|| -------- -- -----  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 37--"BIPLANE" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Office Complex  ||  -------> (Cup SRoc037, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Ferrajalt nodded, but stopped nodding as they came to a big bend on the river. He carefully steered to the right, and it seemed that they'd start skidding and going out of control at any moment, but they didn't. "Easy!" Treyess exclaimed. "I know! I know!" Ferrajalt said, gripping the control unit and looking quite flushed. "So how that hell is the boat supposed to make that goddamn corner?" "We'll find some way!" "I don't see how! You know how big that thing is? It's big!" "Ferrajalt--get a hold of yourself! This isn't a totally random situation--just look at this vehicle of ours! There has to be a higher structure to it. I have a gut feeling that we CAN get the boat around the corner." "Well I hope so." Ferrajalt said, and then another curve came up, this one to the left. "Oh great! Another one!" Treyess sighed and shook her head. Ferrajalt was more careful with this curve, but it was more pronounced than the previous one. And they were going awfully fast. "Ferrajalt--you say you don't like adventure, but look how fast you're driving down this frozen river toward a waterfall!" "I know, I know! It's hard to make this thing go slow." The two stopped talking as a huge hulking shape loomed ahead on the right riverbank. "What the hell is that?" Ferrajalt asked. "What? Yeah... Looks like a building maybe? A mountain? No..." Then a sharp beeping started, and Ferrajalt looked down at the vector display--it showed the huge drop coming up--the waterfall. The Prince immediately hit the brakes. "We're almost there!" he said, and the Warhome lurched to a halt. Treyess looked at him. "I don't see it." "I know! But I don't want to risk getting too close and not being able to stop." "Huh." Treyess said, looking around. "So how are we going to see about that office complex and everything?" Ferrajalt took a deep breath and let it out. His heart was racing. "Um." he said. "Let me think." "Okay." "Okay. I think... we should... take the biplane." "What?" Ferrajalt looked at Treyess. "That plane back there. We could fly it over the waterfall and get a close look at that office complex." "Do you know how to fly?" "Well--I flew a glider a few times. Besides--considering how easy this thing was to drive, how hard could the plane be?" "Let me think this through--it sounds good at first glance, but I don't know..." "The thing is, I just don't want to get this thing anywhere near the drop. We could walk it..." "Oh no! I'm not standing on that slippery ice on the edge of a fatal fall." Ferrajalt stood up. "So you wanna take the plane?" he said. "You can fly it if you want to. I know I hogged the controls here." "Oh--that's no problem. But you know, that plane looks like the sort of planes we have back home--real primitive. But there's no way it flies with the same mechanics. It's too small. But I will give it a shot." Treyess said, also getting up. "Okay." Ferrajalt said, moving to the door. "I'm pretty sure it holds two people." "Yeah?" Treyess said, following him. They walked into the main chamber of the Warhome, and Ferrajalt let Treyess climb the ladder on the central shaft before him. "Okay, now to figure out how to get in here." Treyess said as Ferrajalt looked up at her. "Need help?" "No--I got it." she said, planting her right boot on a small foothold on the plane and lifting herself up and over the edge. "Yeah--I've got it." "Is there room for me?" "Um--wait a second." Treyess said as she sat down and settled herself in. "Well, it's a tight fit, but there's room." Ferrajalt began climbing the ladder. "Wait a second." Treyess said. "I need a key. Weren't there some other keys on that keyring you found?" The Prince stopped. "Oh yeah. I guess there must be one for each vehicle. I'll go get it." "Cool." Ferrajalt went back to his driver's seat and tried to figure out what to do--he didn't want to shut the Warhome off, but he couldn't see any easy way of getting the other keys off the ring. As well, there were seven keys in all--and he wasn't sure which one was the right one. So he sat down in the seat and took a close look at the keys. And upon this closer examination, he saw little engraved pictures of the various vehicles--the Warhome, the biplane, the submarine, the motorcycle, the speedboat, a door, and one--one which just had a little circle on it. Also, he saw that each key had a little latch on it where you could disconnect it from the keyring. So he carefully flicked the mechanism, and released the biplane key. With it in hand, he rush back to the ladder and back to Treyess. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----