[StLee]

Tommy wasn't the only one. I met people. Many people. All with pasts very different than my own. Some of the people were even more peculiar because they did not claim to be from the past. Granted, the past people were interesting, like the woman pilot who claimed to be the first of her kind. And the author Bierce. He had interesting stories to tell. I even met a president's daughter named Theodosia, or "Theo," for short.

However, the more peculiar people were those who claimed to be from the future. Indeed, the "Future" doors took me to those people. There was the laser gun designer, the aeronautics engineer, the American-born captain in the Chinese army, the eloquent mutant, the Vault-Tec assistant CEO, the vault dweller. At the time, these people were science fiction characters come to life, and for them, I was just as peculiar as any other. None of them, neither past nor present, had the Shadow Man as a companion.

Then there was the "Present" door. After I had exhausted all of the other doors, I opened that one. The flash again engulfed me, and I woke up on a beach. It was shortly after sunrise, and there was no one else around me. I looked around to gain my bearings. San Diego? No, the sun was rising over the water. Atlantic Coast? In the distance I could see buildings, so I walked towards them. What was this language? Where was I? I had a hotel key and a business card in my pocket. My clothes had returned.

I discovered through a series of questions and puzzled looks that I was in a place called Busan, South Korea. No one knew exactly where the hotel was, but one enterprising soul used his cellphone to call the hotel. I was then led to the correct place and entered the room. Inside the room, I had stashes of traveling gear, cash, maps, and a travel plan. It was like I had been busy, but I had no memory of anything but being on that...alien ship.