(no subject)

[gone_byebye]

The door opens, as it generally does, onto a grey and dingy alley in Manhattan in mid-September. Ray glances up at the sky, then says, "Hang on a second." A few moments later he trots back from the street. "Okay. Had to check the paper- once in a while the door puts me out in the wrong universe, but this is definitely mine."

The newspaper in his hands has a headline involving someone called 'Super Dave', but the paper is folded in half, so it's hard to say what else it's talking about.

Comments

[vance_prime]

"...that would have been good information to know before I agreed to come visit."

Barely thirty seconds in and already Alyx is having misgivings about this trip.

[gone_byebye]

"I wouldn't have let you come through the door if this were any universe other than my own," Ray says. "Come on, it's this way."

The area is relatively quiet today, with the odd car or two whizzing down the street to the left. There's a subway station across the street marked 'Exit Only', a few parked cars, and a brief whiff of horse when the wind blows from the west. Ray's brought the occasional low-tech-world Milliways patron to his New York, and while Alyx is from a high tech Earth, he's aware that her world's a lot different; therefore, he's going to wait for her reaction to the scene before turning to the Firehouse itself.

OOC: Images of the area around the firehouse can be seen here. Memorial Plaque 2 does not exist in Ray's world, but the rest of what's in the pictures should be taken as accurate.

[vance_prime]

It's been at least sixteen years since Alyx last saw an intact human city. Ray's little corner of New York City may be quiet today, but it's still a thousand times more whole and vibrant and alive than anything on her Earth.

"Oh my God," she breathes as she takes it all in.

[gone_byebye]

"Take your time," Ray says gently. "New York City can be a little overwhelming even to visitors from elsewhere in the area, let alone people from other worlds entirely."

[vance_prime]

"It... is this real?"

[gone_byebye]

"One hundred per cent," says Ray, "although I wouldn't put too much stock in anything the advertising posters might claim, or the billboards. But the rest of it? Yeah."

[vance_prime]

Alyx stands at the entrance to the alley, transfixed. The streets and buildings are clean, whole, and well-maintained. There's a woman and her child (her child!) walking casually down the street on the next block. There's no CPs on the corner, no Striders looming over the buildings, no sign of alien presence anywhere.

This is what my world used to be, she thinks. This is what we're fighting to bring back.

If she saw nothing else today, that would be enough.

There are tears welling up in her eyes when she turns back to Ray. "Thank you so much," she says with total sincerity.

[gone_byebye]

"You're welcome," Ray says quietly. A little louder he adds, "I can show you some more of the city if you like- well, we can. Ecto loves to show people around Manhattan when they come to visit."

[vance_prime]

She smiles through her tears. "I'd like that."

[gone_byebye]

"All right. Hang on." He sticks two fingers in his mouth and whistles. "Ecto? C'mon out, would you? There's somebody I'd like you to meet."

The Firehouse doors slide open, and a white-and-red former hearse loaded down with a truly amazing amount of electronic equipment rolls out onto the sidewalk. "Hi, Dad," says the synthesized voice of a late teenager.

Ray smiles. "Alyx, I'd like you to meet my daughter, Ecto. Ecto, this is Alyx Vance."

"Hiya, Miss Vance," the car says obediently. "Nice to meet you."

[vance_prime]

"Um, just 'Alyx' is fine," says Alyx after a moment of surprised blinking. She was expecting a robot.

[gone_byebye]

Ray just smiles. "You can stand up if you want to," he notes to the car.

"Are you sure, Dad?"

"I'm sure."

"Okay." And a series of electronic alarms and chattering noises rings out as metal slides over metal and reconfigures itself into the form Alyx saw in the family photograph. "Thanks."

[vance_prime]

Alyx is even more surprised now, but this surprise is of the 'that is TOTALLY AWESOME' variety.

"Your dad didn't tell me you could do that," she says, obviously impressed.

[gone_byebye]

"He never does. He says he forgets, but I think he just likes surprising people," Ecto says. Her smile, of necessity, is a relatively small thing, but it's evident in her voice.

"Ecto's robot mode is the result of some upgrades made by one of the Bar's Cybertronian patrons," Ray notes with a pleased grin. "Ratchet was going to give her a pair of retractable arms, so she could manipulate objects, but after an initial survey he went ahead and did a full conversion."

"It comes in really handy sometimes," Ecto notes, "but I don't use the bot mode too often. People kinda stare."

[vance_prime]

"I bet it comes in handy, though."

Alyx still remembers how ecstatic D0G had been when he got opposable thumbs for the first time.

[gone_byebye]

"Oh yeah. I saved Dad's butt the first time I transformed," Ecto says with some satisfaction. "That reminds me, Dad. Rutgers called. They want you to come and check out the aurochs herd."

"Maybe later this week," Ray says. "Alyx wanted to meet you, and then I thought maybe we could show her a little of Manhattan."

"Okay!"

[vance_prime]

"I have a fair amount of interest in robotics," Alyx explains. "And there's no Manhattan in my world anymore."

[gone_byebye]

"Eeew," says Ecto, crouching down and getting one foot out behind her so as to reach a level closer to the humans' eyes. (There are people on the other side of the street staring, but a fair number just shake their head and keep moving- this is, after all, Ghostbusters headquarters and they have just occasionally seen stranger.) "What happened to it?"

"Alien invasion," Ray supplies. "An especially nasty one."

"Oh, jeez, I'm sorry," says Ecto. "Then we're definitely gonna have to show you the good stuff. Down by the river and up in Central Park, and you really wanna see the north end of the island, Spuyten Duyvil's a fantastic view from this side of the river. And the bridges-"

There's a rumbling noise of engines in the sky overhead. Ray glances up at the shadow traffic helicopter, then shrugs it off as he returns to the conversation. "One step at a time, kiddo. Would you mind answering some of Alyx's questions first?"

"Oh. Okay. Sure."

[vance_prime]

At the sound of the helicopter, Alyx tenses and her hand automatically goes to her pistol. "What was that??"

[gone_byebye]

Ecto cocks her head to one side a moment. "Transponder says it was the WCBS traffic helicopter," she reports. "We're gonna want to avoid the Holland Tunnel today."

"I take it back home helicopters are usually bad mojo?" Ray asks, as he's not entirely oblivious.

[vance_prime]

"Very." She relaxes a little, but her hand is still resting on her pistol's grip.

[gone_byebye]

"They're kinda common around here," says Ecto apologetically. "They're the fastest way to get from the airports to the financial district, and most of the big hospitals have helicopter landing facilities on the rooftops so they can bring in emergency patients without having to go through traffic."

[vance_prime]

Most of those words don't mean a whole heck of a lot to Alyx.

"So they're... not going to be dropping bombs on us?" she says in a 'just so we're clear on this' tone.

[gone_byebye]

Both the human and the robot give Alyx the o__O look.

"Nooooo," says Ecto. "No bombs."

"There isn't an Army or Air Force base for miles," Ray adds. "They'd be the only ones who even have bombs to drop to start with- and we haven't had actual warfare on the American mainland since before flight was invented."

"There was that Japanese balloon bomb in the forties, Dad."

"That doesn't count. It's not a real bombing if nobody notices but the crew that shows up to put out the forest fire."

[vance_prime]

"...well, okay."

She doesn't look entirely convinced, but at least she doesn't have her hand on the gun anymore.