Suddenly he remembered a the black clad figure that had reached toward his head right before he had passed out.
"OH SHIT!!" He jumped up, and pressed his head with his fingers. It hurt like hell, but there didn't seem to be any recent wounds or scars in it that would indicated that a sphere had been removed, or inserted while he was unconcious. But how could he be sure? The Tall Man obviously had technology far in advance of what was currently in use on Earth. Reggie thought for a moment, and took a small folding knife out of his pocket. He opened the smallest blade, drew it across the tip of one finger, and gazed anxiously at the blood welling out
Thankfully, it was red.
"Okay," Reggie sighed. "I think I'm all right. Now all I got to do is get Mike away from that tall bastard, and then maybe things will work out."
He hoped. The fact was he had no idea if he could save Mike, even if he could get the sphere away from the Tall Man. But he had to try. After all, he was Mike's only friend and only hope. The pain in Reggie's head was finally subsiding, and he took in his surroundings. In front of him was nothing but brick red sand and blood red sky. There were no footprints or other clues to indicate which way the Tall Man had gone. Disappointed Reggie turned around, and was confronted by one of the last sights he had ever expected to see in a place like this.
Stretching from right to left, as far as his eyes could see were a row of chalkboards suspended between the twin silver columns of innumerable dimensional forks. Every one of them was covered with a combination of numbers and cryptic symbols that were meaningless to him. That is, every one except the one currently directly in front of him. The writing on that one was very simple indeed:
THIS WAY ------->
Reggie gazed at the sign for five long minutes. Finally he shrugged and began to walk.