Aerstron didn’t know what to think. One moment he was hearing that they were only a few hundred light years from the Warp Cluster, the next he was flung against the wall of his ship. As he raced to and fro the ship, checking for damaged systems, questions were also racing through his mind. Did Dr. Athena double cross him and do this on purpose, having gotten what she needed to finish her machine? Was she taken forcefully by the ship that came in from subspace? Would he be able to find her again? He quickly pushed those thoughts from his mind. What mattered was making sure everyone was alright, and getting the ship flying again. He knew the seal on the inner cargo bay door was holding, otherwise he and his crew would have been freeze dried and sucked into space by now. He and Shrill were both conscious, but the others had been less fortunate. They were slouched over on the floor in the rec room, found and carried there by Aerstron. Their breathing was shallow and steady, and it would be some time before they would wake up. All of the ship’s systems were more or less functional, except for the ship’s stabilizer system. If it were not for the incredibly dense material under their feet holding them to the floor, they would certainly still be smashing around the ship. Aerstron managed to get the stabilizers functioning again by taking apart an old microwave oven and using the parts as replacements. He found it amusing that not too long ago he had scoffed at the idea of using a microwave for ship parts when he had last been on a planet. Now he needed to wake up Splash so he could try to catch up with Dr. Athena. He tried shaking him, yelling at him, and pouring water on his face, all to no avail. But then he had an idea. He ran over to cold storage, grabbed the strange, pinkish drink they had come to know as pilch, and poured some into Splash’s mouth. Splash awoke suddenly and spit the substance all over the room. “What the fell did you do that for!?” he yelled. “Something took Dr. Athena. I need you to pilot if we are going to catch up with her.” Splash got up and went to the helm of the ship. He sat down at the helm, closed his eyes, and began to meditate. He could see the ebb and flow of time before him, and the rippled wake of a warp drive. He slipped the ship into the exact spot it needed to be in order to be whisked along through time. Soon they came upon the Warp Cluster. A massive structure, looming in the distance. The others had awakened by this time, and were curious as to what was going on. Aerstron looked at Splash, who was becoming more and more nervous about going through a wormhole again, and he decided he would go along alone. Aerstron told his crew that if he did manage time travel, he would be back it what would seem to be a matter of minutes. He grabbed his spare Lords and stepped out of the ship and onto the platform. And now to find Dr. Athena. …… Dr. Athena was finally at the Wormhole Port. It was truly a magnificent structure. A large sphere double the size of Earth, consisting of trillions of computers, all surrounding an area of spacetime called the Warp Cluster, around which any ship that tuned in to the right wormhole frequency would immediately enter the universe of its choosing. Apparently, there were thousands of such bendy spacetime areas across this particular Universe, although only a few hundred were converted into a Wormhole Port and highlighted for travelers like this, ensuring that the Warp Clusters within them wouldn’t destabilize over time. Plus, Wormhole Ports had the advantage of containing hubs on their spherical surfaces that contained all sorts of shops, restaurants, entertainment facilities, and parks, only accessible to interstellar travellers for a maximum of two hours before they had to depart for their destinations (to avoid overcrowding). They also had convenient wormhole doors on them. Just like all of the other travelers, Dr. Athena, too, landed her pod in one of many parking lots. Before she could get out of her pod, a message popped onto her screen, warning her that the atmosphere on this Port consisted mainly of carbon dioxide and air pressures that she was probably not used to, and that it was highly recommended that she request a spacesuit fit for her species. She requested it, and suddenly the screen scanned her and identified her species and measurements. A wormhole appeared in her pod and in popped a spacesuit, fit just for her. It was a plain silver elastic bodysuit. It didn’t have a helmet, however. When Dr. Athena asked for one, the screen replied, “You don’t need one. A miniature atmosphere surrounds the entire suit, particularly around the area where your head should be. Also, you can keep the suit. We’ve got a limitless supply, thanks to World Corps!” Reassured, Dr. Athena put the suit on, stretching it over her lab coat, then left the pod. She gasped. This place was absolutely breathtaking. There were all sorts of zany pods with impossible to describe aliens in them, all flying around like taxis, picking up aliens and flying them over to a faraway city, with many buildings and theaters. Occasionally, two pods would crash into each other, and bent pieces of metal and hardware would crash to the ground, as scavengers rushed in to grab the scraps to sell. One pod came up to her and and asked, “Would you like a ride to the city?” Dr. Athena--having understood the message due to the Universal Translator Chip embedded in her forehead--stuttered, “Um… yes.” “Then hop in.” A door opened in the purple pod, and inside were two green, blob like creatures that had yellow eyes and were wearing hats that each contained two letters: W and D. Dr. Athena sat next to them, the door closed, and the pod zipped off for the city. Along the way to the city, one of the blob like creatures held out its cylindrical appendage. “Howdy,” it said, “My name’s Kozzie, and by buddy right here--he’s got a speech impediment--his name’s Wilzor. We’re heading for Lace Land, so we can go to the greatest amusement park of all time, Lacy Loop! What’s your name, and where are you heading after this?” Dr. Athena, a little shocked at seeing and meeting her first non-humanoid alien, shook Kozzie’s appendage and replied, “Umm… my name’s Dr. Athena, and I’m heading for Weirdo Drinc Universe.” Thus began the hysterics. Both blobs laughed maniacally, and Kozzie said, “Weirdo Drinc Universe? HAHAHAHAHA! Human, I bet you fifty Weirdo Drinks you won’t last TWO NANOSECONDS in that place without going completely insane! Only crazy people don’t lose their minds in there!” “Wha-What do you mean by that?” The purple pod suddenly stopped. It had landed in the middle of a bazaar at the heart of the city, where shops were selling all sorts of items. The door of the pod opened and the robotic voice said, “Enjoy your stay at Wormhole Port-539! Remember, you’ve got two hours! We will fine you for every extra minute you spend here!” The blobs got out of the pod, still laughing, and Kozzie broke his laughter for a second and said, “You’ll see when you get there!” as they slithered over to the nearest gag shop. Dr. Athena didn’t know what to think, but she decided the two were probably pranksters and couldn’t be trusted. She went out of the pod, only to find herself in the middle of a bustling crowd of people, everyone going this way and that, everyone a different alien, each one looking stranger than the one before. She had to walk fast to avoid bustling strangers from slamming into her, yelling at her to get out of the way. Many of them looked angry, and some looked flat out dangerous. She went up to this shop and that, finding stranger and stranger items still. One tried to sell her slimy tentacles, claiming they could cure cancer. Another vendor had a strange creature made of fire wearing a top hat selling tickets to a magic show. It felt as if someone had intentionally made them disorganized and confusing so that no one would be able to take full advantage of the two hours he or she had at the bazaar. Dr. Athena somehow found herself face-to-face with another green blob alien, at a vendor labeled “Weirdo Drinks! Free Samples!” For some reason, everyone else made it a point to steer clear from the vendor. The green blob said, “Yo! May I interest you in the most popular drink in the Multiverse, fresh from the Weirdo Drinc Universe? It’s ABSOLUTELY FREE, and full of vitamin E!” Dr. Athena bit her lip and replied, “Actually, do you know where I can get some food and drink? Food and drink from Earth? And perhaps even a spare warp drive? Special tools? Anything useful?” The green blob just grunted and replied, “Look, how am I supposed to know where everything is? I’m not the manager around here! I…” he then glanced behind him. There were a ton of purple, unopened cans. No one was buying them. Not since the last person who drank one jumped off a roof. He suddenly replied, “Actually, how about this? I’ve got a top secret, state-of-the-art app that can show you exactly where you need to go to find what you seek. No one else has this app. How about this: if you drink this here Weirdo Drink, and make a show to everyone to come buy some from me, then I’ll give you this app, so you can get what you need? Deal?” Dr. Athena frowned. “What’s in these drinks? How come you’re calling them the most popular drinks in the multiverse if no one is buying them?” The blob just stared her in the eyes and said, “Look, do you want the app or not?” She just sighed and replied, “Alright, fine. I’ll drink it and try to get other people to come over here.” The blob grinned and handed her a purple can. It had the letters “W D” on it, with a little figure of a black blob with red eyes on it. The cap of it had a picture of a strange-looking purple, flamelike blob, with two yellow-green upside down triangles for eyes and a red upside-down triangle mouth. Dr. Athena shrugged, popped the cap off the bottle, and took a sip. She blinked. This was the sweetest thing she had ever drank. It felt like pure sugar, rushing through her system and filling her with an uncontrollable energy.. She immediately gulped down the entire contents of the whole bottle, feeling an energy rush like never before. She heard the blob say, “This should be entertaining.” Suddenly, Dr. Athena felt strange urges in her brain. She felt like she wanted to hop around on her head all day long. She felt like coming up to every person and yelling a random car brand at them. She leaped with excitement, yelling, “GHOSTS! CANDY! PUDDING! CHEESE! YO-YOs!” She did fifteen jumping jacks as startled passerby started stopping to look at this wacky display. She then tried licking her elbow, and when that didn’t work, she ran up to a random blue alien and said, “Lick my elbow! Lick it, or I’ll give you a piece of paper with the word “it” written on it! I’m not joking!” Before the alien could even respond, she moved on to another, and then another, and then another, and continued making a fool out of herself, silly faces and nonsense words spouting out from her. The green blob held up a microphone and announced, “What you see before you are the effects of the ultimate gag drink, the Weirdo Drink! Play pranks on your friends with this drink! Watch them make fools out of themselves! Plus, if you drink in limited quantities, you’ll get the sugar rush of the century! Buy now!” A round of applause came about and tons of aliens rushed towards the shop, all trying to get their hands on this ultimate gag drink. Dr. Athena then climbed up the side of a building and stood on the roof. And a single thought went through her head; I can fly. Just as she began leaning over the edge of the building she snapped back to her senses. She suddenly blushed, realizing what had happened to her, what she had been doing. “Oh my… I JUST MADE A COMPLETE FOOL OF MYSELF!!!! AND I ALMOST DIED BECAUSE OF IT!!!” She got down from the building and looked around her. This section of the bazaar was empty. She looked toward the Weirdo Drink Stand and saw where everyone went: they were in line, waiting for their chance to purchase that drink. She stormed right up to the blob, just as he was about to sell his forty-seventh Weirdo Drink, and shouted, “YOU TRICKED ME!!! THAT DRINK MADE ME DRUNK AS--” “Oh, no, it didn’t make you drunk! See, the Weirdo Drink contains specialized wormholes that, once they enter your bloodstream, go immediately into your brain and make you feel like doing crazy things! The effects are only temporary--unless, of course, you drink about ten of these things a day, at which point the effects become permanent--but anyways, you just saved my business in this sector! As promised, here is your app!” The blob put a chip onto Dr. Athena’s suit. Suddenly, the chip whirred, and out of it popped a hologram map of the bazaar, with a voice-activated search bar. It was so convenient that Dr. Athena muttered, “Thanks,” as she walked away from the stand. This map was actually quite useful. She used the search bar to locate a stand that was selling spare warp drives. “How much?” she asked the alien in charge of the stand, who looked like a cross between a zebra and an octopus. “5 billion Yokas. Or 6 trillion Zimos. Or 74 Lords. Or… or how about this? How about you tell me what currency you have, so I can tell you how much?” Dr. Athena took out her wallet. She was surprised she still had it from her time at Earth, which seemed so long ago. She had about $430 in U.S. dollars on her, as well as three credit cards. She looked up and said, “Earth money? U.S? I have credit cards, too.” The alien blinked and turned its head. “Earth? Oh, those are starting to get rare. Really rare. They’re getting sucked into black holes, all over the Multiverse. Sad tragedy. Since they’re so rare now, one dollar.” “Well this was certainly a great break,” thought Dr. Athena as she traded a dollar for the Warp Drive. She picked up the box labeled, “Warp Drive Extraordinare! Easy-to-install kit!” and, struggling, managed to carry it over to the shop that sold warp pockets--little spheres that could store incredibly large items in a pocket universe. A fiery creature with red outer flames and yellow inner flames, two fire hands with three fingers each, and two boulder-like feet with fire-markings on them, was at the shop. Strangely, the short fire above his feet contained both his body and his face--a face with two, black, furious eyes and a scowling mouth. Dr. Athena had seen quite a few of these creatures around the bazaar. She put down the heavy box and asked, “If you don’t mind my asking, what kind of species are you?” The creature rolled its eyes and replied, “Oh, look who’s here, a human! Your species has been overrunning the entire multiverse for quite a while now, hasn’t it! MY species, the Hotheads, WE were the most populous species until you humans got a boost with all those versions of Earth! Good thing those black holes are eating all the Earths up!” Every time he stressed a word, he would flare up, and Dr. Athena could feel the heat on her skin. Dr. Athena felt like someone had slapped her in the face. What was this guy’s problem? Did he just… appear GLAD that many versions of Earth were in the process of being eliminated? That her home planet was… gone forever? She was about to give this guy a piece of her mind when she realized she only had about twenty minutes left before her two hours here were up. She decided she was better off just buying what she needed and leave. “How much for warp pockets with Earth money?” “Earth money? Hmmm… what if I say I don’t accept Earth money?” “What if I say I will slap your face if you don’t accept Earth money?” “What if I say your hand will burn to ashes if you slap my face?” “What if I--” “DR. ATHENA!!!” She turned around and was about to say shut up when she saw him. It was Aerstron Mill. He was carelessly shoving people out of the the way, making his way toward her and the now white hot Hothead. Dr. Athena totally forgot about her quarrel with the Hothead, picked up her warp drive, and walked over to the last honest pirate in the sector. Aerstron only barely recognized her in the silver atmosuit. But when he saw the translator embedded in her forehead, he knew it was her. He ran up to her, and without thinking, scooped her up into a hug. “I thought for sure I wasn’t going to be able to find you in this mess of crazies hopped up on Weirdo Drink! Now we need the computer from your pod to build the time machine! It should be able to complete the exact calculations we need to get us precisely where we need to go, ” Aerstron said over the noise of the crowded street, filled with aliens doing running around in circles and hopping on each other for piggyback rides. Dr. Athena replied, “Thank goodness we ran into each other! I only had fifteen minutes left here! Listen, I’m sorry about blowing a hole in your ship; that maniac Py remotely took control of my pod, and got me out of your ship, zipping off with a newly printed warp drive! I thought this was the best place we could meet. And, sure, let’s go over to my pod right now! By the way, the frequency for the Weirdo Drinc Universe is 3796328-Alpha, so once we enter the warp cluster, we can immediately warp there to get the Thiltrition we need for our time machine!” She then held out her spare warp drive box to Aerstron Mill. “Do you have any Warp Pockets on you? I’m tired of lugging this heavy thing around.” Aerstron popped out a small blue sphere from his belt. He squished it a little, and when he let off the pressure, it grew into a door-sized portal. He grabbed the warp drive box and walked inside the portal, coming back with his hands empty, and wearing a set of battle armor covered in small runes and symbols. His usual burner had been replaced by a large, sheathed blade. “Alright,” he said with a small smirk, grabbing the portal and replacing it within its slot on his belt, “Lets get going, shall we?” “Thank you!” Dr. Athena turned around, stuck her tongue out at the viciously staring Hothead, and then used her holomap to navigate her and Aerstron Mill all the way back to the center of the bazaar. Then, they then hopped into a purple pod, zipped all the way back to the parking lot, and then found themselves inside Poddie, in front of its computer. “Poddie,” asked Dr. Athena, “Can you calculate time to an incredibly precise accuracy?” Poddie replied, “What exactly are you asking me to do? Aerstron Mill clarified, “What we need you to do is feed exact calculations of time into our machine when we have it built. Can you do this?” “Yes, I believe so,” Poddie replied. “Alright then,” Mill said, “Keep an … uh… ear open for our communication.” Aerstron and Dr. Athena went to the nearest Warp Door--a half-oval steel frame with a black, spinning sphere the size of Poddie in the center. They inserted the proper currency and wormhole frequency, and stepped through. The feeling of being in the wormhole was indescribable; both Dr. Athena and Aerstron Mill felt like their insides were turning and changing, scrambling around quite a bit. This was not the same sensation Dr. Athena had felt when she went through her first wormhole, so this was puzzling. Suddenly, the two found themselves on the other side of the Warp Door, on a strange, green planet. Aerstron nearly puked, but was able to hold it down. They looked around them. They saw strange signs popping in and out of existence, saying things like, “Welcome to Weirdo Drinc Universe!” and “I hope you enjoy your stay!” and “Space Taxis over on the corner over there!” and “Welcome to the end of your sanity!” They looked up and gasped. The stars were among a purple sky, a spacetime that was not colored black, but a dark shade of violet. Immense green blobs flew around the atmosphere, barfing out elephants, Hotheads, phones--all sorts of random objects--which then immediately disappeared. Dr. Athena felt a familiar rush akin to that of the Weirdo Drink that she had drank earlier, and then she came to a startling conclusion. The fabric of spacetime in this universe was infused with the same wormholes as Weirdo Drink. Dr. Athena felt lightheaded. She wanted to hop around on her head again, blabbering nonsense all day. She tried to resist the urge this time. She turned to Aerstron Mill. But he was not there. He was… everywhere? She saw him in the sky. She saw him in front of her. She turned around and saw him behind her. She… “DR. ATHENA!!!” She blinked. Aerstron Mill was shoving something down her throat. Whatever it was, it made her snap out of it. But it was disgusting. “Eeew!!! What was that?” she cried. Mill just said, “It’s the cure to Irrationality Syndrome. Spending five seconds here can drive you insane, as if you were constantly drinking Weirdo Drink. I should have given it to you earlier.” Dr. Athena sighed. “Okay. So now we’re not crazy--” “Hey! Look at me! I’m a blob!” A green blob alien appeared in front of them, and said, “Yippeeee!!!” as it popped out of existence. “This Universe is ABSOLUTELY PSYCHOTIC!” screeched Dr. Athena. “Where are we going to find what we need?” As if on cue, an enormous spaceship that looked exactly like a taxicab (seriously; it had the wheels and everything) popped in front of them, and the windows rolled down, revealing a strange, familiar-looking, purple, fiery creature with triangular eyes. “Yo, ho, ho! Want a field trip around my awesome factory? You know, I was born tomorrow! No, really! Just kidding! HAHAHA! Did I mention I’m real crazy! REAL Crazy? Look at me, I’m FREAKING weird! HEHEHE!” Dr. Athena just stared, but Aerstron Mill sighed, as if this was perfectly normal. “I never understand this universe. Everything is just… random.” Dr. Athena squinted and said, “Hey, you’re the guy whose face appears on the cap of the Weirdo Drink!” The purple fiery-looking creature grinned and said, “Yep! I’m Weirdo Drinc! I’m the manager of this here universe! One plus one equals three! Want a ride? Hop in!” Without any time to respond, Dr. Athena and Aerstron Mill were suddenly teleported into the cab, and it zipped away from the planet, going around the purple Weirdo Drinc Universe. TO BE CONTINUED… ~Pentachorus ~Lord Fell-caller
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 05:30:52 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015