001 [HOLO; LOCATION: CENTRAL BUILDING]
Charlie had just gone into the storage room for a new jar of ground coffee beans. She’d turned the handle on the door to walk back out into the little hallway, past the bathrooms, and to the kitchen, where she would have given the can to Lynette, and the day would have continued on as normal - or maybe not. She might have made more than usual in tips; she might have been held at gunpoint by some cash-starved teenager. But Charlie would never know where the day at the diner would have taken her, because very suddenly she was no longer at the diner.
Charlie blinked a few times and found herself torn between credulity and alarm. After all, it did seem just strange enough to be real - Charlie didn’t read or watch much science fiction, so it wasn’t very likely this was all crafted by her subconscious, and this she knew almost instantly. The closest she could imagine was the Wizard of Oz. But then was it more disconcerting to know she still had a perfect handle on reality, while reality had not quite so perfect a handle on her? As far as she knew, there was no place quite like this in Midland, Texas. Everything there was dust and dirt - no sleek paneling or pedestals.
And… my, she noticed a palm pilot there, sitting right on top of her Japanese phrasebook. She tucked the book into the apron she was still wearing, and flipped open the little device. She’d never operated anything like it - the highest technology Charlie owned was a Nokia from 2001 - but seemingly of its own volition, it began to glow. Tentatively, she took the stylus and made a few testing swipes across the screen (untrue: there was also a circle). Nothing happened. Yet more hesitant, and feeling a little silly, she lifted it up to her ear.
“Hello?” she asked, sounding sheepish but clear. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
When there was no immediate answer, she lowered it and, looking around with equal parts awe and dread, she began to leave the strange room she’d just found herself in, and that was decidedly not the Burnt Toast Diner, as she could not mentally reiterate enough.
Charlie blinked a few times and found herself torn between credulity and alarm. After all, it did seem just strange enough to be real - Charlie didn’t read or watch much science fiction, so it wasn’t very likely this was all crafted by her subconscious, and this she knew almost instantly. The closest she could imagine was the Wizard of Oz. But then was it more disconcerting to know she still had a perfect handle on reality, while reality had not quite so perfect a handle on her? As far as she knew, there was no place quite like this in Midland, Texas. Everything there was dust and dirt - no sleek paneling or pedestals.
And… my, she noticed a palm pilot there, sitting right on top of her Japanese phrasebook. She tucked the book into the apron she was still wearing, and flipped open the little device. She’d never operated anything like it - the highest technology Charlie owned was a Nokia from 2001 - but seemingly of its own volition, it began to glow. Tentatively, she took the stylus and made a few testing swipes across the screen (untrue: there was also a circle). Nothing happened. Yet more hesitant, and feeling a little silly, she lifted it up to her ear.
“Hello?” she asked, sounding sheepish but clear. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
When there was no immediate answer, she lowered it and, looking around with equal parts awe and dread, she began to leave the strange room she’d just found herself in, and that was decidedly not the Burnt Toast Diner, as she could not mentally reiterate enough.