The Centrality (6-21-17)

Elli's eyes were instinctively drawn to the fountain. Something about it was sending up signals in her memory, but...

It was no good. She couldn't remember.

She dipped her fingers in the water. It was pleasantly cold, and she could see a few old coins lying at the bottom. They weren't any denomination that she had ever seen before.

As Elli watched the water gently bubble from the fountain, she realized that she was a lot thirstier than she thought. She briefly considered leaning in to take a drink.

Someone nearby cleared their throat.



Elli was not proud of the scream that escaped her. She had honestly thought the guy was a statue.

"Greetings, friend," the guy said, tipping his hat to her.

Elli had the urge to tip her hat back. This proved difficult, as she was not wearing a hat. "Um... hello," she eventually said. Dozens of questions fought to be the first one out of her mouth, and so as a result all she managed to say was "Who...?"

"There'll be time later for introductions, friend," he said. "For now, though, I want to give you this."

He pressed something cool and rectangular into her hand.



Elli stared at it. It had a large screen on the front, and it was slightly curved, fitting the contours of her hand. As she looked it over, it lit up.

"I must be going for now, friend," the man said. "Before you can do anything with that, you need to choose a username. Once you do that, you can also use it to figure out where you ought to be headed."

Before Elli could say anything else, he disappeared. She kept an eye on where he had been standing for a moment, but when he failed to reappear, she looked down at the screen.



There was a list of contacts, with a place for Elli to enter her own username. None of the contacts already on the device sounded familiar in any way.



There was an inbox, presumably so others could contact her. There were no messages there yet, though.



There was a list of locations. When Elli tapped one of them, it displayed a map of how to get there - so, she inferred, she could easily travel to any location listed there.



Finally, there was a tab just labeled "Tasks." Elli guessed that she could use it as a planner or something.

Elli stopped and closed her eyes. She still didn't have any idea where she was, and now there was this cryptic guy handing her a device and disappearing. She wasn't any closer to answers.