|| -------- -- -----  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 12--"DNA" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Foreman Ittener Pier  ||  -------> (Cup SRfi012, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Soon, we entered the enormous flying vehicle, and found ourselves in a hangar bay nearly identical to the one in the Leitmotif. "Will you be sharing a room or sleeping in separate rooms." I looked at Hilltop and paused for longer than I should have, smiling in embarrassment. "Uh, separate." I said. "Right?" Hilltop raised one eyebrow. "Don't get ahead of yourself now, boy. I'm just starting to like you--don't go fast-forwarding to sharing a bed just yet!" "No, no." I said, trying to shrug it off. "So--uh--I'd like to go to the control room first and get some basic information. Is that okay?" "Of course." the voice said. I followed the voice's directions to the control room, via an elevator--Hilltop following behind me. Our banter turned pleasant again quickly--her little outburst thankfully smoothed over. In the spacious control room I sat in the command seat and looked out at the sea, dimly lit by the light of a half moon. Hilltop sat in a nearby seat, and I felt bad for again taking the command seat without asking--just like in the Warhome with Treyess. But I figured taking charge of things was good in the long run. "Okay." I said. "So what do I call you?" "I am, for all intents and purposes, the Stormbolthouse itself. Addressing me as Lunatether would be appropriate." "Okay Lunatether." I said. "The situation here is this--we got to this place in a weird way, uh--" "I have the Leitmotif's records up to the time it departed." "Ahh..." I said. "So you know all about what happened?" "Yes." "After we all blacked out--" Hilltop said. "--what was the deal there? What caused it?" "Consciousness is not possible in superreal space." Lunatether said. "But why were we there in the first place?" I asked. "Daptin Gone, in personal consultation with Injure Bodoni and Ann Saply, related his need to refine his Creation, and that all the people were making things difficult for him. He wanted to be alone in his Land for a time, with Red Archer Booze and Sleap Drassy." What the fuck was that all about? "I see." I said. "So he did get rid of us." "He was planning on letting you all back." the machine said. "Glad we got out of that party." Hilltop said. "You said it." I said. "So Lunatether--can we enter superreal space and get back to Daptin's?" "I scan no entry point." it said. "From the voice recordings taken as matter handler, I gather the entry point is in this Earth's Land of the Dead, inaccessible to us." "Oh." I said. "I guess if you recorded us, you know we're also about 50 years in the past. Can this vehicle travel in time?" "No--but in the Life Center I do have some tock hound DNA. I can grow you some tock hounds, but it'll take a few years for them to grow big enough for you to ride." "What?" I said incredulously. "There is a Life Center on the Stormbolthouse containing numerous DNA samples which can be grown. One such set of samples is for tock hounds--horse-sized dogs with time travel ability. I can get them to newborn stage, but it will take approximately two years before they are large enough--and mature enough--for you to ride." "You're saying we have to raise dogs for two years in order to travel to the future?" "That's the best I can do, Ferrajalt." "Okay, okay." I said, looking over at Hilltop. "What do you think?" "I think two years sounds a whole lot better than 50." "So do I. So do I." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----