|| -------- -- -----  A E R I E   O B L I V I A N A . singular book of text wandertainment by Frank Edward Nora ------------------- ----------- WEAVER--CUP 8--"PURPLE" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Weaver  ||  -------> (Cup SRwv008, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Purple flashing. I opened my eyes. A flashing purple light. For a moment, I was disoriented. Then everything came back to me. Still pretty disorienting. I had built this new Warhome the day before, taken it out to sea, and then went to bed. I'd put on a winter city evening atmospheric display, and had fallen asleep right away. The images of streets covered in snow and people walking around still surrounded me. Even a random scent of car exhaust. But the purple light--I knew it was indicative of an incoming message. I felt a surge of unease--had Treyess and Booze found the matter-device from Treyess' crashed biplane, in the water? Had they already made their own Warhome? That had to be it. Damn. Reluctantly, I reached over and hit the button, looking up to see the video screen. But the face that appeared was not that of Treyess or Booze. God damn if it wasn't Nevrippa Den! Lucky I still had my jumpsuit on. "Hey there stranger! Finally get wise to the matter handler there kid?" "What?" I asked. "Well guy--hey--where's your friend? What I'm saying is, you must have finally figured out that you can make unlimited Warhomes with that machine built into your biplane, my Royal friend. And hey--who is this 'unknown' person I keep hearing about?" I held up my hand and closed my eyes briefly. "Wait, wait--just wait a minute. Give me a chance. Let me get my bearings. Now what the hell happened? Where are you?" "Princy, Princy, Princy. You're so far out of the loop it's scary. Most of the others are asleep, but I'm pretty much nocturnal, you know." "Yeah?" "Yeah. So anyway--oh, I don't know. It's a long story. They thought you two were dead meat, but yours truly never gave up hope. I kept scanning for other Warhomes, and wham! I just gotcha!" "So--where are you, uh, Nevrippa? Someplace else on this world? Are the others okay?" "We're fine. We all made it. I knew you guys were lagging behind--I saw it on my Warhome viewscreen. I stayed in the bastard, buddy! I wasn't gonna abandon my stuff!" "Um--you mean you didn't bail out in your plane?" "No way! I handled it. Got pretty beat up, but I'm healthy. Managed to salvage most of my stuff intact. What a thrill ride! Wish I could patent it." "Okay, so--where you are now--what sort of place is it?" "It's Daptin's Land! You know, your old friend Daptin Gone? Well he's your God now! He created this entire Earth--all by himself. Pretty talented, eh? Says he felt your presence, but he couldn't pinpoint you. Limited omniscience, such a pain, you know? But he said there was someone else with you--someone like evil or something? So is God boy nuts, or is there some--" "--yeah, yeah. There's an evil person with us. She was, uh, she was like inside Treyess' cape, you know the silver thing? She was trapped in there but got out. And she is really evil. Totally into--I mean, I don't know. Her name is Red Archer Booze. Yeah." "So where is she?" "Um, she's uh, she's back with Treyess." "What do you mean? They aren't there with you?" "Well, no. Not exactly." "So why aren't they there?" "They--I don't know. Treyess has just been acting weird lately. She's been hanging out with Booze way too much. You know?" "What do you mean? You mean hanging out in like, in like THAT WAY?" "Aw, come on. I don't want to say anything. She's under the influence of Booze. She's not responsible for her actions. She's--" "--an evil woman stole your girlfriend? Cool!" "What do you mean cool? What's could possibly be cool about that, dammit." "I don't know. It's interesting. A good storyline." "Well I know it doesn't seem like it, but this is real life! And I lost someone I really cared for! At least--at least temporarily." "Well, sorry about all that. But dude--you're real far away. I mean real, real, real far away. Like over 10,000 miles." I thought about that, doing a few quick calculations in my head. "It's not so bad. What is that--a week of travelling, at most?" "Probably not even that much, Princy. Maybe four or five days over the water, nonstop." "Yeah." -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----