Eric, Justin, and Michael arrived at the Ark a few minutes later. News choppers were flying overhead, and Eric looked up with mild annoyance. "That didn’t take long." He murmured. There was also a crowd of civilians that were attempting to approach the Ark. Eric and Michael ignored the crowd and pushed towards the Ark. Jessica was standing there, her arms crossed as she glared at the trio.

"Hello, father. Check your phone lately?" She hissed, her eyes dark with anger. "I see you are alive and well. It would have been nice to know that a few hours ago."

Michael and Justin tried to escape the lashing, but Jessica grabbed both of them by their ears. "Oh No, you two aren’t going anywhere either. Erica is worried sick, Justin. So is Ayeolla, Michael!"

The three men took a few minutes to call their significant others. After a thorough lashing from their partners, and many promises not to do it again, it was time to get back to business.

Eric called Milano.

"Sir, radio’s aren’t working, and the Blue Force tracker isn’t showing any 6-8 units in the area."

Eric swore he heard Milano sigh. "While you, Justin, and Michael were frolicking about in Tuscaloosa and not answering any calls, we tried to figure out what happened. Scientists from Austin and Riemskin guessed that instead of the two world’s merging i.e. everything from earth joining, it is more like they were combined."

Eric stared blankly at the Blue Force Tracker. "So borders are useless now?"

"Pretty much. Maps, GPS, and all forms of satellite navigation can likely only take you so far regionally. It will take a few days at least to figure things out and get our bearings. For now, do the best you can to get back here. Government Travel Card use is authorized."

Eric turned around. Michael, Jessica, and Justin were all browsing their phones. "Alright, pay attention." He clapped his hands, and they put their phones away.

"As you all know, we are in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. From what we can gather, Earth and Brishan didn’t just simply merge. The two world’s became one."

Jessica blinked. She tilted her hair and pointed her index finger at her lip. "What does that mean though? Is there a difference?"

Eric shrugged. "I think that if they had merged, Earth geography would be seperate from Brishan’s geography. I ain’t a scientist though, so this is a guess. With combining, the two worlds essentially became meshed together. Think about what happens when you throw a bunch of things together in a blender. I think that is what happened here. Instead of the two worlds having their boundaries and borders seperated by walls, they were thrown together."

Jessica tapped her fingers against her chin. "So what does that mean for us?"

Eric sighed. "It means it could take a few hours to get home, or a few weeks."

They stared at Eric, eyes wide.

Michael groaned, slamming his head against the headrest of his seat. "Fuck."

"Alright, go ahead and tell the soldiers in the other vehicle that we will move out in a few minutes. I am going to try to figure out a way home."

After Jessica returned, she saw Eric and Michael leaning over Eric’s phone. Both men were muttering like they were in a webnovel about summoning ancient beasts. "What are you doing?" She said while leaning forward.

She saw it too. Every few minutes, the map on the phone was changing. As Eric pulled the refesh button, it looked like Alabama had been turned longways.

They all looked at the image with their heads tilted in confusion.

"Now that, I don’t understand." Eric murmured.

He pulled the refresh button again, and half of the US dissapeared.

"Yeah, sarge? I think the map will be useless."

Eric growled at Justin. "Call me that again, and you’ll low crawl all the way back home."

Justin shut his mouth, and Eric stared at the Blue Force tracker.

"Alright, I think I got it. This will not be easy though."

He called Milano. "Sir, I think I am nearly five hundred miles away. It seems the merge has cut off some of the land from Earth."

There was a pause on the other end, and Eric heard Milano sit down with a weary sigh. "Of course, because nothing in this world can ever be normal. I digress. Satellite communications should be back up within a day or so. I will let you know when we have them back up so that you can use the Blue Force Tracker easier. For now, just stay in Tuscaloosa. I know you want to come back immediately, but that is not feasible right now."

Eric tried to argue. "Sir-"

"That’s an order, Master Sergeant. I know I told you before to use any means necessary to come back, but that is no longer the right order. You will stay until we have SATCON up, do you understand?"

Eric slumped against his chair. "Yes sir."

It took communications systems a week to be set up. At first, Eric thought it had worked when the Blue Force Tracker showed 6-8 locations, but after talking with Milano, they both realized the map data was wrong. The map apps on phones were even worse. The states and countries were no longer moving or jumping to random places, but Eric had been getting lost every time he used the app to get anywhere in Tuscaloosa. He had been meeting with the Colonel from Fort Rucker daily at this point, keeping the Colonel up to date on their progress with getting Satellite communications up.

Eric sat on his bed, calling Mia. Over the last week, they had been video calling every day. The connection was getting stronger daily, with their call last night having nearly no buffer. He sighed as he waited for Mia to answer. "I’m video calling a cat girl in a fantasy world." He muttered as he stared at the loading screen. "Who would have thought that I would be in an anime world before I turned thirty."

Mia picked up, and his night ended with him getting to see Liara walking.