|| -------- -- -----  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 40--"CREAM" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Office Complex  ||  -------> (Cup SRoc040, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = So they rested there, on the frozen river, and breathed in the air which had more energy in it than they might have imagined. And they spoke and got to know each other better. And they almost kissed, but Treyess pointed out that they had to continue on in their mission, and Ferrajalt agreed. So they got back in their plane, and took off downriver toward where Doscovor might still be. Soon the vector display was flashing wildly, heralding the huge drop up ahead which was, of course, the waterfall. And indeed, half a minute later, they flew over the frozen waterfall--an amazing sight to see--all that raw force of nature all frozen up and stopped dead in its tracks. But it was the city across from the waterfall with which the two were most interested. "Doscovor!" Treyess yelled. "And--look at that! Office Complex of Gumhanshire Prefecture!" Ferrajalt responded, staring at the huge, complex building--all lit up, as if nothing was wrong. "So what do you think, Prince? Should we check it out? If there are any people in it, we should evac them before we cream the sucker, no?" "Sounds like the right thing to do." Ferrajalt said with a chuckle. So they quickly crossed the bay and landed carefully on one of the rooves of the doomed building. "Well here we are!" Treyess said. "This sucker's gonna get an ocean liner smack in the face before too long!" "You got it!" Ferrajalt said, taking off his helmet and jumping out of the biplane. "Wow!" Treyess said, likewise stepping out of the plane and removing her helmet. "Look at the view from up here. Look at that waterfall." "Yeah--just imagine seeing the flashing lights and hearing the sirens of all those Warhomes just before that boat comes flying across the bay--I mean--the whole thing's gonna happen so fast." "Yeah." "Oh, I almost forgot." Ferrajalt said, taking his gun out of its holster. "Gotta call back to the base. Let Ledrant know what we've found." "Yeah--what's the deal with that thing anyway? Why don't we all have one?" "Extremely limited battery life. But they're working on it. You think it's easy to generate a kemig signal in such a small body as a gun?" Treyess smiled and nodded as Ferrajalt punched a few buttons on the hilt of the gun and then looked into the base of the hilt. After a few muted ringing noises, the tiny image of Injure Bodoni faded in. "Ferrajalt? Is that you?" "Yes Injure, it's me." "How far have you gotten down the river?" Ferrajalt took a deep breath. "Look Injure--could you please get Ledrant? I don't want to say all this twice--you know more than me about the battery life of these things." "Well--Ledrant is indisposed at the moment but I will relate all the information you give me." "Fine! Fine! Okay--we're on top of Office Complex of Gumhanshire--right on top of it. We flew over on that plane we told you about. The lights are on in the building, but we haven't seen any signs of people yet." "Does that matter?" Injure asked, rubbing his nose. "What do you mean does that matter--of course it matters! We can't just kill people!" "Oh." Injure said dumbly. "So just tell Ledrant that we're gonna check for people, and then head back--and tell him to go over to that yard and get some more Warhomes--the giant police cars--they're pretty easy to drive, no problem." "Okay, Ferrajalt. I'll tell him all that." "Okay thanks." Ferrajalt said tersely as he cut off the connection. "That guy is a REAL dick." Treyess said. "You're telling me." The two stood, several yards apart, staring at each other. Finally Treyess spoke. "So now that we're here on the roof, what are we supposed to do?" Ferrajalt thought for a moment, then looked over to the vector display of the biplane, which he had a good view of. On the screen was a 3-D representation of the building, with two bright yellow dots where he and Treyess were. "Maybe that's our answer." he said. "Looks like that sucker can detect people." "Maybe it's just seeing us because we're its owners." Ferrajalt regarded Treyess. "Maybe. So let's see if we can expand the scope of its scan--maybe it can reach all the way back to Derolbam and see the others." "You really think it could reach that far?" "If it's in communication with the Warhome, which I assume it is, I think it could give us an overall scan." "Give it a shot, my Prince." So Ferrajalt leaned over the side of the plane and began to fiddle with some knobs near the screen. At first there was no reaction, but then the scene zoomed out, and there was the faint outline of the bay and the waterfall. In another second, it had zoomed back so far that the Warhome was represented with a dull green, pulsing square. Finally, it pulled back all the way, and there was a cluster of yellow pinpoints in Derolbam, and the two, Treyess and Ferrajalt, there in Doscovor. And there was one more, a solitary light way off to the east. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----