<strong>Background</strong><br/><br/>The world is our present day world. Only something started happening a few weeks ago. It first made public attention with news reports from physicists around the world reporting all kinds of screwy results. One of the most repeated factoids was that the speed of light, long taken to be a universal constant was changing. Laboratories from around the world reported different results as more and more of them chimed in. For the most part the world went on. It was a topic of conversation, but not as important as the economy, the war in Iraq, the upcoming election or the latest celebrity gossip.<br/><br/>That changed yesterday. Suddenly pieces of the world started vanishing and being replaced by other pieces. Whole chunks of developed land disappeared to be replaced by forest, or jungle or ice. It started off as unclear rumors from distant parts of the globe, but yesterday it grew more and more common, spreading to every continent.  It also became clear *what* was happening. Pieces of NOW were disappearing from the world to be replaced with pieces of somewhen else. The affected areas ranged in size from a city block to square miles. A slice of Jurassic jungle appeared in Louisana. A modern city in Japan vanished to be replaced by a samurai era village. An ancient forest that had never seen the axe appeared within a few miles of London.  The news stations went into a frenzy as more and more incidents happened.  A lost company of civil war troops appeared outside Richmond , a devastated and radioactive plain appeared in China, a band of conquistadors in Panama, a half-mile wide flying saucer floating over Rome.<br/><br/>As if that wasn't bad enough, the world was quickly going to hell. News reports claimed riots were breaking out in major cities throughout the world.  There was been a run on gas stations, gun shops and grocery stores.  The president declared a national state of emergency.  The FAA grounded all flights...<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://dltqga.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pJb1NqJMLe6gBF70qnpiAuXaiVZYdDBU3_mGqZjoLWSy_WWXTmY2pAkclpRIfcjLbwtcqgEYASVfUTlQsBhQWrBTNAA6aUdt3/adam1.jpg?psid=1)</div><strong>Last Taxi from Dallas</strong><br/><br/>Adam Knight knew the world was going to hell. He has been glued to the radio just like everyone else.  However, he has bills to pay.  The government and the media had a theory about things being swapped between times, but nobody knew why this was happening, when (or even if) it would stop, and more importantly where it would strike next.  Adam simply decided that he was just as likely to vanish or run into a dinosaur in his home as he was out on the streets. So there wasn't any point to cower behind locked doors. He was out busting his ass, driving his taxi. Maybe the world was ending, but maybe it would all go away as mysteriously as it came. If it did and things went back to normal - then this was a chance to make more in a day than he usually did in months.  He looked at it as hedging his bets.  He took some precautions.  He had a baseball bat beside him in the driver's seat.  He'd put shotgun in the trunk with a full box of ammo and some emergency supplies - just in case.  So far the morning had been good to him.  Now he pulled into the taxi stand at DFW airport ready to make another fistfull of money.<br/><br/>He parked the cab an jumped out.  The crowd was looking even uglier than before.  The windows of his taxi were rolled  He left the bat in the taxi and his fingers itched.  He could reach down and grab it if needed.  This wasn't a riot, but it looked like it could turn into one at any time.  There weren't any neat lines.  He stepped out and gave his best badass look to the crowd.<br/><br/>"Listen up! I've got room for three passengers into the city. One hundred dollars each. Cash only. Nonnegotiable. Women and families first."<br/><br/>Adam was a well built man, a little rough around the edges, in need of a haircut and a shave, but he looked like he means business and when he barked the crowd doesn't question. He asked for women and families because they had no business in this mess and they would be less trouble.