|| -------- -- -----  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 7--"NO ENERGY" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Foreman Ittener Pier  ||  -------> (Cup SRfi007, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Foreman Ittener Pier was pretty depressing. Most of the amusement stands, restaurants, and arcades were closed. And the few that were open didn't have many customers. But there were people milling about. They didn't take much notice of us, even though we were dressed a lot differently than them. Hilltop in her dress and me in my Warhome police duds (a few others had also adopted the police uniform thing before, in Daptin's Land--even though some others complained that the last thing they wanted to see in that new world was police...) Yeah, the people here were dressed kind of drab. Men in brown business-type suit, women in nondescript brown dresses--that sort of thing. "So whattaya think, Ferrajalt?" Hilltop said. "I don't know." I said softly, as a big guy walked past us. "The question is--how did these people get onto the pier and how're they gonna get off?" "Good one." "What--good question?" "Yeah. That's what I meant." "Uh-huh. So look--there's nothing beyond the pier, so um--something's up. Something we don't know." "So why don't we just ask one of 'em?" "We can't just--" "--why not?" Hilltop said as she began to stride toward a stand with one of those big wheels you wager on to win crummy toys. "Hey..." I began, but figured she was right, and followed. Man, what a depressing place. Just such a dead feeling. No wind, muted sound, dead. No energy. "Scuse me, Ma'am." Hilltop said to a bored-looking woman behind the counter. "Wondrin' if'n I might ask you a question." "What is this--a quiz show?" the woman said in a detached manner, smoking a blue cigarette with blue smoke. "Um, no Ma'am. We were just wondrin' uh, you know how there's nothin' else around here except for the pier? What I mean is, no roads, no buildings, no boats, nothing. How did you all manage to get here?" The woman narrowed her eyes, looking from Hilltop to me and then back again. "What kind of question is that?" "Just look down that way, Ma'am." Hilltop said, pointing. "Y'can see there isn't nothing down there." The woman looked at us suspiciously again, and then craned to neck to look where Hilltop was pointing. "Yeah," the woman said, returning to her former position and taking a drag on the cigarette. "What's your point? And how did YOU two get here?" I moved forward. "Look," I said, "we're, uh, we're not from around here. We just walked down the beach, and climbed up onto the pier. We just, uh, thought it was, y'know, kind of strange there were no roads or anything, uh..." "You got a point?" the woman said. "Well, uh," I said, "just that, uh--just curiosity. Like you, uh, for example. How did you get here this morning?" "Drove." the woman said. Then she looked down and shook her head, confused. "I mean, I guess I did." Then she looked up at us and said "What time is it anyway?" I looked at my wrist, but there was no watch there. "I... don't know." I said slowly, a creepy feeling growing inside me. "Me neither." Hilltop said, backing up toward me. The woman looked at us, and then looked down again, shaking her head as if contemplating how stupid or unfortunate something was. "Thanks lady." Hilltop said, turning to face me. When her face was hidden from the woman, she silently mouthed something like "Let's get going.", and we did. "Weird, huh?" I said as we made out way toward the end of the pier, which seemed like the place to head. "You got that. She was totally lost." "Yeah." There was some activity over to our right, and we looked to see a family rejoicing and handing a big stuffed walrus to a little kid. But then, a second later, they vanished. We kept walking for a second. "You see that?" Hilltop asked. "Yeah." "Good." After a pause, she said "What was that?" "Looked like some people who happened to disappear." "Oh. Okay." We continued walking, then she spoke again. "Why do you suppose they went and did that?" "I don't know." I said. "This obviously isn't the most stable of places. Maybe it's just a fragment of reality--right?--like a little shard kept suspended somehow..." "Could be." she said. "But that's not too good for us, is it?" "Nope." "So you wanna talk to a few more people?" "Sure." And we did, with just as little success. Everyone was totally stoned, never giving a straight answer, confused but maddeningly calm. As we gave up on trying to glean any information from the locals we saw the end of the pier--where a kind of castle stood. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----