Snippet #1219938

Chen awoke on the floor of an odd room, with walls the color of sand but covered with panels the color of the military's finest swords and strangely-colored buttons and coils. Above his head a small red light blinked casually, and the monk counted three blinks before an overwhelming wave of nausea forced a grunt from his throat. His hands shifted from folding across his chest to clasping his stomach. A long, slow breath served to temper the feeling, and as it weakened he slowly rose to his knees.

A sound at his left -- the sound of running water, quite unexpected in this place -- drew his attention, and he turned to face the small metal sink. He kept his kneeling position, gathering his strength and pushing aside the last of his nausea as a sound filled the room. The timbre was much like the man who had brought him here, but the words he did not recognize. As the voice disappeared, a panel just to one side slid open to reveal a hallway.

Chen assumed that meant that he was to exit. The assumption was confirmed as he watched two others walk past the open door, one male and one female, both very strangely clad and looking as confused as he felt. As Chen contemplated his situation, he pulled back his sleeve to examine the site where he had been injected. So, against all logic, it appeared that Demochev had been honest with him -- he was, indeed, somewhere else in Time, afloat in the broken river.

Several moments passed as the monk considered his situation. He did not know what was expected of him, or where to go. All he could do was trust in the Tao. With that resolve in his heart, he rose smoothly from his meditative kneel to his feet and began a slow walk out the open door. He could hear voices not far along down the hallway, the strange voice of Maxim over all others, still speaking the strange language he did not understand.

Suddenly, a tremendous pain sheared through the base of his skull, rattling up and around until it felt as though it bled out his eyes. Placing one hand on the hallway wall to steady himself against the surprising pain, Chen blinked twice as he realized he could comprehend Demochev's speech. With renewed interest, he quickened his pace and emerged into the conference room just as the others were filing into what he assumed were the closets that held the clothing he overheard Maxim prescribe.

His brown eyes flashed with their thoughtful intensity as he looked at the time traveler who had brought him here, quietly speaking his first words as a time traveler himself: "The Inviolabilis. You have brought all of us here? Here is where we restore Time?" He would follow the others in a moment, as that was obviously what Demochev expected, but... he needed a touch of reassurance, a connection in this strange new world.