taxonomites | 001: [holo] Please stand away from the platform edge

Alexis glanced at her phone as she hurried down the stairs to the subway station. “I'm going to be so late,” she fretted, dodging around an older man with an oversized briefcase as she dialed a number on the phone. She swiped her subway pass and scooted through the turnstile as the phone rang, and rang, until it clicked to voicemail. “Oh hey, Justin! I just wanted to call to let you know that I'm running a little late for our violin lesson toda--”

The rest of her message died in her throat as, between one step and the next, the familiar confines of the New York subway system became something completely different, a seamless expanse of sterile, featureless steel.

Alexis gaped, mouth still slightly open. “Hello?” she finally asked. “My name is Alexis Castle. Can anybody tell me where I am? Or how I got here?”

Her own words echoed back at her, and Alexis chewed her bottom lip as she fumbled with her phone, hitting her dad's number on speed dial without any conscious thought. She didn't wait for him to pick up; if she had, she would have realized the phone wasn't ringing, but finding herself in a strange room when she had two seconds before been in the crowded subway station made Alexis less than rational. “Dad? Are you there? I need you to come get me, I think I'm in trouble,” she said, trying her best to sound calm, though it was hard to hide the edge of hysteria, the rising panic in her voice. “I was on my way home, in the subway station, but now I'm not, I'm in a little round room and there isn't anything here--” A pause, as she notices for the first time a podium with a device resting on it. Her voice quavers as she continues, “Except a podium, and I'm getting scared, Dad. Can you come get me?”

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Stunned was definitely better than on the verge of tears. Extremely better; and it would make this much more easier, for now. Rick was patient as she got herself together, a learned practice from being a parent, but something that also just came naturally to him as a person.

The round of questions was to be expected--he had quite the same reaction, and understandably so. He waited until she was finished before answering the questions in order that would be easiest to understand. "You're in Taxon, a city. No one here knows why, but we've been taken and put here by aliens."

That enough would be a tough pill to swallow. But he wouldn't ignore her other questions. "I haven't been here long, but I don't think your father is here. From what I've been told those who were left behind are fine and life is as if we've never left." Rick sincerely hoped that piece of information was correct.

Questions leapt to mind at the name of the city, but Alexis held them back, taking another deep breath, then another, and another, as she waited for him to finish explaining. "City named Taxon," she repeated. It helped a little. "By... aliens?" Her arms wrapped around her stomach reflexively as she remembered watching movies that she probably shouldn't have watched while her dad had been on a book tour. "They're not the kind that burst out of stomachs, are they, Deputy Grimes?"

She relaxed a little, however, at the idea that her dad was still safe back home. Alexis didn't want to think about what would happen when he realized she hadn't come home.

"Don't worry, Alexis. I've yet to see them lay a hand on anyone." Not that a 'glitch' causing a zombie attack was much better. But she definitely did not need to hear that right now.

Instinctively he'd held a hand up as he explained, even though he wasn't really there. "I haven't been here that long, but as far as I know, they haven't done anything to us. Just keep us here."

That was a comfort, and Alexis' arms loosened, falling to her side. As long as she kept her thoughts on the present, on what was before her right that moment, she was alright. She wasn't overwhelmed or terrified or anything as long as she could figure out what she was to do. One step at a time. She nodded at him and looked around the room again. One step at a time.

"You said this was a city. That means there's a way out of this room, right?"

Rick was able to relax once she did. The last thing he wanted was to cause her more worry than she was currently dealing with at the moment. Taking a small breath, he nodded. "Yes. All you have to do is pick up the tablet that you're using to speak to me with. That'll lead you out of the room, and further into what they call 'The Sanctuary'. It's only one building inside of what is actually a large city."

At the deputy's answer, Alexis peered closer at the tablet on its podium, trying to see if there was something underneath it or connected to it in any way. When she had satisfied herself with her examination, Alexis picked the tablet up carefully, holding onto it as if it were as delicate as a soap bubble or as dangerous as a bomb.

A door appeared, opening as soon as she did, and Alexis looked from it to the tablet, and back again. A small, unsteady smile spread over her face as she turned back to Deputy Grimes. "Do I have to have the tablet with me to come back?"

Rick remembered how the sudden opening of the door startled him, even after he was told that it would. Loud noises and lights would do that to him now, thanks to life on the run from zombies.

It was good to see that she was smiling, she was doing better than he was, and he couldn't help but return the smile albeit small. "The tablet is yours to keep, it's how you'll communicate in the city. But once you step through the door it closes and doesn't reopen. Make sure you have everything that is yours from the room before you leave."

"Oh. So I don't stay in here?" Even as the question left Alexis' mouth, she wished she could take it back. Of course she couldn't stay in there, there was nothing in that room beside the podium and what she'd brought with her. But, on the other hand, she had just been told there were aliens and she was no longer on Earth. So maybe a little uncertainty could be forgiven.

Alexis looked around the room some more, and at the door. "Thank you, Deputy Grimes," she said, sitting down on the staging area and setting the tablet on the ground next to her. The door closed again as Alexis hugged her knees to her chest. She smiled at the man who'd taken the time to explain things to her. It wasn't a strong smile, but a little bit of her usual Alexis energy was behind it. "I'll go outside in a little bit. I think I just need to take a few more deep breaths."

That wasn't a question that he'd been expecting. The first and only thought that had come to his mind was to get out of that horribly claustrophobic room. But at the same time, he could understand. The more he moved on from that room the more he had to take in and try to accept.

"I...wouldn't recommend it, but there's no rush." He tried to say as gently as he could. He watched the holo projection as she set downt he tablet--wondering what she was going to do. But when she explained, he nodded. Rick wondered if his son, Carl, would be handling this as well as she was. "Of course. Like I said, there's no rush."

001: [holo] Please stand away from the platform edge

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