Page 6 of Stripe for the Picking
Wren's analytical mind cataloged every detail as they approached. No obvious security features, no signs indicating the building's purpose, nothing to suggest it housed anything more exciting than accounting offices or storage units. Yet something about the air around it felt charged, like the moment before lightning strikes.
The entrance opened to reveal a surprisingly elegant lobby with marble floors and subtle lighting that seemed to emanate from the walls themselves. An elevator waited with doors already parted, as if it had been expecting their arrival.
"After you," Gerri gestured with theatrical flourish.
The elevator interior defied physics as Wren understood it. The walls seemed to shimmer with barely perceptible energy, and the control panel featured symbols that definitely weren't standard issue. Her fingers itched to photograph everything, but something told her this wasn't the time for documentation.
The descent felt endless. Her ears popped repeatedly as they plunged deeper than any building foundation should reasonably extend. The elevator moved with whisper-quiet smoothness, but Wren's stomach insisted they were traveling at speeds that should have been terrifying.
Underground transportation system?she wondered.Secret government facility? Alien embassy basement?
Each possibility seemed more outlandish than the last, yet here she was, diving into the unknown with a woman she'd met yesterday and trusting every instinct that screamed this was exactly what needed to be done.
When the doors finally opened, they revealed a corridor that stretched toward a single door at the far end. The hallway's design spoke of understated elegance—polished stone floors, indirect lighting, and an atmosphere that whispered of important things happening in quiet spaces.
Gerri's heels created a rhythmic percussion against the stone as they walked, each step echoing with purpose. Halfway down the corridor, she leaned closer to Wren, her blue eyes sparkling with golden flecks that seemed to dance in the ambient light.
"Ready to meet your challenge, darling?" Her voice carried layers of meaning that made Wren's pulse quicken. "You're about to step into a whole new world filled with shifters and futuristic technology."
The words hit like electricity coursing through Wren's veins. A planet full of shifters who used futuristic tech. Real, actual shapeshifters who probably possessed strength and senses beyond human comprehension. The rational part of her mind cataloged the impossibility while her heart raced with anticipation.
This is it,she realized.The adventure I've been craving. The chance to matter.
Her usual caution crumbled beneath waves of curiosity and exhilaration. For once in her carefully controlled life, she was about to dive headfirst into something that couldn't be researched, analyzed, or prepared for through conventional means.
They reached the door, and Wren's gaze fixed on the gold placard mounted beside the frame. "G. Wilder" appeared in elegant script that seemed to glow with its own inner light.
Gerri produced a key that looked like crystallized starlight and opened the door to reveal a surprisingly modest office. A single desk occupied one corner, paired with a chair that looked both comfortable and expensive. The room's simplicity felt almost anticlimactic after the dramatic journey to reach it.
"Welcome to my real office," Gerri announced, moving toward the desk with practiced familiarity.
She opened the top drawer and withdrew something that made Wren's breath catch. The object resembled an egg, butits surface gleamed with metallic perfection while pulsing with soft, rhythmic light. The glow shifted through colors that had no names, creating patterns that seemed to respond to Gerri's touch.
"What exactly is that?" Wren whispered, her scientific mind cataloging impossible properties while her intuition recognized something far beyond Earth's technology.
Gerri's smile held mysteries that could unravel worlds. "This little beauty is our travel device." Gerri's voice danced with mischief as she cradled the metallic egg. "Spaceships are so terribly outdated, don't you think? This method is far more exciting—a wormhole portal to Nova Aurora."
A wormhole?Wren's logical mind reeled while her heart skipped a beat. The impossibility of it crashed against her intellect like waves against stone. She clutched her suitcase handle until her knuckles went white, and the familiar weight of her backpack suddenly felt like an anchor to reality.
Maybe I'm having some kind of elaborate lucid dream. Maybe I never left my apartment this morning.
But the cool metal of her suitcase handle felt real enough, and the strange energy humming through the air made her skin tingle with electric awareness.
"Come here, darling." Gerri beckoned her toward the center of the room. "Time to see what adventure really looks like."
Wren's feet moved without conscious permission, drawn by curiosity stronger than caution. She watched, mesmerized, as Gerri raised the egg to her lips and whispered words that sounded like music made of starlight.
The device responded instantly, floating from Gerri's palm to hover in the air between them. Light erupted from its surface—not the harsh glare of artificial illumination, but something deeper and more alive. The brilliance expanded into a perfect circle that revealed impossible vistas beyond.
Oh my God.
Purple forests stretched endlessly beneath twin suns, their trees shimmering in shades of amethyst and lavender that had no names in any Earth language. An ocean the color of cotton candy lapped against beaches of pale yellow sand, while jagged mountains rose like golden spears against an alien sky.
"That's..." Wren's voice cracked. "That's actually Nova Aurora."
"In all its glory." Gerri's smile could have powered cities. "After you, brilliant one."
This is crazy. This is impossible. This is exactly what I've been waiting for my entire life.
