|| -------- -- -----  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 23--"NON-UNDERSTANDABLE" <-------  ||  Severe Repair  ||  Weaver  ||  -------- (Cup SRwv023, Created v2 (6/7/99), Copyright 1999) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = "Yeah, Ferrajalt," Baw said, "let me tell you. There I was, and it was like, so weird. We all went about our lives like normal, but it was like--people acting so strange when they talked to me, as if they were expecting me to reveal some sort of incredible plan to save our people. I mean, I was their ONLY hope in the whole world. Nothing--nothing else could have helped us. But I was just confused--I never wanted to be savior, so I was like, sorry folks, I never asked for this job, so don't blame me if I can't do it. But of course they did." "So what happened?" "Well, the Keoptenbarc--you know, the other tribe--they came back and took more people, and then the elders had to confront me. I mean, the story--the prophesy--was so joyous, so--I don't know--so smug, like as if the little guy always wins in the end--as if good always prevails over evil. I told them the key thing was that the story was on paper and our people were on the ground--I told them the prophesy was wrong, that I wasn't the savior, and that our whole tribe was totally screwed." "Jeez!" "Yeah--and they were mad, but they were all so scared of me--still thinking I WAS the savior--that they didn't do anything. And that night, my mother had a talk with me, and she felt it would be best if I left the village, so that's what I did. After I was gone a few days and everything started to sink in, I started crying a lot. More about how all my friends and family were being enslaved and hurt and maybe even killed. And I kept thinking, I should have told them--I should have let them know that I was a phony--then maybe they would have sought an alternate course of action and not depended on me so much. But, I guess it doesn't matter much any more. They're gone, along with everything else. Or so I assume." "Well hopefully with this ship we'll be able to find that out." "Yeah." she said. "So what happened--you were only living alone for a few months before Overwhelm got in touch with you?" "Yup." she said brightly. "Was there about two months. Not even. It was like I was living in a daze. Only my mother came to see me, and only about once a week at that. And each time she came, something more horrible had happened. After awhile I just blocked it all out, and it didn't register. It's like, just, like most of me shut down. So when Overwhelm called, it was a wake-up call. I told Jake when I met her in my P-Vest, I told her get me out of here ASAP. And that's what she did. I left a note for my mom and took off. I never felt better than when I was stepping through that first bridge, not even looking back." "Whew!" I said. "You had a pretty tough time." "That's putting it mildly. And then--then I had to wonder--what made me the Primate of my Earth? Being that I was such a failure? But as you know, the algorithm is non-understandable, so why try?" I nodded my head, and then looked over to see Zoipin Jurple Jupter coming over. One of the most bizarre people in Daptin's Land, Zoipin is this tall, thin bird guy of some sort--with a long beak and a wide-brimmed hat. And man, what a weird guy. I mean, in his personality, too. "May I join you?" he said. "Sure." Baw said. Zoipin sat down, looking a little uncomfortable as usual having to sit in a chair designed for humans. "Some kind of thing going on here, eh?" Zoipin said. "You know it." I said. "Something new every day." "Yeah." the bird guy said. "You know, I heard some of the others talking--they said that no one--no one at all now, mind you--has ever been in superreal space. They say we're going to be the first." "What's this 'we' business?" I asked. "They're not planning on going through Daptin's Bridge with all of us on board!" Zoipin shook his head. "Nope. Nope. I just meant 'we' as in us as a people, us of Daptin's Land." "Oh." I said. "Good. I'm not gonna risk my life out there--it doesn't mean that much to me." "You know guys," Zoipin said, "they say there's another Land out there--they say they've seen it through a telescope. Another Land like Daptin's. And they're going there tomorrow. That is, whoever gets to go on the first mission." Baw looked at me, and I looked at her, then back at Zoipin. "Yes." Zoipin said. "We are not alone." ***CUPLINE'S END*** ------------------- ----------- -------- -- -----