If Will thought that there were lots of differences between the two dock areas, what he saw when he cleared the doors of the docks area surprised him even more. Instead of the dull colours he was used to on Shackleton, Columbus was a riot of colour, with deep red flooring, brightly coloured doors and walls and a white ceiling. Just to add to it all, the lighting was much brighter than the much lower-level lighting on Shackleton and there were moving advertisement signs along the walls, along with localised music and voices to go with them, making it even louder than he was used to. He was glad he didn’t have a headache, although he thought he might get one before he got used to the bright colour scheme and the high level hubbub. All he could say was “Wow.”
“Different to Shackleton I take it?” replied Billy.
“And then some. Shackleton is all greys and beiges and the adverts are silent, unlike this place. I might need sunglasses” said Will, shielding his eyes from the unaccustomed colour scheme.
As they walked along, Will spotted someone he knew well and shouted “Hi there, Frank. How’s it going?”
The man addressed was somewhat surprised, as he didn’t recognise either the bearded man hailing him, or his companion. He was also somewhat taken aback that the stranger seemed to know who he was. In the circumstances, he felt that the safest thing was to carry on walking as if he hadn’t heard the call.
“Hey Frank. What’s the matter? Still rattled that you missed the big party?”
Frank started to walk even quicker. Billy, realising what had happened, put his hand gently on Will’s arm. “Whilst he may be a ringer for the Frank you know, he isn’t the same person. He clearly hasn’t a clue who you are or what you’re talking about. Better drop it before he calls security.”
“This is going to take some getting used to” said Will quietly, realising that Frank was moving away as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself. Will called after him “Sorry, there. Thought you were someone else.”
As they rounded a corner, Billy nudged Will and said “I think you need to remember that you don’t actually know anyone here. If you just think of yourself as a visitor, you’ll be OK. It’s not going to be easy, though, as a lot of people here are likely to have doppelgangers in your reality.”
“I’ll try but I can’t guarantee that it’ll always work. If I have a memory lapse, you might need to cover for me.”
As they reached the central hub of the station, Billy moved towards a group of elevators that would take them to the residential section.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the residential level that Billy and his family lived on. “Just down here, Will” informed Billy “We’ll be there in about five minutes.”
As they walked down the wide corridor, they were passed by people going both ways using a variety of means of transport, from anti-gravity cycles to powered roller-skates, as well as the occasional jogger. Will was surprised how many people there were in what would have been a quiet area on Shackleton.
Just as Billy had predicted, they arrived about five minutes after leaving the elevator. As Billy opened the door, there was a loud childish scream of “Daddy!” Will assumed it was from Peter.
As he entered the doorway, Billy picked up the wriggling child, who had wrapped himself around his father. Billy introduced him to Peter “Hey there buddy. I want to meet my cousin Will.”
“Hello Will. Do you want to play my computer game?” responded Peter.
“In a moment, Peter. I’d like to say hello to your mum first, if that’s OK”
“Oh, OK” replied the excited child, pleased that he had someone different to play against. With that, he dropped down from his father’s arms and ran into the apartment shouting “Mummy, mummy, daddy’s brought someone home with him. He’s going to play Lunar Buggy with me”
With that, Kate came out of the living room. “Hello, dear. Who’s your friend?”
“Hello, love” said Billy, kissing his wife on the right cheek. This is my long-lost cousin Will. He’s en route to the Tharl system.”
Whilst there was a slight look of disbelief on Kate’s face, she accepted the explanation, at least for now — after all, the visitor looked similar to her husband, albeit one with a lot more hair.
“And where are you staying whilst you’re in the neighbourhood, Will? she asked.
“The Navy has some quarters I can bunk up in, although they won’t be overly luxurious.”
“Could he stay here? It would be a bit of a squeeze but I think Peter would enjoy Will’s company. He could sleep on the fold-up settee” asked Billy. Overhearing the conversation, Peter ran up to the three adults and pleaded for Will to stay. Kate was forced to agree, albeit reluctantly.
“Thanks, both. It’ll give us a chance to get to know more about each other. I need to go back to the Accommodation section and sort things out, though, as well as get my stuff, not that there’s a lot — I always like to travel light” Will lied, knowing there was no luggage and he had no idea where Accommodation was.
“I’ll show you the way back there” Billy offered, recognising the problems that Will faced.
After saying their goodbyes to Kate and Peter, Will and Billy left the apartment and returned to the elevator. As the door closed, Will turned to Billy and said “Thanks for the support there, Billy. I really needed it. Where’s a good place to get some clothes and a bag to put it all in?”
“I know a good place. It’s not too expensive either, which is just as well, as I doubt you will be able to pay for anything, as your accounts back in your reality don’t exist here and the funds Captain VanDelden mentioned won’t be available for a couple of days. You can pay me back when you get access to your account.”
An hour later, both men had bought what they thought would be enough to convince Kate that Will had come equipped for a short holiday and returned to the apartment.
As before, they were greeted by an excited youngster “Are you able to play with me now, Will?” he asked, enthusiastically.
“If your mum and dad don’t mind, sure, Peter. You’ll have to show me how to play the game, though, as it’s a new one on me” replied Will, picking up the youngster and carrying him through to the lounge.
When they got to the lounge, Peter squirmed to the floor and ran to get the two controllers they would need to play the game.
“You need to press this button to go forward and just turn the wheel to go in the direction you want” Peter explained, passing the other controller to Will.
“I’ll set you up” said Peter, with a smirk. He pressed a button on his controller and two hologrammatic buggies appeared in the air in front of them. Will noticed that Peter had chosen a very masculine buggy for himself, with a rather large alien in the driving seat, whereas he had selected a very feminine mauve buggy, driven by a twenty-something blonde-haired young woman in a flowing pink dress for him.
“That’s an interesting avatar you’ve chosen for me, young man. Are you trying to put me at a disadvantage?” asked Will, smiling at Peter.
With as straight a face as he could muster, Peter said “No, I just thought you would like this setup.”
“Hmm, I’m not so sure myself” Will said slowly, feigning anger.
As the game progressed, Will started to get the hang of how the game was played, although he regularly crashed or ran off the edge of the course into a crater, or into a deep ravine, so needed rescuing by the game’s breakdown shuttle on an all-too regular basis.