Ambulans Caecae

He wasn't sure what the scanner was trying to tell him. The blips had been swirling around him for hours, leading him on a wild chase through the endless desert. He was beginning to feel the heat. He had taken his lab coat off, along with the top half of his uniform jumpsuit and tied both around his waist. He was dragging his bag behind him, the thousands of credits worth of scientific equipment inside being absolutely coated with sand. "This is unbearable! Of all the dimensions to be randomly teleported in I end up in Saudiegyptiranistan! Am I right Holly?" Artemis looked at his watch, remembering that he had uploaded Holly to Starbug before embarking on this rescue mission. "Smeg" Artemis complained, also noticing that his watch was out of batteries.

The blips were circling in a pattern, Artemis began to see a distinct oval like rotation around his position. Improbable Artemis thought. Artemis fell to hos knees in exhaustion and tried to catch his breath. This has go on long enough, what the hell is going on? Artemis pondered, rolling the scanned in his hand. He checked the MS scanner's settings. It had been set to science-fiction film prop mode, which flashed lights and displayed random bits of data to simulate actual use. All these hours he had been wandering around following NOTHING. He switched to the actual personnel scanning mode and checked the locations of the other Dwarfers. The only two within range were Alex and Jaxx, both of whom were over eighty kilometers in the other direction. "Smeg" Artemis uttered before falling face first into the sand. Upon hitting the ground, the MS scanner switched to music mode and started playing through Artemis' Jimi Hendrix collection.

Are You Experienced played as Artemis lay in the blistering sand, out cold from dehydration. A shadowy figure loomed over him. The figure went through his bag, recovering several items and pocketing them, then replacing them with other devices. He also slipped several small handheld gadgets into Artemis' pockets. He rolled Artemis onto his back and took a look at the disheveled scientist. "Artemis you stupid prick" he said. He loaded Artemis and his gear onto a camel and departed.

"Where am I?" Artemis asked. Nobody answered. He noticed that his jumpsuit had been removed. He was left in his white undershirt and his knee-length boxers (Artemis always hated clothing for men that didn't reach past the knees). His jumpsuit had been washed and hung up across the room from him, his bug-out-bag was resting just below it. Artemis began to take notice of the room he was in. "Middle eastern/north african influence on design, primarily found among ancient Egyptian ruins. So I'm in Egypt?" "Not exactly, Dr Pritchard" a man clad in a lab coat, dress clothing, and traditional middle eastern garments stood in the doorway. It was another Artemis. "How did you get here?" Artemis-1 (The prime-reality Artemis) asked. "There was an accident aboard Blue Dwarf....I'd rather not speak of it. But since the accident I've been stuck here" Artemis-2 replied (the new guy). "Where am I? What is this place?" "Get dressed, there's clothing in that basket. Come join me for breakfast, I'll explain everything"

To Be Continued