Next week: Back to the crew of the Flamboyant at Welles...
AND YOU KNOW SOMETHING'S HAPPENING,
BUT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS
DO YOU, MR. JONES?
- VI -
I'm so tired
I haven't slept a wink
I'm so tired
My mind is on the blink
"I'm So Tired" -The Beatles
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm? Oh... Well maaaaaybe... I'm
tired... Look, I'm reeeally tired...
And anyway, I'm dead... You shouldn't be bothering me when
I just died... Why do you ask me all these questions?...
What's that? Oh... I've seen one before... Ancients you
say?... Oh, I know. It's a disintegrator.
How's it work? Oh, don't worry about that some of my best
friends don't know how they work... It's reeeally quite neat.
S'lllllike a laser... sort of... but the particles it fires - sim-
stimulated emission - radiation are NOooooooooOT photons...
KnowwhatImean?
Oh, wellll... just as photons int... inter... in-ter-react
with e-lec-trons and pro-tons... the particles from the disint...
well instead of exciting the e-lec-trons and heating the atom
up... well these particles are... the particular elem... (excuse
me) elements of the nuclear... BONDing forces.
Yeah, you perturb those and you've got ONE shaky little
nucleus! It falls apart... POOF! POP!... goes the weasel!
What do you mean 'How does it wor... work'? I just TOLD
you...
OHHHhhh!... How... do YOU work... it... Well... you...
sho... shou... Should... ask your... quest... questions...
more... precisely.
You see... you see... You... Can't... work it...
It... It... It's... Tel... Tel... Tele... Tell me
you're coming... back to me! You gotta... tell me...
Oh...
you...
don't...
like...
my...
singing...?
- VII -
Who's arguing? Shhh! Arguing... I'm dead you shouldn't
argue in front of dead people... Now, you listen to what she
says... She's right, I'm tooooOOO tired...
And my head hurts... I wanna aspirin... So this is what
it's like being dead... Who'd have thought it would be so dry...
I wanna drink...
I don't like this being dead... I've had much more pleasant
petite mortes than this one I can tell you that...
- VIII -
Hmmm? Oh, artifacts... yeah, there were artifacts there...
At Enoc there was this greaat bIg crystal... You didn't get it?
No... No... No... You see Drert took it... Who's Drert?
Gunner, he manned the turret on my ship... Where IS my ship?
Don't YOU know? They're pretty cool folks, I wonder where they
went?...
Oh well, the crystal did some WeirD things let-me-tell-you.
It GLOWED. It zapped Drert but GOOD! He got some amazing psi
power from it... Oh, he teleported and stuff and he healed
Niedrsha... Him? Oh, the pilot... It did something to his mind
though... Drert's mind that is...
You know it made Jietlshaiepr a telepath too...
- IX -
Truth drugs... Memory drugs... Hallucinogens...
Probing... Psi-Dampers... Sensory deprivation... Truth
drugs... Memory drugs... Hallucinogens... Psi-Dampers...
Probing... Sensory deprivation... Truth drugs... Memory
drugs... Probing... Psi-Dampers... Sensory deprivation...
Hallucinogens...
- X -
The Interrogator sat perfectly still, "The subject is
recovering rapidly from the interrogation. He came very close to
not reviving, though he has a remarkable capacity to regenerate
himself."
"How long before we can continue?"
She considered it, "Uncertain, at minimum: five hours."
"That quickly?"
"The subject has proved exceedingly strong. If
interrogation begins before five hours he will die before giving
any information. After five hours wait, he would merely be
irrevocably damaged."
- XI -
Bend me,
shape me,
any way you want me.
You got the power
To turn on the light.
-"Bend Me, Shape Me" - The American Breed
...The blackness of the bog was tinged with pale violet
iridescence as Mako felt his way along through the darkness.
Branches reached out overhead as the trees raked the sky with
their leafless bony limbs. A moon peered down: a red eye with a
black pupil studying the silent wilderness.
Fog rolled about like a hungry creature draining the warmth
of it's victims.
Mako froze as a lone howl sounded far off behind him. He
glanced around. He could see only a few meters as the fog roiled
about like an eplieptic ameboa seeking a warm body. A second howl
sounded from the opposite direction.
Malenkoviepr ran perpendicular to the line described by the
two howling things. A few steps and his left foot sunk into the
mire, calf deep. He stumbled, but rolled out onto the surface
grasping the gnarled roots of a nearby tree.
Carefully, he pulled himself up to stand on the roots when
they resolved into bony fingers clawing into the bog. The bark
of the tree seemed to have faces inside it: tortured faces with
mouths agape in silent screams.
Mako began to slog through the bog when a third howl
sounded: still far off, but closing.
He sank lower, the bog up to his knees now, but still
manageable as the murk flowed around him.
A ghostly white shape hung from the ghastly trees. It swung
silently he watched it.
Slowly, the fog separated, revealing the shape had wings.
Hloch hung curled in a ball, wrapped in a spider's web. He
was cocooned by something. It was difficult to make out the Ael
Yael's silhouette, the left wing's humerus and wrist were bent at
ugly angles, while the right appeared dislocated.
With fear rising in his throat, Mako stared at the thing
before him swinging slowly in the bone chilling air of the bog.
Slowly, it moved and looked at him. "...Help me..."
Mako jumped into action pulling the cocoon out of the giant
web with enormous strength. Quickly, he began ripping apart the
venemous gossamer coffin.
"...Thought you were dead..." managed the wounded scientist.
"That thing that swatted me..."
"Viepchaklva, if I understand it, but this is a dream."
answered Malenkoviepr as he cleaned away the entangling web from
the creature's arms and legs.
"...A dream... a Nightmare... Some one's been questioning
me... Then the nightmares come..."
"You've been questioned? What about?"
"...Imperial defenses... research... the ancients... I
couldn't help but tell them... Truth drugs... sensory
deprivation..."
"Who interrogated you?"
"Don't know... never saw them..."
"Somebody is very curious about you and me..."
"Did they interrogate you too?"
"Yes."
"What about?"
"The ancients mostly. A lot of questions." Slowly, the bog
faded around them, and they were alone in blackness.
The Ael looked at him, "What do they want to know? Maybe we
can figure out what they're up to."
"Identification of certain artifacts, information about the
theories behind them."
"What kind of artifacts?" asked Hloch in a strange voice.
"Ancient... ...Well, I'm not really sure..."
Hloch's voice grew strange: less shrill and more husky,
"You saw them, didn't you?"
A Siren went off in Malenkoviepr's head, "Well, yes..."
"Then, what were they?"
"Hloch, are you all right? You sound very strange..."
"What do you mean strange...?" he asked defensively, his
voice different now... almost human.
"Who ARE you?!" growled Malenkoviepr.
The creature was taken aback, "I am Dr. Hloch of the planet
Ael Yael."
"Oh, indeed? I thought your planet was Jaeyelya."
The creature stared at him blankly.
"Tell me," continued Malenkoviepr, "you're a physicist, what
is the equation of mass-energy equivalence?"
The creature hesitated, "...E equals MC squared."
"What do the terms mean?"
The creature stared, desperately groping for an answer.
"What are you driving at?"
"What is the definition of kinetic energy? That's an easier
question."
"Now see here, you've got to help me..." cried the creature.
"I did not think you could answer it." Malenkoviepr scowled,
"You are not who you pretend to be." he turned to walk away.
"Wait! Come back! I can explain!" The thing hung suspended
by threads as a grotesque marionette jerking mechanically to the
commands of someone unseen, while screaming in a human voice.
- XII -
What's all these crazy questions you asking me?
This is the craziest party that could ever be,
Don't turn on the light's cause I don't wanna see.
Mamma told me not to come.
Mamma told me not to come.
That aien't the way to have fun!
No! Uh-uh!
-"Mamma Told Me (not to come)" by Three Dog Night
Mako stood in the center of a raucous party holding a glass
of champagne. Sophonts of all kinds laughed hysterically and did
very bizarre things while loud, insane music rippled forth.
Three Vargr females in tie-dyed purple paisley mini-skirts
were Zero-G-Go-Go dancing in large cages. Their eyes threw out a
bizarre kaleidoscope of colors.
Seven humans were running in random directions carrying fire
extinguishers and blasting each other with them amid peals of
laughter.
A large male Vargr was pulling oranges one by one, from thin
air, out of his left ear juggling them and tossing them to a
group of Droyne who were passing them from one to another and
building a towering pyramid with them.
A pretty, young Aslan female in a feathered mask walked
through the room carrying a small wheel and kissing everyone.
A huge obese woman was standing on a table, balancing on one
leg and crying rhinestones, while a man in an indescribable hat
asked her insane riddles.
Hloch was standing on Kittan's shoulders. Kittan was going
through a book, tearing out pages and handing them up to Hloch.
Hloch in turn handed folded them into small paper airplanes and
threw them to a young but very large male Aslan wearing a Darrian
Naval uniform. The young Aslan ensign wore the circled eye
insignia of the Darrian Naval Intelligence corps.
"Ah, Hloch, through hanging by someone's thread?" asked
Malenkoviepr.
"Humans make lousy puppeteers!" laughed Kittan delightedly.
"Yes, I haven't been myself lately but I'm alright now!"
leered Hloch as he swayed precariously on Kittan's shoulders. "I
can only reach for who I have been, since not me."
A squadron of colorful crystalline insects flew overhead in
diamond formation. They executed a tight roll and changed into a
deck of cards.
"This party is pretty mindblowing! Eh, Mako?" chirped
Hloch. "Out of sight!"
"Out of mind!" cried Malenkoviepr. "This is a dreamy
party!"
"Who ever's in charge of reality seems to have the day
off..." called the Aslan officer, refilling Mako's glass with
champagne.
"Yes," agreed Mako, "I'm in charge at the moment."
The pretty Aslan female in the mask attached herself to the
ensign's arm, and turned to Mako, "Excuse me, have you seen a man
named Duran Durant?" she asked softly.
"Achrrr!" cried Kittan in surprise. "Dr. Malenkoviepr, I
should introduce you." She gestured the Aslan officer, "This is
Ensign Zdeldi of the Darrian Confederation, and his companion:
Surrealni."
"Enchanted!" grinned Surrealni, then she slowly began do
disappear, from the tip of her tail up to her face, until only
her grin was left behind.
"Pleased to meet you." smiled Zdeldi extending his hand
above his head in a very non Aslan way. "And, what do you do?"
Malenkoviepr gave him a high five, "Nearly the same as you
do, but I've resigned."
"Oh really? Why?"
Mako smiled, and drew forth an holocrystal from his breast
pocket and put it back. "I had my reasons... some plans..."
Zdeldi drew him aside, "Like to share your reasons?"
"Share?" he asked incredulously.
"In a manner of speaking. There are other things to be
shared in such arrangements."
"I am intrigued. Shall we go?"
- XIII -
The Interrogator looked up, "I thought you wanted to
question him about the ancient artifacts we possess."
"I do. But if we let this proceed, we can find out how
corruptible he is... THAT we can use..."
- XIV -
If you think that
I don't know about the little tricks you've played,
And never see you when
you deliberately put things in my way.
Here's a poke at you.
You're gonna choke on it too.
You're gonna loose that smile.
Because all the while,
I can see for miles
and miles
and miles
and miles
and miles... "I Can See For Miles" -The Who
The gambling table was clear as Malenkoviepr and Zdeldi
faced each other. Mako dealt five cards each. Zdeldi considered
them carefully and handed back two. Zdeldi spoke in a strange
voice, "Dr. Malenkoviepr, just what sort of deal were you
planning on?"
Mako shuffled and handed him back his cards. "No set plan
just yet. I am merely interested in finding out what You have to
offer."
The Aslan regarded his cards, "Selling to the highest
bidder?"
Mako picked up his cards and studied them a moment and
exchanged one from the deck, "Now, now, you are putting words in
my mouth..."
"Or thoughts in your head..." smiled Zdeldi, "Go fish."
Mako eyed his cards and pulled three from the deck, "Yes,
just possibly, but then again, it might be the other way around."
He placed a card face down on the table announcing, "King's X."
Zdeldi's eyebrows went up in a most human surprise, he
examined his cards and drew one from the deck. "Well, what about
putting credit in your pocket... Hit me."
Mako took a card from the deck without looking, "Would you
mind being more specific?"
Zdeldi's voice was quite human, "I want that crystal. I'll
pay for it... I'll stay."
Mako dropped a card on the table, "What's so valuable about
this holocrystal?"
Zdeldi took the bait, "I want anything you have to sell.
Therefore, I want that crystal."
Mako put all his cards down except for one. "Uno."
Zdeldi rearranged his cards quickly and discarded three,
"The Consulate can't offer you what we can... Box cars"
"You want me to sell out the Consulate."
"Has the Consulate treated you so well?" asked Zdeldi, "Not
from the looks of things."
"Perhaps, but they are MY people." Mako looked up at the
ceiling and threw his legs up on the table. "So, when did *YOU*
sell out the Consulate?"
Zdeldi froze.
The entire dream world stopped mid sentence.
Silence.
Malenkoviepr glared through the ceiling to the outside
universe. He addressed the crazy world and its makers. "You
sold out the Consulate, didn't you? What did they offer you?
What do you expect? Did you get it?"
"Or is someone holding your leash as we speak?" He glared
at the prop of a world around him, and slammed his last card, the
twenty one of clubs down on the table.
"This round," he announced, "I win."