...The air brakes whined as Dave's pickup slewed violently to the left, then slowly righted itself, slowly coming to a stop on the shoulder of the tunnel. Dave had gone pale under his fur, but everything seemed to be okay. He extracted his claws from the steering stick, his foxish features untensing. He checked in the back to make sure the holocubes were still intact, Sure enough, they were. Dave breathed a sigh of relief, murring softly. Dave pondered for a moment why a portal that dodn't do anything would open up in the middle of the road for no reason, then returned his attentions to his pickup. Dave brought up the damage scanner. The brakes were a little hot, but they'd cool off quick enough. Noting that he would be late to the coordinator's center if he didn't hurry up, he pulled back onto the road, and jammed the throttle to the max, roaring off down the tunnel. Dave finally got to a transport center after about half an hour of driving. Putting the cubes on a fragile-only rig, he punched in the coordinator's center's address, and hit the firing button. His work done, he walked back out to his pickup. He switched on the contragrav turbines and hopped in. From the center, he went across the street to a vacant lot and parked the truck. Dave folded down the seats and pulled out the air mattress. Flopping down on it, he drifted blissfully off to sleep.
*****
The next day, Dave was gently roused into wakefullness by the clock on his dashboard.
"Dave, wake up. The date is May 23, 2037."
"Dave, wake up. The date is May 23, 2037."
"Dave, wake up..."
