Posted by AlOmega on January 20, 2000 at 18:51:13:
In Reply to: Arena 3 - Journey To the Rift posted by AlOmega on January 20, 2000 at 18:48:41:
ARENA
Chapter 4
At the Rift
by
AlOmega
It wasn’t my fault! But Lou-San blames me anyway even though I’ve repeatedly assured her I couldn’t have done it. Even the Twins have taken her side. And that’s an accomplishment since they rarely do. Well its up to me. None of them know how to find it. And none of us would trust the humans in this. None of the Humans. Yep. That’s not a joke either. I don’t think any of them have one bit of Talent to spread between the lot. But neither did I think we’d encounter a primative Human who was part Felinia......
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We have read what Toupia has written. We agree and disagree. How is this possible? We know he is irresponsible but not responsible for this. And we have reviewed everything that happened. Yes, we have. And thus this, that should not be, is. But The Gen is with us. That is good. We, my rzlt and I, believe that The Gen can establish communications through Tangue to Betea. That would be nice since we know not where we are exactly. One might think we are still on Clandar. One might be real smart-stupid, also. Things are not always what they seem. The air is less dank and full. This we know because it is not as soft and rich as we like. The wonderful swampy places are gone as well. Yes, they are. And the three moons are also gone. We know this. We knew this when the green enfolded us and before the nightfall. Not only that, but Toupia feels much better. He has flown for the first time. Tension-relieved, that is.
And we know there is a Something else here. We feel this and know. But the What of the Something eludes us still and we dare not send The Gen to seek the Something out for The Gen might be distroyed and without The Gen, we might never return. Should we tell? Toupia would not understand. Lou-San might (though Plard understands us so much better). The Gen do not feel as we. It is a strange being. Not male nor female nor neuter. Nor does It have an understanding of the Talents. Even though It has two. But neither my rzlt nor I feel we could trust It to find the Something and return without harm. It numbers more than twenty beings but the Something could harm It we believe - even though It does not share our belief.
We wonder, my rzlt and I, if this is what Plard and Lou-San calls ‘responsibility’? It is a strange feeling but not altogether unpleasent. Plard and Lou-San - indeed many on the Team - have felt that ‘responsibilities’ will curtail our collecting pretties. But we both smile at this. It is our nature to collect pretties. Nothing - even ‘responsibility’ - cannot stop our collection.
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So, okay. I’ll take care of the crap that happened. Even though I think that those Slimy Toes and that Idiot Gen are answerable. Though Lou-San could tell it better, it falls to me because we’re where we are because of me. At least I can fly now. And don’t think THAT didn’t cause some shock among the Humans.
Anyway it happened when we neared the rift. A special kinda space-time co-ordinal rift it was. Should have known it would be a problem So?! I’ve delt with a few. Only a few mind you. But those were red and greens with occasional blues. This was more a dark green with pale yellows. And something more.
It seem ALIVE. Now I’d ask anyone how a sparklie thing could be alive. But it seemed that way. Right on the edge of a lake it was. Normal in all respects except for the colors. Well, Normal, that is until I saw that the Humans in their ignorance had put up a bunch of rock in front of it. I woulda blasted the rock right away. Or removed it block by block. Easy enough when you can transport telekenetically bolders half the size of Tangue. But oh no. Can’t let the suck-fish-head Humans see that. Stupid Humans. Stupider Lou-San. If I coulda removed the rock and stayed clear, the cramed-up-its-ass thing couldn’t have done what it done.
Had to get near it, I did. And when I sat down, all siltrue broke loose. Got us all in one fell swoop it did. And when I say "all", I meant all. Including the humans, that Gen thing, and a few stray Janks who seemed to be fascinated with the Twins. Ah, one person’s puke is another’s dinner.
Anyway, I made a few probes and discovered that the rift was also a doorway to somewhere else. Where that somewhere is and where we are at the moment is what I’m attempting to figure out. ‘Taint easy. I don’t believe we’re on Clandar exactly because I have no problems breathing and changing. So that makes me wonder where or when we are. Lou-San and the Humans are communicating with the new Humans we’ve found. The Humans are a mixed lot. I can tell that at a glance. But they seem a bit more civilized. And they seem to be able to communicate easily enough. Crazy though since Humans seem to make all sorts of sounds into a language.
This ‘Language’ thing is something I’ve never gotten used to. We speak either telepathically or verbally. Most gestures and body language is common so we have little problems with that. And most of the Intelligent Life-Forms employ some common form of communication. Only Humans have created this crazy language thing. Makes me wonder if they have any intelligence residing in those big skulls.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The rift seemed to transport us as a group to the midst of a rather large forest. The locals saw the green and heard the plops as each of us materilized here. Apparently they were heading home. And just as apparent, they never expected to encounter us. No surprise there. But when the one leader saw Lou-San and Los-San saw her, neither said a word for the longest time.
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My rzlt and I noticed it first. The two were one. Indeed, we were one with those here. It confused us. So it would confuse those who read this. The Human called Low was Lou-San and she was Low. And even we, myself and Slito, had mirror imaged Humans. We were alike and yet un-alike. Our images could not shape-shift to Lutra. Nor could they breath the waters (though we both felt - knew - they could learn). But as un-alike, they were also much alike. Even the names sounded alike. Low Stoan was Lou-San. But to us, the sounds were different, un-alike. The humans were also matched pairs. Interesting (only to us) was that The Gen was unmatched as were the Janks. The reason remains unknown even now. But it was interesting to see twins when we were the only Twins. Or were we now twin Twins. As we say and said, this leads to confusion though we have lived with being Twins all our lives.
Another thing we noticed. It was a bare notice but we did and brought it to Lou-San. The Twins we were twin to were like us except in age. While we are young for our kind, we were much older - more mature versions - of these new Twins. They were as we appear (though they could not change). And Topia had his twin. But that twin also could not change nor fly. We found this interesting and more than a little delightful. At the time we also wondered if we could have sex with our twins. But Lou-San quickly terminationed that. We understood. And perhaps too, this was another side of ‘responsibility’.
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