|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- BILLION'S DRIFTING--CUP 9--"LITTLE ROBOTS" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Billion's Drifting  ||  -------> (Cup SRbd009, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Walking along the top of a snowbank in a parking lot... I'm so small and awkward... ambling along with difficulty... giant shopping center... shopping center... This drifting... is killing me... the frightening thought... the thought that there's no way out... that I'll be drifting forever... Back in that conference room... listening to that speaker... his putrid words... I didn't have the state of mind to get up and run away... to tell someone of my plight... I just didn't think of it. The wonderful suburban reprise... summer days, like cherished memories... why couldn't it have lasted longer... I would have liked it there. Then I heard a faint burst of beeps and clicks... a weird, bird-chirpy kind of noise... but I understood it... I understood it perfectly... "Is that you, Bellicose Billion?" I clumsily bobbled myself around and peered over the expanse of the enormous empty parking lot--and on a distant snowbank, I saw three little... I don't know what they were... they looked like little robots or something... their bodies were spheres, covered with colorful patterns, and they had tubular arms and legs--flexible, kind of like springs. They were waving at me. I attempted to answer, and my words came out as the same sort of clicking and beeping--"Who is it that is there?" I could hear the three little things conversing among themselves, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. A strong wind whipped up and I lost my balance, falling onto my side. Yeah, judging from the way I fell, I was a little spherical robot just the others. This drifting... I laughed to myself... if I ever get out of it, it would sure be a great thing to write down... what a book it would make. I struggled to right myself, kicking snow and ice down the side of the snowbank, panicking when it seemed I might fall down. But I managed to get standing again. This little mechanical body... it felt so weird... One of the others beeped and clicked again--"My name is Agatha Petunia Wack. I am here with Daptin Gone and Prince Ferrajalt." Then another one "spoke"--in a deeper "voice". "Bellicose--it's me--Daptin Gone. I heard your call for help." I responded. "If this is for real, you don't know how grateful I am." "I can imagine." Daptin replied. There was a silence as we regarded each other, and the wind whipped up again. This time, I lost my footing totally, and tumbled head over heels down the snowbank. The world around me was spinning so fast--NO!--don't let me perish, so close to the rescue. Once I reached bottom, I was upside-down in the snow, facing the others, who looked upside-down from my perspective. The one which must have been Prince Ferrajalt let out a series of noises which could only have been a laugh. "Don't worry, we'll do the same and come to you." Agatha said, and I saw the three tumble down their snowbank. I have to admit it WAS pretty funny. But I didn't laugh. Soon, I managed to right myself again and saw that the three were trekking the considerable distance between our respective snowbanks. I also began walking, to meet them all the sooner. Then I heard a noise like thunder to my right, and I saw an enormous car go by, in another lane. So huge! The shopping center must have been farther away then I originally imagined... judging from the scale of things, I must have been only four or five inches tall. As I approached the three, I could make out the patterns on their surfaces. One was white with green pine-branches on it--had to be Daptin. Another was black and white, with gold trim--the color scheme of the Warhomes--that had to be Ferrajalt--I remembered that he wore the police uniform from the Warhomes most of the time. The third, which had to be this "Agatha" person, was a beautiful shade of blue with yellow squiggly lines all over it. "How did you find me?" I asked, still a good distance away. "A collaboration between me and Agatha." Daptin said. "I heard your cry for help, and Agatha facilitated our transport here... to wherever here is... any ideas?" "No." I said. "I just got here myself. I've been... drifting... through a series of crazy realities." "Yeah, I'd say this is a crazy reality." said Ferrajalt. I laughed--or at least made the closest sound to a laugh I was capable of in my transformed state. "Yes." I said. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----