|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- OFFICE COMPLEX--CUP 23--"RIPPY" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Office Complex  ||  -------> (Cup SRoc023, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "I told you it'd be cool!" Nevrippa Den said, behind the wheel of a big truck. V Sincein sat beside her. He regarded his fellow Primate. She wore nothing but shades of pink, as a matter of principle. Kind of a skirt, kind of a dress, kind of a sweater, kind of a vest. She had a little bit of hair in a weird pattern on her head, dirty blond. Her tiny, naturally attractive five-foot frame was a frightening powerhouse. Indeed, she was one of Overwhelm Associates' most formidable warriors. This was part of the reason V Sincein wasn't trying too hard to dissuade Nevrippa from her ill-timed campaign to steal all manner of treasures and art masterpieces while reality was crashed. He tried to explain to her there'd be plenty of time for looting after they returned to base and got a handle on the situation, but she wouldn't have anything of it. "But aren't these masterpieces screwed up?" V Sincein asked. Indeed, the reality crash seemed to be especially adverse to works of art, all of which were twisted and altered to some degree or another. Scary stuff. "I like the way they took the knockout punch. It's awesome!" Nevrippa said. "But the others must be worried about us." V didn't like how that sounded. He sounded like a loser. Here was Nevrippa Den, living in the moment, as he had always strived for. But he was unable to match her pace. As a DJ, V had gotten into a musical mystery perpetrated by supergroup The Anger Friends. They had a concept album, "Commonday", which contained numerous allusions to some sort of horrible ancient secret. V got involved in the frenzy to figure the riddle out, and was the one who got it. Problem was, The Anger Friends weren't aware that they had actually uncovered an ancient force; they thought it was all a joke. V gained some notoriety for finding the secret, but most people thought the odd phenomenon surrounding him--a huge gossamer cube which followed him around--was some sort of special effect. They didn't realize he'd uncovered something unbelievable. When he pushed, more and more people began branding him as a nut, and his radio career soon ended. But just a week into his personal decline after losing his job, V was recruited into Overwhelm Associates. He still didn't understand the magical immaterial cube, sometimes barely visible, which lazily followed him around. Nor did he understand the way it made him feel. "Hey V! Guess what I see?" "What?" "A video store, guy!" "So? What are you looking for--rare bootleg videos or something?" "No silly. Just take a look at some of those paintings back there. If they got so messed by this reality crash, imagine what might have happened to some of our favorite Timber Serious movies!" A chill ran up V's spine. "Now come on, Nevrippa. I don't know if we want to get involved--" "--call me Rippy!" "Huh?" "I'm feeling good. Call me Rippy!" "Whatever. Okay, Rippy. I was just saying, those painting are scary enough, with what's happened to them. Are you sure we should take the leap to videos?" But Nevrippa was already stopping the truck in front of the video store, right next to the base of one of those enormous streetlights. "Think of the marketing value, V! This stuff'll be worth big bucks when we get back to reality! I wanna be rich!" "Well, I think it's a bad idea, really." But Nevrippa was already halfway out of the truck. So they went into the video store. A TV behind the counter flickered with static, casting nightmarish shadows throughout the store. The place looked like it had been ransacked. There were videos scattered all over the place. Nevrippa rifled through a pile on the ground, while V just looked around, a sinking feeling coming over him. "Look, Rippy. I may have enough battery power left for one more transmission. We should call and tell the others we're coming back. Enough of this craziness." "I quite agree!" Nevrippa said brightly, as she jumped up with more spunk than reasonable, given the situation. She held a video up. "But we just have to take a look at this one! I think it's derivative of that great high school sexploitation flick, 'Going Nowhere'." V looked at the label on the box. He could barely make out some sort of suburban street, with the title "Went Nowhere" spray painted on the road in the photo. "'Went Nowhere'? Maybe it's the sequel?" "No way." Nevrippa said, wading through a sea of videos to get behind the counter. "I researched it before. If there were any sequel, in any way, I would have known about it. No--this is the reality-crashed version of 'Going Nowhere'. Isn't this awesome? I'm all goosebumpy!" V watched helplessly as Nevrippa fumbled with the VCR, sticking the tape in, and pressing play. He looked outside briefly. Just the same cold, abandoned city. The static and snow was replaced by the fresh black of a video start. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----