Like Landing on the Moon for the First Time

Max suffered from disorientation, but he was used to it. His head felt like thousands of houseflies were crawling around in his brain. The wave had hit him hard this time around, and he could never shake that sensation. He thought that after all the shifts he'd gone through that he would have developed some sort of immunity to it, but he was wrong.

He lifted his head to try to find out where he was. To get a bearing on where he was and if he was in immediate danger.

"Okay fellow," a male voice asked. "Where and the hell did you just come from?"

"Long story," Max said as he sat up, still feeling the dizzying effects of the shift. "Where am I?"

"Well, we've got a long time," a female voice chimed in; she had a high cockney accent. "You better start talking the talk mister, or you'll be going to another place really soon."

"And fellow, you ain't going nowhere until we get answers," another male voice said, with a hint of a Texas drawl in it.

Max looked around and he noticed the group surrounding him. They were all standing in a living room. A blonde girl was looking at him warily. Across the room an older woman was staring at him with her hands on her hips and a cold look in her eyes. The first fellow who had spoken stood nearby holding a small object in his hands, keeping it pointed at Max. And the old fellow with the Texas drawl knelt beside him, patting him down.

"If I were you buddy, I'd start talking," the blonde said to Max.

"I wonder if he's a shifter?" the Texan asked another. "Like us, traveling the infinities."

Max's attention turned to the Texan.

"It's possible," the other fellow said.