|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- FOREMAN ITTENER PIER--CUP 5--"EYESIGHT" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Foreman Ittener Pier  ||  -------> (Cup SRfi005, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "Whatcha doin'?" Hilltop asked. "I was just thinking--our problem isn't that we're going too slow to get anywhere--it's that we're going too fast!" "Huh?" she said skeptically. "I don't know. Just let me try it out." I said, as I slowed the Waver down and descended toward the shore. Soon we were skimming the beach, and slowing to the point where we were hardly moving at all. Nothing changed, though. "Okay. Guess we may as well land." I said. "Uh-huh." So I did that, I landed, and we sat there for a few seconds, looking around. "Look any different to ya, Hilltop?" "Not really--uh--no wait Ferrajalt, what's that in the distance?" she said, pointing. I looked, and faintly saw something--some sort of structure of something, far up the beach, something going out into the sea. Damn good eyesight on that girl. "So we would have gotten to it if we kept going a little further?" she said with a little snicker. "I don't think so." I said. "I think the only reason we're with it is because I stopped." "Okay..." "Look Hilltop--just trust me on this." "Fine by me. So whatta we do now--walk?" "Uh--no. I think that if we go slow enough, and you keep your eyes peeled on that thing, we should be able to get there in the Waver." I eased forward on the throttle, and we began to move slowly forward--I tried to match the speed of walking, or maybe a little faster than that. The thing in the distance stayed in existence. So I sped up a little, and it was still there--I began to wonder if Hilltop might have been right--that I stopped just short of it--whatever IT might be. "Boy, let me tell you. I don't know what we're gonna find up there." Hilltop said softly. "But I'm with you--I'd rather go it alone than be with the onerous 45. Or rather, 43, minus you'n'me." "You know it." I said, speeding up ever so slightly. We were starting to get into range where we could just make out the thing ahead of us. It was definitely a pier of some sort, big, with a bunch of buildings on it. There wasn't anything inland from it, as far as I could see, though. Just the pier. Hmm. "So Hilltop." I said, seeking to change the subject to ease my apprehension. "I read in the newsletter that you were recruited only about six months ago." "That's right. Not even a yearling yet." "So what did you think of Overwhelm--before all this reality collapse crap happened, that is." "Oh, I liked it. A whole bunch. I didn't take too kindly to people who let power go to their head--namely Captain Quids--but I can handle it. Folks pull that junk with me, it's just, 'fine, whatever you want, any way you want it'--lull'em into a false sense of security, y'know? Then--and it always happens--you get'em by the--excuse the term--by the balls, and then you can freak on 'em but good and they can't do nuthin' to ya. I love that." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----