|| -------- -- -----  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 48--"LOVELY PINE TREE" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Office Complex  ||  -------- (Cup SRoc048, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Ferrajalt bounded back through the wrecked door and with a massive leap was back next to the plane. He lunged forward and jammed the key into its hole, turning it as he jumped into the seat. The control panel lit up, and the dome began to open up. Finding the right controls, Ferrajalt started to rise the plane. A blast of wind hit him in the face like a brick--he didn't have his helmet on. As the biplane rose, he could see the rough ice of the waterfall ahead--he had made it with a quarter minute to spare. He eased forward on the throttle, and was free from the Warhome. Pulling back on the stick, he shot upward. Suddenly, the video screen on the console lit up--it was Treyess, with a helmet on. She was moving her lips, but Ferrajalt couldn't hear, so he reached down, grabbed the helmet, and put it on. "What?" he yelled. "I said, I see you had some trouble too." "Yeah. I forgot the key." "Haha! Me too. I almost died, Ferrajalt, I tell you, I almost died. I didn't realize it was in my pocket the whole time." Ferrajalt laughed a little nervously. "Well, I really did forget it. I messed the place up with superstrength getting it back." "Wow. Oh look! There it goes!" Indeed, as he was looking at the video screen, the Warhomes zoomed off the edge of the waterfall--to be followed a moment later by the enormous ocean liner. Ferrajalt was shocked at the sudden silence--he hadn't even noticed the shrieking wail of the boat on the ice, but now that it was silent, he felt a wave of relief. It happened quickly. The boat, with flashing Warhome lights mutedly visible from its front, seemed to glide over the bay, unerring in its path toward Office Complex of Gumhanshire. The giant streetlight Den shot down was still hanging onto the ocean liner. And then it hit--and the lights of Office Complex of Gumhanshire went out. No explosion, no reality wave, nothing. "Okay." Ferrajalt said, shaken. "Is that it? Did it work?" "I don't know." Treyess responded. "Let's just get over there, full throttle!" "Alright." Ferrajalt said, easing the throttle forward all the way, and then some. His little biplane shot forward with surprising speed. In a moment, he was over the bay and headed for what was now a growing cloud of dust. All of a sudden, hell broke loose in the sky--an array of searingly-bright parallel band appeared, rotating counter-clockwise and turning from bright white to bright red. The landscape all around him began to ripple, gently at first, but in a few seconds, violently. "Get into that cloud!" he heard Treyess yell. Yes--he was headed for it. Only a few more seconds... There was a massive drop in air pressure as the bands in the sky began to unravel. Ferrajalt's ears popped, and he felt some superstrength kick in to protect him. He was almost upon the dust cloud now--but something made him look up one last time--and then he saw it--the dog, with the rabbit in its jaws, running as fast as it could. But he knew--he knew that the rabbit wasn't dead. It was almost as if--as if the dog was trying to help the rabbit? And he entered the dust cloud. He didn't care if he crashed--there was nothing left outside the dust cloud anyway. But he didn't crash--it just got real, real cold, and the air pressure dropped more. Now all was dark, and any remaining heat or air pressure quickly vanished--he was in the vacuum of space. He felt his emergency superstrength kick in--it was like an incredible pressure crushing his body. He didn't breath, and he couldn't see. Soon, he couldn't even feel. He was nowhere, but he was still alive. His heart was still beating. His time in vacuum seemed neverending, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes before it began to warm and an atmosphere once again embraced him. The emergency superstrength eased back a little, enough for him to see where he was headed. And it was straight down. He saw trees, rocks, and ocean for a split second before he crashed into them. He must have been going near the speed of sound. In a moment, the emergency superstrength was back, and again he felt like he was being crushed. Back in the dark. But this time, Ferrajalt shot him arms forward, and then light showered down upon him. He scrambled upward, and collapsed on the edge of the crater his biplane had created. The strain of the superstrength was too much for him. He lost consciousness just as he saw a lovely pine tree. But he was alive. His heart was still beating. ***CUPLINE'S END*** ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----