|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- HONEYSUCKLE ROVER--CUP 7--"HELLO?" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Honeysuckle Rover  ||  -------> (Cup SRhr007, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Voc-4-Iopa-9den, definitely more violet than not, somewhat tall and vertical, maybe an arm, maybe a face somewhere, communicated. "Precious little Looter, you made the bad choice in Ac's Hell you see." "I've lived by the sword, so now I'll die by the sword. Fair is fair." "Spoken like a true Looter. Like all the others in my Looter Zoo. Kmy-7zy-holp3a has a place for you." Sleap felt energies moving her way, tearing her apart across innumerable axes, transporting her in unlikely ways. It kind of tickled. Suddenly, she was in a cage in a strangely-lit void. She could maybe see some more cages in the distance. "Your friend Ac has been rewarded." Sleap heard Voc-4-Iopa-9den say, though the entity wasn't visible. "You, little Sleap, are quite a prize. The four quintillionth Looter in Zoo. Now I can sell Zoo and get that which I desire." "Whatever." Sleap said. She was slowly getting some idea of what this was all about. She was after something. Voc-4-Iopa-9den would trade her, along with the other 3,999,999,999,999,999,999 Looters, to some other entity, and it was there that she would find what she desired. What a plan, what a fucking plan. It was just dawning on her how much time she'd spent planning this. "Trade-ingo." Voc-4-Iopa-9den said, coming into view briefly. What followed was a timeless period of hemi-reality, followed by several ages of confusion and anti-nothingness. Finally, there was some semblance of graspable reality, and Sleap found she was still in the cage, but with nothing visible outside. No blackness, no whiteness, nothing. Her eyes were open, but absolutely nothing could be seen beyond her cage. She made the heact and rose into her fullness. Resplendent to be full again. And here, in this place. Plan, yeah it was about 900,000 years in the making, so what. She was herself and here in this place, where a Zoo of 4 quintillion Looters was a minor artifact. And out of the 222 octillion artifacts here, but one interested her. She grasped it. The other thing here screamed in a way only such a thing could. She communicated with it as best she could. To her now, it was as a barking dog, this entity so high a Looterkin could never imagine. She held it at bay without as much as a thought. And she took the object. She had it. Finally. After so long. She had it. Everything was so clear, of course, everything was laid out before her. And she understood. Oh yes--she understood. And she was happy. And she returned to Earth. Back in her apartment, Sleap briefly regarded the putrid remains of Jean Jankels, and then snapped her fingers, going back in time a few years. And she strode triumphantly into the living room, setting her prize on a little table. She picked up the phone and dialed it. It rang a few times. "Hello?" Tavmatey Numblem said from the other end of the line. "Hi." answered Sleap. "I have the coffee." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----