Issue 1 Downtime

Graham stood in the clearing of a virtual forest, his trusty bow at rest with an arrow at the ready. He breathed slowly, calming his nerves and tightening his focus like his father had taught him. There was suddenly a sound and was turned around and aiming within the space of a breath as his target popped into the air and firing before it even reached its apex. Without waiting to see if the arrow hit, he whirled to shoot a second flying target. He continued this until all ten programmed targets were launched.

He went around checking his results. Bulls-eye. Bulls-eye. Bulls-eye. Bulls-eye. Bulls-eye.

"Damnit..." he frowned at target number six, its arrow way off center. He kicked the target in frustration. "Start it again!"

"You... er... trying to be Hawkeye's intern?" Brigid asks from the sidelines, watching.

"Hold that command," he said to the computer before facing Brigid.

"I really am getting rusty if I didn't notice you come in," he said, perhaps too sharply.

"Hey, hey," she says as she puts her hands up defensively. "I'm not trying to mess with anything here."

He sighed and looked apologetic. "Sorry. I'm just frustrated."

"You're new here, right?"

"Yeah," he nodded as he walked over.

"Name's Graham, you?"

"Brigid. You're really into this, huh?"

"I am. It's... sort of a family thing too. I usually find it calming though."

"Like your parents really wanted to get you into it? I can... kind of understand that."

"My dad did, yeah. He's real big on wilderness survival stuff."

She winces.

"Okay, yeah. That I really get. My parents are the same way."

"They rave on about the world ending too?" he asked, some bitterness seeping through the humor.

"Not so much but they've got kind of a... natural lifestyle," she settles on.

"You make it sound like they're nudists or something," he teased.

"Not... quite."

"Sounds like my dad would probably approve of them if they taught you how to survive without civilization."

"Okay, I'm... trying to be more honest about this, so I'll come right out and say that my parents spend, like, ninety percent of their time in animal skins, hunting things with spears."

"Oookay... your parents win at Survivalism."

"Your dad probably doesn't live in a hidden part of the Antarctic that's full of dinosaurs, either."

That just made him look at her funny.

"Yeeeeeah. Okay, so that was an overshare."

"You... aren't pulling my leg?"

"I'm really not."

"Seriously? The Lost World is an actual place?"

"It's... actually called the Savage Land, but yeah, it's a real place."

"Cool. I think I'll pass on going there though. I'm not cut out for facing hungry dinosaurs just yet."

"It's been pretty weird being this far from home, but it's given me a chance to try to live, you know, like a normal person."

"That's exactly why I'm here."