|| -------- -- -----  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 15--"THE COMMUNICATION ITSELF" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Weaver  ||  -------> (Cup SRwv015, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Daptin said he had laid down the law with Booze--and then he did with me as well. We had to make up, and each promise to do no harm to the other. Neither of us was happy about that, especially her, but we both agreed. I almost threw up again when Treyess embraced Booze, crying. At that moment, I wrote off Treyess for good. Then we made our plans. Daptin and Sarah were each to take a Warhome and return home, along with Treyess and Booze in Treyess' Warhome. I volunteered to accompany Granticaine to find the Urbandersnacheron, each of us in our own Warhome. The idea was that he would leave his (one of the ones I wove) and we'd both go home in mine. Sounded like a good enough plan. So that's what we did. The five Warhomes stayed together for a while out at sea, but after a few hours me and Granticaine split off and headed south. Me and Grant got along pretty well, and we kept in constant radio contact. When we broke away from the others, Grant was able to talk to me without worrying the others would hear. I had met Grant during my Overwhelm orientation--we were both recruited around the same time. "Well Ferrajalt, we're finally off on our own." he said. "How does it feel?" "Great." I said. "I had a real bad time back there, you know. But I'm sure you know all the details." "Oh yeah. Rather disturbing I must say. I don't care what the others say--there must have been a reason she was imprisoned in the first place." "You're telling me! I tried to tell Daptin how dangerous she was--I just hope he got the message. I mean--I was able to resist her, eventually--but I don't know if it was my own willpower, or the fact that she was more interested in Treyess." "Maybe she felt Treyess was more innocent--more space to corrupt?" "Maybe Grant. I don't know. But she'll have a real field day with all those people back at Daptin's home. You know." "I think Daptin can keep her under control. He has more power here than he's letting on. Doesn't want to act all superior, he just wants to be one of the guys--but at some point he's going to have to acknowledge his enormous might and responsibility." "Yeah." "So don't sweat it. I probably would have done the same thing as you. Probably sooner." I laughed, glad that Grant had eased the tension a little. We talked a lot about things--he gave me a much better view of the big picture, of what had happened. Apparently, the ocean liner with all the Warhomes attached to it had crashed only 20 or 30 miles away from Daptin's House. The rest of my friends flew right into Daptin's Land airspace, near the boat. I guess me and Treyess just barely made it through--that's why we were deposited so far off the mark. And somehow--like Daptin had told me--Sleap Drassy was a being deeply involved with this whole mess. I found out about this Cup of Coffee which caused so much trouble. They think Sleap is the one who introduced it to our level of reality. But who knows? I guess Daptin thinks this whole series of events was her doing--but Grant has some doubts. Anyway, he told me he was there when they caused the reality crash. "Yeah, I tell you, Ferrajalt--we knew something was wrong right away. Mallie got the call from his girlfriend, and she left a message. But afterward, he said he had to call her back or she'd be in deep trouble, so he did--he called her back--and as soon as they started talking, we got this weird feeling and the sky turned green. That's what caused the event you experienced." "Wow. So what was it--just the communication itself?" "Yeah--apparently, direct communication between where we were and the real world just totally threw everything out of whack. And what I've heard from your friends--and saw from Nevrippa's 'collection', I'd say things were pretty damn FAR out of whack." "You got that right." We were heading in the general direction Daptin had given us, but after two days, we still read nothing at all on our sensors. When we talked to Daptin (still on his way home) he said just to keep going. So we did. It wasn't until a few days later--after Daptin and the others got home--that we picked up the Urbander--about 800 miles away! Keep at it, that's what Daptin told us. A bunch of times I took the speedboat out and played around in it--but I had to make sure to keep up with the Warhome. I tried the submarine once, but it wasn't fast enough to keep up. The biplane was, though. Granticaine took out his speedboat and plane a few times also, but not as much as me. I was scared of acting too much like a child, but in the final analysis, I really didn't care. Things were too far gone. -------> ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----