|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- DEER EXPRESS--CUP 9--"LEMON" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Deer Express  ||  -------> (Cup SRde009, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Lemon woke up. The devil girl, remember? She opened her eyes and was hit full force with the ornate ceiling of the banquet hall of Stormbolthouse Leitmotif. "Yuck." she said, sitting up. Immediately, an extreme dizziness hit her. She grabbed her pitchfork, which was lying on the ground beside her, and muttered a simple spell, which relieved the disorientation a great deal. "What the..." She surveyed the scene--a room full of sleepers--just about the entire population of Daptin's Land, she mused. Standing up, she used her pitchfork for support and made a thought grimace. Okay, she thought, I remember flirting with that nice Wreckage Mallie--there he is, knocked out like the rest. She poked Mallie with the end of her weapon. "Hey there, kid--wake up!" Mallie rolled over and began snoring. "Hmph!" Lemon said in frustration. As she continued looking around, a smile came to her face. With everyone out for the count, she could snoop around this big spaceship! Heh heh heh. But was snooping good? When she rejected her infernal heritage, Lemon had to solemnly swear to always do good in her life. Wasn't sneaking around--well--nasty? Nah! The others were probably in trouble, and by exploring, she could be helping them out--maybe even saving their lives! So she carefully stepped over a number of dozing bodies and made for one of the exits. The hallway beyond seemed like some sort of central corridor. She followed it a ways, and then turned down a smaller hall. The way soon curved to the right and ended in a huge vaultlike door. She stared up at it. Really big. Made her look like a little yellow devil doll. So she tapped on it with her pitchfork. It felt solid. Real solid. Looking around and behind her, Lemon smiled a devious smile. A door no one should be able to go through. But she could. Her pitchfork could break down the gates of heaven and hell--for sure it could take on this pipsqueak. She uttered an arcane spell for the better part of a minute, and then gently touched the pitchfork to the door. The moment contact was made there was a shocklike pop, and the air rushed in to fill the little vacuum that grew around the now-mangled and ruined vault door. She surveyed her handicraft. The door was way gone. Blown apart. Huh. It'd been as thick through as it was high. Really musta wanted to keep people out, whoever put it there! So she stepped through the wreckage and into... Hmm... A big chamber, circular, white marble walls. And a thing floating in the middle--like the shape of a cut tree segment, a very wide, flat cylinder. Whatever. It was also made of the same white marble, and like the walls, was arranged with a number of flat panels. The hovering thing bulged at the top and bottom, like a lens--and when Lemon looked, she saw that the room did the same thing. Whatever was going on here, the room was custom fit to hold this thing. She walked around the room and saw that indeed, the thing was freefloating. There were no visible openings at all on it at all, but she got the impression that there was something inside. So she willed her pitchfork to lift her up, and she flew up, reaching out and touching the marble. The moment she did, the whole thing went transparent, and she saw what it contained--a plush, ornate couch in full circle, deep violet in color, facing inwards. That was it. The marble walls were still partially visible, and when she touched it, it was still solid. She floated around the whole thing, but no luck. Then she flew underneath it, and when she was centered underneath it, she felt a force tugging her upward. She eased on her own flight and let the force lift her. It did so gently, and then moved her over to one side, depositing her on the carpeted floor within. "Very weird." she said, delighted with the whole situation. A puzzle to solve. She loved puzzles. She looked around for a few moments, but nothing was happening, so she sat down on the couch. Immediately, things changed. It was like--the thing changed. No--it didn't change--she was in a whole different place. It had a couch like the thing she was in before, but it was a very different shade of purple, on the red side. And there was a lot of stuff going on here--a lot of brass piping and junk. And windows--looking out at... What? She got up, walked a little set of stairs out of the well the couch surrounded, and looked out. A sprawling city far below. Was she in some sort of flying vehicle now? Very weird. She turned around and scanned the area. That one window... no, it wasn't just tinted--there was something else outside that one window. And a chill ran up her spine. She slowly circled the couch area, staring at the odd window the whole time. Yeah, definitely. Something different out there. It was... A huge courtyard with a glass ceiling, very profound-looking. And a fountain in the middle, a wonderful fountain. And hovering above it were a bunch of letters, and they spelled... DEER EXPRESS -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----