A strange, sharp, juddery sensation shot up Jamie’s arm as he turned the key in the final lock on the front door of his flat.

That day, he had been on a day trip out toward the west coast with a pal. A sunny and calm day had been a rarity of late so they had made the most of this one. After stopping for a picnic on the shore of a glassy Loch Fyne they had driven south for a walk at the southern tip of the land where the loch opened out into the Firth of Clyde, the water stretching off into the distance to the open sea. No surprise, the route they took turned out to be muddy and difficult despite the heat of the day. The rainfall of the previous weeks had a habit of lingering around these parts.

The far point of their hike had been at a menhir, or standing stone, (https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=445) that Jamie had passed a few times in the past. After taking in the view he had, as he always did in places like this before leaving, gently placed a hand on the surface of the stone. This time, however, he had felt a sharp pain shoot from his hand. Immediately he had rationalised it as some sharp edge of rock stabbing into him in some peculiar manner. That had satisfied him for most of the walk back to the car… but the sensations hadn’t gone away all afternoon.

Tiredly, he threw his jacket onto his bed, he planned to hang it up later, and plumped down into his desk chair. He sighed. It had been good to get out of the city for a day but it had also been tiring. “Huh.” His finger had instinctively reached down and pressed the power button on his computer but it had failed to whir to life. “Pfffffff.” The white chair rolled backwards, conserving momentum as he pushed himself forward onto his knees on the floor. A slight crawl forwards brought him face to face with the extension lead full up with plugs serving each of his various devices. The PC’s plug looked fine so he turned to where the cable entered the computer’s power supply. The lead was loose… he had probably caught it on his foot as he was leaving and yanked it out. “Alrighty.” Talking to himself was pretty typical when it came to faffing around with things like this. He reached out and made contact with the cable but as he did so the sensation in his arm flaired up far stronger than it had before and a sudden blue glow took over his vision, its source totally illusive. “Ahhh!” He clutched at his arm and straighened up, smacking his head on the underside of the desk.

Jamie was unconscious but rather than lying on his own rough blue carpet he was prone on the sharp, perfect flooring of the bridge of a 24th century Federation starship.

-Jamie