R.S.V.P.
|
Slimeworld & Galaxy Magazine -- All rights reserved -- |
|
Chapter LIV
by General (Uncle Claude) Xxaxx
& General (E.J. Gold) Nunan PFC 1st Class Ret.
“Professor Woo, did you come here to save us?” Beaten, blackened, bruised and missing one finger, Little Roy was, none the less, in renewed good spirits.
“Yeah, but, where is here?” asked Woo, looking around the room.
Ja Mere looked like shit. Which Woo, given her general lack of social graces definitely not designed for this type of emergency, quickly pointed out, “Ja Mere, you look like shit!”
“Thank you, Woo, good to see you as well. Now let’s get out of here.”
“I would be happy to oblige except for one thing, I don’t know where here is.”
“So?”
“Well, if I don’t know where I am, how can I know where I am going?”
“So, then we are trapped here like bugs in a jar until the bosspersons decide to do something with us.”
The allusion to bugs in jar was much more accurate than rats in a trap. The room they were in was made of glass, judging by the clink clink sound that Woo’s jewelry made on its surface, and the room was sealed tight as a jar judging by the total lack of air movement and the growing CO2 content of the stuffy atmosphere. But for the moment, there was no seeing out the jar. Nothing but blackness on the other side. Not the black of nothingness, this was the black of somethingness, something black in which they were buried.
“I don’t think that they will be returning, to do anything with us,” Little Roy volunteered.
“What makes you say that?”
Little Roy shuffled his feet looking embarrassed, “Joey Boy says that they never do. Whenever they catch an egghead doing too many xpearimints, they put him in a jar with the goober that was guarding him, and, Joey says they always bite the finger off the goober. It’s some kind of xpearimint that the bosspersons are doing.”
“How does Joey Boy know these things?”
“He saw them in his spaghetti machines,” Little Roy said with such tolerance for their obvious ignorance that from anyone else it would have been bordering on contempt. “They’ve been doing it ever since they existed.”
“Did Joey Boy say anything about why they might be doing this?”
“No, Joey Boy knows whats, Fred Dee knows more whys, John Nee knows wheres and Di Anne knows more whens then anyone, but she can’t keep track of them.” Little Roy paused for a moment, then continued with obvious pride, “I can keep track of whens.”
“And just when did they start doing these xpearimints of theirs?”
“Tomorrow, in exactly 893.69356 minutes.”
“That would be about fifteen hours from now.”
“No, it would actually be 6.30644 minutes shy of fifteen hours.”
“Well that makes a big difference,” Ja Mere commented from his corner of the bottle, not wanting to be left out of one of these weirder-than-usual conversations that looked to be the last of his soon to be extinguished life.
“Well, it does, since, in exactly fifteen hours minus 1.24 minutes, the bosspersons will cease to exist.”
“Are you aware, my young goober friend, that you’re not making any sense?”
“Drak said that I shouldn’t worry about making sense. He said that you would understand everything when I gave you the message he had for you.”
“Drak’s message? Yes, by all means give me the message.”
“I can’t. I don’t have it.”
“Ja Mere, correct me if I’m wrong. Didn’t we just hear Little Roy say that he had a message for me?”
“Professor Woo, I’m sorry. I’m not trying to make you mad at me. I don’t get to see any of my friends anymore and this is the last 887.53 minutes that I have to spend. The dragon man said to tell you that it was in my head, that you would know how to get it out and that you would know better than to do anything until the proper time.”
“He sure said a lot of things to you that you are just now telling me about. Why didn’t you mention any of this at your garage?”
“It’s not my fault; I didn’t know that I knew it. I spent a long time with the dragon man. I can’t remember hardly any of it.” Saying this, Little Roy started to cry.
Crying for a goober was very unusual, not that they weren’t given enough reason to cry. Cyber knows their parents reject them, citizins in general are abusive to them, eggheads either make fun of them or indulge them as dangerous pets.
Woo knows more about her goober guard than any egghead with the exception of Ja Mere. Most eggheads consider Ja Mere and Woo’s interest in goobers to border on perversion — an unhealthy interest in things better left alone. Given all of the justified provocation, Woo can’t remember anytime that she saw Little Roy or any other goober cry.
“What’s the matter Little Roy?”
“I miss my friends. This is the first time I can’t feel them here. They are so far away.”
“You were away from your friends in China. They couldn’t be with you on that trip. Just pretend that we are in China. Maybe it won’t be so bad.”
Little Roy looked up toward Professor Woo and blurted out between sobs, “No, not here, that way. I can’t feel them here — here, this way,” he said, pointing toward his chest.
“Ja Mere, take care of our little friend. I need to be by myself. There are some loose ends that I’d like to run down.” Saying this, Woo went over to the corner and sat herself down. Setting herself down had the finality of placing a palette of bricks. “Here I’ve placed myself, and here, I will stay until I get some answers.” So saying Woo entered into a deep trance.
This story is published to be read. Include html reference to this stories to your hearts content. But if you wish to include this story in any form of publication you must first obtain our express permission in writing.
|
R.S.V.P.
|
Slimeworld & Galaxy Magazine -- All rights reserved -- |
|