T-minus (text-style: "mark")[5 minutes.]
[[He takes another sip of coffee.]]
[[He reads the newspaper.]]It's still warm, but not as hot as he'd like. Still, it could be worse.
T-minus (text-style: "mark")[4 minutes].
[[He looks out the window|Window]]His eye falls upon a story about new tax laws being introduced. Is that good or bad?
T-minus (text-style: "mark")[4 minutes].
[[He looks out the window|Window]]It's a bright, sunny day out there. He regrets not spending more of his lunch break outside.
T-minus (text-style: "mark")[3 minutes].
[[He looks at his watch|watch]]
[[He looks at his phone|phone]]It's ''half past 1'' on December (monthday: ). (click:"half past 1")[He should really get back to work. (show:?time)]
|time)[T-minus (text-style: "mark")[2 minutes].
(transition: "dissolve")[[[It's nearly time.->It's nearly time.]]]]3 ''unread messages'' from his daughter. (click:"unread messages")[He said he'd call her today... maybe later?(show:?time)]
|time)[T-minus (text-style: "mark")[2 minutes].
(transition: "dissolve")[[[It's nearly time.->It's nearly time.]]]]Alright, time to go. He gets up from the chair and walks to the counter.
[[His time of death is T-minus one minute.->one minute]]That will be $10.50, thank you!
[[He reaches for his card->Reach for your card]].
[[He reaches for his cash->Reach for your cash]].[[Sorry.]][[Sorry.]]You look around, your hands dropping to your sides. You're (text-style: "buoy")+(text-style: "bold")[breathing hard].(click:"breathing hard")[(show: ?breath)] |breath)[Unfamilar shapes surround you, and the smell of fuel and burning steel has disappeared.
[[Examine your new body.]]]
(link-reveal: "''Time travel''")[, or quantum tunnelling, or whatever (text-style: "shudder")[timey-wimey] stuff you want to call it, requires four points of [[data.]]]
His longitude is (text-style: "mark")[144.963204445]. Combined with his [[latitude|Latitude]], this gives his map position accurate to 110 microns.His latitude is (text-style: "mark")[-37.817039882]. What [[floor|elevation]] of the building is he on?Ah, the 32nd floor. (text-style: "mark")[137.50231] metres above the ground... easier not to think about it. Anyway, it's nearly [[time|HOME]].You fight thought the panic, trying to remember your training. There's an order you should do this in... okay. Start with the the [[head]].You reach up to touch your face. You notice that the new length of your arms give you a new arc of motion, and you have to adjust so your fingers make contact with your cheeks. Two hands, attached to two arms? That's already an [[improvement.]]You appear to have a much longer body than you're used to. Your skin feels rougher, but it's so clean! What's this over your eyes? [[Plastic]] of some sort.Ah, right. (text-style:"blur")[Corrective lenses.] Everything is so crisp! And someone is saying something to you...?
[[Hello?]]A woman is walking around the counter, which you realised you've fallen down in front of. You see she's wearing a black shortsleeved shirt and her hair – so clean! – is tied back.
[[Hey, are you okay?]]Do you need me to call someone?
She bends down your level, and you prop yourself up on your too-big arms to face her. Up close, the smell of coffee and perfume is almost (text-style:"emboss")[overwhelming].
[["I'm fine, I'm fine"]]
[["No, that's okay, I'll be alright."]]Are you sure?
She holds out a hand. You reluctantly clasp it (were your hands that big before?) and together you stand up.
[["It's nothing. Thank you"]]You scramble to get your feet under you and stand up. Your body feels weirdly solid, like you're wearing a weighted vest.
[["It's nothing. Thank you"]]Okay, she says. Take as long as you need.
[["I should go."]]You walk out of the cafe and into the bright atrium. You feel your clothing – some sort of jacket, a 'suit' maybe? – and notice there's some items in your pockets.
[[Take out the wallet.]]
[[Take out the phone.]]As you open the wallet and begin to flip through the detritus of your new life, you reflect on how easy the transfer was, in the end. Months of study and weeks of physical training all seem, in this moment, to have been wasted - all you had to do was lie down and suddenly you were here.
[[Read ID card]]Was this really all the 21st century was? It all seems so... inoffensive. Just a smattering of technological advances on top of four centuries of empire. It's hard to belive the (text-color:red)[hell] you just came from was born here.
[[Unlock phone]]Before the transfer, when you started researching your host, you remember wondering if anyone would notice the difference. After all, you would look the same, sound the same, and their life was incredibly simple to memorise - what could go wrong? But now, as you see your new face staring up at you from this little plastic card, you start to worry.
[[Put the wallet away->Time to go]]They have only just worked out digital communications, you remind yourself as you check the various social media profiles your host was registered on. Mass communication at the speed of light made so much of the future possible, but here the social consequences are just starting to make themselves known. That being said - you're grateful this century was still addicted to posting their location and activities all the time, since it made your research incredibly easy.
[[Put away the phone->Time to go]]Okay - enough hanging around. You have a mission to complete, and a team to make contact with.
You start to get the balance of your new body, trusting your host's muscle memory to guide them into the elevator, and you're pleasantly surprised to watch your new hand press the ground floor button instinctually.
There's a brief moment of (text-style: "buoy")[weightlessness] as the elevator descends.
[[Remember Protocol 1.]][[The mission comes first.]][[The future is relying on you.]][[It's time to save the world.]](after: 2s)[Thank you for playing. (after: time + 2s)[(show:?credits)]]
|credits)[Made by T Newport as part of (link-repeat:"Express Media's Digital Storytelling Toolkits 2022")[(open-url:"https://expressmedia.org.au/news/meet-the-young-creators-of-toolkits-connect/")]. (after: time + 3s)[(show:?url)]]
|url)[(link-repeat: "Watch Travelers")[(open-url: "https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80105699")]]
* (transition: "fade-right")[Time(after:1s)[(show:?two)]]
* |two)[(transition: "fade-right")[Elevation(after: time + 1s)[(show:?three)]]]
* |three)[(transition: "fade-right")[Latitude (after: time + 1s)[(show:?four)]]]
* |four)[(transition: "fade-right")[[[Longitude]](change:?passage's chars, (text-style:'mark'))]]
(after: 5s)[[[Open your new eyes.]]] He collapses on the ground, groaning in pain. [[Everything goes...]]It feels like his brain is being probed with an (text-style: "shudder")[[arc welder.]]