|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- THE DARK OF COLLEGE--CUP 8--"VOUCHERS" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  The Dark of College  ||  -------> (Cup SRdc008, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Soon, the two were sitting at a desk in a mall travel agent's office. Yark had also made himself look older, but he looked miserable. The travel agent, a middle-aged woman, sat down across from them." "Okay," she said. "It's all taken care of. You guys are lucky--the last bus to the airport is leaving in twenty minutes. Otherwise, you'd have to pay for a cab, and you know how expensive that is these days." "Uh-huh," Couch said, nodding. "Here's your tickets," the woman said. "They're just vouchers, so you'll have to pay for them at the airline counter at the airport. Okay?" "Cool," Couch said. They got up and walked back into the mall, where they were met by Joel Floster, who took a few seconds to recognize them. Then he laughed. "Hey guys," he said. "Wow. I guess Yim Klocks really set you guys up. I mean, he really gave you something good. Wow." Couch made his dagger come back and said "These." "Cool," Joel said as Couch made the dagger disappear. "Anyway, I just wanted to welcome you two to the ranks of the powerful, and tell you that the hovercraft is back at your uncle's house, as if nothing ever happened to it. Yark, I called your father in your voice and told him you were staying over at Couch's place, his uncle's place, whatever. He won't try to call you there." "What did you go and do that for?" Yark said angrily. Joel put his hand on Yark's shoulder, but Yark jerked away. "Hey man, come on," Joel said. "I'm steeped in your plans. This whole episode is so blooming and so ripe. All involved are fully aware. I'm on your side, man." Couch snickered and said "He thinks it's all a dream." Joel nodded and said "Yeah, that's pretty common." "WHAT'S pretty common?" Yark demanded. "When this sort of thing happen, you know." Joel said. The three were silent for a few moments. "Oh," Joel then said. "Casino at Hacta Home, good choice. It spans five realities. I mean, it exists in five places at once. You gotta check out one of the other ones--if you see a girl you like, and she likes you, you just go into this room--they got them everywhere, like bathrooms--and you can screw around as much as you want. That's about the most interesting thing. Oh, and you know the Hacta Home record label? They publish in each of the five worlds, choosing from the best of what the four other worlds have to offer. I was there once, and I had a contact who got me inside, to the part where they all know about everything." "Can we get in?" Couch asked. Joel smiled, shook his head, and motioned toward Couch's hand. "Dear, with those daggers, they'll be draggin' you in kicking and screaming. I wouldn't worry about anything." "Okay hold on," Yark said. "You say you have all these powers and everything, so why would you need some conventional electronic security system?" Joel got a little serious as he said "Okay Yark, I'm going to tell you something now that you should really take to heart, okay? You--" he pointed to Yark, "--me--" he pointed to himself, "we are human. Human beings. These powers we have have access to? These are fun. Dizzying even, get drunk with power. But your humanity will only stretch so far. You gotta be real careful, otherwise you'll wake one day and you'll be a monster--no longer human. You have to limit the powerful stuff, okay friend? You gotta do it and then lay off for awhile--like months or years. Someone told me the same thing once, and I took her seriously. That's why I've been handling it all so well." "Who even said I wanted to get into all this?" Yark asked. "You're in it," Joel said. "Oh, by the way, is that storefront still there, the one the Hand made for you?" "I don't know," said Couch. "Take me to where it was, I want to see it." So Couch and Yark led Joel to the storefront, which was still there, exactly as they had left it, still reading "Vartoon & Fathgocken's Girl Paradise". "Very interesting," Joel said. "Shall we go in?" "I don't know," Couch said. "We traded that Klocks guy the store thing here for the daggers. I don't ever want to go in there again, and even if I did, I don't think we should." "No problem," Joel said. "Mind if I check it out?" "Well since we aren't involved in it anymore," Couch said, "I don't think we can hold you back either way, going in or not going in." "Your names are still on it," Joel said, pointing up at the sign. "Whatever," Couch said in an annoyed manner. "I think I'll check it out," Joel said, and he stepped into the store and was soon out of sight. "Dude, we gotta go get that bus," Yark said. "Yeah man! I wanna go to that world where you can make out with girls whenever you want!" They started walking. "Yeah, but don't forget what Joel said." "About power and stuff? Joel is an idiot. Hopefully we won't have to deal with him anymore," Couch said. "Yeah." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----