<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0072</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0073.txt">Next (Page 73)</A><BR>"<P><P>"They have tech popcorn?" Granticaine asked.<P><P>"Yeah. All sorts of stuff--you gotta see it. Anyway, apparently it didn't work there and I was like totally eradicated. Then like, I mean, if I'm telling you this I may as well tell you about Obfuser. He's an Ultra Occult Entity, and he like saved me since I was like dumped out by reality like billions of years later. So he returned me here--that's how I got back. So I have this Cup of Coffee, and I need, just to, y'know, rescue my friend Fake, and maybe, y'know, figure out things with the Caxopys. I mean, deal with why they did this to us."<P><P>"Well Daptin, it sounds like a mission I can certainly help you with. What exactly is the course of action, or do you even know?"<P><P>"It's like," Daptin said, "Obfuser told me to drink some of the Coffee and go through a bridge, and then I'd get back to that world where I left from, and to stay with Fake until the Coffee in my system took us back to the Cup, which I'd leave back here at Greatwall. But like, we'd need to fight off that gang."<P><P>"I see. Did they seem formidable?"<P><P>"Oh man. Formidable? Forget it. They creamed us, and we were armed to the gills. No, they're definitely a force to be reckoned with."<P><P>"I see," Granticaine said. "Perhaps we should bring my whole team, if you feel comfortable letting them in on this."<P><P>"Well yeah, but like, I mean, do they need to know everything? I mean, we're going to some undefined world, and then back to Greatwall, so like, if they do come, could they like..."<P><P>"Don't worry Daptin. They'll understand if things aren't entirely explained to them. And frankly, they're so anxious to see some action, I doubt if they'll have many questions."<P><P>"Good. I just hope old Provocation Team D is up to the challenge."<P><P>"Daptin, you know we're competent. In fact, we're far too competent for the use Fife is putting us to. I've been so serious about forging a lethal fighting team, it's taken me a long time to realize that Fife and the others are far too disorganized to need such services. No, I think something like this is just what we need."<P><P>Granticaine drank a whole glass of cold strong tea and put it down. Daptin wondered, in light of what Granticaine had just said, if it was wise to reveal the whole story to him, since The Avert Cities weren't directly involved. But he was relieved that the burden of being the sole holder of the knowledge of Aconck/Avert was lifted from him. And Grant and his little team might be useful backup in confronting the Caxopys as well, if that eventuality ever occurred.<P><P>"Well, at least with all this weird universal stuff going on, there's still nice, stable places like this," Daptin said, holding a cup of tea and looking down into it dreamily.<P><P>"Stability seems to be the norm in my travels," Grant said. "It's funny, one might expect a lot more disorder than is commonly seen in Aconck. Perhaps it is that the original formulae derived by Bestroystraw favor stable worlds. I don't know."<P><P>"Well like, if you ever like get to see Agoopish and stuff, man, you'll see disorder in action, like, in full force, y'know."<P><P>"This whole world of the gods you describe is extremely interesting, Daptin. I hope you'll truly consider taking me to this place."<P><P>"I think, y'know, I think we can do that. It's just, y'know, I don't wanna make it like a big scene, y'know? I don't wanna open like the floodgates between these two worlds. Aconck and Avert are like, y'know, like oil and water or something. They don't--or won't--mix."<P><P>"Well, with what we know of Sweptim, if these are the survivors, I'm sure they'd react pretty violently to the news that their old interconnection of Earths has been resurrected, even given that Bestroystraw claims to have overcome the deadly flaw in the Sweptim formulae."<P><P>"I dunno, Grant.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0073.txt">Next (Page 73)</A>