Chapter 2: The Journey

They say no two trips down The Highway are ever the same. I don't know how true that is, except that my trip didn't resemble any of the other accounts I'd read about.

Most people report that trips cover a number of miles of actual distance, and that its not uncommon to travel alone for long stretches. Some only see small groups of other travelers. This makes sense, given how sparsely traversed Earth's segment is much of the time. For a good part of my journey, however, I seemed to have connected onto a superhighway.

I quickly encountered eight full lanes of traffic going each direction. My map guided me towards the outside where the slower traffic moved, though even on foot I was faster than many travelers. The inside lanes in both directions often rumbled and shook from huge wheeled and tracked vehicles, some seemingly the size of buildings that even the outer lanes had to get out of the way of. Between me and the inner lanes sometimes marched entire armies. Everything from ultra-modern Buck Rogers types to some looking to have come straight out of ancient Rome. Overhead flew an amazing variety of craft.

This much traffic caused quite a commotion at some of the portals that line the ends of each segment, where each group jockeys to pass through the proper waypoint. Somehow though, this dance all works and everyone seems to make the connection they need.

Along the way I saw fascinating places where I would have loved to stop and visit. One place was filled with waterfalls that fell upwards, accelerating their way into the sky. Another was a fantasy of islands floating in the sky with people of some sort flying between them. It reminded me of an old movie I had once liked — mostly for its soundtrack by Queen — and a video game I really enjoyed. I walked through a world that was pitch black, with hanging lights and fireworks as far as the eye could see in every direction. In another one, a huge vortex rotated slowly in the sky while spaceships and saucers darted through it.

But my map was a harsh taskmaster. It left me little time for sightseeing. And if I wanted to make my final destination I had to follow it exactly. The Highway does not tolerate fools well.

Segment twenty-seven was one of the most fascinating and attractive things I'd seen. In a sudden lull in the traffic I stepped out onto the thick loom of a forest. The sky said early evening, and gave the impression that it was always early evening here. Spaced, thick-trunked trees each rose fifteen feet before spreading out a lush, broad canopy of dark green leaves. Myriad tiny colored lights directed their illumination downwards. For once the path was not straight, but wandered side-to-side around the trees.