|| -------- -- -----  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 38--"LONG BLOND HAIR" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Office Complex  ||  -------> (Cup SRoc038, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "Got it." Ferrajalt said, as he climbed up to the biplane docking area. He saw that Treyess was wearing some sort of police helmet. "Great." Treyess said, taking the key from him. "I think I got this thing figured out." Ferrajalt looked for where he could sit, and saw that it was just one long seat inside the plane, and not much room to spare. Treyess saw the Prince contemplating the seating arrangements. "Hop in." she said. "Pretty close quarters, but it'll do." So Ferrajalt climbed in, and straddled the seat--with Treyess's rear end right between his legs. "Here." Treyess said, handing him a helmet. "And strap in." Ferrajalt put the helmet on and fastened a couple of safety belts over himself. "Well. Here goes." Treyess said, inserting the key and turning it. Instantly, the cockpit control panel lit up with a number of display panels, and the dome above them began to recede, revealing the black, starless sky above them. "So far so good." Ferrajalt said. "Okay. I think I have the hang of this. So if I hit--THIS." Treyess said, and all of a sudden the plane began slowly moving upward. Ferrajalt looked down to see what was lifting them up, but in a moment, they were high enough for it to be clear that they were hovering on their own power. After a few more moments, a chime sounded and a deep mechanical sound reverberated through the aircraft. "Okay." Treyess said. "Now we can point it in any direction--see?" She moved the control stick, and they rotated, while remaining perfectly level. She went back and forth a few times, and then pointed it back straight ahead. "And with this--" she said, easing forward the throttle, "--we should be flying!" And slowly, they started moving forward. "Somehow, I don't think that propeller is doing much of the work." Ferrajalt said, commenting on the silently spinning propeller in front of them. "Just decoration, maybe." "Yeah." Treyess increased the throttle and they began to fly forward faster. Then she pulled back on the stick, and they began to gain altitude. As they gained altitude and speed with great rapidity, Ferrajalt grabbed Treyess around the waist reflexively. It felt good to be so close to her. "Take it easy kid!" she said. "I know what I'm doing!" And with a laugh, Treyess poured on the power and they soared skyward at a steep angle. Ferrajalt grabbed tighter--he wondered if that's why Treyess was flying so crazy. Treyess's long blond hair was whipping in the Prince's face, and he breathed in the clean smell of it. Then he exhaled and leaned into Treyess a little more. He was thinking, this is love--this is REALLY love! He thought, without her helmet, all he'd be seeing was hair. A universe of Treyess hair... But his pleasant thoughts were interrupted by the mammoth structure they had spied from the Warhome--it was now directly beneath them and to the right. "You wanna check that out?" Ferrajalt yelled against the wind, but then he realized that there was a communication system in the helmets. "Ouch! You don't have to yell! But yeah--let's see what it is!" Treyess steered the biplane into a spiral descent, and approached the huge structure. "This thing is so fun to fly!" she said. "And, I mean, like you said, we're not leaving this place without our Warhome!" "No way." Ferrajalt said, and he had a flash sequence of images of himself and Treyess sharing the Warhome as a loving couple. But once again, these tender, electrifying thoughts were interrupted by the brutal reality of their surroundings. The thing in front of them was gigantic. It looked like a cross between a mountain, an unfinished skyscraper, and an enormous thorn bush. And the lighting as it was, it was hard to make out detail. "What the fuck is it?" Ferrajalt asked. "An adventure?" Treyess responded. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----