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I checked my watch before making the descent. I still had a half hour
to go until my shift started. Easily enough time to check out my find and make it back out before anyone else arrived.
I eased my way down the staircase, found a light switch, and then spotted an identical stairway in front of me
that I could clearly see rose up behind the wall. Eureka, I had found my entryway! And I was immediately overcome
with the smell of coffee beans. Perhaps this was nothing more than a storage facility.
Perhaps not.
I climbed up and into the room behind the wall. It was small, but incredibly packed. In the center of the room
was a surveillance counter with several small screens, which showed nothing but the storefront and backroom. To
the left of this were about a dozen bags of coffee beans (hence the smell), and to the right were three large drums
with strange markings on them. I couldn't yet put my finger on it, but something wasn't right.
I noticed numerous scrolls of paper in a canister beneath the video monitors and proceeded to open them, one by
one. Each one was a star map with two initials written on the top; each was clearly a different location within
the Centaurus A galaxy. One map was identical to the Bay Area map of locations I had previously seen. The others
were similar, but clearly represented other cities throughout the world. A map, that represented the center of
the galaxy, had S.W. written on top. It only took me a second to figure that one out: Seattle, Washington. Headquarters.
Or was it home base for a group of star travelers? Perhaps Star Bucks. I knew that the top three executives were
all men, after all. The pieces were fitting together. But why coffee? And why here? They had come along way from
their own galaxy, if such was the case. (An awfully long distance just to make crappy coffee.)
I didn't have long to ponder that, though. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed on the screen that there were
people approaching the front door: the manager and a man I didn't recognize. My heart leapt to my throat. What
was I to do? There was nowhere to hide. That's when I spotted the knob on the console. It was identical to the
one I had found embedded in the floor. With a quick prayer to the almighty, I turned it. Thankfully, the stairs
on the other side rose again to their original position, just before the men entered the store. Safe. At least
for the time being. Though I was, after all, still trapped.
I watched the men on the screens. Fortunatley, they were audio and visual monitors. I could easily make out every
word. Nothing out of the ordinary, until…
"When do our brothers arrive with the replacement drums?" asked my manager.
"Two days," answered the other man.
"Same shipment as usual?"
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