<meta name="LineWrap" content="true"><TITLE>SR_Bk1 0074</TITLE><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0075.txt">Next (Page 75)</A><BR> And like, I mean, I have to keep the Cup of Coffee in my apartment, and after I drink it we have to go though a bridge right away. So I mean--"<P><P>"--I can't afford to build a bridge unannounced at the base," Grant said. "We have to be far away, as they'll monitor it. And they might follow after if they don't like what they see."<P><P>"But after I drink the Coffee, we might fall out, off of this world at any time."<P><P>"Then what does the bridge have to do with it, Daptin?"<P><P>"Well I guess--I mean, he said that it was too loose here to fall out normally, I mean..."<P><P>"So what is it? Does the bridge do it or not?"<P><P>"Yeah! But we can't cross so much space, or it might start right then."<P><P>"So? If it starts, fine! The purpose of the bridge is to transport us to this world, right? I assume the Coffee will alter the nature of the bridge."<P><P>"No, it's not quite like that, Grant. It's like, he said, Obfuser said that one travels cupward, whatever that means. He implied that the state of reality, I think like the ratio of situation-to-reality, has to be tight to travel this way. On a regular Earth it's too loose. In Avert, it's so tight it's almost instant. And apparently, the act of bridging creates a tight ratio. So I don't think it even matters where the bridge is to, not that there are so many options along the Wall."<P><P>"I see. But I maintain that we must bridge in an area as far from the base as possible. Do you think the Coffee will last a trip to, say, Goal?"<P><P>"I guess so, but it's just so, I dunno. It seems like almost a waste of time. If we're totally gone, they can't follow us anyway."<P><P>"Daptin, humor me on this one. If we start to slip out the this world before we get to Goal, in this cupward direction as you say, then all the better. Okay?"<P><P>"Alright. And I mean, I'm not trying to be difficult, it's just that, like, I wanna do this right."<P><P>"We will do it right, Daptin. We will."<P><P>After finishing the meal, Granticaine paid the bill. As they were leaving the Hello Tarby, Granticaine found a little business card attached to the receipt with a note scrawled on the back, reading "Greenie--every Faprintarb, Copanck Center Basement NE, occult meeting--try it! Hope I see ya there--Sleap Drassy."<P><P>Granticaine looked over and saw that Daptin had not seen the card, so he carefully placed it in a little pocket on his sleeve. At first glance, he thought the note was for him, but upon seeing the reference to "Greenie", he realized it was to Daptin. There was something special about this Sleap Drassy, and he definitely wanted to keep the key to getting to know her better. Besides, his mind was racing trying to cover all the angles on what Daptin's motivation might be for telling him all these things and recruiting him for this mission. Was Daptin telling the truth, or was it a scam of some sort? Was he being manipulated?<P><P>Granticaine continued to ponder this issue, as well as when the hell Faprintarb was. Another of Toal Tarby's gifts to this Earth was a cute scheme of giving each of the 42 four-hour segments of time in a week a specific name. Faprintarb was one of these, but he'd have to look it up.<P><P>"So what exactly are we doing?" Daptin asked Granticaine, as the two walked along the promenade of Greatwall at Ostandon. Like most of Greatwall, it seemed like the interior of a mall--a mall that stretched on for hundreds of miles either way.<P><P>"Well Daptin, I have decided on a course of action, and before we begin, I want you to agree on it. I propose we go back to Overwhelm, where you can make the preparations you need to make, and I can round up the team. When we're ready, you can drink the Coffee and we'll take the superway up to Goal. I know it's a long trip, but believe me, we have to keep Overwhelm out of this, and Goal is a good place to bridge in and out of because of all the activity there.<BR><A HREF="SR_Bk1-0075.txt">Next (Page 75)</A>