|| -------- -- -----  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 39--"DOG AND RABBIT" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Office Complex  ||  -------> (Cup SRoc039, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Prince Ferrajalt held tightly onto Treyess Arcomany as she flew their little biplane into the heart of the massive, horrific structure. "I can't tell!" Ferrajalt yelled. "Are we gonna hit it--or is there space inside it?" "I don't know!" Treyess yelled. "But the instruments are showing a bunch of entryways--I'm gonna take the best-looking one." "Okay." So they flew into a gaping hole in the side of the thing, and were inside. As soon as they entered, a battery of spotlights on the biplane kicked in and lit the dark, twisted spaces around them. They were in some sort of main corridor, with jagged bramblelike protrusions coming from all angles. "Uh... Ferrajalt... All sorts of decisions up ahead. What should we do?" "What do you mean?" "The display--it shows a bunch of branchings up ahead." "Well, try and take the biggest one!" "Okay, I'll try Prince." As Treyess steered the plane toward the largest of the upcoming passageways, something came briefly into view. It was a scene, only visible for a second or two. It was tough to tell which direction it came from, or if they were seeing something real or projected, but see it they did. What they saw was a dog and a rabbit fighting. It was a nice, well groomed dog, a collie, which looked like it would have been a fine family companion in other circumstances. Here, it was frightful, teeth bared, in a rage, full of fear and assault. The rabbit was a little gray fellow, unassuming, but clearly possessing more ferocity than was readily apparent. It was a horrible, frightening scene. The two animals were consumed with the passion of their struggle, each wanting nothing more than to kill the other, each fearing it would fall to the other at any moment. And both Treyess and Ferrajalt were sobered by the image. Sobered, and drained--feeling like they'd just woken up from a particularly nasty nightmare, all shaken and paranoid. "Treyess! Did you see that!" "Uhh... Yes Prince I did." "What the hell was that?" "I don't know--a dog and a rabbit--fighting." "Let's get the fuck out of this thing!" "I couldn't, uhh, I couldn't agree with you more!" With this, Treyess eased back on the throttle and the plane came to dead stop in midair, as she thought it would. Then she swung it around, and headed out the same way they had come in. "Are you sure you know the way out?" Ferrajalt asked. "I think--yeah--the display has the way marked in green--not to worry Prince." "Good. Let's just get the hell out of here!" And in less than a minute, they were out of the hulking construct, and back in the cool dark air of destroyed reality. "That," Ferrajalt said, panting, "was not cool." "Not hardly." Treyess responded. "What the fuck was that all about?" "I don't know and I don't want to know--some sort of horrible evil, something beyond our comprehension. Oh Prince, I think we saw something back there that we shouldn't have." "Well who knows what sort of madness has come to exist, now that reality is no more." Ferrajalt said, trying to sound calm and in control, to reassure Treyess. "I just don't like it. That wasn't adventure, that was just--I don't know--just pure horror." "I know, I know." "So where are we going?" she asked. "I think I'm headed downriver, but I'm not even sure anymore!" "You want me to fly? We still have to check Doscovor. You can set 'er down on the river and we can switch places if you want and I'll fly us down there." "Okay--do you mind? I'm just a little too shaken. Sure you don't mind?" "No--no problem Treyess. We're teammates--we have to help each other out, right?" "Right." Treyess said sweetly, and she pointed the little biplane downwards, and soon landed on the frozen river. "Well," Ferrajalt said as he was getting out of the plane, "at least we won't always be wondering what was in that thing. Even though--I might rather not have known." Treyess chuckled a little as she got out of the plane also. "How do you know that was all that was in there?" "I don't know, but I did get the feeling that that was pretty much the heart of the matter--the unspeakable." "Yeah." Treyess walked away from the plane a little. "Just gotta stretch my legs a little." she said. "Yeah." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----