|| -------- -- -----  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 10--"STORMBOLTHOUSE LUNATETHER" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Foreman Ittener Pier  ||  -------> (Cup SRfi010, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "Okay, okay." I said. "This looks like a fully up-and-running Earth, so I guess our primary goal should be to determine if it's a known part of Aconck." "Okay..." Hilltop said, expecting more. "If it is, we can contact Overwhelm and get back into the swing of things." "What if it's not an Overwhelm Earth?" "Well, then it'll be more complicated--but whatever--if it's TAG I'm sure they'll give us passage once they hear our story. If it's U-64, well--we'll just have to take our chances." "Sucks we can't neither of us bridge." "Does." We stepped onto the boardwalk and I was happy to feel the solid slats of wood beneath my boots. "So whatta we need--a map or somethin'?" "That'd be good." I said. "Too bad we don't have any local currency." "Ah, we can improvise." I laughed a little and we strolled along till we came to a little tourist-type shop. Inside, we found a map section--and it didn't take long after that for me to figure things out. "Okay." I said, looking at a map. "The city of Peeferkihint is DEFINITELY an Overwhelm outpost. I've never been here--to Gamble Jazz Earth--before, but I know they're there." "Great!" Hilltop said. "So how far are we from there?" I sighed and put the map down. "About a thousand miles." "Darn." "But nothing's preventing us from calling them." "I know, but dig the tech level." "Yeah I know--I could have sworn this was a class P Earth. Seems more like an L!" "Well, let's just find a payphone and try." she said, heading out of the store. On the boardwalk there weren't any payphones, and I started getting worried. We asked a guy at a seafood stand about it and he said he was pretty sure there was a place a few miles down the boardwalk with one. Then I started to get more worried. "I need a bookstore or a library or something." I said. "I don't like the sound of this." Hilltop said. Soon we got to a newsstand sort of store with some books inside. I pored over newspapers, paperbacks, magazines, and the like--trying to disprove the idea that was giving me such a sinking feeling. But everything I read pointed to the same conclusion--the big war which was central to this Earth's history simply hadn't happened yet. "Uh, Hilltop? I have something to tell you." "Uh-huh?" "Good news--this is definitely Gamble Jazz Earth. Bad news? We're about 50 years in the past." She stared at me wide-eyed for a few moments, then she said "Oh." A threw down the magazine I was reading and headed out of the store. "So what are we gonna do now?" she asked, catching up to me as I exitted onto the boardwalk. "We're gonna use this." I said, shaking the matter handler. "I'm tired and hungry--and I don't want to start a life of crime just to survive." "You sure? You sure about this?" "Definitely. As an Overwhelm recruit, I had to study all the known Aconck Earths in depth. The idea was that I'd be able to identify any Earth I might find myself on by accident--however that might happen. You must have gotten some training like that, too." "Well, they kinda screwed up my training. Whatever. But we're definitely 50 years ago?" "Yup." "So--so what if that thing you got don't work." I stopped and faced her. "Then, my dear, we're seriously fucked--we'll be old geezers by the time Overwhelm breaks through here." "Yikes." she said. We walked down the boardwalk a ways, looking for a good place to start snapping up matter. We didn't have much luck--it was a pretty heavily-populated place. Finally, we walked out on some rocks extending out into the sea and sat down. "Y'think these rock'll be enough?" Hilltop asked. "No--but if it can take water, we're set. Water's matter, now isn't it? The Warhome handlers don't do water for some reason. But I'm guessing that Ann and Injure may have fixed that problem." "Hopefully." I started fiddling with the device, and soon all of its controls and displays lit up. And a woman's voice came from it. "Initializing aspect and circumstance scan. Done. Users identify--human male and female?" "Huh?" I said. "Are you and the woman next to you the users of this device?" "Uh, yeah." I said, looking over at Hilltop in confusion. "Please tell me your names." the device said. "Um--I'm Prince Ferrajalt, and..." "...and I'm Hillary Jone Rallity. So who are you?" "I am the intelligence of embryonic Stormbolthouse Lunatether, child of Stormbolthouse Leitmotif. Would you like Stormbolthouse Lunatether to be woven now?" "Yeah." I said. "But like, there are some special circumstances..." "Explain." "Well, we're in a place with a lot of people--by the sea you know--and we don't want to make a big show of it, a big ruckus or anything..." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----