-- Chapter 2: Völlig losgelöst von der Erde --

It was evening time, about 18:30, on day 17, when Haji turned off the roadway holograms. Suki, who was reading the Preservation Act book at a second-grade level, looked around in confusion. "Hey, Earthling. Ready for the big reveal?" Haji asked, looking back from the driver's seat. Suki nodded silently. "Should be about 10 more minutes until we're within maximum safe range and need to step down to regular speed. We're already in Hypderdrive I." Suki sat down in the front passenger seat and buckled in.

Suki said nothing, full of silent anticipation. "Ready? Three... two... one..." Haji counted down and deactivated the hyperdrive. The seats whirred to their fully back position in preparation before the ship decelerated. They shot forward again when the hyperdrive fully shut down. It felt like braking from full speed in a Formula 1 car. When Suki's vision returned, his eyes met the speedometer. It read 14 kp/s. Something caught the corner of his eye. A blue and green planet in the distance.

"You sure we haven't just been orbiting Earth for the last 3 weeks?" Suki asks suspiciously. "Does Earth have a bunch of islands in the Atlantic Ocean?" Haji says smugly, handing Suki a pair of binoculars. Suki zoomed into the planet. The craft was surprisingly stable, so he didn't get sick using it. Haji was right, not only was Ergon's version of the Atlantic dotted with islands, but there were more large islands in their Pacific and Indian Oceans, too. The Kerguelen Islands were huge, as if the whole plateau had surfaced. Suki put the binoculars down. He had seen this planet before, in an xkcd What If? comic if he remembered rightly. "Where are we going?" He asked. "World Headquarters in Sarquelle. It's about... 19:10 local time." Haji answered. The planet approached rapidly. "You ready for this, kid?" Haji asked. "No turning back now." Suki said seriously. "Do you have vertigo?" Haji asked with the air of someone who was about to do something regardless of the answer. "No, why?" Suki responded casually.

Haji cut the engines and fired the craft's control jets and inverted the craft. He throttled back up. Suki watched as Ergon flew past them - much slower now, 9 kp/s... 8 klicks... 7 klicks... they hit Ergon's upper atmosphere. The engines cut, and the control jets flipped the ship back forward - not fully, Haji had to scrape off speed yet. Glowing plasma licked at the craft. Suki touched his hand to the window - still cold to the touch. "Sorry, I forgot marshmallows." Haji joked. Ergon got closer as the minutes passed and the speed slowly lowered. Eventually, Haji levelled the craft off. Suki saw the wings of the craft, which weren't there before the re-entry started, dart backwards like an F-14. The speedometer had switched to hours - they were cruising at about 3,000 kp/h. Haji entered a holding pattern as he slowed down and descended towards what looked like the Mediterranean Sea. The sun was just setting over the sea.

The ground was much closer now. They were flying over what looked like the Azure Coast. Haji picked up a microphone from what looked to be a CB radio. Suki couldn't quite hear what he was saying, but it sounded like he was talking to someone about locations. They came to a stop over a city on the waterfront. Suki recognised it as Nice, France. The wings retracted, and the ship flew straight downward at 100 kp/h, landing in a designated space. "Welcome to Ergon, kid." Haji said as he exited the craft. "That's it? No decon?" Suki asked. "No decon. We've taken thousands of samples from Earth; there's no risk to Ergon from Earth contamination - not naturally-occurring ones, at least. The risk is no bigger than that of a transcontinental flight." Haji closed the door.

Suki grabbed his suitcases and exited the spaceship. He looked around. It didn't hit him at first. Then, he heard a jet coming into land. His eyes lit up. A Concorde was coming into land, droop snoot engaged. Suki beamed. He looked toward the terminal. A Boeing 767 was loading passengers on the tarmac. That's right. Right on the tarmac, with the use of what looked to be a Peugeot 504 stair truck. Just beyond it, some pilots were doing pre-flight checks on a DC-3. They were all emblazoned with Air France's livery, albeit with the text being in Ergonese. Suki caught up to Haji, who was walking towards the terminal.

"This place is amazing! I feel like I'm at a giant air show!" Suki said with tremendous excitement. Haji smiled and kept walking. The inside of the airport didn't look that different from an Earth airport, aside from lowered security. The only thing the two had to do was go through a metal detector. "Can I ask you a... big question?" Suki says cautiously. "Please. That's why I'm here." Haji says confidently. Suki looks at a departure board - which is still a split-flap display by the way - to look at the date. It read 2001 03 02. "What does your government plan for September?" Suki asked bluntly. Haji stopped, then turned to Suki. "Nothing." Haji stated plainly and went back to walking. "What do you mean, 'nothing?" Suki interrogated, running after Haji and walking alongside him. "The Gulf War never happened here. The Armenian Genocide never happened. Rome didn't conquer Europe. We've lived in peace for the last two millennia. There is absolutely no possible way that will happen on Ergon." Haji affirmed. "The Americans thought the same thing." Suki retorted. "Okay. Fine. You want to know what we're doing?" Haji stopped and turned to Suki. He whispered the plan into Suki's ear - they were putting a SAM site on the World Trade Center disguised as an air conditioning unit. Just in case. "Alright. Don't cry when you didn't learn from our failures." Suki threw up his hands and continued to follow Haji outside.

Outside was a line of taxis coming and going. It looked like a busy pit lane at a race track. The cars were all various types, but mostly French - Citroen 2CVs, Renault 9s, Peugeots of all years, alongside some generic four-doors that Suki didn't recognise, all with strange badges. "Are we getting a cab?" Suki asked. "Of course not. I'm a government man, and you're the most important guest we've ever had. Actually, you're the first!" Haji said as what looked like a Toyota AA pulled up. It was a Toyota AA, in fact. It looked exactly like the one Toyota had built in 1987. Suki was frozen. Despite his Einstein-level IQ, Suki was completely dumbfounded. He looked at the car like a caveman would look at a 3D printer. He didn't even notice the driver take his suitcases and put them in the antique trunk. He snapped out of it when Haji told him to get into the car, and so he did.

The driver got in the car and began driving. Suki instinctively put his seatbelt on. Wait... a seatbelt? In a car from 1936? And why did the engine sound suspiciously like a 2JZ-GTE? Suki would know that sound anywhere. His own car had one. Suki looked around confusedly. "Why does this 90-year-old car have a trunk, seatbelts and a 2JZ?!" Suki barked. "Because this car isn't 90 years old. It was built last week. We had Tokuhi make one for you specifically." Haji replied. "Didn't you say it took a month to order a car?" Suki said accusingly. "When Joe Schmoe orders one, yes. But when the government asks for one, they'll deliver." Haji said slyly. "This car is optioned with a lot of modern stuff. Wide tyres, ABS, airbags, seatbelts, AC, CD player, obviously a 2JZ... you can order one with all the modern bells and whistles, or you can order one exactly like it was in 1936!"

Suki looked out of the window. It felt like watching a movie. He had never been here before, outside of playing Driv3r on his computer. But the vibes were exact, down to the cars driving around. 1960s microcars, 1970s compacts, 1980s lorries... was that a 1959 Cadillac? Parked in front of a Nissan Be-1? Haji had prepared Suki well, but nothing prepares you for seeing a pumpkin orange Pike car parked behind a 6 metre long pink Cadillac as you're riding in a car that only one example remains of (on Earth, at least) in a country where none of these cars should be. Well, I suppose that sole survivor AA was found in Russia, after all...

When they got on the motorway, they experienced a common occurrence on 1980s European motorways. A six-wheeled Citroen XM with the bodywork of a van blew the doors off the AA and everything around it. "Bloody Hollander drivers!" Haji snapped. Suki knew about Pierre Tissier's incredible 6-wheeled newspaper delivery vans; he was autistic about cars, after all, and also knew that their drivers drove like bats with their arses on fire that had been launched from Hell on a Saturn V rocket. He also knew that... "I thought Hollander went bankrupt." Suki said, confusedly. "Not here, they didn't. Ergon loves print media, remember? I mean, people still send telegrams. And not with that stupid phone app." Haji said confidently.

Suki looked at the AA's speedometer. 120. Huh. In a tin can from 1936. Ah. "Don't you think we're going a little too fast?" Suki asked. "He doesn't speak English. Try to ask him in Ergonese." Haji quipped. "Are too drive you feast?" Suki said in Ergonese bad enough to break glass. The driver must have thought he was retarded, or had packed away some booze from Earth, and they made him drink it all before entering Ergon. The driver rolled his eyes. He spoke in perfect Ergonese. He said something about this road being "unlimited," which matched a sign that whizzed past - it was a German no speed limit sign. Somehow, the conversation happened, despite Suki's complete inability to speak the language without sounding like a toddler and the driver's thick Froeush accent. Froeush, that's where they were, according to the signs Suki had read.

Suki watched the scenery and exotic, alien cars pass by as they drove through the night. "Are all roads unlimited here?" Suki asked. "Only motorways, really. Jaekip has the same sign but with blue lines. America has it on a rectangular sign emblazoned with 'NO SPEED LIMIT." Haji explained. "Man... the HERO Racers guys would love this place." Suki says to himself. Eventually, a road sign went past. Suki recognised the text; it was a "Welcome to Sarquelle" sign. They weaved their way through Sarquelle - it's a very tiny country, the Ergonian version of Monaco - and drove to the World Headquarters, located at the southwest corner of the country on a natural rock peninsula. The AA pulled up in the plaza. They had literally rolled out the red carpet. Suki got out. The driver got his bags for him, and Haji followed.

The three entered the palace. The AA driver took Suki's bags to a suite in the palace. The duo approached two large doors. "Just so you know, Worl Lenthan is a bit... of a character." Two guards opened the doors. "So ya... thought ya... might go to the show?" The man in the chair said sing-song in English. He swung around to face them, a small dragon in his lap. It was Worl. "Feel the warm thrill of confusion, that space cadet glow?" Suki smiled confusedly. Worl slowly reached his hand out for a handshake as if he was defusing a bomb. Suki shook his hand gently. Worl sighed a sigh of relief. He didn't explode.

"So... Suki, right?" Worl asked in a normal voice, swinging his arm. Suki nodded quietly. "These Earthlings don't talk much, do they?" Worl said to Haji. "He's shy around new people." Haji whispered back. "Very well!" Worl said grandly. He set his hands flat on the table, unsure of what to do next. Haji mouths something. "Oh! Right!" Worl says. He produces a contract on a clipboard. It's printed in English. It's a licencing agreement. "Is Ergon law the same as Earth law?" Suki asked plainly. "More or less, although copyright has a shorter duration - 50 years with 25-year extensions available. Otherwise, it's the same, at least regarding to inventions and patents. If you're working with music or cars, things are different." Haji explained as Suki signed the document while reading it. Suki loved reading legal documents. He could probably pass the bar if he cared enough. The agreement was solid.

Suki slid the agreement across the table, followed by the hard drive. "I'm still not sure if you'll be able to make it work without the proprietary chip, but I have faith in you, considering you made an RV survive re-entry." Suki said to Worl. "I like your attitude, Suki!" Worl said, pointing at Suki with the fervour of a car salesman who had recently undergone shock therapy. "This is a very important day in Ergonian history, Mr Kaede! Thousands of lives could be saved! Or, at the very least, we'll have one or two new motorsports series born from it. One of the two! Just imagine, Haji, a second season of the ARL in a year, taking place in video games!" Worl booms. "Can... you even do that?" Haji asked. Suki nodded as if he had just been asked if he was enjoying his ice cream. Worl slammed the table and stood up with a huge grin, causing the dragon to flap its wings and land on a nearby perch. "Wait until Ketarca hears about this! We've never been able to afford more than 12-14 races in a year, but now we can have a whole other season in the virtual world. Imagine it, Haji! The racing series with the power-ups of Carmageddon, in Carmageddon!" Worl guffawed. "What's the ARL? Sounds interesting." Suki asked innocently. The smile disappeared from Worl's face, before it came back as a Cheshire grin. "Taykoni, book a meeting between Ketarca Thuioxca and Mr Kaede tomorrow at 12:00," Worl said confidently. "Any further questions, Mr Kaede?" Worl sat down and asked calmly. "If I think of anything, I'll give Haji a ring." Suki replied, stood up, and bowed.

Suki went to his suite in the palace. All of his belongings were lovingly unpacked. He grabbed his laptop. It had a sticky note attached to it, written in English. It was instructions on installing an Ergonian web browser on your computer. "Haji?" Suki asked. Haji leaned into the room. "Can I trust this USB drive?" Suki said, holding it in his hand. Haji walked over and inspected it. "Yep. It's got the official government engraving. That should be the ErgoWeb browser. We're not sure if you'll be able to connect to the Ergonian internet using an Earth computer--" Haji explained until Suki interrupted him. "Give me the source code. I'll see if it works raw." Suki said as he signed into his laptop and plugged the thumb drive in, along with a provided USB wifi antenna. Haji went to get the source code. The browser had been installed. It seemed to be working - the internet access icon had a gold star on it. He opened the network selector, selected the palace's private wi-fi and input the passcode. After a tense couple of seconds, it connected. He opened the browser, which ran on a modified version of Netscape Navigator, which already had four bookmarks. Suki texted Haji (using an Ergonian "digital communicator" that Haji had provided) that it had worked. Suki found the settings and switched to English. The bookmarks were ErgoSearch, ErgoView, ErgoWiki and ErgoBuds. He clicked on ErgoWiki and navigated to the main page. It looked exactly like Wikipedia, but... different. Liminal. Much like the rest of Ergon. It felt dreamlike, like a long-ago memory. He looked at the news. He was in it.

Suki clicked on the article, which was named "2001 Earthling visit to Ergon." Haji walked back in. "Remind me to publish my trip journal so you guys can cite it." Suki smiled and looked at Haji. "You think that's cool?" Haji turned on the television, which was a large, widescreen CRT. Suki heard clips and phrases in Ergonese as the tubes warmed up, before Haji switched it to the English broadcast. It was the news. "The young man from Earth arrived safely on Ergon earlier this evening, shortly after 19:00. His name has not yet been released to the public, but he was seen with a man from the government at..." The newscast showed photographs of him and Haji walking through the airport earlier. Suki had never seen himself on television before. What a wild experience he'd had so far. It wasn't even close to being over.

"Hey, uhh, is there any chance I can access Earth's internet here?" Suki asked Haji. "Technically, only the government can access it. But, you're basically an unofficial member of the government, so..." Haji said, stroking his chin. "Give me your IP address." He requested. Suki searched "whats my ip address" on ErgoSearch. Haji looked at the numbers - they were in a different format than an Earthly one - and wrote them down. "Now, your computer's BIOS serial number." Suki opened the command prompt and brought up the serial number in less than 10 seconds. Haji wrote it down. "I'll whitelist you." Haji said as he went to do that.

Haji texted after a few minutes. "Should be good now", the text read. Suki clicked on the internet access icon and clicked the only selection available to the computer's standard wifi card. Haji walked in. "We already have DTN to Earth. So it should load instantly. Just be aware, if you send something to Earth, it'll take a few minutes to get there, so instant messaging between planets is a foregone conclusion." He explained. "I know what DTN is, Haji." Suki said with a smirk as he wrote to Kit, Sunny and Jeanie. He wrote about how he was safe on Ergon and was getting exclusive access to Earth's internet, being sure to mention the latency. He clicked send. A "message sent" notification popped up. It was sent alright - sent in the same way a homing pigeon would be sent.

"We are working on eliminating interplanetary latency - or at least reducing it to a terrestrial level - half a second of lag would be a miracle." Haji explained. "How the heck are you gonna do that?" Suki asked sarcastically. "You're so up in arms about your sim not working without that chip, yet you have enough faith in us to make it work. So why couldn't we figure that out?" Haji said with a salesman's smile. "If you can figure out how to make a digital signal have hyperdrive, then you're in business." Suki said, which made Haji's smile disappear. That's a great idea. "Go get some sleep. I have some... meetings to attend to." Haji said and left. Suki switched the news to the Ergonese broadcast. Maybe he'd learn something while sleeping.