|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- GOODBYE POPCORN--CUP 52--"KING DAPTIN" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Goodbye Popcorn  ||  -------- (Cup SRgp052, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Granticaine gave Daptin an inquisitive look. "Ladies, this is Granticaine Chug Perion. But I'm sure you already know that. Grant, these are some of the goddesses I told you about--Spanking New Sarah and Pine Run Glara, to be exact. And I think it's just you two." "Just us." Glara said, her voice small, but not as small as it would seem it should be. "Sit." Daptin said to Sarah, who accepted and sat down at the table. "And try that explanation on me." "Okay." Sarah said. "But first, just let me..." She turned and pointed a penlike object and the doorway, which promptly vanished. "Don't want to waste too much energy." she said, turning back to Daptin. "So--the explanation. Well, basically, we've been in that zincler ever since you left the Caxopys for your mission. And yes, we saw and heard everything. Quite a harrowing journey." Daptin frowned. "So you were physically inside this thing, like totally miniaturized?" "Yup." Sarah said. "And you enter and exit the thing via a size-changing dimensional doorway of some sort?" Daptin asked. "Something like that." Sarah said. Daptin nodded in thought, looking at Pine Run Glara. "So you two saw everything--what did it do--tap into my aural and visual nerves?" Glara nodded. "And when did you implant the thing?" Daptin said, looking at Sarah. "When do you think?" she said with a look. Daptin nodded. "Fair enough. But why?" "I had a bad feeling about your future." Sarah said. "I just knew your mission wasn't going to go right. And believe it or not--I think I'm in love with you. So I wanted to tag along to help you when you got into trouble. Glara came to keep me company. Everything went kind of haywire after that first Cup thing, you know, at Boltpike, and the door didn't work any more. We thought we'd be stuck inside you forever. Then when you ate the popcorn, well--after we woke up, all our instruments died and by the time we got them back online, you were in that other universe meeting this guy." Sarah nodded her head toward Granticaine. "Uh-huh." Daptin said. "So you don't know what happened between the popcorn and my meeting with Grant at Greatwall?" "No." Glara said. "So what happened?" Daptin smiled and chuckled a little. "Let me have some secrets from you, little one." Glara made a grimace at Daptin, but then smiled. "I guess that's fair." "So Sarah--now you know all about Aconck, eh?" Daptin said. "What do you think?" "Pretty mind-blowing. It's a big universe out there." "Yeah." Daptin said. "May I see that?" Granticaine said, nodding toward the zincler. "Sure." Daptin said, extending his hand. Granticaine carefully grasped the tiny speck and placed it in his palm. "Remarkable!" he said. "A fantastically useful device!" "Sure is." Glara said, looking up at Granticaine. "Where did you get it?" Granticaine asked. "Oh, the usual places. They say folks used to use them to store their harems INSIDE of themselves, so that whenever they felt like a little, you know, WHING," Glara said with a pelvic thrust, "they could bring out the one they felt like having fun with at the moment." "Also good for bodyguards." Sarah said. "I would say so!" Granticaine said. "May I have it back?" Sarah said, looking from Granticaine to Daptin. "Why not." Daptin said. "Is it rare?" "Yeah." Glara said. "Not too many left." "Huh." Granticaine said, nodding. "So girls," Daptin said, "I assume you witnessed the Creation--so there will be rooms for you in my House forevermore. As you've probably figured out, there's something wrong with the rest of totality right now, including Agoopish. So you'll have to make due here for now. And don't go implanting that thing on anyone!" "Of course not!" Sarah said, carefully placing the zincler back into a little ornate carrying case. "And thank you for not getting mad. What I told you is the truth. And the way things look--we managed to be the only survivors of Supbam." "Agoopish may come back, just like everything else--but for now, yeah--you're it." Daptin said. "Thank you King Daptin." Sarah said with a twinkle in her eyes. "And when you're looking for a Queen, please consider me." "I'll do that." Daptin said. ***CUPLINE'S END*** ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----