About two hours into his shift... well his day off, the manager came in. Patted Dale on the back.

"Dale, you're a good kid."

"Thanks, sir."

"You got a moment?"

"Sure, sir."

He followed the manager into another room. Out of ear from the grill room.

"You know how tough the economy's been." Dale nodded. "And...

When he awoke it was almost 11. 10:40 to be exact. He knew he wouldn't get out of bed right away. So by the time he got to eating breakfast it would already be noon. This morning he didn't want to check his phone like usual. His thoughts were consumed...

She was thinking about Chip from the gas station. He was an older man. Not death bed old, but old enough to be... well older than her dad. He had a walking stick. She didn't see him stand up and walk, but she could imagine him walking with a limp.

She...

She was at a  gas station called Chip's. Out in the middle of nowhere with nothing else around.

Imogen Howe was pleasantly surprised to fill her car up at gas station that didn't belong to a franchise. She couldn't remember the last time she used any station other than Marathon,...

There were cars now that could get over 40 miles per gallon. Not hybrids. Just pure gas burning cars. Full sized ones too. The world was changing so fast. It blew  Imogen Howe 's mind.

Back when she was a kid, 30 miles per gallon was considered a lot. And that...

A domino was pushed. Signals were sent. An irreversible chain was underway. All because  Imogen Howe took that exit off the highway.

She didn't know this yet though. The phone call that came was just like any phone call. In fact she missed it because she was asleep. Only saw it...

It was a cold day according to the internet. But Dale didn't know because he was in a windowless, temperature controlled room. He wondered how nice it would be to be out there in the snow. Feeling it melt against his nose. But instead he was under the florescent lights....

Because she coudln't find any info on  Spacecity , she wrote about it in her  notebook . Simple statements like "Spacecity... what is it. What do people do up there. Did people really live up in space for that long?"

That's what  Imogen Howe did when she couldn't find information to...

She walked up to the door and was about to knock. But her hand didn't move. Instead she placed her ear against the wood and listened.

Nobody was home. There was light. And motion. But she could tell the motion was artificial. Like  Home Alone where the kid rigged up different...

Alan could keep the cafe running while she was gone. He'd know how to run the place for at least a few weeks. So she didn't need to get back anytime soon.

But she would need to withdraw cash before alan locked the account. She didn't expect him to do that....