort of”.
“Take your time. We aren’t in a hurry”.
“No, it’s all right. Where are we gonna go?”
“I really wanted to show the place that’s really close to my heart. Follow my lead!”
The girl walked rapidly, rushing to get to the destination. The landscape around them was peculiar and lively comparing to what Gillean saw at the beginning of his journey. Asteria led him to a magnificent skyscraper and they went into the elevator. A bustling canyon of steel and glass rises skyward, the towering structure creating a vertical labyrinth that eclipses the horizon. The narrow canyon floor below is a river of humanity, a ceaseless flow of diverse faces and hurried footsteps. Neon lights cast an otherworldly glow, reflecting off sleek surfaces and creating a kaleidoscope of colors. The air is alive with the symphony of distant traffic, echoing between the monoliths that seem to touch the heavens. Windows reflect the constant motion, capturing the rhythm of a city. The street reflecting in a glass elevator is a tapestry of life, a pulsating artery in the heart of the metropolis that thrives on energy and ambition.
The elevator stopped and they went out on the 250th floor. The people were standing on a terrace overlooking the humongous size of the city. There was a swimming pool and a bar.
“Let your hair down and chillax !” said Asteria and jumped in the pool.
“Gwen, Brandon…” thought Cullen and looked in the sky. It’s eventually peaceful for at least a time being.
